What am I doing?

I was perusing the Internet one fine day, as I am often wont to do, and as usual, I paid one of my several daily visits to Facebook. A dear friend of mine had made a post saying that she had a gift certificate for a free 3-month membership to Snap Fitness, a gym chain that happens to have a local outlet. I’ve been meaning to get into shape for a long time. Most of my life, actually, and I had been contemplating joining Snap this very autumn. I chose Snap over Anytime Fitness because Snap is on my way to and from work, and over the local YMCA because I can’t afford a policeman or construction worker costume to wear while working out. Snap also has an advantage because with a paid membership, I get a discount as an employee of Brainerd Lakes Health.

As far as I could tell, nobody had claimed the certificate yet, and my friend making the offer happened to be online, so I immediately pounced on her in the “chat” function of Facebook, and asked for it. She was more than happy to give it to me. I got the certificate, and went to Snap to sign up this past Friday.

Last night, Monday, was my first official visit to the establishment to begin my workout regimen. I had it all mapped out in my head. One hour walking on the treadmill each night, Monday through Friday, and then a full workout with weights on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was going to follow this plan for the duration of my 3-month membership, which ends January 8, 2011, and then I was going to gauge my progress at that point to see if it would be worth paying for a continued membership.

A friend at work suggested that an hour of walking on the treadmill every night might be a bit much for now, since I’m just starting out. She suggested that I instead do 20 minutes per night on the elliptical machine, because it wouldn’t be as difficult, it would still be a good workout, and it wouldn’t be so rough on me.

Sound advice. I even took it.

So, I went in around midnight for my first official workout. Wow.

I am in MUCH worse shape than I realized.

I hopped onto the elliptical machine, and got it going. Following my friend’s advice, I set it to “manual” with a workout time of 20 minutes. I lasted 5 minutes, and even for that, I had to rest twice for a few seconds each time.

Understandably, the fact that I’m grossly overweight and a heavy smoker are factors in all of this. But I always thought I was stronger than I actually am. I think I used to be much stronger when I was younger, and now I have to cope with the fact that I’m not as strong as I used to be yet.

At this rate, I’m going to use up my entire 3-month membership just getting into good enough shape to begin working out.