It Hurts So Good, Come On Baby Make It …

Do you remember the first time you started working out and how you felt the next morning? Or maybe you’re like me and it takes 24 hours?

That feeling like you got hit by a truck and as you get out of bed you move like your 100 years old and every single muscle and joint is screaming at you … why’d you do this to me!?! That feeling like someone must have mugged you or hit you with a pipe while you were sleeping.

You know what I’m talking about … I’m sure you’ve all had trouble sitting down onto the toilet right? That excruciating pain of lowering onto the seat and wondering where the bottom is only to have to just plop the rest of the way down in pain … you’ve felt it right? I know I’m not the only one!

It feels awesome right? Seriously, you know you’re doing something right when you’re sore.

If you think I’m a bit mental, into self mutilation, or don’t know what I’m talking about then you’re either at the wrong blog or haven’t really pushed yourself in a while (or at all).

Are you interested in finding out what I’m talking about?

Here’s what you have to do, head out to your local gym and find the free weights … not free as in free $, free as in not attached to anything. They’re the weird looking contraptions that look like Flintstone wheels but seem out of place sitting up on a rack.

Now grab yourself some of those (usually 2) starting with a weight that you can manage but not fling around too easily. Ready? Get to doing some squats, lunges, dead lifts, calf raises, etc. Then a few days later throw in some bench presses, shoulder raises, single arm rows, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, and maybe some bench dips.

Now for good measure in between those days I want you to do some circuit training and maybe throw in an elliptical routine, some running, and / or a long (or really long) bike ride.

Sounds fun? Sound like it hurts? Well it does and I’m loving every minute of it!

It’s been several months since I last did weight training or circuits and I’ve forgotten how sore I get … I do have abdominal muscles under this belly fat, who’d have thought?

It’s such an amazing feeling pushing your body and really feeling the results. I can only imagine what someone must think that has never done it before and wakes up the next day in pain. How many people quit right there and then? How many call the doctor thinking they hurt themselves?

I was sitting on the train the other day and overheard someone behind me talking about how sore they were from doing yard work over the weekend. I chuckled because I know I used to feel like that years ago before I started this journey. I’d wake up and have to pry myself out of bed and sometimes would have messed my back up for weeks! Now days though it takes more than a leaf raking session or some weeding to make me feel really sore.

But when I do get sore like I am now … I just sit back and smile knowing it was a job well done.

How about you? Are you feeling sore from pushing yourself recently or do you remember your first time feeling those sore muscles you never knew you had?

• Ending The Ride Streak And Beginning Circuits
• My Cycling Ride Streak Update
• Stepping On The Scale Saturday
• A Surprise Tuesday Weigh-In
• A Random Post Holiday Weekend Weigh In