I love weightlifting. I love the burn in my muscles as I increase the weight 50%, 75%, 90% to my goal weight, then crank out another set. I love how quickly my body reacts to me weightlifting, throwing on muscle like there’s a fire sale at Muscle ‘R’ Us. I love walking around the free weights section of the gym, nodding at the other people in there while we do squats, bent over rows, and dumbbell shoulder presses. At first I felt a little uncomfortable, like they were looking at the fat chick and wondering why I was there instead of on the treadmill. Now, I recognize the regulars and they recognize me as we work our way around the different stations. I even love it when certain muscle groups scream at me in Sumerian (today it was my obliques) because I haven’t worked them for a while and “What the HELL, Mel?”

I also love how my bad cholesterol levels sink like a rock when I’m weightlighting regularly, and how my mood improves tremendously. And frankly, yeah, I feel like a bit of a badass. I don’t want to be skinny–I want to be strong. I want to be the one that muggers look at and think, “Yeah, no, not that one. She’ll hurt me.”

And yes, I’m fully aware that I should get into a habit and always do this. I think my problem is that I have to find a happy balance between writing and working out, which is why I’m trying something new and going during the day between 4 and 5 PM. The gym is pleasantly unpopulated at that time and I can get my workout in without trying to dance around a bunch of guys all working their delts at the same time. Once that’s done, I have the evening to myself and can write, clean, or do some sort of craft.

Oh, the point of this post — first full week back at the gym, and I’m a happy little weightlifter. I’ll be discussing some other things I’m doing once another two weeks have gone by and I can correlate some data.