IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MACHINES....WELL, AND NUMBERS, TOO

Today was a new day, so I didn't let yesterday's excuses lead me down the "I knew I hated the gym and wasn't going to go, what was I thinking??!!" path. Nope, I figured out how to bring my ipod, glasses so I could read my ipod, id, keys, and pedometer, without any pockets, to the gym. Yes, they have lockers, but no, I can't find any of the 23 padlocks I have around here someplace.

So, I strolled into the gym, up the stairs, and straight back to the cardio machines, like I knew what I was doing. I stood against the wall for about 15 minutes trying to get my ipod tuned to a few of the TV stations. And one thing is clear. If I continue with this and can't get my own music to play, I certainly will catch up with the news. In terms of taking care of the boring factor, that is about a 3 out of 10. I get bored with that quickly too. Always so many unhappy events and conflicts. I sure wish someone would start The Good News Channel, with reports on kindnesses done, lives saved, cooperative ventures, those kinds of things. Maybe some funny spots, some parties, cute animals.

Okay, now to the purpose of Going to the Gym. I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes at a 2.1 mph pace. No incline. Kept my heart rate up around 140 the entire time. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I know it's the target cardio rate for my age, but if that slow a walk on a flat surface keeps it up there that can't be good. I hope it improves over time. I know my mom had something wrong with her heart when she was a little older than I am now that made it difficult for her to walk up hills. Since I have been a little less kind to my body over the years than she was to hers, especially with the smoking, I hope this isn't a serious, permanent condition. Anyway, I burned 44 calories in that amount of time. And, yes, it did bother me that was all when in the same time yesterday I burned 100 calories on the incline bike.

So, did I stop there? I am very proud to say, "No I didn't!" I walked right over to an upright bike, climbed on, figured out how to set a few of the features, and pedaled on. I rode for 15 minutes, a pace of around 25mph (I think), maybe a little more. I again kept my heart rate up between 140 and 145, and burned another 66 calories. So that's a total of 110 calories. Not a lot, but it has to be good for me, keeping my heart rate up there.

And was I done? Oh no, not yet. I thought I ought to try some of those machines that target specific areas of the body. So, having just given my legs a little bit of a workout, I decided to target my abs. I know they're in there somewhere, even though I haven't seen them for a while. I did 3 sets of 10 crunches (notice the easy way that gym talk slid off my tongue), and not even at the lowest weight. I tried a couple of other machines; another one for abs, and one for chest, but couldn't figure out how to work them, even after reading the directions. By then I was beginning to feel embarassed, so rather than let that get full blown, I headed for the exit. I still want to know why that girl with the sunglasses kept looking at me though.

On Monday I have my appointment with the trainer to let me know just how fat and out of shape I really am. Hopefully she will also have some recommendations for a plan, as well as be able to tell me how to use some of these machines. Thursday and Friday my pedometer seemed to be working fine. Today when I got home from the gym and checked it, it said I had walked 610 steps. Lying little piece of plastic!

My mission this afternoon is to go get some papaya starter plants from my friend Mike, and find somebody to take "before" pics of me before I get too skinny....lolol