*sigh* I suck, yea verily do I suck

I slept through my alarm yesterday, and the text message from Jumile, and the phone call from Jumile.

I’m useless.

Another night, another good session

As I promised myself, I left for the house without checking for messages.
Then sat/stood around as the frost melted off the car. Once the windscreen
and rear window were clear off I went, parked up, paid the parking machine
and went in. Only then did I check for messages, none. I then wondered if I
had arranged with Jumile or not, so I fired off a text massage, after a few
minutes, no response so I went in alone.

Treadmill, crosstrainer, bike, weight machines and stretches...same routine,
I might vary it a little next time. I was able to complete the circuit,
unlike Saturday, not with much to spare, but I did it. The moral of the
story is, go regularly, not necessarily on a fixed rota, but regularly.

The real point of this post is that I was feeling a little blue this evening
for reasons I won't go into here, getting down the gym and working my arse
off cleared that shit from my head and now I feel a whole heap better. Both
physically and mentally.

Good night ( and I do mean that) :)

Well, I did it..

I made it to the gym on a miserable morning, cold, windy, freezing rain falling on me as I wandered the car park looking for a working ticket machine. Met up with Jumile in the 'cafeteria' area and went in to the sweatbox.

There's not much to say about the routine, I did more or less what I have done every session recently, except that 1/2 way through the bike time my legs gave up. Yes I'd pushed a little harder than usual on the cross trainer, but not that much harder, or so I thought.

I guess I mustn't miss too many more sessions.

Since losing weight (gained another couple of #'s this week) I have found that my ankle plays up a lot less, in fact I can't recall the last time it ached, the same is true of my knees.

So, back to it, if i want to keep getting stronger, losing weight and inches I must return to a solid routine of visiting the gym, however unpleasant it is to get out there into the cold.

I'll be back Thursday with an update.

It's been a week and a half

Last Saturday something got in the way, I can’t remember what, Wednesday it was being at work until 7.30 and honestly I couldn’t be arsed to after that, and tomorrow morning I am getting some archery coaching, not much, but 3 hrs worth and in the afternoon I have an appointment. I *will* go to the gym Sunday morning though. I promised that last week but didn’t. I don’t want it to be two weeks between visits. Otherwise it may easily become three.

 

I’ll update you on Sunday afternoon, honest!

Today I am a loser

After yesterdays failure to get to the gym, I arranged with Jumile that I'd
meet him there this afternoon at 12.30. For reasons I won't go into here, I
couldn't be bothered with it today (although it's exactly what I need) so
dropped him a text to say I wouldn't be going along.

Oh, and I gained 2lb last week...

Not a good week all in all....I will do better next.

I went, I saw, I came back

I broke my habit of not checking my phone before leaving for the gym, but
only because my phone rang...to find messages galore from Jumile.

Full of enthusiasm (ish) I went down to the gym, leaving early enough to
ensure that I wasn't delayed by traffic, what with it being Xmas shopping
season. On the way past the car park I noticed a sign promoting a wargames
event being held in the sports centre this weekend (I used to attend this in
a past life, as a member of the organising club I often helped do the
setup/breakdown too - but that is beside the point really). The usually more
than ample car park was full, as were the three overflow car parks.

I called Jumile from the car, we're going tomorrow morning instead.

Another night, another wet t-shirt

As I left for the gym, I picked up my phone and my ipod. The phone went into
my jacket pocket, the ipod into my sweatpants pocket. When I got to the gym,
I found that my headphones were outside the car, an earpiece had dragged
along the road on the way and was fecked.

I had a minor paddy, threw the knackered headphones across the car park, the
ipod into the door sidepocket, bought a car park ticket and made my way in.
Once inside I checked my phone for messages, just to see if Jumile had
thought better of it. I used to do this before leaving, but now I am
consciously doing so when I'm there. If he'd pulled out I'd normally not
bother either, but by checking messages upon arrival, I'm already there,
checked in and have less of an excuse to not go in.

He duly arrived, I sorted my stuff, towel & bottle into the gym with me, bag
and jacket into the locker.

I did the same as on Saturday, but found it a little easier, my thighs
burned a little towards the end of the CV work, but otherwise I was ok, no
weakness in the legs, my heart rate *much* lower than it was all those
months ago when one of the staff commented "that's in interesting shade of
red you've gone". On to the weight machines, seated row, leg press and
shoulder muscle thing I never remember the name of.

A set of stretches later and it was all over, 50 minutes after walking in.

I haven't had a great day at the office, the broken headphones were a
perfect conclusion to that. The workout allowed all of the crap from the day
to dissipate, I got back into the car feeling a whole lot better.

All on my tod

Today, I was alone down the gym as Jumile is on call this weekend and needs
to stay within 20 feet of his TV - I mean PC ;). I didn't really want to go,
I suppose part of the reason for going is the social side, although we don't
talk much while in there, we say a few words before and after and it's
social contact of a sort.

But while there I gave it my all, didn't take it easier on myself or skip
anything, which is something I thought I might.

Due to the number of treadmills in use I started on the crosstrainer, did my
8 minutes, this time at a higher intensity than last week and moved on to
the treadmill and then the upright bike. I tend to chop and change between
the upright and recumbent bikes, I don't know why really, possibly because
it's (aside from the rowing machine) my least favourite torture device. In
all cases I increased the intensity of workout, and will do again in 2 weeks
time. Two weeks ago after finishing all this legwork I found that my legs
were a little jelly like, but today they were fine - so there's some
improvement.

Maybe next week Saturday I will add some time on the rower. My current - I
say current, it was drawn up before I went into hospital, exercise plan
includes a 1K row in there too. The 1K is a target to be reached, I'm
supposed to do as much as I can with the aim of reaching 1K regularly, and
once I have, to increase the intensity. The best I have achieved is about
700M. I have found with this that I'm more likely to 'go' further if I am
the only person using a rowing machine. If someone is using the machine next
to me, I tend to fall quite closely into line with their rhythm. I don't
know if this is a competitive thing or not, but I notice it but am not
conscious of doing so.

Anyway, after finishing the CV work, I moved onto some weight machines,
'seated row', leg press, shoulder press and one I don't know the name
of....did 3 sets of 12 on each, and in each case the middle set was a higher
- but only slightly, 5-10KG depending upon machine, weight. Next Saturday,
two sets will be of the higher weight - if I can manage it. This will go on
until I am pressing the weight of a small truck :)..seriously tho, I am not
using the gym to become a weightlifting nut, no-one wants to see me shaven,
oiled up and wearing a thong. With the exception of the leg press, the
weight work I am doing is aimed at the muscle groups used for archery. The
CV work is to assist in losing weight and improving my general fitness.

A few sit ups, ably assisted by a de-horned space hopper and some stretches
saw the session come to an end.

something I forgot to mention

I weighed myself this morning...I've lost 8 pounds over the last week

Well, that's two!

I woke this morning at 8am, not sure why I didn't go back to bed for an hour
or so after doing what everyone does first thing in the morning. I didn't
want to be late, Jumile has sat around waiting for me to turn up often
enough in the past, not any more, not unless I can't help it.

Sat down at the PC, checked my mail, found one confirming the time we'd meet
so I just pottered around before bathing - on Saturday mornings the gym
often smells of beer and curry, with people working off and probably
through, the excesses of Friday. I didn't want to add to it.

I left at 10am, arriving at 10:13 (according to the parking ticket machine),
stuck the ticket on the car window and gathered my crap together, on
switching off my phone I found Jumile had sent me a SMS message to say he
couldn't make it. I hope he doesn't think my response was a comment upon his
excuse, rather it was a comment in general.

Having got there, paid for the car park and steeled myself for it I went in
anyway.

I essentially did the same routine as on Wednesday, in a different order due
to the availability of the machines. I stepped up the intensity on the cross
trainer, both the resistance setting and the step rate which I kept above
125.

By the end of the session I was soaked with sweat, but felt good. There was
more 'in my legs' than on Wednesday and all being well, I will keep with
this level of effort for a few weeks but start extending the range of
additional machines I utilise.

T.

Well...I did it...

I arranged to meet Jumile at the gym at 7.30pm and did. I was even early, if you knew me, you'd recognise that as a minor miracle in its own right.

There was the usual banter about the torture to come then we threw our stuff in a locker and entered the airconditioned Sweat-O-Rama.

First came the Cross Trainer and to be fair it was easy enough, 8 minutes of leg pumping and torso bobbing later I made my way onto the treadmill and spent 12 minutes 'climbing' and 'descending '. By the time I got off the bike, my legs had had it.

I spent a few minutes on upper body machines, specifically aimed at the muscle groups I use for archery, some sit ups and stretches and then left after about an hour.

By the end of the session I was feeling absolutely shattered. This is probably down to two things, primarily I hadn't eaten in two days and I haven't slept well for several.

On the plus side...I slept well last night...on the slightly negative side....since Saturday am I have now lost 10lbs, which almost certainly isn't good for me.

The firm plan is to be back there Saturday morning...see you there Jumile :D

Hello again!

It's been a while....let me fill you in....

Due to issues with my Achilles tendon, my gym attendance has been patchy since last I posted, occasionally going 3 times a week, more often once a month. I haven't run at all...

Jumile and I spent some time in the summer cycling - until my bike buckled a wheel on a very small bump, fortunately I was not travelling very fast at the time and there was no spill and no injury. Having looked into a replacement wheel (and replacing the rear wheel at the same time on the basis that it was of the same shoddy manufacture) and comparing that to the cost of a new bike I bought a Giant something or other beginning with R.

That was August....shortly after that - a matter of days, I went into hospital for 3 weeks. Since coming out I've been to the gym a handful of times.

All that changes tomorrow.

As of now I will attend twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays - at least until mid-late spring when the outdoor archery season starts and we have a field on Wednesday evenings.

On the plus side, since going into hospital, when I was 126KG on their scales, I have lost (up to Saturday last) 12KG...very nearly 2 stone. This equates to approx 5" off my (considerable) waistline.