Round 3 DING!

Learning the ropes...

On Thursday I got an introduction to the work out floor.   

Filled in a questionnaire. 

Easy enough.  I was starting to like this workout stuff. 

Then Pich, one of the fabulous instructors,  made a routine to follow based on what I like and don’t like, and my goals. Funny how goals are so clear to me at my age, when they were so elusive when I was younger... Surely you understand. When we were younger we all kind of had the option of becoming Olympic Gold medalists.  Don’t believe me?  Have you seen the movie Cool Runnings?  The Jamaican bobsled team? Now that I know I could never be one of those, it is so much easier to set a goal.   

 We started with the rowing machine.   Remember that 10 months?  If my legs could talk, I’d have been reprimanded.   Pich thought for certain I should be able to go faster.  Nothin’ doin’.  No matter how hard I tried, those muscles were not going to move any faster.  I kept referencing the 10 months.   My quads and other muscular companions were not intimidated in the least.  I think Pich wasn't too impressed either (just kidding, she was actually quite nurturing, but just humor me here)  

Pich is not a drill sergeant or anything, but she knows what her goals are for us, and I have a feeling she knows why too.  After all, we are there to get results and not to putz around.   She however looks like a Gold medalist in something - probably rowing - and so, I am sure she was just sharing the wealth.  

Grateful for that 10 minutes of affliction, we moved on to some other machines. 

You don’t always know what you’re missing...   That machine stuff isn’t always as straight forward as you may think.  She demonstrated it for me, and then she watched me muck it up.  . . .  Well how was I supposed to know that you can get some core strengthening from the pull down bar?   See that’s why people like Pich are not only necessary, they are necessary.  With her avid instruction, I tucked in whatever tummy muscles I have and it made the difference.  

I only wish Pich had time to help me out again.  She’s pretty good. 

Did you know it takes an hour to rev up the sauna?  

After the workout, if you can call it that, cause it was more like  a "muscle wake up" session,  it was finally  sauna time.  This time I was not curious and quite eager to get started.  I took in a book, and a journal, and shared the time with them both.   Again it wasn’t “sauna hot” in there, but after 10 minutes I was.. and then all that sweat and relaxation came on like clockwork.   

No tan. 

DO NOT get this confused with a tanning bed.

   

I do want to look up infrared and complexion. My blemishes are disappearing.  

skin therapy and infrared????

I guess you have to try it to believe it.  

In all honesty, I have missed my workouts.   I am enjoying being in a women's gym, and I'd like to write a little more about that in another post.  I feel a lot less anxious after just two visits. I do wish that there was a little more for me to do on the gym floor, but I have to be realistic, knowing that working into it slowly is a good thing.  It is a good thing, taking advantage of this positively instructional, and life affirming opportunity. 

Getting Acquainted

It was the Friday before Good Friday, and I was motivated to go into Contours to get acquainted with the people and the facility.  I knew the next week would be out of the question. Easter preparations were going to be very time consuming, and with "no time like the present," urging me on one hand so to speak, and  a touch of self doubt on the other, I called to make my appointment for 30 minutes in their infrared sauna. This way I would at least get the process started. 

As with anything new regarding my health, I had to "google" it  before  taking part. I wanted to know how safe, and if there are any health benefits.  Here is what I found:  

What MAYO CLINIC has to say about Infrared saunas.

AND. . . 

What a smart consumer should be looking out for.

"Affecting everyone:

• Overheating (heat exhaustion and heat stroke)

• Dehydration

• Using the sauna while drinking or after drinking alcohol

• Depleting your electrolytes or minerals through sweating

• The effects of mobilized toxins

It is, as well, not recommended to use the sauna during an acute illness or injury where it may interfere with the natural healing process. For example, it is recommended to avoid sauna use during the first 48 hours of an acute sprain-type injury.

Affecting only some people:

• Adverse effects on certain medical conditions

• Interference with the absorption and/or effects of certain medications

• Adverse effects on some implants"

I thought the effects of mobilized toxins part was interesting.  A good read that part. 

So much to read on infrared saunas!  It must be the latest thing.  All the warnings looked reasonable for any sauna or hot tub, nothing unordinary. In other words, "it's all good".  As for health benefits, every article I read said "good for arthritis" amongst other things. Could I be anymore encouraged? 


I came in the afternoon, and drove into an appealing location on Apirana Rd. I mean how convenient to be one floor above Nosh, a massage-facial salon, on a road with little traffic, and a cafe on the corner. Let’s not forget plenty of parking.  

  
Dale was expecting me.  We sat a little.  It was clear, she was genuinely interested in my purpose for being there, and what makes me comfortable. I would say she is very professional with a tender personal touch.  You can tell she is really listening and not just trying to get on with things; a naturally talented problem solver. I am sure she had 100 things to do. Nevertheless, she made sure they were not my concern.

After our little chat, she showed me around the premises, and the private room where the infrared sauna resides. It looks a little like a cross between a traditional sauna and a Japanese tea house, with all the same sense of relaxation implied.  I started to crave an organic white tea with cranberry-orange essence that I had at The Fridge in Kingsland a few weeks back. Yum.

Inside, is a CD player which I just about broke trying to figure out how to operate it. That or maybe the heat was getting to it.  It was loaded with a Mozart CD. The speakers were internal. There were magazines in a rack just beside the unit. There was also a rather comfy movable back board for leaning against for added relaxation.   There were about 3 or 4 ways I could set the lights. Dale was keen to make sure the "heat" settings were just right.

    The rest was up to me.   Nice.

It wasn't very hot inside when I entered, not initial heat shock. I took in a magazine and my journal to write, and I waited. I wasn't sure anything was happening yet.

Admittedly, at first I was a bit stultified. Unaccustomed to having nothing to do, I couldn't even get my mind to wander...  "be home by 3pm, ironing, vacuum, kitchen too, stop by grocery on the way back."  I had a hunch that mentally I was doing something wrong.   

Long before I started to sweat however, I started to feel relaxed.  I decided to ditch the magazine and the journal, dimmed the lights.  With the lights so low, I could tell, not only was the relaxation real, but so was the sweat!  It was like being on the beach on a hot summer day in the tropics, only it was dark and I was indoors.  

After that, I started to notice my back feeling more flexible where it is usually tight and stiff due to that nagging arthritis.   I really liked the unfettered feeling. I didn't notice anything different in my breathing, except that I was relaxed. I didn't notice anything like a change in heart rate either.  

I stepped out of the unit once to get a sip (gulp) of water, although I didn't feel inordinately thirsty.  The rest I drank after the session.  They say it is important to drink WATER before and after. 

When I got out, I was drenched.  One of the articles I read on infrared, referred to the intense sweating as a very good thing, since it releases toxins. Remember in my last entry, how I was wondering why I had stopped working out?  I am hoping that getting rid of some toxins might help clear that up too. ;)    

  

Jump Started

Confession time.


I haven't exercised in nearly 10 months.


That's it, and if you can forgive me, I'd be much obliged.

It wasn't what I was expecting in the least.  Quite the opposite.  I had left my July holiday in Europe feeling physically stronger and determined to up my exercise a little.  I was looking forward to doing a little more and feeling a little bolder too.

For reasons, that I still cannot explain, when I came home, I stopped after 14 years of commitment to swimming. I had loved it.  I liked it too, and it was good for me.  Short of believing that the chlorine had ruined my brain, I am baffled still as to why I won't go.

I experienced it like the end of a relationship, or a room mate leaving, or a sister going off to Uni and never having breakfast together again.  That's how much me and swimming were a thing.


Too, I experienced it as a coming of age thing after a while.  Really.  Sad as it may seem at first, I am middle aged and I think from the depths of my heart I have given up a kind of vanity. It is truly something I never want to return to, that fruitless self-absorbtion, the false need to live up to something that is beneath our ideal identity.  I guess you can call it "living down to."

Youthfulness is good, but now it is only good in the heart, where you can touch the soul of a child, or anyone for that matter.  Attractiveness is good, but now it is only good as a matter of character and not a physical thing.   Honestly, I think I may be maturing or something. If there is a subconscious process, for now, I'm willing to go with it.  Because for now, it has to be okay....

.... and then again it is not.  I mean I am happy that these superficial things don't matter.   But in this world, exercise is not necessarily a superficial thing. It is a necessary thing for health and well-being, especially for us city dwelling middle agers who still have kids at home.  So I put my mind to how I may convert myself back into a woman who exercises... hmmmm... thinking, thinking, thinking.  A friend of mine unwittingly gave me something that helped me turn it all around...   a one month free membership to Contours.

No I am not being paid to do this.

No they didn't even ask me to.    I offered.

The ladies at the Contour's Gym in Glenn Innes were wonderfully accommodating, easy to talk to, and never too "busy" for me. They appear quite keen to provide a healthy indulgence. I'll write more about that later.

And oh, I hope my readers are not expecting photos.  For me this is a matter of health, of ethos and fortitude, and not physical image.

So, if you are willing to take a little month's trip with me to the gym, you are more than welcome through this blog.  I would love your feedback too.  You never know, something you have to say may reach out to someone reading along.  Just be kind and caring please.  Exercise is a very personal thing, and our readers may be sensitive.