This is sponsored content from BlogHer and The Laughing Cow.
Last spring I was reading a friend’s blog and noticed that she’d issued a challenge to her readers: 30 Days of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. I was intrigued. I was also – dare I say it – inspired. And for reasons I have yet to fully understand, I immediately thought, “Okay. I’m in.” AND I SIGNED UP FOR IT.
CLEARLY SOME FITNESS-MINDED ALIENS SEIZED CONTROL OF MY MIND.
So I drove to the Target and bought the DVD and decided that the very next day would be Day One.
OH MY MERCIFUL HEAVENS.
But in a delightfully unexpected turn of events, I found out that my friend Melanie had also committed to the challenge. I cannot overstate the importance of this discovery because HELLO, ACCOUNTABILITY, NICE TO SEE YOU. We also realized that we were both planning to set aside some time to “shred” in the afternoons, but we were sort of blase’ about it because the workout only lasts 20 minutes, and how hard could that be, right? I mean, I can do all sorts of things for 20 minutes: I can lift the fried chicken off of my plate and put it into my mouth, I can repeatedly mash the buttons on the TV remote, and I can also send and receive countless text messages while continually sipping an ice cold diet Coke.
You may be picking up on why the aliens seized control of my mind and convinced me to sign up for the challenge in the first place.
So on that fateful spring afternoon, when there was not another living soul in my house, I turned on the DVD and got ready to feel the burn. I even wore my brand new lavender leotard and hot pink leg warmers.
Oh, I kid because there was a time when I really did own a lavender leotard and hot pink leg warmers.
I will spare you all the details of my initial foray into shredding, but suffice to say that within the first five minutes of the workout I was thinking Not Nice Things about Jillian and her perky fitness compadres. It didn’t help that Anita – who was quickly becoming my new BFF since she was in charge of showing us the “modified” moves, aka The Moves For Those Of You Whose Primary Form Of Exercise Has Been Pointing Your Toes While Typing – had abs so defined that I thought at first they must surely be the creation of some subtle airbrushing, only to realize that OH, those abs are totally real, and MY WORD, they are spectacular.
However, I moved past my bitterness, soldiered through the workout (does it tell you something that I was actually relieved when it was time for the ab segments because that meant I got to LIE ON THE FLOOR?), and y’all, when those twenty minutes were over, my leg muscles were so exhausted that my very first thought was I’ll never walk normally again.
Sure enough, I spent the next forty-five minutes trying to figure out how I was going to walk without looking like some straight-from-the-boondocks contestant on America’s Next Top Model who is trying to impress Tyra with what she thinks is a fierce runway walk. The only way I could manage to keep my knees from locking up was to lift my the tops of my legs to a forty-five degree angle with my waist, then sort of kick out my leg until my foot hit the floor, and later, when Melanie and I were laughing until we cried about The Day Jillian Nearly Killed Us, I described my new walk as something along the lines of what you’d expect from a demented clydesdale.
In other words: it was very sexy and now.
And since I had absolutely no hope of being mobile for day two of The Shred since WHOA, NELLIE, LEGS WERE A-SMARTIN’, I figured that maybe I could track down some sort of beige marker and spend my twenty minutes watching Jillian tell me to WORK HARDER and PUNCH IT OUT while I drew ab muscles on my stomach in an attempt to replicate Anita’s rockin’ six-pack.
Certainly I was climbing to new heights of fitness!
Or at least I would have been.
If only I had been able to, you know, stand up.
So.
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The math: Dating + Running together + curb cut-out = disaster. Dating + laughing = disaster turned into charming little incident.
I was doing step aerobics at the front of a packed aerobics class when I misjudged where the step ended and fell off the step and landed with my behind on the floor and everybody saw me. It was funny. I had to laugh at myself.
When I was pregnant with my second child, my son and I would do Denise Austin aerobics DVD together. We exercised every day – even the day I went into labor. I’m sure it was a hilarious sight to see such a huge near term lady and her five year old son!
I took a ‘step aerobics’ class in college with my best friend. She is a tiny little thing and LOVED to do aerobics, but her coordination was … well… terrible. EVERY class for the whole semester, out of the corner of my eye, I would see this scrawny little leg fly up in the air as she fell off of the step! Every class! Poor thing! I was beginning to think ‘fitness’ is more dangerous for her than good! :)
Melanie
It would probably be when I went to my very first session with a trainer and promptly threw up when it was over!
In high school a friend of mine & me joined the tennis team with no prior experience playing tennis. We spent most practices laughing because we had trouble hitting the ball. If we actually hit the ball, it was a miracle if it made it over the net.
It’s funny now…not so much when it happened – passing gas in the middle of the “cooldown” at a class at the gym. So not cool…
Maybe this isn’t so much funny as sadly ironic. My husband had this sudden inspiration to get fit, so we loaded up the car and drove to the nearest sporting good’s store to buy an elliptical trainer. The salespeople were a bunch of slacker-type dudes in their mid-twenties, and after trying for an hour to get help loading our new elliptical, the dynamic duo who finally wandered over to load it DROPPED the machine on my husband’s foot!! It broke his second toe. When it semi-healed, he tried the elliptical for a grand total of 20 minutes, found out it puts pressure where the break was and really hurts. He NEVER used it again!!!
the ability to take bowling as a “p.e.” in college. ha! I took it twice :)
Doing so many lunges that I couldn’t sit down the next day. Try going to the bathroom when you can’t sit on the toilet! Of course, I was the only witness to my attempt to sit on (or fall onto) the toilet, but it sure made me laugh.
Welp, I just restarted my 30 day shred two days ago and have yet to be able to do it again… my legs are killing me! I too feel like a clydesdale. But with diet and exercise I’ve managed to lose 5 pounds in two weeks and right now thats my best memory of fitness!
I still have trauma from the forced-march bike rides my parents would inflict on us during vacation. Bookworm me wanted to stay at the beach and read. Of course my sister was a biking star!
In college, there was a fundraiser of some sort (WAY too long ago for me to have any recollection of what!) and we had to walk 20 miles. IN.ONE.DAY! So we thought our 30 minute walks were good practice in the weeks leading up to the BIG WALK. Oh, mercy, were we wrong. The walk was on a Saturday. The next day, you could tell EXACTLY who did the BIG WALK. We all had a gait very similar to zombies in a really bad movie. Only we were in our Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes so at least we looked good. You know, until we moved. Ah, to be young a dumb!
Oh my, I’ll never forget. Just moved into a new town and met a group of women who were out for a walk in my neighborhood. They asked if I would like to join them for their walk and workout. Turns out the workout was Jane Fonda’s orginal workout. I was fairly young at the time, early 30s and pretty fit. HA!! I thought we were finished at the end of the warmup. Being new to this whole group and experience I did my best to keep up. The next day was Saturday, Razorback football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock,AR, I had to lift my legs up those steps! Even my hair hurt! Went on to do the workout for years and was in the best shape of my life. BACK IN THE DAY!!
When I’m doing the shred, it’s hilarious to watch my kiddos working out with me!! It truly is funny!
Fogging up all the mirrors in Zumba then very carefully exercising VERY varefully so as not to bite it!
Probably from high school cross country – I was running with my team, and somehow slammed my head into a low hanging branch. Everyone ahead of me, short people that they were, totally ran under it sans ducking, and I thought I could too…
Me + tennis = BIG LAUGHS
(Did you know that you actually have to run when you play tennis? And that you have to play outside? What was I thinking?)
Me playing tennis in high school. I had no control WHATSOEVER and would frequently just wallop the stupid ball out of the court area. Oops. My PE teacher did not know what to do with me. ;-D
I actually have 2 memories to share. One was a membership to a local gym that I signed up for with a friend of mine. The gym was located right next to Pizza Hut…enough said!!
And during the course of an aerobics class at the above mentioned gym…let me just say step aerobics are not for the uncoordinated!! I always found the step in the very back of the room where as few people as possible could see me stumble and trip my way through each class!!
See…I so deserve this gift card!
My youngest daughter (Gates–she’s 15) and I have been on a get healthy kick this summer!
Together we have danced around the living room (our form of aerobics), we’ve walked in our very hilly neighborhood and even jogged it as well.
I have loved spending time with her doing these things. We’ve been able to talk about things that each of us wouldn’t normally be able to discuss.
I love being with her. She has such a great sense of humor. Most of our exercise has been laugh induced! :)
You know, I discovered The Shred is MUCH better when you turned Jillian’s voice off! Love ya Jillian, but if you lie and tell me just a few more when you actually mean like 20, I’m going to break my already fragile entertainment system!!
I was on my way to a kickboxing class at a new gym and I was very nervous. A class was already in session and I was watching it through the glass windows as I walked to the locker room to change. I entered the locker room only to hear a chorus of male voices yelling at me to get out! Yes, it’s true. I walked quite accidentally into the changing area of the men’s locker room. Yikes!
I took a Relaxation Yoga class and it worked so well, I generally fell asleep by the 2nd or 3rd pose and had a glorious nap the usual 45 mins remaining in the class. Ha Ha!!
My Momma does videos made by some lady named Victoria who says all the time if you don’t squeeze those buns who will? I laugh every single time. My mom – not so much.
When my husband and I were dating in college we had to fulfill some physical education credits for our degrees. We elected to take rollerblading together. After a few introductory classes our “phys ed” consisted of 40 minutes of glorious roller blading along the chicago lakefront together while holding hands. It was really more like a free date for class credit!
I went to my sister’s step aerobics class and that instructor kicked my rear! Even the senior ladies were outdoing my pitiful self!! I’ve never seen my sister laugh so hard in all my life!
Oh, my I’m super horrible at sports. Maybe one of my funniest moments was when trying out for the track team I steped in a slight pothole and totally fell flat on my butt.
I’m sure we’ve all had them…those moments that last forever in your memory. The ones where you prayed to never see the innocent bystanders EVER again.
I have been thinking a lot about when my boys were younger, man I miss those days. I thought it was so hard at the time, but I would love to have those days back. Life was simple, and they were simply embarrassing kids!
Don’t believe me?
I now submit for evidence: Article A – The Airport
When the boys were young we traveled to and from NC to visit with the Grands. Due to my husbands work schedule and our need to see them every three months (lucky aren’t they), I took most of these trips alone.
You may have seen me there, I was the one running to make my connection pushing a double stroller with about 60 lbs of weight sitting in it (I had some chunksters), rolling 2 bags of carry-on, a stuffed diaper bag, and 2 car seats around my shoulders! Oh yeah, and I was probably crying!
So on the way home from one of these lovely trips we are standing in line at the gate getting ready to board the plane, and I’m holding J’s hand and have JJ on my hip. Suddenly I hear JJ say “Look J I found band-aids in mommy’s pocket book” to which J quickly starts yelling “I wanna band-aid too mom, I want one, I want one”. So I am frantically digging in my purse trying to find the band-aids when I realize, I never carry band-aids in my purse. I curiously looked up at JJ to find that he had unwrapped a pad and stuck it to his forehead! I thought I was going to die! I quickly ripped it from his head and shoved it in my purse. I’m not sure how many people witnessed my humiliation, I kept my head down and my eyes forward, and yes I prayed “Lord, please don’t ever let me see these people again”, so far , so good!
Oh, trying to do the yoga poses…even the ‘modified’ ones!
I was on one of those big trampolines, jumping away, my legs got super tired, so I thought it was about time to finally get down off the trampoline. Once I got on the ground, t must have tricked my legs, who were used to jumping, so they sort of jerked, like they were unconsciously trying to hop, and I feel to the ground hard on my butt. Bruised my pride AND my butt ;)
I tripped and fell off the treadmill last week when I was watching a good looking guy walk by. And, yes, he noticed me too after that – Ugh!
So many memories on my journey to the fitness that never came to be….Richard Simmon’s Deal A Meal…Susan Powter’s bald head screaming at me from infomercials…working out to Cindy Crawford’s VHS tape. LOL!
Don’t have any really funny stories, only that I enjoy watching movies while I run on my treadmill, and as my boys pass through the room and sweat is dripping from my forehead, mingling with my tears because I’m halfway through Legends of the Fall and I just wish Tristan would love Susannah the way she needs to be loved, they glance at each other with such concern and it’s so sweet, but I’ve got 1.5 miles left and no one but Samuel has died yet. It’s gonna be a long run.
Thanks for the opportunity!
When I was in high school our PE teacher made us do the Jane Fonda workouts. We weren’t very “Fonda” Jane! haha Couldn’t resist!
I searched Ebay for a shirt to wear to my bowling league. I came across this listing:
“Here’s a shirt for all you bowling attics!”
whooie, I still remember the first day of field hockey camp in 9th grade; I went to a friend’s house afterwards, and we couldn’t for the life of us lift our legs high enough to get up the stairs.
Playing tennis with a friend, after a very long lay off from the game! We spent more time chasing miss hit balls than actually playing tennis. We laughed so hard though!
I’m so immature as I still laugh at the little old lady who constantly poots during the exercise class. Chalk up to being a mom of three boys.
One night after it had snowed, we had our LARGE golden lab inside. I was doing my workout in the living room, and he kept wanting to play. After a stern, “GET!” accompanied by a point toward the bedroom, he promptly tried to jump out of the living room window. No damage to the dog, not so of the window. And I felt horrible!!
not realizing I’ld forgotten a
REALLY supportive sports bra until the start of the race!!
My roommate and I went running this past school year. More like jogging. Well, more like walk-jogging. And then a really old man passed us.
Maybe funny is now synonymous with pathetic. Sigh.
My mom has always been thin and in good shape but she is not very athletic. About three years ago, she wanted to take up running. My mom running is hilarious!! You would have to see it. She quit after about two weeks.
I once set a goal for myself that I would train to run a 5k. I even signed up to run in the Little Rock Jingle Bell run, but decided I was not cutout to be a runner shortly into my training. I did however walk the 5k!
I stopped at the store on the way to the gym. I bent down to get something off of a low shelf and noticed I had on 1 green and 1 pink tennis shoe. I took this as an opportunity to go home and skip my workout that day!
My first Yoga class, I went with 2 friends & we were all first timers – It was so hard & we all looked so silly trying to do these poses that I started giggling & then my friends started to laugh and I thought we were going to get kicked out of our first class
I was a runner until I had to have my knee replaced. The doc says no running…no way. Trust me… after the pain and rehab to recover I listen to the man without question. BUT it has been major pain to eat what I want and keep the weight off. I am a junk food junkie and Laughing Cow has been a life saver some days. Don’t get me wrong….sometimes nothing works other than a Snickers bar but I am trying.
Boomama, I’m lol because I HAVE BEEN THERE! My most embarrassing exercise moment is also my funniest. YEARS ago when I was young and foolish enough to exercise in public, I signed up for an “advanced” aerobics class. at a snooty gym. on a saturday morning. It was PA- cked. P to the acked. I took my rightful place somewhere towards the back and then tried in vain to follow the very advanced dancy aerobics routine. Every step I took was out of place. I had no rhythm. I looked like Big Bird. The worst part was there was a full length mirror in the front of the room and the entire class was watching me in hyterics… I laughed the entire way home. Then ate a row of Oreos and called it a day.
My sister Karen doing The Shred. In fact, she started showing me some of the “moves” from the workout and I stared at her thinking, “Is it possible I some how missed this part of the dvd?” Turns out, no…she just had a “different take” on the moves….
One word…Insanity. The name is a fitting title for a workout that caused me much pain and distress while trying to simple activities like walk down stairs and sitting down to do my business! I lasted a week before the pain won! For those who aren’t a wimp like me, the workout will totally work though!
I have fond memories of the Shred also. Well, not exactly fond memories..more like nightmares. But, I specifically remember not losing a darn pound after 30 days were completed.
Note to self: must walk away from the pizza, lasanga, cakes, cookies, etc
I have to say remembering my mom, her sisters and her nieces decked out in their best 80’s workout clothes:(picture, if you will: striped leotards, control-top pantyhose, ballet slippers and terrycloth headbands (yes, I said HEADBANDS!)) and struggling to perform the Jane Fonda workout always cracks me up! They might have been better able to do the workout had they had an actual video to follow along to instead of the album version. It’s really hard to do pelvic thrusts if you have no idea what they look like.
In my regular fitness class in college, we did an array of physical activities. One day, we did step aerobics. I love(d) step and consider(ed) myself fairly good at it. The best part of the class was claiming the back row so I could watch the guys bum-fumble their way through the moves. It was a riot!!
It wasn’t funny at the time…When I was in eighth grade, I went the University of Tennessee’s girls’ b-ball camp. That would be Pat Head’s b-ball camp! (No Mr. Summitt in the picture, yet.) Boy, she’s been there a LONG time. We were playing on an outdoor court…first for me! I over ran the court and ran into the pole holding the goal. Thought I was going to die on the spot…for many reasons.
The fitness memory that makes me laugh is being in junior high and having to do aerobics class. Seriouly we looked ridiculous. Still when I hear a certain song play it takes me back to step, knee up.
O, it would def. be my old “Buns of Steele” video, I actually pulled it out a few months ago, and couldn’t believe how funny and 80’s it looked, and I think it was made in teh 90’s, but it looked very out of date and not challenging at all!
Ashley :)
I’m doing Jillian and The Shred also, and I completely understand what you mean. I can’t wait til I can lie down on the floor and try to crunch my non-sixpack abs.
I’m surely one of the most uncoordinated people to actually make cheerleading of all time. The infamous event occurred when I was at a district wrestling tournament about to cheer in front of a PACKED arena. As I was walking to my position beside the mat, I faceplanted when I tripped over the wrestling mat, in front of everyone. I laughed until I cried. If you can’t laugh at yourself, what can you do?
I taught an exhausting hip-hop class for VBS 6 weeks after I had my 4th child and after not having exercised at all for 10 months. Wow.
I can’t believe I am going to admit this but…in the 5th grade we were doing those yearly fitness test. Remember the ‘shuttle run’. I was running to pick up my second eraser and for some reason didn’t slow down and ran smack into the auditorium wall. Fell back on my bottom. This is humilating for anyone…even worse for a 5th grader. I’m still not over it!
While running in place during a Wii Running In Place session, I tripped over the dog, who was intrigued by what I was doing, and almost bit it. I can’t even run in place without a mishap. Awesome.
At my family reunion one year, some cousins and I went on the park’s new “Fun and Fitness” Trail, full of obstacles and fitness-related stuff. There was a balance bar, and my cousin Mel got on it. She made a funny face and then fell off. She had had an ACL injury the year before in basketball, and her knee had “popped” again. What was funny: her sister stood over her saying over and over: “Mel, if you’re kidding with us, I’m going to get you! Mel, if you’re not really hurt, you’re going to get it!” We finally convinced her that she wasn’t faking!
At drill team camp in high school we were practicing our routines out in a parking lot. We had been at it for hours, I think it was past midnight. We decided to do the routine one more time. We got to dancing and during a move that required us to wrap our hands around our heads in pure sexiness, the girl next to me got her hand caught in her hair weave and pulled it out. It flew off her hand and landed on the ground next to a few other girls who didn’t see what happened. They immediately thought it was some giant, hairy animal and started screaming and ran away. We all lost control and died laughing. Needless to say practice was over and poor Carolyn had to go in search of some weave glue while we all went to bed.
The first time I tried to do aerobics. I am very uncoordinated, and I am sure that watching me try to move my arms and legs in some sort of coordinated fashion at the same time was absolutely hilarious. I’d like to say that I stuck with it, but unfortunately that’s not really the case :-)
The time I thought I would show out and add another step to my “step aerobics” stack of steps and not only did I miss it, I fell and took out about 3 or 4 of my fellow step aerobicizers.
It was not pretty. But I went back at it, just a little lower in steps, and a lot lower in “pride.”
Love ya girl,
GA Jan
I always laugh when I think of the time a friend and I decided to finally bite the bullet and try a step aerobics class. We didn’t have the best workout apparel, but by George, we each had three kids at home, and we were just going to go together and make the best of it. Even though we felt a little like country mice gone to the city walking in there in our shorts & t-shirts while most of the other women were in official workout duds, we were determined to just do the best we could.
And we did.
But oh we laughed and laughed when we realized that my friend’s dirty tennis shoes (she lived on a farm) had been full of mud and were creating a horrible mess on her step. As soon as they took a break, we grabbed paper towels and cleaned it right up, but ya just had to laugh!
Taking Body Step at Gold’s Gym one day as the ONLY new person in the class they put me in the middle. They should have put me in the back. I kept knocking people over left and right. And then again. It was an hour long class.
There was a bean dinner involved.
That is as detailed as I will get.
I always used to do different workout videos with my girlfriends in college. I begged and begged my husband to do them with me years later when we were married (we didn’t know each other in college). Anyway, one day he finally agreed, so we put in my kickboxing video that I had memorized and it was the FUNNIEST thing watching him try to follow Denise Austin’s sassy little kickboxing moves. It probably doesn’t translate well without a video. Oh how I wish I had one to share. He’s so sweet to me for doing it with me though, and he even laughed along when I was ROLLING on the floor…he did go to State, so I know you’d expect for him to be a perfect gentleman;)
i was 28 and had just started jogging..i guess i must have looked pretty silly..two high school guys drove by in a car and yelled out their window about how silly i looked! rude! but, i can laugh about it now!
My husband and I decided we would bike to a friends house for a cookout. I was to bring a salad. My husband decided he would be the one who carried the salad while biking. He ended up going over the handlebars and literally “tossing the salad”
My favorite memory was my cheering section!
I had a brand new Wii Fit. I decided to try it out while the rest of the family was finishing a marathon dinner event. (With a 2 & 5 year old, it happens)
So, I get going on the hula hooping… OK that is challenging! I try jogging… yep I had to stop halfway from jogging in place…
Then I decided yoga was a much less strenuous option!
Much more my speed! So I am performing some amazing balance thingy, and I hear from the top of the stairs… “Go Mommy Go, Go mommy Go!!!” from my kids in unison! I fell off the Wii fit board, and they capped it off with “AWWWwwww”.
taking a dance class to learn all the dances from Saturday Night Fever….
and NOT for exercise! And I was an adult…and a teacher at the time!!
One of the goofiest fitness memories I have is of cramming my post 3rd baby form into a red workout set , blocking off the living room from the kids with baby gates then turning on my Denise Austin tape and struggling to even get through the warm up only to have all 3 kids scale the gate and sit on me as I try to keep up with Denise to the tune of “Hallelujah it’s raining men” all the kids were singing it too – sounded weird to my hubby too – guess you had to be there :)
It would have to be playing badminton with my cousin when we were much younger. She was the most uncoordinated badminton player EVER, and we both literally rolled on the ground laughing. The funniest part was that she wasn’t able to serve the birdie – which is the easiest stroke of the entire game. Sooo funny!
I did the Jillian workout, drove in the car to run an errand and then could not walk once i got home. She killed me!
I took a toning class at the Y. The only reason I did it was because my friend taught it, so I was less intimidated. One day we had a sub and she worked us so hard that almost every muscle in my legs was seizing. For 2 days after, when I stood up I could only make it half way at a normal speed because the front of my hips would hurt. Then I’d slowly stretch up to almost upright and hobble to where ever I needed to go.
Doing an exercise DVD with LOTS of lunges,and feeling very good about it. The following day being in so much pain that in order to go to the bathroom I had to fall onto the toilet!! OUCH!
When my friend was running on the treadmill, listening to comedy. She started laughing so hard she forgot she was running and fell on the treadmill. True story.
Sometimes, when you are doing yoga, it causes some gas to occur. Once my bff were doing yoga and she slipped a little. She was mortified but it started us in on the giggles, that eventually turned into guffaws. We just couldn’t stop laughing.
When I was pregnant with my first child I took a water aerobics class with a bunch of little old ladies. My daughter was breech and those ladies had me do a handstand under water with one lady on either side of me holding my legs while I held my breath as long as I could to try and get my daughter to flip over. Didn’t work. I ended up with a c-section. I loved those little old ladies though!
I can’t hardly work out anymore in my own home thanks to my little Boston Terrier Stitch. When I’m on the floor doing push-ups, he gets right under my nose! When I’m doing crunches or sit-ups, he gets his 2 front feet up on my chest! He must think I need to work harder- or love on him instead! LOL
I remember in college (late 80’s) exercising with my roommate to an audio tape of Jane Fonda. We took to flipping off the radio during the leg lifts and telling her to stop eating her bon bons while we were killing ourselves.
For the record, if you look at Jane’s legs and then mine, you only think bon bons when you look at me…..
Just thinking about Richard Simmons fills my heart right up to the top.
Trying to do aerobics and I am so very uncoordinated. My two teenage daughters were standing in the background laughing at me.
My favorite memory is stairstepping in front of my mail coworkers at a corporate gym literally the day before my now 15 year old was born. I must’ve looked hilarious….but I was pretty proud of myself.
Taking our two large but well-behaved dogs for a walk at the same time, I looked away for a moment and tripped over one of them, landing on my hands and knees and somehow scraping up my shin. The dogs were so sweet as I sat on the sidewalk and cried. I could barely walk for the next week.
I know what you mean about walking funny after working out. I went to an aerobics class once and the instructor has us do lunges, but not the usual kind. She had us do lunge walking across the entire length of the gym (I believe it was a basketball court, if that gives you any of idea). As if that wasn’t bad enough, we had to walk back too! Lunge walking back and forth across a very LONG gym can really kill your legs. I was in pain for days! Not only did I walk funny, but had trouble sitting down and getting up. It was very attractive!
i love to walk and in the summer I love, love aqua execise class! It is the best. I exercise and have fun!!
Each night we walk together as a family 1 mile, it’s 3 laps around our block and the conversations can be pretty funny!
In college, I took a class for PE – roller skating. But because it started so early all the way across town at the roller rink – I failed it.
While working out, I never noticed the big rip in my workout pants. I guess the crew at the gym got a great peek that day. The laugh was on me.
I ran track when I was in high school and from the very beginning of high school, I’d get HORRIBLE leg cramps after the first day of practice. So my senior year, I was determined that it wouldn’t happen because it was so embarrassing and it didn’t seem to happen to anyone else. I made sure I had plenty of potassium and I ran in the off season between volleyball and track so that I’d be in shape. But I was a sprinter and we did a ton of wind sprints that first day of practice my senior year but I was SO determined. I spent extra time stretching and as I left practice, I thought, “I did it! no cramps this year.” I told all my running buddies – bragging about how it didn’t happen this year so they could quit laughing at me. About that time, as we were walking home from practice, I got into the middle of the intersection of the four lane highway that ran past the track where we practiced, and the cramps hit and I hit the ground. It was awful, I was crying and my friends were laughing as we tried to get me across the street. All the boys track team were watching. It was awful but I did get lots of sympathy from the guys. It’s almost funny now…
This isn’t a story about my workout but about a friend. She was engaged and she & her fiancée decided to try P90X from the infomercial. About 2 weeks after they got their DVDs in the mail they were unbearable with all their talk about how they felt so much better and knew the DVDs were working, and how they were both getting sooooo strong and increasing their endurance, etc etc etc.
A group of my friends, including these 2, made a trip to go hiking & the whole time there all we heard was how easy this was going to be for them & that they would probably have to leave us behind because they would be so fast.
We all started together on a trail that got progressively more difficult. When we got to a pretty steep part that goes pretty long, these 2 announced that they were so in shape because of P90X they could run up the slope and the rest of the trail to the end. So they take off and the rest of us (who aren’t bodybuilders but aren’t out of shape either) went up at a more reasonable pace. When we got to one of the last bends in the steep section about 7 or 8 minutes later, we turned into and these other 2 were laying on the ground gasping for air.
Of course at that point they admitted they had been skipping more days of their workouts than actually doing it and had to endure the entire rest of the day hiking then the car ride home being teased about how strong they were.
I tried a “Master Step” class with a friend one day. I only lasted 10 minutes. Note to self: Master=Advanced.
A couple of yrs ago I started Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home program. My daughter loved doing it with me…and my husband would make good-natured wisecracks about it not taking much effort to do that! Well one night my daughter wanted him to try it with us….he did it for the mile walk…and the next day was so sore from the leg lifts…he could hardly walk without moaning. Been a while since his butt muscles had worked that hard…and he’s in great shape! It was hilarious for us as he thought it was not a workout…
Zumba class, enough said. I just thought I was coordinated!
Actually, the time I laughed the hardest exercising was when my friend and I tried level 3 on the 30-day shred! We had both been doing levels 1 and 2 fairly regularly, but level 3 has a bunch of leaps and jumps and it was generally hilarious!! Thankfully, it was a good friend that I didn’t feel *too* embarrassed making a fool out of myslef in front of!
This morning my sister was telling me about her workout yesterday. She met this lady that is an exmarine and worships Jillian as her idol. She told my sister that she was going to THRASH her and just thinking of that makes me laugh! I love her though!
My Mother and I doing a Richard Simmons workout off of a record. We burned calories only because we were laughing so hard.