Gym here I come…

For those that have never been to the gym before, the first time can be a really intimidating one. Especially if you are trying to get into shape by shedding a few pounds. Intimidating not because the crowd there are unfriendly. Not at all. Intimidating because suddenly you find yourself in another planet of superfit men and women, bulging biceps, washboard abs, and toned bodies.

I remember my first visit to the gym. I felt like the hunchback of Notre Dame at the post-Oscar party. As the guest relations executive showed me through the three floors that made up the gym, all I did was gape, stare, and wonder ‘are those muscles for real?’ ‘Is that a real human body?’ Wherever I turned, that is all I could see - supremely fit men and women in various stages of exercise - some grunting and straining with the coach screaming ‘get that weight up, dawg!’, ‘5 more reps, come on!’ ‘beautiful women toning up their bodies to the nth level of fitness. Youngsters exercising away in a bid to get the 6-packs…

My first impulse was to run out. For a moment I felt that they were all sneering and laughing ‘Hey! Here comes Fat Lucy’ or whatever name they must have conjured up in those nanoseconds when their eyes gave the onceover at the misshapen body structure that answered to my name…

But I didn’t run. Because I was quite determined to get on level terms with at least some of these people… And I am glad I didn’t. Because I found out that nobody laughed. Not when they saw that the person with that ruined body was serious about setting it right. And I found out that they respected you for having the courage to accept that things had gone wrong and you were going to do whatever it takes to set them back right.

I made a lot of good friends, and lost most of those extra pounds.

But that was then. Complacency overcame determination, and now here I am. I am onto jogging, and have decided to restart my gym workouts. But this time its without the trepidation. Which is good and bad. Good because I am not having any sleepless nights thinking whom to bequeath my not-so-small amount of junk in the event I die of shame on the first day. And bad because it has made me complacent, that I can lose weight anyways, no big deal. And complacence was what got me to this state back, in the first place…

Add comment June 22nd, 2006 Written By: daisy