Can't Believe I'm Paying Money for This

Now that my daughter is entering high school and my son is in junior high, there are specific time requirements for physical education (P.E.) we have to follow for home school. They have to be engaged in some form of physical activity for an average of 40 minutes per day during the school week. Now this can be anything that keeps the heart rate up including things like organized sports, riding a bike, or swimming.

I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to get myself back in shape too. My exercise habits are somewhat inconsistent, so I got brave and signed all three of us up at the local gym. We can do stuff at home for free, but that would depend on me being motivated. Yeah.

At the gym I joined, every new member gets two free sessions with a personal trainer. Of course, the plan is to get you to spend more money since that service is extra. The trainer is suppose to get some information like age, weight, and height and then uses it to plug into some machine that assesses the percentage of body fat we have. I really did not want to know my body fat percentage. Seriously. I decided to politely decline and have him give us a tour, show us how to use the machines, and then we would be on our way.

That was not the personal trainer's plan. When I tried to back out, he had an answer for every one of my excuses. Before I knew it, he had us all weighed and measured. He used our body fat percentages to corner me. I haven't had that much guilt heaped on me since the first time I told my mother I got a tattoo. He wasn't judgmental; just honest. That was worse. So, I decided to give the personal trainer thing a try. Since it's for school anyway, I want the kids to learn the proper way to work out. They also include some tips on diet and nutrition. Sounded good; educational even.

That decided, we went with him for our first workout. It was brutal. My muscles were screaming. However, I wanted to be a good example for the kids, so I didn't give up. He put us through a ruthless leg workout that had us all struggling to make it to the car afterwards without falling.

When I woke up yesterday, my legs were so sore, I could barely walk, but we had another appointment with our trainer. I limped into the kitchen to chug some coffee first. My daughter hadn't officially started school, so she asked to skip the gym claiming she had some stuff she had to do before school started. I knew it was an excuse, but she did have some work she needed to get done. So I took my son and we went back to the gym.

We were warming up on the elliptical machines when my son accidentally slipped off and hurt his foot. They brought him some ice and had him sit on the couch. That just left me and the personal trainer from hell. This wasn't supposed to be about me exactly. This was a home school thing.

He asked me if my legs were sore (like he had to ask? He saw me walk in like I was 100 years old). He assured me we wouldn't work on legs again, but that's exactly what he did along with some ab work. I know what you're thinking "Michelle, why didn't you just say no or tell him you needed to stop because your legs hurt." Yeah, that's not me. Unfortunately, I am very stubborn and competitive. No way was I going to give in. I wasn't going to let him win. Stubborn ? Yes. Stupid? Absolutely. Thankfully, he had an appointment and had to cut our workout short, so my abs are not as sore as my legs. He said he was impressed with my "intensity." I was just trying not to fall over.

This morning when I woke up, I could barely walk. I couldn't even be cool about it. I stood at the top of my stairs and actually considered sliding down the banister. Instead I held on to the railings for dear life and tried not to fall or cuss on my way down. I met my daughter in the kitchen and she finally confessed that she didn't go to the gym yesterday because she was too sore. Since it was her first official day of online school, I couldn't walk without wanting to say bad words, and my son was still limping from the elliptical machine attack; we decided that maybe we would just swim today for P.E.

I know what you're thinking. "Michelle, you signed up and are actually paying money for this." It's true. That irony is not lost on me. In fact, I would probably laugh if my abs didn't hurt.