Gym Stuff and a writing meme

Gym Stuff - Thanks to Merc and nhw talking about gym stuff and me running into one of the people that works at the uni gym I go to at an unrelated event, I've started to go to the gym again. I'm doing more weight stuff than cardio, mostly because I'm sick of the cardio machines breaking some piece of me, mostly because either they're badly designed or because I'm falling apart. This rules out the arm bike (I have no idea what they're really called, but this kind of thing - http://www.americanfitness.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1049) because it wrecks my wrists - oh the joys of tendonitis, the recumbant bike which because of my height, or lack thereof, hurts my back and legs and the actual bikes, where again because I'm short, I find they put a lot of pressure on my back because I have to keep my arms at near lock to avoid sliding off it.

While the steppers don't injure me like that, I don't like them so I tend to just stick to the rowers and the treadmills, which I know is a bit boring, but I quite like them, especially the rowers. I do wish they'd switch back to the old metal grips though because I can't get any purchase on the new plastic ones so I have new, strange calluses on my palms from the wierd grip I have to use on them. My best so far is 1698 metres in 9 minutes, the 500m average being 2.39 minutes, which isn't exactly brilliant, but I'm getting better. The plan is to try and get my 500 m average under 2.30 minutes and then move up to 12 minutes.

I don't like the treadmills nearly as much, because I don't find them as involving. On them I'm basically doing 20-30 minutes at 5 km/hr at a 5-6% incline. Again not much but that's about as fast as I can go before I start running, and I don't run. Not in the 'I'm too cool' way but more in the sense of the one exercise related act I cannot do competantly is running. Repeated 30 second bursts a la hockey, rubgy and football, fine, 15 minutes of solid martial arts throws or kicks or punches, fine, 9 minute fencing bouts, fine. Running - just really not. And I can't figure out why, because it doesn't seem to be my muscles or cardio, but I've learnt to accept this so I don't bother, I just walk briskly on the treadmills instead. If that ever starts becoming too easy, I'll just up the incline.

Again with the weights I have to be a bit careful (damn you flaky wrists) but there's a far few I can use. I'm mostly sticking to the arms ones though because the leg ones, feel really awkward - fencing, one of those sports where your legs get to be interesting shapes and sizes. Now, not only does this mean I am starting to have some serious arm muscles, which is good because one of my favourite attacks in fencing is something called a coolee (spelling so wrong it hurts), which is basically pushing through your opponent's parry and hitting them despite it. Since the people I'm most likely to use this on (for technical reasons, not just because it results in people pointing out that they've just lost a test of strength to a girl) are men so I do need some extra muscles. But there's an extra unexpected, work-related bonus. You know French press coffee makers, well I have to use their big brother for biology stuff and they're darned heavy, but the weight training means I'm being able to use it without too much trouble. Go team me.

Also, it's going to drive Luke batty, because he always complains that girls get arm muscles much faster than blokes. I counter that men seem to find it easier to lose weight. However, I'm just 3 kilos away from 63 kilos, which is 10 stone. Which should be helped by having 2 fencing competitions in the near future, and the general re-start of the fencing.

On which topic, sabre housemate came 3rd in whichever Open she went to yesterday. I made much squeaking in her honour.

And now ( Writing meme snaffled from Opera )