I did something yesterday that I never expected I'd do. I went to an exercise class at a gym with two of my coworkers during our lunchbreak.

The class is called "Muscle Pump", and it was basically aerobics/stretching combined with some light dumbell exercises. (At what seemed to me to be ridiculously high numbers of reps.)

Anyway, the class was pretty fun. I liked the gym we went to - it seems like the kind of place where people are serious about exercising, rather than looking good in their gym gear. I did not feel at all out of place in my very utilitarian garb of sweat pants and a T-shirt. I kept up with the pace of things pretty well - my shoulders said "uh uh, no more" at somewhere around my 40th overhead press (with 3 lb. weights, gack), and I had to cop out early on some of the leg exercises, but I was far from the only one in the class with these problems.

I did nearly bail out of the class near the end when the instructor had us get down on mats and start doing vaguely sit-up like things. Man, I had the worst flashbacks to 7th grade P.E. and the damned Presidential Physical Fitness Test. I have Issues with ab exercises, folks. Also, they make my abdominal muscles hurt like you wouldn't believe. Other people cannot possibly suffer such intense pain while doing situps - I don't understand why people would voluntarily subject themselves to such a thing. Except that I did. I think the instructor must have sensed that I was having a bit of trouble, because she stood right next to me and cheered me on while I did them.

After the class, I felt great.

Today, I am in pain. I am the poster child for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Oddly enough, it's not my deltoids or my abs that hurt the most. They ache, but at a quite reasonable level. It's my hamstrings that are really trashed. Every time I start to sit down, they lock up and go, "whoah there!". It's taking a certain amount of effort to get my butt down onto a seat. Which makes going to the bathroom soooooo entertaining, I can't tell you.

I'm apparently pathetic enough looking today that one of my coworkers took pity on me and recruited another coworker who is an occasional yoga teacher to put me through a half hour stretching session at lunch today. It was *fantastic*. I actually felt relatively flexible and pain free after we were done. Unfortunately, an afternoon's worth of sitting has stiffened me up a bit again, but it's something to file away for later use. Any of you who are prone to post-workout muscle soreness, try some yoga. It really works.

I hope I feel better tomorrow.

I'm going to go back and try the class again on Tuesday. Hopefully it will be easier the second time. I *did* enjoy the class, for the most part, but I can't take the aftermath if it's going to be like this every time.