It feels good to be home, but damn am I tired. I’m ready to go to bed and sleep for two weeks. And I’ve only been back two days. At least though I have a good reason for being tired.
I joined a gym yesterday. I’ll wait for everybody to get over their shock before I continue
Yes, I joined a gym. New York Sports Club. It really was a no brainer. There are more locations, it’s cheaper and I discovered that Bally’s owned Crunch and I’d rather be fat than give money to Bally’s, and thus the decision was made. It was the first thing I did yesterday. I got up and headed downtown to a location near work to talk to a sales guy. He’s probably the worst salesman I’ve ever encountered. I almost felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to expound on the highlights of the club. He didn’t tell me how wonderful the gym was. He didn’t tell me it wasn’t ever busy. He didn’t even show me around. He took me to his office and immediately pulled out a chart showing me how expensive the gym was. Not exactly the best tactic to get someone to join. He them immediately began trying to talk me out of getting a passport membership that would allow me to go to any of the other clubs. He told me I didn’t need it and not to spend my money on it.
I mostly sat there and listened not saying much at all. And he never stopped talking. Telling me that the gym was too expensive, and that I really didn’t want to spend that much. I was all prepared to do it, so I wasn’t surprised by the price or the requirements. Finally he ask me if I worked near by and I said that I did. He then asked me if by chance I worked for Company X. I told him I did not. He then informed me that if I did, I could get the membership I wanted almost 15 bucks a month cheaper, with no time requirement, I could quit at any time, and no sign up fees or processing fees. I then asked him if I could lie about it. At which point he asked me to close the door and put in the system that I work for Company X and within about 10 minutes I was all signed up and ready to go. I realize this could have been his intent all along, but I would have been happy to sign up for the asking price if he had not done this. So who knows who was fooling who.
So with my membership in hand, I walked down the street to Duane Reade and picked up a combination lock for my locker. Then it was back to the gym. Since I hadn’t been given a tour it took some time to figure out where things were. I finally found the men’s locker room. I quickly changed clothes and then it was back downstair to the treadmills. I did over 4 miles yesterday on the treadmill while listening to my Ipod. It felt really nice. I also had my new running shoes on that I had bought at the New Balance discount store in Maine so I was already to go.
And I went back today. Today though, I convinced myself that there was no time like the present to actually start working out. So I lifted weights. I did a light workout of my chest and triceps. I can already tell I did some good and that I’m going to be miserable tomorrow. But as they say — no pain no gain. After lifting, I went downstairs and did another 4 miles on the treadmill. My goal is to do cardio everyday for the next few weeks as the weight continues to come off. I hope to intersperse that with light lifting until I get back into the hang of things. The biggest issue will be getting over my intimidation of being fat and back at the gym. So far though it doesn’t look like it’s going to be busy when I’m there, so if that’s the case I’ll have far less to worry about.
On a completely different note, I was hit on at the gym today. An absolutely beautiful black man who was very muscular and very short kept eyeing me today while I was changing clothes. He was changing to go shower and then followed me into the bathroom. I was standing at the urinal and he came over and stood next to me. We eyed each other for a minute or two and then he got bold and reached over and… you can fill in the blanks. I let it happen for about 2 seconds before I took off — not got off — took off as in left. After the whole Larry Craig incident this week, the last thing I need to do is get kicked out of my new gym on the first day. It did feel nice though to get the attention.
A Maddog In The City 