Saturday, April 28, 2012

Trying Not To Be Dead: An Update

2012 has not exactly been the year I finally obtained that lean, Terry Crews physique that I was aiming for.  I screwed up my wrist after Christmas, and that kept me from doing much for several weeks (certainly not lifting weights).  Then I worked out a bit.  Then I got sick, then I had to travel.  Anyway, its been such a stutter-step of a year, I'm finally back to where I wanted to be at the gym, but my weight is yo-yoing.*

Today I was at the gym and two things happened.

1.  It failed to be the promised "judgement free zone" as promised on the walls.  A middle-aged gentleman, not an employee, came by and corrected my form on a machine.  Thereby JUDGEING ME.  Not really.  Its good to know these things.

2.  I realized the homunculus behind the counter was the star of the Planet Fitness commercials that run incessantly on our local 24-hour news station.  She's, like, 4 feet tall and has a voice like Minnie Mouse.  Its creepy.



You have no idea how tiny this girl is.

Oh, did I not tell you that place is purple, yellow and black?  It is.  It is VERY purple, yellow and black.

Its kind of funny to go online, and do any reading about Planet Fitness.  You get the usual "oh, I got ripped off" complaints tied to any gym that you'll ever try to quit, but there's also this vocal group of guys very offended by the fact that Planet Fitness is not aimed at the gym-culture folks, and, in fact, sort of makes fun of them.  But a lot of people get turned off by gym culture, including myself, and as hard as it is to get Americans to get off their butts, put down the Bugles and get on the elliptical, you know, you've got Gold's or wherever...  go be happy there.  The rest of us want to go to the gym without mostly working out the muscle that enables the exasperated sideways glance.

Its true.  My gym is not the pricey upscale amusement park of Lifetime Fitness that's clearly aiming at upper-middle-class folks with kids.  But its also not Gold's (I've belonged to both).  Its $10 a month, and its just not the same as a lot of other places you could go with towel service, etc...  But.  $10 a month.

Anyhow, the next step is to work on the diet, which has, admittedly, slipped a bit since the holidays.  I'm about where I was, mass-wise, prior to the holidays, but its time to start working on losing weight again.  No more pretzels or anything but fruit after dinner.

*oh, to be sick again and watching the pounds melt away as all I wanted to eat was soup.

2 comments:

Paul Toohey said...

I think I'm ok with someone saying "hey, do that a little different so you don't hurt yourself".

I need to do the same thing (lose some weight by doing activities and eating better).

The League said...

Oh, yeah. Me, too. It didn't stop me from wanting to point at the sign and shout "Judgement free zone, sir! JUDGEMENT FREE!!!!" But I also know that form is half the battle when you're lifting weights, so I don't mind someone else pointing it out if I'm doing it wrong.

By and large, though, its very unsocial at that gym. Usually all I say to anyone there is "pardon me", if we're in each others' way.