If I must resort to getting a trainer and working out - and I must - than I plan to do it in good company. Joe Lewis, Heavyweight boxing champion of the world! He held this title from June 22, 1937 until June 25, 1948 and made a division-record 25 successful title defenses. Someone I would be proud to emulate!
I am still on steroids and still struggle to breathe. And the weight gain from the steroids has just created more problems with my ability to be active. I get so exhausted just doing daily activities and my endurance is pretty non-existent. So what next? Sit in my chair and get fatter and fatter?
Nope! I have joined a gym - what has been relabeled in today's parlance as a fitness center - and acquired a trainer. If I want to get into any semblance of good shape, I need to train! So train I will. Two days a week with a trainer and then all the cardio, weights, balance, flexibility I want to take on.
My first appointment with Molly - such as sweet sweet name for this woman of steel. Former Air Force; and to my way of thinking there is never anything "former" about military! So Molly and I walk to a treadmill. Treadmill:
An exercise device consisting of an endless belt on which a person can walk or jog without changing place;
A mill that is powered by men or animals walking on a circular belt or climbing steps
A job involving drudgery and confinement.
Here's a definition I can relate to:
Instrument of discipline in prisons. A cylinder made to revolve by the action of prisoners putting their weight on boards fixed as steps on the surface of the cylinder. It was intended to be an irksome and monotonous punishment.
Some good words here: endless, drudgery, punishment, monotonous...
So back to me and Molly at the treadmill. I have not exercised in years - I have sarcoidosis - I am 59 years old - I am grossly overweight. So Molly says to me, "Let's do 55 minutes on the treadmill today."
I looked at her as if she were recently released from a long-term treatment center for the severely mentally impaired. FIFTY-FIVE minutes! ME! On a treadmill! I wanted to cry, but that would not have been very sporting of me. I WAS however mentally contemplating how to get out of my contract with the fitness center. There must be some other way to get my lungs back in shape!
So she starts up the treadmill and my feet begin to move. By minute ten my legs were burning and I was ready to leave, that is, if I could have had the stamina to walk out of the gym and to my car.
Twenty minutes - not even halfway through. I knew something that Molly did not - there was NO WAY I could do 55 minutes on a treadmill. Inclines, speed up, slow down, more inclines, and 40 minutes had passed. I was still upright. I could hear Joe Lewis urging me on, and on. Suddenly, time was up! I had gone 55 minutes on a treadmill.
I casually walked down to my car, got inside and shouted with joy! ME - 55 minutes! I was exuberant, ebullient, ecstatic, euphoric, rapturous! Me and Joe go to the gym again on Sunday.
