You want me to do what?

My plantar fasciitis feels a little better, but I have still not gotten back to tennis, so I am spending more time at the Y.

A friend told me that the Total Fitness class wasn't too hard, and, figuring that I could use a little total fitness, I went to try it out Tuesday morning.

A woman who had taken the class before told me to get two sets of weights, a light and a heavy, set them down beside me. She said there are a lot of repetitions, so I should probably start really light; I grabbed two 3-pounders and two 5s.

The instructor jogged in, the music started blaring, and the class began. They did jumping jacks, they did lunges, they kicked and they jabbed side to side. They lifted their weights, lowered them, and lifted them again, pumping them while balancing on one foot and then the other.

Whoa!

I realized with some chagrin that I can do one, maybe two, jumping jacks. Lunges are not in my repertoire. And although I have been practicing standing on one foot (per orders of the physical therapist), I can't do it for very long, let alone while lifting weights.

I did modifications, marching in place and such while the others bounced around. Most of the weight lifting, actually was OK; I just couldn't keep up with the movements.

Afterwards, I learned that I had wandered into a "Power Sculpt" class. Clearly I am not ready for sculpting.

The woman who helped me set up said she was hanging around to take the next class, Pilates. I've only done Pilates once or twice, and since I was there, I thought I might try it again. My friend said it was much more laid back than the class before.

We got to talking, and she said she was a nurse on her day off. "I love nurses!" I said. I wasn't surprised that she was a nurse, because she had the same caring manner as many of my nurses. (During the Power Sculpt class, she had asked me mid-way how I was doing.) While we waited for Pilates, I gave her the three-minute version of my ordeal, and then I joked that I had the perfect excuse for my inability to hop around.

"I was in a coma. I don't do jumping jacks!" I said.

Or if course it could be that I still have not made a complete recovery from the three-plus months in the hospital, even though that was two years ago. At this point much of it probably has to do with muscle weakness from prednisone, but it doesn't sound as emphatic to say, "I'm on prednisone, I don't do jumping jacks."

In any case, it's nice to be able to joke about it.

I did stay for Pilates, which was not too hard and gave me a good workout for my abs, which I could use, due to the aging process, and again, to prednisone, which is known for giving you a little pot belly.

I drove home, pulled into the driveway, and fell asleep in the car.

I'm very good at my 15-minute power nap. Much better than I am at doing lunges and jumping jacks.