1. It has now been 6 months since Gavin's birth and I am (finally) starting to feel up to working out. For those of you who have not had a C-section...much less one with lots and lots of long-term health complications, it is definitely not an overnight recovery, and has taken me this long to feel okay & brave enough to try. Kudos to me for this!
2. This is the part of mommyhood where the whole "new baby in the house" thing has begun to settle down a bit, and life is starting to turn into some resemblance of a routine...(we're all sleeping a little bit more around here, and I now feel completely fine about selfishly claiming 3-4 hours a week of some well-deserved, much needed "ME" time....yes, even if this means that Jeff is on his own for the dinner cleanup/tubby/getting into jammies part of the day!) Three 1-hour Zumba sessions where the music is loud, the lights are bright, and all I have to focus on is not srewing up the arm pump/Salsa feet combination (which, incidentally, is NOT as easy as it looks on So You Think You Can Dance) is exactly the kind of self-indulgent treat that I'm ready for.
3. I am done using the "I just had a baby" excuse as to why certain parts of me are jiggly & gross, and am taking the bull by the horns and doing something about it. Period.
Anywho, about the Zumba class-- it really was a blast!! Basically an intense combination of floor aerobics, cardio kickboxing, and Latin dance moves, all culminating in one very sweaty, heart-pounding hour of calorie burning fun. The music is awesome, and all of the Latin rhythm definitely gets the Cubana blood pulsating in my veins...(I'm sure Abuelo y Maria would be proud!) It quickly became apparent to me that some of the moves will take time to polish, and that in the meantime I am going to look like a Gringo white girl in a Salsa club tryng to keep up...but I'm okay with that for a little while ;-)
It's also a huge plus that most of the clientele are other moms with the same "my body is no longer a temple (since housing a few babies)" issues as me, and we're all in the same boat physically, so to speak. No one in the class resembles Jillian Michaels or Denise Austin, and the majority of us might need to stop a few (or, 10) times for water breaks. To me, this isn't disappointing or upsetting at all. Sure, when I was 18 and in the best shape of my life, I could knock out a field hockey practice, a 3 mile run, and a full cardio kickboxing class in a 3 hour timeframe....but the truth is, I am not 18, and my body has changed a LOT, especially since having kids. I'm okay with not being a size 4 anymore, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to look and feel the best that I can today. And entering into this new exercise regimen with a very realistic mindset- that it is going to be hard, that the initial hump of the routine will take a while to become familiar to me, and that I will be sore for the first few weeks-- can only help me in the long run.
So, Zumba three times a week it will be, and I'm writing it here so that all of you can hold me accountable to this. And on the off-days, perhaps I should get some use out of the ridiculously expensive, self-powered recumbent bike (that's been collecting dust in our family room for over a year now) for something other than it's current role:
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