Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I'm Baaaaack...

I got a gym membership. Again. Yeah, I know that I just canceled my last membership four months ago because I never went, but it turns out that I don't have the discipline for at-home work outs. And since I am now a full-time employee, my company offers a discounted membership at Gold's Gym. It's only $5 a paycheck, $10 a month. Now that I can handle.

I went for the first time on Saturday, and I hated it. I didn't like the layout of the gym, the elliptical felt funny compared to the one I used at 24 Hour, and there were way more beautiful people there than I was comfortable with. Not to mention the fact that I could only run on the elliptical for about 15 minutes before feeling like I was going to pass out. I think I got a bit out of shape, and my asthma didn't like what I was making my body do. So I got off the machine and left, feeling worse after the work out than I would have felt if I just hadn't gone.

But I finally mustered the courage and went again tonight, and it was better. There were still way to many pretty people, looking fabulous in their skin-tight spandex and muscle shirts while I sweated away on my bike, looking frumpy in my sweat pants and T-shirt. But I guess that's the nature of the beast. At least I was there and I was sweating, right?

I hated the fact that I was on the bike, though. Riding the bike doesn't aggravate my asthma like the treadmill does or the elliptical can, and since I've gotten so out of shape lately, I know I have to start with it. But tonight reminded me why I hated it so much: it freaking KILLS my butt. Not in an "all right, I'm working my muscles" kind of way—more like in a "this is so uncomfortable that I swear my tailbone is going to snap in two" kind of way. Especially after 45 minutes.

But I went! I went to the gym and burned a substantial amount of calories, which is something I haven't done in a long time. And this Saturday I'll be picking up an inhaler, which will hopefully calm down my asthma and allow me to do something other than the bike. Here's to a better active year than last year was.