July 7/09 was my second Gym day.  I took a week between workouts due to my trip and it was definitely a bad idea.  For the first two days after day 1 I was so freaking sore in my thighs.  I could barely walk and it was hard to go down stairs.  At least I know it’s working.

I was looking forward to my workout when I got back.  After such a positive and exhausting trip I was ready to get back on my improve life kick.

Kathryn came with me this time.  I much prefer going with someone else.  We were 10 minutes late and Carl said he was going to make me do push ups.  I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not so I just went to the changeroom.  Oh!  I almost forgot,  When we came in this younger guy greeted us as we passed through the gate.  He was asking if we knew about the new classes and we said yes and kept walking to the stairs.  He kept walking with us.  All the way to through the gym to the back and to the top of the stairs to go down.  haha.  He said it was his first day.  We were nice.

Here is my workout:

Yesterday was my first day at the gym with Carl, my trainer.  I am so sore right now and on my way to a meeting but will post about my session when I’m back this afternoon.

I celebrated a bit last night.  Alexis got me a bottle of champagne and Carri and Kathryn came over.  I was in fine form…

OK.  Back from meetings.

Yesterday was Day 1 of the gym…  I rode my bike there to have a quick warm up and was feeling pretty excited to start.  The changerooms are brand new and so clean.  I’ll take photos next time.  I got ready and walked out and Carl was ready for me.  We had a quick chat and then went to the Elliptical to warm up.  Ugh.  Kathryn always tried to get me to use it before and I hated it.  I felt like I was too small to use it or something, so awkward.  So I did 5 minutes on the Eliptical and it wasn’t too bad.  Then we went downstairs to start on the weight machines.

My workout went as follows:

Leg Extensions (Hammer Strength Machines)
Leg Curls (Hammer Strength Machine)
Ball Squats
Standing Lunges
Chest Press
Shoulder Press
Seated Row

It was really intimidating to use the machines at first, but I got the hang of it pretty fast.  I was surprised that I could do as many as I could (about 20 of each) and I could feel muscles that I hadn’t used in years! Then we went upstairs for the final few things.  I did about 20 Half-Crunches and then about 10 Ball Raises (ha).

After our workout I changed and rode my bike home, luckily it’s all downhill because I was already sore and my legs were wobbly.  I need to get a bike helmet but I’m so not into wearing one.  Shaun came by after I showered and changed and we went for lunch at Sunset Grill.  So good and so cheap.  Just what I needed to eat.  When we came out it was a torrential downpour and we took a cab to my house, which was ridiculous cause I live five blocks from the restaurant, but we didn’t want to get wet.  Then back to work for the rest of the afternoon and evening and well, you saw what went on after work.

Next gym day was supposed to be tomorrow but it’s a holiday so we’re taking the day off and Friday is a no go, so I’ll be back with more gym stories on Monday.

Yesterday I finally got up the nerve to call the gym and set up a meeting with a personal trainer.  Luckily when I called in there was a personal trainer standing at the front counter so the girl put me on hold so she could pick up the phone.  A couple minutes later a man picked up and introduced himself as Carl.  I was intimidated because I had it in my head that I would only work with a female trainer.  Part of my gym fear is men at the gym.  We got to talking and he seemed like a pretty nice, smart person, so I decided to set up a meeting for that evening at 6pm.  Then he tells me to look for the big, bald, tattooed guy.  Uh oh.  Even scarier.  I told him I’m small, blonde and tattooed and we had a laugh.

In our call he said to bring my gym clothes if I can and we could do an assesment after our meeting, but not to worry if I didn’t have enough time.  The procrastinator in me said don’t bother, just go straight to the gym and so I did.

We had an hour long talk about everything – my current excercise (or lack there of), my food consumption/diet, my water consumption (I’m dehydrated!) and then he had me stand on a machine which tested my weight, body fat and other things.  The reading came back that I was in the excellent range for everything, so that was pretty interesting.

So I signed up for 24 personal training sessions.  It’s quite a lot of time and money – $56/session – but I know myself and I will not go to the gym at all if I don’t have someone counting on me to be there.  And since I got the first three months for free, it’s the same cost as paying for a membership.  I know that by the end of the 24 sessions I’ll look great, feel great and have enough knowledge, confidence and experience behind me to keep working out.

I left the gym with a new stainless steel water bottle (thanks Carl!) and a very positive outlook.  I have to drink two water bottles a day minimum, and keep a food diary for the next seven days.  I am going to track my progress here on the blog, so any of you who are feeling as scared and intimidated as I am, might be inspired to start the road to health and fitness.

My first session is next Monday night and I’m anxious and excited to get going.

p.s. I’m not going to even think about exercising for the rest of the week and enjoy myself.

Update: My trainer just read the blog and he has labelled us “Team C”

It’s the truth.  I am actually scared to go to the gym.  And I really need to start working out because my former athletic physique is now less than stellar and I’m feeling pretty squishy around the midsection.  It’s a fact and I’ll show you how far it sticks out if you ask.  It’s actually quite ridiculous for someone of my small stature, but its there and I can tell and my lovely brother and boyfriend have noticed as well.

So I signed up to a brand new Goodlife in my area.  This is my second try at a membership.  My first one was at Fitness One and I was thoroughly unimpressed by the equipment and staff and the fact that they didn’t call or email me to let me know my membership was about to expire but waited until after it did and called to offer me a deal to re-join.  Oh and the location that I signed up at closed without notice and they lost all my files, workout info, progress, etc.  Lame.

I think my main issue is that I am overwhelmed buy all the equipment and my lack of knowledge on how to use it.  I grew up on a farm in a small town and we didn’t have a proper gym (with equipment) like most of the city schools seem to.

Anyway, I signed up with Chad and Kathryn hoping that I’d get some motivation, good training (which is apparently included) and I also opted to get a personal trainer for a few sessions.  Which brings me to my next issue.  I got a message when I first joined to call a rep from the gym to set up my personal training sessions, along with my orientation.  I called numerous times and left messages for this woman, with no callback.  I finally got up the courage to go (with Chad) and on our way in stopped to see if I could set it up at the front desk.  The trainees on the desk (that’s how brand new it is) told me that they weren’t able to do it yet and that I could leave another message for the woman who had initially called me.  I asked if I could speak to a trainer, but they were also all n/a, in a meeting.

So I decided to just suck it up, go to the changeroom (which was so nice and clean, not like Fitness One) and Chad and I ran on the treadmill for a while.  It was actually pretty fun to work out with him, but then he wanted to do more machines and I got pouty because I didn’t know what to use, so we left.

It’s now a month later and I still have only gone that one time.  My brother got a call to join the same gym (I put down his name so I could get a free bag) and the rep that called him (the guys who signed us up) asked if his sister (ME!) was ever going to set up her training sessions!  I couldn’t believe that someone else was asking about me and I can’t get a freaking callback from anyone there.

So in keeping with my new frame of mind to get healthy and happier I am going to suck it up, call the guy who signed me up in the first place, and get myself some proper training so I can get over this fear of the gym.

Hopefully with Chad gone it will motivate me even more to go because I won’t have him to hang out with when I done working.  But then I’m going to have to stop letting whatever DWW is at my house twist my arm with a beer on the porch in the sun.

Today has been an expensive yet money saving day. Chad and I decided we needed to have bikes and have been looking for cheap ones, under $100. Bikes will save us $$ on transportation costs (TTC, Gas) AND we won’t need to buy gym memberships, so more money saved. We were going to go yesterday but realized that none of the stores we wanted to check out were open cause it was Good Friday. So today we got up early-ish and had yummy eggo breakfast and went on a shopping adventure. We went to CT first and they had exactly what we wanted, so we left and went to check out the Walmart Superstore at Warden and Eglinton. I freakin HATE that place. It is always jam packed with a bunch of people and their kids. You can barely move in the place and it had nothing we wanted. So we left and went to Best Buy where I saw a pink camera on sale. It was the only one left and I bought it! My first camera! I’m very excited and it’s pink! Here’s a picture of the one I got.And here’s my very first picture on my new camera (I know I’m a nerd)

Here’s me

Oh, also got new hair on Friday. Lighter and shorter. I missed being this blonde. Ryan my new hairdresser/friend is amazing. He has a salon at his home and it’s nice to go over and chill with a friend while getting your hair done. So relaxing.

This one is MINE!

Chad gettin’ pumped up

I’m gonna get fit as fast as I can riding my new bike and doing yoga.