(no subject)

[jianantonic]

Hooboy, what a night at the gym!

I got there 20 minutes before my appointment with the trainer, Jen, so I got situated on a bike, and cycled at a leisurely pace until she was ready for me at 7. She got me set up with a resistance program and showed me how to use all the machines and such. We worked out every muscle group, and I am quite sore today, as she warned I would be. I'm excited now that I know how to use those machines, and what adjustments I should be using, so now I can do it on my own without feeling like an ass. I had fun with it. After our session, she recommended that I always start with resistance training and then do 30 minutes of cardio afterwards, so I got on an elliptical machine and ran for 30 minutes. I was drenched in sweat and totally worn out at the end of it, but I made it. That was a solid two hours at the gym last night. I slept like a baby last night, too.

The weather took a turn back to cold today, which bums me out a bit. We had quite a windy morning, which affected our internet connection at work and rendered us useless for the first two hours of our day. We just hung around and shot the shit, and we'd decided that if it wasn't back up in the next few minutes, we'd all go home. Not three seconds after that thought was vocalized did the connection revive. Bummer. But that's okay, I wasn't really looking forward to having a double pile of work for me tomorrow. It's all good.

I'm going back to the gym tonight around 8, then I imagine I'll crash fairly early again. I like this workout schedule, but it does cut into my social life - anyone else wanna join the gym and work out with me? :)

Peace.

Comments

[kixeldorado.livejournal.com]

Did the trainer give you a reason why you should do the weights first and the cardio last?

When they "trained" me over at the Nautilus, they said "warm up with cardio first before weights!" and that's how I've done it ever since. It seems to work ok, I guess, but I'm always looking for the scientific proof of which one's better.

[robinhoodvandal.livejournal.com]

you should always warm up before weights, but doing your full cardio workout after the weights ensures that the muscles continue to get really good blood flow. This aids in flushing out lactic acid and other byproducts of the anaerobic work done in lifting wieghts. It also aids in getting glucose and proteins back into the muscle. I don't know that anything has been proven about whether it is better to do cardio before or after, but a long cool down is certainly advantageous. Stretching AFTER weight lifting has also been proven to improve blood flow and increase streangth gains more than if you didn't stretch.
If you are doing a very intense cardio or a very intense weights workout though, you shouldn't push the other very hard. I do an abreviated cardio on days I lift hard and do more intense cardio on the days I don't lift.

yep

[archwindchaser.livejournal.com]

you pretty much said what I was going to say but better than I would have said it...

Re: yep

[robinhoodvandal.livejournal.com]

well, you know what they say: great minds... :)

[kixeldorado.livejournal.com]

Aha!
Scientific explanation!

Thanks!

And now, having lifted, I'm going to go running...

:)

[robinhoodvandal.livejournal.com]

hehe no problem
every now and then the degree actually comes in handy. :)

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[robinhoodvandal.livejournal.com]

np! :)

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

I always did cardio first, too, but the trainer said this is what she'd been taught, that it helps your metabolism better long-term to start with resistance. I'll work on getting the more scientific reason...unless someone else knows...