The Gym Experience sans headphones

Musings

I've had an interesting time at the gym the last few days.  I misplaced my earbuds so I was without my usual beat bopping tunes.  My time at the gym is usually extremely focused on my form and I use the music to time my reps and sets which helps keep my heart rate up.

Sans headphones, people talk to you more...a lot more.  While wrapping up my workout and heading to the stationary bikes for my cardio, I said hi to a guy who had made eye contact and was also on the stationary bikes.  This small opening sent him into a half hour monologue about all sorts of stuff...less than half of which I could understand due to his slurred speech pattern (not drunk just a strange speech pattern).  Now, every time he sees me he starts talking to me.  He's friendly enough but I can't understand hardly anything he is talking about.

I recognized a women whose children used to go to my school.  I said hi and asked how they were settling into their new school.  It was really nice to connect with another mom in my community.  However, an older women nearby jumped into the conversation to input her very strong opinions about the public school system and teachers.  It was entertaining to watch her backpedal when I told her I was a public school teacher.  I see nothing wrong with people expressing their views.  We are all entitled to them.  But she didn't stand by them once she knew I was on the other side of the fence. This effectively ended the conversation.

I noticed more people smiling and saying hello.  The meandering trainers asked how my routine was going and inquired into what program I was using.  It was kind of nice and I felt more a part of the gym with the earbuds off.  Also, you get to hear all kinds of interesting conversations.

Like the group of teenage boys (14-16) who are so very misinformed about diet and exercise and who spend more time texting than talking to each other or lifting.

Or the the two older guys who talk politics while lifting and poke fun at each other's faces while lifting.

My favorite though, is not a conversation.  I was doing barbell step ups next to the barbell "cage".  There were two young guys doing squats (again, there was more talking and texting than actual lifting).  In between sets they were grabbing the bar and "dirty" dancing with it.  I had to stop stepping for my own safety caught I was laughing so hard at them!  They laughed at themselves too.

Progress Report

I have two more workouts to complete until my next weigh in and measurement.  I'm so anxious to see if I have made any progress.  All the pants I bought for work are already too big at the waist.  They fit great in my thighs and hips but I'm going to have to have them altered at the waist.  My energy is 100% better than it was last school year.  I lost a lot of weight last summer but I didn't gain much muscle so it was harder to maintain the weight loss.  Now that I'm gaining a decent amount of muscle mass, I think it will be much easier to maintain.

This is a video from Jamie Eason.

Reflection

I was going through some old photos.  My inspiration for staying on track:


Mother's Day 2012 w/ my daughters, Jordan and Emily.  Look at that belly!



This one is from April 2010.  This is when I first started my journey.  This was a few months after I had Em.  Don't I look so excited to be holding that snake?  I lost a bet with my students and had to hold it.



Excuse the messy room.  This was last summer at my lowest weight 155.  Gained all I lost back last year because even though I counted calories and exercised regularly...I hadn't really changed the way I think about food.