Raising Some Cane at Jan’s Favourite Bar - February 2, 2017
I don’t know who came up with this statement – “There are essentially two kinds of women – tarts and muffins!” – Laurence or me. But Laurence is adamant it was me, and since, I confess, it’s very limiting and sexist, I’ll take the blame for it - and the opportunity to assert that I am definitely a muffin. I’ve always looked wholesome, but never gorgeous. I’m not exciting, but I have staying power. And I’m pretty happy with that.
Or was, until today, when Laurence announced I had lost my “muffin status.” He complained, “You’re an asparagus - lean, green, keen and mean.” What was the context? We had just done Body Pump 100 – and it was a killer. And I rocked it. (Body Pump, according to Les Mills International, is “the original barbell workout that strengthens and tones your entire body.” Body Pump, according to Laur Steven today, was a fresh h*ll.)
*****
My first Body Pump experience was not so great and you can read about it here. http://sunshineandapurpledress.weebly.com/sept-20---what-the-frak.html But once I lowered my weights, figured out the moves, developed a few muscles and my sense of humour, I became a BP addict. Five days a week when I lived in Sudbury, and four in St. Catharines and in Arizona.
I love it so much that – not having a gym that offered Body Pump close by – I went, with the help of my husband, and bought two sets of weights at the local Walmart, and found an online program not available in Canada. It’s called Les Mills on Demand. This means, even at our trailer, we can do a number of different releases of Body Pump. (For example, 89, 90, 93, 94, 95, 96, and and and!!! Did I say that I love it?)
I did say “we.” Laur joins me at least half the time. Three years ago, he had no intention of going to our local gym – Good Life. And he certainly would never have gone to a group exercise class. But three things happened. One - I started to volunteer at Good Life, and was given a free membership as a result. I already had one so I bequeathed mine to Laur. Laur, being a Scot, couldn’t let it go to waste.
Two – he noticed that I was developing muscle everywhere. Out of curiosity, he’d ask me to flex muscle “X” – and I would. The muscles were and are cheerio-sized. (Well…large cheerios…according to my hubs.) But when your spaghetti-armed wife can do 32 push-ups on her toes and smile and talk while doing it, that’s notable. (Actually, I can do 64 – which we do in some of the Body Pump releases – but not all at once. Yee haw! Did I mention that I love BP?)
Three – two sweet gals (not me) – encouraged Laur into the gym one day, and helped set him up. (I was thinking of the poem, “The Spider to the Fly,” but for once managed to keep my mouth shut.) For the first few weeks I was able to outlift my husband – and I confess to feeling the sin of pride about this. But he quickly caught up and surpassed me. Dang testosterone. (Note: I can still out-plank him. The only advantage of having a slight chest.)
What I did not suspect was that Laurence would become a Body Pump evangelist. He started going – at least for the first year – SIX times a week (vs. my five.) And he started talking Body Pump up among his colleagues who did some weightlifting. “Lifting a heavy weight a few times. That’s OK. But doing 850 repetitions in under one hour, now that’s ‘real man’ stuff!”
OK, he didn’t quite say it like that, but I know it’s what he meant. That’s what all men who do Body Pump think. They have to have a way of explaining to themselves why 95% of BP class participants are women, whereas 95% of the people at the weight-racks are men. And I confess, I do get a certain amount of fun watching a regular male weightlifter do a Body Pump class the first time. They rarely get past track four unless they modify – which means drop down to girl-weights and girl-push-ups, at least for the first few classes.
*****
Back to Laur’s comment re me being keen and mean… Today was his first time of doing Body Pump 100 – and it darn near killed him. It was my third time – and having been darn near killed the first time – I lowered my weights and reintroduced “girl push-ups” until I get used to this new release.
Will I get my muffin status back? For sure. Once Laurence has done this release a few times, he’ll be able to up his weights again and go back to “boy push-ups.” And once again he’ll see me as sweet and not stalky.
Tomorrow, we have to leave in the morning to catch a plane to return to Ontario for a week. Laur just found out we don’t need to leave as early as we had originally thought. “Great,” said I, “we can take another stab at Body Pump 100.” Laur responds, without missing a beat, “Actually, we have to be there three hours earlier!”
The Toronto Airport (Pearson) actually has a Good Life gym on site. Somehow, I doubt the Tucson Airport – having only six airlines use it - does.
Or was, until today, when Laurence announced I had lost my “muffin status.” He complained, “You’re an asparagus - lean, green, keen and mean.” What was the context? We had just done Body Pump 100 – and it was a killer. And I rocked it. (Body Pump, according to Les Mills International, is “the original barbell workout that strengthens and tones your entire body.” Body Pump, according to Laur Steven today, was a fresh h*ll.)
*****
My first Body Pump experience was not so great and you can read about it here. http://sunshineandapurpledress.weebly.com/sept-20---what-the-frak.html But once I lowered my weights, figured out the moves, developed a few muscles and my sense of humour, I became a BP addict. Five days a week when I lived in Sudbury, and four in St. Catharines and in Arizona.
I love it so much that – not having a gym that offered Body Pump close by – I went, with the help of my husband, and bought two sets of weights at the local Walmart, and found an online program not available in Canada. It’s called Les Mills on Demand. This means, even at our trailer, we can do a number of different releases of Body Pump. (For example, 89, 90, 93, 94, 95, 96, and and and!!! Did I say that I love it?)
I did say “we.” Laur joins me at least half the time. Three years ago, he had no intention of going to our local gym – Good Life. And he certainly would never have gone to a group exercise class. But three things happened. One - I started to volunteer at Good Life, and was given a free membership as a result. I already had one so I bequeathed mine to Laur. Laur, being a Scot, couldn’t let it go to waste.
Two – he noticed that I was developing muscle everywhere. Out of curiosity, he’d ask me to flex muscle “X” – and I would. The muscles were and are cheerio-sized. (Well…large cheerios…according to my hubs.) But when your spaghetti-armed wife can do 32 push-ups on her toes and smile and talk while doing it, that’s notable. (Actually, I can do 64 – which we do in some of the Body Pump releases – but not all at once. Yee haw! Did I mention that I love BP?)
Three – two sweet gals (not me) – encouraged Laur into the gym one day, and helped set him up. (I was thinking of the poem, “The Spider to the Fly,” but for once managed to keep my mouth shut.) For the first few weeks I was able to outlift my husband – and I confess to feeling the sin of pride about this. But he quickly caught up and surpassed me. Dang testosterone. (Note: I can still out-plank him. The only advantage of having a slight chest.)
What I did not suspect was that Laurence would become a Body Pump evangelist. He started going – at least for the first year – SIX times a week (vs. my five.) And he started talking Body Pump up among his colleagues who did some weightlifting. “Lifting a heavy weight a few times. That’s OK. But doing 850 repetitions in under one hour, now that’s ‘real man’ stuff!”
OK, he didn’t quite say it like that, but I know it’s what he meant. That’s what all men who do Body Pump think. They have to have a way of explaining to themselves why 95% of BP class participants are women, whereas 95% of the people at the weight-racks are men. And I confess, I do get a certain amount of fun watching a regular male weightlifter do a Body Pump class the first time. They rarely get past track four unless they modify – which means drop down to girl-weights and girl-push-ups, at least for the first few classes.
*****
Back to Laur’s comment re me being keen and mean… Today was his first time of doing Body Pump 100 – and it darn near killed him. It was my third time – and having been darn near killed the first time – I lowered my weights and reintroduced “girl push-ups” until I get used to this new release.
Will I get my muffin status back? For sure. Once Laurence has done this release a few times, he’ll be able to up his weights again and go back to “boy push-ups.” And once again he’ll see me as sweet and not stalky.
Tomorrow, we have to leave in the morning to catch a plane to return to Ontario for a week. Laur just found out we don’t need to leave as early as we had originally thought. “Great,” said I, “we can take another stab at Body Pump 100.” Laur responds, without missing a beat, “Actually, we have to be there three hours earlier!”
The Toronto Airport (Pearson) actually has a Good Life gym on site. Somehow, I doubt the Tucson Airport – having only six airlines use it - does.