A mother-son workout

Who: Globe Living/Arts staffer June Wulff and her son, Cameron
What: Lifting weights at the gym
Where:MG Fitness, 10 Broadway, Wakefield. 781-246-2252. mgfitnessusa.com

My son has been working out for a couple of years now, so I asked him to show me some toning tips. (I must have been motivated by Michelangelo's "David" on my recent trip to Florence.) At the bench press, I was instructed to do three sets of 10 and rest in between (my favorite part). I actually lifted 45 pounds without groaning. I started following my personal trainer to the next stop - until he turned around and said, "Mom, I'm just getting water."

At the tricep pull-down machine, which looked like braids with bells on the ends, Cam showed me how to pull down and twist my wrists. Not fun. During a set of 10, he told me, I should feel the burn at seven. Thanks, Jane Fonda. (I felt it at two.) Next, as I worked my biceps with 5-pound weights and my abs with two feet in the stirrups (you know what I was thinking), Cam told me: "I know you're doing it right cause your eyes are bulging."

He left me alone on the elliptical watching Joan Rivers on TV (her face is pulled tighter than any of those gym contraptions), but I caught him peeking around the corner to check on me. After an hour of working out, and several eye rolls, I was ready for the final machine - the one that makes soft-serve ice cream. [June Wulff]