she tries to learn the auto so
For years my running has been lackluster. My three-times-per-week run progressively diminished into a three-times-per-week jog. So, I changed. I fell in love with the elliptical trainers. The ones offered in the gym by my place are similar to these, although ours have individual rails that the pedals/things run along.
Since my Thanksgiving break exercise consisted of little more than extreme doses of situps and pushups, I’ve been itchin’ for some aerobic action. In the past few weeks, with my new elliptical friends at the gym, I’ve been doing 20 or 25 minutes of intense cardio. I’ve accelerated quickly doing this and my heartrate soars during each trip. It’s a great feeling to have my heart beating wildly and it makes me far more alert and able once I finish the workout - overall, an appreciated adrenaline hit.
Tonight I did 25 minutes at my most extreme pace yet. I averaged about 186 strides per minute for the full extent. After 8 minutes, I was dripping sweat like it was raining around me. The sweat was so bad that the track rails were becoming more friction-ful although my pace was so rapid the liquid appeared to evaporate at every instant a pedal guide ran over it. Even still, the machine vibrated for a few seconds under my feet around the 20 minute mark and I saw a black grease being spread from the pedal guides. I didn’t even know that backup lubrication existed. Strange.
These workouts are a blast and walking away from the gym looking like I was pushed into a pool is a nice feeling. Well, it’s an interesting feeling. Maybe not so much nice.
My only gripe was that the scale I weighed myself on prior and following the workout told me that I gained a half-pound. No one ever mentioned to me that I have been attracting matter lately. I’m still deciding on whether that is a good or a bad thing. It’s tough to have celestial powers.
November 29th, 2005 at 2:00 am
Aren’t the eliptical trainers the best!? Thats what I do when I go to the gym and they are by far my favorite form of aerobic exercise. I’m up to about 30 minutes of hardcore activity on those things and I love it!!
November 29th, 2005 at 11:34 pm
Muscle weights more than fat. Duh.
*looks down at gut*
Errrmmm.
I think maybe I should weigh more. Or get to a gym. Or both.
*runs away*
November 29th, 2005 at 11:46 pm
Chris - Yes, the elliptical trainers are the. best. things. ever. period.
Derek - When I read “*runs away*” after your trailing off of self-confidence, I got the image of Napoleon Dynamite running away from his locker after handing Deb her kaboodles. A chuckle followed. But I can’t imagine that in the 25 minutes of my workout my muscles actually grew; muscles growth happens during the recovery phase (i.e. the time you sleep/rest after a workout) and only if the muscles are pushed to a certain limit. Jogging will produce somewhat defined leg muscles but no more - running kicks it up a notch but even its results are limited. Therefore, it seems like steroids are the only option for pure success