Hi all! Well, I’ve just come back from my first workout at the gym. Aside from my orientation Wednesday night, I haven’t set foot in a gym for six years (when I took a class at cegep, or “junior college” for non-Quebec people). Since I know there are many gym newbies reading this forum, I decided to share my first thoughts.
- Go with the flow. I had planned on doing an upper-body workout, but one of the machines I wanted to use was broken. Being an absolute, utter newbie, I had no idea what other machines could work the same muscle group. So I did a lower-body workout instead, and I’ll do the upper-body one on Monday or Tuesday, intead of lower-body.
- Saturday afternoon is much quieter than Wednesday night. I like quieter. It’s far less nerve-wracking for me, and gave me time to figure things out (like which bloody machines I had used on Wednesday!).
- I need my music. I hadn’t brought my ipod up with me, but I will next time. It gets really boring doing the same thing over and over again.
- Eliptical trainers are fun! I’d never used an eliptical before, but there were some at the gym and I decided to try one out. They even have sensors to monitor your heart rate, so you can focus on working out instead of taking your pulse! (Something I absolutely HATE doing, by the way.)
- It was hard for me to figure out what weight I should be lifting. I started out light, apparently too light. I redid the ones I felt didn’t work me hard enough, but in the end I only pegged the right weight for 3 of the 5 exercises I did.
- Towel service is apparently not included at my university’s gym: you have to pay extra for it. Next time, I will bring my own towel. I would have done so today, if I’d known. (Note: there are little towels to wipe down the machines, but the big ones to, say, shower require you to pay.)
- Semi-public nudity. I was amazed at the amount of people walking around the locker room naked or nearly naked. I don’t particularly care one way or another, though I’m sure some people wouldn’t want to see my hairy legs—I don’t shave in the winter. But it’s something I wasn’t really prepared for.
- I made many small, stupid mistakes. I forgot to tie my hair back. I forgot to bring my water upstairs to the workout room with me. Most importantly, when I left I forgot to take back my student card. I only realized this when I got back to my rez (a 15 minute walk). To put this in perspective, I can’t enter the cafeteria without my student card, which means I can’t eat unless I have it. So I needed to walk BACK to the gym to get it. It’s currently -8 celcius with the windchill (that’s 17 degrees farenheit). I was unhappy about this development.
Anyway, that’s it for workout #1. I’ll be doing workout #2 on Monday or Tuesday, but after that I’ll be going back home for a week and a half, so I’ll need to fall back on my at-home routine of pushups, crunches, and squats.
Oh, and for the record, here’s what I did today:
- leg extensions (quads): 30lbs x 12 reps (too light); 40lbs x 12 reps (good weight)
- hamstring curls: 30lbs x 12 reps (too light); 40lbs x 12 reps (slightly too light)
- adduction (inner thigh): 40lbs x 12 reps (too light); 50lbs x 12 reps (still too light)
- abduction (outer thigh): 40lbs x 12 reps (too light); 50lbs x 12 reps (still too light)
- calf raises: 15lbs x 12 reps (good weight)
TTFN,
Julie
feel for you. But better days are coming, especially when you start to feel the small habits developing into a routine.
