It started back in high school in my PE class. When I was in school it was a mandatory subject and the teachers treated it like one. We were graded on activities and had to take written test. Then one semester our grade was going to be based on the amount of exercise we could do. One of the grades would be for sit-ups and sit-ups only. What I mean by that is I would get 1 point for each sit-up that I did. Get it? If I wanted 100 I'd have to do 100 sit-ups. Ugh!! Could I do it?
I THOUGHT I WAS FIT
I think I was relatively fit. I bowled a couple times a week plus I was on the school gymnastic team so I wasn't exactly a couch potato. I watched as some lesser fit classmates struggled and struggled trying to do just enough to get a passing grade. A few aced it but most others barely passed.
While I waited I started thinking perhaps I should plan a strategy sort of like a marathon runner paces himself. Don't start too fast or I may not finish. It seemed the ones who did well developed sort of a rhythm, curl up, curl down and do it all over again at a steady pace.
Thirty Three and Counting
Then it was my turn. The first 20 or so weren't too bad then I started to feel the strain but I kept going. Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three and I was only half way to a passing grade. Could I make it? In my mind I was determined but would my body fail me? I don't know. I just kept curling up then curling down again and again.
My lower ab muscles started to burn then as I finally hit 70 the passing grade they were screaming but I wanted a better grade then that. Each sit-up felt like I was moving in slow motion and it was getting so painful. I wondered how it could be legal for a school teacher to inflict such pain and still get away with it but I continued to curl up and curl down.
"Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety" my gym teacher counted. "Come on you can do it"she shouted but it almost sounded like a demand. Each sit-up after that I barely remember. I think I was delirious and at times almost stopped in the middle of the curl up and down.
THE MAGIC NUMBER
Finally I heard her say the magic number: "ONE HUNDRED!". I collapsed on the floor and spent the rest of the class in lower ab intensive care. Would I ever be able to "sit-up" again or would I even care to? At the moment the only thing that mattered was I got the grade. Was it worth it? I suppose so but anytime I hear the word "sit-up" now I immediately have a flashback to the painful lower ab workouts that fail to convince me were worth the trouble.
That leads me to mention a lower ab workouts program that I used successfully that "doesn't" focus on sit-ups alone. (You know how much I hate sit-ups!) Read my story here: LOWER AB WORKOUTS
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