Gym 101

Went to the gym yesterday for the 3rd time this week. Now, I don't like going to the gym; I much prefer going out for a nice, evening brisk walk/stroll punctuated with short-distance jogs at my own pace, and no, it's NOT a part of my New Year's resolution or something but there's this competition from 3 January-31 March that my department is organising and among others, thou's attendance at the gym counts [actually it's more cos the people at the Sport's Unit want to boost gym attendance; otherwise it doesn't really matter if you go to the gym or go to the Lake Garden or walk up/down the stairs]! Er, besides an improvement in BMI. I don't mean to be vain or proud but I don't think this 2nd area [improvement in BMI] is going to be a problem, thanks to my high metabolism.

As I'm a 'gym virgin', my mate had to teach me how to use the treadmill. Yes, treadmill is just fine for the time being, thank you very much, and later I might just consider trying out the cycle thing. Don't ask me to play badminton or squash - I'm not sure i can handle the racket and besides I might go mental from concentrating on watching the shuttlecock/ball for so long and ensuring it doesn't hit me somehow! Assuming I even know the rules to begin with.

Yesterday, I went down alone as my usual partner, yeah the one who taught me how to use the machine, was trying to finish some work. There I was stuck between a chap and a gal who were both running as if their lives depended on it and my struggling in between, jogging for dear life and trying not to fall off the machine. Now you know why I don't like gyms. Your fellow gym-goers are either too kiasu for you or trying to check out the pace you're doing and quietly snickering away at your pathetic attempt. To me, that's even stressful and runs counter to why you're going to the gym in the 1st place [so why bother?]! I figured I managed to run a good 15 minutes yesterday, hey not bad for someone who couldn't run to save her life, nor for that matter, play any physical games back in school. [But mind you, I can play a mean game of Scrabble]. One good thing about our gym though is that there's a radio somewhere which blasts out Hitz.Fm [or is it Mix.Fm] so you can pretend you're trying to sing to the songs on air in your head and avoid conversation with the competitive freaks next to you.

My good friend once posted sth useful and I've managed to track them in the cyber archive of our group. Here it is, The Guide to the Gym - I don't think the word 'Idiot' is appropriate as my friend is an MD you know. I'm copying this word by word, don't think there's a trademark or patent or copyright on the email although certain names (see those in italics) have been changed to protect identities:

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I shall concentrate on the gym side of things. There are the aerobics classes, spinning, body-combat, swimming but I usually feel like shouting to the instructor 'Slow down you stick insect! I have feelings too, you know!' So I best stick to the gym.

It might be worth giving yourself a programme and target. I assume you want to keep your cardio-vascular-respiratory systems in tip top condition.

Start stretching exercises- you want your muscles to loosen up. This takes about five minutes.

Then, do the warm up- anything that gets your heart rate up. Do it gently. This takes 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on how warm-up you want to get.

Then, the serious work. Better do this in stages. Basically, the cardio-exercise heart rate is 220 minus your age for men and 200 minus 30 for women, but I never manage that.

Most exercise machines have calorie counters and other measures of intensity of the exercise. So, up the target everytime you go to the gym. If time is the limiting factor, aim to burn more calories within a specified time on every gym visit. This gorgeous guy at the gym (hem!hem!) told me that the more intense the exercise the more efficient my body becomes (my body? efficient? come on! says MissX tersipu-sipu).

As for calories, at present I aim to burn around 500 every gym visit, about hour and a half - twice a week is average for me, because I probably consume around 3000 per day. (Tamak haloba you...)

Now, for weights: (I'm sure you know everything about this): The more muscles you have the greater is your Basal Metabolic Rate (calories that you burn anyway, without any physical activity). The reason is that muscles consume more energy at rest compared to fat. Since med school however, my arms and shoulders have GROWN enormously, probably occupational hazards so I am not into pumping iron at all. My thighs are HUGE but I think they are my fat storage areas.

When you are on the exercise bike, threadmill or cross-trainer, if your life flashes before your very eyes, stop before you even get to Standard 1 let alone Form 1 at school. Be sensible. DO NOT attempt to reach alam Barzah.

MissY wrote some time ago that watching and listening to MTV is a good motivator because of the skinny girls on it. What I find is that those girls also have Giant Tits, which may depress the less endowed amongst us. So I stick to my 'learn Arabic' CD. Now I can tell my left and right. The progress is slow needless to say.

Make sure that cool down after every strenous exercise. So, if you have been going like the road-runner (beep! beep!) on the threadmill, slow down to a walking pace for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Might be worth doing the stretching exercises just before you leave.

Now, congratulate yourself on the good work and reward yourself with an enormous cream cake, after all you are going to the gym again. Good luck with the gymming.

[in another posting]

Aim to reach 70 to 90% your max heart rate, easier said than done. I do struggle to reach even 160, so I concentrate on intensity. Still struggling to run 400m. Remember all those sports assessments were compulsory. Never managed it at school as I always pretended to have a fall at 200m. Amazing that I got away with it for five years.

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I can't wait til 1 April! No more gym after that! Hello again nature!