Back in February, I joined a gym and had a fitness assessment. The trainer created a workout routine for me and eventually I adopted part of it. I was still running as my primary exercise, but I added the upper and lower body weight machines to my routine a couple of days a week. Even so, I gained a bit of weight over the winter, hopefully due to building muscles…but I had my doubts.
I returned for another assessment this week. The good news was that I was within two pounds of my original assessment. The bad news is that it wasn’t added muscle…All in all, I’m pretty healthy, but there is always room for improvement. I know I need to be in the best health I can be so that I can enjoy my life as I get older and make the most of a (hopefully) long retirement.
My goals haven’t changed since my initial assessment; I want to lose weight (oops!) and increase my strength so that I can run faster. I’ve not made progress on my goals, but at least I stayed active during the winter, multiple polar vortices not-withstanding. Now to up my game. The trainer had me return to learn some new things in the gym.
The trainer and a trainer intern took me through some new exercises, mostly with free weights. She told me that I should come to the gym around that same time, or in other words 1 p.m. This is not at all likely as I work from 8 a.m. until around 6 p.m. and I don’t take an extended lunch. Hmm…she mention that the “Jersey Boys” dominate the area most of the time.
I learned a few things. First of all, I learned that I need fairly light-weight dumbbells and that I could find up to 15 pound weights upstairs (i.e. away from all of the young men). Secondly, they showed me some exercises with a stability ball…and I was shocked by what I learned.
I know I need to do core work and that I’ve not been doing any of the recommended core exercises. They showed me some simple exercises with the stability ball, some with weights and some without. In every case, it was much harder than I anticipated. The next day, even though I only did some practice exercises, my abs were hurting!
The bottom line is that I now have too many workout plans to do all at once. I have a new half-marathon training plan, one that is very flexible and perhaps I just need to work all the other plans around it. I have new exercises to do with free weights. I can do these on the main gym floor, or up in a quieter area…or I can even do these at home.
I’m not a quick adopter of new exercises, so I am grateful for the lessons, but I still need to approach things at my own speed. Somewhere in my basement is a stability ball…I need this most of all. One exercise was simply to place my feet on the ball and bridge my back up…sounds simple, but the ease of it depends on whether my hands are on the floor, or only my elbows…or best of all, my hands on my hips.
Find the Joy in the Journey…and the right balance and stability to ensure physical fitness through-out your lfe!
Laura's Adventures After 50! 