After relatively successfully finishing the infamous insanity workout in 2013 and a failed attempt to do so again in 2014, I decided that it was time to actually get out of the house and get some exercise. After all, all those cupcakes won’t magically turn into abs of steel.
I had contacted a personal trainer here in Suriname months ago, but for some reason I was never actually able to start. First there the new job, then the car accident, then I went on vacation and then there were the holidays, so the trainer and I had scheduled to start training in January. The first weeks he was busy setting up his new gym, so by the time he was ready, my own schedule was hectic again. So I arranged to start in the first week of February.
So right after recovering from my birthday, I started training. Let’s say this gym subscription is sort of a gift to me. Since I haven’t seen the inside of a gym since 2010, I was expecting the extreme muscle pain that beginners go through. The first day went by okay. I had some tension in my muscled, but nothing that would keep me from going again the second day.
In retrospect the first day turned out to be a “warm up” compared to the second day. It was also after the second day that I could feel the muscle pain when I went home, which only grew worse the next morning. I was in serious and extreme agony in every inch of my body. My arms couldn’t move and I was barely even able to drive my car. It was even a struggle to pick up my laptop and I was basically functionless the entire day. I couldn’t think of anything other than the pain. Total body paralysis. The night before I barely slept, because the only position I could lie in was on my back and I can’t fall asleep when lying on my back. So that night I made sure to cover all the painful places – which was basically everywhere – in a pain relieving balm, which totally help, because the following day my arms could function some more.
That day I had another day of training, which went much better than expected. After the agonizing pain the day before, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to lift an ounce of weights, without my limbs tearing of my body. The strange thing is that the thing that caused my muscle pain in the first place, was also the thing that took it away again. After that exercise I made sure to do some stretches, take a cold shower and rub in some pain relieving balm again. The following morning my entire body was fully functional again and I was able to catch up on 2 days of work.
