My Elliptical Machine doesn't have a name

Suggestions welcome.

I took pictures for you this morning, but my computer does not want to talk with the upload cord. That being said, they are pictures of an elliptical machine. Mine looks just like all the others, so you can make yourself a mental picture.

Savory Man saved me $170 and put the thing together. There was some strange whirring at first and after I read the manual (it takes two, huh?)I found out that the whirring was a typical problem encountered in set up and some bolts just needed a little loosening to move some of the outside parts away from one another.

This is all just fodder around the real story. I have always belonged to the gym. Since I was a teenager, I've done what the good person does and have had a membership to the gym. That being said, a membership to the gym does not mean that Kristen goes to the gym. I think I have discovered that it's not the working out I don't like, it's the process of going to the gym that I don't like. Being ultra-efficient to the point of maybe needing something to control it means that I detest anything that makes me inefficient. Having to go up to the third floor after a day of work, change clothes, get water bottle and MP3 player, go back downstairs, drive to gym, park car, walk to gym, go up to gym and put outside clothes away, wait for machine, work out, put outside clothes back on, go to car, drive home, go back to the third floor is what is keeping me. And I can prove it.

Though it is admittedly the new year and I have a certain fervor for being good about working out, I can say that I have worked out more in the last two weeks than I have cumulatively in the past like 4 months. At least.

The machine is right there. Its presence perhaps hounds me a little and taunts me when I try to make excuses that I have to prepare for tutoring (of course on the couch in front of the tv. Because you know how easy it is to do SAT math in front of House Hunters.). I don't have to worry about what my tattered gym clothes make other people think or if there is something on my bum that people might be looking at. I don't have to worry about losing my machine if I have to run to the bathroom mid-workout. And I certainly don't have to worry about other people's sweat and germs. Just mine!

Last night was a perfect example of how I never would have gone to the gym but managed to motivate just enough to get a workout in. I actually did not have to tutor last night. I did have some prep to do but that shouldn't have overridden a 20 or 30 minute workout. So while I was cooking dinner, I got on. It ended up being just 20 minutes (which I am happy to say is actually getting 'easy' after 2 weeks)but it was 20 minutes more than otherwise would have happened.

The machine has a bunch of pre-programmed 20 and 30 minute workouts. I should really just be choosing the 30 minute workouts now that I'm back into it but they are full of hills and I get intimidated. That sounds ridiculous when I write it. It's a machine. I know I can hammer through 30 minutes on it. Honestly, buck up Kristen!

This machine too is part of the NordicTrac family. It has a card reader for the ifit personal training system. Normally I would be cynical about such add on features that are money grabbers from the manufacturers. But I've read up on it and I am really someone who could benefit from an automatic boost in time and difficulty. The cards have chips on them that lead you through 8 weeks of increased difficulty trainings. They're programmed for 3 workouts a week. Each time you get on the card knows to put you on the next workout. For 25 bucks, it's like an instant trainer. I'm going to go and get one and try for 8 weeks. I can't say whether it will be motivator or a detraction, I'll let you know.

For now though, like I said, I'm working out more than I have in a really long time. I DO feel better during the day. It's not necessarily helping me sleep better, and I still fall asleep really early every night, but it can only help my life in general.