YOU’RE finally enrolled at the gym. And then the morning after, you have to climb the escalator which may—or may not— start operating at 10 am when the mall opens. And you’re now huffing and puffing while climbing the escalator. Why, oh, why did they put the gym on the upper floor?
Welcome to the world of the hesitant gym rat. Who can spend hours on the stationary bike—while writing this column. Who can join the Zumba classes twice a day. Who can do crunches forevermore. But seeing the non-working escalator inspired her to write a letter of complaint to the mall manager. Joke only.
And if she sees a rat—the real kind—in that gym, she’ll write a letter to the mall owner. Just kidding.
The older generation is revealed through the exercises they used to do: aerobics, step aerobics, and taekwondo aerobics. Operative word: aerobics.
Now, the gym’s sked has Zumba, metcon, boot camp, fit punch, abs workout, circuit training, meta fit, Tabata, AF circuit, core strength, and yoga, and the senior at least can heave a sigh of relief that she’s familiar with Zumba and yoga.
Boot camp is military training?
Fit punch is surely boxing. Unless it’s a healthy (fit) drink (the yummy meaning of punch). But in parentheses in that sked are these: “Bring your gloves.” So, yes, it’s boxing.
Abs workout is, of course, for the abs.
As for circuit training, that’s what gave the hesitant gym rat a left knee injury years ago at another gym, so, yup, definitely familiar with that.
When I see AF, the only words that come to mind are “as f*ck.” Sorry po.
Core strength is planking galore?
For the other classes in the sked—metcon, meta fit, Tabata—that’s like looking at a French resto menu: Whaaaaat?! The best way to find out is to order everything and dig in. The coach will always modify an exercise, anyway, for the newbie, most especially for the senior newbie. Wall pushups instead of floor pushups. Those watching the Facebook Live of gym classmates must be wondering, Why is that old lady pushing the wall? Haha!
The low-carb dieter has to exercise so that her protein and fat intake won’t go to waste. And that’s during her fasting window.
There was a time when eating carbs before exercising was the norm. To have more energy. Those days are gone, at least for the low-carb dieter.
A healing journey is always a work in progress. In the late ‘80s, there was the “Fit for Life” book which was about food combinations I think. It gave my friend some gastritis woes so I stopped doing it, too, before I could reach that point of no return.
In the early ‘90s, there was Fiber Trim, a pill that’s supposed to help me feel satiated.
It was also in the early ‘90s that I began to take aerobics classes. That whole decade of exercising only resulted in more weight gain since I thought exercise would help me lose weight. Not.
It was only in October 2021, 30 years later, that I learned food is the key to weight loss. I could have sung then, “And it’s too late, baby, now it’s too late/Though we really did try to make it.” But I decided to give the low-carb diet a chance.
