He was very thorough, and after three visits he asked me what part of the body I wanted to work on. I said “Let’s do stomach today.” WHAT A MISTAKE! I can handle blasting. But he knew my previous activity levels (sitting in front of a computer all day every day for well over a year), and he fully blasted me on the mat.

He said “Ok, let’s hit the machines!” I hopped up and… promptly sat back down. Hard. I almost fainted. He had me lie down on a bench and get my wits about me, I felt like I was going to die. Needless to say, I’ve not been back to the gym since… eight months later. And I’m still paying.

There isn’t any reason why we should just let ourselves go to pot. I checked out several places and found there was a good fitness center at a college in the same town. I went and took a look and really liked what I saw.

They had a lot of nautilus machines, oodles of treadmills and the nicest pool I’ve ever seen. The cost of joining was $260.00 a year with a first time addition of $25.00. I found out I qualified for up to $150.00 rebate from my insurance carrier as long as I maintained the membership for four months, so I joined.

My favorite nautilus machines work on the areas that I want to concentrate on and I use a treadmill to increase lung strength. I only want my arms, legs, buttocks and under my chin to firm up so I specifically use those machines that will do that.

There is one machine alone that helps build all leg muscles and the buttocks at the same time and all I have to do is set the weights at 100, push, and do 100 repetitions. With nautilus, I don’t have to worry about lifting weights as I have bursitis and don’t want to lift.

When I’m done with my work outs I take a swim, shower and go home. I really like this fitness center. And go at least twice a week. They have personal trainers there if I care to use one, but I pretty much know what to do with these machines and saw results in three weeks.

The first gym they had us go to was wonderful. It was very convenient to our office and I could easily go work out during my lunch hour or go after work before I took the train home. When we were going to that gym, I worked out 3 to 5 days a week.

I primarily did cardio exercises and lifted weights to build up my strength. One of the really nice things about that gym is that the trainers would take time to help us with our exercise routines and not charge us too much.

They also had many classes we could attend for free. My employer changed us to a second gym that I didn’t like nearly as much, so I stopped working out as much. The second gym was much more difficult to get to.

The latest gym they had us go to didn’t have nearly as many benefits. It was hard to get too and more expensive. It cost $200 a year even if you went to the gym the required number of times.

While at this gym, I did pay to work out with a personal trainer. I really liked working out with her. She had me doing cardio and using free weights as well as my own weight as resistance.

When I first started working out, I was exhausted all the time. It took a long time for my body to get used to working out a lot. But, once I did get used to it, I felt good. I was starting to lose weight and gain muscle tone.

That meant I was also starting to gain more energy. I like working out, but I don’t like having to work hard to get to the gym. If I have to go out of my way or make a special trip to get to a workout facility, I am less likely to go.