Ninja Lite

On the Down Swing

At first, it was just Chip and me and while Chip tried to decide on what 25% off kettlebell he wanted, Marisa started class. Warmed up with the usual assortment of flavors: jumping jacks, mountain climbers, plank jacks and "bend your feet and touch them." I was pretty much done after the warm-up and pretty sure that I'll never want a personal trainer.

At one point, Marisa said that she was being  nice and I thought if this is nice Marisa, hmmm...

Marisa had a bruise on her leg from a kickboxing class that she taught. Her student kicked her instead of the bag. I wanted to engage in a little kickboxing myself...

There just seemed to be no space between circuits. We did a tabata-style circuit and I swung my usual 10 kg kettlebell but alternated with a 16 kg which was the first time that I've picked up anything heavier. After 20 seconds of swinging the 16kg, I felt like I could toss my regular kettlebell as if it were a small rock.

Don't put it down this time.

How did Marisa know that I was thinking about putting down the 16 kg?

I slid, like butter, out of a plank. I did the two hand swing while others did hand-to-hand. I was punch-drunk, people.

Not even Chip's favorite Ninja song could inspire me onward. Chip did have me cracking up when he referred to tabata as Chewbacca.

At the end of class, I collapsed on the floor. The woman behind the counter was smiling from ear-to-ear and amazed by my stillness and speechlessness. Nothing worked at the end of class -- not even my vocal chords.