Hurts so bad, it must be good.... right?

This past Saturday, my friend, Misty and I decided to drop into a class at a gym near the NH place called "Power Pilates". I didn't know what to expect, but was interested in checking it out. I've taken plenty of mat-based pilates classes over the past couple of years, some with props (ring, stability ball, etc) and some just with the mat. But I hadn't taken anything with the word "power" in it.

Before the class, the instructor, noticing we were new, came over to introduce herself, understand our baseline, and tell us what we needed to know about the class.

She explained a few things. This class is an intense class, using weights and pilates techniques. The goal is to work several (all?) of the muscle groups, and work them to the point of fatigue. It's meant to help slim the body rapidly. She likes to get the heart rate up early, and keep it there. The class is designed to target 400 calorie loss. She said we will be sore, and some women end up so completely sore, it's a challenge to get off the toilet. Um, okay.

I've never taken a 400 calorie loss pilates class before. This scared me.

The class was good. It was intense. Ten minutes into it, I wasn't sure I'd make it the full hour. We'd gotten our weights (I took 3 lbs. comfortable that I was being a total wimp, and Misty took 5 lb weights, god bless her) and was really surprised by how many reps we did with each exercise. That fatigue thing? Yup. Got there. Those 3 lb weights? May as well have been 20 lbs, by the time I was 20 minutes into it.

After about 35 minutes, I knew it was tough, but I also knew I'd make it. An exercise or two, I gave up on the last rep or so, but mainly did everything. The things that required flexibility, I was good at. The things that required strength, not so much. (yes, 3 lbs. I get the lame-ness.)

One unusal distraction? The workout was entirely coordinated with the alternating fast and slow songs on a Genesis Greatest Hits album. A nice change from all the electronified (not a real word) pop music that's often in classes. Helped with the high energy, and, except for one song that completely reminded me of an old boyfriend and a heartache from 20 years ago, it was nice to revisit some old favorites.

At the end of the class, the instructor came over to thank us for coming, and reinforcing the need for us both to stretch, and told us again that we'll be sore.

And she was right. 2 days later, and EVERYTHING HURTS. Quads, hamstrings, upper and lower abs, obliques, glutes, delts, triceps, biceps, whatever the muscle is between my shoulder blades, and even my neck. EVERYTHING. It's really crazy. I'd heard people talk about doing Jillian Michael's 30-day shred and saying that everything was sore for days, but I didn't understand what they meant. I now understand.

So, the question is, does all this soreness mean that it's a good class, or a bad class? I think it is probably good, but I'm not sure... But I think it's worth giving a shot one more time. Though I can't spend 3 days recovering from it... that doesn't seem well balanced, does it?

The gym makes it easy to try this out, and that will help me give it another shot. They have a 10-visit card that I purchased. They don't expire, which is good -- I don't have the pressure of trying to use it all within a short period of time (or the guilt of wasting the money by not using it within a short period of time).

It's nice to get an alternative exercise outing into the mix, so I'm hopeful that, well, that which doesn't kill me, will make me stronger. Wish me luck. (running off to download Genesis' greatest hits...)

Thanks for reading!