Our new gym

Yes, it was in fact a gym.  Leroy was the trainer there and ran the place himself.  He is a very nice and very encouraging man. The gym may not be much to look at but he tries to make it encouraging by pasting motivational posters and quotes all over the place.  We talked with him for a little while and he explained the different membership packages he offered.  We could either be a member of the gym and just use the equipment on our own, or we could hire him as a trainer and come in three times a week to do workouts with his instruction.  I was a little hesitant to hire him as a trainer because I have quite a bit of experience with weight lifting and wasn’t sure if he would help or hinder my workouts.  My mom, on the other hand, doesn’t have much experience with weight lifting so in the end we decided to hire him as a trainer and we would meet three times a week at 8am.  We agreed that the focus would be weight lifting with some cardio pumped in there too.  I also opted against the simple membership plan because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to easily operate any of the machines that were in there.  They were all very close together and looked like they were new about 50 years ago.  I am aware that you don’t have to have snazzy workout equipment to get a great workout in, but it would be helpful to at least know how the machines function.

As our workouts started the first obstacle to get through was convincing Leroy that I can actually lift weight.  He had a hard time understanding that a 5lb dumbbell wouldn’t be adequate for my workout.  There aren’t many women here who go beyond the 5 – 10 lb range in weights.  Eventually he saw that I needed more weight to lift and we got to the appropriate level.  It was so comical working out there because he utilized those three machines that he had to the max.  He would take a piece out of one section and put it in another to create a whole new machine – it was a talent.  He could take one machine and turn it into six different lifts.  At this point I was happy we went for the trainer option because it was clear I would have been aimlessly roaming this small building for a workout since I didn’t have the key to unlocking the puzzle of these machines.  The second obstacle that I would never get over was the heat of working out in a Caribbean atmosphere.  I happen to be an individual who sweats profusely – that may be an understatement.  This gets really bad when you combine it with heat and humidity and no air conditioner.  So throughout the hour long workout I probably lost about a gallon of water in the form of sweat – okay that may be an overstatement, but not by much.  Of course I am still able to work out in these conditions but I have a hard time trying not to slip off all the machines because of the constant stream of sweat running off me.  My mom does not have this problem so I can place full, 100% blame on my dad.  In fact my mom doesn’t sweat at all so instead of looking like a constant reflective device, she actually looks like a normal person when she works out here.

Mom, Leroy and Kristi at the gym

So despite it all I finally had a new workout routine going.  The sad thing is that I had taken quite a few steps backwards with all the sweet bread we had been eating (almost all the bread made here is sweet), but I guess that’s life.  It is so amazing to me how much of a stress reliever working out can really be.  I may hate to do it sometimes but it never fails that I am so happy I did once the workout is over.  Living in a small town in a small country has also reminded me that there is no excuse for getting a good workout in.  If you don’t have the equipment you can always do a few push-ups and run around the neighborhood.  My mind likes to make all sorts of excuses to not put my running shoes on, none of them are good.