Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Fitness Programme Part III Week I

I've been to the gym twice this week and I haven't had a personal training session yet. Won't get one until next Monday in fact. This slightly bums me out as I'm not sure I'm getting the most out of the equipment. It's different from my last gym where all the apparatus was resistance - the more you put in the harder the body worked. This is all weights and I don't know if I should be pushing 10, 23 or 40 kg. I've taken to putting the bolt in the second slot and hoping for the best.
On Monday my arms hurt so much I couldn't type but my legs felt great, however I didn't get that nice rush afterwards. The guy at the gym told me to only do three times a week so I went again today and pushed the legs a bit more - used the treadmill for longer to warm up and the step walker to cool down and felt like I'd had more of a work out. At the last place I went at least five days a week, sometimes six because I felt if I missed a day I might never go back. And that is just what happened. (I actually hate exercising but I love the feeling I get after I've done it).
On the good side BG before exercising 125, after 115. On the bad side I had to consume two Graham crackers to keep it there. So calories burnt maybe 200, calories consumed probably 250.

3 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

Don't forget that by exercising you have boosted your metabolism for many hours after - so you've done more than make up for those graham crackers.

Great job - keep it up!

Jane said...

Boosted my metabolism? Hmm. Are you sure?
I'm an empiricist -show me the evidence. Until then I'll take happy from the endorphins.
But thanks for the support.

Heidi said...

Scott is actually right on the metabolism part. I don't know if I am able to show you the evidence of this, but at least I can tell you the background of if :-)

When you exercise, you don't only use energy in the form of glucose from the blood/stores in muscle and liver, and/or fat. You also make small destructions of muscle, which are afterwards repaired to generate a stronger version of the muscle tissue (this is why you grow stronger when training weights, and why when you do that you have to not overdo your training in order to avoid injuries due to excessive straining).

The replacement of the energy stores (glucose and fat) and the repair of muscle tissue (protein) post exercise also requires energy, though, and thus your metabolism is increased as long as these processes go on - and they sure can go on for hours, sometimes even days :-)