Gym update
I still intend to write about some of the characters I see at the gym. But not today. I really want to go swim now. Except now there’s some stupid kids in the pool. And the bored housewives look like they’re settling in for the long haul.
Short story though:
I’m at the gym and get cornered by a personal trainer. As part of my membership, I get a free first workout session with a trainer. After that, it’s expensive. Very expensive. And you know I’m a cheapass.
I hadn’t exactly been avoiding the personal trainer appointment; in my first week of membership, I got three different calls from one of the gyms in town. Unfortunately, it’s the only one out of five that I won’t go to, because it’s so far away. After I explained that it was out of my way, I stopped getting the calls. I figured I’d set up an appointment when I felt like it, at one of the gyms more conveniently located.
But he caught me on my way out. I probably don’t look familiar to him; I’ve only been at that gym location once or twice. And I’m fat. Stick out like a sore thumb.
Te trainer asks me what my goals are.To lose weight, I guess, and to get muscle tone. As if he can’t tell I need to lose weight. As any time I’m asked these questions on the fly, I sound a bit scatter-brained. Mostly to lose weight, I continue.
Off on the wrong foot already, I joke, you’re going to kick my ass, aren’t you?
Yes.
I don’t mention that I’m swimming all the time. That I’m often doing yoga in the last month or so. That I just finished working out for about an hour, which explains why my hair is slicked back with sweat. That I have back problems. That I have been newly diagnosed with high blood pressure and so have not been working out this last week. That I also have a long-running thyroid problem that probably keeps me fatter than I ought to be, and it also doesn’t help that I sometimes stop taking my meds for a couple years at a time.
To him, I just look fat, no doubt.
To him, I look like someone who has left getting a gym membership a bit long.
I give him flip answers, like saying, I want to work on my arms. Do you want big muscles or just smaller arms? Smaller arms, mostly, but maybe in 10 years (dragging out a random number), I’d like to have muscled arms.
No sense of the lame humor here. How old are you now? 31
So perhaps he thinks that’s a bit of a slow schedule, to have cut arms by 41.
I’m mostly joking. I hope tomorrow, when he’s in the middle of kicking my ass, that I can be more serious about what I want.
I want to lose weight, most importantly. I want to firm my thighs and arms and stomach.
The trainer has already informed me that most women like to work on their legs, abs and butt.
My abs and butt could use the work, but because of the work I’ve been doing on my own, my calves look really good. I want to work on endurance, as well. I want to not huff and puff through simple things. I want to be healthy.
I hope I can articulate these things tomorrow. We’ll see. I imagine I’ll just be doing a lot of sweating and working on legs, abs and butt.
I also hope I’ll remember everything he tells me to do. I hope it’s not the same standardized workout for everyone. I want to take this seriously. Just have pity on the fat amazon chick, OK?
