How I Started This Time Part III

During the week of July 20th, I started having an epiphany about what I needed to do. I had talked to a friend online, Judy who had been to a personal trainer at the Y last fall and it had really helped her. I looked into the Y and thought about it, but it was kind of expensive and there is not one really close to me. And I was not sure they were open very late, they were open very early but not late. I have a fit friend who goes to classes at they Y at 5 am or 5:30 am. The only thing I like to see at that time of the morning is the insides of my eyelids. And I don't usually see that time of day unless it is from the going to bed side, certainly not the getting up side. I thought maybe I could take a Zumba class a friend of mine was starting to teach, but I was afraid those classes would kill me. I don't have that kind of physical conditioning and I never have had it really and was sure it was never going to happen. I went through many options in my mind crossing each one off for various and sundry reasons; too hard, too far, takes too much time, does not sound interesting you name it I am sure it crossed my mind.

I kept chatting with Judy, who had great with success with a Personal Trainer and she went on about how good it was for her and what a difference it made for her. On Sunday July 26th I decided for kicks to see if they have listings for personal trainers on Craig's List. I searched and sure enough they had several listings. I found an ad that looked nice and it was for 15 minutes of Cardiovascular and a 30 minutes of resistance training with a Personal Trainer in a private facility, no membership fees and it was in my price range. I figured cardiovascular must be the treadmill, stair climber, the elliptical machine I hear everyone raving about or maybe the stationary bike. I thought maybe it will be the bike, I have always loved to ride bikes. And you know resistance training sounded kind of neat, I mean at least it wasn't weights and the machines. It was not exercise it was training, you know like the French Resistance during World War II. It did not sound like a hard workout. I went to their website and they did not have a ton of fancy equipment like the Gyms I had seen before. They had some barbells and some big balls and some other stuff I did not know the name of not your typical gym. And it seemed like they had a totally different approach to getting fit. Hey I was up for different and no hard work, sign me up. For some reason in my mind I was thinking resistance training was those exercises I did in Physical Therapy with the big rubber bands to rehab my shoulder. I did that before, so I could probably do it again. And I was sure they really did not start you out at the full 15 minutes of Cardio and the entire 30 minute workout, I was sure you eased into it. I went to their website and submitted a contact me form. I was on my way to getting in shape.

I got a call on my cell phone pretty soon after I submitted my form, but I missed it so I figured I would wait until he called back. A different guy called back the next day and we finally connected on Monday. He was really nice and friendly and out going. He did a little mini interview with me on the phone about my fitness level, goals and what I had been doing for exercise thus far.

Fitness level - basically none.
What did I do for exercise - nothing

Hey these were easy questions, so far so good and he had not laughed at me or chided me for being out of shape.

Goals - well I had been thinking about how I would define being fit. I had decided that if I could put the palms of my hands on the floor from bending over at my waist I would be fit. I always wanted to be able to do a pull up or chin up. I had always wanted definition in my legs, I have always suffered from Fat Calves, but you know I have a friend who has these really muscular legs and I have always wanted legs like that. I really thought you were just born with them and with my luck of the draw I got fat calves. (I now realize she has worked on her fitness her entire life and that is the payoff.) I wanted to get rid of my old lady arms. You know the flabby skin you have on your upper arm that when you move your arm it keeps going long after you stop. It reminds me of jello you know watch it wiggle see it jiggle. I had such bad ones I was afraid I was going to injure someone cheering at the hockey games. I have also been embarrassed to wear sleeveless tops for years and will only wear short sleeve shirts when it is totally necessary or extremely hot.

We talked for about 5 minutes and I explained that while I was doing gang busters on WW Online I thought I needed to add a fitness component or exercise component to fully realize my goals. We discussed when I wanted to train. I told him after work was best for me as I was not a morning person and was not interested in becoming one. And that I had expanded my goal from just losing weight to getting fit.

He said that he has a trainer in mind and that he would talk to her and have her give me a call to arrange a meeting. It all sounded so benign and fun. I was thinking hey this will be the key to my success - resistance training and a little cardio. I got a call from Marianne, the trainer he paired me up with on Tuesday July 28th as I recall. She sounded really nice on the phone and she offered me 2 options for meeting Wednesday at 8:30 pm or Thursday at 8:00 pm. After quickly thinking it over I decided on Wednesday, because on Thursday, Burn Notice and Royal Pains come on TV and I really hated to miss them. So I had a time and a place to start getting fit.

I was not really telling anyone but Brandon about goint to a personal trainer at this point and only because I needed a confidant and a supporter. Brandon works with me and he is very athletic. He played College Basketball in the OVC at Tennessee Tech and then at Cumberland University. He is always going to the Gym and working out and is in really good shape.

He was really happy for me and he was telling me to just do it. Just go for it and see where it would take me. I am sure he knew what resistance training was, but I never asked him. He is always talking about working on his legs or his abs or shoulders. I was pretty sure I did not want that kind of work out and was really glad I was not going to be doing that stuff. He thought it would be good that it was private because he knows how I am about stuff. So we were on the countdown a little over 24 hours and I would meet Marianne.

Until next time Keep Fit

pam