I Think I'm Going to Like it Here

Tonight was the first night of 101 at Iron Tribe Fitness.

Let me first say how much I love the space we work out in.  I know it's a silly thing to start off with, but it's a first impression that hits you when you first pull in from the street.  It's a cool industrial red brick building with an interior that says "I'm here to sweat" (no, not literally).  I'm not a "reviewer" so I won't pretend to be able to describe things about the place in a way that will give you a good mental image. I'm there to work out so I won't be taking pictures either.  I did scroll through about a hundred photos on the Iron Tribe Huntsville Face Book page and came up with this one to show you want the outside looks like.  (I don't know who any of the people are so I blurred out the faces.)

I met some nice people before we got started.  We met the coaches and then we introduced ourselves, telling a bit about why we're there.  (I said "I'm here to practice what I preach.")  We got warmed up with some dynamic movements and then learned the proper way to perform three every day functional movements-the air squat, the kettle bell swing and the sit up.

Now, I know what you are probably thinking.  "I don't do squats or sit ups every day...she's crazy."  But, my guess is that you do.  Almost everyone sits on (and gets up from) the toilet at least once a day (maybe you have to use hand rails to lower/raise yourself?), everyone gets out of bed (maybe you roll out?).  ...I've been trying really hard to think of a movement that resembles the kettle bell swing, but I don't think I do that movement at all much less every day.  But, here's the thing...my hips are SUPER weak so just like a person who might roll out of bed and not use their ab muscles (for what ever reason), I don't use my hips as much as I "should" so it's not surprising I can't think of anything I do like that.

After we learned how to do the movements properly, we did a baseline test to get an idea of where we are starting from.  As soon as I found out the test would be timed my competitor kicked in.  I started sizing up the room to see who might be the biggest "threat".  Then I remembered to keep myself in check because I will be getting up in less than 12 hours to go back to the gym for day two, then I'm doing a seven mile run tomorrow (mile repeats, so not a leisurely stroll), not to mention I have an 18 miler -after my strength workout- on Thursday).  ((No, I'm really not doing too much...and I'll explain why I'm saying that in tomorrow's post...))

We started with a little run then did descending sets of the three exercises we learned, and finished off with another little run.  I started a bit slower than I needed to because I didn't know what to expect.  I've got to say that's the most squats I've done in one workout in well over a year and I've never even held a kettle bell before tonight.  (Sit ups aren't an issue, but the way we did them was a little different than I'm used to (in order to get a full range of motion).)  When I got to my last set I realized just how easy I was taking it and picked it up to finish strong.  I felt like I probably gave about 90% effort (knowing I have a heavy workout week ahead and this is not all I'm doing made a difference in what effort I was willing to lay out there).

Well...time for bed because I'll get up early tomorrow to join the morning group at 6:15.  For now I'll leave you with this:


Yeah, yeah, I know it's pretty darn funny...no one is going to be drawing me a bath at the gym...but as I drove away I couldn't help but sing to myself, "I think I'm gonna like it here..."

Until next time...
:D

((In case you were wondering, I came in "third" (out of maybe 15ish?) but I'm pretty sure no one really cared; they didn't have medals or awards and there were no ranking or scores being kept.  They did make note of the time because we'll do the same test at the end of the 101 month to see how far we progress.  And, in case you're wondering, the person I thought was going to give me a run for my time came in second.  She's training for the marathon so she probably didn't give all she had either but I want to beat her at the end...I can't help it.  Even if I didn't say it, if you have been reading my blog at all you know, I'm thinking it.))