Thanks Butch!

Well, last night I had my last session with Butch. In case you are unclear what I’m talking about, Butch is the name of the personal trainer I hired through Gold’s gym. Technically Butch isn’t his real name, but that is what he likes to be called…and he fits the name perfectly. Other than…he’s probably a lot sweeter guy than the name would suggest. Doesn’t mean he didn’t work me hard though…he was one heck of a trainer.

It’s pricey hiring a personal trainer. I had mine for about a ½ dozen sessions over the course of six weeks, and it was about $200 bucks. But for me, it was definitely money well spent. I haven’t quite yet added the 10 pounds muscle mass I’m shooting for, but in six weeks I gained 8 pounds. I was sure it was pure muscle, as the blubber on my belly seemed to have shrunk down (I’ll confess, I even noticed I was getting in the habit of checking myself out in the mirror whenever I took my shirt off), but I did a body fat test and I’m actually about the same percent body fat as before I started working out. I figure I’ve gained about 6 pounds of muscle and 2 pounds of fat. Really caught me off guard, ‘cause I feel so much stronger…and feel so much better about my appearance. Maybe the extra muscle helps balance things out better…or…maybe I just feel so good I don’t care if I’m a little chunky.

The important thing to me is just feeling so good. I think. Anyway, I do feel good, and I hope exercising (including weight lifting) just becomes part of my lifestyle. I have a friend at work who over the course of about six months changed from beer belly Joe to muscular slim Jim (not his real names). I asked him about his workouts and what not, and he told me he had been having really bad anxiety issues. His doctor had instructed him to work out. I thought he’d taken up running, but actually he had changed his diet a bit (quit drinking alcohol) and started lifting weighs. Says that now, he doesn’t struggle with anxiety at all.

Pretty rare that I experience anxiety, but it does seem to be part of my nature to be prone to worry…or at least get nervous, and weight lifting has definitely helped. Though, tonight I am a bit nervous. My boss was scheduled to deliver a presentation at a professional conference in SLC this Friday. Just found out…he’s been called out of town and the honor is now mine. Not too bad, just a room of 40 or 50 people with master’s degrees and PhDs in the subject I’m speaking on! Well, I am telling them about where I work everyday so maybe I have an advantage…oh, and my boss was kind enough to have written the presentation materials for me. But, as far scary things go…

Ah well. I had a good workout tonight…and…I’ll survive…I hope.