Capoeira: The Power of the Pants

Friends, I know that you will not judge me, so I will share with you my darkest secret: I am, alas, not in terribly good shape.  Despite my best efforts, I seem completely incapable of maintaining any kind of healthy habits.  I always have the very best of intentions, but somehow always end up abandoning any exercise routine that I begin. 

I'm just so easily distracted...

My roommate, Sarah, on the other hand, started a running regimen to keep in shape last semester while studying in England.  Being the beast that she is, she continued that practice after returning home at the start of this past summer, only then she had the disadvantage of having me for a running partner.  We set goals and talked a good game about how much we were going to run (so much!), but our enthusiasm eventually petered out.  I think I was a bad influence on her.

Although I actually grew to enjoy the running routine we had, I was really just trying to get my body used to the frequent physical activity, so I would be in decent shape to join our school’s Capoeira club, which I’d been interested in checking out for months.  When the running stopped, it was just around the start of the new semester, anyway, so I figured it was enough.  I’d start learning Capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial-arts/dance form), and that would keep me in excellent shape.  No other exercise necessary!

These guns don't lie.

Yeah, I went to about four meetings.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy Capoeira.  I did.  It was just terribly intense.  I left each class in pain, limping pathetically back to my dorm room.  I could only make it to about one meeting a week, since I needed the rest of the week to recover from the previous meeting.  I couldn’t even roll over in bed at night without going “OW!  MY BUTT!!!”  Also, many other students in the group were dancers who, if not doing it perfectly, at least avoided looking like wounded water buffaloes attempting simultaneous cartwheels/roundhouse kicks.  I worried that I would never catch up to the others.  Each meeting felt more painful and embarrassing than the last.  I thought that my summer running effort had been for nothing.

Why must I be so awkward?

At last, there was a shining beacon of hope; a chance to improve my pathetic skills.  One evening in class, the club co-presidents offered us lowly students the opportunity to buy...

For a nominal fee!

CAPOEIRA PANTS!!!

You need to understand that I HAD TO HAVE THOSE PANTS.  For some reason, I was suddenly certain that if I could only obtain a pair of pants with CAPOEIRA printed down the side, I would be magically transformed into the most graceful and impressive performer of Capoeira ever.  Everyone would envy my mad Capoeira skills.  Capoeira enthusiasts from around the world would gather in awe to see me perform.

As you can probably guess, that is not at all what happened.  No, I continued my wounded water buffalo routine for a few more practices before giving in to my more dominant nature.

I'm just really easily distracted by comics...

And that is how I went from a healthy summer routine to hiding in my dorm room, eating bagels and grilled cheese everyday.

Preparing for the coming winter.