Grunt, sweat, and groan

I go to the gym at the Y three days a week. I play golf 3 other days of the week. And I veg out out on Sundays. I get more exercise now than I may have gotten at any other time of my life except for the horrendous few months of Boot Camp. I was younger then... much, much younger... and in good shape when I entered Boot Camp.

The gym is interesting. Some days it is crowded, other days almost empty. The days for each vary. You would think Saturdays would be busy but sometimes they are the emptiest of the week. Today was busy; parking lot almost full, people waiting on machines to be freed up. The parking lot is interesting. The closest to the front door fill up first. I don't quite understand that. You are going for exercise but you don't want to walk an extra 30-50 feet to get started?

I don't mind walking. Actually, I need to do more of it. I have taken to parking far from store entrances. This accomplishes two things: first, it frees up the closer spots for those who have trouble walking very far and, second, it provides me a little more exercise. After the Great Kneecap Incident, I got a handicapped placard. I used it for a couple of months but quit because it was not helpful to not walk far.

Back to the gym... There are short, tall, skinny, buff, fat, clumsy, and graceful people that frequent it. I do not quite fit into any of those categories. The women tend to spend most of their time on the treadmills and the stationary bikes. I have seen some that spend an hour or more running on a treadmill. Similar with the stationary bikes. The men move around more. From machines to free weights, mostly. My routine is simple; 3-4 minutes on the cross country trainer, leg presses, hip ablutions, crunches, back extensions, tricep machine, then a few shoulder, deltoid, and pectoral machines. Total time is around 45 minutes. It allows me to get exercise but does not leave me with morning after aching.

So far, it has not helped me hit the golf ball farther or increased my stamina (which is, basically, lousy). Still, I feel better overall. A little stronger, a little healthier. I am not entering any Mr. Universe contests anytime soon. But I have to force myself to go. It is not yet second nature to me. I suspect it never will be. After all, I am lazy and comfortable with being that.

Today, I began thinking that I need to start using a bicycle to go to the gym. The distance is less than a half mile. It would replace my cross country warm-up. And it seems a waste to drive there but walking would add too much time to the routine. There is a bicycle available to me. It belongs to Franny, my sis-in-law. It sits in the garage on flat tires and collecting spider webs. I'll contemplate this for a few days... no need to rush into anything.