Chapter 6: Ode to Nana

So, here’s the thing. Last week I decided it was time to increase my workouts. I wasn’t getting sore anymore and I’ve been feeling pretty good, so the timing seemed right. Oh, how wrong I was!

Always do the Math!

We have a couple of workout classes that come on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Recently, we’ve made their workouts harder to really push them. Since I wanted to step it up, I thought I’d just do their workout. I didn’t stop to consider the volume difference. I had been doing 4 sets of 4 exercises. The workout groups do 6 sets of 6 exercises. It doesn’t sound like a lot if you don’t do the math (which I didn’t). After all, 4 to 6 isn’t a huge difference. You know what is a big difference, though? 16 to 36!!

I thought I was going to die after the workout Tuesday. My body was not prepared. My mind was not prepared. Nothing about me was prepared. I did it though, and I survived (thank you, Jesus). I was so sore on Wednesday, but Thursday was infinitely worse. Plus, I had to workout again! It was awful for me and entertaining for everyone else. The struggle was very real.

BEAST Mode

There’s more to this story though. You see, my nana has been part of the workout group for over a year now. At 29 years old, I was working out with my 79 year old nana, and she kicked my butt. Nana is an absolute beast! I mentioned how sore I was on Thursday. It was bad! I hobbled everywhere and it took a ridiculous amount of time for me to get up out of my chair. I tell you this because Nana was fine. She came strolling in like we hadn’t worked out to the point of death on Tuesday. She wasn’t sore!! HOW?!?!

That’s when I realized Nana is a beast and is not to be messed with! I can’t stress enough how tough these workouts are. We’re lifting heavy weights and going hard. Nana was doing 65lb deadlifts last week (70lbs this week)! We did the same exercises (different weights) and she was completely fine. Do you have any idea how impressive that is?! 

In this Together!

This Sunday I will be 30 years old. That just made me want to vomit. Ugh! Getting older has always been something I dread/struggle with. Just ask my family about what happened when I turned 20. I may have had a total mental breakdown complete with tears and ended up locking myself in my room. While I know I won’t have that kind of reaction this time, it’s still going to be weird and take some adjusting.

You know what’s awesome though? At 30, I’ll be working out with my nana every week…and every week we’ll be pushing each other to do more. We’ll be encouraging one another because we’re on this journey together. How cool is that?!

So, while this new workout sucks, it’s fun because Nana and I are in this together. I don’t know if she realizes it, but she’s inspiring to everyone in the groups. Every once in awhile someone will argue with me about the weight I hand them. They’ll say “this is too heavy”. Once I say, “Nana did it,” the argument is over. Nana is a beast, and because of her I can see that age is just a number. So here’s to many more years of working out with Nana! Maybe one day I’ll be able to keep up with her!

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.” – Mark Rippetoe

– Lacie