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Today's main adventure is the fact that I hit up my first European gym tonight!

Going into it, I figured, "A gym's a gym, right?" However, once I got there, I couldn't be more wrong! Three of us went to a gym across the river (about a 5 minute walk) in order to take advantage of a free-trial offer for new prospective members. Everyone that worked there was SO NICE; however, the paperwork we had to fill out was all in Dutch, so it's definitely a good thing that Cenay was there. Needless to say, we filled out the papers as a group. I guess it's standard procedure for new members to have a consultation with one of the gym's trainers before being allowed to use the facilities by themselves; however, the lady let us just go ahead & test it out on our own. The trainer lady was upstairs & offered help if we needed it. The initial "trainer session" involves a series of physical tests to see where your body is fit & where you need to improve. It's apparently pretty intense, but the trainer then helps you tailor your workout to fit your fitness goals. It makes a lot of sense, & I'm sure that we have something similar in the States, but I've never made use of it. The machines in the facility are all the same as in the US, but I had a very serious problem while on the treadmill/bike/elliptical because I had no idea what the conversion was between kilometers & miles! Also, on the weight machines, I had no idea how much I was lifting - I just went on a "this feels about right" basis. Next time, I'm going to have to be prepared to be able to convert in my head what exactly I'm doing!

Quite possibly the best part about the gym was the fact that on the ground floor, there was a cafe/bar. I know what you're thinking - they probably serve healthy foods & it's a juice bar of some sort. Oh no. They had several different beers on tap in addition to several other types of libations. It was incredible. Who would have thought that you could work out & cap it off with a nice frosty brew? Only the Dutch... haha.

It was an altogether different type of exercise experience, that's for sure! It's hard to describe, one just has to experience it to understand it!

(I know the photo is totally random, but I didn't want to publish a blog without a photo!)

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