Cross training at the bar

Ok guys, I have a confession to make. Despite what every single fitness blog, magazine, book and article tells me, I have never been an avid cross-trainer. I mean, I know that I'm supposed to do "stuff" to make me stronger, faster, less injured, blah, blah, blah. I know this in my head. I've even told other people that same advice. But, it was with a "do as I say, not as I do" caveat. I knew all the information. I knew the benefits. I knew the danger of injury if I didn't strengthen my muscles and core.

But ... and there's the word you knew was coming. But, I didn't do it.

I had been running for 15 years, and had never found anything I liked remotely as much as I loved running. So, if anything was going to be pushed out of my workout schedule, it was going to be any form of cross training.

I'm not saying I didn't try. I did. I gave lots of things the good ol' college try. Ok, well, honestly, probably more like the surly middle-schooler try. If I wasn't engaged and loving it, well, I quit. Yup, there's my confession. I was a cross-training quitter.

I quit jazzercise. I quit weight training. I quit Jillian Michaels. I quit yoga. Now, this isn't saying that I didn't like any of these. I actually do enjoy yoga, but I just never seem to find a way to fit it in regularly to my workout/life schedule. And, I did see some improvement when I was faithfully doing Jillian Michaels DVDs. But, then I would miss one day, or I would want to run long so I would skip the DVD that day, then I was short on time one day, then another, and well, the next thing I knew, the DVD was simultaneously gathering dust and taunting me.

Stop pointing at me, Jillian! I know I should cross train more. 

(Oops, there's another confession. I really am horrible at dusting. Seriously, don't come to my house with a white glove or you're leaving with a greyish fuzzy one. Isn't there some study about dust helping to prevent kids from developing allergies? I'm sure I read something like that once. Yeah, that's totally why I don't dust that often. It's for the good of the children. I'm very altruistic that way.)

Anyway, I would listen to my friends talking about their boot camps or swimming or circuit training or bike riding, and I would think, "Good for them. That's awesome."  But, I just couldn't find anything for which I wanted to carve out time. I mean, I'd do a couple crunches and maybe some push-ups at the end of a run, but nothing even remotely resembling a cross-training regimen.

Then, back in November, I got a message on FB from a running friend telling me about a Living Social deal for an exercise studio called The Bar Method. She had tried this class before and had really loved it. And, because I know that cross training is good for me, and I know that I'm supposed to do it, I bought the deal.

But, I didn't want to start right before Thanksgiving, because who knows when I would get time to go. And, I didn't really want to start during December because, well, the holidays make everything crazy. And, I didn't want to start at the beginning of January because we were having such good weather, and I was able to run outside.