In Australia I've been trying to get the the gym two or three times a week to do strength training exercises (since we all know that I don't weight enough). And despite that fa t Mt visits got rather infrequent as the semester wore on i didnt wasn't to go 6 ½ weeks eating pasta and sitting on the couch, since last time I put in 10kgs of fat doing that. So early last week I ad Selene accompany me to her old gym (she's currently back doing gymnastics so has changed gyms) and help me sign up. It's pretty expensive (65€ for a month) but hopefully that can be some incentive to go everyday. Before they let you start you need a medical certificate saying you're not going to drop dead and try to sue the (another 20€) so Tuesday last week saw me back at the gym on my own for the medical assessment.
When we were signing up Selene had explained that I was from Australia and when I went back for the medical assessment some of the same people where there and obviously have the doc the heads up. I was a bit worried about being able to communicate sufficiently without someone else there to help (my real is very, very slow, or non existent) but he was super good, spoke slowly in simple sentence and would try a different way if i didnt understand things the first time. He was doing pretty simple things, blood pressure, heart rate breath and heart sounds, so that helped quite a bit. When I had to lay down for the heart sounds he didn't try a complicated thing first, just started straight off saying with my stomach up. It's pretty rare to have someone so good as explaining things so I can understand them, makes me think maybe he has travelled abroad.
The next day I went back for my first session at the gym. I'd had a pretty crappy day and would have much preferred to stay at home curled up on the couch with Jace but decided if i managed to drag myself to the gym the day wouldn't be a total write of. Walking into the place was like walk g into a sauna, sweaty people and heating are not the best combination. The lady on the desk was the same as the day before and she took my card and showed me to the change rooms.
The gym was pretty much packed and I don't really enjoy crowds of people at the best of times so I jumped on a treadmill to give me something to do while I sussed everything out. Actually getting the treadmill to start was a bit of a challenge but one of the gym dudes came over and gave me a hand, he seemed to know to speak slowly and simply as well. He also came up to me later and corrected my It's form on a piece of equipment. It's really nice that they take the time to make sure I'm doing alright, I can just imagine in their staff meeting explain that the skinny girl with bright red hair is Australian.
After a warm up on the treadmill I braved the scary machines to atleast put in a little bit of effort. In Perth I go to Jetts which is a chain of gyms so no matter which one I go to or in which state the equipment is basically the same. This is super useful for the times when I have and hour and a half to kill in Melbourne before my flight home but not so useful well I suddenly end up somewhere with different equipment. My time on the ground treadmill allowed me to workout what exercise people where doing on each machine but working out the weights was another challenge in it's self. Basically I start on the lowest or second lowest and give it a shot, change the weights until I think it's close. I did a pretty light session that first time just to get in the swing of things and prove to myself that it wasn't so scary. I did however decide I was not going to go back again in the evening unless it was unavoidable, too many sweaty dudes and not enough free equipment.
This Tuesday I got up and for myself to the gym around 10 (later than I was aiming for) thinking most people would still be at work. This was true, however the local senior citz had obviously worked this out too. All the treadmills were full so I went in only lightly warmed up from the few minute walk over. I'm hind sight this was a poor decision, I woke up yesterday incredibly stiff. Some of it I had expected, not having been to the gym for a couple of weeks, but I didn't think I'd be wincing every time I moved. I brought one of mum's spiky balls with me so spent a while working out muscles as much as I could. I still decided to skip the gym though, instead opting for a couple of long walks to stretch out.
These walks where also duel purposed; finding strange flour and vegan baking staples. I will prove that gluten, egg and dairy free biscuits can be delicious. I feel that the discovery that Sara's Bimby is actually a Thermomix will assist me greatly in this endeavour.
Today I am back at the gym again, still a little sore but for the most part it's the good sore. I managed to time it perfectly this time so that I arrived just as the older ladies were stripping for the showers, but you know; win some, lose some. The nice gym guy said hi when he spotted me and I managed to watch a bit of a yoga/stretching class that i might eventually build up the courage to join. Today I am off to find the last few ingredients to cook with (and maybe even a trip to Eataly, a very awesome very dangerous slow food shop) and hopefully soon there will be a post of delicious Breanna compatible creations.
-Breanna
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