Born Again Gym Rat: Social Pressures

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Social Pressures

When I was a child, someone asked my mother about my personality. "She's an extro-introvert," my mother explained. I tend to be quiet, except with people I know. And even then, I might not be the loudest. But I can be fairly garrulous, if I'm in the mood. Most often I'm not. This past Saturday, my husband and I attended my son's kung fu school annual Chinese New Year Banquet (and fundraiser). I haven't seen him in over a week so it was like having Date Night. With our son in tow. With a show and food and drink. All the different students, kids and adults, performed their skills including a flag dance, dragon dance, lion dance, sword play, different shaolin forms, fan dance, and drumming. My husband, a bit skeptical of the kung fu school, actually felt inspired enough to ask about their class schedules and cost. (He'd rather my son attend an MMA-style school, but I wasn't impressed with the local school's set up, or class roster. 20 kids, one instructor and not enough space means a reserved child like my son never gets a chance to participate or practice skills. My son is like me, quiet, unless he's with friends. Then he can be boisterously funny.)

The food was actually pretty good buffet style: there was salmon, salad, chicken, pasta, scalloped potatoes and a meat station with large slices of tenderloin. It only fell apart at dessert because not enough coffee cups had been placed at each table. Seriously, if you have twelve places set, you need to put out twelve coffee cups, not seven. And the servers were badly trained, haphazardly bringing cake to random tables instead of completely serving each table before attending the next. There were two other families at our table. One was a large extended family busy kibbitzing among themselves. The other was the parents of one of my son's kung fu friends. We sat so far across the table that we just didn't bother trying to scream any conversation at each other.

Because it was a fancy dinner, I wasn't sure what to wear and tried on a few outfits before settling on the cute red velvet dress I wore to my photography reception. Except that I wore black tights and boots this time. I thought it matched my husband's wine red dress shirt fairly well. And I thought I looked dang good. The Master of the school stopped briefly by our table to say Hello, and actually mentioned how nice it was to see me dressed up. I was kind of surprised but didn't really think anything of it. He's a very soft-spoken, pleasant man. However, at yesterday's kung fu class, I could read discomfort among the adult staff. I can only guess the reason because I tend to read quietly instead of chatting with the other parents in the vestibule.

And what am I guessing? I'm guessing that I looked absolutely great. And more than surprising the adult staff, it made them feel self-conscious. But as shaolin disciples, they shouldn't be bothered by such things. So now I wonder if this is a problem. (Is this Planet Fitness?) Regardless of all the social awkwardness I face, and this is, of course, of my own doing because I'm not a naturally gregarious person, I still workout with the goals of becoming stronger, maybe a tad bigger in some places, and with enviable endurance. I haven't taken measurements in a long time, but I can tell from the way my clothes fit that my quads and glutes are bigger. My back is bigger. And I still have monster triceps for a tiny woman. Just the way I should be. Needless to say, I'm more comfortable in the gym than I am perhaps anyone else, except home.

Today I cut back my cardio by 10 minutes on the elliptical. I also added a set here and there to my other back exercises. I tried doing the Smith RG BB Rows facing forward but my natural inclination to rotate my arms out at heavier weight causes the fixed bar to catch on the stays. I switch positions and face the other way, thinking that this will solve my grip problem, but without the mirrored wall in front of me, I have trouble with my form. Odd. I add another set to Seated Cable Rows because I'm waiting for the Lower Back Extension machine to free up. A very large woman is doing her sets while reading her phone. I'm glad to end my routine with just a few sets of One-Arm DB Rows because those are still totally exhausting. Oddly, Pistol Squats are easy today and I do a few sets of Dive Bomber Push Ups during Mat Stretch. No planks though. I'm saving abs for tomorrow. I think I'll whack the Nexersys for a few rounds too.

Tuesday Workout
(5.48 miles cardio; 30,420 lbs moved)