Livre d'Or

*hugs* I've been really impressed that you've kept up the habit of going to the gym, I hope I may copy your good example at somepoint... The important thing is to keep the habit even if you have a couple of off sessions; if you turn up and do something, that's a massive part of the inertia working in your favour instead of against you already, even if you decide you don't want to do one of the things you usually do for once.

I'm really glad you've discovered more of what you can and can't do without triggering asthma; it could so easily have been hard to do anything, but you're right, you were determined to keep trying, and you've gone from almost nothing to regularly exercising, getting noticeably fitter and stronger, to knowing a lot better your limits and which you can and should push through and which you shouldn't press, and generally been an awesome success if you look back on it, so don't let a couple of sessions overwhelm that.

I know I would feel exactly the same as you in the same situation. I always feel awful when I'm trapped in a public situation I'm not quite up to; I suddenly get blind and can't see what's a reasonable way out and what isn't, and find it easier to avoid stuff in advance than exit gracefully, so I know I wouldn't be able to realise this following paragraph about myself, but I can say it about you (and know it's true for me too, even if I wouldn't have thought of it myself).

You have been very successful in getting better, doing exercises, having a trainer, going to classes, and it's worked. Even if every day hasn't been perfect and you haven't always felt like it, you've done enough that you've succeeded. You've improved -- you will go on improving, if you can go on with the same sort of level of stuff as you've been doing. So what's best for you, and what you deserve, and what you are entitled to and are indirectly paying for, is stuff that will work for that. It's a shame that a small change that (presumably) the other instructor thought would be positive and not be a problem was much less helpful for you, but you need what _does_ work for you, and the fact that this one class was a bad fit was unfortunate and possibly embarrassing, but not bad about exercise per se. You are under no obligation to find what's helpful for most people helpful for you: you have specific reasons it wasn't quite right. It's not like you put yourself in under false pretenses: you had every reason to expect it to be good, and it wasn't, but because the communication happened to not quite be sufficient, not because you were intruding on something.

You should work out what would be best for you. Checking beforehand to see if you will the instructor you're used to? Talking to the instructor and seeing if they suggest anything? Seeing if you can keep a second time when you know what to expect, and know what you may be able to leave out? Dropping the class and finding another one? Asking your trainer or Cathy or anyone else who may know what the class is like what they think?

*hugs* It's a problem that will be solved by common sense, objectivity and emotional support, not a fundamental problem with exercising. Don't lose track of how well you've done if something isn't perfect. xxxxx.

Edit: *reads Cathy's comment* Huh. So, apparently your impression of the class was what everyone else thought, you just didn't have the background to know that at the time. So you officially don't suck, yay! :)