A Weighty Topic or Two
I switched gyms about three years ago. After considering several options and touring a few, I chose the one that is absolutely the closest to my house. I'm just being practical, ya'll. As part of that gym membership, I was supposed to receive a complimentary session with one of their many trainers. I think the fine print underneath must have said something like, "Ha ha! Good luck collecting on that!" Every time I stopped at the front desk and asked about it, I was told that the only sessions available were at times like 10:00 a.m. It didn't seem feasible for me to quit my job just to learn how to use leg press machine, so I gave up.
When I go to the gym, I usually just hit the cardio equipment that I already know how to use. I sometimes attend yoga classes there, too. (I prefer to go to my regular yoga studio for yoga classes, though - it just depends on which option is more convenient on any given day). I have free weights at home, but seldom use them. A couple weeks ago, I decided to try again to see if I could get a trainer to help me learn how to use the weight machines. I assumed that the "free trial" had long since expired, so I signed up for a paid session with a trainer ($40 for a half hour). Well, whaddya know . . . when you pay for a trainer, one magically becomes available at virtually any time of day or night.
So, I went to the gym for my session with the trainer last Wednesday evening. I know you're probably thinking, "That stuff is not that hard to figure out, Claudia." Well, I just didn't want to take any chances. I figured that with my luck, I'd climb aboard the hip abductor machine only to find someone tapping on my shoulder a moment later. "Um, ma'am? You're facing the wrong way." I mean, I spend a lot of my time looking stupid anyway - I didn't want to go out of my way to look like a doofus.
As it turned out, the session with Elizabeth was pretty darned helpful. Some of those machines have three or more settings: the seat back, the height, the weight, etc. It is a little daunting. She gave me a chart and wrote down all the settings for each machine and taught me how to do the exercises properly. She filed the chart in a filing cabinet where I can just grab it each time I do a session.
I was still hesitant to go back and try it all on my own. Nonetheless, I headed over on Tuesday after work and gave it a try. I have to say it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I figured out the settings for each machine, and completed three sets on each one. The only traumatic moment was when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room. Yikes. It was kind of like that moment when you look at your cell phone camera and realize it's facing you instead of outward. OMG, do I look like that ALL THE TIME?!
My plan is to try to work the weights into my workouts. We'll see. I'm trying to focus more on my health and well-being lately. Speaking of which, the kid was gone all week at a Girl Scout camp, so I didn't have any cause to yell "WHY ARE YOUR SHOES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM?!" at anyone. I missed her, though. She is not a Girl Scout, but she went to a Girl Scout camp with a friend. She had a blast. I love it when she has an opportunity to attend character-building stuff like that. I wasn't worried about her getting homesick because she has flown back and forth (by herself) to Maryland, Virginia, and Oklahoma and stayed in all of those places without her parents. So, she is used to traveling and being on her own from time to time. The only difference in this case was that communication is only one way. I could send her "Bunk Notes" while she was at camp (emails that I had to pay for, basically) but she couldn't reply. No phone calls. Apparently, phone calls tend to amplify homesickness, which makes sense. I sent her a bunk note telling her that we moved another kid into her room. I'm sure she rolled her eyes as usual when she read it. One of these days, her eyes are going to roll right out of her head and across the kitchen floor or something.
While she was gone, I hit the gym, squeezed in two yoga classes, went out with my sister-in-law (dinner plus farmers' market), went out with my other half plus our nephew and niece, and binge-watched Outlander. We didn't have the Starz channel in the past, so the opportunity didn't present itself until now. Now, I am just a wee bit embarrassed to admit I'm watching Outlander. The series does give off just a little bit of a Harlequin Romance aura. However, Jamie is deeeeeelicious and that's just an incontrovertible fact. I'm also watching Stranger Things on Netflix.
The kid (who just got back this afternoon) asked what we did while she was gone. We told her that we didn't want to brag and make her feel bad, so it was better if we didn't talk about it. That annoyed her, of course. Then, her dad kicked her out of the living room so that he could play a game on the PlayStation. I was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. My daughter, feeling annoyed, rounded the corner and, looking down at her phone, walked straight into the freezer door (which was open because I was pulling out some stuff for dinner - it wasn't some elaborate practical joke). I was a tiny bit tempted to laugh (I mean, it was like a bad sitcom), but I consoled her instead.
Right now, she is outside and has been given strict instructions to walk the puppy all the way to the state line. Seriously, she is not permitted to come back until he is thoroughly exhausted. Grover slept with us while A was gone, so she's getting his trouble-making ass back tonight.
When I go to the gym, I usually just hit the cardio equipment that I already know how to use. I sometimes attend yoga classes there, too. (I prefer to go to my regular yoga studio for yoga classes, though - it just depends on which option is more convenient on any given day). I have free weights at home, but seldom use them. A couple weeks ago, I decided to try again to see if I could get a trainer to help me learn how to use the weight machines. I assumed that the "free trial" had long since expired, so I signed up for a paid session with a trainer ($40 for a half hour). Well, whaddya know . . . when you pay for a trainer, one magically becomes available at virtually any time of day or night.
So, I went to the gym for my session with the trainer last Wednesday evening. I know you're probably thinking, "That stuff is not that hard to figure out, Claudia." Well, I just didn't want to take any chances. I figured that with my luck, I'd climb aboard the hip abductor machine only to find someone tapping on my shoulder a moment later. "Um, ma'am? You're facing the wrong way." I mean, I spend a lot of my time looking stupid anyway - I didn't want to go out of my way to look like a doofus.
As it turned out, the session with Elizabeth was pretty darned helpful. Some of those machines have three or more settings: the seat back, the height, the weight, etc. It is a little daunting. She gave me a chart and wrote down all the settings for each machine and taught me how to do the exercises properly. She filed the chart in a filing cabinet where I can just grab it each time I do a session.
I was still hesitant to go back and try it all on my own. Nonetheless, I headed over on Tuesday after work and gave it a try. I have to say it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I figured out the settings for each machine, and completed three sets on each one. The only traumatic moment was when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room. Yikes. It was kind of like that moment when you look at your cell phone camera and realize it's facing you instead of outward. OMG, do I look like that ALL THE TIME?!
My plan is to try to work the weights into my workouts. We'll see. I'm trying to focus more on my health and well-being lately. Speaking of which, the kid was gone all week at a Girl Scout camp, so I didn't have any cause to yell "WHY ARE YOUR SHOES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM?!" at anyone. I missed her, though. She is not a Girl Scout, but she went to a Girl Scout camp with a friend. She had a blast. I love it when she has an opportunity to attend character-building stuff like that. I wasn't worried about her getting homesick because she has flown back and forth (by herself) to Maryland, Virginia, and Oklahoma and stayed in all of those places without her parents. So, she is used to traveling and being on her own from time to time. The only difference in this case was that communication is only one way. I could send her "Bunk Notes" while she was at camp (emails that I had to pay for, basically) but she couldn't reply. No phone calls. Apparently, phone calls tend to amplify homesickness, which makes sense. I sent her a bunk note telling her that we moved another kid into her room. I'm sure she rolled her eyes as usual when she read it. One of these days, her eyes are going to roll right out of her head and across the kitchen floor or something.
While she was gone, I hit the gym, squeezed in two yoga classes, went out with my sister-in-law (dinner plus farmers' market), went out with my other half plus our nephew and niece, and binge-watched Outlander. We didn't have the Starz channel in the past, so the opportunity didn't present itself until now. Now, I am just a wee bit embarrassed to admit I'm watching Outlander. The series does give off just a little bit of a Harlequin Romance aura. However, Jamie is deeeeeelicious and that's just an incontrovertible fact. I'm also watching Stranger Things on Netflix.
The kid (who just got back this afternoon) asked what we did while she was gone. We told her that we didn't want to brag and make her feel bad, so it was better if we didn't talk about it. That annoyed her, of course. Then, her dad kicked her out of the living room so that he could play a game on the PlayStation. I was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. My daughter, feeling annoyed, rounded the corner and, looking down at her phone, walked straight into the freezer door (which was open because I was pulling out some stuff for dinner - it wasn't some elaborate practical joke). I was a tiny bit tempted to laugh (I mean, it was like a bad sitcom), but I consoled her instead.
Right now, she is outside and has been given strict instructions to walk the puppy all the way to the state line. Seriously, she is not permitted to come back until he is thoroughly exhausted. Grover slept with us while A was gone, so she's getting his trouble-making ass back tonight.
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| The return of the camper |
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