I wrote the following story for The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer. It appeared in both papers on Dec. 11, 2012. It appears here, with links.
You know you need to get in shape. In fact, you’ve known it for a while.
Maybe it’s time you bit the bullet and asked for help. Maybe it’s time you sought out the services of a personal trainer.
I’m currently reporting a story, scheduled to run the end of the month in the Observers (News & and Charlotte), on why you shouldn’t get discouraged after your first month of working out because you haven’t dropped 10 pounds. There are valid reasons you may not lose weight immediately; there are also more pertinent indicators of improving health to watch during your initial days of a more active lifestyle. Again, more about that at month’s end. I will, however, share two quick personal observations based on my month-and-a-half in the gym about how to get the most out of your gym workout.
My friend Michael Bowers must have sensed I’d just done my first workout on a rowing machine. Hence the timely notice he sent of not one, but two openings on crews planning to row the Atlantic this winter. That’s row, as in row a boat, and Atlantic, as in ocean.
“That first 200 was pretty good,” Tim said as he followed me on his bike, “but you need to pick it up for the last 400.”
Right, I gasped to myself. And you can pick up my lung when I cough it up.
It was my first “coached” running workout and a whirlwind of thoughts rushed through my oxygen-deprived brain as I did the third of my four prescribed 600-meter sprints (bookended by a pair of 1,000-meter dashes). Will I be seeing that tuna wrap I had for lunch again? was foremost. Why am I doing this? was a close second. By “this,” I meant hiring, at age 54, a coach to drive me, push me and to make my body feel like it hadn’t since I’d last crossed paths with a coach in high school some 35 years ago.