Toothbrush Exercise: My Legs Have Known the Pain of Death

Exercise and I really aren't meant to be friends. I went ahead and gave plyometrics a shot the other day, over at the Core Kinesis gym in Legend Villas (along Pioneer). A friend of mine gave me some gift certificates for free lessons, and I've been meaning to get some physical activity in (for health purposes, you understand), so I told myself, Okay, I've got some free time, why not?

Hidden within is the possibility of muscle pain. 

Oh, oh, oh. I know now why not. I did the exercise Thursday. It's now Saturday and my legs still feel the awesome and terrible burn. Getting out of bed, already a dreadful process to begin with, is now a task almost beyond enduring. Stairs have truly become the enemy. And heels! Oh, heels: they clench my butt and strain my calves in all the most agonizing places. It's so bad that a massage will only hurt me instead of help me. 

And all this pain reveals but two things: one, I am horribly, horribly out of shape (no surprise there, I've been a couch potato for about a year now). And two, Core Kinesis is an awesome gym that works out your whole body in one sweat-inducing hour. It just so happens that my legs feel the burn the most. It's a good place for exercise junkies, masochists, and people who really, really want to get in shape. I fall in the third category, in case you were wondering.

Last bit. Nestor, the main trainer at Core Kinesis, actually spouted some exercise philosophy to me that I felt made the most sense I ever heard on the subject of exercise. He was a former professor at UP (some physical science subject, I forget) and I think has worked as a physiotherapist with some PBA teams, so he's got both academic and street cred. He told me, as I warmed up on the treadmill and pretended to not be out of breath at 5kph, that exercise is like brushing your teeth.

"How many times should you brush your teeth in a day?" he said. "That's really up to you, isn't it? But the more regularly you do it, the better, right? It's the same with exercise. There's no 'best' number of times in a week, no 'how often.' Physical activity once a week is better than none at all."


Agree? I agree. Shut up. :)