Went to the gym today

[Clovishound]

I cancelled my gym membership 2 years ago after they told me I couldn't wear jeans in the gym. They didn't tell me that when I had joined a couple months prior. Anyway, in the meantime My A1C has gone up and my waistline has gone out. The daily walk through the neighborhood isn't cutting it anymore. They just opened a new facility near me and so I swallowed my pride and went and joined.

I did about 40 minutes on the treadmill at just under 4 mph. I could have done a lot more, but didn't want to push it the first time.

I did 60 reps on the trapezoid machine at 50 lbs. Again, I could have done more, but stopped. I used to do about the same reps at 70 lbs 2 years ago.

Then I did the curl machine. I'm hoping I just had it set wrong. I'm pretty sure I set it at 30 lbs and barely managed 10 reps before my arms started screaming at me. Surely I couldn't have gone downhill that much in the last 2 years? I will carefully check the weight setting next time, but if it was set correctly, I desperately need to work on my arms. If I can increase my arm strength, it should help me when I'm out taking pictures with my long lens, although my main goal is to bring my A1C and weight down.

 

[hark]

If you are just starting back up, you'd be better off using a lighter weight and doing 2 sets of 10. But a curl machine isn't enough. There are several dumbbell exercises you can do which will work different areas of the biceps. Do they have a bicep curl bar in addition to the curl machine? Any incline bench? Positioning the palms forward works certain areas while an exercise like the hammer curl (palms facing legs) works yet a different spot. I have a Joe Weider Ultimate Bodybuilding book that must be 30+ years old. It is an enormous book filled with all kinds of exercises for various body parts. Joe Weider is the guy who trained Arnold Schwarzenegger to become a body builder. First work on strength training. Eventually you can move to pyramid sets if you want more bulk.

 

[hark]

Also ... look up Fat Gripz. They help develop the forearms as well as the biceps just by holding a fatter grip than a bicep curl bar offers. It's also more comfortable to hold something that is fatter especially when it weighs more.

 

[Clovishound]

If you are just starting back up, you'd be better off using a lighter weight and doing 2 sets of 10. But a curl machine isn't enough. There are several dumbbell exercises you can do which will work different areas of the biceps. Do they have a bicep curl bar in addition to the curl machine? Any incline bench? Positioning the palms forward works certain areas while an exercise like the hammer curl (palms facing legs) works yet a different spot. I have a Joe Weider Ultimate Bodybuilding book that must be 30+ years old. It is an enormous book filled with all kinds of exercises for various body parts. Joe Weider is the guy who trained Arnold Schwarzenegger to become a body builder. First work on strength training. Eventually you can move to pyramid sets if you want more bulk.

Mainly what I am looking to do is build more muscle mass to burn more sugar. I'm 71 and have been married since Ford was president, so I've no need to look like Arnold. They have a whole bunch of different machines there, but I'm trying to keep it simple, especially at first.

I went again today. I will probably need to up either the speed or incline on the treadmill soon. The trapezoid sets were a snap, I'll probably have to up the weight on that soon as well.

I made some adjustments to the seat height on the curl machine and was able to do 30 reps without overly straining.

After I settle into a routine I will likely explore some of the other machines. I have a physical coming up next month, so I may talk to my Doc about what I should be looking to do. I went to the gym shortly before noon yesterday. I noticed that I didn't have nearly as much cravings for something to eat later in the day/evening. My blood sugar this morning was 10 points lower than it has been running.

Don't know if those are flukes, but I'm optimistic. Last time I was going regularly to the gym, I started losing about a pound a week.

 

[Clovishound]

Well, after over a week I have seen a pattern emerge. In the last 10 days I've been to the gym 7 times. I've spent about 45 minutes each visit on the treadmill, adjusting the speed and incline to the high end of my target heart rate (85% of my max heart rate). I then spend enough time on three different strength machines until my muscles start to rebel. All totaled about an hour each visit. I've been steadily increasing the speed and incline on the treadmill, and weight and reps on the strength machines.

My morning fasting blood sugar has consistently dropped almost 20 points on mornings after working out the day before, and 10 points on the mornings following no gym routine, but some other form of exercise, such as a photo outing, or mowing the lawn.

Not sure if this pattern will continue once my body gets used to a higher level of exercise. The body has a great capacity for adjusting to new norms. Still, everything I've read suggests that increased activity, and especially increasing muscle mass, has a positive effect on reducing insulin resistance. I honestly didn't expect this big a difference in fasting blood sugar this early.

I've done pretty well at keeping at walking over the last couple years, so I hopefull I'll be able to stick with the gym routine as well. I am motivated to try my best to stay healthy in order to be there for my family.