the girls from work finally got me to join the body pump session that’s given on tuedays at 5:15. or was it the weather - rain pouring down today - that did it? either way, after a short warm up run, 6.5km outside, we found ourselves in the basement 10 past 5pm. water from the rain still dripping off the hair and face. hm, perhaps not as fresh looking as the well dressed, nicely smelling indoor herd-fitness worshippers. from the choice of words one can indicate correctly that this whole fitness wave, where people stand in rows in a closed room and wiggle and wobble in a synchronized fashion to the instructions of one person in the front, never really was my cup of tea.
the session was packed. getting your gear, a bar with some weights, a pair of 4kg dumbbells, a mat and a stepper, turned out to be an early bird competition. after some confused looks on my part, my friend helped me to secure the scarcest resources, the locks for the weights on the bar.
warming up with the first exercises had some initial warning signals. the heart rate went high up and i quickly understood that this won’t be the place and time to show some manly strength. lifting and pushing the bar high up over the heads, well, with gitted teeth and a smile in the face i followed what the instructor said. then legs - knee bends - the strong hold of the runner. let’s show them something. all weights on board, i.e. on the bar and with dynamic movements and a cool face through all exercise parts.
oh my god, the legs where shivering afterwards, totally ready for some rest, that they didn’t get. still to come back, shoulder and arm exercises. but this was all survival. with equal weights than the girls from work, but more rest in-between we crept towards the end of the hour. this called for a re-match.
overall body pump seems to be a well matching addition to the winter training program. more independent of the weather and discovering muscles we didn’t have the faintest idea of their existence is quite fascinating. runners generally neglect strength workouts especially for the musculature of trunk that provides stability and improves running efficiency.
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