Last week, I finally bit the bullet and joined a health club. Some might say that Planet Fitness is not a real health club, but I think it’s just fine for regular people. (as if I was regular, lol.)
After going back and forth with myself for days, I finally decided today was the day to go check it out. After all, the hardest part of doing anything is getting started. Putting the New Thing Anxiety aside, I grabbed some stuff and went.
After checking in, I asked for a quick tour, and they were happy to take me around and show me where everything was. After that, I went to the changing room and put on my shorts, then returned to the main room. There were maybe 10 other people there in a very large room full of machines, so there wasn’t much competition.
I have a plan to tend to just a few specific parts of my body to which I would like to give a little definition. I am currently at my perfect weight, so I have no need for weight loss. I mainly would like to juice up my Pecs, biceps and saggy ass a little, so I’ll look extra good either naked or in my little speedo this summer. Since I have a cruise coming up in a few months, I have at least some motivation to try to look a little better. As a long-time nudist, I have no hangups about my body the way it is. I am what I am, and I think I look rather good naturally. However, I’m getting older now, and it wouldn’t hurt to lift my butt and define a few other areas. I’ll try to fit in some cardio too for my heart health.
It doesn’t hurt to try to look good because I’ll never completely lose hope that one day, someone will see through my invisibility shield and say, “Where have you been all my life?” And we will never have to be lonely again. Wishful thinking, but you have to have some hope in your life.
Today was an experimental day, so I started with a warm up on an exercise bike for a little while to easily blend in a bit and get a feel for the place. While doing that, I watched the others to see what kind of procedure went on. Next I went over to some of the machines which have pictures indicating which muscles are exercised. I had no idea how much weight to use at first, so I started low and did 10 reps. After a quick rest, I upped the weight a bit and did 10 more, rest, 10 more.
It has been, probably, 30 years since I’ve been in a gym, so some of it was remembered. Other stuff I was making up as I went. After three sets of 10, I could feel my muscles feeling tired, so I moved on and repeated the procedure on a few other machines. I was there for, maybe, 30 minutes and could feel some burn. I didn’t want to overdo it on the first session, so after trying out 6 or 7 machines, I packed it up. My arms and legs were a little shaky, so I know there was some effect. We’ll see if I get any soreness later.
Anyway, it was a good start. Now I at least feel more confident about being there and what I’m doing. That’s an important step on making it a regular thing. For a while at least. I predict that I will go twice a week, then once a week, then once a month, then never. LOL. We’ll see.
I’m not trying to bulk up, I just want to look a little good. A few years ago, it rained a lot and I spent many hours out driving the tractor to shred the weeds. Working the steering wheel made my pectorals look nice enough that someone asked me, at a nudist club meeting, if I worked out. That made me think that perhaps it’s not that hard to tone up a little.
We’ll see how it goes.
Zee next day…
Last night I didn’t feel any soreness and was worried that there was no effect. This morning, however, I feel the burn. Mostly in my pecs and biceps, as promised. Yay. It works. I guess I’ll plan on going at least twice a week for a while.
Four days later…
Wow. I’m still a little sore. Mainly my triceps, which I didn’t even know were involved in these particular exercises. Most of the rest of the soreness is gone. I really didn’t think I worked them out that much. It was only three sets of 10. It seemed like nothing at the time. I’m sure it’s because I’m a noob and those muscles have been mostly dormant for a very long time. I will have to plan my future workouts because I can’t spend 3-4 days not doing other things because of the pain. On the other hand, no pain, no gain.
What a conundrum. We can make this work. It’s just a matter of figuring it out.