Posted by I am still off work until Monday but I kept my appointment with the trainer this morning. It meant I had to get up a little earlier than my vacation norm but that probably helps set the stage for Monday when reality returns with a frenzy. I may have mentioned this before but I live only five minutes from work so it isn’t a big deal to come in even when I’m not working. I suppose there are good and bad points about being that close to work. The good thing is I hate driving when all the other idiots are on the road so having a short commute is a plus. The bad thing is that I often end up driving by my place of work multiple times on weekends where it just sits and taunts me “come Monday you’ll be back trapped behind these doors”.
I guess I’m one of these people who doesn’t notice things or I was too focused this morning. I came in, said HI to the fitness center manager and then headed for a treadmill to do some warm up. When my trainer arrived, she wanted to start with some leg lifts and, lo and behold, the machine we use had magically been transported to the main exercise floor. In fact, there were several machines that had been in one room now lined up on the main floor. I had a semi conscious moment just before when I was watching another guy on his workout use a machine I had used before. Something seemed “different” but I couldn’t place it until it became clear that they had done some rearranging in the fitness center. Also totally missed the new stair climber but that’s OK because climbing stairs doesn’t work with my knee.
Yes, I was one of those bad people who didn’t really do anything the week between Christmas and New Year. Well by that I mean nothing really physical. But we never really go to real extremes so it wasn’t bad. She had me do these lateral walks with a resistance band around my feet. Resistance bands are funny to me. It was like some fitness guy was looking at a rubber band and said ‘hey why don’t we make these bigger’. Still it is kind of hard to believe how much extra work a stupid little rubber band makes you do. And it is funny how the rubber band sneaks into other things. There is a TRX rip trainer which is nothing more than some kind of rubber band like thing attached to a solid bar. But extend it out far enough and it really feels like it wants to pull you back. She had me do that on a stability ball which was extra fun.
Why am I going on about this? Well it is the new year and we are supposed to be all about the exercise. Seriously, I just want to pass on a few bits of my experience that may or may not be helpful. Many years ago, I never would have considered going to the gym “fun” but having done this for quite some time, I can tell you that there are days when the time just flies by. I’m finding strength training to be a lot better than getting on a treadmill for 30 minutes. It has taken me awhile to get there. At first, it was mostly pain and soreness because nothing happens overnight. I still get the pain and soreness but now there is much more of a sense of accomplishment and the feeling that you’ve challenged yourself and come through. And, for some reason, I am enjoying it. So there you go.
It turns out that I did have a dance lesson last night. I got a call from JoNY about 10 minutes after my lesson was supposed to start wondering where I was. Without the little reminders, I’m lost. But I’m certainly on for next Tuesday.
So today is the last day of my extended break. Just a normal weekend and then life returns to “normal” (meaning work) on Monday.
Facing Diagonal Wall 