Monday, Monday...

Here is another dose of triviality regarding my recent acquisition of a Planet Fitness gym membership.

Since Friday's foray with the weight machines, I have been in a state of over-all soreness.  I thought it might dissipate over the course of a day or so, but this morning (Monday) is the first time that I am not feeling pain.  That is good, because I have an "upper body" training session scheduled for 6am tomorrow, and I was getting worried that I might have injured myself.

I have managed to go to the gym every day since I joined.  I am trying to establish a habit, and deviation from the behavior might derail my efforts.  I got up Saturday and went, then spent the rest of the day in Lafitte at a birthday party gorging on snacks, then went again when we got back to Gulfport.  I don't think that there is any amount of cardio that can work off all that junk.  It was also my first trip with Nikki, which was nice.  However, it is also good that we are each establishing a habit of going without the other.  No need for more co-dependance.  I thought Sunday might be a bust, but then we went in the evening and did another hour of cardio.

PF offers free training sessions, which are primarily introductions to the equipment. They are scheduled classes with up to 4 students, and you must sign up ahead of time. We signed up for the 1st one this morning at 6am, and Nikki was not impressed with having to get up that early.  We were introduced to all of the cardio equipment, and we did about 10 minutes of actual exercise.  The girl wants us to use the treadmill at 15.0 incline at all times, only varying the speed for intensity.  I found that to be a bit on the insane side.  She did not demonstrate how all of the Life Fitness equipment could intelligently alter the intensity of your workout to keep you within the desired heart rate.  I have been using that for the past several days, and I find that I can go on a machine for any length of time, just watching TV or listening to music, and whenever I look, I am still within the correct range.  This is a very good feature, to me, and I think it would be worth showing to new users.  Oh well...  I just went and found the manuals online at the LF website and read how it all worked.  Very nice.

We went ahead and signed up for the upper body class for tomorrow at 6am (Nikki actually chose this.) and the lower body class Wednesday at 1pm.  I will get to find out what the correct weight levels are for me, and maybe not cause myself to be in so much soreness for so long.

Dark and Early

I woke up at 4:30 am, excited about going to the gym.  I didn't plan to get up then, but that is when I awoke.  I tried to go back to sleep for another hour with moderate success.  Finally, I get up and pull on some exercise clothes, push my hair around, and brush my teeth.  It feels weird to leave the house on a weekday without the full complement of morning rituals.  I guess this will become the ritual.

I tried out the upper-body machines for the first time.  Not too bad, but I need some instruction on what is an appropriate weight for me, how much to do, etc.  I made a best guess this morning, and chose weight limits that I could handle for 3 sets of 8.  The weights are hidden in an opaque barrier, so I didn't have to experience any shame for how much weight I was using.

After the upper-body was done, I did 15 minutes on a recumbant bike.  I love gadgets anyway, so I was just so impressed with how it reacted to my heart rate to control the intensity and keep me in the recommended zone.  It was fun!  However, sweat and headphones don't work for me.  I need to find a way to keep the headphones in/on my ears.  I have the kind with ear loops, but it is not working... probably too cheap, because the loops are not adjustable.

I checked out the shower situation, and at that point I experienced a wave of anxiety.  Yes, the showers are enclosed, but there is no private changing area.  I just don't know that I can display all of this to the world just yet...  so I went home and showered, feeling vaguely nausiated.

Shower anxiety aside, I had a good morning.  I feel great at this moment (a bit rubbery, but good).  I have no doubt that the time will come (sooner than later) when I do not want to get up and go to the gym.  Cross that bridge when I get there...

Newbie

Okay, so I went to PF this evening.  I was a bit overwhelmed, and did not know where to start.  Monday morning I will be attending their "Create your own plan" training session.  Perhaps then I will have a clue.  Today, I stuck to what I know.  I just jumped on the treadmill, and watched TV. 

Now, compared to my treadmill at home, this was a thousand times better.  Very stable, no shaking, no noise really.  Nice programmable settings that I have no idea how to work.  I just set the speed and went.  All walking for now.. no jogging just yet.  More anxiety of looking dumb than lack of ability.  I will cross that bridge at some point, though.

The way I felt was great.  First off, let me say that there was such an ecclectic mix there.  Old and young, fat and thin.  No one appeared to notice me as out of place in any way.  That was great.  I was worried that I might do something stupid like stumble on the treadmill, but no, that was the guy next to me who was jogging with a very.. odd.. gait.   I can't really say more than that.  I didn't want to be rude and watch what he was doing - but in my periphery, it sure looked abnormal.  I switched from TV to music on the private sound system, and was adjusting the speed so that I could walk to the beat of the music.  It was really the most fun I have had in quite some time.

Also, I really felt like I was doing something great for myself, and I think I might have been a bit euphoric.  After about an hour, I started to think I might need to get off the treadmill.  I hit the "cool down" button and let it slow me down.  I did feel a little dumb walking .5 mph for the last minute.  Later on I discovered that I had gifted myself with two small blisters, one on each foot.  Oh well, live and learn.  I probably need to limit my treadmill time until my feet get a bit tougher.  I wonder if the eliptical machines give you blisters, too? Hmm...

Tomorrow morning, I am going to take a completely untrained stab at using the upper-body machines.  We will have to see how that goes.  I am having anxiety about my weak-ass self working out with the lowest weight available.  Well no, not really, but I do think that I will be doing some experimenting to find out how much I should be using.  I am looking forward to Monday morning's session.  I think that then I will feel a bit more knowledgable.

Finally, since I was going straight home, I did not bother braving the shower room.  That is a whole other post just waiting to happen. 

One more thing.  Though I have already lost 55 lbs, and so am very well into my "weight loss journey", I think I am going to start taking a daily picture of myself and do one of those cool time-lapse videos as I continue to lose.  I still have 100 lbs to go, so it should be fun if I can manage it.  Everyone will be able to watch me deflate like a baloon.

Signed up

Okay, so we joined Planet Fitness today during lunch break.  Nikki decided to go ahead and start using it immediately, with Jackie in tow as her "guest".  I have not yet heard back on their opinion thereof.  NEWSFLASH - As I type, a text message came in saying that they just finished.  The word used was "awesome".

I am a little excited and fairly nervous.  I have never been a physical guy, and though I have been walking a lot for the past year or so, I really have never handled weights before.  I don't really know what I am doing.  I have some shame feelings about how weak I am, and people will see how little weight I put on the machines... but that is why I am going, right?

They have scheduled 1 hours classes once or twice daily where they help you establish a good routine for you based on your fitness goals.  I have not decided when I will be doing this.  At this point, my goals are simple.  Lose weight.  Improve strength.  Feel better.  We will build from here.

Here we go again

I am going to give blogging another shot...

To recap:
Weightloss is a big topic for me. I got up to about 320 lbs, but I am now in the 260's. Yay me. Unfortunately, I have been in the 260's for about a year now. I need to change something.


So, I've decided to quit Weight Watchers (for now), and join a gym. They just opened a Planet Fitness all of 2 miles from my office, and the price is very nice. ($10 per month). They seem to cater to those who are afraid of going to gyms (because of all the extremely in shape people who will look at you like "Who's the fat guy?", or at least, that is what we fat guys tell ourselves). They are open 24/7, though they do not allow children under 13 inside. I wonder if they check birth certificates? Chip looks almost like 13, though he is only 10. Not particularly big, just tall. Head and shoulders over his classmates.

But I digress...

Nikki and I went to visit the gym today at lunch, and it looked very nice. The guy who walked us around was kind enough to ignore the fact that I had just had a fight with some yogurt and was walking around with pink splotches all over my shirt. That alone says that they are commited to their "No Judgement" slogan.

We will see how this goes...