Now that it has been over a week since the second shot, I decided to go to the gym. I purposely went at a slow time and there were few people there. It was very easy to maintain well over six feet distance from anyone. Everyone was wearing a mask but about a third of them were not wearing them properly. I felt comfortable and will start going regularly. I've definitely lost muscle.
It's amazing how muscle requires so much maintenance. Even beyond maintaining muscle memory for shooting baskets or skiing. When I was in high school, I got into lifting weights along with a bunch of my friends. We read the magazines, and followed the directions and advice, and we knew who was currently who in the global world of body building.
So one day, Mr. Universe or Mr. America (I can't remember which one) was scheduled to show up at our local sporting goods store, a Chicago Area chain called Mages, to promote weight training equipment. I recognized him right away from his photographs. He was bigger than I imagined, well over six feet, but the muscle mass was not there. I knew it was around a year since his last competition, and guessed he hadn't been training. I would describe him as looking more like a basketball player of that era, one of the pros, not the skinny ones.
There was a small crowd, like maybe 10 high school age friends, and some who I didn't know. Mr. America was personable, and seemed like he actually liked talking to us. He demonstrated how you would use weights and equipment, although there was nothing new there that we hadn't already learned.
My high school actually had a weight training club. The teacher who was the club sponsor was surprisingly not a PE teacher. He taught art, but he looked more in shape than any of the PE coaches.
