I have a confession to make. I have never worked out in front of other humans in a health club. I have briefly looked in on and walked through a few gyms in my life and frankly, they scared me. I walk into a gym and I am immediately that girl in junior high: the last one picked for the team, out of sorts and painfully aware of my overweight body. I never even tried working out at a Bally’s or some other big health club. I pictured them filled with athletic people all sweaty and moving fast on their treadmills and cross-training machines. I never considered working out in front of other people because in my twisted little brain I could hear their thoughts:
“Look at the size of that broad! Whoa! She’s got a long way to go!”
So back in 2003 when I decided to commit myself to an active life, I hired a personal trainer and built myself a home gym in my apt. We never trained at a health club. She trained me in her home gym or she would come to my place. But today, at the Spa at Trump, I headed to the doors marked Health Club and pushed them open to face my fears and resume an active life.
I walk into the health club and enter the world of hi-tech gym equipment. The cardio machines are all in a row – each grouped with its own kind – along a wall of windows with an almost panoramic view of the city. The view is breathtaking. I timidly walk up to one machine that looks slightly familiar – a recumbent bike – but it has a control panel with so many features on its touch screen that I don’t know what the fuck to do with it. I walk over to some other contraption that involves one to stand and do something with your feet placed… to be quite honest I don’t know what the hell these machines do and how they work! And there is no one around (thankfully) to ask… at this point I am too proud and embarrassed to ask. These machines make my home gym equipment look like relics from a lost civilization.
To be continued…
I live in a pretty small town. I wear concert t shirts and leggings with baggy shorts over it and I pretty much give everyone around me the brush off when I work out. I look like a cross between a bum and a goth. People come up to me, ” Do ya wanna work out together?” Uh, no, why do you think I have my Ipod on full tilt, my glasses off so I can’t see you and totally oblivious to your gym chit chat? I can’t escape it!! I am around stupid people all day, working out lets me get away. Keep it up!!