Hot Yoga

Ah, my cute sister, Lex. One of the many things I love about her is that she looooves to work out. She is one of my favorite workout buddies.

The other night, I was at spinning, and our spinning teacher played "Eye of the Tiger." For those of you out there who didn't grow up in Idaho Falls, that's I.F. High School's song. If ever there was a pep assembly, or whenever our players ran out onto the football field, that song was blaring. So when the music in spinning started with, "BUM! Bum-bum-BUM! Bum-bum-BUM! Bum-bum-bummmmmmmmmm....." I so badly wanted to yell out, "Go Tigs!!" But I was too shy. It occurred to me at that moment that, if Lexi had been there, we would have both yelled it out together. And then giggled. We do a lot of giggling together. And I love it.

Whenever Lex is in town, we try to work out together as often as possible. Sometimes she acts as my personal trainer, and then I'm sore for two weeks and can hardly function. For reals, yo. She's hard core. She's really into planks, which I hate more than The Bird. (You still haven't read Unbroken yet? Read it! Read it! Read it!) And that's saying something. Because The Bird is evil. He is the fruit of the devil. You know I've recently worked out with Lex when I walk down the stairs and say, "Ow, ow, ow," with each step. Or when I cough or laugh and then groan and grab my ribs, because those dang planks make my muscles between my ribs sore. Or when I fall into chairs and kind of roll out of them to save on muscle effort in my legs. She's a killer.

When Lex came up for Thanksgiving with her hubster, Chris, she asked me if I wanted to try a Hot Yoga class in town. I was game, of course. I'm always game to work out. Lex had taken Hot Yoga classes in Boise and swears by it. She says it has been really good for her knees.

For those not in the know, Hot Yoga is like regular yoga, but you do the class in a really hot room. So you are literally pouring sweat the whole time. Lex's class in Boise did their poses kind of rapidly. She warned me that I might throw up or pass out. She told me that she didn't make it through her whole first class. I was a leetle nervous. I brought lots of water with me.

So we gave it a shot, and it was hilarious. I walked into the room and hit this WALL of heat. They had space heaters on, all over the room, blowing right on the people in there. There was a digital thermometer that read 104 degrees. I kid you not. It was insane. I started giggling when I hit that wall of heat (because Lex inspires the giggle in me) and muttered, "There is no way I'm making it through this class!"

But I was pleasantly surprised. I got used to the heat pretty quickly. And the class was nice. The teacher actually played T. Pain music the whole time, which was refreshing. I kind of get sick of the new agey stuff lots of yoga instructors play. The lights were very dim, and with the warm space heaters on, I really just wanted to take a nap in there.

Did I sweat? Yeah. Buckets. As much as I do when I spin. And that's saying something. But it was really fun to do something different. And I felt great afterwards. And no, I didn't pass out or throw up. Lex said that they didn't do many difficult poses or go through them as rapidly as they did in her class in Boise. Which was fine by me.

I didn't sign up for the long haul, because I already have a gym membership and can't afford a membership at this place as well, but if my gym ever decides to offer it, I might have to go every now and then. Maybe I can bring an ipod and listen to T. Pain while the others are listening to Yanni.