by Nimble Client, Annie Shapero
As I write this, I’ve got one eye on the clock. At noon, I’ll leave my friend’s fourth-floor walk-up and take the bus halfway across London, where I’m on vacation, for 30 minutes of TRX at a training gym on Tower Bridge Road. You might be wondering why am I spending precious vacation time in a gym; maybe you get the impression that I’m a fitness nut.
Not so! I’ve never been much into fitness. I dance because I love it, and I run because it clarifies my brain. Until recently, I also thought running was the best way to burn off last night’s wine. You couldn’t have paid me to do a push-up and I used to shudder at the thought of a plank. That stuff was for bodybuilders and yogis, not for me. I thought I had it figured out and I felt pretty good…
Sometime last November, however, a friend took me to a TRX class at Nimble Fitness. A body-weight suspension class sounded pretty hardcore. And it was. And yet throughout the entire 45-minute class, I never felt inadequate or intimidated. The trainer was attentive and encouraging, and swinging from the straps felt fun in a sort of nostalgic, jungle gym kind of way. With TRX there were push-ups and planks, not to mention squats, pikes and crunches. But I barely noticed!…Until the next day (and four days after) when my entire body ached, in the best possible way. I went back for more.
It’s now been nearly five months and without realizing it, I’ve transformed my body into a tighter, stronger and braver version of what it was. During the week I’m pretty rigorous about my eating. I stick to rice, vegetables, fruit and fish. Weekends are a free-for-all. Wine is both a ritual and a pleasure (and my job), so it’s around, ideally in moderation. I still run sometimes when it’s sunny, and dance whenever I get the chance, but good old-fashioned strength training–dressed up as fun and fancy TRX–got me thinking, and got my body moving, in ways I never imagined.
And that is why I’ll gladly board the double-decker bus, or le Metro and spend an hour of vacation sweating with a suspension trainer. The novelty has yet to wear off, and I’ve still got work to do. As long as it keeps working, so will I.
