In the old days that would have meant dinner or at least a dance

I went to the Majestic Centre today to get my third weights session of the week in. It wasn’t too bad. I warmed up on the rower and my right knee complained a bit. The exercises were fine. Some of them really are easy now. The TVAs and single-leg bridges are quite difficult and because I do them last, I feel quite exhausted afterwards.

For my cardio afterwards I went for a swim. I could tell I was exhausted as it took quite some effort to get to the end of the pool. I’d been in a while and my knee was aching a bit and I noticed the other lane had three people in it, whereas I had mine to myself, so I decided to clear off and have a prolonged spa bath.

It was heavenly.

Didn’t get to the gym for Wednesday Weights, so I went tonight instead.  I was late getting there but determined to do a full set.

I did 5 mins warmup on the rower, which made my right knee click uncomfortably a bit, but did get me feeling warm, which the cycle machine doesn’t. All the exercises went well except I did only two sets of the single-leg bridges and TVAs. I was too tired to do more.

Then I did 13 mins on the cycle machine. I still don’t know how this works, but I spun my legs round as fast as I could very diligently for 13 minutes. I can’t remember the details now but I did over 80 revolutions per minute on average; when I cycled for real, like, on roads, my cadence (revolutions per minute) was about 68. See the difference?

The knees held up pretty well although my right one feels a bit warm now. The isometric holds are getting easier so my hamstrings must be stronger. The chest presses are very easy – balancing is OK and the 4kg dumbbells are like feathers. I felt tired but pretty good afterwards. As always I was glad I went. Including shower but not including getting changed at the start, I was there for 1 hour 20 minutes.

I had some thoughts on the dietician thing. One of my clients runs a collective for dieticians nationwide, she is one herself (although not practiced for a while) and knows many many other dieticians. Had a brief chat with her today and she will think about it but off the top of her head suggested the dietician who works with Diabetes NZ. That’s a good idea.

My mother also suggested the doctor, which was another thought I had had too, if I discover I need a referral to a consultant, one with a research interest for example.

Rearranged my appointment with Aaron, deferred from Tuesday, for next Wednesday.

Tried to arrange my next assessment but Sarah has left! I had an idea, from the website maybe, that she was here on a working holiday so presumably she’s gone back. Another trainer has taken her place but is based, as Sarah was, at Majestic Centre. Maybe I’ll take the opportunity to switch to one based at Johnston Street.

I continually remind myself of the benefits so far: feeling fitter generally, bending and stretching is stronger and more controlled, I can carry more – this is really noticeable when bringing in the shopping, for example, I can carry two 4kg bags in each hand without even noticing. I am sleeping well and working well, my skin has cleared up a bit. It’s a shame about the knees, they’re a bit of a setback but nothing major, and the weight thing is a real disappointment, but it’s not all a waste of time.

Physio with Aaron was good yesterday, I’m making good progress, don’t need strapping on my knee any more and am just to keep on with what I’m doing until next week when I’ll see him again. Funnily enough my left knee, the one that had the strapping, is now almost perfectly OK and I feel clicks and grinds in my right more often.

Last night I skived off my swim though, like once before when I did that it was because it was cold and wet and windy and also I worked late, it would have meant not getting home till 8.30pm. I really must leave the office by 5.30, my routine takes well over an hour and showering seems to take 15 minutes.

This evening was good at the gym.  I did 5 mins warmup and then had a crisis in the loo!  So after that I’d cooled down a bit, so I did two mins more.  Then into my squats and isometric holds.  Amazing how the squats feel easier after a hold, obviously the hamstrings get a good tug and contribute more.

Am having to push my legs out more during my quad stretches which I do after the squats/holds now, as well as after the whole thing, so the tendons must be stretching a bit. The using-your-body-as-a-bench, seated row, lat pull-down, upright row and ab exercises all went off well. The single leg bridges made my right knee grind a little, and Aaron has me holding each leg up for two seconds which (a) makes them take longer and (b) makes me have to work a bit harder. I am now doing the TVAs without breaking between legs which is an improvement, obviously, but knackering.

Then I did 12 minutes rowing afterwards. I can’t remember where I got to with adding a minute every day, but I think it was about there. I really didn’t want to do it, I was really talking myself down while I was rowing – you know the sort of thing “You’ve got bad knees, you don’t have to do this” but I knew the truth, that my knees weren’t hurting, they were just clicking, and doing it was better than not doing it. So today I did 17 mins cardio altogether, not including the extra two.  Blood sugar was 4.9 afterwards.  This is where I like it.

So I feel exhausted now, but honour is satisfied.

On Friday my weights routine did not go so well.  I had trouble doing the warmup – having told Aaron that the rowing machine didn’t hurt my knees, I found it did on Friday.  Whether this was because my knees were changing – getting worse, getting better but different, whatever – or whether I was supersensitive to the slightest discomfort, I don’t know, but ringing in my ears was Aaron’s advice to do whatever I normally do provided it doesn’t cause pain in my knees, I stopped the rowing after only a minute.  I’d already resolved not to use the arc trainer because keen devotees of this blog will remember I’d already noted that it made my knees hurt.

So I hopped on one of the cycles, which to be honest I didn’t know how to use – I raised the saddle so that I had a reasonable length between the seat and my toes (long legs, see) but the resistance seemed very very light, even when I put it up to the top level. I persevered, it didn’t seem to be too bad, knee-wise, but I didn’t work particularly hard and I didn’t feel like I’d warmed up at all.

The rest of the routine went well though, but I was very conscious of the knees. And in any case it was Friday and the gym closes early on a Friday, so I made the decision not to do the ab exercises or the vertical rows, so as to have enough time to do the single-leg bridges and the isometric holds. The woman on the desk let me into the physio room so I could do the holds, which was good because I was fretting about not being able to do them.

I decided not to do any exercise on Saturday, but at about 11.30pm I caved in and did the exercises Aaron set me plus the TVA exercise Sarah said I could do every day and minus the isometric holds. My legs were soooooo much better for having done them. I did have a total rest on Sunday though.

Today I was dreading the gym because I was afraid the warmup wouldn’t be so good again. However I tried the rowing machine and it was totally fine. In fact I got into the Wimbledon final that was showing on one of the TVs and I resolved to just keep rowing until the match was over, and I got to over 10 minutes without even noticing, and I could have gone on longer. I would have come back for more after the weights only I was aware that Podna would be waiting – I’m now spending longer at the gym because Aaron’s exercises have added in about 10 minutes.

The same woman was on reception again as on Friday and she happily let me into the physio room so I could do the isometric holds, so I alternated these with the squats which worked well. The remaining exercises were all terrific, probably the best day so far since I started.

My knees are a lot better – over the weekend I got the occasional lockup but I know how to free them up again without pain – press the kneecap a little and move my foot down through the heel – and today/tonight I’ve had one or two clicks and grinds but that’s about all. Physio tomorrow, we’ll see what Aaron says.