And the smoothies too

Before I had the chance to go climbing this past weekend, I pulled my hamstring the week before while warming up for a casual company soccer match.  Raining and somewhat cool out, I did not warm up enough before doing a few sprints before the match started.  The miscalculation cost me to sit out the game and continue to hobble for the next few days.  It wasn't until a week later that I finally noticed the gruesome bruise on the back of my leg.  It scared the absolute crap out of me.  I was familiar with the pain having injured both of my hamstrings on multiple occasions.  Such a bruise has never accompanied any of my past injuries.

Nearly two weeks after the event, the bruise has begun to fade and the pain minimized.  I can walk around and ride my bike with no pain, but I have yet to try anything much more physical.  Frequent stretching has told me that this little bastard intends to stick around for a while longer.  Being as I am not one to sit still for too long, I plan on signing up for gym within the week.  "Jim, you just said you pulled your hamstring."  Yeah yeah yeah, shut face.  I've rehabbed myself enough to know how to cross train and work other muscles when one isn't feeling up to snuff.  I've got a plan, no worries.  About this gym though.

I haven't paid a membership to many gyms other than the climbing gym, but I know that they generally hold a fairly hefty price tag.  So when I came across this gym in town offering a membership for 20 Euro per month, I had to see what was up.  Bottom line, the gym is nice.  Very good equipment.  So for 20/month (flat rate) you get basic gym usage whenever you want.  For 30 Euro per month however, you get unlimited gym usage, unlimited access to the "help yourself" smoothie bar, access to the vibraflex machines and access to the tanning beds.  You bet your ass I want the all-inclusive package.  The point that really sold me was the vibraflex machines.  I'll try to explain for those that aren't familiar.  The simplest version is a platform that vibrates about two axis.  To use the machine, you stand on the platform and do things like lunges and squats.  You can also do push ups and dips on it.  The basic principle is two-fold.  First, it forces you to balance and engages more muscles in the exercise.  Second, the thing vibrates at 30Hz.  That means your muscles contract 30 times per second.  I've used one before at a rehab facility after having surgery on a torn meniscus.  Well it worked.  So I'm pretty excited to have the same machines available at this gym at such a low membership fee.  OK, so I want the smoothies too.