The gym I joined does "personal training". They set you up with a trainer and they assess where you're at now, and what your goals, etc. are. There's three initial consultations, and then you meet with them, usually once a month to weight/measure and re-evaluate your routine to see what needs to be changed to get the most out of your workouts. Today was my first appointment, and there were good things and bad things.
The worst is that I've regained most of my previous back over the course of the past couple of moths. I'm only three pounds under my heaviest recorded weight. The good part of that is at least I'm not ALL the way back up!
This session focused on the appropriate cardio routine for me. I told Brittany that at some point in my life I'd like to become a runner. And she shared her story about how she went from barely being able to do a mile to running marathons. (I think she's always been skinny, but it just goes to show I guess that skinny doesn't always mean fit!) She definitely isn't pushing endless hours on the treadmill just because I said that I wanted to learn to run in the future. She recommended a treadmill, elliptical, and ARC trainer, and the thing she stressed the most, was not that one machine was better than the other, but the type of exercise I did on them.
The quick start and manual buttons are now off limits in my life. My new friends are hill, interval or random. Whichever the particular machine I'm on labels it.
We talked about what heart rate zone I should be working out at, as well. Right now I'm supposed to be focusing on the "fat burning zone". Which for me is between 140-160. So I got my happy tail on the treadmill after our consult, and did the random setting on level two, at 2.5, at first but my heart rate was only just kissing 140, so I bumped the speed up to 2.8 and that got me into the low 150's. Even when the harder hills popped up, I certainly wasn't dying the way I'm used to when I go work out. I'm used to dripping, huffing, puffing and walking out wobbly-kneed. So I suppose what I've learned is that I possibly have worked out too hard in the past. I can see the logic behind this. Work on getting some of this weight off and build up to the harder, cardio building zones. I do know that the past couple of weeks when I've checked my heart rate on the elliptical it usually hovers just around 180 when I'm really banging it out on that thing. It's definitely something I want to read up on and learn more about, but it was totally weird to walk out of the gym and not be drenched.
I think for now I'm going to just relax and trust the process. The next weigh in will tell the tale.
So in light of getting all set up at the gym today, I reset all my little SparkStreaks on SparkPeople, and gone in and readjusted my current weight loss goal to reflect my new commitment to myself. My first short term goal is 10%. Once I get there, I'll see where I want to go next. I could always just keep trying to go down by 10%, but we'll see when we get to the first.one.
I'm just trying not to psych myself out for now. A day, an hour, a decision at a time. Wish me luck!
I am forever trying to figure out the heart rate thing. When I run it's usually 140s to 150s, but it's very hard for me to get and keep it above 140 on the elliptical. I just go by breathing and try to do the whole, "I can talk, but not easily." I think it's good you are watching that, and not overdoing it, which leads to overly sore muscles and burnout. I also always do random or interval sessions, I never leave it on the flat, easy setting. You can totally become a runner...if I can, you can! It will take time, but I believe if you keep with it you will be running. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteThat is truly what it is all about. There is no end game here. It is one day, one meal, one decision at a time. You can do this. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, you need a follower button so people can stalk you ;) I enjoy reading about your journey