The Fitness

So I have been here for almost a year now (seems weird) and let's just say that almost a year's worth of fondue, wine, cheese, chocolate, sitting around, etc etc, have caught up with me. And because I am a total foodie, I can't just say no to all of that stuff and restrict myself to eating lettuce while I am in the land of cheese. I have put on the "fondue 15."

So I finally joined the gym. And I have already gone 4 times...in one wee! Seriously I have not done that since my triathlon days! I mean I do like working out and exercising, but I'm just very busy, and very lazy, and I have a hard time getting motivated. I even bought a scale last week, and I have never owned one before. Apparently I have already lost 1.9 kilos since last week! However I think that 1.0-1.5 of those kilos was alcohol because I was out a lot this weekend (more on that later). I will keep you posted on my fitness...it's a good way to make me accountable!

The gym is connected to my office (like everything else), so it's very convenient. Observations in my first week at the "fitness:"



1) The machines are all really really nice! And they all have cable tv which is so exciting for me since I don't have tv. That alone is going to motivate me to go. The weight machines are all nice too, but I find it odd that the machines are called like "Leg Press" because the instructions are in French. Why isn't it called "Press de Jambe" or something like that?



2) They don't give you towels, which sucks. However everyone brings their own and naturally, being Swiss, they keep the machines scrupulously clean and always wipe off the sweat and clean them and etc etc. Very courteous.



3) Fitness Fashonistas: You know who I'm talking about. The people who go to the gym to see and be seen but not really work out. Well I will say that most of the people so far actually DO seem to work out, but being europeans, they wear some weird outfits. Examples:

- a guy wearing denim Keds with no socks

-a guy wearing an all white tracksuit with a "Texas" bandanna tied around his head like a cleaning lady

-a guy wearing super short shorts which showed his somewhat longer but still short, shorts tan line

-several guys wearing polo shirts

-a woman wearing flip flops - like the crappy shower sandal kind

-finally a guy wearing the tightest spandex shorts I have ever seen which also (brace yourselves) were so tight that you could see his little thong underwear underneath. Ewww!!

4) Another pro - everyone is very polite. Same with everywhere you go in Switzerland, you "bonjour" and "bonsoir" and "au revoir" people until you're blue in the face. Even at the gym this is true - when leaving the locker room a lot of women say bye (now read the part about the locker rooms...)

5) Finally, the locker rooms. You've been in one with some of those people who just LOVE to be naked. And as you may have heard, Europeans also LOVE to be naked (this stereotype is 100% justified). So, the locker room in a European gym is a complete nudefest. A free for all of bare breasts and buttocks and people just unabashedly struttin their stuff.

The showers for example - the towel rack (and there is only 1) is outside of the shower stalls. So you have to leave it there and stroll in. While there are dividers between the stalls, there is no curtain and no door. So if you and someone else turn around at the same time, it's full frontal nudity. I'm not the most comfortable with my body (hence the reason I joined the gym), but it would be so much weirder to NOT walk around naked that you have no choice but to just follow (birthday) suit. So far I haven't really minded. But some of my co-workers are threatening to come with me. People who normally see me clothed I would really prefer NOT see me naked. At least not like so naked that I have to walk 100 feet before I can get clothes on naked. Anyway it's kind of funny. A bunch of ladies standing around totally naked talking in French. That's my life.