First Day: I have many green bumps.

My first day using Curves Smart and I am a happy person!

Since starting this program I have been mostly orienting to a different Columbia center, the new staff and the new equipment.

• I needed to figure out their schedules ( Zumba classes are held at various times so the equipment is not available.)
• The staff at this center are really more interested in helping you to use the equipment correctly - that is different from my last experience.
• This center had 3 new pieces of equipment to me. And the Curves Smart technology takes some getting used to.

So today was my day to get onto Curves Smart. Each person is issued a Curves Smart ID tag. Before using the equipment, your tag is entered into the Tag Reader at the kiosk. Information about you and your previous workouts are downloaded to your tag. The tag is then inserted into each piece of equipment you use. After finishing your workout, the tag is returned to the Tag Reader at the kiosk - information is uploaded and you can review your results. Pretty nice set up.

A staff member moved around the circuit with me to insure I used the equipment correctly and I understood the Curves Smart feedback at each machine.

She kept reminding me that since this was my first time, I shouldn't be too alarmed when I uploaded the information. New people always have a lot of "yellow flags" ... areas of improvement highlighted with yellow marks on the electronic female figure displayed at the kiosk. Green flags or dots on the female figure mean you are doing fine that area of the body. Yellow flags or dots mean you need to work harder on certain areas of the body when you get to the appropriate equipment. She must have reminded me 3 times not to be discouraged while I was working out!! The thought crossed my mind - guess I look pretty weak! She is trying to set expectations low. My expectations were pretty low, but still ...

So I get to the kiosk after my work out and insert my tag ... waiting for the feedback. All the time wondering, "Man... I worked hard, this kiosk better not tell me I am a weeny!" And then the information filled the screen. I had no idea what I was looking at, of course. The staff member was looking over my shoulder and she commented enthusiastically - "Wow, you did great!! Usually new people have a screen full of yellow." I had about about 60 to 70% green and the rest yellow. I started to feel better about having worked my butt off!! Not so bad for someone is almost 64!

After 10 work out sessions, the system will make an evaluation of my program, and if I have gotten stronger, put more resistance into the equipment. Then I will probably go back to more yellow flags until I can get stronger and make them all green again ... and then the resistance is bumped up again ... and so on ... until I look like Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

OK - so maybe that is an exaggeration, but it did pop into my brain!

While I was changing my shoes and getting ready to leave - the Zumba class was gathering. While I packed up I watched the class for about 10 minutes. Zumba is available to all members for a small extra charge of $2 or $10 for non-members. As I watched I was very impressed by the level of energy, movement, jumping around, and overall effort required to do this. These folks were really working hard!! Great cardio work out. It looked like they were having a blast!

As I was beginning to leave the Zumba instructor called out something like: "Great job everyone, now we have our muscles all loosened up." I stopped dead and said (out loud, apparently loud enough to be heard over the music!!): "What!! That was just the warm up???" The comment brought "the house down" so to speak! Everyone was laughing including me.

So the lesson I learned today is this - although I had 60-70% green bumps on my computer lady's butt and other areas, and I was feeling pretty full of myself on the simplest level of difficulty - my exaggerated opinion of myself was filled with "yellow flags" as I realized how far I was from doing Zumba.

There is always tomorrow!! :-)