Gymiversary

[liv]

I made it, people. I went to the gym twice a week for a whole year. I'm a little discouraged by the thought that I have to keep doing this for the rest of my life, but on the whole I'm quite proud of myself. I've only missed weeks when I've been on holiday, that is away from home for a week or more, not because I didn't feel like going to the gym. And I can do things that I couldn't even have thought about doing a year ago, which is also really pleasing.

A year ago, I could just about manage 10 minutes of brisk walking on a level surface on the treadmill, while holding on to the front of the machine. Now I'm up to 30 minutes of moderately tough cardio. I still can't run, basically at all; I think this is part of what led me to think that I simply can't do exercise, because I assumed that running was the easiest kind of exercise available and I just can't do it. I'm finding jennett's theory that it's about the angle of your chest restricting affecting asthma more and more plausible. And even sticking to power-walking, I find the treadmill much harder than any of the other exercise machines, even when they use the same number of calories or when the instructors say that the exercise is equivalent. Anyway at the moment my routine is any two out of things like: 15 minutes of intervals on the rowing machine on a medium setting, or 15 minutes on the cross-trainer with variable difficulty, or 15 minutes intervals on the exercise bike, or (just about!) 15 minutes power walking up a medium steep hill on the treadmill without holding on.

A few months in, the trainer started me on some weights as well. I enjoy the weights more than the cardio machines, partly because it's more varied and therefore less boring, and partly because the physical discomfort of using my muscles to their limit is far less than the discomfort of being hot and sweaty and out of breath for 15 minutes at a time. But mainly because there I'm making a lot faster tangible progress. Every time I get a new weights exercise, it's hard the first time, doable the second or third time, and by the fourth or fifth time I'm ready to increase the weights or the number of reps, and quite soon both. I find that really satisfying!

I think I'm more fit in general life. It's really hard to be sure I'm not just kidding myself, partly because of the not being able to run thing. Partly because my "fitness" in the sense of being able to sustain exercise is really variable depending on things like the temperature and humidity, and whether I have a full-blown cold or just a sniffle (I'm rarely completely free of cold, and in the summer or very cold dry weather rarely completely free of asthma.) But on a good day I can dance two or three consecutive energetic dances at a ceilidh, and when I'm out walking I no longer find uphill stretches completely miserable, so I think I'm getting there.

My body hasn't changed at all. I weigh exactly the same as I did a year ago, which doesn't surprise me since I wasn't even trying to lose weight. But it seems to be a common belief that doing exercise magically makes you thin and beautiful, so I was somewhat prepared to be wrong in my views of this. And no, I haven't stayed the same weight by losing fat and gaining muscle; my clothes fit exactly the same as they always did. The only perceptible difference is that my upper arms are visibly muscly; I can no longer wear tight / fitted sleeves! (Of course, a believer in the prettiness magic could always claim that I'm not doing enough exercise to get the karmic rewards, or that exercise only "works" if you also follow a reducing diet, so my observations aren't very convincing.)

Anyway, I admit I'm somewhat proud of myself for sticking to my resolution to complete at least a hundred full workouts in the course of a year. But I'm also very acutely aware of how many favourable circumstances had to stack up for that to happen. Which means I'm even more annoyed by smug people going on about how fat or unhealthy people should "just" get up of the couch and move about more.

It made such a difference to me to join a gym rather than just trying to exercise on my own. It meant that I had a whole range of different equipment so was less likely to get bored. Getting myself to the gym meant I had no excuse not to exercise, whereas at home there are always more fun and more urgent things to do! Being able to exercise in any weather makes a big difference too. And the fact that gym membership includes both one-on-one training sessions and classes really helped, because otherwise I would have had no idea how to do exercise. I mean, I could have looked stuff up on the internet, but there's an awful lot of dangerously bad information on the internet, and much of the rest is directed at weight loss rather than cardiac health. Plus it's a lot harder to carry out movements and use machines correctly if you don't have an actual live person to show you.

But in order to get all the advantages of the gym, I needed a decent gym in a convenient location. I probably could have managed it if I had to rely on walking and public transport, rather than getting lifts from mathcathy, but it would have been a lot more hassle, plus the factor of having to get to the gym on my own in the dark. I don't mind that, particularly, but a lot of people, particularly a lot of women, would have a legitimate problem with that. And if I lived in a dodgier area than I do, I would probably be unable to use that option myself. In particular I needed quite a lot of disposable income; all-inclusive membership at a moderately classy gym cost me £500 for the year, and it would have been more if I had needed to pay in monthly installments instead of the whole lot up front. There are cheaper gyms, yes, but they have fewer facilities and you have to pay extra for instruction. I can certainly assure you that if I had to choose between a gym subscription and a broadband subscription, internet access would win hands down. If I had to choose between a gym subscription and covering food and shelter and necessities each month, well, that's not exactly a choice, is it?

I think it's unlikely I would have stuck it out for a year exercising at home or doing something like running / cycling outdoors. You can always suppose that were I a more morally upright person, though, I would have had the willpower to do that even if I didn't have the money to make life easier for myself. Thing is, I needed more than just willpower to keep up with the exercise for a year. I needed to have time to do it; as it is I slightly resent giving up two or three evenings a week for something that's merely good for me, but doesn't bring me any pleasure, but at least I have spare evenings. Anyone working more than one job, which even in this supposedly enlightened society includes the majority of women, just wouldn't be able to do this.

Another big thing is that I had so many of you encouraging and supporting me and keeping me going when I was getting stressed about it. Not everybody has the benefit of an online community of supportive friends, much less people who are willing to respect my wishes not to make this about weight loss. And that's another huge, and unusual, advantage I have. I'm not self-conscious about my body, I'm not worried that people will mock me for exercising while fat. And the fact that I wasn't trying to lose weight made it a lot less discouraging. I didn't feel like giving up every time the scales showed a bigger number or a slower rate of decrease. I didn't have to deal with hunger or self-hatred while I was trying to establish this habit. And there are lots of unusual circumstances in my life that put me in this very fortunate position. It's particularly ironic that the crowds of people who are always willing to berate someone for being fat, lazy, disgusting, unhealthy etc are probably making it considerably harder for them to establish an exercise programme!

Of course, the main huge advantage I had was a truly excellent gym buddy, mathcathy. Since she never once called me to say she was too busy or too tired or just couldn't be bothered to exercise, I never dared call her to cancel (other than a couple of occasions where I had a genuine good reason.) Having an awesome partner isn't particularly dependent on having plenty of money, time or confidence, but it is a huge piece of good fortune and means I really can't take much of the credit for successfully keeping up with my routine for a year. Thank you ever so much, Cathy!

Anyway, I've been offered some exercise equipment for Jesus' my birthday. I think I probably want a set of weights rather than a machine, because I'm realistically a lot more likely to use them (and they'll take up less space if I don't!) My plan is to try to do the weights at home, if not every day then at least three or four times a week, meaning that when I'm in the gym I can use the whole 45 minutes for cardio and thus get fitter more quickly. I assume I can't go very far wrong with just buying a bunch of heavy things of different sizes, but is there anything I should know about acquiring a set of weights? Or do you have any better ideas for what I should ask for for a present?

Comments

[mathcathy]

Thank you.

I did, once, call because I was feeling tired to the point of unwell. It's nice to know that that wasn't memorable :)

[liv]

I think you've also cancelled a couple of times because you were stuck in traffic, but that really doesn't count. I think we've done pretty well at that thing you were talking about of making gym sessions a habit, not a decision that you have to keep making each time!

[redbird]

That helps a lot, I find.

[dpfesh]

Congrats!

I enjoyed going to the gym (mostly) when i had a membership - things that made it ok were very heavily leaning on the Awesome Workout Buddy, for sure. I also wasn't going as a weight thing, just more of a "moving is good for one's body, and i hate moving, so we should come up with a way to make me move more" (And watching yourself lift hunks of increasing weights is pretty awesometastic too).

Anyway! Extra congrats! it's hard to DO stuff sometimes :)

[liv]

Thank you, I really appreciate the support. Awesome buddies totally make all the difference, don't they? I'm making much more obviously noticeable progress with the weights than the cardio, but at least that helps to motivate me to get into the gym and once I'm there I'm doing the actual moving thing.

[purplecthulhu]

Go you!

I've only once been a member of a gym, when I lived in Germany. I wasn't that good at going, but what really messed me up was when they decided to close the gym and offer 'free membership' of alternative gyms, all a car journey away from where I lived, rather than a walk. I never found the gym work that stimulating, but then I never had a gym buddy.

Instead, exercising while doing something else, like brisk walks to work, about 30 minutes a day, walking up all tube escalators and, when it's not too cold, wet and dark outside (yes, I am a wimp), cycling to work. But I'm not sure someone with asthma could do these.

Good luck for your next gymniversary!

[liv]

Yay, thank you. I did join a gym at work when I was in Sweden; in typical Swedish fashion, it was just assumed that the employer benefits from having healthy employees, so the university provided gym facilities (you could also get free light therapy or massage sessions). Colleagues would sometimes get a group together and head to the gym at lunchtime, never a regular thing but it was easy enough to say yes when someone suggested it. The gym also provided classes, which was somewhat less boring than just spending half an hour on the machines. That worked quite well for a while, but then they introduced some slightly complicated bureaucracy around employees of one bit of the institute using the gym in another bit, and that was enough of a barrier to put me off. If I'd had to travel to the gym that would definitely have been too much hassle.

I definitely wanted to combine exercise with stuff I was doing anyway, such as commuting. Partly this didn't work because I couldn't motivate myself to go out in bad weather for brisk walking or cycling, but also it didn't work because moving fast in cold air sets off asthma. I hoped this would get better once my base level of fitness had improved a bit. But so far that hasn't really worked; I'm sticking to indoor exercise, which is annoying because it means I have to set aside specific time for it, but at least I actually do it.

[vatine]

Annoyingly, I have failed to keep up with the summer's "try to use the gym at least once a week". I guess if I shift to try to use it in the evening instead of before work, that may work a bit better.

Thanks, liv!

[liv]

Yeah, I totally couldn't have done the before work thing on my own. Staying in bed / in my nice warm house is always always going to be more enticing than going to the gym! At least in the evening you're already out and about, so there's much less inertia.

[katieastrophe]

I'd like to know about acquiring weights as well...

[monanotlisa]

Well done. :)

I'm impressed

[redbird]

You're doing a lot, and the differences in how much you can dance and how comfortable you are walking speak for themselves. That is fitness: the ability to do physical things, not to be a certain shape or clothing size.

I don't think I've gotten to the gym 100 times in the past 365 days (ideally I'd have managed slightly over that, because my goal is twice a week, but it doesn't always work, for reasons of health or travel).

[liv]

Thanks for the encouragement, it really helps to have positive comments like this! Especially from people who are actually good at this exercise business.

In terms of whether I'm actually getting fitter, it seems likely that I am. But I'm also scared that I'm fooling myself, or else just training myself to be able to do these specific exercises rather than improving my general fitness. I mean, I'm doing something regularly which gives me immediate physiological feedback, which has a mechanism of action I find convincing and is generally accepted by society. That's the level of placebo effect that's effective in cancer; maybe the only difference I've made is giving myself a reason to believe I ought to be able to dance and walk up hills.

The fact I'm still fat isn't an issue at all, but I was really hoping that once I started going to the gym regularly I'd be able to jog or at least powerwalk the half mile uphill from my house to the bus stop. And I still can't, I can't really put on any speed at all without getting out of breath. There's lots of possible reasons for that, though.

[rmc28]

Well done! I'm glad you are seeing some tangible benefits too.

As for "fat people should just exercise more" I think I may have mentioned that I get no attention when I'm "just walking" around in office clothes on my commute, even though I walk quite fast. But powerwalking a bit faster along the same routes in gym shorts and a tshirt got me honks and rude gestures out of passing cars. (Not that I have done powerwalking for 18 months, oops.)

[liv]

Grr, people who are rude to random strangers like that make me really angry. I am lucky that I haven't had too much of that kind of awfulness; I'm fat enough for doctors to suck in their breath and start doing "health promotion" at me at the slightest provocation, but I don't appear to have the kind of body that offends total strangers. But it makes me grumpy that people are so rubbish; keeping up with exercise is hard enough anyway, without some boors giving you a hard time!

[naath]

Yay for getting to your goal! Yay for improved fitness!

Other points:

*running is damn hard; even though I'm getting moderately good at it it is still damn hard and I don't have asthma or anything to give me an excuse for being bad at it. Other cardio is just as good for your general fitness (but it won't magically make you good at running, because you don't get used to the motion and muscle impact of running). Running is also really tough on the knees.

*weight loss through exercise; I did. But I was simultaneously very careful to not eat more food "because I just worked out" which may not be a very health approach. Also my routine is more like an hour's running 5 times a week than 30mins cardio twice a week. Also Also VERY IMPORTANT bodies just react differently to these things, assuming all bodies are going to react the same way to the same diet/exercise plan would be very very silly indeed. Weight loss is over-rated and costs lots of money (ugh, clothes shopping) anyway.

*Practical difficulties of Getting Exercise - oh yes INDEED. I'm spending more than 50pounds/month on a gym membership and spend upwards of 2hours most days on exercising and attendant faff (get to gym, change, shower, get home, etc) not to mention money spent on clothes and shoes and the hardship of 8am starts on Saturdays. This is not cheap either in terms of money or in terms of my time; assuming that "everyone" has this money or time would be ludicrous.

*I'd love to do more weight training... but I lack time and knowledge (wah waily waily etc).

[liv]

OK, that's reassuring, that running is not something everybody should be able to do as long as they're reasonably fit. That makes me feel a lot better about being so hopeless about it.

I didn't realize you were doing that much serious running, wow. But as you say, that much running plus regular gym is a lot more than "just get up off the couch and move around a bit". One thing about starting out on this fitness plan is that it's led to me discovering that my friends are all kinds of awesome in ways I'd never realized!

[naath]

I'm all "RAR running" at the moment. It's weird because it's one of those things where being "kinda OK" is rare and makes people go "WOW" but on the other hand once you get to "kinda OK" you are seeing all sorts of people do STUNNING WELL so you think "huh, I suck" a lot. Or at least I do. (like, I can run 5k, so I WIN but on the other hand I do it in twice the time that people who win races in do so I FAIL but obviously I can't be super-fab at everything).

[jack]

*hugs* By the way, I'm really impressed and pleased you are keeping it up. Go you!

[verazea]

Go you! :)

Also, this is painfully reminding me how I need to actually go climb more.