I wake up this morning incredibly sore, especially my inner and outer thighs. I know yesterday was my leg day but this isn't usually how I feel when I wake up. I'll take that as an encouragement that I'm doing something right. Oddly enough, soreness is encouragement. Though please don't misunderstand me and think that I'm saying soreness is pleasant. It is far from pleasant. My entire day is spent hobbling from location to location and trying to move as little as possible because my muscles hurt so bad.
By the time 6:00 rolls around and Fit Andrew and I leave for the gym, my muscles have loosened up and it doesn't take too much effort to walk. Though the stairs at the gym still give me a bit of a workout. The thing I'm dreading the most is the warm up. The cross trainer is a terror on your legs, in terms of the burning and working of muscles. And on sore muscles? I can only imagine what that's like and it looks something like the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan (cheesy joke alert post cheesy joke).
I have to start out slow, unfortunately. Though, truth be told, that's the whole point of a warm up. You gradually work up to where you need to be for the subsequent workout (boy I sound like a fitness genius right now). It is slower than usual, however; a sign of my fatigue. I get through two songs that puts my warm up right at eight minutes. After a quick wipe down of the machine, WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD DO, I run into Justin on his way to retrieve me.
We start with pull downs, tricep pushes and one minute hovers. The hovers are really killing me, today. My abs are sore and I start to feel like I'm losing control of my muscles. That proves that they work. If you ever doubted, shame on you. You should have to do hovers as a punishment.
Here's my one complaint about weight lifting: The whole business of have to consciously use the muscles you're supposed to use is bogus. The moves should just automatically work the correct muscles. I don't like it when Justin has to tell me to be sure to pull my shoulder blades together as I do the pull downs. Shouldn't that just be what happens? I think it should.
We move on to a machine in the cardio room and try to do another pull down exercise, but I am too tall. I had no idea you could be too tall to do an exercise. But I guess at six foot four, it really is quite possible. So instead I have to do a half squat row. Squats are not nice to do when your quads are in pain to begin with. It is especially not nice when you have to maintain a half squat while doing a row. My back feels tight, my legs hurt, my neck starts to get a little sore, it's a generally awful experience. But I have been doing a great job, if I do say so myself, of not voicing those complaints during the training session. Apart from the intial "you're awful", "I hate you", or, "you're so mean."
We end with single tricep pushes (I guess it's an arm heavy day) and Justin then makes me go to a half hour CX Works class. This class is an intense half hour of strength exercise and core exercise and squatting and lunging and planking and hovering and it's awful and wonderful all at the same time. When you do this class it is very apparent from minute one that you are working your muscles. Basically it extended my personal training session by half an hour and amped up the intensity by about fifty. Simply because it's so fast paced.
It really does feel good to be getting back into the habit of making it to the gym. We'll see if I say the same thing tomorrow, considering I will yet again be to the gym at 6:00am, but I have a feeling that I will. It just feels good to know that I'm doing something that's good for me, regardless of how I feel in the moment. That's why I hope that Justin or Kiki or any other instructor doesn't only take my 'during' reaction as how I really feel. I love it all.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2013
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Return...
Looks like being caught up with the blog was a very temporary thing. But worry not, after a six day hiatus, I'm back to tell you more about my experiences being a fat person at the gym. And for the record, today is Saturday.
It has been three days since I've been to the gym and it is almost four, but the idea of leaving poor Best Friend Rachel alone during Pilates is too much for me. I have a wicked bad cold and to tell you the truth, I'm worried I may have trouble breathing and I do not want to die while I'm sweaty and in unflattering workout clothes. I'd much rather go in a full tuxedo reclining in an arm chair while people place gifts at my feet.
I get to the gym in just enough time, trying desperately not to talk more than I have to because I sound like an 80-year-old woman who has been smoking since she turned seven. I didn't see Kiki for Thursday Pilates (because I was working at Target) so we say brief hellos before the workout begins. We begin with the breathing and light bridging. This seems doable. But from here on out is where I start to struggle. Not so much with the ability to breathe thing, but more so with my muscles. I feel weaker. Now, I'm choosing to blame it on the fact that I'm sick and so my body is weaker than usual. Hopefully its not because I've digressed in my physical conditioning.
I'm happy to notice that Rachel is also struggling (I'm awful, I know). But she excels in a way I do not. She is really good at continuing despite something being difficult. I tend to give up a little sooner than needed. And I've now find my challenge for the week: go until I can literally go no more, and then go for another 3 reps or 2 minutes or whatever. Just keep going.
Rachel is also a continuous source of encouragement throughout the entire workout. She's constantly saying things like 'I'm so impressed with you' or 'you're amazing' and that gives me the extra push that I need to keep trying. By the end of the workout, I feel better than when I started, which seems contrary to what I would have expected. Apparently exercise is helping my sick body, but I don't feel confident in that enough to tell any of you that when you're sick you should workout. I'll leave that to the medical professionals.
After Pilates, I go for a meeting with Ryann to see what she, as a nutritionist, can recommend for me. She asks what my goal is and I tell her I don't want to feel like a lazy slob. She also asks what I have been doing and I tell her I've been doing my best to eat healthier, including more fresh fruits and vegetables in my diet and watching my caloric intake, but that I could do better. I tend to make bad decisions when I'm sitting at home because in the past, food was something I ate when I was bored.
She gives me a list of foods that should comprise my diet, and I'm pleased to see normal foods on it. To tell you the truth, I had been nervous that she would require me to eat a lot of bizarre foods that are hard to find and are really expensive, but thankfully Ryann is awesome and I won't have to swap too many foods. I will have to be more strict about my calorie counting. In the past when I've tried, I've used an app that keeps track, but I always forget to log dinner and therefore make awful decisions for dinner. It's especially difficult when dinner is a meal out. Hopefully I'll learn better ways to watch my calorie intake when I dine out.
It has been three days since I've been to the gym and it is almost four, but the idea of leaving poor Best Friend Rachel alone during Pilates is too much for me. I have a wicked bad cold and to tell you the truth, I'm worried I may have trouble breathing and I do not want to die while I'm sweaty and in unflattering workout clothes. I'd much rather go in a full tuxedo reclining in an arm chair while people place gifts at my feet.
I get to the gym in just enough time, trying desperately not to talk more than I have to because I sound like an 80-year-old woman who has been smoking since she turned seven. I didn't see Kiki for Thursday Pilates (because I was working at Target) so we say brief hellos before the workout begins. We begin with the breathing and light bridging. This seems doable. But from here on out is where I start to struggle. Not so much with the ability to breathe thing, but more so with my muscles. I feel weaker. Now, I'm choosing to blame it on the fact that I'm sick and so my body is weaker than usual. Hopefully its not because I've digressed in my physical conditioning.
I'm happy to notice that Rachel is also struggling (I'm awful, I know). But she excels in a way I do not. She is really good at continuing despite something being difficult. I tend to give up a little sooner than needed. And I've now find my challenge for the week: go until I can literally go no more, and then go for another 3 reps or 2 minutes or whatever. Just keep going.
Rachel is also a continuous source of encouragement throughout the entire workout. She's constantly saying things like 'I'm so impressed with you' or 'you're amazing' and that gives me the extra push that I need to keep trying. By the end of the workout, I feel better than when I started, which seems contrary to what I would have expected. Apparently exercise is helping my sick body, but I don't feel confident in that enough to tell any of you that when you're sick you should workout. I'll leave that to the medical professionals.
After Pilates, I go for a meeting with Ryann to see what she, as a nutritionist, can recommend for me. She asks what my goal is and I tell her I don't want to feel like a lazy slob. She also asks what I have been doing and I tell her I've been doing my best to eat healthier, including more fresh fruits and vegetables in my diet and watching my caloric intake, but that I could do better. I tend to make bad decisions when I'm sitting at home because in the past, food was something I ate when I was bored.
She gives me a list of foods that should comprise my diet, and I'm pleased to see normal foods on it. To tell you the truth, I had been nervous that she would require me to eat a lot of bizarre foods that are hard to find and are really expensive, but thankfully Ryann is awesome and I won't have to swap too many foods. I will have to be more strict about my calorie counting. In the past when I've tried, I've used an app that keeps track, but I always forget to log dinner and therefore make awful decisions for dinner. It's especially difficult when dinner is a meal out. Hopefully I'll learn better ways to watch my calorie intake when I dine out.
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