Happy Sunday! I’m having a low-key day today, after having a fun and busy past couple days. I’m about to head out to the gym, then come back and make some lunch… but I wanted to share my first experiences at my new gym. As I mentioned a few days ago, I decided to take advantage of a good opportunity and try out a new gym. I’ve now been there twice.
The first time I went was at 9pm on Thursday night, and I put together a great workout: 5 minutes warm-up on a treadmill, then 35 minutes of weight training. They have every machine I could possibly ever want to use, plus many more machines I’ve never seen before. After I was done with the weights (focusing on upper body), I headed back to the cardio area and jumped on an adaptive motion trainer. This is one of my favorite cardio machines, and one I’ve only used at my sister’s gym in Colorado (I blogged about my first time using one, read it here), so I was excited to see them at my new gym. In fact, my new gym has all my favorite cardio machines, so bonus points for that!
I didn’t take my own picture of the adaptive motion trainer, but here’s one I found on the interwebs:
It has pedals like an elliptical, but you can do a whole wide range of motions on them, from nearly vertical (like you’re climbing stairs), to big bounding leaps, like a gazelle bolting from a cheetah. I did a 3-minute pattern: 2 minutes of big bounding leaps, then 1 minute of stairs. I did that pattern 5 times, plus a minute of cool-down, for a total of 16 minutes.
On Friday, I went back and took my first class. The gym is known for their classes – they offer 15-20 a day. The class I chose was called Killer X Training, and it was a high-intensity, high-energy, high-impact cardio class. The instructor, Mike, described the class before we started: The first 45 minutes were going to be non-stop, so drink water when needed, and take breaks when needed. The default activity was a brisk jog, and then we did all sorts of other exercises: mountain climbers, burpees, more types of squats and lunges that I can remember. We had steps, so we jumped on and off the step, adding arm movements. And Mike wasn’t lying about the non-stop part! After 45 minutes, we added dumbbells, and did sets that combined, for example, bicep curls and squats. The whole class was an hour, and it was quite possibly one of the toughest classes I’ve ever taken. But I kept up, kept moving, pushed myself, and finished strong, and it felt great.
Until I got home, about 45 minutes after the class ended, and I was so sore it was hard getting out my car. Sore, though, it good. I like sore. It means I did something right. And sore always goes away.
Keep it up, David!
Keep It Up, David! 