Gettin’ Swoll

March 6, 2013 by twitchysister | 16 Comments

Hey lovies, I’m back!… and with some atypical Rosie Glow subject matter to boot. I know I preach wellness on this here blog, which you can bet includes exercise (daily exercise, no less), but in truth, I’m usually pretty wimpy in my efforts to sweat.

Ferocious, right? Running in Italy… with pastries in hand

For the last several years, I’ve woken up almost every day at the crack of dawn, gleefully donned my kaleidoscopic rainbow octopus Asics:

Boom.

…and skipped off to the gym like the pansy I am (LOVE pansies.) There, as I’ve said before, I usually miss the start of spin class/ body pump by a hair (damaged, pinkish DESERT hair ), plus I really just want to do my own thing anyway; so I proceed to run/dance on the eliptical while watching AMTV (did you all know Justin Bieber was over 2 hours late to his last London show?! For shame!) and lip syncing all. over. the. place.

Every day.

Honestly, it’s a joyful practice – but I should consider it meditation, at this point, more so than exercise… because after all these years, I could be on an eliptical machine for 2 hours and not feel a darn thing. I advocate checking in, and being gentle with yourself – but that’s not an excuse to phone it in, yo! (For shame!) My routine has simply become too routine.

So last night, I took a live DJ spin class that kicked my wussy butt. And yes, I did say live DJ – the scene looked like this:

sans cat… plus bikes

I go to spin classes all the time… at least two or three times a week. But THIS spin class made me feel like I was going to die… and I loved it. It made me realize that I haven’t pushed myself to the point of panting, red-faced VICTORY in years – since days at camp spent running up and down a basketball court and eating these as fuel: since tae kwan do classes of yore whence young Rosie Glow was a pine-cracking TERROR.

I think not having been too intense about exercise in my twenties has been good for me, mentally. If you’ve been reading for a little while, you know I’m inclined towards extremes: with food, life goals, attitudes about people. An hour or so a day of designated zoning out while my legs are moving and my heart is calmly pumping ain’t so bad… but I’m gearing myself up for a personal challenge, wherein I bust my own chops a la Shaun T. I’ll be attending more bootcamp-style classes and hardcore twerkin’ it… not every day, but a few times a week. I’ve thought about the aforementioned Shaun T.’s Insanity program and P90X DVDs, but let’s be real… if I have 45 minutes to kill at home, I’m in my pajamas eating grapes and watching Project Runway – not doing burpees. As Tim Gunn says…

I’ll keep you all updated on my exercise findings! I’ve also got some food as medicine experiments in the works… remember seed cycling? And… I just ordered big ol’ bags of maca and spirulina powders. Wait, no one else is pumped about high-protein pulverized seaweed and primitive plants that taste like feet? Cool. More for me.

What do you all think about exercise intensity? What’s your practice and are you satisfied with it? I’d love to know!

XOXO,
Rose

Author: twitchysister

Hey you! Rosieglowwellness.com is largely devoted to musings on what balance means to an urbane, artsy-fartsy twenty-something. It’s tough out here for us post-grad women: if you’re not homeless, you’re doing something right. But do you, too, worry that you spend too much time furrowing your brows over your future when you should be unwrapping and relishing your present? Do you, like me, sometimes feel like everyone expects you to be the type of person who spends the majority of her entry-level “arts” paycheck on fifteen dollar old-timey cocktails, four a.m. cab rides home and everything sequined on the Urban Outfitters sale rack when, perhaps, you are really the type of person who would rather drink cucumber mint kale juice while wearing yoga pants and Googling reiki techniques? Is it possible that such a person is one and the same, and she is fabulous in her own, very confused right? Sister girl, I hear you. I know you. I accept you. I also know in my happy gut, full heart and coffee-addled brain that you and I are gorgeous glow worms, just as we are! We are sparkle ponies of light and love and we are still in the process of teasing out our true, authentic selves with all of this… living. So if you don’t have it figured out, if you acknowledge that you never will and that is tremendously exciting, if you want to connect with other smart chicks and tap into that charming inner-self of yours, then come back real soon, ya hear? We’re family now!