Renewal: Part 1

I'm not going to lie to you...every Tuesday and Thursday morning I wake up with butterflies in my stomach - the words "I don't want to do this" usually running through my head. After dragging myself out of bed I reluctantly put my workout clothes on and head to the kitchen. I woefully add whey powder to my greek yogurt (which already tastes like chalk) because I know that without some protein there's no way I'm going to make it through the work out....and I seriously cannot look at another egg.  

Thirty minutes later I am in the car driving frantically to the studio (because I stopped to check my e-mail before heading out the door and am now late) while sucking down as much water as possible - hydration is key in this process, too.  Once parked I sit the car for an extra thirty seconds and tell myself, "It will be great." Though I usually don't believe it.

When I step into the studio, however, all of that trepidation disappears. Surely it has something to do with the lighting, the colors, the floors, etc. that Hyam chose so carefully when she was designing the space, but mostly it has to do with the fact that the studio - with all it's torturous looking contraptions, balls, weights, ropes, etc. - has become my haven.  It's where I go to rid myself of the stress, anger, frustrations of the week - as well as those extra calories I know I shouldn't have taken in. When I walk in the door I see the women I spend every Tuesday and Thursday with - working together to better ourselves inside and out.  They inspire me - they push me- and they lift me up. What was I so afraid of?

Fifty-five minutes later I am red-faced, hot, sweaty, in desperate need of a shower and...completely renewed.  What takes place between that first squat and last quad stretch can surely be attributed to more than one scientific theory, but what it comes down to for me is that it works.