Can You Put My Pants on for Me?

Last night, after class, I was hungry and still needed to do our grocery shopping for the week. Normally, this is a terrible idea. Luckily for me, I was dead set on getting healthy foods and instead of ending up with nutritionless snacks, I have enough fruits and veggies to feed a family of 18 for a week. Something I learned long ago to ensure that I am getting the most out of my meals is that they need to be colorful. Because of that, I buy orange carrots, yellow peppers, purple onions, white cauliflower, red tomatoes, light green cucumbers, baby spring mix lettuce (avoid iceberg lettuce--there's nothing in it!), etc. I also try to vary my fruits: yellow bananas, purple plums, red apples, oranges, green grapes, blueberries...you get the idea, right? Needless to say, although my grocery bill was about $30 higher, our fridge is stocked with healthy, beneficial foods and I won't be reaching for a bag of chips any time soon.

Anyway, so as I am walking in the door with about 13 bags of groceries draped over my arms, I see my husband in the family room wrapped up like a pretzel.

Me: Honey? Are you ok?
Patrick: (through very labored breathing) Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just doing some yoga.
Me: (walking over to give him a kiss) Are you sweating? (Finally reaching him) Oh my God---you're sweating!

He looked up at me with the most anguished face (bent over with his left hand trying to reach his right hand by way of through his legs and over his back). Yoga, contrary to popular belief, is a bit rough. He was forcing his body to move in ways that he did not even know were possible. When he asked me earlier in the day what he should do for his workout, I recommended yoga (because it is one of the workouts from P90x and therefore we have a DVD for home use), he was all for it. I told him the key to yoga was keeping his core engaged. He managed to "keep his core engaged" for about 42 minutes. I was quite proud.

After dinner, Patrick professed that he was going to get up in the morning and try it again. "Are you CRAZY???" I asked. He simply replied, "It's for the kids."

This morning, after Patrick's yoga, shower and protein shake (complete with the fresh strawberries I bought last night), we were putting our clothes on for work. He looked at me wtih sad, puppy dog eyes and sincerely requested, "Can you put my pants on for me?" I nearly laughed myself into a frenzy. He is so incredibly sore that no one can doubt my husband is working very hard!

Workout tip: To ease soreness, drink lots of water. Don't drink Propel water followed by Crystal Light, followed by some other water-BASED drink with flavor. All of those have sodium which only serve to dehydrate you more. (You don't have to eliminate them altogether because they do have some redeeming/replenshing benefits) Just drink plain old stinkin' straight-from-the-tap water. Trust me on this one.