I went to Body Pump last night. True to form, I got there early, which was good because the class was so busy there wasn’t enough equipment for everyone. The hall was pretty crowded, not taking into account the magically enormous berth all participants give the instructor.

I’m not that shy. I have no interest hiding out the back where I can’t keep an eye on what it is he’s doing, so I was front and side yesterday evening. However, I have a problem with there being so many people in the class. I’m not sure why — I think I find it too impersonal.

The irony is part of my reason for doing a weight-training class is to be more sociable, get out there, speak and be spoken to, etc. And I really cannae be bothered to be sociable with that many people, people who already have their own wee cliques that an only-on-a-Saturday-morning Body Pump participant cannot break into.

Body Pump on Saturday morning is only half as full. We’ve got a bloke in the class now, too. I know I’ve become old when I cheerfully eschew going out for drinks on a Friday night so I can make the class the next day. Having paid for a membership probably helps, too.

• went to Ikea for bathroom furniture (partly successful)
• had dinner at Amber Restaurant (if you want real Chinese food, don’t go there)
• went to body pump
• joined the gym
• joined the library
• upgraded WordPress
• had Chinese takeaway for dinner
• saw Meet The Spartans (disappointing)
• did the weekly shop at Asda
• had brunch at Frankie & Benny’s (steak and eggs — steak for breakfast?)
• bought three books from beleaguered bookseller The Works
• went to the gym
• made a really decent minestrone soup from fresh ingredients (excepting the tomatoes and beans, which were canned)
• watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Project Un-dull-ify isn’t going very well, and it’s only the end of March.

1. I’m not crafting much at all, given that almost everything is still in the other house. I’ve done a tiny bit of birthday gift crafting, but that’s about it. Grade: VERY POOR
2. I’m only getting to Body Pump sporadically, and haven’t been to the gym even once during the week, because I want to join the gym but I haven’t yet. Grade: POOR
3. The last film I saw was Be Kind Rewind, which was excellent, but I’m not watching much of anything (beyond stuff on the television). The lack of free time is a real factor. Grade: POOR
4. I haven’t seen a single comedy act. Grade: FAIL
5. I’ve been to every single Edinburgh BookCrossing meetup (except February, when I was in Singapore). Grade: GOOD
6. I haven’t got round to joining the library yet. Grade: FAIL

Jeff jumped the gun last week and asked how Body Pump went, but the first class was held this week (as far as I was aware). There were a bunch of us first-timers at the compulsory Body Pump Clinic (compulsory for first-timers, that is), showing that new year’s resolutions are still having an effect*.

Our instructor was, as I suppose all gym class instructors are, cheery as a beaver who’s found a previously-uninhabited river next to a forest. He asked if I knew much about the class, and I responded with, Not more than what I’ve read on Wikipedia. He then proceeded to tell me how good it was for the body, and how it really helped weight loss and calorie burning. Now, those of you who’ve met me know that if I lose any more weight I might actually vanish if I let out a fart by accident, but I didn’t apprise him of my goal to build fitness and gym muscles (as opposed to muscles one actually uses, I’ve got Neil for that).

And yes, there was some banging techno, as I feared, even a duk-duk cover of The Sun Always Shines on TV (bring back A-ha). But then it moved on to something that sounded suspiciously like The Prodigy, so our instructor has been temporarily forgiven for his taste in music.

At the end of the class, the instructor came up to me and encouraged me to come back for another class (I’d told him about the innate klutziness and lack of co-ordination — he said I did fine, I saw him watching me during the class while I was trying to hide amongst the other first-timers and more experienced attendees), and I will. Not just because I’ve already paid for the next class, but because it’s extremely clear to me now that I do not have much, if any upper-body strength. Having done stomach crunches and loads of squats and lunges, my legs, buttcheeks, and stomach aren’t really feeling too sore, but my arms are pretty useless today. The pain basically starts at one end of my arms and ends at the wee muscle in front of my armpit (part of the pectorialis major? It hurts when I do pretty much anything, but definitely not in a “I’ve injured myself” way. It’s more in keeping with “God, I’m a weakling”.

So PUT mission #1 has had its goals refined. It is an upper-body strength-building exercise. Wahey! Focus!

* Since I decided I was going to do more exercise before Christmas, mine isn’t a resolution, it’s a project.

First on the agenda of my shiny new Project Un-dull-ify: gym time.

I aim to be at the first Body Pump clinic at the local sports centre, bright and early on a Saturday morning. I didn’t even know what Body Pump was until I, 1) asked when I dropped into the sports centre to locate a schedule, and 2) looked it up on the Ingterneck.

There are some concerns among the Project Un-dull-ify Team (of one, hereafter known as PUT) that ‘mainstream hit songs’ might be interpreted in ned-happy Scotland to mean ‘banging techno’. Nevertheless, PUT plans to push through any potential auditory agony with the same technique used while studying for one’s O-levels: when you have finished your allotted task, the peace, quiet, and comfort will be super-sweet.

An additional worry is the combination of free weights and klutziness. If PUT can survive the first few classes without fracturing or spraining any digits, PUT will push on and build pretty gym muscles. Eventually.