Getting healthy

Millie and I joined the local YMCA over the weekend using our Silver Sneaker affiliation. Silver Sneakers is a senior wellness benefit which is part of our health care plan. A little back ground on our health consciousness is in order. 

Millie has been a devoted beach walker, power walking two miles every morning when we are in Myrtle Beach. She continues her exercise routine in whatever way she can when we are on the road. Me on the other hand, relied on being busy all the time as a replacement for regular exercise. Since my shoulder surgery a year ago I have been afraid of re-injuring it, done little work and now I can really tell my upper body strength has suffered. So, with the Y only 2 miles up the road, it didn't take much prompting for me to take the plunge.

We got the Y tour and gym orientation over the weekend, so this morning we went to exercise We figured it would be busy with pre work visitors early in the morning so we arrived at 10:30.

Today's gyms can be a little intimidating, with the gym rats looking all ripped and the beauty queens sparkling. Not wanting to look like novices, Millie and I did our best to dress like a gym regulars. My attire was shorts and an old T shirt, and Millie was looking mighty fine in stretch pants and nylon sports top.

There were only about 6-8 people in the gym and half of them were using the free weights so we had all the strength training equipment almost to ourselves. Neither of us overdid it with heavy weight, we just did some repetitions using moderate weight. We wanted to get familiar with each machine and also start slowly so we wouldn't strain anything. Some of the others in the gym wore gloves and one had a headband. The gloves, I thought would really make me look macho, the headband idea I nixed, it reminded me of Richard Simmons. Meanwhile, Millie is still looking fine in her stretch pants and nylon sports top!

Each machine has a small pictorial that shows proper use and which muscle groups it taxes. That made it easy, as some of these new fangled exercise machines are rather confusing until you know how they work. I rather enjoyed the workout, which surprised me. Besides, if I get bored all I have to do is look over to Millie in her stre.....well you get the idea!

We plan on using the gym for strength training three days a week to start, we can get our cardio workout walking or biking around the campground streets.