Well, that was eye-opening

I returned to Kick tonight.

For the first time in ohhhh, about four weeks or so.

….does four weeks ring a bell to you?

That’s just about how long I’ve been in this Core Fusion Challenge with my sis.

And wow, was tonight’s class eye-opening.

Usually I find Kick to be EXTRA challenging when in the class versus doing it at home (which is a given since there’s that competitive edge that comes out when in a class setting, afterall). And even harder if I’m teaching it (note to self: I miss teaching!!).

Well tonight’s class felt so different.

Not “easy” by any stretch. Still an ass kicker for sure. But tonight’s class? I felt stronger. Powerful. In control of my moves – especially those side kicks, roundhouse kicks and front kicks.

I totally credit two things to why Kick felt so good tonight:

1 – intervals. All those intervals I love to hate? They are amping up my endurance! High five to me!

2 – Core Fusion! A strong core? Well damn, it transformed my Kick technique incredibly. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror a couple times and dare I say, I looked pretty fierce. 😉

Moral of this story? I heart Group Kick…and I *really* heart Core Fusion. It’s opened up my eyes to a whole new side of fitness I’ve been avoiding for far too long.

Do I regret that? Nah. I wasn’t ready to embrace it. But I am now. Like whoa. 😉

I channeled you and Kicked it wicked hahhd!

Before I kick this off  (ha, pun intended) for my sister, who is guest blogging here for the first time ever (woo!), I have to say this. I am SO freaking proud of her for how much she rocked last night’s Kick video assessment! She was strong, powerful and fierce – and funny – all despite the room feeling like it was about nine jillion degrees! I, in turn, channeled her energy, and went ALL OUT in class last night, seriously kicked harder, jumped higher and punched harder than ever. Even SHE noticed it from the stage which for some reason strikes me as hilarious (why was she paying attention to me, she had a job to do!).

But now, without further ado…I’ll let my sister tell you the rest. Thanks Jo!!

(and PS. I didn’t read her post before writing this foreword and now I’m totally teary, she wanted ME to be proud of her? Awww…ok sorry, carry on, hehe).

My first guest post – finally – for my sister – and I couldn’t be more excited to share my experience with my Group Kick video assessment with you! I wrote a brief post on my blog, about my experience, overall, but had a few more thoughts worth sharing, from a more hardcore workout perspective (for all of you wonderful workout-a-holics! Love it!).

So, here goes.

I came into this taping with a few things in mind – the usuals, like getting through it, not screwing up, or uh, passing out, but I also wanted to one important thing –

Make Jess proud.

And, channel her…channel her for the areas she was stressing about in her assessment (which, I might add, I did too, in terms of miscounting a few cues etc) and accomplish the thing that she’s thisclose to accomplishing herself – scoring a class based on our assessment and performance.

And, I think (and hope!) I did that last night.

It was actually the very first time I didn’t think.

I just went for it.

I “let myself be great” for the first – and most important – time…when it really counts. And seeing my sister beaming from the class gave me the energy and stamina to keep going. And, I couldn’t help but laugh inside watching her Kick it wicked hahhhd (for those non-New Englanders – that’s “hard” to you – lol), because she too was throwing herself into it. It was awesome.

I’ll never forget last night, as just about the hardest thing I have done in my fitness “journey” – harder than my very first 5K (which was extremely difficult for me as a newbie runner at the time), or my first 5-miler race, or even any of my first Cathe workouts. This. Was. Intense.

But I am so proud of how far we have both come since last December – it’s been an amazing journey and I wouldn’t change a thing…especially experiencing it with Jess, one of the only people that truly “gets” me, in all of my fitness fanatic ways 🙂 XO!