The Healthy Tales

Posts Tagged ‘gym’

So last week I totally slacked off. After going to see my doctor and telling her about how I was starting the Couch to 5K program to get back into shape as well as to give myself something to drag myself out of the house and into the gym, I totally whiffed and didn’t make it to the gym once.

So after a week of missing the gym and ordering in at work for an entire week (bleh!), I went back Friday night with Mike and finished week 1 of the couch to 5k program. Just like the previous 2 sessions, it was easy going for the first 2 intervals and then it got harder. I did push through and finish but after taking a week off, I think I am going to do one more week 1 session before jumping into week 2. I think I owe it to my body especially since I went back to the gym yesterday and lifted weights for the first time in what feels like forever. It was definitely a shocker in how out of shape I got so quickly. I learned though and will not be letting this happen again.

Good grief! I will admit that for the past month I have been fairly lazy. I think in the month of September I went to the gym all of 3 times which is translated to be approximately 10%. There was no real good reason I skipped the gym other than I was being lazy and had absolutely no drive to go.

I didn’t think skipping for a month would be a big deal. I mean look at this past summer, I skipped most of July due to the wedding and then exercised off and on between January and June. Each time I picked myself back up and went to the gym, it was fairly easy to get into the swing of things and there was no revolution from my body. Rather, everything felt good, the stress was going away, and I felt re-energized.

This time around has been a whole ‘nother story as I like to say. I am tense, achy, and quite tired these past two days from exercising. I thought possibly that I just overdid things yesterday by spending an hour on the elliptical machine after taking the month off so I turned things down a small notch tonight – 35 minutes on the treadmill. I hate to say but I’m still not feeling much better about this whole exercise thing. I’m hoping that once I start lifting weights and take some of the focus away from cardio workouts that I’ll start feeling better and re-energized.

I think I’m going to pop an IB Profin and then take a warm bath so I can rest up and do it all over again tomorrow. The results are worth it, it is just a battle to get there!

I realize I’ve been a tad lazy around here.  Ooops!  I keep finding ideas on things to write about and then midnight hits and it is time to go to bed and I haven’t even started a draft.  Tonight though I am up because my feet are killing me.  I went to a friend of mine’s wedding on Saturday and my friend who was driving decided to park in a garage that wasn’t as close to the church as we originally thought.  I can’t remember how many blocks we actually walked but it seemed to be at least 8 city blocks in my 3.5 inch brand new heels with absolutely no padding on the soles.  Talk about some painful and huge blisters.  I am so glad I brought a pair of gladiator sandals with padding along for the ride as I was able to slip into them between the ceremony and the reception.

So why the ouch?  Well, last night Mike and I went to the gym and I did a session of light weights and a little cardio on the eliptical machine.  I thought my feet were in better shape so I decided tonight to jump onto the treadmill for 50 minutes – 25 running, 25 walking – and by the time I got off I think I reaggrevated the blisters on the balls of my feet.  Ouch!  I hope the light pain goes away by morning and I can just go back to light weights and some light cardio on the eliptical tomorrow night.  I need my gym time and these blisters are in my way! LOL.

Well this weekend was my first weekend back to the gym in a long while.  I will say it was difficult but I thoroughly enjoyed my workouts on Saturday and Sunday.  I decided to take it slowly but to work out longer and to try and change up what I was doing.  I finally went back to doing some weights and had to decrease my weights from last fall but it turned out to be well and boy am I feeling it today and it is great.  I also added in a little running on the treadmill.  Today, I went to the Houston Zoo for a nice brisk walk and then back to the gym for a cardio session.   I won’t be able to hit the gym again until Friday so I am hoping to do some Wii Fit this week to keep up the exercising.

So a few tips if you are trying to return to the gym or get started:

1. Start slow!  You don’t have to do everything at once or in one trip.
2. Modify your weights and intensity level for cardio workouts.  It is ok to start “light” or exercise for a short period of time.
3. Make sure to drink water and breathe as you exercise.
4. Listen to your body.  It will tell you when to throw in the towel and when you can keep pushing for another 5 minutes or 10 minutes.
5. Bring a snack.  Yeah it sounds silly but eating a luna/pria bar halfway through my workout or some nuts helps me recharge and go another half hour or so.