Maya is officially trying to become a little more active… although she’s definitely easing into it. 😄
Earlier this week, her friend Laila offered to let her use a spare room she had turned into a small workout space. It isn’t a fancy commercial gym, but it has everything Maya needs for now: a workout mat, a few weights, some basic exercise equipment, plenty of floor space—and, most importantly, some peace and quiet in the morning.
Maya started her new routine on Monday, and today—Friday—is only her second workout session.
For now, she’s following along with a beginner exercise course that comes on an audio CD. The lessons are designed to start very gently, introducing the movements little by little before becoming more demanding later on. Maya likes that idea. She has never been the type to suddenly jump into an intense workout program and spend the next three days wondering why every muscle in her body hurts.
So at around 8:00 in the morning, she arrives with her mat, water bottle, comfortable workout clothes, and a reasonable amount of motivation.
Reasonable being the important word.
Today’s lesson was still one of the easy introductory sessions. A little stretching, some simple movements, a few repetitions…and that was about it. Maya barely worked up a sweat.
Not that she was complaining.
Usually Laila joins her for the workout. Having somebody else exercising beside her makes the whole thing more entertaining, and the two can encourage each other—or laugh whenever one of them completely loses track of what the instructor on the CD is telling them to do.
But today was different.
Laila had to leave for work unusually early, something that almost never happens, so Maya had the workout room entirely to herself.
She finished the lesson, looked around the quiet room and decided there was absolutely no reason to rush away.
After all, every good workout needs a cooldown…right?
Maya slipped off her flip-flops, stretched out across the exercise mat and allowed herself to relax for a while. First she rested on her stomach, then kicked her feet up behind her while enjoying the peaceful room. With nobody waiting for the equipment and nowhere she needed to be immediately, the “cooldown” quickly became one of her favorite parts of the routine.
Eventually she sat up and reminded herself of the rule:
Only twenty minutes maximum. Then she gets on with her day.
At least, that's the rule for now.
The funny part is that Maya has no idea what’s waiting for her farther along in the audio course. These first lessons may barely make her sweat, but each session gradually becomes longer and more intense.
In a few weeks, she might not be stretching out on that mat looking quite so relaxed.
And when Laila is back beside her for the next workout, Maya may finally discover whether having a workout partner makes the harder lessons easier…
…or just gives her someone to complain to. 😄
Comments