Gymiversary
Dec. 5th, 2011 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livI 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 findingjennett'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 frommathcathy, 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 forJesus' 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?
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
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-15 11:13 am (UTC)Also, this is painfully reminding me how I need to actually go climb more.