Gyms+Egos: the neverending saga

Ordinarily, I work out almost every week day. Rather high-strung, it's crucial for maintaining my stress levels and emotional stability.

I haven't worked out in two months. Imagine. Also, my normal healthy eating habits have been utterly disregarded in favor of large amounts of cheese, fried garbage and meat slathered in grease. This move/unemployment/new country gig has been so stressful I've been breaking out like an eighth grader.

This morning, I trouped upstairs for my mandatory physical at Alta Energia.

Oooooh boy.

I am amazed at how thorough the doc was. In a small, scuffed up room decorated with an ancient diagram of the human skeleton, this guy took my blood pressure, measurements, fat ratios, flexibility, resting/active heart rate, and on and on.... I'm in decent shape, but I've gotten a little pudgy around the middle. Is there any way to say that without making someone feel dispirted?

I then resolutely marched in to actually work out and was met by Paulo, six feet tall, moreno with great arms and a half-sleeve tribal tatoo that made me wonder how many bar fights he's been in this month. Sweet guy, very helpful... too helpful...

In the U.S., unless you pay for it, you go into a gym, do whatever and leave. People who talk too much or bother you are avoided at all costs. The gym is the pennicle of American independence. Now, I'm no model, but I feel after seven going on eight years of working out, I at least know what I'm doing enough to be left alone... right?

Wrong. In Brazil you let the gym "professors" prepare workouts for you, monitor you, and basically take care of you to the fullest. For me, it was a weird experience trying to do what I wanted, but also incorporating his advice (which is probably pretty well-informed...) I compare it to climbing into a pool raft. You know it'll hold you up, but you wobble around when you lower yourself down just the same.

I also had to resist the temptation to show-off... "see, I don't need your help; I got this..." In the end, he just left me go do what I wanted and took care of other people. To assert myself, I put all my intensity into it and it turned out to be a good workout. Then I nearly threw up afterwards... embarassing. "Start slowly, David," they said. "Ease back into it," they said.

Me and my ego have a long, hard couple of months ahead.