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Getting fitter
It’s been three weeks since our gym memberships expired and I’m pretty happy with our current situation. While a member of the gym I felt obligated to go there and do exercise there instead of something I might prefer at home. This means I have more time for taking the dogs for walks, riding my bike (one I get it serviced) and mixing up my exercise while at home.
I’ve now used the treadmill three times and feel a lot more comfortable with it. The first time it felt so different from the ones at the gym and I felt really awkward on it. But now I seem to have a better feel for it and I’m more used to the controls. I’ve even tried running/jogging on it for short periods of time. I’d been doing a job on the Wii Fit program so the Scientist suggested I would find it better on the treadmill. It is easier on the joints as it has considerable cushioning with several springs on each side. Far easier than jogging in place on the solid floor. The hardest part of the jogging is trying to get going. I don’t feel I can go directly from walking fast to a jog so have to put the speed up a bit and go fast before slowing it down to a better speed. I don’t know if I will do that much jogging as it’s still a bit rough on my knees. Perhaps when I’ve lost a bit more weight.
I’ve also been using the spin bike more. I find it is better to use it for shorter periods of time right now but I’m hoping to build up stamina. My biggest thing is trying to get the seats and handlebars in the right spot as it’s quite uncomfortable to go too long with things in the wrong place.
I’m using the Wii Fit program on the Wii U once or twice a week right now. It’s not something I would depend on for a proper exercise session but it is a bit of a change of pace and it is a way for me to challenge myself against previous records. On my iPad I have an app that has exercise programs. It’s pretty basic in some ways but does include a sort of video showing how to do the exercise. Not a great one but it’s something helpful. I’m currently focusing on the abdominal muscles as they are again pretty weak. I am also looking at some online yoga and pilates programs and see if anything there might be useful.
Meanwhile, I seem to be back on the path to losing some weight while I’m staying pretty fit. I’m pretty close to dropping from the obese to the overweight category. I did this a few years ago within far less time but managed to injure myself so frequently that I didn’t keep on it and regained all I lost. Hopefully going so slowly will mean I can stick to this for the long term.
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Up late
Despite my efforts, I don’t seem to be able to get to bed very early these days. I’ve just spent a bit of time going through some of my recent photos to weed out bad ones and do a bit of work on some others. I also managed to upload some to Flickr today. I have quite a few more to upload but I’m still getting my head around the interface for uploads on Photoshop Elements (plus editing details on the website). Those will have to wait until I get the motivation to get more done. It was a bit tricky working without the right mouse button. I have a trackball that does work fully but it’s so uncomfortable that I am avoiding it and just using the broken trackball for what it can do.
I got to the gym this evening after procrastinating for quite a long time. It was probably a good idea since I think I hate a few too many air fried chips for dinner. I did my whole workout on the spin bike by doing the video class and then adding extra time to it. I had to take it easy through the workout as my knees were both sore from something stupid I did yesterday. I was walking the dogs and thought I’d try to run/jog a bit with them as I realised I can now run a short distance if required. I only jogged 20-30 seconds but both my knees were feeling wobbly afterwards. I think I’ll just avoid the jog/run thing altogether except for emergencies.
I think it’s time to end this nothing post and get myself to bed.
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Fitness update
It’s now been nearly eight months since I started going to the gym and I’ve lost just under 9kgs now. It’s certainly not going quickly but at least it is shifting. It’s funny that I bought a pair of 3/4 length black denim pants last month to wear to the Neil Finn/Paul Kelly concert and it is already getting rather loose around my waist. I think I may find it more difficult with the cooler weather as almost all my clothes for winter are larger sized…I am going to try to manage with only a few new additions as I don’t want to invest too much in clothes I plan not to fit next winter.
The exercise is mostly going okay although I seem to have a bit of an injury to my calf muscles at the moment. Yesterday I was using the glutes machine (you stand over the machine and push back a pedal with one of your feet to lift the weight) and was finding it quite uncomfortable to do the weight I’ve been using for a while. My calf muscles were a bit sore beforehand but I suspect this might have pushed me over the edge. The unfortunate part is I have a tai chi workshop in the morning and I’m worried it’s going to be painful to work on the moves I need to focus on. It isn’t painful with every step so I’m hopeful resting today will allow me to feel okay in the morning.
I’m continuing to mix up my workouts every so often to keep from getting bored with exercise and it seems to work for the most part. I backed off from rowing workouts due because it almost always exacerbate my shoulder pains. But i tried it out again a couple days ago and it felt pretty good. I probably just need to keep the times shorter than I’d been doing to keep on track. I also tried out a step class I hadn’t done before and it was mostly okay. I didn’t stick it out for the full class because I got rather mentally exhausted trying to keep up with the choreography but will go back to it at some point to try again. I also tried a bit of a boxing class yesterday just to see if I could do it…again it was a matter of the moves overwhelming me so I quite after about ten minutes. I had tried a shorter class before but didn’t find it gave me much of a workout…this one seems like it might do a lot better if I can learn enough to get through the class. I’ve found the classes can be a sort of challenge to overcome so taking little steps will hopefully allow me to reach my goal.
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Not much weight loss but…
It’s now been about five and a half months of exercise/improved diet/etc and my weight loss as of this weekend was again about 5 kilograms. The scales don’t tell the full story though. I went to put on a pair of shorts that were a bit tight several months ago and they are now so loose I cannot wear them as they’d surely fall off after a few steps. I think this might be due to stronger abdominal muscles as my tummy isn’t pooching so much as it has (since Game Fanatic was born, I think!).  I can now also fit into a pair of size 14 workout pants that I bought for $5 several months ago when I discovered the discount on the size 16 ones I had purchased.  They are a bit snug but I think they may fit comfortably in another month or two. Meanwhile my original workout pants are starting to look really baggy…they are comfortable but I imagine it won’t be long until they are too loose to keep wearing. Hopefully that will happen before they fall apart due to constant use. I’ve also noticed a few of my shirts are looking really loose now.  The only tightness is around the sleeves but that would be due to the muscle that has built up in my upper arms.
This is what I have to remember when the scales don’t tell me a nice story. :D
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Real summer
We are in the middle of a typical February heat wave in Perth. We started getting hot easterly winds on Friday and they continued over the weekend. Yesterday and today we added in very high temperatures and it will be above 40C the next three days according to the latest forecast. Not sure of a previously forecast storm/shower is still on the cards now but I’m hoping not if it brings high humidity. I think this weekend was the first of the summer with many major bushfires. There must have been something nearby as a helicopter kept passing by. Our neighborhood is adjacent to Whiteman Park, a large state park which has experiences regular bushfires.
One of my main objectives this afternoon was to buy new cross trainers. I bought a pair of New Balance walking shoes online early last year, I think, and they did a pretty good job for just walking and were relatively inexpensive for  brand name shoes. I’ve been using those at the gym but as they aren’t meant for that sort of use, they are looking pretty worn and torn now. They also weren’t exactly stable shoes with their lack of tread and support for any impact exercise. My search started last weekend with a trip to our nearby shopping centre with the Scientist. That wasn’t an ideal time to start my search due it being the last weekend before the new school year started. Shoe shops were all pretty packed with people. I ended up at a discount place where I was able to try on shoes with minimal assistance. I found one shoe that I liked the look of at a very good price but they didn’t have my size or anything near it. I fell back on the tried and true New Balance brand as they tend work well with my relatively wide feet. I started with a 9 ½ and that felt okay but after walking around a bit I noticed there seemed to be a lot of space around my toes and my concern was my feet would be swimming in space once they were worn in a bit. This is something of a surprise as I’ve worn similar models before and have always required this size. I tried on a size 9 and they also felt fine but after walking around in them, I worried that maybe they were a bit limited in toes space, even allowing for stretch. I dithered quite a bit and must have driven the Scientist a bit mad, especially when I left without buying anything.
I went back to the store today without dragging the Scientist along. He was quite busy watching the one-day cricket match so I think I’d have found it difficult to persuade him to come along. This week that shoe that I really liked was again available but it was no longer on sale. I tried a pair on anyway just to see how they felt. They felt okay but I thought they didn’t accommodate my orthotics as well as the ones I’d tried last week. I checked for other possibilities before trying the same shoes as last week. This time I found the 9½ really was too roomy and the 9 felt fine. I walked around for a little while just to be sure and decided on the size 9 shoes. I also scored a free pair of Thorlo socks (usually $20) as a bonus with these shoes, which were only $89. I later noticed the socks were made in Statesville, NC which wasn’t that far out of the way from where I used to live in Charlotte. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me too much to know that North Carolina is still very much a textile center.
My next stop was at the grocery store to pick up milk and a few groceries before rushing back to our local pet and garden store to get a couple of things for the dogs while they were still on sale today. I was in and out of there within five minutes and went to start the car and it wouldn’t start. I turned off the air conditioner and radio and tried again and it still wouldn’t start. I made a call home and then to the RAC roadside assistance service and then had a 45 minute wait for someone to arrive. Meanwhile I had milk and some frozen foods in the car and it was like an oven outside. The Scientist suggested I ask the pet and garden store people if I could keep my bag in their freezer and they were quite accommodating. I mostly waited inside that store as it was somewhat cooler than than outside. It also had a wide open entrance that allowed me to watch out for the familiar yellow vehicle that signalled help had arrived. After what seemed a very long time, someone did arrive and it was soon worked out that the battery was dead, or nearly so since the radio still worked. This wasn’t a surprise since we’ve had some problems starting the car lately. I’d hoped to wait until our service early next month but the need arose before then. I was given a jump start to get home and the guy sent through an order for someone to come and replace the battery. I was home in short order and it was no time at all before someone turned up to replace the battery. This is probably the fastest response time we’ve ever had for a new battery. While the Scientist dealt with the car, I set about fixing my somewhat dehydrated body.
A couple hours later I had eaten and drunk sufficiently and felt much better. Â Now my dilemma was whether to go to the gym or not. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of an issue as Monday is our normal day off so I could just pick up a lost day there. But I am giving plasma on Tuesday and planned to exercise on Monday so I could have Tuesday off. In the end I did go to the gym and worked out for just over an hour. I wore my new shoes and found they were far better for the squats and lunges in the workout I was doing today. I won’t say they felt totally right but I think they will be pretty comfortable once they are worn in a bit.
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Not sore
I woke up this morning and noticed immediately I didn’t feel that sore any more. Today was a cardio day for me so I started out with rowing and had to stop after a couple minutes as it felt like I had one of those grass seeds (like the ones that give Maromi so much trouble) inside my exercise shorts. Except it wasn’t a grass seed but a spider that had obviously got stuck and bit me in its efforts to get out. I knocked it on the floor and it disappeared before I found something to pick it up with. It didn’t look like any spider that I know to be particularly dangerous so I wasn’t too worried but did tell the Scientist and did keep an eye on it. It swelled a bit like a mosquito bite and turned a bit red but otherwise wasn’t bothersome. I went back to my rowing and then tried the Kinetics workout again. This time I made it through to the end and I felt okay afterwards. Of course, I won’t know for sure if it’s going to be okay until I’ve had another night’s sleep. I still have to take the dogs for a walk this evening so might have an idea of how it feels then.
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Fitness continued
It’s now been four months since the Scientist and I joined the gym and it’s going pretty well right now. The Scientist has lost 15 kgs or more, I think, and is looking quite good these days. His blood pressure has dropped so much that he is hoping to reduce his medication dosage when he sees his doctor next time. My weight loss is only 5.6 kgs but I have lost quite a few centimeters around my waist and hips… I’m not quite sure where the weight has shifted but my clothes are fitting a lot better these days.
Early last month I was sick with what I assume was a flu and/or stomach bug and missed a couple days at the gym for the first time since we started. There simply was no choice as I had a fever and other flu symptoms…at the very least I didn’t want to spread the germs around. As it is, I suspect I picked whatever the bug was at the gym due to the failure of many members to clean the equipment. There are wipes provided for this but so few people use them. Anyway, missing those two days seemed to really throw off my routine and it’s been a struggle getting back into the swing of things over the past few weeks. Having holidays in the middle have also been disruptive even though we have continued to go six days a week. We even went on Christmas Day, which was reasonably crowded considering it was a holiday.
Despite the difficulties, I have managed to bring my weights workouts back to where I started and beyond. My shoulder isn’t 100% but it seems to be mostly okay now. I also started back to doing my rowing again, which I was missing while my shoulder was healing. The gym held a competition for fastest 1000 meter row last month and it motivated me to improve my 1000 meter times while doing intervals. I managed to get down to 4 minutes 35 seconds as a best personal time. I never competed officially but I think I got just behind the two fastest times for women and one of those was a trainer at the gym who is probably half my age. I think that’s pretty good for an almost 48 year old.
Anyway, I hit another hurdle near the end of the month where I just couldn’t keep up the rowing for any decent time, even when doing just 500 meter intervals. And just about every time I rowed, I started coughing a lot. I persisted and kept trying to reach that satisfied feeling after rowing but I found myself exhausted pretty much every time. I gave up trying to improve my 1000 meter times. But I did keep rowing most days and finally last week I found myself gasping for breath and having to stop even though I was rowing pretty slowly. I gave up the rowing and moved to my weights routine and eventually felt improved although I was tired out by the whole experience. To backtrack many years, I was treated for an asthma cough one bad spring and summer when my hayfever was quite bad. Later on I was told by a specialist it wasn’t asthma but reflux cough…not sure myself that it couldn’t have been both but it’s nothing I will quibble about as it’s possible to get an inhaler over the counter here. I haven’t had any issues for many years so all the puffers were out of date, aside from a prescribed one for Game Fanatic. I bought a new one the other day. I also pulled out a peak flow meter I’d bought all those years ago and found I was getting much lower readings than I’d had at my clearest before. I used some of the medication and it improved heaps so I took it with me to the gym the following day but didn’t end up using it. I didn’t feel great but I wasn’t gasping for breath either. The next day I tried using medication before I exercised and felt so much better for it. I was still having a bit of trouble keeping a normal breathing rhythm while rowing but my lungs were definitely clear.
Today I walked to the gym and I was quite warmed up by the time I got there. I also used the inhaler before I got there and my lungs were definitely clear. I usually do three or four 1000 meter intervals with two minute breaks between them (depending on whether it’s a cardio or weights day). Today was a weights day but I did 30 minutes on the rower with no break and felt okay after I finished. Then I did my weights routine which I reduced a bit due to the extra time I’d already spent rowing. And I felt really good after I finished for the first time in ages. I’m not totally sure, Â but I suspect I’ve been having exercise induced asthma episodes. Something else to discuss with my doctor when I see her next…which should be soon as I am due for regular blood tests any time now. Tomorrow is my day off exercise but I’m really hoping to have another good workout on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, my knee is still making slow progress. I think I’m probably around 85-90% of where I’d like to be and it’s just taking a long time to progress any further. The progress is mostly showing on the stairs…going up is a lot faster although not exactly the smoothest movement. Going down is still slow but I think I am better than a couple months ago. My knee still gives way, sometimes several times a day and sometimes a lot less often. I’ve resolved to start doing squats again as that’s the one exercise I have been really bad about doing as they are quite difficult…so I have avoided them. Maybe it will be the key to reaching my goal…
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It was bound to happen
Yesterday marked the end of the second full month of our memberships at the local gym. It’s gone mostly well and even the occasional off-days didn’t put me off much. I’ve had to take time off the rower due to struggles in the past week or so with stamina and pace. I’m sure it will be fine later on. After taking it easy for a couple days I decided to go for the spin “class” in the fitness on demand room. It’s essentially a video class but with the fancy equipment. One of the spin bike positions has you leaning across the handlebars in “aero” position and at this point I got a sharp pain shooting down my arm from my shoulder. Stopping and starting again didn’t help so I avoided that position and made a couple other adaptations to the exercise and got through the class.
I must admit to getting anxious about heart issues as I recalled something like this as a symptom of heart attack. I decided I’d just take it easy through the rest of my exercise and see how things went. Later on I worked out that that the issue must be my shoulder because each time I moved my arms in certain positions I’d get the pain again. Also there’s a very tender spot on the shoulder which reminded me I’ve had repeated injuries to the shoulder over the past ten or fifteen years and most were never properly treated. I’m trying to get in to see my physio and see what I’ve done this time. Meanwhile I will stick with safer exercises like the treadmill and exercise bike so some healing can occur.
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Tired
The birthday went pretty well and now it’s already two days later in a flash. Â We’ll be doing this with Lego Lover before we know it. Unfortunately, Game Fanatic hasn’t felt that great since his birthday. I suspect a bit of that is post-birthday blues which usually affects him. But he seems to also have some sort of stomach bug or something and was feeling quite unwell today. He noted tonight this is the second time in less than a month that he’s been sick and that’s unusual for him.
The weekend seems to have disappeared so easily. I had so much I’d planned to do but didn’t get around to doing. But I did accomplish one big thing yesterday when I attacked Lego Lover’s Lego area, which is in the middle of our open plan house. I’d put this off for such a long time due to his protestations that he would clean it up and his concerns about my germs (due to having handled the dogs) . Dust and dog fur had collected around the puppy fence that surrounds it (to keep dogs out) and it was filthy and in terrible disarray. I was sweeping the carpet around it and couldn’t get everything up due to that fence and I snapped and got him out there to get it done…should have done that ages ago, really, but it’s so hard to know when to push and when not to push with someone like him. Anyway, it was a good thing and he is quite happy with the result. Everything is not clean but it looks tidy and once we do the same in his room, he can set about cleaning everything and organising it properly.
Meanwhile the Scientist cleared out a lot of the weedy winter grass from one side of the driveway and it looks so much better. Hopefully we can get the other side cleared out in the next few days as there is a green waste pickup coming up next week.
I went off this afternoon to buy a bubble tea from my favorite specialty shop and discovered they had a five dollar special lunch of vegetarian food on Sundays now. I skipped the fried rice and the white rice and chose the potatoes, curried lentils with spinach and some veggies that tasted sort of roasted or lightly stir fried. That was my favorite and it had lots of broccoli and carrots and other yummy stuff in it. I’d already ordered a Jasmine bubble tea, which topped off the meal quite nicely.
I think I perhaps overdid the exercise this afternoon. I tried out the 35 minute spin class and that was a good workout in itself. But then I added in half an hour of rowing and still had the dogs to walk when I got home…It was only my feet that hurt earlier but now my body just feels tired all over. I am booked to donate blood on Tuesday so I had planned to do a workout tomorrow so I can fit in my strength training before I have to take a couple days off from my usual routines. Â I now think my body just needs a rest tomorrow and I will just do much lower intensity workouts for a couple days after that. I still have tai chi class tomorrow night so will still get plenty of exercise anyway. I was pleased to record a slight weight drop this weekend and my neck, waist and hips measurements all went down this week.
Totally unrelated, I notice my category list on the WordPress dashboard shows none at the moment. Will have to investigate further tomorrow. For now it’s off to bed to truly rest my weary body.
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Fitness revisited
For the past couple of years, my fitness routines have waxed and waned a bit too regularly. To be honest, it has’t been quite the same since I knocked my knee on the steering column several years ago and disclocated my patella…I have been plagued with many injuries, mostly related to my knee. And now that knee is supposedly fixed…I say supposedly only because I don’t know 100% that it’s right…but I think it’s good to go aside from rebuilding some muscle that is keeping me from fully using it. I still struggle with steps quite a bit and still can’t run if I need to. I don’t really run except when chasing our dogs…but it would be nice to have that ability should a need arise.
Now that I have limited excuses not to exercise regularly, I should be able to get back on track and become fit again…and hopefully drop some weight in the process. Then I discovered a new gym was preparing to open, just 1km away…hard to beat that for a nearby gym. Foundation prices weren’t too bad when I finally did some investigations. Eventually I did join and somehow persuaded the Scientist to join with me. They finally opened last week and we dropped in the same day to get our keys (a 24 hour place). So far, it’s all been good. I’ve been every day except Monday which I have designated a day off as I’m doing tai chi that day. I’ve had some trouble with the elliptical cross trainer as my knee isn’t strong enough to handle it very easily. My knee kept bucking the first times I tried it out but I can now manage five minutes fairly comfortably with only occasional buckling. I’m hoping it’s the key to building up some of that strength. I’ve mainly only worked on the cardio equipment so far but will add in other equipment as I become more fit and able…also after I’ve seen my physio once more.
I will still be walking the dogs most days but for shorter periods of time. This will be useful when the hot weather comes and they aren’t up for the longer walks I tend to do. I will probably do regular updates on my progress over the next year or so.