Mental Ramblings

After about 9 different starts to this post, I decided to just wing it and ramble. I got my first gym membership when I was 18, that was how old you had to be to join. My mom got me a membership to SpaLady for my birthday. There was no way I was going to step foot into a gym where GUYS were training! I would be humiliated for sure. I did the typical workout which consisted of 20 minutes on the eliptical or recumbant bike, followed by probably 100 sit ups, then a few sets on the butt master machine. As the years went by, I started reading Fitness Magazine, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Self, and learned more exercises using weights! I started doing a traditional bodybuilder split; chest/tricep, back/bicep, legs and abs/cardio. As my confidence in the gym grew, the more eager I was to learn and before I knew it I had outgrown my SpaLady membership. With some hesitation, I started going to a gym that had BOYS! While there were a few muscle heads, most of the guys there didn't seem to know much more then I did. In fact, I probably could have taught them a thing or two.

Fast forward to today.... First of all, you wouldn't catch me dead at SpaLady, or in the women's section of a co-ed gym for that matter. Most of the time, I am one of the few girls that dare venture into the free weight area. I do not use the weight machines, I prefer free weights. Gone are the days of curling 5lb dumb bells; I like to lift heavy. I love to see the expression on people's faces when I load up the leg press with 270lbs and proceed to push out 3 sets of 10 reps. I have come a long way since I stepped into SpaLady for the first time. While the number of the scale has gone up, so has the amount of muscle I have. I am stronger then I have ever been and I am proud of the muscle I have put on. While I am not as lean as I would like to be, I am not dissatisfied with my appearance either and as far as I am concerned that is HUGE.