More to the point...

[eregyrn]

Tonight I actually *WENT* to the gym.

Fact: the gym is absolutely DEAD around 5pm on a Saturday night. I guess that's to be expected.

Anyway... I really liked it! Except for the part where my iPod wasn't actually charged, so I couldn't use it. :P I'm going to have to figure out a solution for charging it up at work or something. Meh. (I never notice my iPod's charge because 99.9% of the time I only use my iPod in my car, where it's always plugged in. But apparently it doesn't charge as it plays. Or -- horrors! -- maybe my old iPod is coming to the end of its useful life. That would be... very bad. I don't want to have to replace it right at this moment...)

Tonight was mostly about futzing around on the various pieces of equipment, figuring out what they do and if I like them. I'm still trying to figure out if the thing that I tried was actually supposed to be a ski machine or was instead some kind of other steppy-climby thing. (Ask? Are you crazy? ... yeah, next time maybe I'll find someone to ask...) Bikes: good. Treadmill: good. Steppy-climby thing: good. Rowing machine: pretty good, although I wish it had *more* resistance to it. Torso-rotation nautilus machine: good.

Will be interesting to see what other times, like weekday evenings, are like.

Hmm. I need some kind of icon that conveys "I am mighty!"


(ETA: the "steppy-climby things" are apparently elliptical trainers. Okay. I'll have to ask if they have actual ski machines, which I think I would also like.)

Comments

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Rowing machine: pretty good, although I wish it had *more* resistance to it.

I know a lot of those are adjustable, for what it's worth.

Anyway, go you! I've been thinking I need to take the plunge, for the winter at least, because otherwise there will be No Aerobic Exercise At All for me until about April and that's no good. I don't wanna, though. There are people there. They'll look at me.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Well, it helps that it was so damn empty, but... I was actually able to pretend pretty well that the people *weren't* looking at me, or if they were, were doing so incuriously. It also helps that practically everybody has headphones on and is all zoned out. Plus? The fact that the majority of the equipment has individual tv screens means you can be pretty sure that's what people are looking at.

I had the wheel thingie on the rowing machine turned up as high as it would go, in the end. I think what puzzled me was that the seat had no resistance to it at all.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

If you were on the piece of equipment I'm thinking of, the seat shouldn't have resistance, it should let you glide smoothly. The resistance should be coming from the rowing arms.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm just thinking that in trying to replicate the actual rowing environment, it would help if the seat had a little resistance too. This one doesn't have rowing arms, per se. It has a single cord with handlebars -- not unlike the grip for waterskiis.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

iPod batteries do lose the ability to charge after a certain number of charge cycles -- but the good news is that you can get battery replacement kits for cheap. I replaced the battery in my ancient (2G) 20GB iPod and the new battery is higher capacity and has more charge than the old one ever did.

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

Huh! Yeah, I'd never looked into that. I had the 1G iPod and it eventually just froze up on me in a way that made me get a new 3G one. But at the moment, *knock wood*, the 3G's only problem seems to be the battery charge. I'm intrigued now by this replacement kit. I'll definitely look into that. (I mean, what's the worst that can happen? And I bet Len would love the chance to help me crack an iPod open.) For the moment, I do have an external battery thingie that I can deploy (I bought it for the super-long plane ride to NZ; it's the kind of thing that takes 2 AA batteries. I just didn't think to bring it along tonight.)

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Argh, I wish I lived near you, because I'd love to go to the gym with you! I used to go regularly a few years back- I even had a trainer and everything.

I don't know about the gym you joined, but I'd recommend getting a trainer for one or two sessions to explain the equipment and show you how to do things properly. I was really worried about hurting myself (I already have a bad back) and found that I really liked my trainers.

[cofax7]

Trainers are good, and they see so many people with different needs that I think they are very nonjudgmental about your fitness level.

As for the other folks in the gym, well, I'm very thankful for my iPod and the ability to ignore people. Except my gym membership is a job perk, and so it's very weird to see the division chief all sweaty after a spinning class... yikes. (Esp. since I wear pretty skimpy tops when I'm working out, because they're cooler and now I feel weird because coworkers might see me! yikes!)

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

You are mighty. And I should have been on my ski machine. Instead I went out to dinner with a few people I know (and at one of their houses) and some folks I didn't. Arrived home a few minutes ago to be seriously crabwalked by a cat who didn't get the change in the schedule at all.

Anyway, sorry to natter on. What I really should say is that I continue to be impressed by your fortitude. And ski machines are fun I think. *hugs*

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

Go, You!

Also: definitely schedule at least one appointment with a trainer. The gym should have given you at least one free one. It's important that they check your form, or at least give you tips. If you're afraid of too much criticism, or them setting up a program for you that you're not ready for, don't worry, they never do that on the free session, if you show even the slightest irritation. They're too eager not to alienate you from the trainer experience, since they're trying to sell personal training sessions like their livelihoods depend on it.

As for the rowing machine, yeah, I always set the resistance up to ten, until I really started using it for a good length of time (20 min or more), and with the right form. Then it started dropping, or I didn't make it!

When the ellipticals came into my gym, the nordic skiing machines went out. I'm still sad: I miss having had them when I go out cross-country skiing. But better for your knees, blah blah blah...

Finally, as for getting watched by anyone else? It's hard feeling to get over. But even in the cattiest, prettiest gay-filled gym I ever got up the courage to go to, nobody was ever anything but helpful, even when I had to take turns on a machine with some pumped pretty boy and his posse of giggling admirers. Mind you, I haven't been back there in a while, but that's mostly because the locker room was too uncomfortable, in that I had a hard time not getting caught checking these guys out. *I* still feel like I'm not quite worthy, but they never did.

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I need some kind of icon that conveys "I am mighty!"

You know, I'm realizing my Bill S. Brickman icon, which I always use for my jock-like activities, is only jock-like in the smarts and dress department. He's not the icon for mightiness.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

Here you go, I made this for you: