The school is overrun with kids today. I don't know why; Children's Day was last week. Also, the gym was overrun with tourists today; again, I don't know why. A huge group of college girls was milling around when I walked into the gym. Apparently, they were waiting for a student guide to give them a little tour of the facilities. Were these "shin-ip-saeng" (newly admitted students)? I have no idea.
As my simple routine at the gym solidifies, I find myself doing the following:
1. 10km (approx. 27-28 min.) on the NordicTrack* thingy (it's actually a ??? 835 elliptical trainer), now at Tension Level 3, which seems to be about where I need to be. Level 1 was a good place to start; it broke me in easily. Level 2 turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than Level 1, but was still a bit easy. Level 3-- ahhhh, that gets me sweating within a single minute (not that that's hard to do), and it keeps my heart rate around 160 for the remaining 26 or 27 minutes. That's actually higher than the maximum safe training rate for someone my age (146 beats per minute is about where I need to be**). I usually hit 10km before I reach 30 minutes, so I spend the remaining 2-3 minutes checking my pulse and chugging along much more slowly.
2. 3 sets of 10 reps on the pullover bar, set at a measly 40kg.
3. 3 sets of 10 reps on the bench press (variable grips), set at a measly 40kg.
4. 3 sets of 10 reps on the lat bar (variable grips), set at a measly 35kg. Believe me, it's going to be years before I can once again do proper pullups. The most I've ever done in my life is a single set of seven, and that was while I was living in Switzerland. I'm not even ready to try negatives at this point.
5. 1 set of 5 reps of standing dumbbell side raises, 9kg.
6. 3 sets of 5 reps of dumbbell curls, 9kg, varying between hammer curls and regular curls.
You'll note that I haven't added the all-important ab workout to the above. It's coming. It's coming.
Jocks may laugh at the wussiness of the above, but remember: I'm the one working at a women's university. So eat me.
*Uh, my apologies to NordicTrack for having misspelled their brand name in several posts. In the age of one-step Google verification, this is inexcusable.
**Calculate your maximum training rate by subtracting your age from 220, then taking 80% of the result. In my case: 220 - 37 = 183 x .8 = approx. 146.
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Keep it up!! And I mean the exercising!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work. Don't sweat the poundage; that's not what's important, particularly at the git go, which is just(!) honing the commitment and getting the form down right, so that you don't rip something when you raise the weight. One suggestion: try to work deadlifts and squats into your routine. They are both the best full body exercises and will produce the fastest results.
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