I have a confession to make

I hate all things weight lifting. I find it monotonous, slow to produce results and hardly motivational. I know it is a good compliment to triathlon training but I just could not get myself consistent enough. Wanting to end that streak of keep up with strength training for 2 weeks... then find a million and one excuses to give up on it; I went ahead and took the plunge joining a group class 3xs a week.

Now, this is not the regular group strength, we use barbells, kettle bells, rings, pull up bars; we jump rope, we row, we do short sprints. It is a fast paced class, but at the same time, it is totally encouraged for people to scale back the weights, and take the workout at a comfortably/hard pace.

When I first joined, I was highly intimidated and scared. Intimidated by the really strong females and scared of the heavy weights. No, I do not think lifting heavy will make me bulk up (and honestly, if it does I do not care) I was just scared of the DOMS or even of getting hurt. After the first class, and realizing I was able to sort of keep up (at much reduced weight) I started feeling better. Most classes start with a light warm up, some zone 1 work and some mobility. Foam rolling, stretching and making sure the muscles are not tight are highly encouraged and built in on every workout.

Some days we work on our "heavy" lifting, focusing on form and progressively increasing weights with low reps. Some other days the weights are a lot lighter and the reps increase exponentially. It varies day to day, and I have been able to pretty much do every single workout. I have a goal for these classes during tri season: to just simply keep going, not worrying about lifting extremely heavy. My priority number one is still triathlon.

I have been going for a little over a month and I have been having... wait for it.... FUN! I know, right? Me, the hater of all things weights, is going to a strength class and actually having fun? What happened???? I think I just needed to find something that kept me engaged. Lifting by myself is boring and there is no "peer" pressure. I think the group setting is what entices me. I work from home and have very little face to face adult interaction (only regular one is my husband); this has helped me in that aspect too.

What kind of results have I seen so far? Husband says I have more energy (always a plus) and I have noticed my runs have been better. I have been looking forward to the classes and the challenge, I think it has definitely spiced up my training routine.

Have you tried something new this year yet? If so, what was it??