Working up to working out

So I have finally taken advantage of my gym membership at the Tektronix employee gym(weren't they generous to include the spouses?). I signed up about a year ago, but it never fit into my schedule due to the 25 minute drive there and then back again. But now it is conveniently located just a few miles down the road, so I really have no excuse anymore!

I got there at about 8:45 this morning and the place was empty, completely empty! Oh joy, the ENTIRE place to myself!! So I jumped on the elliptical for a while and got my heart rate into the range of a 30 year old, yes I was feeling proud since if you are not aware, I am actually 36. Feeling good I pushed a little harder and got my heart rate to that of a 20 year old.....ummmm, yeah....after picking myself up off the ground and defibrillating my heart, I hopped back on and slowed into a nice easy(HA) rhythm. I had forgotten how much I love the low impact movements of the elliptical machine. It was then that I noticed the small print below the heart rate read out. It says, "Stop exercising if you feel pain, faint, dizzy or out of breath..." Well, there you have it! Life Fitness, the health equipment company has single handedly caused the health crisis we here in the US find ourselves in. I mean...really?? Here I am huffing and puffing and trying to see past the pain that IS exercise and I read this little notice that says STOP!!! BEFORE YOU DIE!!! Ok, I am being a tad bit dramatic, but I did have a good but brief laugh, which is not easy to do when you are pretending to be 6 years younger than you really are. Next time I see my doctor I am just going to say, Sorry about the weight thing, but the pain and shortness of breath due to working out might just kill me first!!

When my time was up I did something I rarely dare to do....I did the weight circuit trying out all the machines(except the one that turns you into a human pretzel) and working on my muscular physique, yep, I have a long way to go. I always avoid those machines since I can only imagine what I look like trying to figure out how to use them, but with no one else there I had time to look at the directions and try it out and actually contort my body into the shapes necessary to lift weights like a pro.

After my invigorating workout I headed for the shower room. There is a private family shower room, but since I was the sole person utilizing the facilities, I opted for the changing room showers and the complimentary blow dryer. I turned the water on and proceeded to wet my hair down in the trickle that emerged from the shower head. I put shampoo in and then dialed the nozzle from shower to jet... which in reality changed the dribble to a drip. Now, I have a lot of hair, it is not as long as it once was, but it is still fairly thick. I began to envision myself running to the car looking like an old lady with white hair piled on my head. Thoughts of cutbacks at Tek began filling my head and I could almost see the memo going out about water consumption and how rationing it carefully would save the company in these trying economic times. Could they not have posted signs stating, "wash hair at your own risk"? Wait, maybe they felt that would be an unnecessary expense. Well what is the use of having an entire army of showers at your sole command if you are afraid to use them? I streaked to the neighboring shower stall and wah-la, a pressurized gush of hot water!! The rest of the story is fairly boring, the locker room remained empty, the blow dryer worked great, I parted my hair on the usual side, sadly the scale was recently calibrated making it appear that I had gained weight since my last visit. Or maybe it is just all the fat being replaced by lean, heavy muscle??

This was actually my second time using the Tek gym, but it most certainly will not be the last. I love the way I feel the rest of the day, it always invigorates me and inspires me into activity where I would normally just sit around blogging....like I am now....hmmmm.....