5 posts tagged “gym”

Did I say I was over it? I lied. I just read Blu's blog. I wish I was there.

Nice pics. Why are some people so photogenic? It's not fair. We had a pro photographer to take some pics for some project a few of my work mates were working on. None of mine turned out ok and weren't used (I am not complaining, really). And then there was the pics from the Christmas party.. don't even get me started on those. Over the cubicle in work the next day I heard from Ben "Oh look! There's a photo of Cariad where she isn't making some strange gesture or looking away or blinking. Wow!!'.. the bastard!

He's already made a joke about me in the staffroom. I was complaining that gym class was hard and I said that the first half had been combat style stuff and I was nearly dead after that. Quick as a flash he says "Yeah, 'cos punching the air is hard!" .. everyone nearly pissed themselves laughing. I'm gonna have to deal with that man..

The funny thing was he was actually being serious.. he said punching the air seemed to require more balance and stuff. He should have just kept his mouth shut and let everyone laugh at me.. I would have..

Well, had my first official gym class today. It's called Spin Cycle.. or Turbo Fit.. or something, I forget. Anyway, basically.. you sit on a bike and pedal for 50 minutes to loud beaty type music with the instructor periodically yelling "RACE!" which means go faster, or "EASY RIDING".. which is a misnomer because after 5 minutes, NO riding is easy, or "CLIMB!" which means you have to get your arse out of the saddle and pretend you're climbing a hill. In between all this yelling of position changes, he tells you to change the resistance on the bike and also the cadence (speed of pedaling).

By 15 minutes, I've stripped down to my short sleeve shirt which I've never stripped to before. I'm sweating like a pig and I'm all flushed in the cheeks, which I haven't been in a long long time. Not even when I'm doing the heart attack thing. I looked around the room, there was a buffed looking guy (not cute) beside me, a woman that look like Seven of Nine from Star Trek, two older woman, Raelene from the school of computing admin department, Leigh who is a computing postgrad and another older woman. Plus the instructor and another guy up the front and Dylan on my right (he was positioned next to the fan - the bastard!). As I looked around the room I realised I was categorically being out pedalled by everyone in the class but specifically by women who were 20-30 years older than me. *sigh*

By the time 30 minutes had elapsed, whenever he said "Ok, turn the resistance up!".. I wanted to bash his head into the handle bars and I flat out refused to up the resistance. I thought I was being a rebel until I realised that only 3 people in the entire class actually turned up the resistance when he said. Another *sigh* moment.

It was around that time that my seat started to become a little uncomfortable. Bike saddle HURT, people! They are nasty evil things that hurt you. I started waiting for the CLIMB! bits so I could get out of the saddle.

By 40 minutes my head had dropped and I was just surviving. Strangely, at the start he kept saying "2 more minutes of this... 30 seconds... 10... " which I found annoying but towards the end he stopped saying that which I found worse as I felt I needed to know how long the torture would continue.

We finished up and I nearly fell of the bike as I put my foot down and my knee gave way. I managed to carry it off though I think by pretending my shoe had caught in the straps. ;)

We headed down stairs and my knees protested again and after asking Dylan if there was a lift we could take (he was most unhelpful and just laughed) I considered whether or not it would be easier to stand on the top step and throw myself towards the bottom step. I mean, I was probably going to fall down them when my knees gave way anyway so why not just save myself the trouble. Plus I'd get to the bottom quicker.

The girl at reception gave me a smile as I walked by and asked me if I enjoyed it. I think I might have upset her when I said "Yeah, if you find medieval torture fun".. as she looked downcast and muttered something about finding the benefits of it (spin cycle, not medieval torture, I presume). I felt bad because she's always been so lovely to me, always has this big grin when I see her and even gave me a few rowing tips so that I can beat Dylan too. She rowed for 12 years apparently, talk about insider info! I'll make it up to her by saying the right thing next time. You can't bitch in front of these Happy-Go-Lucky people. *sigh*

I hobbled into the change room and was confronted with the group of women from Turbo Wash. Someone asked me how I went and I said not too bad for my first go. One of the women seemed surprised it was my first time and gave me a few tips about positioning myself on the bike. Our lockers were next to each other and she kept talking as she changed. Now, I'm not sure I'm what I'd class as a prudish person but suddenly she was down to her bra which she whipped off in a flash. She seemed utterly comfortable with this. It's not that I felt uncomfortable, or that I had to stop myself from staring or conspiciously avert my eyes. It's just a new experience for me. I've never had semi-naked women standing next to me deep in conversation with me before. She put her shirt back on and asked me if I was coming back next week. I said I was booked in but wasn't sure. She said I should come back as it's a wonderful calorie burner. Then she turned to another woman and said "Not that she needs it, there's nothing of her!" What a sweetie! She said I should come back next week but be kind to myself and forget about the resistance crap. She told me that she'd noticed I got really tired towards the end as my head had dropped. By the time she was fully dressed we were talking about her work and how her boss isn't in and she can get away with coming to the gym and being away from work for an hour and a half. We parted with pleasantries and I stupidly said "See you next week!" dammit! I felt like bashing my head against the wall.

I had a shower, got dressed (in the cubicle) and left to find Dylan. I walked Dylan back to his friend's house where he left his car and headed home myself. By the time I got home I was craving a coffee and was really exhausted. And hungry! Every time I work out, I'm starving afterwards. Thankfully Dad had left pizza subs out that I polished off. Dylan said that Super Washcycle burns off the entire days worth of calories. Seems a little too good to be true if you ask me but no wonder I was hungry.

Work tomorrow. Yay! Maybe more gym, depending on my soreness and how badly I want to keep up in next week Washing Machine class.

My brother-in-law came back from the mainland yesterday bearing gifts. He brought me more RAM for the laptop, yay! And he showed off a new wireless mouse he bought, which I MUST have. We talked turkey about wireless routers too so hopefully, by the end of semester I should have a wireless internet connection for the laptop and can do some study in my room, rather than the dining room table where I'm stuck because of the current corded setup.

I went to the gym on Thursday and I'm only just recovering, I think I must be pulling muscles because I'm uncomfortably sore for a good 2-3 days after working out, which can't be right.  I found that I still have this ultra competitive streak too. Dylan and I were doing our cardio routine on the rowing machines on Thursday and as our machines were side-by-side I could see his display. He was about 20 metres ahead of me and I upped my tempo to catch up. I yanked the "oars" back really hard and caught up, but whacked myself in the stomach, which winded me and I couldn't continue.  He ended up beating me by about 500 metres, although, I kept going until he stopped. We then moved onto the bikes, which I tried to control myself on as the leg press machine had been loaded with 50kgs weights instead of my usual 25kgs weights (and I'd been too lazy to move them) so I was a little sore. I decided that I'd be better off just continuing for as long as Dylan did and not worry about how far he got or how fast he was going. I really need to get a grip on this competitive streak, it's like primary school and lunch time football matches all over again. I have nothing to prove and should only seek to better myself. It's kinda fun though. ;)

We have a week off now, as it's mid-semester break. It's a good chance for me to catch up on some extra school work. *sigh* Only 5 more weeks.. and it's all over. Yay!! Barring any exam accidents I graduate with a Bachelor of Computing. ... ... ... I am not a geek!

The saga of the locker continued today. On Friday, I went to the course coordinator to ask who I should speak to about getting one of the lockers in the student lounge of the School of Computing. She didn't realise there WERE lockers there to start off with and told me I should go see the helpdesk. I spoke to Rick at the Helpdesk, he told me he didn't know what was going on and come back on Tuesday and speak to Andrew. *sigh* .. Tuesday rolled around and I came back to speak to Andrew who promptly told me that they were controlled by Student Association and I'd have to see them.

I trekked up to the Student Resource Centre (Student Association) and spoke to the woman there. She didn't know they had lockers with the school either but after rifling through some paperwork she found us. I paid my fees, ignored her attempts to set me up with a mutual friend (ugh!) and was told that I'd need to supply my own padlock.

So I go have a look at my new locker to work out what size lock I'll need and find that I don't need a lock at all, I need a key to the lock already there! I traipse BACK to the Resouce Centre and tell the woman I need a key. She files through some drawers and empties a bag full of keys on the desk and asks "Maybe it's one of these!" .. I tried not to roll my eyes and took the key with my number on it. It fits thankfully and now I have somewhere to dump my gym gear during the day rather than carting it around with me and having my joggers leave shoe prints on my lecture notes.

Speaking of gym, I nearly fell off the treadmill twice today. I feel like a complete idiot on that bloody thing. I'm tempted to stand there and make exagerated walking movements just to see if I can get a laugh. People are SO serious in there. I watched some guy (probably why I nearly fell off) watching himself in the mirror the entire time I was there. He moved around and lifted some weights but didn't do a whole lot of work. He kept watching his muscle flex. I felt sorry for him. He was young and tall and in certain lights could be called good looking and all he could think about was lifting dumbells. I suppose they call them that for a reason.

Anyway, I hobbled out of the gym. I think it was fairly obvious I was sore, it took me twice as long to walk to lectures as I couldn't stride out at all.

I have work tomorrow, yay! 2 - 4 Uni Library, come say Hi!

I did my first little thingy whatsit at the gym today. It was an evalution with the trainer, where basically he told me I was unfit and do this stuff called exercise.. what a surprise!

No, seriously. I told HIM I was unfit and he showed me how the machines worked and put me on a basic routine of exercise. He told me I could start the treadmill on 4kph straight away which I was very unsure about. I had visions of being catapulted into the back wall like you see on those funny home video shows and told him that if I hit the wall he'd be in trouble. He said he'd been doing it for years as I stepped off the edge of the treadmill onto the belt. My leg zoomed out from under me and I wondered how many people he'd killed over those "years". Luckily, my sense of balance, honed through years of tripping over things and falling off stuff, kicked in and my other leg swung in to save me. I got into a rhythm which was only interrupted momentarily when when I took my hands off the bar and veered sharply to the right.

He showed me the stepper.. after which my legs refused to work. He either had a sick sense of humour or he didn't notice that each step involved using my whole body to throw my leg forward because he took me straight to the rowing machine. Fun!

Then we did the 'Wide Pull Down' bar thingy. And the bench lift thingy. Then some exercise ball exercises.

I hobbled to the change rooms afterwards and got changed. I considered not wasting my now depleted energy getting changed but I didn't much fancy wandering around Uni looking like a Human Movement student. Eventually, I hobbled home. My legs are sore, my shoulders ache and I'm really hungry.

I get to do it for real tomorrow. *sigh*