Day One--118 Days and a wake up.

     I could hardly sleep the night before. The anxiety was killing me. How would my body react to this, how would my psyche stand up to the stress of putting myself "out there." I started the morning with four egg whites with tomatoes and onions fried in a skillet with with some healthy smart as a lubricant. I had an appointment today with one of those will be there between 8 am and 12 noon people. He actually showed up at 11:00 on the dot, did his thing and ske-daddled after making a few comments about my fat cat.

     I showed up at the Gym at about 2:00 in the afternoon. As I drove into the parking lot a feeling of dread started to pour over me. My mind was trying to find ways of getting out of this situation. Mind you, I have been no stranger to keeping fit, but in the last couple of years I have found it more difficult to motivate myself physically. I could relent and give to my cravings. The desire to sit at the table on the patio and and choke down a large piece of cheese cake. Four beers and some chicken wings was more my thing, but it was my inability to go for that 45 minute walk afterwards that I think inevitably did me in. 

     LA Fitness is a decent enough place. I had to "downgrade" to LA Fitness after my financial re-evaluation demanded that I go from a $150.00 a month health club to a $37.00 a month health club. I miss my old place: 360 Health Club. A beauty of a place situated in a nasty part of Reseda. But I had membership in the Executive Locker Room, I had a personal trainer, life was good. but that was two years ago, and my house was appraised for $300,000.00 more than it is today.  LA Fitness is the type of place that is basically everything in one big room, including the constant sales pitches promotions and what have you. I think I even saw a wheel of fortune looking thing at the door one time. "Refer a friend and win a free water bottle or an LA Fitness key chain. 

     "Today," I decided "legs." I started my routine with some lower body stretches, preparing myself for some pain. Not that I was going to overdo it or anything its just that I have always dreaded working my legs with weights. I don't know maybe its the weight belt cinched around my midsection or the fact that my skinny legs shouldn't take this kind of beating, but there I was in the recline squat machine. Three sets with my max being 405 pound. I did struggle a bit at that weight, but I could really feel the burn. My next exercise was the standing squat machine and this is where I got into some trouble. the first set was a warm-up set, 225 pounds, but it was 225 pound that I stayed for the entire 3 sets. I didn't feel like I should push myself because after the first set was was a little out of breath, the exercise wasn't difficult or painful but it felt like I had just run a wind sprint. The second set was the same as the first, but now my lungs were burning a little and as I went to take a drink of water I felt really sweaty on my forehead and started to get nauseous. I headed for the men's bathroom convinced I was going to vomit, but as I approached the door, I was able to talk myself out of it, sit down for a few minutes and collect myself. I headed back to the squat machine and finished my last set. My next three exercises were straightforward: leg extensions, leg curls, and two different calf raise machines, three sets each. 

     I felt pretty good at that point so off I went to the elliptical trainer and did 20 minutes on level 5. I was going to do 30 minutes but my lungs were still winded. When I got home at about 3:30. I decided to make myself a Creatine Monohydrate drink. I was told by someone at a health food store that Creatine would help with building muscle and recovery. I did some research and decided to give it a try. That was a big mistake. The Creatine had elevated my heart rate and pushed me into a state of anxiety. Feeling anxious and a little sick, I decided to take a nap and sleep it off. I woke up on this cool Tuesday morning at 5:00 am. Twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. No more Creatine for this bad boy. So I decided to get up and go for a run.