Gym Gyminy Gym Gyminy Gym Gym Gym Gym

[lirion]

Tonight's update.
I'm posting here so I don't forget, have a record of progress, and to keep me motivated.



Tonight's efforts:
10 minutes on the X Trainer, level 7! - approx 1.8k
Woo, success, goal achieved! :) I did take some 20 second breaks to get there, but I did it.
Some without hands and some backwards but I did it :)

Pull downs, upped weight to 20kg. You really feel the difference in that 5kg!
Set of 10 in front, set of 10 behind, another set in front.
Then I noticed the girl next to me had her palms facing towards her instead of away when she did the pulls so I did a set of 10 of those. Woah, different muscles!

10 minutes on recumbent bike, level 9, 4km, alternating some sprints and steady speeds.

10 minutes on the treadmill, incline 2, level 6, 1km.

2 sets of 10 reps on the pulley machine, weight 15kg.

I think I can definitely up the time and resistance I'm doing on the bike. And probably the treadmill as well actually. Might try and do X train, treadmill, Bike, Treadmill next time. 10 minutes for all except the bike where I'll aim for 15. I need the weights straight after the treadmill though cos my legs get all trembly!
Yes I am such a wuss!

Then I went for the sauna for 20 minutes. I do so enjoy being the only one using it so I can crank the heat up with a couple of handfuls of ice. Mmm, sweaty. My skin loves me for it! So do my muscles.

So yeah, definitely progress, now I just need to go more often. This morning I was so unenthused about the prospect- tired and all, but this arvo I was really looking forward to it and I am really glad I went, I feel great for it!

I also don't mind writing off Monday evening to gymness, it's not a night I tend to want to be social anyway, and I get there before it gets crowded, so win!

Comments

[geekweevil.livejournal.com]

if you change the grip to wider on the pull downs you'll discover differnt muscles too.

also give cable rows a go for your back musles, it will use your lower back.

[lirion.livejournal.com]

I do all the pulldowns at wide grip. Maybe I should try them on a narrower one and compare.... Yay variation!

Cable rows? Do tell...
Part of my problem is I have no idea how to use most of the machines or I would do more weights really.

[geekweevil.livejournal.com]

the rows are the one where you sit down and pull a little handle towars you on a cable...in collins, its the machine right near the leg press.if you have a session with a pt, ask them to show you the machines you should be working on and how to use them. they will, i'm sure! you might get given swiss ball work too for your back musles, lots of stabilising.

[lirion.livejournal.com]

Ah right, that's the one I just called a pulley up in the post, now it has a proper name! :-)

And yeah one of the things I'll be asking the pt is how to use a bunch of the weights machines - not elast cos I'm too unco and unfit for free weights!

Yeah I liek swiss balls.

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

Well done! Whereas this gimp has managed a lively-to-fast 30-45mins walk every night save last night when it was pissing it down and the Illness was at me. That's the best I've been, physically, for a long time.

Re gym stuff, the thing to remember is that whatever you get into has to pretty much be stayed into. otherwise the body gets confused. No, really. The idea is to find and maintain a practical level of activity for, like, ever :-)

[lirion.livejournal.com]

Hooray for both of us then!

And yeah I know. This needs to be maintenance not jsut a fad. That's fine by me, I need more physical activity in my life so making it a routine and part of my lifestyle is good.

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

I'll drink (chai) to that :-)

When I was slowly recovering from my first long bout of The Illness back in the mid-'90s (at which point I'd been bedridden almost full-time for a couple of years, and unable to walk further than the bathroom at the best of times), I started walking as far as I could. First it was half-way up the (1km) block, and then to the end of the block, and then further on and further on until eventually I was doing things like walking from outer South London (Mitcham) to outer North London (Palmers Green) just for the fun of it. And guess what? I was Wonder Woman fit, just from stomping all over (at which point I was able to get back to gigging, aka >1hr weight training plus 2.5-4hrs aerobics, several nights a week...). I know I'll probably never go gigging or gear-humping again, but I do look forward to the day when I can walk up a mountain once more!

[shadow-5tails.livejournal.com]

See, that's the thing that baffles me about gyms. I've seen multiple people complaining in the last couple of months that they stopped their gym routine for a week, in one case because he was busy renovating a house (pretty physical work if you ask me), and found that when they got back to the gym, their bodies were screaming.

This doesn't seem to happen nearly as much with, say, stopping walking during a bad month, or when I stopped schlepping Labradors around the vet surgery while I was on holidays. So what is it about gym exercises - are they just so specialised that one starts to decondition the moment the maintenance stops?

(Not knocking anyone's choices to go to the gym here. Just want that to be clear. *wry look*)

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

So what is it about gym exercises - are they just so specialised that one starts to decondition the moment the maintenance stops?

In which case they're surely things that the typical human body shouldn't be doing in the first place...

Not knocking anyone's choices to go to the gym here.

Why not? :D

[silverblue.livejournal.com]

For extra mean on the pulldowns...

Do it down and up counting to 5 slowly each time. It's harder, but if you need to do a shorter series of reps, gives you a nice workout :)

I will meetup sometime with you!

[lirion.livejournal.com]

You mean count to 5 as I pull it down and then five as I let it go up again? The extra slow forces the muscels tow ork more? I shall have to investigate.

Soudns good!
Workout company always good.

[silverblue.livejournal.com]

That's it. It's more of a slow build, also if you have back issues it might be worth doing them this way (and perhaps doing less) so as not to jolt your joints.

Your workout is so varied and disciplined!

[lirion.livejournal.com]

I can see the advantage of that. Control good too.
And nod re the back issues.

Heh, it's varied because I can't actually alst mroe than 10 minutes on some fo teh stuff and ebcause I need a break between the cardio :)
10 mins on teh X Trainer leaves my legs like jelly so I go and do my weights. Then the bike and the walker don't work my arms so I need more weights. Thinking of grabbing some hand weights for the treadmill actually to give my arms some exercise.

But ebcause I want cardio fitness I have an aim of at least 30mins cardio workout therefore...

[pr0zak.livejournal.com]

Good work!

Which gym are you going to?

[lirion.livejournal.com]

Thankyou! I am trying. And it feels good to be making the effort!

Fitness First, specifically the one in Collins St near Southern Cross station - I walk past it on my way to and from the train station so it's easy to get to, no excuses.