Personal Trainer = Co-dependency?!?!

So, a couple of weeks ago I received a flyer in the mail for the Fitness 19 gym opening in Covina. $14 down $14 a month.  Sounded like a great deal and better than I had found at 24 Hour Fitness in Glendora.  Since it wasn't opened yet I called to see if anyone was around and sure enough, there was.  I went over to check it out and figured unless I absolutely hated it,  I would be signing up. I didn't hate it, it seemed to be a nice set up with lots of cardio machines and strength training machines.  The $14 down was a LITTLE misleading, it turned out you pay, first and last month plus  a "fee" to hold your $14 a month.  Turned out to be a start up cost of $91.  STILL significantly cheaper than when I joined Bally's.   Plus, I really liked the manager, Tucker, seemed like a down to earth guy.

The gym officially opened last Friday the 19th, so I got in there last Saturday. I was there Sunday, missed Monday (thanks Tim!), was there Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, and again today.  Must say it feels good to be a gym rat again.  I use the treadmill setting to do either Fat burning or cardio.  These are nice because they constantly monitor your heart rate and make adjustments to keep you on at the target heart rate. Which has been important since the current blood pressure medicine tends to cause my heart to be a little high.  (Really looking forward to being OFF the blood pressure meds!!) I've also been working the machine to hopefully help the legs and arms.

As part of joining the gym I got a free one-hour training session with a personal trainer.  So today I met for an "hour" with David.  Was more like 40 minutes since I was on the treadmill for about 15 minutes "warming up" while he was working another client.  He did a good job of asking me all the health questions and my goals.  Then we went to work on the machines.  I learned how to use some the machines that I didn't know about as well as the specifics of their equipment.  Being a true personal trainer he is sadistic.

Once we finished we went back to the desk where personal trainers turn into salesmen.  Don't get me wrong he's a good personal trainer, he's a former Army Ranger and he going to school to become a physicians assistant and if I were independently wealthy I would go for it, sadly, I'm not independently wealthy so...  But he informs me that I can't do this on my own and that I need to meet with him two times a week for the next 12 weeks.  Seriously?  I know I've put on WAY too much weight over the past 6 1/2 years and I weigh more now than I've EVER weighed in my life.  However, so much of what has happened has been because I've been in a self-destruct mode allowing circumstances in my life to dictate my self-image. In August I came to terms with the junk and realized I was only hurting myself and I wasn't handling things the way God would want me to.  Since that light bulb came on, I've been loosing weight I feel better about myself.

So, for now at least, I'm going to pass on the personal trainer for now, in the future maybe, we'll see.  I'm going to move forward with regular exercise, continue to eat better and trust God to continue the much needed healing of my heart. The reality is, I can only control my actions and my reactions.  I have to trust that God is in control.

Today's video is one of my favorite U2 songs, of course, I have found what I'm looking for, but this is still a fun song.  Enjoy!