Notes From the Gym

I know that this blog has been very whiny lately. I'm sorry. But I'm going to continue the trend and rant some more. But all of these rants are gym related, so they have a common theme, at least, unlike previous posts.

1) Will you give me at least one television in the room that isn't tuned to ESPN? I know, I know - we're there working out so it MIGHT SEEM like we're interested in sports but, ummm, some of us would rather have CNN on. Or C-SPAN. Or even Fox News. Or, better yet, turn on the NBC soaps!! At first, I thought that you guys only had ESPN because that's all I saw. Then, one momentous day during the Olympics, I realized we were watching curling on NBC!! You do have other channels, but you FORCE me to watch ESPN on every television. I am not saying we should exclude ESPN altogether, but if there are five televisions in the room, why can' t the uninterested sports people get a different channel?

2) I purchased some new yoga pants from Old Navy. They are quite comfortable and fun to work out in. I was excited to go to the gym today just so I could wear my new pants. Yay!

3) There are signs that say, "please put the weights back on racks when you are finished." Okay, great. But why doesn't anyone rack the weights for the calf raise machine. Everytime I want to use the machine, I have to remove 400 pounds of weight before I can get started with my 45 pounds. I know it's probably wrong that all I can handle is 45 pounds, but give me a break. Please don't forget to rack your weights.

4) To the girl with unshaven legs and armpits who works out at the same time I do on Fridays: you are hot.

5) I bruise quite easily. Even the slightest amount of pressure, for a period longer than a millisecond will cause blood to pool in my skin. Often, I wake up in the morning, hop in the shower, and realize that I have a new bruise somewhere on my body. It's usually my legs, but sometimes it's my arms or torso. Since I wear pants at the gym (we can discuss my unhealthy body image later, but I have fat, fat legs), the bruises are usually noticed only by myself and, occasionally, by Biker Boy. But right now I have a scary looking bruise on my left arm. I noticed it on Friday morning as I was working out and when I looked down at it, I was somewhat stunned by its size and, ummm, darkness (the origin of the bruise is mysterious). It is visible to all when I am at the gym wearing my BOWLING GREEN HOCKEY tshirt (go BG!!).

Today, some nice young man came up to me as I was doing my dumbbell bench presses (look, I know a gym-related term) and told me that my form was slightly off and corrected it. Fine. I thanked him for pointing it out, adjusted my form, and kept at it. He continued watching me. After my bench press, skullcrushers, and tricep pushups, I went to get some weights to do another exercise and he was still watching me. I was a bit creeped out. I (I think politely, but maybe it was more timid than anything else) asked him what he was doing. He said he thought someone was abusing me because of the bruise on my arm. I stared, openmouthed, and laughed. Thanks for your concern, nice young man, but I think I beat myself in my sleep. No worries.

Okay, that's it. Notes from the gym.