What with the preparation for going away for six weeks I didn’t get to the gym much in November or December, and didn’t get back until the end of January.  Aaron gave me a programme to follow when I was in the UK but needless to say I didn’t do any of it, not once.  However I did spend a few days in London seeing sights, travelling on the Tube etc, and let me tell you, you cannot do this without going up and down an awful lot of stairs.  There wasn’t really a whole lot of choice, the stairs had to be done.

I also met an ex who used to row for his college at Oxford, and as the congnoscenti know, this is a big deal.  Anyway he is in his 60s now but has the body of a 40 year old, and he has been going to a gym for the last 4 years.  We were talking about the rowing machine and he enjoys it even though it’s nothing like real rowing.  He enjoys the workout it gives.  Then he told me what his trainer has him doing: four minutes at 32 strokes/minute, then 1 minute at 38, repeat, repeat, repeat (I don’t know how long for).  38 strokes a minute!  I cannot imagine it. He says it’s hard work

He has proved to be an inspiration because since coming back, I have been gradually building up my workouts to where they should be, and my rowing has been superb. For me, I mean. He was pretty impressed that I average 30-31 strokes per minute over my four or five minute rowing sessions, I was surprised (it may not have been totally clear that it’s only for four minutes although I did say so). Anyway since then I’ve been averaging 32 strokes per minute and have gone over 819m several times. And I look around and see that most people are doing 28 or 29. So maybe I shouldn’t underassess myself. Also he said that it’s much better if you use your legs as much as you can, which I kind of knew but have been trying to do that, that’s probably why I’m doing better. Today, just for laughs, after the first minute I did 30 seconds as fast as I could go, and I did that again on the last 30 seconds. I actually touched 37 strokes per minute for a couple of strokes but I still cannot envisage doing this for a whole minute!

Aaron gave me a wide selection of weights exercises to do, from which I can pick and mix. They go like this:

• Clean and Jerks with 6kg dumbbells in each hand (ie a step up from the 10kg bag, and separate dumbbells are more difficult to manage)
• Squats with 5kg dumbbells in each hand
• Lunges (the hated lunges) with 5kg dumbbells in each hand, no bicep curling though
• Front row with kickbacks with 4kg dumbbell
• Front and Lateral raises (new exercise) with 2kg dumbbell in each hand: this involves standing with feet at hip distance apart, raise left hand to the side so that arm is straight, simultaneously raise right hand to the front so that arm is straight, drop both arms, raise left to the front and right to the side. Repeat x 12. This works on the deltoids primarily, although I also really feel it in my neck and I see from the directory that these raises do work on the neck muscles (trapezius)
• Lat pull-downs – 10kg each side. I’ve only just made it back to 10kg today, been building up from 5kg.

I haven’t always been doing all of them, but I try to always do the squats, lunges, front/lateral raises and the lat pull-downs. The raises are a real killer, but I can feel the effec they’re having. The surprise is the lunges. I can do them! And they don’t hurt! And I don’t wobble (much). I am pleased about this and don’t actually hate them any more.

Then the core exercises, again a large menu from which I can pick:

• Swiss Ball crunches
• Swiss Ball hamstring curls
• Swiss Ball pelvic tilts
• Bird-dog (superman) – new exercise. I’ve seen lots of people doing this one, often with a swiss ball but I am to do them without. On all fours with hands at shoulder width and knees at hip width, then extend right foot and left hand, then switch to left foot and right hand, holding for three seconds each time. 3 x 10 of these
• Box pressups – new exercise. I practically swooned when Aaron said he wanted me to do these, but actually I find them pretty easy – same position as for the bird-dog, bend arms to get nose to floor while keeping back straight, then back up, 2 x 10.
• Bug – this is the exercise Tim had me doing, situps with one leg – 2 x 5 per leg, holding each for 5 seconds
• Single-leg bridges – same as before. These are now completely pain-, creak- and grind-free.

I haven’t been doing the swiss ball exercises at all, perhaps I should but I enjoy the floor exercises so that’s what I do.

You’ll notice a lack of cardio – this might have to be faced.

Going to the gym has been difficult over the last week.  The main problem is my right knee, which complains at most things, including the single-leg bridges and the cardio warm ups.  Combined with cold weather putting me off swimming on cardio days, I haven’t been doing very well.

Today I saw Aaron again and while he frowned at my knee he said overall I was doing very well and a spot of taping was in order. I was pleased with this because the taping seemed to instantly cure my left knee and I have high hopes that the same will happen with the right. The only problem on the horizon is I have a trip to Auckland tomorrow evening, meaning (a) locked in a single position for an hour and (b) no gym on Thursday and (c) potentially no gym on Friday although I do have free time and I am eligible to use the Auckland branch of Habit. Yay for platinum membership

Annnnnnddddd – I told Aaron that the isometric holds are easy now, so he put a phonebook between my feet. I am not kidding. I just about managed to hold it though. Later on when doing these for myself, I found I wasn’t able to hold it, mainly because it was the Yellow Pages which is bigger than the White Pages which is what he tried with. I don’t think it’s the weight that’s the problem, just the instability of slippery covers. I balanced the Yellow Pages across my ankles instead and that worked OK.

I have started doing the Yoga position “Cosmic Dancer” (Natarajasana), stopping at the second position but holding it for 25 seconds or more, it’s basically a quadriceps stretch but also stretches the whole body and aids in concentration, I used to do it daily but have long since got out of the habit. I can’t remember where I saw it named “Cosmic Dancer” (it was years ago) but I always think the full position looks like the constellation Virgo which because of that I now associate with Shiva. Anyway I told Aaron this and he thought it was a good idea as the whole body has to work to do that position (and most yoga positions, now that I think about it).

The weights routine went perfectly fine today except I chickened out of my bridges. I just don’t like the grinding that the knee makes when doing them. I’ll see how I go on Friday, if I get to the gym, or Saturday otherwise. I’m looking forward to my next assessment, which is next Wednesday with Tim at Johnston St.

Today I went for a swim afterwards as my cardio, it was about 5.15 when I got in and that’s the gym’s busiest time, and yes the pool was full. That is, the “slow lane” had two people in it, and the fast lane was empty. Well I’m not a fast swimmer but it seemed silly to join the slow lane when it was already crowded. After a couple of lengths someone else got in the slow lane so one of the faster guys in there popped into my lane. He and I seemed to share quite amicably but as a third person joined us I got out. Three is too much. I noticed that she was not a good lane sharer, so I’m glad I got out in time. She kept cutting the other guy up which must have been very irritating.

Anyway, due to me being in the “fast” lane I decided I couldn’t do my floaty thing on the even-numbered rows, so I did front-crawl the whole time. I was in for 15 mins and did 8 laps, pretty much my normal rate now but they were all front crawl. Admittedly I had about 30 seconds rest in between, sometimes more as I would wait to let the other guy go ahead if he was close, but I was really pleased I was able to do that. I find when I’m tired I breathe every four strokes, not every six.