Friday, August 1, 2014

The New Gym

My daughters have convinced me to join a new gym.  I have been very happy at the Y.  A small gym with lots of people just like me - slogging through our little routines on machines I understood.  But a new, state of the art gym opened in town. It is cheaper than the Y and my daughters are very into fitness and begged and so we have made the move.


I am now faced with more aerobic machines than I have ever seen, with so many high tech gadgets I have yet to figure them out.  There is a section for weight machines, a section for  pulley machines, a section for machines that use your body weight and move multiple joints at the same time.  There is a room just for kick boxing, one for something called gravity where you hang on straps, a pool, rock climbing wall, a spinning room, group exercise room and a high performance training room.  


I am overwhelmed.  


My daughters, who pop out of bed every morning at 6:00 am to go, are thrilled.  Beaner has signed up for personal training, and when I see her she is drenched in sweat and her eyes are crossed with effort.  At one point I thought she was looking at me saying “please save me.”  But she comes out energized and excited.  


I was offered a free personal training but I declined.  I realized that although I probably need someone to “take me to the next level”  I really don’t want to have to do the necessary work.  And someone prodding me like a drill sergeant is just going to piss me off.   I am content going through my too little aerobics, a few upper body weight machines, a couple of leg machines and if I’m really motivated, some ab exercises.  Of course, now I don't understand how to use most of the weight machines.  The free weight section is filled with way too serious bodybuilders and I am wondering around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do.


I was disappointed that they have very few yoga classes and are at times I can not go.  But my daughters reminded me that I didn’t go to classes at our old gym either, even when they were convenient.  Right.  


But . . .  they have a hydromassage bed!  It’s a bed where you lie there while water pressure vibrates under you. You can adjust the area of your body to be massaged and the speed and intensity of the water pressure.  OMG it is deliciously decadent.


Oh yes, I think I am going to like this gym.  



15 comments:

  1. Better you than me, my friend.

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  2. Hold you ground, 8! Do your routines and have someone show you one machine at a time. Use it until you are familiar with it and then learn another. There is nothing wrong with going your own pace. More power to your daughters, but you certainly don't have to emulate them...

    Love the idea of the hydromassage bed! Wow! Use that the most!!!
    xoxoxoox

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    1. I am trying, but I feel like an idiot. They sold me on the fact that I could watch old TV shows like I l Love Lucy or listen to books while on the aerobic machines. I keep touching the screen but can't seem to get past CNN or the Weather Channel. Still, I am watching other people on machines and learning. Slowly. Very, very slowly.

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  3. I completely want a hydromassage bed.

    em

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    1. I'm thinking about replacing my regular bed with one of these : ) It is a beautiful thing.

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  4. We might go take a look at it. How much to join?

    I DO need someone to take me to the next level. And a few levels after that.

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  5. Oh good, I need more old people there : )

    There are different levels of membership from 10 a month, 30 a month and 70 a month. You can check the website for the differences. But they don't tell you about the family plan which we went with. It is 80 a month for all the members of your household, with no joiner fee. Plus free coffee. And the hydro massage bed.

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  6. No $ in the budget for any kind of gym. But, I'd make room for that hydromassage bed. I am not going to check the specs of area gyms.

    And, and what e said.

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    1. But who really needs a gym when you have a bicycle?

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  7. I am so jealous of the thought of a hydromassage bed. We go to our gym nearly every night, but I walk around the track while Bing and Liv swim. I like KNOWING that I can have a personal trainer if I want. Like you, I do NOT want...

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    1. My new gym does not have a track which is a major deficiency. I hate treadmills but the new gym has machines with screens that make it look like you are waking through National Parks. Well, if I could figure out how to use the screens . . .

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  8. hello 8, good for you. i am just getting used to the y and its cybex machines. there are 20 and so far i only do 8. so far my back is not objecting and actually benefiting. i hate to go. i love finishing up. i am happy after i'm done. i know it's good for me; okay, more than good: essential.

    how is your summer shaping up? doing pretty well here in northampton with a week in ptown just completed jubilantly.

    love
    kj

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    1. I miss those cybex machines. I knew exactly how much weight to set, and I loved being able to add 5 pounds at a time and track my increased strength. My new gym machines are very confusing to me, but I suppose with time I will figure it out.

      Summer has been wonderful - a nice combination of getting projects done, relaxing and enjoying nature. Having the girls home is a huge plus. Your posts are making me miss the beach but the rest of summer is all accounted for. Perhaps in the fall . . .

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    2. i'm settled here in western mass until september. thank god for farm stands and winding back roads.

      xoxo

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