I am so out of shape. Been really busy dealing with life things that going to the gym and eating healthy took a back seat for the last 2 months. Adding the new car (and a bunch of other new gadgets) was not helpful either. But a couple of things transpired to help me satisfy my desire to get behind the wheel and working out. First, the gym which I joined recently closed down. This forced/freed me to look for an alternative. Next, a friend from work happened to tell me about the deal our company has with Central Sports where we can get tickets which we can use at a bunch of different fitness clubs including Central, Gold’s Gym and Wow’d. In case you haven’t heard about Wow’d, it’s that fitness club in Ginza under the expressway just north of Printemp. And on any given evening it’s full of the hottest Marunouchi office ladies doing their pilates and hot yoga. Seriously, I visited this gym once and was literally drooling all over myself.

Anyway, back to the story. So the other day I went to the Uniqlo on Kanpachi. I’m not interested in buying anything at Uniqlo but I wanted to see this shop because it just opened up and is the largest one in Japan. It also has a big parking lot for 224 cars. Well, I got there at closing time so I didn’t get in. But I noticed that there was a new Central Wellness and a Spa in the same building. I took a tour of the gym which was rather nice and has a huge pool, sauna, baths etc. The machine gym had a ton of aerobic machines but slightly lacking in the free weight area. The majority of patrons were senior citizens so obviously they didn’t need 60kg dumbbells.

My tickets arrived in the mail and tonight I took a leisurely drive there. Even with the tickets I still have to pay a ¥1000 fee but if I don’t go more than 12 times in a month it’s still cheaper than a regular membership. This gym is very nice and not smelly like Tipness. I ran on the machine a bit and worked out with weights as usual. A trainer at the gym asked me if I wanted to take a Spinning class. I’ve never done spinning before. It’s like riding a bike, right? Sounds easy enough. I joined the class of about 10 people including myself. All the others were old people. Well, I’m not that young myself but I don’t have gray hair or a wrinkly butt. That’s what I mean when I say old.

These older people must have turned the resistance on their bikes all the way down because they were pedaling like mad through the entire class. One elderly lady was spinning like there was no tomorrow. I thought for sure she was going to shoot right into the mirror. As for me, well, I didn’t bring any water bottle which was a big mistake because after 20 minutes I was almost dying of dehydration. I think I lost 2 kgs of water weight in that hour. About half way through I really felt like I should stop and get a drink from the fountain but I didn’t want to look like a wimp. Pride forced me to endure and near the end I almost collapsed. But thank god I didn’t. Next week, I will take the class again and this time I will be prepared. Those old guys better watch out!