I used to work out in the garage at our old house. The garage was a two car garage that I don't think we ever got two cars in. Front facing and a big double door - I don't know how to say that but had one door for the entire two car garage door opening.
I had my weight bench and my cement weights that I had grown up with out there. I had my Muscle and Fitness magazine subscription and I would go out there and I would study the exercises and read about the supplements that I couldn't afford to buy and when I would try the supplements they would upset my stomach or make my bowel movement smell so bad that I would stop using them. I had a radio out there. And I would go outside and work out.
That's the way I did it when I was growing up. As a teenager my parents got me a weight set. I set it up out the garage and worked out. We lived out in the woods so there wasn't anybody across the street to see me because there was no street. We lived a ways away from the road and so I could hear the traffic but I couldn't see it. And nobody was watching me.
That was not the case as an adult in our first house. Across the street in the little subdivision that we lived in Anthony and his wife lived. They were an older couple. And they liked to sit out on the front porch all day long. So anytime I would go out to work out Anthony would be watching. It drove me crazy!
I'd make a move and see him turn his head and watch. Change weights and he would watch me do that. Whether he was watching or not I don't know but because he was sitting facing my house and my garage directly across the street from me I felt like I was being watched all the time.
This was not fun for me, though I would do it anyways. I had a dartboard out there and I would throw darts at the dartboard between sets. But Anthony was always watching.
I remember one day I had to get up on the roof to paint the top part of the chimney or something. My ladder was tall enough to get me to where I could get up on the roof but I had to dangle my feet in order to find the ladder and get down. On that day I was not able to find the ladder. Then when I did find it I kicked the ladder and the ladder fell down and I was stuck on the roof. It was a one-story house and so it wasn't real high. And Anthony had been watching the entire time. And Anthony yelled as I kicked the ladder over accidentally that he could help.
Remember that I said Anthony and his wife were older? Anthony used a cane and was at least in his 70s. He did not move fast at all. It seemed like it pained him to walk. And so when he's yelling that he could come and help me all I could think was that I was stuck on the roof for another 30 minutes or so. And that he wasn't going to really be able to either get the latter into a position where I could get my feet on it or bring a different ladder anytime soon. So as he shuffled for his front door and turned around and looked back I jumped off of my roof and down into my front yard. I did a quick roll and tumble and landed safely. I checked that I hadn't broken anything, and then got up and waved and said thanks anyways, kicked my ladder where it laid, and put everything away.
In our current house my weights are in the basement. Nobody can see me down there. They're even around the corner to where if somebody comes down the stairs they can't see me until they come into the back area were my work desk and all of my messy tools and boxing bag and speed bag and weights and all that stuff are located. It's a nice area but it's dark and quiet. That was very important years ago when the house was full, but now with most of the house quiet that's not quite as alluring as it was before.
I share this because I'm enjoying watching our neighbors' kids work out in their garage. My front porch does not face their house. I cannot see them directly unless I go out in my front yard and turn and make a point to watch them. But I still see them when I pull into my driveway in the afternoon and evening and I hear them when I'm out in my garage and doing things in my yard. It's kind of fun to know that they're working out in the garage just like I did. And I hope that they develop a love for being muscular and staying as fit as long as they can. I still work out, though not the same way as I did. And not as often as I did. And I tend to do it with much lighter weights than I used to.
But it's fun to see those kids working out in their garage.
