Ow

[morsla]

I started a new program at the gym last night, after missing a couple of weeks with a half-formed head cold. It's fairly different from what I've been doing over the last few months. The verdict today is "everything hurts" so it seems reasonably comprehensive :) I'll be working off this plan for the next two months, increasing weights and times as needed.

From memory, it looks something like this:

Warm up (cross trainer, 10min)
Assisted chin-ups and dips (supersets: 10-12 chin / 10-12 dips, three repeats)
Free weights (combined bicep curl into shoulder press; two sets of 15)
Treadmill (fast walk, steep incline, 5min)
Core superset: 15 push-ups / 30 second prone hold on a swiss ball (three repeats)
Abdominals: V-sits (2 sets of 15)
Rowing machine: 1000m
Cool down, stretch

Things I've noticed:

Dips are surprisingly painful. I guess I've never really used those muscles for anything. Chin ups are much easier, but doing supersets means that the last few in each set are still quite hard.

Push-ups are a bit easier than expected. I've never been very good at them, and haven't tried them for at least ten years... but the last few months must have helped. Form needs work: mostly let down by poor abdominal muscles.

V-sits are bloody hard work! My stomach muscles are weak... I could do a hundred sit ups when I started uni, and now I have trouble doing 25. I'm meant to be doing V-ups, but don't have the strength for them yet.

I have much better cardio fitness than I did in January, but I don't seem to have enough endurance for the rowing yet: probably as it's a new bit of equipment that I haven't used before. I found that I hit a wall about halfway through, where I couldn't find any more strength in my limbs.

Walking home from the YMCA gym is a bit weird when your legs don't seem to work properly.

Comments

[teknohippi.livejournal.com]

Rowing machines, more than anyother piece of equipment that you are likely to find in a gym, relies on the technique. Working out how it works is half the trick to it being effective

[morsla.livejournal.com]

I noticed that it was much easier to row when I was concentrating on my technique. I was so worn out by that stage that any kind of sloppy technique meant that I was done for :)

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll find that I don't run out of energy before the end of the set. It's what happened last time, when first starting at the gym - just have to wait for the initial shock to fade, from all those muscles that have been ignored in the past...

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

oh i love the jellylegs! means u;ve earnt the hours sitting at a desk :D how awesome is it to work out to exhaustion? u have a great program, rowing is the best way to get fit...keep it up :)

[futurelegend.livejournal.com]

Gym work is surprisingly good :) I am four weeks in to driving up to canberra (1.4 hours, 130km-ish) once a week to go to a barbell class (or, "Bodypump(TM)" as they call it), and OMG is it what my body has been missing for the last couple of years.! Already my knee joints no longer shake during squats and back work, and they don't hurt when I walk down the stairs at work anymore either :)

"Everything hurts" afterwards is a very satisfying feeling :)

(I should have started trekking up to Canb way earlier. The gym in Cooma closed because there just wasn't the quantity of people going to keep it viable through a rent increase. Stoopid small town :/ )