Kenpo

My day got away from me today and I found myself missing my usual Wednesday Step class with the  girls.  I was starting to feel like I was getting a chest cold, but choked down some vitamin powder and went down to the gym later on in the day.

Armed with a magazine and my music, I started towards the exercise bike without much enthusiasm.  I knew that feeling the way I currently did, I wasn't going to have much motivation with the same old tunes and the uninteresting cranking up and down of legs that is the bike. Procrastinating, I poked my head into the group exercise room where a group of my friends were doing their daily P90X workout.  I'd tried to do it a couple of months ago and had to modify so much that I figured it was beyond me and never considered trying it again.

I had intended just to say hello but out of curiosity I asked which workout they were doing today. "Kenpo! Come join us!" said Angie.  Kenpo is the martial arts disc of the P90X set, and I have been really curious to try it, so they didn't have to ask me twice.  

I loved it! It incorporated a lot of the things I've learned in kickboxing class and then took it a step further into grabs and more complicated combos.   I was disappointed when the DVD ended because I was ready to learn some more moves.

Later in the day I was telling a friend that this year has been interesting in many ways, but in particular,  the psychological aspect. In the beginning our group was basically new to exercise, so all we could do was just concentrate on getting through our workouts.  Now, our personal preferences are starting to show more.  I watched Lakshmi in her element at the Zumba class we attended this weekend.  I watched that glow of giddy pride on Mary and Millie's faces when they found their runner's stride on the treadmills the day we did the President's challenge, and they haven't stopped running yet.   Sylvia's pretty much good at everything, and it's awesome to see her enjoy her workouts (sometimes she does a little Sylvia shuffle if you watch close enough) when before, she used to be the self described "grouch of the gym."  Me, I like to fight, whether its martial arts related or boxing.  I plan on examining what that says about me at some point in time, but right now I'm just going with it.