I appreciate that exercise and going to the gym is about the body, and by extension somewhat to do with its relationship with the world around it, but a word of advice to Fitness First Holborn Circus: Michael Jackson’s Earth Song is not good workout music.
Well, that hurt…
T-minus 37 minutes until my first (and probably only) session with a personal trainer at the gym. I was in there one lunchtime last week, trying to fight off a godawful hangover, when one of the trainers came over and started chatting about what kind of routines/programmes I do, and so on.
I tend to be relatively aimless when I’m at the gym, and am not working towards anything in particular, other than a vague goal to lose some weight around my middle and be a bit healthier. I like programmes such as 200 sit-ups, because they give me concrete targets and numbers to hit each week, which in turn motivates me to get my ass into the gym in the first place.
Without that motivation, it’s far too easy to not go, and then it becomes a cumulative effect, knowing that each time you don’t go, the first one back is harder. Miss a whole week and you really don’t feel like going any time soon.
The session I’m having today is free, which is a bit of a result, but I can’t see myself paying for any further sessions, to be honest. They’re just too expensive for me to really justify it.
I’m hoping to get some ideas, and to get some motivation back into my system. Maybe even some finite targets to achieve. It’s definitely a mental thing for me, because I thoroughly enjoy the act of working out. But getting to the gym seems to be the difficulty that I need to overcome…
26.01.10
14:49:41 - Comments (View)
14:49:41 - Comments (View)
text, list, gym, food, music, dirty old man, lecherous, exercise,
Things that got me through my workout at lunchtime today:
A Prodigy megamix, which may or may not have been The Dirtchamber Sessions.
The thought of a pulled pork sandwich immediately afterwards (which actually wasn’t particularly brilliant. We need a Brother Jimmy’s over here, stat!).
The realisation that Tuesday lunchtime is evidently “Ladies Day” in the gym, judging by the ratio of women to men. Hurrah!
I’m starting the 200 sit-ups programme again, and also doing the 100 push-ups system to boot, in an effort to get myself motivated for gym visits and losing weight this year.
When I did the 200 sit-ups programme last summer, it was probably the most dedicated I’ve ever been to going to the gym, and I really looked forward to each session and pushing myself against defined targets.
I find it all too easy to just drift through gym visits, not massively pushing myself or getting into any kind of routine where I can see improvement. And then the lack of visual improvement means an ebbing of motivation, and so the frequency of my gym visits falls. It’s a vicious circle.
Not this time though! (Hopefully)
2nd gym session of the year, a solid 1hr40 of killing myself. Yay me!
I knew it was worth only having a coke in the pub at lunchtime…
Gym Pro-Tip: 350 crunches in one session is too many. My stomach is so sore right now.
On the plus side, I’m getting ever closer to being able to do 200 consecutively, which was the plan from the outset with this 200 sit-ups programme. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get this finished before I go to the US, which is precisely two weeks away.
The 100 press-ups programme isn’t going quite so well as yet. I’m redoing week two, because it was really difficult for me to complete. That’s going to take until Halloween to complete, at this rate, but I think it’ll be more of an achievement because I’ve never been able to really do press-ups, owing to a complete lack of upper body strength.
Maybe I’ll try the 20 pull-ups challenge next. I like/need these targets and programmes to stop me getting bored at the gym, I find.
OK, so the health kick has died a little today: no gym and a big-ass motherfucker of a burrito for lunch.
I maintain that’s still relatively healthy though: rice, chicken, beans, tortilla, spicy sauce. Just ignore the cheese, sour cream and guacamole!
In my defence, I had a salad on each of the previous four days this week, and I’ve done four sessions of exercise already. Add to that a run at least once this weekend, and another session of the sit-ups and press-ups programme, and I call it 6 lots of exercise this week. That’ll do.
And the food side of things has been very good too, if I do say so myself. I was out for dinner last night at a Moroccan place, and even then I managed to choose something pretty respectable: a chicken tagine, which was really good.
Surprisingly, I’ve managed to cut down on the booze front, without really realising it. I tend not to drink during the week, unless I go to the pub at lunchtimes with my co-workers, and that has thankfully been avoided through gym sessions. I had a glass of red wine last night, and a criminally under-strength cocktail, and that’s the sum total of my alcohol this week.
Of course, the weekend usually destroys any good intentions there, and this weekend will probably be no different. A mate’s coming round tomorrow to watch some football and play some Wii, and I’m sure that’ll be beer-fuelled. Then I’m out for dinner with the girlfriend after she’s finished work, which will no doubt involve a bottle or two of wine.
Ah well, I’m allowed to have a blow-out now and again. Maybe I’ll need to run on Sunday to get rid of the hangover!
Fuck me, I did 300 sit-ups at the gym today. Wowser.
In theory, I’m a week and a bit away from doing 200 in one go, according to the programme I’m following. I’m really pleased with myself for sticking to it thus far, and hopefully I’ll complete it towards the end of next week.
The 100 press-ups programme is still in the early days, but I’m already impressed with my improvement. From being absolutely buggered after doing just 30 across a few sets, I did 64 today and didn’t feel too bad afterwards.
I like it when you can measure improvement so clearly and so easily. When doing things like running, especially outside, it’s hard to know that you’re doing any better than you were the week/month/year, which for me is a killer when it comes to motivation.
Yay, I did it! I was only intending to do a little 10-15 minute loop, just to get the feeling back into my legs, but I ended up doing 3 miles instead. No idea what time I did it in, and I was definitely flagging towards the end, but I didn’t stop until right outside my front door.
It was good to get out there, especially because I’d had a shitty last half-hour at work that I know I’m going to get it in the neck for first thing tomorrow. I’d been thinking about nothing else on my way home, so to let my mind get off that was a godsend.
It was great to feel the sun beating down on me, the wind in my face and just the great outdoors all around me. And it was good to achieve this little something: to have a plan to get out there after work and to go through with it. Little victories.
