Psychology of Sweat

Just in case you thought it might be getting easier into week 4 of The Challenge, let me tell you a little story of class this morning.

There I am, halfway through class, sweating like crazy (did I mention there's no air? ah, but have I mentioned that they got a noise citation in the Saturday class so now they no longer open the big garage doors, either? it's like a SAUNA, even when it's pleasant outside), and the instructor tells us to do a plank. Ugh. Quite possibly my least favorite word during the workout (particularly when she says lets do pushups to planks, which are a cruel version of torture that should be reserved for terrorists and screaming children, but I digress, this was just a plank).

So, there I am, halfway through class, sweating like crazy, attempting to do a plank and hold it for a minute. And as I'm holding, my arms are quaking underneath me and I realize as I look at my shaking hands (that I firmly believe were not created to hold half my body weight on top of them as they are at that moment) I realize even the creases in the back of my hand are sweating. I didn't even realize there were sweat glands there to begin with, but apparently when you're this hot, tired, and out of shape, sweat comes out all over. And as I'm still...{grunt}...planking... sweat begins to roll off of my neck (note, I have a bandana on to capture the swamp that is my forehead, so this is extra sweat) and fall down onto the mat between my hands. And after a few drops form together I realize that my sweat looks remarkable like those ink blots that they always have in the movies in the psychologist's office. So I start to concentrate on what shape my sweat blots are forming (whatever it takes to get me through that minute, folks!). And after a few more gather, I swear they formed a smirky little smiley face which if it had a voice bubble coming off of it would have been saying "Looks like you're a little hot and sweaty? Having trouble with that plank there? Ha ha ha ha {cackle, cackle}." And then I stopped imaging what my sweat blots were trying to tell me and fell out of the plank. Because really, there's only so much inner psychology you can take from your body at 6:30 in the morning.