Yesterday (November 1, 2021), I got a gym membership. I left to work out after the kids went to bed as it's open 24 hours. As soon as I got there, @one-beautiful-bish called me to have me drive back since I forgot my lock for the locker room.
After I got back home and got the lock, I sat in the van for a bit fixing something on my phone. That's the moment when @hello-my-name-is-elder-gay chose to walk up to my driver's side window and scare the shit out of me. So for recompense of his sin, I made him come to the gym with me (we have memberships to the same gym, though I could have taken him as a guest if he didn't).
It went well, I think. While I did have to take more of my breakthrough pain med, I am hopeful that with increased stamina and core strength that will change and become less. Ideally, I wouldn't need any, but I don't think that is in the cards for me.
Before we left, I asked that night's manager (a classmate of Brendon's) about the sign-ups for getting a personalized training program. They are looking to hire a personal trainer at the moment, so I'll have to wait on that. I asked about the massage chairs and hydro-massage chairs. That's when my night got awesome.
I chose to get a gym membership at Planet Fitness for a few reasons. One of them was those chairs/beds. I tried the hydro-massage bed. That whole area is a darkened room. You can customize it to massage wherever you need it, however much pressure you want, you can even ask for up to a half-hour of time (base time is ten minutes). It's a benefit for "Black Card" memberships. I think they should add it as an optional add-on. It would help so many people.
I weighed myself before I left. 141.5lbs. I'm 5'2.5". I'm not going to the gym to lose weight, though. I'm doing this as a type of personal physical therapy. My physical therapist had told me to work on my core and flexibility, so that's what I'll do. Though ultimately I'd like to be well-rounded after working on those two goals.
I plan to go every other day, being flexible to be kind to myself if I'm having a bad pain day. Pushing too hard when in pain only causes setbacks.
I was nervous going to the gym with my arm crutches. I needn't have worried. No one looked at me funny or said anything. I tried to keep them out of the way, but I have a feeling that as long as I wasn't throwing them willy-nilly and being a nuisance they wouldn't have cared.
I need to get shower shoes. I saw some cute cat ones on Amazon (they even had cat ears!), but I can't tell if they'd be comfortable or irritating.