Last night I crawled home from my first workout class in nearly ten years. If I had stopped to think, spinning would not have been my first choice. Yet it was at a good time, and there was a bike available, so I joined.
Did I mention I haven't taken an actual workout class in nearly ten years and that I have not done anything at all as far at workouts go, in nearly as many months?
After ten minutes I could taste blood, after twenty I thought I was going to die, and after twenty-five I wished I was. And after thirty minutes I realized that I wasn't dead yet, and that although my legs were burning, my stomach was on it's way up into my mouth, and every breath hurt, my legs were still moving, it was still possible to keep going. So I did. For the full hour.
We ended the class by sprinting to Freebird. Well, I'll be honest, the others did. I plodded slowly on my bike, grateful that it was finally coming to an end. But I kept moving the entire class, and I am very proud of myself.
Sweet mother of mercy, I hurt. Thank god for endorphins!
There's another new spinning class again Thursday, and I'll probably go, because this was fun. I'm hoping they'll play Freebird again.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Through the Gold(en) Gate
I have now explored a Gold's Gym. Froli has been saying for a while that since it has such a convenient location it is well worth looking at as an option for that gym membership he promised me for my birthday. So last night, after dinner and recovery from a long and frustrating workday, we went to check it out.
Froli, his usual charming self, nodded a greeting to the young woman behind the counter, strolled over to the cardio section, and found an elliptical whose TV was showing a college basketball game. I left him there, and begun scouting out the premises.
First impression was that it is an intimidating place. It is filled with fit and focused young men, lifting heavy weights in complete silence.
But it looked remarkably clean and there were HDTVs everywhere. And aside from the music,kept at a more than tolerable level it was also remarkably quiet. So far, so good.
After a few moments of strolling around and looking at things, I noticed something odd. No one was paying attention to me. The young weight-lifting men were acknowledging me just enough to avoid bumping into me if they had to walk past me, but other than that, no one was talking to anyone else. Everyone was concentrating on what they were doing, and there was no trace of distracting children either, for that matter.
All of a sudden that intense focus wasn't so intimidating anymore, it was fascinating. All these people, so singularly focused on their workout. (It has of course occurred to me that maybe I was just lucky enough to walk in just as all the die-hard freaks were there ;-) )
I went back to the front desk, grabbed a class schedule, and asked what their membership fees were. The girl behind the counter said I had to talk to one of the consultants about that, offered to get one for me if I had a seat. So I had a seat and waited, and soon enough a Gold's Gym Fitness Consultant came over and introduced himself.
And thus the sales pitch begun.
I suppose it is an inevitable part of the gym industry, especially a franchise as large as Gold's, but I reserve the right to dislike it as well. He was good at selling his gym, I'll give him that, and he gave me The Tour, showing off all the equipment, most of it new, in very good condition, and as clean as everything else in there. I liked that part, having to wipe off someone else's sweat from the elliptical is an unpleasant thought to me.
He also showed me the room for spinning classes, the basketball court, and of course the pool, and waited outside while I checked out the locker room and showers. (Very nice showers! A+ for how clean they were.) Froli finished his workout and came and joined us between cardio equipment and spinning room, so he got the last half of the tour as well.
We then sat back down to look at pricing, which supposedly is based on what you want to get out of your membership. At this point, I sat back and let Froli carry the conversation, since he is a lot better at negotiating anything than I am. He got us a reasonably good deal, and we then spent the next 15-20 minutes filling out papers.
Yes, I now have a Gold's Gym membership, and Froli has one as well. We'll go there together and work out, and I will check out the pool. It's a non-chlorine pool! I have extremely dry skin and eczema, words cannot express how excited I was to hear that there is saline in their pool, and not chlorine! I love pools. I love water workouts. I can't be in pools because the chlorine turns me into a scaly red freak that itches as if I had been rolling in asbestos.
This pool doesn't have chlorine. I love Froli for discovering that last week, and dragging me to Gold's Gym so he could surprise me with that. I'm now going to get up early on Saturday so I can be there for the 8:30 AM water aerobics class.
Froli, his usual charming self, nodded a greeting to the young woman behind the counter, strolled over to the cardio section, and found an elliptical whose TV was showing a college basketball game. I left him there, and begun scouting out the premises.
First impression was that it is an intimidating place. It is filled with fit and focused young men, lifting heavy weights in complete silence.
But it looked remarkably clean and there were HDTVs everywhere. And aside from the music,kept at a more than tolerable level it was also remarkably quiet. So far, so good.
After a few moments of strolling around and looking at things, I noticed something odd. No one was paying attention to me. The young weight-lifting men were acknowledging me just enough to avoid bumping into me if they had to walk past me, but other than that, no one was talking to anyone else. Everyone was concentrating on what they were doing, and there was no trace of distracting children either, for that matter.
All of a sudden that intense focus wasn't so intimidating anymore, it was fascinating. All these people, so singularly focused on their workout. (It has of course occurred to me that maybe I was just lucky enough to walk in just as all the die-hard freaks were there ;-) )
I went back to the front desk, grabbed a class schedule, and asked what their membership fees were. The girl behind the counter said I had to talk to one of the consultants about that, offered to get one for me if I had a seat. So I had a seat and waited, and soon enough a Gold's Gym Fitness Consultant came over and introduced himself.
And thus the sales pitch begun.
I suppose it is an inevitable part of the gym industry, especially a franchise as large as Gold's, but I reserve the right to dislike it as well. He was good at selling his gym, I'll give him that, and he gave me The Tour, showing off all the equipment, most of it new, in very good condition, and as clean as everything else in there. I liked that part, having to wipe off someone else's sweat from the elliptical is an unpleasant thought to me.
He also showed me the room for spinning classes, the basketball court, and of course the pool, and waited outside while I checked out the locker room and showers. (Very nice showers! A+ for how clean they were.) Froli finished his workout and came and joined us between cardio equipment and spinning room, so he got the last half of the tour as well.
We then sat back down to look at pricing, which supposedly is based on what you want to get out of your membership. At this point, I sat back and let Froli carry the conversation, since he is a lot better at negotiating anything than I am. He got us a reasonably good deal, and we then spent the next 15-20 minutes filling out papers.
Yes, I now have a Gold's Gym membership, and Froli has one as well. We'll go there together and work out, and I will check out the pool. It's a non-chlorine pool! I have extremely dry skin and eczema, words cannot express how excited I was to hear that there is saline in their pool, and not chlorine! I love pools. I love water workouts. I can't be in pools because the chlorine turns me into a scaly red freak that itches as if I had been rolling in asbestos.
This pool doesn't have chlorine. I love Froli for discovering that last week, and dragging me to Gold's Gym so he could surprise me with that. I'm now going to get up early on Saturday so I can be there for the 8:30 AM water aerobics class.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
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