I'm here to PUMP...clap...you up!

I am not a vigilant gym-goer. I only started working out in college when prompted by my boyfriend. I probably went just to impress him. By junior year, when the impressing stage of our relationship was over, I kind of let it slide. After I married said boyfriend, things began to slide the other way. I belong to a gym that is associated with work and is not far from our building. If I go, I try to do so after work. I usually get there 2x a week, if I'm lucky.

Recently, I've wrangled two other co-workers in joining as well (since it's a good deal and we get a reimbursement from our company if we belong to a gym). For these referrals, the girl (I say that but I think she's older than me) that runs the gym told me I'd get a free workout. Cool. I have never known what I really should be doing with all those weights, I just kind of wing it.

I scheduled my workout. The next time I was at the gym, the girl, Jessica, said, "I hope you're ready for our workout next week."

That's when I started to get nervous.

A friend had done it and said it wasn't that bad. Said friend is in much better shape them me. I mentally gulped.

Our workout started with Jessica grabbing two 10 lb weights and marching out to the parking lot. She asked, "When you do lunges, how much weight do you hold?"

Um, none weight. I can barely lunge my body weight. If anything, 5-8 lb.

So I did lunge/bicep curls across the parking lot, leg shaking, face purple and heavy breathing. All the while she chatted about the gym, my workplace, etc. I did a lot of "uh-huh"ing between lunges. The rest of the workout went pretty much the same, with her pressing a few extra reps out of me on every workout. If I'm honest, I have to say that though it was probably the hardest workout I'd ever done, it was way overdue and I wasn't TOO sore in the morning. I did take a hot bath and drink about a gallon of water.

Now at the gym, filed under J, is a little workout sheet for me to use to track my progress. Now I have to do it, since Jessica can pull it out and check anytime, and give me disapproving stares whenever I come in if I'm not fulfilling my potential.

GUILT!