I’m still going to the gym, although as I mentioned I’m giving organised classes a miss for a while.
I’ve been a few times since my last post, and wanted to capture some of the things I’ve (re-)discovered.
- It’s much easier to focus on aerobic training if you use a Heart Rate Monitor
- When the gym is busy, it’s surprising how long it takes to move between exercises, especially if you are using free weights and need to set the weight on each exercise.
- Making a template with the most common exercises in your routine, and using it to record a workout helps focus and motivation.
Technorati Tags Fitness
As I mentioned on Saturday, I’m looking for ways to get more engaged with my fitness activities, and as my new gym offers a range of classes within the monthly membership fee, I thought I’d try out a couple.
First exploration was last night, when I tried a class called BodyPump™. This is described in the gym brochure as A non impact resistance class, using barbells and adjustable weights. This class works all major muscles using a variety of exercises including squats, lifts and curls., which sounded like the sort of thing I wanted…
It seems that many of the classes offered in gyms are licensed products, so 5 seconds in Google allowed me to find the website of the company who created this class. There’s an extensive description of what’s involved, and some videos too, so you know what to expect.
The last time I was involved in any king of group fitness activity (about seven years ago) it looked like this – no air-conditioning, no trademarks on the workouts, as far as I could tell no-one was ever wearing lycra, and the instructors definitely didn’t have fake tans!
I felt a little self-conscious lining up for last night’s event, especially when the instructor and most of the other participants appeared to have fake tan and lycra in sufficient quantities to open a shop… Also notable that even though I’d picked what sounded like one of the more “gender-balanced” classes, there were only two of us males to a dozen females…
(more…)
Technorati Tags bodypump, Fitness
Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user Synesthesia on 2007-09-10
- weight training worksheet (pdf):
Keywords: exerciselogging, fitness
- TargetWeightCoach Exercise plan/log (pdf):
Keywords: fitness, exerciselogging
- How to Change Up Your Weight Training Routine:
Straightsetting, pre- and post-exhaustion, vary weight/reps/sets, supersets, pyramids and reverse pyramids, tempo and tension, anabolic/anaerobic conditioning, periodisation.
Keywords: weighttraining, fitness
- Cardio Exercises - Good or Bad? How to H.I.I.T. to Burn Fat All Day:
The benefits of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), and a variety of suggested exercises for both gym and outdoors.
Keywords: sportsmedicine
- Heart Rate Training Zones:
Keywords: sportsmedicine
- Exercise and the Immune system:
Although moderate levels of exercise are good for the immune system, intense exercise (such as in athletic training) can cause a temporary reduction in immune function and increased susceptibility to infection. This article suggests that proper carbohydrate nutrition may help mitigate this
Keywords: Immunology, SportsMedicine
- Wikipatterns - Wiki Patterns:
Patterns and anti-patterns for wiki adoption.
Keywords: wiki, patterns
Technorati Tags ExerciseLogging, Fitness, Patterns, SportsMedicine, WeightTraining, wiki
Over the years I’ve been an intermittent visitor to the halls of fitness.
From a peak in my mid-twenties when I did a lot of cycling (including a season of pretending to race!) it’s been something of a long-term decline over the last two decades, punctuated by occasional interludes of pushing back up the hill for a while.
Earlier this year, incentivised by our impending wedding, my partner and I threw ourselves into a six-week gym intensive, complete with personal trainer assistance. It was enough to make a tangible, and visible, difference, and more importantly to re-assure us that we could still do something effective for our fitness.
Enough so that it was high on our agenda to find a new gym when we recently moved house. Today (Saturday) was my first visit to the new gym – a relatively low-key workout because of that “getting back after a month away” feeling, combined with a lack of familiarity with the layout and the specific machines.
The gym seems much better equipped than the one we were using previously, and I’m keen to take advantage of it and make the most of this opportunity. Conscious that without the ready-made goal and deadline we had pre-wedding it will be too easy to drift, I can see that this time I need to make an effort to put some structure around my fitness activities.
Taking a lead from David Seah (and probably a million or so other bloggers) I’m going to explore how I can use this space as a way of encouraging myself through reflection and goal-setting.
Technorati Tags Fitness
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