Iron body, "rusted"

[draconis]

At our dojo here in Memphis, the last Wednesday night of each month is set aside for what we call "Iron Body Training" -- a heavy physical workout, plus conditioning the various areas of the body to be able to withstand blows.

I've been away from the Memphis dojo for 5 years, and nobody in the Nashville school wanted to train like that, so it's been almost exactly 5 years since my last Iron Body class... and in that time I have seriously "rusted"!

Today, I feel like a 90-year-old man who just went 10 rounds with a heavyweight boxer. I'm tired, I'm stiff, I'm sore, and I have an interesting collection of bruises. I've even got bruises on my stomach, which is not someplace I normally bruise!

To make matters worse, I hadn't realized that last night was the last Wednesday of the month. The weather wasn't bad, so I walked the 2 - 2.5 miles to the dojo, and only then did I find out what was in store!