Because I am still a bit nervous about the Spartan Sprint I'm doing in a few weeks and its threats of burpees and guys trying to knock me down gladiator-style, I decided maybe I needed to step up my training regimen a bit. Running is great and all, but my chinup bar isn't getting as much use as it should and I'm not sure if my pushups qualify as real ones...so in the interest of getting out there and doing more things that are Not Really Me, I joined a gym tonight. Not really a "gym," though, it's Planet Fitness, so more like a "gym light." Rows of cardio equipment, a weight/strength training section, and...that's about it. But for $10/mo I found it quite a deal, and since it's just down the street from Brian's karate, it gives me a way to pass the time besides sitting in my car wishing the Domino's next door sold healthier pizza, now that it's getting kinda warm-ish and I don't want to run till after dark.
So I decided to try this whole "gym" thing out tonight. I passed on the ellipticals and treadmills--I can go run anytime; I wanted to try out the things I don't have access to as much. I decided to warm up by spending half an hour on a stationary bike--you know, preparing my legs for when I go ride that bike I don't have. I'm pretty sure I did it wrong, though. Planet Fitness proclaims itself to be a "judgment-free zone" where you can go in, do your thing, not have anyone judge your level of fitness or lack thereof, and then bail. I won't say I "judged" people per se; I didn't care what they looked like or how successful they seemed to be at running in place. But I have to admit it didn't take me long to be drawn into a competition with the girl on the bike next to me. She was watching tv and didn't seem to notice I was there, but I couldn't help glancing over now and then at her calorie counter. She was on a 30-minute program like I was, but had started before me, so when she left, I got to see her total distance and calories burned: 6 miles, 146 calories. I now had a goal: to beat 6 miles and 146 calories.
I'm not sure how the bike calculated my speed; it seemed like the faster I moved my legs, the more my speed decreased, which didn't make any sense. I fluctuated randomly between 12.1 and 14.1 miles per hour. I tried and tried to make the bike register a speed faster than 14.1 but it never did. Once I was a couple of minutes from my scheduled stopping time, the bike flashed "COOL DOWN" in big letters, and was clearly trying to get me to slow down my pace and take it easy. I was having NONE of that, though--I had less than two minutes now to burn as many calories as possible! Faster I pedaled, FASTER! ONE MINUTE LEFT TO BEAT 146 CALORIES! My legs moved furiously. I took my hands off the heart monitor, which did not like that my heart rate was not decreasing.
Finally it shut off on me--time was up. Final stats: 6.28 miles, 157 calories. Take THAT, short girl on bike #11!
Next I headed over to the strength training area. I found an arm workout machine and figured I'd better change where the weight pin thingie was so that I could actually move the bars, but didn't want to wimp out and put it on the lowest setting. I settled for 30, and was pleased to note that I could make the machine move. Thirty pounds! I was lifting 30 pounds, not bad at all! It was pretty clear after about 5 reps that 30 was probably not where I wanted that pin to stay if I was going to do more than, oh, 5 reps...so the rest of my time at that machine I was doing reps, moving the pin to a lighter weight, doing more reps, making it lighter...eventually I moved on. Tried the rowing machine, found out my back really is not a fan of the rowing machine even on just 10 pounds, moved on.
And then I found it. The pull-down machine. Pull-downs are like pull-UPS, I figured, I'm just effectively bringing the pullup bar to me rather than me up to the bar. I eyed the weight pinning thingie. I selected 60 lbs and found I could indeed pull it...but eventually settled on 40 lbs as a good weight to be repeatedly pulling at. I figure, though, that over time I can gradually increase the weight I'm pulling, and might eventually have more pullup success with that method than trying to pull all 150+ pounds of me up to a bar at once. We'll see how that goes.
I finished my gym time tonight with a triumphant set of 5 reps at 60 lbs again. I seem to be taking this "working out" thing as more of a "how much can I possibly do, even just once?" than a "let me slowly build strength like a normal person" kind of thing...but gym time is gym time, right?
My plan is to return on Thursday evening. I had the bike on level 4 tonight, so I'm thinking of bumping that up to level 6 or 8 next time and knocking out even MORE calories. And then if I spend all the rest of my time at the pullup training apparatus instead of wasting time on arm curls and rowing non-boats, I can probably see if I can pull at 70 or 80 lbs before spending more time with the 40 lb setting. I might try 100, just to see if I can.
I might be doing it wrong, but if it gets me there...I call it good.
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