Embarrassed at the Gym

I've been at this hard-core training now for a few months and it's beginning to show in my strength, but unfortunately not in my butt!

Anyway, my trainer, who is a figure competitor and is totally ripped and has not an ounce of fat on her body was kind enough to give me a pair or weight-lifting gloves as a gift. Very considerate, I know, and also practical, sice I'm developing unsightly callouses on my hands.

Now,I should explain that I am a member of a gym that caters to senior citizens and families with young children. The hard-cores work out in an entirely different gym with state-of-the art equipment and a TV on every cardio machine and a juice bar that boasts a nutritional menu of protein shakes and supplements, etc.

My gym has old equipment, a pool filled with people between 70 and 90 years old, and a play area for kids. I feel more comfortable at my gym. I can look cool without trying too hard.

Then again...

I went to work out last week and brought along my new work-out gloves. Since I make a point to never match when I put on workout clothes and to never look too put-together, because that would be UNcool, I was hesitant to wear my new gloves. Now if I looked like a true body builder, I would also feel like I could pull off the gloves, but with my jiggly backside, I just don't. So I was struggling with donning the new gloves.

Don't you sometimes look at people who are fully outfitted for what they're doing as sort of uncool? My husband certainly does. He makes fun of tourists fishing on the Missouri River in the summers decked out in their brand-new Orvis shirts and hats and rods and reels, looking like they stepped out of a Cabella's catalog, except for they can't cast a fly rod to save their souls. He insists on wearing his Bears jersey and a ball cap when he fishes, and he knows what he's doing.

Anyway, I digress...

I broke down and wore the gloves two times this week. I made sure to wear my Beastie Boys T-shirt and a pair of paint-stained stretch pants, just to be sure! And I went about my weight training as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Once a little old man approached me while I was doing pull-ups and said, "Pound for pound, you're the toughest guy in here."

Maybe I pulled it off!