Spartan Training

Well in true Anna style - I dove right in to working out....no need for gradual increments right?! Ugh...I thought it'd be "easier" to just go for it.  And I thought if my cousins can do it - then heck, so can I! But I'm getting ahead of myself....let me start again.

My local athletic club has this training class you can join called "Spartan." Think crossfit meets interval training meets cardio -- ALL jam packed in to 30 minutes. And when I say jam packed - I mean it!  Each section is 5 minutes long - one person does one exercise, while their counter parts do a different exercise. Once the "pacer" is done - they switch with one of their teammates.  You rinse  & repeat for the entire 5 minute section, then a whopping 30 second "break" while you rotate to the next section for another 5 minutes.  Literally you go balls to the wall the entire time.  This is all done while wearing a heart rate monitor - and then at the end of class everyone can see where each other were thru the class.  The goal: to spend as much time in the "red zone."
Sounds manageable right?  I mean heck...it's only 30 minutes!  Yah, that's what I thought too!  Until I got to burpees....

What's that?! Never done a burpee?!  Man oh man are you MISSING out! (pardon me while I barf just thinking about burpees....) Hell...pure hell.  Bless my sweet cousin & her husband who were my teammates last night.  They didn't judge me one bit when I stopped moving entirely during a few of our sections.  They didn't even get pissed when I couldn't kick of a section as the "pacer."  So of course at the end of class our stats are posted....and shocker! I had the most time in the red zone.  But let's not get fooled -- it's not because I'm awesome.  It's merely because I'm that out of shape....hell, I was in the red zone during our warm up!  Not a proud moment for me....
And today what I have to show for it are sore legs, a sore booty, and sore upper arms.  My lovely cousin said she felt worse the 2nd day...so I'll let you know how I'm doing tomorrow.

But despite the near death experience (driving home immediately following class was not one of my brightest moments) & the soreness - I can honestly say I'm glad I went.  I'm glad I went back to the gym, even if for only 35 minutes.  I'm glad I put my fears of being the "fat, out of shape girl" (I honestly referred to myself as this to my best friend before class) out of my head.  I'm glad I could come home & honestly say I did something intense for the day.  But mostly it has me thinking of how I really do need to get on board with moving my body, getting healthy, watching portions, being active (in all areas of my life!), and participating in a balanced life!  So this week - I'll finish my demo with Spartan training & decide if I can handle that brutality 3x/week - or if I find a different route to stay on track. 
Have you found something that works for you? Does it push you to the very limit? Or have you found a happy medium?? Share your wisdom with me!