I didn’t want to go to the gym today. “I’m so tired,” I explained to a coworker. “Exercise might make you feel more energetic,” he said. “I’m so busy!” I told another friend. “What are you doing?” she asked. “ummm…I have to read the Internet?” I replied. “But it’s going to SNOW!” I cried to a man who rode the elevator with me out to the car. “I’m not skipping the gym,” he said.

Dang, I was sure the snow excuse would work. Here in Washington, we shut down when it snows and start to drive terribly. And so, with no excuse, I made it to Pulse’s Tuesday Bone Builder class, followed by MELT, and I’m glad I did.

Lisa’s Bone Builder starts with cardio, and then moves to a series of strength stations for two minutes each. I was a little late (thanks Beltway traffic!) so unfortunately missed cardio but I sailed through the strength stations. We did triceps on the rope pulldown, weights for biceps curls, the rip bar for back, triceps on the TRX (Lisa worries about women’s triceps), and a few others. I loved a new exercise which looked like lunges using a Step360 but were actually hip flexor stretches. You put your arms on the step, then one leg next to the step and one leg straight back. When you bend the leg next to the step, you get a great hip opener.

Next we moved to MELT class which if you haven’t tried, you should. We rolled small hard balls across the bottoms of our feet, hitting particular pressure areas, and then moved to using foam rollers on our legs. The side leg series which targets the inner thigh helps me unwind an area just above the knee with the old injury. It’s always tight there for me but with years of MELT, I’ve been able to loosen the knot considerably. Speaking of knots, we also rolled the IT band which crosses the outer thigh and is also usually tight, but I’m working on it.

The MELT shoulder opening series has an exercise where you lie on your back on the foam roller and hold your elbows and hands to the floor in a “W” shaped position, then straighten your arms, moving your hands along the floor to a “Y” position.  Twice recently I’ve been able to keep my hands on the floor during this move including my “bad” shoulder for the first time ever. A few other times I was able to get close! Lisa thinks my shoulders are more open when I am warmed up first, especially with cardio. She also advised me to do the MELT “balance series” at home in the mornings, which is lying on your back on the roller, leaning side to side, tuck and tilting the pelvis without using your glutes or moving your ribs, breathwork, and the “W-Y” stretch. I think it’s working!

“MELT is really the reward for Bone Builder, isn’t it?” said a woman in the class, new to Pulse. “Yes, yes it is,” I agreed, feeling energetic and relaxed at the same time.

Driving home, I was the only one on the road. The snow was beautiful, fluffily blowing sideways as I drove the short distance very very slowly like a true Washingtonian.

You can sign up for Bone Builder and MELT at www.PulseFitnessBethesda.com