I've been regularly working out in a gym since I became a member of Bally Total Fitness when I was sixteen years old. That is, until I was about seven months pregnant & retired my membership to the YMCA & began taking walks with Mike & my dogs each evening after work instead. I figured I would resume my membership after Cam was a little older & things were more settled.
Well, the months crept by & things never seemed to get settled as they really never do when you add a baby to an already hectic life. Silly new mom mentality to think I'd have an abundance of time on my hands! Anyway, I've really been itching to get back to the gym to burn off some stress & feel stronger & more in shape. Packing a bag for the gym & heading there straight from work can be the last thing I want to do after a full day's work, but once I'm there, I'm always so glad I went. I feel a lot more energized & more confident in myself after.
So this week I decided to test out Shapes since I got a free two week membership during a vendor fair at work. I tend to feel very self-conscious & intimidated when working out with guys, so I was excited to try an all woman's gym. Monday I went to Shapes & did a half hour of cardio which was just fine, but when I got to lifting weights, I found that I was so out of shape! You would think that after hoisting a 20+ pound baby around I'd have more upper body strength, but my arms felt like jello afterward!
Today I tried another gym called Choice Fitness since it was brand new & they offer a one-week free membership on their website. It's co-ed, but I figured I would give it a try & see which gym I preferred before dishing out cash. It ended up being a very nice place; the walls were painted cobalt blue & yellow, it was immaculate & I was able to get on every machine I wanted since it was fairly empty. After doing forty minutes of cardio, I moved onto weights & again felt completely dead! I was actually embarrassed at the pitiful amount of weight I was lifting which I usually could care less about.
But, the point is, it feels wonderful to be working out again & I can already feel my stress level decreasing. It's the one time in my day where my head is clear, I'm burning energy & catching up on my magazines as I bike or work on the elliptical. I'm sure I'll gradually increase my strength & get back to where I was pre-baby. I guess I should expect my body to be different after growing a human being in my belly for almost ten months, but that would be too sane of me to think!
In the end, I have decided I'll be joining Shapes since nothing beats working out & not listening to some meat-head grunt as he lifts weights far too heavy & checks himself out in the mirror the entire time. Or watching the little bimbette prance around in her full face of make-up in order to pick up guys instead of actually working out! Plus, Shapes has a pool, hot tub, steam room & sauna which could be nice after a workout! If I have extra time. Ha!
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