The Gym

I find gyms very intimidating places. I've never been brave enough to venture into the actual gym part of any gym before, and definitely don't have enough motivation to work out on my own- having someone shouting at me to keep going is essential. Thus, for a year and a half I have been a dedicated attendee of circuit training classes at the gym in Chipping Norton, where I was living before, and loved it. naturally now I am no longer a full time zoo keeper I am anxious about changing shape and losing fitness, so set about locating the closest gym to my new home, and diligently went down there to start working my way through the classes to see what I liked (as none of them have names that are in any way descriptive of what they entail, for example "20/20/20" or "core blimey" or "fit and functional".

My first experience wasn't the best, as the PT didn't say hi, introduce himself, ask about my fitness and past injuries etc, nothing, even though I approached him to let him know I was new. Everyone else was pretty snooty- why are so many gyms like this?? The PT was sarcastic and obviously thought he was really funny but I didn't like his style at all and found him very unattentive. the other two classes I've done since then were also lead by him!! :(

By chance I discovered a circuit training class in my village, excellent as no spending on petrol! Went down there to try it out last night. When I met the PT I couldn't believe it was actually him! The total opposite of the guy at the gym, not so attractive, not so buff, thick glasses, very camp/limp-wristed, basically the last guy you'd expect to be a personal trainer! But very nice, said hi, asked the right questions, and the other people in the class were all really friendly too, ordinary people of all shapes and sizes- none of those cliquey, full face of makeup, yummy mummy or super fit, not even breaking a sweat student types, hooray! So there I was thinking oh this probably won't be very hardcore, but boy did we get worked!! So much cardio!!! Which I hate, by the way, but badly need. To be honest the circuits didn't contain as many strength and core building exercises as I'd prefer, but the cardio stuff is what I really need to do and I will definitely be back to the class again, and supplement it with some of the weights classes at the snooty gym... Mostly I wanted to blog about the unexpectedness of it, and the contrast aspect, and how I felt about it all. So I guess my parting statement can only be this: #freakshow4life ;)