Monday, July 30, 2007

I had my butt kicked at the gym

So, I recently started going to the gym. I've decided this is an important thing to do, if for no other reason than to combat the nearly inevitable annual weight gain - studies show that this is fairly common across most individuals and may be linked to a slowing of our body's metabolism that in turn may be linked to a decrease in exercise. The gym I'm going to, an all-female one, gave me 2 free 1-hour sessions with a personal trainer with my membership. Last week was session 1 and tonight I barely made it through session 2.

My trainer was a super fit, perky blond that looks 5 years younger than me, but apparently is about 2 years older. (Damn her.) Despite that, I can't dislike her. She was encouraging, pushed me to do more with each exercise, and even showed a little experimental flair when I started experiencing an unusual back pain with one of the exercises.

Last week, she put me through a series of upper body and ab exercises. Shoulder presses, bicep curls, tricep extensions, chest presses, cable torso rotation, crunches, the captain's chair, and crunches. Tonight, it was my lower body's turn, plus some back and "core" exercises. Walking Lunges, dumbbell squats, Smith squats, bridge with hamstring extensions, inner and outer thighs on the machine, toe and elbow plank, roman chair, and more crunches. After the first set, I felt pleasantly tired. Tonight, my legs were burning and shaking. I didn't even think I'd be able to walk home.

I wish I could afford to have this woman kick my butt every week. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress toward becoming a total bad ass at the gym.

1 comment:

Geoffrey said...

and I'll give you updates on my slow decent into slothness.