Day four and still at it…

I didn’t get the exercise related body ache as bad as I’d imagined I would ! Each day I dread the next since I think that if my body didn’t have an ache that bad today then tomorrow is going to be terrible. Yet, nothing happened for four days. So I guess I’m good now :)

Yesterday N and I had a small talk. She told me that she’ll be going away on vacation to her hometown Candy in Sri Lanka for twenty days in April. She’ll make a workout card for me and I should follow that when she’s not around. I told her that I’d like to swim on alternate days. So she agreed. She said that I should do a whole body workout in the gym on alternate days and swim on alternate days. Presently for the next ten days though we have decided that we’ll alternate between upper and lower body workouts. 

Yesterday as soon as I reached home from the gym, I demonstrated all the lower body exercises to TH. He laughed…said my demonstrations and descriptions were funny :)

Today morning we did the upper body workout. Today N had made my workout card. It is much better to know the sequence. There’s just a slight problem – understanding the vocabulary and knowing how to operate the machines without breaking something :) Sigh ! Eventually…

Yesterday N had told me to check my weight. I didn’t. “What difference will three days make ?”, I thought. Today she asked me if I had. I told her why I hadn’t. She said that I should. At the optimum exercise level, there could be a difference of up to 400 grams before and after the workout. So after I finished the workout, I checked my weight. I have reduced 230 grams in four days. I wonder if that is good or not. I felt a bit disappointed. Probably this was also the reason why I didn’t want to check my weight this early. I wanted to check it after a long time and be pleasantly surprised with a weight loss of a couple of kilograms. Sigh again ! Eventually…

Today while I was on the treadmill, N came up and said, “Just be regular and you’ll be back to normal fast”. Before that, while doing warm-ups, she asked me, “Is it aching a lot ?”. I replied, “It is aching, but not much.” Then she said, “Don’t worry. It will reduce now and go away. But if there is a gap of 4-5 days, then it will again ache.”. When I left the gym, she called out after me, “Come tomorrow”. Thrice in an hour there was reference to consistency. I’m taking it as a signal and I’ll be doubly alert so that I don’t fail on that.

N is a really good trainer…warm, encouraging and appreciative. At least that is what works with me. With me, a little motivation and kindness goes a long way. I am willing to push myself a lot when the other person shows even a tiny bit of consideration for me.

I too am a good (determined?) student. For example even when she asks me to do ten iterations of something and I feel that I could do more, I tell her that let’s do some more.

It might seem that I am speaking too early. After all it has only been four days. But honestly, I’ve seen my previous patterns and I am observing myself this time. It is starkly different this time. Today, I got up at 5:45 a.m. without TH having to coax me to. I will become fit and achieve my ideal weight this time.

And I went again today…to the gym…

Usually I can stay up till 1:00 a.m. Last night my energy was down to zero by 11:00 p.m. Maybe for the first couple of day of gym, I should sleep at 10:00 p.m. Hmm.

I had decided that today I would reach the gym by 6:00 a.m. so that there will be very few people. But when I woke up (thanks to the alarm), I could feel each and every muscle in my body protesting :) So I hit snooze twice and that equals half an hour. The third time the alarm went off, I finally got up but very reluctantly, I might add. Once I got up, I quickly got ready and left.

Today we worked on the upper body. It pains me to see how little strength I possess in my arms :( N, the instructor, took me through today’s run, but also made it clear that I have to remember both the upper and lower body exercise sequence. She’ll not be guiding me beyond a week. Now that is something I dread. Previously whenever I have joined a gym, I have never managed to remember the sequence. I am simply incapable of remembering which exercise, on which equipment, in what sequence. It is pathetic :( Today when she said that, I suddenly became super alert and tried to memorise everything I did. I gave myself visual clues. When I came home, I demonstrated it all to TH. Well not all…most of it…since I have forgotten some :( Heaven help me !

So, I’m going to record here too, all that I did…or at least as much as I can remember. Warning: I am totally clueless about the gym and exercise lingo. So I’m going to make up names for the exercises and wrote their descriptions as I will recollect them best. If you find it funny, so be it !

Started with warm-ups – marching accompanied by wrists circular, neck left-right, neck up-down, arms in and out upwards and downwards, arms up and down, ankles circular, arms folded and legs like Russian dance – to the sky, then cross, then left-right outward. 10 iterations each.

Then dumbbells –

The biceps curl = 1 in each hand with hands locked at waist in front of the body and dumbbells waist to shoulder

The triceps = 1 dumbbell held by both hands behind the head and then up and down

No name = 1 dumbbell in each hand - start with dumbbell at ears and raise to the sky

Stretch my sides = 1 dumbbell in each hand. Lean on one side and then on the other sideways.

All these exercises were done standing. 10 iterations each.

Then I did the exercycle for 10 minutes.

Then the machines -

Rod to stomach = Sit, lock legs in the bars, pull the rod in front towards stomach

Rod to collar bone = The same machine flipped over to raise the seat higher. Lie back at an angle, lock legs in the bars, pull the rod over the head towards the collar bone.

I think I did one more variation of the same concept, but for the death of me I can’t recall it.

10 iterations each.

Then the treadmill for 10 minutes.

Finally the floor exercises –

Crunches, one leg over another and cross crunches, straight leg raises, side leg raises, lie on the stomach extend hands and legs and lift them in the air, lie on the stomach with hands near chest and lift upper body to the sky, lie on the stomach and hold ankles and lift in the air and rock the body. 10 iterations each except for the last three for which 3 iterations each.

Finally the shavasan…my favourite :)

N asked me about the dietician consultation today and I postponed it to tomorrow. I must take a decision tonight.

Today’s observations:

I didn’t feel as energetic as yesterday. I drank the usual amount of water, not more like yesterday.

Almost all the ladies coming to the gym check their weight daily. They are all very confident and move about comfortably using the equipment.

I feel most confident on the exercycle, treadmill and while doing the warm ups and the floor exercises.

My body didn’t ache as much as I expected it to this morning or even during the day. That makes me worried about tomorrow. It’s got to give sometime, I say !

Although I had decided while joining the gym that I would do the gym and swimming on alternate days, today I have decided that for two weeks I shall do the gym. Then I shall ask N to build in the swimming part into my workout. The pool is beckoning and it is also very safe since I am most comfortable swimming. But it would mean that again I’ll run away from learning the gym routine. I am happy that I am able to make myself stay and fight my fear.

Now, tomorrow’s target – to reach the gym at 6:00 a.m. with a decision about the dietician consultation.

Putting my money where my mouth is !

After a long break which consisted of sleep deprivation, eating wrong things at odd hours, travelling for shows of our play and overall lack of discipline, I am back. My efforts to work on my fitness were sporadic, at best. I was easy on myself and sugar-coated it by calling it “taking baby steps”.

Each day I fretted about my weight and lack of motivation to do something to reduce it. People cracked jokes about my weight and I laughed along with them because the jokes were really funny ! What was not funny though, was my complete lack of effort.

I contemplated going to a gym close to my home and making an enquiry. It took me two weeks to do that.

However, when I finally went there on Saturday, I felt very warm and comfortable there. In that moment something changed for me.

I spoke to the TH and returned the same evening and paid the membership fees for ONE WHOLE YEAR ! Those who know me know very well how cautious I am with my money. Considering my past track record with exercising, I wouldn’t have trusted myself ever to make such a long-term commitment for exercising and actually put down the money for it. But well, that’s exactly what I did.

Actually, I have never felt warm and comfortable in any gym I have been to before…and trust me, I’ve been to quite a few. Somehow, this gym just ‘felt right’. I guess that is what did me in ! :)

So, I have ‘put my money where my mouth is’, as the phrase goes. That will, hopefully, ensure that the goal is achieved.

The whole of yesterday, I kept thinking to myself, ‘When you wake up tomorrow morning, you’ll want to skip the gym and sleep a little longer. At that time, ask yourself this: “Losing weight and becoming fit” or “Staying fat and wasting money” – what do you choose ? Say to yourself, “I choose health”.

So, today was my first day at the gym. I went in and completed registration formalities. Then I was assigned to an energetic and smiling lady N who took my weight and measurements and I got suitably horrified in the process seeing the numbers. She is going to be my trainer too. I told her that I was a novice and she would have to guide me each step of the way. She was so pleasant and had a sense of humour too. I instantly warmed up to her.

She took me through my run of exercises. Warm ups, exer-cycle for 10 minutes, calf exercises, thigh exercises, treadmill for 10 minutes, abs, side leg raises, some floor exercises designed for the lower body and finally relaxation. Today it was all about the lower body.

Then she took me to the dietician who tried really hard to sell me the concept of getting a paid consultation for a couple of months. It is natural for her to do that since presently I appear like the perfect candidate in need of that. It’s just that I’m in two minds about it because it is a paid consultation. I’ve already spent a lot and now there’s some more. TH says I should take it for a month. It will help me reduce the initial weight quickly. That will motivate me to keep exercising sincerely. I’m still thinking on this one.

Here are a few random observations of the day:

As I left the gym today, I felt nice. I felt that I could come here every day without forcing myself to.

I drank 1.5 times more water than usual today.

Usually I go and have lunch at 1:00 p.m. whether or not I am hungry. Today I was feeling hungry for about half an hour before I went for lunch.

As night approaches, I am feeling slightly tired. My mind is telling me that tomorrow morning is going to be terrible because the effects of all the enthusiastic exercising will be felt when I wake up tomorrow morning. So I must be all the more alert and stop myself from succumbing to the desire to sleep ‘just for five more minutes’. :)

All day, there was a spring in my step. I was feeling very energetic all day. Whether I actually had more energy or it is just in my mind, I don’t know. But whatever it is, I was feeling great all day.

Here’s to having a ‘feel-good’ day every day !