With Every Bead of Sweat

To begin this blog, I'll explain why I'm doing it: self-discipline with a hint of accountability.

For this whole Spring semester of 2010, I will be spending part of my Friday doing some type of physical activity, then will write about the experience on Saturday. Writing and exercising are two activities that I wish were second nature, but tend to shove onto the back burner. No longer! I found a way to trick myself into doing both every week: give my vow to the public.

You might be wondering who this 'Julien' of "Julie & Julien" is. I didn't know myself until my friend Paul suggested this title for the blog. As Paul and Google explained, Julien Greaux is a super martial arts guy. He looks really intimidating, honestly, like Schwarzenegger mixed with a fake-baked Edward Cullen. But I won't be following his fitness regime as Julie Powell followed Julia Child's cookbook. I was just drawn to the catchy title. In no way do I wish to possess his massive masculine physique by the end of this semester.

For my first day of exercise, I went to some free classes at the Rec center: Core Body Express and Abs & Back. The class descriptions sounded about as intimidating as Julien's protruding veins. And the Core Body Express class was, at first. The title suggests a train, don't you think? Polar Express vs. Core Body Express. Both require a lot of equipment foreign to me. A BOSU ball, a stretchy cord thing, dumbbells, a mat (which is really just a fancy exercising rug), and, most intimidating of all, a barbell. I'd never even touched a barbell in my life, and now I was going to lift one. With weights.

Before the class began, I decided to slyly observe and copy. So I used stretching as my cover as I figured out what in the heck everyone was doing with this BOSU ball and barbell. My cover went smoothly, and I copied with few blunders. I did accidentally do this type of Russian leg kick dance while the rest of the class was stretching their legs the opposite way, but I don't think they noticed.

So I had all my weapons collected, and the battle for fitness began. Fighting the battle came surprisingly natural. Although a few missteps occurred, I didn't fall on my face when we were bouncing on the BOSU ball, or drop the barbell when we were lifting it. And we did jumping jacks! It's always comforting to find something familiar amongst the unknown. Jump rope would have been nice too, though.

I expected to be cripplingly sore after the two classes, but I could even ride Swayze (my bike from the '80s) around campus for a bit afterward. Freshman 15, you better watch out. With every bead of sweat, your existence fades away.