ROUND ONE EXERCISE

I've never liked exercise, though you'd probably find that hard to believe if you ever saw the large collection of work out DVDs and video tapes that I own.

Even in elementary school, I remember telling my mother that the teacher was trying to kill me, because she wanted me to do head stands, cart wheels and physical education in general, needless to say that by the time I reached high school, I pretty much hated all of it, the apparatus, jumping the horse, (buck) climbing rope, tennis, rounders, hockey, netball, volley ball, cross country running, fencing, pogo stick racing and stilts, so by the time I reached adulthood I added aerobic work out tapes, strength training and gyms to the list.

But the older I get, the more I realize that the weight doesn't just drop off the way it use to and all my wobbly bits don't just fall back neatly into place, and suddenly at 44 years of age all my wobbly bits refuse to allow me to push and shove them into places that they clearly don't want to go, instead they demand that I step to the plate and get real with myself, and at times that's a really hard thing to do.

So here I am unwillingly preparing myself for the road ahead, and I wish I didn't have to, because what a road it is, a road that consists of reps, sets, aerobics and sweat and even though I know that I didn't do this to myself over night, it sure feels as though I went to bed slim and woke up fat, and sometimes I'm bewildered at how this could in fact have happened to me. Yeah, I'm fat, unfit and disparately need of fix all of the things that are broken, yet I still find it hard to believe that I allowed myself to be talked into surrendering my credit card information for yet another expense as I'm billed monthly on a two year membership to belong to a gym that is 3 towns from where I live, 3 exits from where I work. How is that possible? And I realize that now that I'm a copy cat to prove a point kind of chic by this act of total madness because as I watched the reality t.v. show Work Out I was impressed by one of the women who traveled 2 and a 1/2 hours just to get to the gym, and I guess that subconsciously I took her impressive determination and ran with it, because she had a weight problem, wasn't thin and could so easily have been me, accept (here it comes) for the fact that her head is obviously in a different place to where mine is.

Can you say, If she can do it, I can do it...? Laugh, yeah OK.

So with some hounding from the recruiting team, I filled out all the necessary contracts, ouch! and I've been to the gym twice, since then for the cardio part of my free training session, (Oh how I wish I could afford a personal trainer.) and the strength training session.

Weighing in at 230 lb's with a BMI of 43% It should be 30%, groan, I am now the proud owner of one aerobic class schedule for the month, one strength training plan, and some knowledge of my strength training goals that I am suppose to be working at with the help of the machinery, Then with a brief once over of a few of the things that I know I will enjoy, once I convince my lazy mind to use them. i.e. whirlpool, dry and steam saunas. Kickboxing class and beginners spin class. I've being set free, with not a real clue as to what I'm doing, but I'll fake it till I make it without a personal trainer.

So, round one: belongs to my inner child, albeit that I made a decision to follow in the footsteps of some woman on t.v. who I've never met and more than likely never will.

That said, since I don't like exercise, you know the battle is on, because there is a part of me that doesn't want to go to the gym after work, doesn't want to drive all that way to get there. then have to drive even further to get home. doesn't want to spend 30 minutes trying to think of things to think about whilst I'm on the treadmill, doesn't want to try and look all cute as I sip water because I've built up a sweat doing a 5 minute warm up, when what I really want to do is GULP IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Being a couch potato, doesn't anyone really admit that?) I'd rather head on home, drop my bags at the door, grab a hold of the remote, put my feet up, chill, eat, chill some more then get my snooze on. "But If I can go to the gym being the exercise hater that I am, know what, YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

Did I just say that? Hmmm!