Mmmm... Shoulders!

I should clarify, at the outset, that the shoulders being talked about here are not the sculpted, bronze shoulders of the guy with killer flat abs, gliding topless on a sweaty, hot evening at town lake trail. (Although that topic does deserve an altogether separate blog post). The shoulders in question are, anti-climactically, my own!

I have been going for the LIFT class at 24 hour fitness for almost 2 months now. LIFT, as the name implies, is mainly a free weights class which leaves my legs feeling wobbly and my whole body deliciously sore for two days after. I love it for the way it reaches even those hard to work muscles, two best examples being my glutes and hamstrings. And God knows HOW much work I need in that area!

I can safely say that I have averaged one class per week in these two months and noticed my upper body strength go up. No more 2.5lbs for arms and shoulders. (Yes! Yes! the giant me could only manage 2.5 lbs when I started.) I have now graduated up to 5lbs on each side. So although I feel stronger, I hadn't noticed any changes in the shape of my arms until this past Monday.

I generally run in my loose fitting tech tees but that day I was in a mad rush and landed up pulling out a slightly stretchy cotton tee instead. It was only when I was in the car that I realised how the tee fit differently from before. It used to be 'slightly' snug at the shoulders but now it was 'quite' snug. I kept moving my shoulders and adjusting the tee, hoping for it to fit like before until the thought of the LIFT classes stopped me. It seemed like my shoulders and chest were not the same. Muscular? I don't know. Bigger? May be. More open and wider? May be. They were 'nicely' different in a way that I found myself breathing deeper and running a very steady 4 mile loop with straighter back and shoulders!
In 100 deg F temperature too :)

Now my child-like biceps are another story altogether. But who knows! In time, may be I'll be surprised by another one of my tees fitting even more snugly!