Gym Bunny, C'est Moi

This past year has been intense. My job has been enjoyable for the most part but very demanding. A typical work week is at least 50 hours, too often 60 hours. I found myself exhausted and irritable with occasional mini anxiety attacks.

I had to break this unhealthy cycle so I decided to sign-up at the gym. The gym I joined has many locations around the City, including one across from my apartment and one in my office building. Perfect. The membership ($85/month,eek!) came with two free personal training sessions. Excellent, I was actually complementing getting a personal trainer. My first personal training session was a disaster and it took me weeks to recover.

The pain wasn’t physical, it was emotional. I made an appointment with a personal trainer recommended by a single female colleague of mine. She failed to tell me that said personal trainer was a 6’2 feet tall, 220lbs, ex-Marine Corps muscle man dude. That’s probably what she liked about him. Me, not so much.

My first session consisted of performing a fitness assessment. Calculating body fat was the first on the agenda. Let me tell you how unpleasant it was to have Mr. Ex-Marine Muscle Dude measure me. I had not been touched by another man in years. I was so uncomfortable that I was seriously shaking. What is wrong with me???

The second step was to measure my blood pressure which ended up being too high. No shit. Mr. Ex-Marine Muscle Dude was making me unbelievably nervous. Then we did some flexibility and balance exercises. The good news is that I am not fat. The bad news is that I apparently have “below average” balance. Euh, he was stressing the heck out of me so much that I couldn’t keep my balance! At the end, we talked about my goals and the next session.

I joined the gym primarily to relax. This experience was more stressful than work. For days, I worried about the session with Mr. Ex-Marine Muscle Dude until I decided to cancel it. I don’t need more goals, timelines and stress in my life. I have plenty at work.

So I’ve been going to the gym for a month now, on my own. I can run one mile in 9 minutes, not bad! According to US Army standard, I get an 81% score. In general, I think exercising has helped me remain sane. I feel much calmer. I have more energy and I am less irritable.