Hurts So Good

You know you're really a gymbo when you start to sort of enjoy the pain that comes with a really great workout.

Yesterday, M. the Reasonable introduced me to a few new moves, including Turkish Get-Ups, which are impossible to explain, so I'll just insert this video here:

Yesterday, I only learned the first HALF of the exercise, to the point where you sit up with the arm extended over head. Today, my wrists are bruised from the little teensy-weensy kettlebell M. had me using banging against them ("Yeah, that's normal," was M.'s nonchalant response to my initial whiny, "Hey, this is going to leave a bruise!" Obviously, he's a more seasoned gymbo than I am.)

I also did a new exercise that required me to bend forward quite a bit with a kettlebell in my hands, using my hip-thrust (for lack of a better term to describe it) back upright to make the weight swing up. It was a bit more difficult for me to get the form of this one right, and left my hamstrings feeling the burn today. I've been walking funny and randomly reaching behind myself to massage the stiffness from my thighs. This has elicited a comment or two from Mom and Dad, but honestly, after foam rolling and doing two-and-a-half miles on the treadmill today, what's a girl to do with her sore hamstrings?

Getting back to the point of this post, I find it funny that I almost revel in the soreness and discomfort that follows a new workout, or a really good one. Not, of course, the pain I had in December with my back issues (sciatica, no matter how you slice it, is not fun). No, that was just frustrating and horrid.

So here I am--sore hamstrings, bruised wrists, and satisfied. There was a point in my life when any sort of work-out related pain was not tolerable, but somehow, I've leaped over that hurdle and left it far behind me. I invite the soreness that tells me my muscles are getting stronger, and burning the excess fat off of my body.

Hurts so good.