One thing I admire about health and fitness magazines is how they showcase exercise. I love images of exercise moves, the easy directions and the small-scale workout plans that are tangible and easy to do at home. This is what I want for Breathe. I want Breathe to be a resource for women to come to for all things health and fitness. I want someone to pick up an issue of Breathe and know they can find helpful tips for exercising and staying in shape. In upcoming issues, I would like to have our fitness section be more instructional and exercise based. This means I have been doing a little fitness experimenting to see what’s out there and what exercises would be a good fit for Breathe’s fitness section.

I heard about Hyam Hosny, a personal trainer and health counselor here in Charlottesville, Va. She owns a boutique studio, Clay Fitness, in C’ville’s up-and-coming Belmont neighborhood. Since the gym is right down the road, I figured I’d try out a few of her fitness classes. Her gym offers classes from cycling to TRX to athletic training. I chose two 6 a.m. classes last week — athletic training and TRX cardio intervals. Ow.

I showed up to Wednesday’s 6 a.m. athletic training class a little worried. I run two miles three times each week and have the same ol’ same ol’ weight lifting and toning routine. Occasionally, I throw in a yoga class or two to break up my monotonous workout at the gym. Pretty boring, huh? I was excited to try something new, but knew I was going to get my butt kicked along the way.

This was my first athletic training class. The class had about 12 other people and for an hour we did everything from cardio to strength and balance exercises. We used free weights, the exercise step, balance balls, medicine balls and two new things — TRX straps and kettle bells. I realized I had been living in the dark ages, only relying on dumb bells for toning. Kettle bells scared me; I was always afraid I’d clock myself in the face with one of them. And TRX straps were new and unusual; I never considered them because I have terrible upper body strength.

My exercise habits came to light on Wednesday. I realized I hadn’t been pushing myself as hard as I should have in the past. As I stood, head down, sweat dripping down my face, I realized everyone else around me was in pain too, but just knew how to push themselves. I hadn’t exercised my mental muscles — willpower and determination — in a long time either. I had a hard mental and physical road ahead of me. I started to push myself though. Hyam came up to me and told me to not push myself to the point of losing my form or else I wouldn’t be benefitting from the exercise. She was right. So I did as much as I could do at my own pace and I felt better.

After the class, as the day carried on, my muscles got tighter and tighter, to the point where walking up the staircase here at the office was difficult and climbing into bed at night was a chore. My muscles hadn’t gotten that kind of attention in a long time. I took a day off to let my body recoup. I found myself stretched out on my yoga mat at the office doing downward dog and child’s pose, hoping my coworkers wouldn’t find me slumped over.

Come Friday morning, I was still in pain but had my TRX interval class. I was worried I’d have to sit some exercises out. I showed up at 6 a.m. and once I got moving my muscles gradually loosened and the exercises didn’t seem too bad. Our instructor, McKenzie, had us lunging in place, lifting weights over our heads, squatting with kettle bells and then doing pushups, burpees and mountain climbers. She had us doing small movements with free weights and my muscles were burning and shaking. We moved over to the TRX straps where we started using our arms to pull our upper body. The treads on my shoes have long since worn away so I found myself frustrated by not getting a good grip on the floor and was sliding around a bit. I needed to work my leg muscles and abs more.

Overall, I enjoyed both classes and Hyam and McKenzie as instructors. I was frustrated with my body during certain exercises, but I came out realizing how important it is to constantly mix up my workout schedule and exercise routine — to add new exercises and equipment and change my workout environment. This is what Breathe’s fitness section needs, too. A content overhaul — new exercises and workouts that target those muscles you’ve long since forgotten about. New content that makes you feel healthy and good about yourself. Onward I go with more exercise exploration! Let us know what you want to see in Breathe’s fitness section.

Cheers,

Marissa