Back on the Exercise Ball

In fulfillment of my New Year's resolutions, I have been attending Pilates class for two weeks. The first time I tried to go to class, the instructor no-showed. Undaunted, I came back the following week.

I had been mistaken on the time the class started, so I showed up halfway through the workout routine. I started to turn around and leave, but the instructor encouraged me to stay. In fact, everyone stopped and waited for me to get my equipment out and settled. One older lady, Kay, recognized me from when I had been part of the class last year. She was laying on her mat with her head near my feet.

"When was the last time you were here?" she asked suspiciously, tipping her head back to look at me upside-down.

I admitted that I hadn't been in Pilates since Spring Break. Feeling the need to explain myself, I rambled on about switching to the aerobics class for heart health, and then quitting that to do Tae-Bo videos at school and take walks with Karen around our neighborhood. By the time I finished relating my exercise exploits to these women who had never left Pilates to begin with, I felt like Gomer explaining herself to Hosea.

Kay shifted back on her mat, and we began to do large leg circles. However, in the middle of the set, she craned her neck once more.

"Well, welcome back. Are you going to be faithful to the class this time?"

I honestly can't remember what I said, although I'm sure it was something hopefully affirmative, but I do remember being intensely interested in my leg exercises. How embarrassing to be called out on my exercise commitment-phobia by a sixty-five year old woman!

So, needless to say, I have been faithfully attending class on Tuesdays and Thursdays since. The class attendance has dwindled since the last time I was a participant, down to the point that there is not even a regular instructor. So it's me, Kay, and another sexagenarian named Pat conducting our own Pilates independent study course.

We meet on the fourth floor of our exercise facility, and Pat counts out our reps while Kay cracks us all up with her blunt and forceful opinions on all topics. My favorite so far is, "Men with families should not ride motorcycles. If a man with a wife or kids were to die in a crash, that would be so inconsiderate. Unless he had like two million dollars in life insurance."

I rub my youthfulness in the faces of Kay and Pat by doing a few extra reps with my five-pound weights, and in return they rub their life experience in my face by regaling me with stories about assembling puzzles and living with dietary restrictions. It's great inter-generational fun, and, even more, I can still feel my muscles toning even as I sit here typing. Here's to continued success in February!