16 Years Ago

The last time I felt like this was 16 years ago. It was the day after my very first Gold's Gym weight lifting experience with the my High School Varsity Crew Team. I will never forget how sore I was. My freshman year, I was a "novice" on the crew team. Our workouts were hard, but we never went to the gym or did weight circuits. Sophomore year meant Varsity Crew, and a gym membership to the local Golds. I had never lifted weights like that before. Our coach had a us do what I would consider now to be pretty basic routine. We did squats, hamstring pulls, back extensions, sit-ups, leg press, seated row, lat-pull downs, various shoulder exercises with free weights, bench press, and more that are escaping my mind now.

Standard stuff, right? Well, after a morning of completing these for the first time ever at a gym, I was SORE. I could barely lower myself to the toilet, and then, when I finally did make it, my glutes were so sore it hurt to be sitting on it. I couldn't lift my arms above my shoulders, and as a high schooler had to have my mom brush my hair for me. I remember shuffling around the school hallway, and climbing the stairs? I was like an old man. I had my mom write me a note excusing me from P.E., because literally, I couldn't move.

Yesterday morning I completed day two of Crossfit. I was pretty sore from Monday going in there yesterday, but figured, eh, what the hell? Yeah. Today, I can't move. Everything hurts. What is crazy is that in comparison to the workout 16 years ago that made me so sore, my two Crossfit workouts were pansy (for lack of a better term). But, how pansy could they be if they make me feel this way?

That is what I like to call efficiency. If I can feel this way after working out for a combined total of 20 minutes, not including warm up (Monday: 10:22, Tuesday: 9:41) and performing 3 exercises each day, that must mean the movements I'm doing at Crossfit are incorporating a lot of muscle groups. Where I once spent at least an hour wandering around a gym focusing on one muscle group at a time, I was now doing exercises that use my whole body (kettlebell swings? OMG).

I can't be too whiny, because I definitely did this to myself, but I will be so grateful when I can perform something like, oh, WALKING without wincing! I'm going to try and make it to Crossfit tomorrow, but that depends on how I feel.