When Less is More at the Gym

My gym’s going upscale.

In a bad way.

They’ve spent the last few days adding flat screen TV monitors to the treadmills. By the end of the Thanksgiving holiday they’ve promised us that these sets will be functional and we’ll be able to stare blankly at whatever channel we want (Really? Any channel? I see a lawsuit coming.) from a screen 12 inches from our faces instead of staring blankly at the ones on the wall.

Here’s the problem: When I worked on the other side of town, the gym on that side of town did exactly the same thing.

I hated it.

Since running on a treadmill is infinitely more boring then running outside, I can see the need for a distraction. When Marathon Girl was forced to use the treadmill in our basement, you can bet she has a move playing to distract her. When I run at the gym, I usually find a treadmill near to the TV with ESPN so I can glance at the football highlights (or whatever they’re showing) while I run.

But I don’t plug in the earphones to listen to the sound because I’m usually 1) thinking about what I need to write that night in my book 2) silently mocking the people on the treadmill who are trying to talk on their cell phone and “run” or 3) checking out how fast other people nearby are running and, if they’re running faster, seeing if I can keep up with their pace for five minutes. All of these are in infinitely more interesting than staring at a TV screen.

Now instead of having a TV monitor that I can glance at occasionally, I’m going to have a screen right in front of my face.

It wouldn’t be too bad if I could move the monitor and push it out of my way, far from my line of sight, so I could glance at it occasionally like I do now. Instead they’re attached to some kind of titanium bracket which I doubt even the Incredible Hulk could bend.

Then to rub salt on the wound there’s no way to turn the TV sets off.

So you have to stare at something, even if you’d rather stare at nothing.

At the very least, it would have been nice if they left a handful of treadmills without the TVs for the few souls like myself who would rather do something than watch television. But no, they converted every damn one of them.

The elliptical machines are next.

It makes me glad I cut the number of runs I do each week at the gym from five to three and replaced the two runs with two 30-minute swims. As far as I know, they haven’t found a way to put TV screens in the pool.

Long Sleeve Short Sleeve Shirts

The weather’s turned cold and as a result, I’ve started wearing long sleeve shirts to work. When I first put on a long sleeve shirt last week I realized it didn’t fit right. I looked down at my wrists and realized that sleeves were about an inch or two shorter than normal. Thinking that the shirt has somehow shrunk last time it was washed, I set it aside and put on another long sleeve shirt. It also felt funny and I noticed that it too wasn’t quite long enough on the arms.

I put on a third shirt and noticed the same problem. I was about to tell Marathon Girl that something was wrong with our washing machine when I noticed that the shirt I was wearing felt tight around the chest and arms.

Apparently my summer exercise regimen along with swimming twice a week has increased the size of my chest, arms, and shoulders to the point where I need bigger shirts. :-)

This is a good problem to have.

Swimming Rocks

Adding swimming twice a week to my workout routine has had some nice, unexpected benefits.

First, every muscle in my body has become stronger and better toned. Marathon Girl is very happy with the results.

Second, my running’s improved. Yeah, that was truly unexpected. I thought since I was replacing two three mile runs with swimming that my pace would slow. That’s not the case. I’m running faster. When I started swimming Marathon Girl told me that, if done right, swimming would help my running. Did I believe her? No. Do I have egg on my face now? Yes.

Best of all, it’s given my fitness goal to work towards. After benching my weight (yes, I can still do it) I ran out of fitness-related goals. As a result, my workout routines have been rather flat and there been several days where I’ve had to motivate myself to get to the gym. My new goal is to be able to swim a mile without stopping by the end of the year and gives me the kick I need to go to the gym. Right now I can do seven laps before taking a break. In an Olympic-sized pool, a mile is 33 laps so I’m already 1/5 of the way to my goal.

Wish me luck!

Swimming: My Respite from Reality

When temperatures are routinely climbing past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it makes me glad I’ve incorporated swimming into my gym routine once or twice a week – depending on my workout schedule. Yesterday after giving my abs and shoulders a good workout, I headed for the pool. The water was nice and cold compared to the hot sweaty gym. The water felt so good that after my 20 minute swim, I didn’t want to leave the pool. Just wanted to float in the water and pretend there wasn’t a crushing load of work to deal with back at the office or that I’d be sweating in the hot car again after heading back to the office.

Since there was no one else in the pool I closed my eyes and floated on my back letting my breathing and heart rate slow, enjoying the still water and the silence that comes with having your ears below water.

For a few minutes my mind wandered.

I thought about what a better swimmer I am now than I was when I started swimming last month. I’m still the slowest swimmer in the pool, but my time, technique, and endurance have improved tremendously. Michael Phelps may not have to worry about me in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but he and the rest of the American swimming team better look out in 2012.

I ruminated over a problem I was having with one of the characters in my novel and whether or not I should eliminate him from the story altogether.

I wondered what Marathon Girl was doing and hoped she was taking some time to rest. Between taking care of three young kids and have a fourth one on the way, she needed those afternoon breaks when the kids are down for naps.

I started to think of something else but there was a disturbance in the water. I looked up. In the next lane a swimmer was barreling down the lane, toward my end of the pool. I watched him flip as he reached the end of the pool and headed back to the other end.

My respite from reality was over.

It was time to get back to work.

Swimming 1 Abel 0

While running the other day, I tweaked a muscle in my left calf. Though rather painful, the injury wasn’t very serious. It would simply require a week of no running to heal.

In the meantime, I had to find a replacement cardio activity. Yesterday, I decided to give swimming a try. I figured I had strong arms, legs, and lungs, how hard could it really be to swim for 30 minutes? Besides, when Marathon Girl is working through a running injury, she can swim non-stop for an hour or more without a problem. If she can be Super Woman, why can’t I be Super Man?

I forgot that there can only be one adult superhero per family.

Thirty minutes after I started, I dragged my wet butt out of the pool completely exhausted.

It would be nice to insert a story here about how far and fast I swam and that was the reason for barely being able to exit the pool under my own strength. But I can’t.

Here’s the sorry truth: I ended up swimming 20 lengths during the 30 minutes with a short break between each length.

Yeah, it was that difficult.

Swimming is nothing like running or strength training. I worked muscles I didn’t even know I had.

When I got home last night Marathon Girl asked how my swim was.

I told her.

She did a good job keeping a straight face and telling me I did a good job for not having done any serious swimming in 15 plus years.

Today my shoulders are very sore (in a good way) and I had to take it easy on my weight exercises that involved those muscles. Even though it was a very tiring and humbling experience, I’ve decided to swim once a week in place of a scheduled cardio or strength training workout.

At the very least, I hope to be able to keep up to Marathon Girl if we ever go swimming together.

Marathon Girl Knows What She's Talking About

Since I’m very busy at work, in the middle of writing a second book, and trying to be a good husband/father, the most convenient time for me to work out is during my lunch hour. This isn’t a big deal. There’s a gym close to my work and the exercise in the middle of the day keeps me sharp and focused for the remainder of the afternoon. The only downside to using the gym is, on days that I run, I’m forced to use a treadmill. I’d much rather be outside running – especially on days like today when the temperatures are in the high fifties and there’s nothing but blue skies and sunshine outside my office window. But since my office doesn’t have a shower handy, I go to the gym.

When I started running at the gym last summer, Marathon Girl informed me that running on a treadmill is a lot different than running outside. She said to best way mimic an outdoor run, I needed to make sure I was running on the treadmill with an incline of three percent. Running with no incline, she said, is like running downhill. As a result when you try to run outside again, you’ll struggle.

Of course, I ignored her advice. Sure, Marathon Girl’s a world-class runner, won two marathons, etc. but what could she possibly know about running on a treadmill? Not much, I thought.

So I had to learn my lesson the hard way. Back in February, Marathon Girl and I went on a run together. I had no expectations of keeping up with her but I was surprised at how hard the five mile run was for me. I had to stop three times and catch my breath.

During one of these breaks Marathon Girl asked if I was having a hard time with the course.

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”

“Do you get winded when you run at the gym?”

“No.”

“Are you running with an incline on the treadmill?”

I looked away. I wanted to blame the twenty pounds of muscle I’ve added in the last year, the cold weather, or anything except for the fact I hadn’t listened to her.

“That’s what I thought,” Marathon Girl said as she turned and started running again.

The next time I ran at the gym, I added a slight incline, slowly raising it every week until I can now complete a four mile run in under thirty minutes with a three percent incline.

Thankfully, all that hard work paid off.

Last Monday I didn’t have a chance to work out during lunch. After I got home Marathon Girl suggested we put the kids in the stroller and go running together. Of course she kicked my butt, but I was able to keep up with her and complete the entire run in a decent time without stopping or getting winded – even while pushing a stroller with Aidan in it.

After the run, Marathon Girl put her arm around me and complemented me on being able to keep up with her.

“I take it you’ve been running with an incline on the treadmill.”

“Yeah,” I said. “How on earth did you know.”

Marathon Girl just smiled at me and walked into the house.

I’m never ignoring her running advice again.

Exercise Rocks!

I love exercise. Nothing invigorates my mind or body like exercise. After feeling languid all morning, I went to the gym during lunch. I feel refreshed, revitalized, and ready to knock all my assignment at work out of the park and write another chapter in my book tonight! (After LOST, of course :-) .)

Benched My Weight!

It’s no secret that I was born with little in the way of muscle mass. Though being tall and thin has its advantages, it also means that I don’t have much muscle mass. Any muscle I manage to add is quickly gone if I don’t lift or try to grow what little muscles I have on a regular basis.

So it was quite an accomplishment on Saturday when I actually bench my own weight – 205 lbs (93 kg) – without any assistance.

It took two years to get here – a process that was slowed by fact that I still run regularly – but it was well worth the time and effort to be this strong.

And the accomplishment was even sweeter because instead of doing it in a gym, I did it at home in front of Marathon Girl, who, by the way, really likes the muscle I’ve added over that period of time.

Life is good and sweet – especially when you’ve worked hard to accomplish something.

Resolving to do Better in 2008

I was mildly surprised to see how packed the gym was this afternoon. Then I remembered it was January 2 and people are high on their New Year's resolutions and burning off the unwanted pounds or whatever it is they're hoping to accomplish by working out. Sadly, most of these people will be gone come March. The good news is that once people start giving up in a couple of weeks, I won't have to occasionally wait for equipment. To make successful goal -- whether it be a New Year's resolution or something else -- takes careful thought and planning but also determination to accomplish it. That's why making a resolution that you, say, want to lose weight isn't enough. It's a good start but you need to decide how you're going to shed those pounds.

If you decide exercise is the way to slim down, you need to enjoy the exercise. If running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike seems boring, then don't do it. Instead find an exercise that you can enjoy like swimming or tennis. Whatever it is, you'll be more motivated to exercise if you enjoy doing it as opposed to something that you don't look forward to accomplishing. If you can't find an exercise at the gym that you enjoy, you're simply throwing your money away.

Sadly three out of the four people that were crowding the gym today are doing just that.

Ten Pounds to Go

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog update to announce I benched 200 lbs. today!!!! I'm 10 lbs. from benching my weight and life-long goal.

You can now return to your normal web-related activities.