I went to the gym. My experience is different than most of you probably - different than Patrick's description. This place I go is for women only - Curves - and mostly older women. It's kind of inspiring actually. The machines are set in a circle (only women would exercise in a circle facing each other...ha ha) and you spend one minute or so on each machine. There are all kinds of women there - fat women, yesterday there was a blind woman, old women (I'm talking in their 80's and 90's) young supple women, and then a bunch of us in the middle. I started going about a year and a half ago - when I decided to live.
At first I could barely do the circuit but I hung in there. The idea is to go three times a week. There are conversations going on - sometimes lots of laughing. Sometimes everyone is quiet. Rarely does any one comment on anyone else's weight - it's not done. We all have this understanding that we're doing the best we can and that weight for American women is a constant burden and worry.
The idea at Curves is mostly to get healthy. The people who work there aren't very glamorous. Carol is in her late 70's and walks 2 miles a day, there's a young woman who has lost 75 pounds this year - she's in college and really funny.
I know what Patrick is trying to get at - that some gyms are all about image and kind of missing the point about healthy food and effective exercise.
I've continued, now and then, to go to Curves - because I like connecting with the women there. Because I can't keep up with the level of jumping (yet) I go to Curves for a half hour of aerobic exercise to keep me moving. My life is pretty solitary (all right lonely!!) and I like going and laughing with a bunch of women who are doing their best to get or stay healthy. One of the drawbacks of the PCP exercise, ultimately, is that it only increases my isolation. I need to find some kind of activity - dancing, tennis, whatever (sex?) that is both social and physically active. Then PCP can continue to be my life line - but with the added fun of group moving....
Okay darling group. Go be beautiful and supple and lithe and all that sweetness.
Haha! Deb, you make me laugh. I like your honest, bold pictures. By God, we better be comfortable with things wrinkling and sagging b/c it happens. I told my Belize man friend that every wrinkle and scar he accumulates makes him more beautiful to me (he had a new vicious scar on his forehead this visit), and it's true. I mean it. Each one tells a story. Ah, but the trick is becoming comfortable with those wrinkles and scars on our own bodies. Now, that IS difficult.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I kinda used to scoff at Curves, but you've given me a fresh perspective on it. Thank you.
I love your spirit, it comes right through the computer screen to me. Also, if I lived near you, I think I would come to your church just because you sound like the most awesome minister ever. (Even though I'm not much of a church person.)
ReplyDeleteI haven't done my gym visit yet, but I think you can definitely get a good workout at a gym if you have the right knowledge. It's just all too easy to waste your time and your money at a gym if you don't know what you're doing. It sounds like Curves is a really supportive environment for you -- so glad you have that.