Waiting for the other shoe …

Sometimes I wonder where the time goes. Most times I’m so caught up in the mind-numbing sameness of the every day, that I often don’t realize time has passed. Or maybe I just don’t want to consciously recognize I’ve gotten another day older … and as the song goes … deeper in debt.

And to look at the line before, and the one in the song too … I’m also afraid I’m reaching the 16-ton mark. Okay maybe that’s a “little” exaggerated, but I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been. And that is certainly a frightening thought to an aging man. Well at least this aging man. I can’t speak for us all.

My vanity will not allow me to reveal my current weight. Well okay … I currently weigh 20 stones. You do the math! It’s with this in mind I figured it was time. Time to get back to the gym. My doctor has been urging me to. He also offered up this little nugget too. “Joe … you should get back to the gym. Especially now that you are being supplemented with testosterone. You’ll speed up your metabolism, because you’ll be able to build lean muscle mass faster.” OMFG! How brilliant is that?!?!

It took a while for it to sink in. I was also worried that if I started again, the cystic lesions in the bones of my hands (thanks to my Sarcoid) would flair up again, along with the associated tendon flaring and pain. Add to the equation my having this misguided association in my head … going to the gym back in 2000 and my later diagnosis with Sarcoid. Somehow I have these two item inextricably linked. Time to unlink … unlink … unlink!

August is when my Bally Fitness membership renews. Sadly I didn’t have enough money to renew it right away. Good thing too! It had been a year since I was last there. So I didn’t know it had closed down! Luckily, before I paid my Bally dues ($180.00), I visited the Bally website & discovered there was no longer a listing for the Bally Fitness on Aurora Ave in Seattle. Thinking this was a mistake I Googled “Bally Aurora Ave Seattle Closed”. And wouldn’t you know it … hits telling me it certainly was closed. And the nearest other Bally clubs were 30 miles north or south. Not conducive to working out 3 times a week.

I did some research on other gyms in the area, and decided to look at LA Fitness on Aurora Ave, directly across the street from my old gym. Maybe that’s what closed them. The LA Fitness was maybe a year old. But it’s was very nice. I got a free pass for the week, and liked the gym. The price was right too. Just $300.00 up front (thanks my honey) payment of the first and last month, and only $19.95 per month there after … forever. Not too shabby!

So I’m happy to report I’m in my second week of the gym. My hands are okay for the most part. The first week I took it easy. I went through my old workout with lighter weights, and warm-ups. Now in the second week, I’m testing where my starting points are again.

Tomorrow is workout 6 … legs, and shoulders day. And so it goes. I really like working out. Me my trusty iPod and lots of young muscly boys to look at. How terrible is that! Yes at times I’m self conscious … but what the hell. I’m there! And with any luck a few stones later … I’ll be back under 200 lbs. That’s the goal.

I’ve been here before. So only time will tell. All I have to do is stop waiting for the other (gym) shoe to drop … and just get on with it.