The Gym

I first started going to out local YMCA back in November, 2001. I hadn't been in a gym since high school. Lack of fitness and the fact that I had tipped the scale at a svelte 223.5 made me decide that something was in order. Under the guidance of Trevor Harris and other trainers, I learned to use the cardio machines and the cable weight machines. Over the course of the winter, I got the weight down to 186 and got myself in the best shape I've been in for years. But then spring came and we started riding. Suddenly, the gym wasn't so important any more. And I started to put some weight on.

Over the ensuing years, I would get into the gym over the winter, although not with the dedication of that first year. And the weight was up around 210. Last year was the worst. I weighed 208 in September, 2007. I didn't get to the gym until late December and, due to eating all the wrong things, I was up to 226 pounds by year-end.

I didn't hit the gym or do much about diet through the first nine months of 2008. The weight was continually over 220 and I didn't feel well at all.

Normally, it takes a while for me to get to the Y. Usually December. But today that will change. Yesterday, I weighed 226.0 pounds and today I started back to the gym. To avoid my usual problem of working too hard, I deliberately started the cardio slowly, but I added more time. Twenty-five minutes on the treadmill, fifteen on the horizontal bike and twenty on the elliptical, making an even hour. We'll leave the strength exercises for a while.

I found that this was the hardest time I have had starting out. As I get older, I realize that I can't be taking these breaks or, one day, I might not be able to get it back.

Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted on how this works out.