Workout Mania

Christmas came and went (BAH HUMBUG !!) but Santa was nice enough to get me a membership to the local Rec. Centre that has a gym and pool. So merrily on Dec 27th I trundled over and got my card and went in for the first day of a healthy me.

Now the place has the usual assortment of the instruments of pain and torture and as usual, my first days results included among other immediate results, pain in my arms and legs to the point that the following morning necessitated a HOT bath just to get me moving. It doesn't help that puppy Otto sleeps with me and at 7:00am he's full of energy looking for his morning walk regardless of my discomfort.

But on I went and I have continued to do so for about 4-5 days a week. My routines are getting longer but more organized now with a certain routine to them and it seems to be paying off a bit. Now I've got no delusions that I'm an adonis in the making but I am slowly making progress. The weights lifted are slowly increasing, the duration of my lifecycle / elliptical bouts are increasing and 'lo and behold, the pain is actually a thing of the past (mostly). As an added benefit, I've actually lost some weight (about 10 lbs in 4 weeks) and my sleep is improving but DAMN....slow going......My membership will carry me through till the summer at which point I hope to have shed somewhere in the vicinity of 30 pounds and firmed up whatever's left.

One strange thing though that bothers me about the Centre where I workout. You see here in Toronto, they are city buildings, staffed by city employees and in every ward of the city, there are free to the citizens....except in my ward. Now I can't exactly complain about the actual cost to me for a membership (it was a gift afterall) because at $96 for 6 months, that's 1/3 the cost of the cheapest gym in town but still....Why do we have to pay a membership to a facility that our tax dollars already paid to build, equip and staff ?

Can it be because it has a pool ? Nope, there are other centres with pools. Can it be because it has squash courts ? I hope not 'cause why then am I subsidizing the squash players when I don't play myself ? Can it be because it has a gymnasium ? Same as the previous point so I hope not. Add to this the fact that in my ward / neighborhood, it's all buildings (apartments & condos) so we have a pretty high population density which means lots of tax revenue from this area to pay for those goodies in the first place.

Something to take up with the government. Yet another example of Downtown Toronto residents getting fleeced.