First off, as many of you know, I live
pretty far out in the country. 30
minutes from any fast food – something that has stood me in good stead! But this also means I live pretty far from a
gym or a whole foods store.. so, for the most part, I rely on my home workouts
(walking, dvds and free weights) and whatever I can find at a grocery store. Anyway – 45 minutes away, in an area I hit
once or twice a week.... is a gym. And
my goal for the last week in May was to stop in and see what was there. That’s it... just darken the door with my
presence.... and I think many of you understand what an achievement that was
all by itself.
So,
I was running an errand on that Tuesday and decided to bite the bullet. Made it inside the door.... it wasn’t too
busy so I talked to the young lady at the front desk for a minute and
discovered that membership (which included some free classes like Zumba and other
stuff I’ve never tried) was only $20/month...... and, if I joined before the
end of May, there would be no annual commitment. Hmmmm.....
I tend to leap first & look later... so I decided to give it a
24-hour test. I had to go back in to town on Wednesday
anyway.
Next
day, well.. I am excited. Seriously, $20
is the cost of some dvds.... and I couldn’t FIND classes to take that would
cost this little.... and a gym would add a layer of motivation (well,
maybe).... and, with no annual commitment, I could try it for the summer....
so, what’s to lose? I drove there,
walked in, and it was a ZOO! You know
how busy some places get... not a big problem.. I found someone to wait on me,
and take my money. But it was so
crazy.... I decided I would have to come back to find someone to at least give
me a tour of the place. I knew that I
would be coming in with my son to brave the wireless phone store Friday morning
and I thought that things would be calmer then.
So, I leave.... at this point, signed up but really intimidated by all
the machines and noise. The people were
perfectly nice – but I am fat and intimidated in my brain – so sometimes I need
a little extra loving care.
Turns out,
my son was free on Thursday... so back in the car to deal with things.... and I
stopped by the gym again. Now all is
quiet again and I am back with the original young lady. I talked to her for a few minutes and tried
to get a little information – like a tour (where the heck are the
bathrooms? Where are the classes held?). Bless her, she looked at me like I had 3
heads.. she answered my specific questions.. but I still didn’t set foot past
her desk. Finally she said that there
was a class on how to set up your own training plan on Friday morning... maybe
I could try that? I said I’d try.....
but I think you KNOW how defeated I was walking out of there. NOT confident..... NOT excited..... NOT looking forward to driving in yet AGAIN... TOTALLY intimidated.... close to kissing that
$20 good-bye and writing it off as a bad idea.
Friday
morning, I was still not sure. I had a
headache.... I was grouchy... and a little bit aggravated at this point – with
myself as well as their welcome package!
But, with a little nudge from my beloved, I decided to drive in AGAIN anyway and check out the class. BINGO!
Thank you, God for the fortitude to get that far!
I was the
only one to show up for this class.... the personal trainer I met with worked with me NOT to
set up a training plan.. we spent the hour checking out the facility and
introducing me to each machine. We also
talked about the different things the gym offers and how to get involved. We decided that I would come back the next
time the “design your own plan” class was offered that fit in my personal
schedule and go from there.
So here we
are now.... I am so proud that I pushed and pushed and made myself get that far. I was SO CLOSE to walking out and giving
up. I now feel able to go back and
actually do something. My goal is NOT to
use the gym X amount of times per week.... my schedule is so variable that I
can’t always get there. But I wanted a
reasonably priced alternative to add to my personal home program. A place to possibly get a workout on the days
that I have to be out and about all day.
I wanted a method of enhancing my workouts that wasn’t solely reliant on
ME and my mindset. And maybe I will be
able to hook up with some people in real life to work with when I am able to...
it’s all good. And I made it happen –
what happens next is another story...
