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.
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