We Are Totally in Shape Now!
This weekend Steve and I bought something I never thought we would buy. A piece of home exercise equipment. That’s right. In spite of my fears that it will become something on which to hang Steve's seldom-worn suits (we got those thinking he might need them for a job interview or the job itself someday), we are the proud new owners of a FitnessQuest Elliptical trainer.
The reason for this purchase? We are totally out of shape. Before I started my new job last July, I used to go to yoga or Pilates twice a week after work. But that was when I could actually make it home in time for the Pilates class at 5:35. Now we get home after 7:00. The few times I've popped in one of my Pilates DVDs at home, I've worked out in terror of losing my balance and cracking my head on the coffee table a few inches away.
The consequence of these circumstances is that for the last 11 months I haven't done much more than sit on the drive to work, sit in front of my computer at work, sit on the drive home, and sit in front of the TV when we get home. And recently I've begun to feel the effects of stagnation. It's not even so much that the jeans occasionally get a little tight. When I notice that, I cut out a snack or two and get back down. So far, I have been blessed with a decent metabolism. No, it's my aching body and creaking joints telling me to get moving.
I have an old shoulder injury that acts up every so often. It's been bothering me all spring. I can no longer sleep without a pillow between my legs without waking up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in my hip. My doctor says I likely have loose ligaments. In this case, it means that when I'm sleeping on my side, my hip falls slightly out of its socket, hence the stabbing pain after a while. Propping my knee up with a pillow helps keep my hip in place. The loose ligaments would also explain my other weak joint issues. The answer, according to my doctor, for all of these woes? Exercise, build up the muscles that are supposed to support the joints. After going through all of my complaints at my physical in April, I jokingly "complained" to her that exercise is her answer for everything.
Steve doesn't seem to have these joint issues, but he's out of shape, too, and could use some exercise. So, after agreeing that we have the right, nay the obligation, to nag each other incessantly if the other person does not use the infernal machine, we got a fairly well-reviewed, but on the low-end of the price range, elliptical trainer. I'm simply not willing to shell out $2,000 for what might, in the end, become a glorified coat hanger. Besides, the pedals of the one we got are just the right size to become cat beds if necessary.