Plyo-what-trics?

So I'm wrapping up my first week of this crazy 10-week exercise plan.  I was already sore after the assessment day on Monday, so I knew the rest of the week would be a treat!  After we ended the assessment, the instructor said, "Tomorrow is plyometrics.  It's the hardest workout, so drink lots of water and do lots of stretching."  Great.  Good idea.  Make the hardest workout on the first day.  It felt like college chemistry, where they try to weed out the dummies in the first week.  I was terrified.

I walked in Tuesday after work, all kitted out in my new Old Navy workout gear (cheap and they come in XXL).  One hour, 10 minute increments of intense cardio with 1 minute of rest in between.  I guess plyometrics is latin for "60 minutes of hell". 

The class involved a LOT of jumping.  Jumping in the air.  Let's just say it's not easy to vertically propel 330 pounds off the ground.  The jumping jacks were probably the worst.  While most people feel comfortable waving their hands in the air (like they just don't care), I kept mine firmly anchored next to my chest.  Despite two sports bras, my assets were not very secure with all the leaping around. 

The second worst exercise was the burpie.  What's a burpie, you may ask?  If you were involved in the sadistic torture of adolescents known as high school athletics, you're probably familiar.  For the rest of you, the burpie is an exercise that starts in a push-up pose.  You fling your feet back, do a push-up, tuck your legs back in, leap up in the air, then crouch down, fling your legs out, and do another push-up.  Rinse and repeat.  Or at least that's how it's supposed to go.  Mine look a little more like this:  slowly lower self to ground, struggle to do one push-up on knees, struggle back up to feet, hurl self a few inches off the ground, wipe sweat from brow, slowly lower self to ground, struggle into push-up position, lower self a few inches on shaking arms...you get the idea.  There's a reason I stay in the back of the room!

Wednesday was an upper body workout.  Kettlebells, push-ups, pathetic attempts at chin-ups, and a variety of ab exercises that made me want to weep.  I can crunch until the cows come home, but these workouts involved holding myself in very uncomfortable positions.  Planks, side planks, holding my legs in the air at odd angles.  I left that class with every muscle from my waist up shaking.  

Yesterday was kickboxing.  Now this one I really enjoyed.  We got wraps and gloves, and I went to town on that punching bag.  Jab, cross, hook, knee, roundhouse kick!  I felt like a fat and less-intense Chuck Norris.  

Today?  I am sore.  So sore.  It hurts to lower myself to the toilet.  The stairs make me want to cry.  But that must mean it's working, right?  Honestly, for all the kvetching, the feedback from my body is good.  Today is a lower body workout, and tomorrow I finish out the week with yoga.  I'm excited to see how much stronger I'll become over the next 9 weeks!