More adventures in the Cardio Vascular Zone

[f4f3]

A gym free weekend in Newcastle, with only two strolls with Merlin to count as exercise, so I've got to make up for that this week.

Last night I got to the gym around 6.45, and did about 25 minutes on the cross-trainer and two five minute spells on the exercise bike. Then a few lengths in the pool, and about 20 minutes in the sauna.

This morning I got there on the pip of seven, and did 5 minutes on the bike, 15 on the cross trainer, and my warmdown in the pool, where I did 10 lengths (it's a titchy pool, by the way, about 15 meters long) then ten minutes in the sauna and a most satisfying shower. I think I'll have to adjust my medication: I'm on beta blockers for borderline high BP, and usually take one when I get up in the morning. As a result, my heart-rate was sticking pretty firmly below 120, when it would normally get up to around 140. I forgot to discuss this with my doctor when we were talking about exercise, so I'll switch to taking my plenty good drugs after my swim, I think, and take it up with her next week.

I've got an hour of badminton at lunch, then I might go back tonight after work since my badminton club is off tonight.

Provisional plan for the rest of the week:

Wednesday: Morning session, try and take it up to half an hour (twenty on the trainer, warm up and warm down on the bike),
Thursday: Definitely Yoga at 5, followed by wallowing in the pool, maybe something at lunch
Friday: Morning session.

Weekend - up at the cottage, so a reasonable walk and maybe an hour or so on the bike.

Next week I'll try and introduce some weights, since I want to get my upper body strength up, and I'll be back up to 2 or 3 sessions at the badminton.

I realise this is just the first flush of membership, and I'll probably fall away, but as someone said on-line, you've got to fake it until you can make it - if I can manage a reasonable level of attendance for a month, it might just turn into a habit.

Still to come: Weights and Measures - should I weigh myself? If so, how often? At the moment, I'm sticking to the belt hole test.

Tomorrow we Diet: I'm concentrating more on changing my eating patterns (small meals instead of large, lunch being the main meal) than on what I eat, except for forcing fruit (not as much fun as it sounds). Should I worry about calories, or just continue to treat them as something polite people don't talk about? For health reasons, I should be getting into GI, so watch for that starting to appear in the journal.

Comments

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

On weighing: I wouldn't get hung up on this. For one thing, you may find that there's little change in weight as your fat converts to muscle (which is denser). For another, if you feel great after exercising but weigh yourself and find that you've not lost any (or even put some on - it can happen), there goes most of the psychological benefit.

The belt test is a much better indicator, as is how you feel.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I've come to believe: after all, I'm really doing this for fitness, not weight loss...

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Yup, weighing is pointless. I'd recommend focusing on energy and stamina.

As for food, I'm a firm believer in letting your body decide what it wants to eat. But then I have always hated sweets and fried stuff, and adore fruits and greens.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I have a major west coast male problem with greens - foodstuff in Scotland is incredibly poisonous and we tend to fry it in hot oil to remove the pathogens (or vitamins, as they're sometimes called). We also cover it in a hygenic layer of batter to stop any contamination from the polluted environment. Unfortunately, salad doesn't stand up to this treatment very well, which just goes to show that it isn't food fit for a Scotsman. Fruit, on the other hand, I have no problem with. Bannana fritters and toffee apples are my favourites.

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Banana fritters, toffee apples...you just killed the fruit!

And I wouldn't even mention what you did to those poor greens...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

It's a dog-eat-haggis world out there, you know...

And hey, there's a word for people who eat live stuff!

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

And what would that word be? :)

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I was afraid you were going to ask that.... See, cannibal doesn't work, um, what about vivovore?

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

*lol*

*notes the word down to pass on to Frankie later*

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I could pass it on tomorrow night *g* off to see her and the tall one at his family's country seat...

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me. :)