I know how boring gym entries are for people who don’t go to gyms (yes friend, your gym entries used to put me to sleep ;)). So go ahead and skip this entry if you don’t care, it won’t hurt my feelings.
I’ve been going to the gym for about a month now and it’s going well. I went to lunch with a former co-worker yesterday and she commented on how good I look and I hadn’t even told her that I joined a gym. It was a nice compliment to get.
I expected getting up early to get to the gym would be a particularly difficult task, but it hasn’t been that bad most mornings. It actually felt good to get out of bed Monday morning and head to the gym to spend a couple hours working out after not going all weekend. I think the key for me was setting achievable goals, like getting to the gym at least 3 days a week rather than going all gung ho about it and burning myself out in a month.
Going in the evenings hasn’t worked out for me. I am too tired by the end of the work day to have a very successful workout. I think the only time I’ll be going in the evening is if I want to attend a class.
I’m in a pretty set routine basic routine now at the gym:
1. Bike or elliptical (20-30 minutes)
2. Working out legs, arms or abs on machines or free weights (20-30 minutes)
3. Swim a few laps in the pool (as time and circumstances permit)
4. Shower
When I began going I was having some joint pain, which was pretty scary, I need my joints and I’m young! But I’ve been able to get a handle on it after learning and practicing a few things:
1. I want tone, not giant muscles. It is ok for me to use lighter weights (I’m not actually competing with Michael).
2. Form is very important. You get your form wrong even on the machines and hurt yourself. Read the signs on the machines and be conscious of where you are putting the pressure and what your body is telling you.
3. Some joint pain when you start out is not unusual, joints need to get used to working out just like everything else in your body.
My mp3 player is getting a good workout too. I’ve been downloading podcasts to listen to while on the elliptical and bike, I especially enjoy ones that are 20-30 minutes long because that’s the amount of time I like to spend on the machines. Science Magazine publishes a good podcast a couple times a month that I have been downloading, but I need more than 2 per month. I also have been hitting the NPR site to download all sorts of reports, including PBS stuff like Nova podcasts (yay!).
Anyone have other podcast recommendations? The trouble is not that I can’t find podcasts (there are plenty of podcast directories) but anyone can make a podcast and most of them suck. Science, theology, economics, and IT are all good subjects, but I’m open to any recommendations.