Did I mention that I’ve a new gym membership? I did that in my earlier post, didn’t I. Like I said, I try new gyms every year in the hope of finally sticking to one, so that I can break down my 1 pack into 6 or 8 (or whatever number is in fashion now). Ask me about any gym in Mangalore (that’s where I live), and I can tell you how good a place it is.
And all these years, I have remained a beginner in the gym – something I’ve used to my advantage.
For instance, I’ve used it as an excuse to spend less time in the gym for the first few days (usually the only few days I turned up) – you know, one should ease into the routine, and not tire oneself at the start.
It has also come in handy when the trainer tried to push me to my limits (like asking me to do the 5th push-up).
But this time, I’ve decided to be persistent.
The first day was spent in recording my vital statistics (for the record, I weighed 93 Kgs) and in tests that finally revealed that I was ‘obese’. (Well, they didn’t have to do all those tests to find THAT out. Even a visually challenged person could figure that one – if I let the person feel me, that is.).
My personal trainer (hereinafter called ‘PT’) made his appearance on the third day – a rather wide fellow with a comforting (not to be confused with ‘sympathetic’) smile. He got me to stand in the center of the gym, and made me do some warm up exercises. Years of inactivity had taken a toll on me, and little balls of fat were obstructing the movement of my muscles, making my moves look rather awkward and…funny. While I was doing my moves, I could sense a lot of shuffling and movement happening around me. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the side lines – I could see the front office staff and other instructors bunched up to watch the show I was putting on. My fellow ‘exercisers’ too were moving across machines to adjust their viewing positions. I managed to finish the ‘warm ups’, and was ready to get on the exercycle when I heard my PT’s dreaded voice: ’20 push-ups’. 20 push-ups? I hadn’t done that many in my entire life!
I did the first 2 rather comfortably, and in the middle of my 3rd, I got stuck at floor level. My PT helped me complete the remaining 17 by dragging my body up, and easing it down (probably growing some new muscles around his biceps in the process). Now, it was pull-ups time. I should say my PT did a fantastic job this time. The torture ended after a few more minutes – when I collapsed onto a mat with my eyes closed, to be more specific. I could hear my PT’s words drifting into my ears ‘…drink…water…more…push-ups…oranges…tomorrow…’.
The word ‘tomorrow’ did the trick – I sprang up, shook his hands and rushed out, muttering that I would meet him tomorrow.
So much for the 3rd day at gym. More to come…
Note: Read about my previous attempt at getting a 6 pack here: https://sampathmk.com/the-enemy-within-a-bold-mans-search-for-the-6-ps