The Gym - standard time killer?

How cliche is it for a downsizer to want to get back into shape?? What the hell IS shape anyway?.. I think I was in SHAPE when I finished 14 weeks of Navy boot camp in 1970. They said they were getting us ready for WAR (huh, what is it good for? absolutely nothing). I was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island.. it was never attacked. Then again, I later went to the Persian Gulf and, well, you know what a mess that was. Damn good thing I had no love handles.

So, I joined a local health club which I felt was a very positive move. I've been a member at two other gyms over the years.. One was very formal where they measured your fat indexes, blood pressure, pulse and overall progress constantly. I've never been thrilled with such a process. Too many numbers can only be negative for me. This place was in my office building so there were times I'd leave my work day and have to report to my warm-up station to get my blood pressure taken.. This sucked. If your BP was not at a certain level you could NOT start your program. My BP had (and has) a tendency to run high - a fun family trait shared by my deceased parents and living siblings. We often compare stories of how we talk to our doctors who seemed alarmed at our unsettling readings. My sister, a recent downsized victim, says her BP has returned to normal after stopping work. I wonder if I can make the same claim. More on that issue in the medical edition.

So off I go most days to this local health club. I keep it to weekdays since I assume nights and weekends are more crowded. I guess I'm right. The crowd I see on these weekdays are mostly women, mostly younger than me and a sprinkling of some older guys who look like they are torn between unemployed and/or retired. I haven't made any friends so I don't really know. Then again it's not likely that I'd go there to chat. I just spent 30 years riding a commuter train and never talked to a soul. And I'm not anti-social.. I just don't usually give a shit about what most people have to say. I gotta work on that now that I have time on my hands. I can feel myself becoming more tolerant. I need to.

My workout has been very light compared to previous gym experiences. I do about 30 minutes of weights, some cardio on the bike and a few times a week I swim. Ahhhhhh, swimming. Something I am actually good at having grown up near the water. The only problem here is there are only 4 lanes which accommodate 2 swimmers per (I was told). So the first day as I shyly (is that a word?) entered an occupied lane and waited for the female swimmer to reach the wall. I was going to see if I was OK to share. So lucky me I ran into some pissed off, frustrated 85-year old who swam right into me and read me the riot act on pool protocol. The fact that she had a very thick accent (German, Swiss, Latvian) made it even scarier. She accused me of not following the rules but worst of all her rants was that ALL YOU MEN are the same..Yikes.. I had no snappy response and just moved over to another occupied lane where the swimmer was far more tolerant, however, I felt like the stupid new guy who needed to learn his damn lesson. It's been a few weeks and I've settled into some degree of comfort..

Stay tuned for progress reports. I may even check my blood pressure.