O.K. I admit it. I’ve taken a big bite out of my Apple (couldn’t help it, sorry).

Apple is the name of the fitness club I joined just weeks ago. After I have my complimentary one-on-one sessions with a personal trainer, I’m thinking this may be a good decision after all.

Short recap: Now that I live in Idaho full time, I need a place to swim year-round As one of my friends says, “A swimming pool is a fountain of youth.” I get instant and lasting relief from back pain with swimming. And the Apple has three salt-water, heated pools; two are open year-round. So I join, against my aversion to fitness clubs in general.

My personal trainer simply explains how to use the gym equipment, all new since the beginning of 2009: treadmill, bikes (both regular and recumbent) and elliptical. I use a treadmill at home and I have my touring bike hooked up to a wind-resistant trainer in the garage, but these new machines are sweet. Right now, they hurt—and not in a good way. But I could fall in love with the elliptical any day.

The unexpected delight for me is the weight equipment. Smooth, easy to understand and to use, I could actually enjoy strength training. And I’m at the age where I need to take extra care with my bones.

I’m a convert. For a couple of dollars a day for the next three years, I can enjoy not only year-round swimming, but enjoy a variety of workouts, too.

Right now my “exercise” is unpacking boxes, which explains some of my current back pain. I’m on a mission to finish this process by the end of the month. Pray for me!

After this, it’s off to the Apple to check out the aquatic program. And I won’t be surprised if I’m down in Lady Apple lifting real soon.

Janet Muniz

Photo Credit: rinkjustice