Monday 6 February 2012

Hearing at my gym

This morning I woke up unable to move without pain.

The cause for my old lady hobble?

A kettlebells class.

See, on Saturday, I went to the gym with the Singing Swede. She had tennis, I was going to do a circuit class. Except it became horribly apparent in the first few minutes that I wasn't going to hear anything, so I left.

Fifteen minutes later, as I was running on the treadmill, a guy came up to me to invite me to his gym-floor kettlebells class. Cross that I'd missed circuits, I checked with him whether I'd find it easy to follow and when he said yes, I signed up.

The class was good. You throw a metal weight around that looks like a door stop, you do sit ups with it, squats with it, leg raises and lifting. It goes fast, the pain of each exercise passes quickly, I came out pumped and confident... and crippled.

I cannot bend my legs, I cannot go downstairs – without saying ow on each step – and putting my shoes on this morning felt like the accomplishment of the year. My lower back feels like someone snapped it in half then mended it with Blu-Tack, and just putting one foot in front of the other is a mission.

And am I going to go back next week? Of course I am, because it was a class I could hear well. The instructor was clear, easy to follow, and able to remember for the full 30 minutes that there was a deaf person in his class, making sure I was OK but not neglecting any of his other clients in the process.

So you see I gained doubly from this class. OK today there's pain, but according to him my arse is gonna look amazing and my confidence? Well let's just say the frustration of walking out of a circuits class because of my deafness is long forgotten.

Bravo kettlebells, bravo.

6 comments:

zyanka said...

hello! I'm sorry for my invasion :) I think that yours blog is interesting. And about a gym... Once I had the same case. Also with kettlebells - we jumped, squatted, danced...Then I could't move my body during the week. Now I'm training regularly!)))) I fill so much better!

LaTonya said...

I wish that I could try Kettleball, but unfortunately balance issues came along with my deafness. Beyond your pain...there is a beach body! Have fun :)

neil27 said...

I have seen kettlebells but never seen anyone working out with them. They must do the job or you would not have the pain. Always disliked saying "no pain- no gain" but think it's true. :-). Neil from Bakersfield, California.

Emily Dame said...

I know exactly what you mean! When I find a class/instructor who "gets" the fact that I'm seriously hearing impaired nothing will stop me from becoming a regular. So happy for you (except, of course, not happy that you can't move today)!

Tea cosy said...

I choke laughing!
Keep up the good work.

Carlos Alayeto said...

Ah kettlebells. I myself have a set and its great fun as long as you are not near anything breakable. Just be careful to not overextend your joints as that is the biggest danger (along with conking yourself over the head). If you are interested in home fitness I highly recommend the P90x system. I also believe it has closed captioning which would eliminate having to worry about the trainer's voice. The workouts also don't require very much space and include yoga and cardio mixed with strength training. Hope all is great with you!

-"Fab" Father that you met in Century 21 New York

P.S. If you want to see some pictures of where we are living in Switzerland, check out the gallery at expatartiste.wordpress.com . This Siberian cold front has dropped quite a bit of the white powder in Geneva!

DeafGirly: How I feel about being deaf at work

It's been a whole year since I posted a blog on here. Life's been happening. And I guess I am no longer 'deaf in the city and ha...