What the hell is that noise?

I don't even know what the song was playing this morning, but my alarm went of at 5:40am. I promptly rolled over and formed the opinion that, at least for me, its way too damn early to be doing *anything*. There are two and exactly two things that I ever want to do at 5:40 am besides sleep: one is fishing, the other is not...

Before I go any further, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Sam. At the time of this writing I am a 6'7" tall 27 year old male who currently weighs 230lbs (down from 270, more on that later). I have never been in what you would call great shape. Due to my height, I have gotten away with hiding quite a bit of fat on my frame, but it was nothing more than that. Somewhere around 8 months ago I decided (pretty much out of nowhere) that I wanted to lose weight, get healthier, and basically just improve my physical being. Well... actually I decided I wanted to "look good", but they're kind of the same thing right? In a rash decision I swore off all food I classified as junk food. At that time that was pretty much all I was eating. Going cold turkey on the junk food ended up being much more of a challenge than I was expecting. For about the first two months I was stricken with the weirdest food cravings. I would crave food I didn't even like. I distinctly remember thinking "why in the hell am I craving KFC ...I don't even like KFC". Despite the nearly constant discomfort from being without the crap I had become accustomed to, I stuck with it convinced that somehow it would make a difference. I eventually became accustomed to my new diet/eating habits and the cravings/discomfort went away. Over the course of 8 months I managed to lose 40lbs. I attributed this mainly to my new diet habits and the fact that I walk to and from work every day. I don't live all that far from work, maybe a mile if I had to guess.

I was doing some reading about nutrition on the internet a few days ago and I somehow stumbled across a youtube video regarding weight training, fitness, and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't really understand. For whatever reason that video just kind of stuck in my head. I found myself wanting to actually go lift weights. I must admit that (until this morning) I had never set foot inside of a gym and the concept sort of intimidates me. I am a pretty smart guy and could totally imagine injuring myself by lifting improperly, or to excess. Needless to say I did not just "go work out". I started asking around about a place to work out, tried to find what people around me thought. I was recommended a local gym in town called Bellingham Fitness. I have a few friends that told me they work out there and like it. Due to my total lack of knowledge-all-things-fitness I got it in my head that a personal trainer would be a good way to learn the proper way to exercise. So, I stayed up late last night reading about this particular gyms offerings, programs, and whatever else I could find on the internet about them. At some point I decided it would be a good idea to get up early the next morning and go see what this place was about.

...cut to the f'n alarm screaming in my ear at 5:40am this morning...

So there I was, blurry eyed, and somewhat awake. I remembered I had set my alarm so early because I wanted to see if I could talk to someone at the gym about the possibility of becoming a member and what is involved in obtaining a personal trainer. I also remembered that they held some ungodly hours starting at 5am. Rolling over I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the gym's main listed phone number that was still on the safari screen. I totally didn't know what to expect, was I going to get some grumbly old guy that was pissed off that he had to work at 5am? Thankfully a perfectly polite person answered the phone. I told him that I had never been to a gym before and was wondering if he could give me any information. He told me to just come over, that someone could show me around, give me a tour of the gym's facilities, and even gave me the time one of the trainers was going to be in if I was interested in speaking with him. So I hauled my ass out of bed, took a shower (my way of waking up in the morning), got dressed, stared outside, thought "wheres the sun?", and hopped in my car.

I arrived at the gym and was a bit surprised to see that there were people there (the sun had JUST begun to rise after all). I found a large reception desk and was greeted by the attendant (I probably looked like I had no idea what I was doing there). I told him that I was the one who called earlier and he smiled and introduced me to the membership coordinator. He was perfectly polite and seemed enthusiastic about showing me the gym and its facilities. We walked around, he showed me all manner of hard wooded yoga rooms, one type of sauna, a large hottub/whirpool (which happened to be being serviced), a large wooden steam sauna, acres of bizarre looking gym equipment, a GIANT location full of all manner of things he called free weights, the locker room/shower, the tanning facilities, and a few other things. We went back to his desk and he asked me why I had arrived for a visit. I told him my story of dieting/weightloss, and that I was interested in building a regular weightlifting routine. I also told him that I have no gym experience, I didn't know what any of the equipment in the gym was for and that I hadn't even set foot inside a gym before this morning. I mentioned that I thought a personal trainer might be good for me, but I wasn't sure if personal trainers were only for elite athletes or something like that. He seemed impressed that I arrived at that strategy all by myself. He told me that that is an excellent way to start working out and learn about fitness. At that point he called over one of the personal trainers that had arrived and told him a bit about our interaction thus far. The trainer looked at me, introduced himself properly and asked me what I was looking for. I said that I didn't know, but I wanted to be fit, healthy, look good, and lift weights. He told me that if I was willing to put the effort forth I could achieve whatever I wanted to. We had a brief conversation regarding trainer scheduling details, and he left (I think he had someone to meet). I spoke with the members coordinator a bit more and long story short: I signed up for a gym membership.

We worked out the initial physical trainer details, and came to the conclusion that the individual I had previously spoken to would likely be an excellent fit for me.



So... tomorrow at 6pm, I am to meet my trainer for the first of our meetings.


I, for whatever reason, have decided to blog my fitness experience. I don't care if no more than 1 person ever reads this, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.