Gym Shim Scam

Working out is tricky. Almost two years ago, I decided that I needed to get fit and visited a gym to enquire about their charges. My mom came along since she had never seen a professional gym before. The guy at the reception took a good look at me, asked me how much I weighed and then asked why I wanted to join a gym. When I answered that I wanted to stay fit, he seemed very amused and told me that I was fit. How did he know that? Well, because I wasn't "fat". Almost everyone at that gym was trying to lose weight and he couldn't understand why I would want to join when I didn't need to lose weight. My mom tried to dissuade me. I should have understood that this was the wrong place for me, however after dilly dallying for a couple of months I went and signed up.

They didn't assign any trainer to me, but a young girl drew up a chart for me to follow. Cardio and weight training alternately. A break on Sunday. Treadmill for 20+ minutes everyday. She also showed me some stretching exercises to be done daily. I went regularly for the first couple of weeks. During the days for weight training, the trainer helped me out with some exercises. I protested that the weights were too much for me to handle, but she insisted on adding on the kilos to the machines. I should have protested more assertively - I didn't. The result was that after a couple of weeks I started dreading the weight training. I would purposely skip the days for weight training and turn up only for cardio. My back hurt a bit, but I ignored it. Then I was diagnosed with endometriosis and after the surgery I took a break from the gym.

One day I was feeling good, but there was this niggling pain in my back. I decided that it was due to my break from exercising. I started doing some stretches bending forward and extending backwards - immediately the pain increased. I stopped and sat down. The pain wouldn't go away. When Chrys came home he asked me to lie down and rest my back. However the pain was worse the next day. We rushed to see a doctor and he said that I may have a slipped disc. An MRI scan confirmed it. The weight training without proper precautions had caused it. I was laid up in bed for over a month and had to take physiotherapy for 3-4 months before I could spend an entire day without pain. Due to the forced rest I gained a lot of weight.

Today I have started exercising again, but at home. I stick to simple physiotherapy exercises, light weights and walking on the treadmill. And I blast any caller who tries to sell me a gym membership!