Sitting Exercise

My nephew, James, owns a gym in Atlanta. He opened it last year. It was no real surprise to anyone who knows him since he grew up working out and lifting weights in his garage on the exercise equipment his father kept there, as did his sister (Alicia, the personal trainer with the degree in Exercise Physiology who's now obtaining her Master's in Public Health) and brother (an Investment Banker with a large, international investment company in Atlanta). It's a Crossfit gym, which is the rage in exercise these days - they call it Crossfit Addiction, which is understandable considering the growth rate.

Within two months of opening, the gym was already operating in the black each month. I haven't talked with James about it in a while but it can't be too much longer before he can draw a salary, if he isn't already.

He's gotten even more fit since opening the gym, as I'm sure you can imagine. He posted a video on the gym website of him doing a 44" standing box jump. It's unbelievable. He measures off 44" - a box with several large barbell weights on the top. Then, before our VERY eyes, he pumps his arms twice or three times, bends his knees, and JUMPS! 44 INCHES! It was like watching Superman.

Anyway, when my Hematologist diagnosed me with two genetic blood-clotting disorders and told me it would be very dangerous for me to kneel or squat, I told James. He scoffed at me, which surprised me.

"Aunt P. (which is what most of my nieces and nephews call me), can't you sit in a chair? That's squatting. Why don't you pull a chair out into the middle of the floor and sit down and stand up 100 times each day. That would give you a GREAT workout."

I started out, determined to do 100 and discovered, 20 sits later, that my legs burned so badly I could barely move. I've been working at my sits (as I call them) and got up to 55 today! I was thrilled. I'm hoping to reach 100 within another 2 weeks.

I'm just not sure what to do about my Y membership.