Cardio Queen. That was my unofficial nickname at the gym.I would proudly pop on my I-pod, pull out my trashy magazine, and a big bottle of water (Nalgene of course…I care about the environment people) and stay on my cardio machine for the entirety of my gym session. I Pumped away on a variety of machines…I have a particular addiction to the elliptical….my foolish mind believed this was how I was going to acquire those six pack abs I had always dreamed of. These machines will make me super sexy sculpted girl, I will be on the next Shape Magazine….Oh how foolish I was….

Well I can’t afford a personal trainer…even after giving blood three times in one month for extra cash….word to the wise DO NOT recommend this and I have tried the free weights and strength machines on my own without much success. Either I got bored very easily and think picking up the free weights counted as a rep and I was done for that day or I wasn’t sure how to use the machines so I ended up doing my hamstrings on the machine that worked triceps….don’t ask. So where does a girl go from here, back to her elliptical?

Fortunately for me there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I, my friends, went group. They always advertise group exercise classes but I thought I was too cool to try them….ok I lie I am chicken crap…I was scared I was not going to know what I was doing in there and be made a fool. I thought I wouldn’t fit in with my crappy wife beaters and college gym shorts. I was determined however, mainly cause I wanted those dang abs! So what is so good about going group?

Well the first day I entered the class I did the mature thing and went straight to the back of the room in a panicked haze. The instructor who literally must have eyes in the back of her head turned and went straight for me. She demanded my name and pushed me to what I would need. Fifty different items later (a step, weights in three different sizes, a bar, you get what I am sayin) I was ready.

The class was an hour of torture. Lift this, lunge that, step on this, push on that. My body was freakin out.It could peddle for hours at a time on the elliptical but it wasn’t used to lifting weights for 60 minutes or 5 for that matter. I, however, am not a quitter.In desperation I looked around the room for some sort of motivation and it surprised me how easily it came. It came from the woman who was easily twice my age and was pumping twice the weight I was. It came from the other woman who smiled THE ENTIRE TIME.

It came from the woman who looked like she was about 7 months pregnant. I also noticed that I wasn’t the only one sweating like a whore in church. There were other women in the room who were struggling like I was. It was comforting though because in essence we were all working together in some way to kick our own behinds.

I made it through that class….barely. I also made it through the two days afterwards where I could barely walk….and the weird thing was I kept going to that class and then started to add other classes to it as well. Call me a glutton for punishment but I kind of liked that someone told me how to punish myself and I didn’t need to pursue this torture on my own.

I also liked the two day sore, although it made stair climbing and peeing very difficult, I liked it because I knew that I was getting results. I also liked the community aspect of the class. These women were chatting up to each other before class and after and encouraging each other in between.It made the hour fly.

So of course now you are wondering did I get those six-pack abs I hoped and dreamed of? Well….honestly? No. But WAIT don’t stop reading there is a happy ending to this story I promise! What I did gain from going group was far more beneficial then being able to wear tube tops all the time. I did gain muscle and definition.

For the first time in my life I had biceps and my legs looked FAB! (Lunges what?!)Not to mention the plateau I faced beforehand with the ten extra pounds that I was caring was gone. I felt stronger, sexier, and healthier. Best of all I built myself a little community with all the women in the classes I went to. Now I could chit chat with them before and yell profanity in between and make sure to push all of them to kick their own butts.

Am I still a cardio queen? Well, since I have gone group I am no longer the cardio queen I once was. Does this mean that my love affair with the elliptical has died? You CRAZY YO! Absolutely not. I love my cardio and love my elliptical. However, now that I have gone group I will no longer go back to just cardio….my elliptical will just have to learn how to share.