WORKOUTS WITH REESE WITHERSPOON

Back on January 5, 2010, I wrote about my workouts at the Hayes Senior Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  While not really offering all the amenities I was hoping to find at such a facility, the price was cheap & the hours were good. 

I was a member of the Hayes Center for about two & a half years.  I have the word "was" because I decided I could no longer "tolerate" going there.

That's right ... TOLERATE !!!!

The Senior Center is just that.  A bunch of old pharts.  A nice place to play canasta or work a jig-saw puzzle, but no one is trying to workout & improve their physical condition.  It's just a bunch of old people wanting to visit with other old people.

Hey !!  I tried to pick my time & avoid the hours when everyone seems to want to shuffle around in small groups on the two lane track, gabbing away, oblivious to anyone else less than a hundred years old. 

Don't they have someplace else to go ??  They would get the same "excerise" walking from the couch to the kitchen.  Just as fast, too.

And don't get me started about the treadmills.  Ya, those machines, going an eighth of a mile per hour, with a large fan blowing on it, so that no one would ever SWEAT !!

While I like my workouts to be beneficial to my heart & body, I realized the STRESS I was feeling -- from trying to deal with all the fossils occupying space & taking up time at the Center -- was counter productive.  I was on the road to a second bypass.

I decided that I was too young (34) to continue at the Hayes Senior Center.  It was too counter-productive to my health.  I had to find someplace else to get my heart rate pumping & keep me from accidently knocking over some old geriatric. 

Thankfully, I found that place. As result, I may have added some more years to my life.



I am now a member of the North Little Rock Athletic Club. [I like the name, since it's obvious ... I am an athlete.]  It's located near all the important places, like Barnes & Noble, Target, Kroger, Sam's Club, etc.

The club is two stories & has everything for cardio & strength conditioning.  I'm a big fan of running on the treadmill & they have several dozen of those machines alone.  No waiting.

When I first started going to the NLRAC, I utilized the treadmill shown in the far left of the above photo.

My "view" from upstairs -- on a Saturday morning, when the 10 A.M. pick-up games begin -- of the six basketball goals below.  Hard to see in the photo -- upper left corner -- is the upstairs "Cardio Theater", where the treadmills I currently run on are located.

I don't watch anything on the four TV screens on the wall.  I have my iPod & headphones.  Also, I am, mostly concentrating on the display screen in front of me on the treadmill, convincing myself ...  I can go another 10 minute mile.

 Some of the weight machines directly below the "theater".

More machines, with the track in view, looking out towards another exercise area & on to the basketball courts.

What I did not take a photo of, is the aerobics room, where they have several classes a day, with (mostly) women getting their grove on.  That's where I spotted Reese Withspoon.

Well ... it's probably someone who sure LOOKS like Reese Witherspoon.  She caught my eye & does every time I see her in the class, not that I would ever take part in the class.  I get enough "neck action" just going by the room while on the track

And, yes, there are people older than me at the NLRAC.  Ones who are really having a workout ... sweating ... getting the heart pumping.