December 16, 2008

Boost an Ego

On Sunday, my trainer put me on one of those slant boards with a medicine ball and tortured me. I did three sets of three different ab exercises and they were all intense. I had watched people on those slant boards many times and never tried, figuring it was pointless.

When I returned to karate for the whole two weeks I was able back in October, we did sit-ups as part of the warm-ups. I could barely do ten whereas before, 50 was no problem. It was a stark reminder of how out of it I was. I had done nothing but work on my legs after the surgery and my abs had totally suffered because of it.

Since I joined the gym in October though, I've made abs part of my work-out every single time. I started with crunches on the mat, did some pilates plank things and then found an ab machine I loved. My trainer would often walk by me while I was on it and he would just smile a bit. I was using almost half the stack last week so he couldn't have been smiling because I was a weakling. I had no idea why until Sunday.

Hanging upside down, I was told to "explode" up with the medicine ball over my head, drop half way back down and then come back up again. It was torture. Another thing he had me do was even worse. Holding the ball with both hands at my waist, I had to lean back half way and twist from side to side until he told me to stop. At one point, my brain was saying "keep going" but my abs had enough and I went flying upside down once again. My trainer pushed me back up and said we were going to start from scratch. This time I did it.

When I was finished, he asked me how I thought that workout compared to sitting on the ab machine. "There is no comparison," I told him. He laughed. Now I know what that smile was for.

They say you can't notice a difference in one day, but I swear I did. Mr. BBM sees it too. Today I went to the gym and made my way to the slant board. I worked it hard just like on Sunday. I was a sweaty mess when I was done. Afterwards, I went nearby to the treadmills and walked a bit. I had noticed this one big guy watching me on the slant board and I noticed him walk over to it when I was done. He grabbed a medicine ball, reclined like I did and tried to sit up. Nothing.

He tried again. Nothing. He just couldn't do it.

He dropped the ball and tried to do it without. He did exactly three, not all the way up, and with a sideways lean. He wasn't in bad shape. I don't like to see anyone not succeed, but I have to tell you, it made me feel like I was soaring. It was a fantastic way to end my workout. Progress is a wonderful thing.

***Check out The BBM Review for the latest MA book review of "Me, Chi and Bruce Lee" by Brian Preston. Good stuff!