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I've started a new
workout routine. Thanks to the demise of Webvan, I'm now back in the grocery
store every Tuesday for my weekly workout. Hey —- it's legit - shopping
can be a serious workout. Okay -so it costs a hundred bucks or so each
week - but that was money that I had to spend anyway. I see it this way,
by the end of my weekly shopping jaunt, my cart will weigh a hundred to
a hundred and fifty pounds and each of those items had to get into the
cart - light reps.
I mean, I've got a couple of pounds of meat,
a six pound chicken, ten pounds of potatoes, two pounds of carrots and
several pounds of fruit —- not to mention the occasional twenty
pound box of laundry detergent or dog food.
Here's how I see it: the gathering of items
into my cart is my first set of light reps —- a couple of pounds
here and a few ounces there as I load items into the cart. Perhaps I'll
throw in a few label-reading reps thrown in for good measure. After all,
I'm working out here!
This is really sort of a warm up set —-
the reps come slowly and the steady walking helps maintain a slightly
higher heart rate. Now - moving into the dry-goods section of the grocery
store is some of the strength training - I'm lifting cases of soda and
water as well as the dog food and laundry detergent.
I now relish
the long wait in line as "recovery time" between sets —- I've just
lifted a hundred and fifty pounds into the cart and I'm about to lift
it onto the conveyer belt. This is a fast set combined with a mental exercise
- I have to quickly unload the entire cart, keeping the heavier items
in the front and the breakable and bruisable items in the back, while
keeping the meats from touching the fruits and vegetables and all of the
frozen foods together so that they can be unloaded from the car first
and rushed to the freezer - all while avoiding holding up the line!
fter unloading the cart, I get another short
recovery time while I allow the bag boy to bag the groceries and place
them back in the cart. I opt, however, to escort my own groceries to the
car —- it's the third set after all! So, once again the groceries
are carefully removed from the cart. Then it's speed training - I have
to get the cart to a buggy corral at the other end of the parking lot
before the precious ice cream melts. It is after all sitting in a 110
degree car! But before the ice cream workout reward, I still have two
more sets to go - I have to unload the car and then pack all of the purchases
into the cupboard.
Whew! Getting fit never felt so good!
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