The Life of Eric

Spinning <> A Fun Childhood memory

In other news, I (for some strange reason) decided to join Gold's Gym with Kristen at the start of the new year. Is it my New Year's resolution? Well, I guess it is now, since I am contractually obligated to the membership until December 2005. Kristen at one point mentioned that they were having a special in adding a family member to an existing account for $19.99/month, so I decided it wasn't too bad of a deal. Of course when I call to make sure the deal is still active I get the whole "Oh, that deal expires today, you better decide right now if you want to get it!"

Why did I join? I guess seeing Kristen go all the time and enjoy it, meanwhile I'm sitting at home eating Fritos and Cokes getting fatter and fatter. It was just a matter of time. So far I really enjoy the exercise, I guess we'll see how long it truly lasts. I've been going after work Monday-Thursday from about 5:15-6:45 each day.

What have you been doing at the Gym?
I'm glad I asked myself that. Well, the very first day Kristen was starting a new "routine" in her workout. She was going to use the treadmill to start off, and then go to a "Spinning" class after that. When she said spinning all I could think of was "Wow, that's going to be a piece of cake". Boy was I wrong, or maybe I'm just grossly out of shape, you decide. When I thought of spinning I just remembered having fun as a kid, running around, "spinning" (if you will) and getting dizzy and laughing. Fast forward to 2005 and I'm praying to God that 45 minutes could feel like 30 seconds as my legs are about to fall off and I'm being beat by a bunch of Women (no offense). Yes I am secure in my manliness. I guess.

So, I've been doing that for the last three weeks now and its been going pretty good, but I took one more nosedive on Wednesday. Kristen had been talking about her "Body Pump" class for a long time, and it is basically a weight lifting class. She assured me that guys usually go to the class, so I decided to give it a shot since I've only been working on my legs since I started going to the gym. Wow. You guessed it, I was the only guy in the class. Not only was I the only guy, I was also introduced to everyone, and pointed out NUMEROUS times by the instructor (who by the way has a loud booming microphone echoing around the room) by saying things like "Come on Eric, keep with it!" and "It's not as easy as it looks, huh Eric?" Let me just say this.... I had been feeling pretty good about my workout schedule and ability up until this day, when a room full of 30 women ranging in age from 20-40 were all staring at me and probably laughing inside while all of the men in the gym were looking into the GLASS window I was infront of and laughing at me being laughed at by a bunch of women. Did I forget to mention that the "Body Pump" room is directly infront of the free weight area. Yep. I'm a man.

So needless to say, I've been embarassed just about every day that I've gone to the gym, but AT LEAST I was not the guy walking in the Body Pump room after our class was over to go to the Step Aerobics class. I have to draw the line somewhere.

My biggest accomplishment...Being able to run a sub 8:00 mile.

My biggest embarassment...Being stuck in a room full of mirrors with 30 women for an excruciating hour of my life.

Does this ruin my drive? Hell no. Bring it on.

Let's go running! or something.......

posted by Eric Webb @ 9:18 AM