A right to BARE arms

I have no upper body strength whatsoever. It is unfortunate and has been my curse ever since I can remember.

I could never do a pull-up in PE class. I could never climb the stupid rope. I could never even hang on the pull-up bar without almost strangling myself. What was that called anyway?

I blame this on my mother who recounted often how in her gym class when she was supposed to climb the rope, she just sat on the knot.

Seriously though, if my life depended on the fact that I could hold my body weight by my arms only, I would just have to be prepared to meet Jesus. It's not going to happen.

The round about point of all this is that I started working out with a trainer again to help keep me motivated, not only to exercise but to try and build some strength in these puny arms and shoulders. (And by looking at my shoulders and arms, you would never call them puny. It's all an illusion.)

My first session was last night and I can honestly say I feel like my arms are going to fall out of their sockets. After a few rounds of push-ups, rowing exercises and bicep curls I woke up at 3 AM hardly able to lift them. I rolled out of bed because I couldn't lift myself up to sit up because, oh, my abs hurt too from all the crunches.

I scavenged for some Tylenol and finally found it. In the process almost missing my mouth because I couldn't raise my arm that high. Trying to brush my teeth was even better as was washing and drying my hair.

So if you see me over the next couple of days doing a fantastic impression of a robot or attempting to struggle with an ordinary item at shoulder height, please help.