Stomping Through
Gym Update: The two gyms I like to visit in the morning are part of a 4-gym mini group. If I want to buy a membership to one of them, I get both gyms I like for that price. Now, the quandry. These gyms are definitely more expensive than the one up the street I was considering as a replacement. However, they offer TONS more. But… do I use it all? Not these days. But, it’s nice to have. Right? (See Mia? I mull things over occasionally.)
Today was heavy legs schtuff. I haven’t specifically worked legs for over a year. Not counting squats and stuff. I just haven’t really spent time one them, because hey, I’m running trails and hills, so I get lots of it, right?
I felt powerful, but was also amazed at how much my leg strength had slipped since the last time I’d used those machines. For example, I could only leg press 360 lbs. plus whatever the sled weighs, and I used to be able to do 630, when I was lifting heavy all the time. But I think it’s a trade-off. I couldn’t run a block back then.
For cardio, I did fastwalking laps around the track between sets, and then 20 minutes of basketball (which is a riot to watch, because I’m just that bad). I’m enjoying the little break from running, and super happy about how my weight is being impacted. I lost another pound so far (though that’s not official until Tuesday morning).
It’s difficult wanting to stick to this program for four or seven weeks, because I have all these other competing programs I’m interested in trying out. However, how can I evaluate anything without giving it a chance to work or not? It reminds me of a conversation I had in email with a friend, who was confiding that s/he was scared of changing anything in their efforts, for fear of losing what they’d accomplished. I feel a tinge of that. I’m worried that by not running for up to seven weeks, I’ll start out again at ground zero. In some ways, I guess I will. In other ways, I’m sure I’ll be even stronger when I return.
How often do you change up what you’re doing? How do you measure its effectiveness? What kind of planning do you put into your physical fitness efforts?
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