Who Said Exercise Wasn't Fun!

*photo by Christart.com

I have two weeks credit to my strength training now. I wondered what I was getting myself into when I first thought of doing this. I can tell you that I know why they "suggest" a rest day in between workouts. It is out of necessity and not really by choice. Although we tell ourselves it's all about the choice. I am feeling the pain of increased intensity down to the surface of my bones. Oh well, at least I can move.

Seriously though, there's sure a lot of entertainment at the gym that it makes me wonder who said exercise wasn't fun. For example, I was on the treadmill running (You'll notice I said running and not walking. Impressed?) while watching Judge Judy when I heard a banging. It had to be loud because I could hear it over my headphones. I looked around and was baffled that the sound I heard could not possibly be coming from the guy two treadmills down. This poor guy, honestly! He was hanging white-knuckled as though his life depended on it because the treadmill was getting away from him. Half of his shoe would hit the covered motor while the other half was on the belt. (Thus the banging.) Now cut him some slack because I'm sure if he would have lifted his hand to push the decrease speed button, he would have landed head-over-heels bass ackward.

If that wasn't enough amusement, you should have been there when I was on the Easy Chin/Pull Up bar. A trainer-wanna-be informed me of a new way to work on the machine. He advised me that I should really stop at 5. Easy for him to say. So I humored him as well as provided him with a few minutes of his own entertainment. Moving on to Scene 2, I sat on the Chest Press Machine and watched him ahem! show off. Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater!!!!! You're supposed to lift up by the arms and not swing yourself up to "lighten" the load. Yeesh! I can still hear the weights banging as I type this. I thought that was one of the first rules of Strength-Training Etiquette. DO NOT LET THE WEIGHTS BANG!!!!!

Ah! but the funniest thing I've seen yet is watching folks faces as they attempt to lift more than they can handle. It still cracks me up. Oh to have a camera at that moment. However, I thought I saw a sign outside that said "NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED!" (Okay, so not really but it would be funny wouldn't it?) Whoever said exercise wasn't fun could not have stepped foot inside a gym.