Strength, thy name is Elizabeth

And thou hast kicked my ass.

Last night, I tried out a new class called "Body Works Plus Abs" - I knew nothing about it except that it dealt with weight training, and this is something I NEED. Turns out, the instructor was Elizabeth, who also teaches Sunday morning Spinning (which was the toughest spinning class I've ever taken.) She's a lovely Irish lass who is ass-kicking strong and really sweet. I knew I was in for a good workout.

The whole class was weighted movements set to music - for an hour. Things like bicep curls, tricep extensions, lunges, squats, chest fly, shoulder fly, ouch ouch ouch and more ouch. The weights were light but after the 7th repetition or so, you start to really feel it. The class was amazing. I made it through the whole thing without having to put down my weights or stop and rest (aside from quick water breaks between exercises.) The last ten minutes of the class consisted of push ups and ab work.

Last week I had a free consultation with a trainer, and we talked a lot about how effective weight training is when you're trying to get into better shape. Cardio is awesome, of course, but when you build lean muscle, you're furthering your chances of a permanent change. Lean muscle can burn calories while you're sleeping, so you want a lot of it. I had always kind of known this, but for some reason, had shied away from strength training classes.

Well, no more. This class is going to be a regular one for me. I have found my fitness guru in Elizabeth. Plus, I am looking forward to the day that I find myself needing to move to heavier weights in order to be challenged.

I did have some problems when lunging - my feet and calves started to cramp up while we were repeating the lunges. I asked her if I was doing something wrong, but she said my form was good. I have spent all day looking up reasons for the cramping (and the really awful tightness I'm feeling in my right calf today) and it could be anything. I'm going to start stretching my calves and hamstrings every day, and hopefully that will make a difference next time. Any other suggestions? I've heard things like drink more water, eat more potassium... what am I missing?