07-07-2013, 06:45 PM | #401 |
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Ditto for me. Well, I didn't get good sleep but went to the gym in the morning so it didn't matter. The gym was still pretty empty due to the holiday weekend effect, and I got my favorite Arc Trainer and did an hour and fifteen minutes of high level interval while watching "Snapped." Then I did 45 minutes of abs, yoga, and weight lifting. I love the feeling of picking up a weight and realizing what once felt so heavy now feels so light. I left feeling very Zen which is why I adore the gym and all exercise
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07-07-2013, 06:55 PM | #402 | |
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Kelt, great to have you in here. Besides likin' ya a whole lot, you are always so interesting and full of knowledge.
I only shower at the gym if I have gone swimming because I'm usually eager to clean my swim suit by wearing it in the shower and then to get the chlorine off my skin as well. Otherwise I wait until I get home because it's a much nicer experience. I find people don't pay attention to each other in the locker room and shower if I don't make eye contact and give off a "busy" vibe. Or if I'm clearly wearing headphones that also helps. Of course, I'm not a butch so I can speak to that. I did once have a bad experience with a gym staff person in the locker room telling me to use the back of the locker room because I'm heavy. I immediately burst into tears and reported it. I haven't had other looks-related issues, and the showers at my gym are private (though they have sucky water pressure so I use home anyway.). So, how long does it take you to do 9-10 miles and what do you do for those 9 to 10 miles? What does your exercise walking involve (what type)? Do you do other things along the way? Do you just listen to natural sounds? What time of day do you do it? Do you wear sun screen? Just interested to hear more. Quote:
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07-07-2013, 07:34 PM | #403 |
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45 mins on the treadmill...hoping to keep this up!
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07-07-2013, 08:28 PM | #404 | |
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Nobody actually confronted me. All I was doing was going in and walking through to have a look at the facilities. It was the stares and glares, nudging a friend and point me out kind of thing. Every. Single. Place. I will just have to get over myself, and do the usual pretend I don't notice anything. I'm hoping that if I go the same time on the same days that after a while it will just be regulars who will get used to seeing me around. The place with the best pool also noticed me the least, unfortunately it is 5X as expensive and the other amenities are not very nice. I will just have to see what happens when it is time to decide. My game plan is that on gym days I will do both weights and swimming and on non-gym days I will continue at the beach for cardio. My current beach walk takes about three hours for the walking portion which I do with walking poles. Frequently I stay longer and socialize with people that I have met down there and will sometimes go for lunch with one of them afterwards. It really is my other home which is probably why I have been doing too much of that and not enough resistance and flexibility exercise. Just a lot of new and different things to get used to. It will be hard for me to tear myself away from the beach on most days, but it will be a term length experiment and I really need to do it. It is still quite a ways off so I will have time to make the mental shift, I hope. I have a trip to take an early August and when I get back I will settle the details. Thanks for the tip about the headphones, I don't usually use them when working out because I like to interact with people around me, but it might really help me out in the locker room. |
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07-07-2013, 08:56 PM | #405 |
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There is something else that I ran across while trying to figure out the parameters of the work out I will be doing. Jennifer knows what I'm numbers freak I am so this article caught my eye.
The upshot is that when using some of the machines like elliptical, treadmill, etc. that the part of the program that counts your calories is usually fairly inaccurate. This study which was based on VO2 analyzer readings found the following discrepancies: Treadmill: Overestimated calories burnt by 13 percent. Stationary Bike: Overestimated calories burnt by 7 percent. Stair Climber: Overestimated calories burnt by 12 percent. Elliptical: overestimated calories burnt by 42 percent. Sorry... A fellow that I follow in the quantified self community found a handy calculator. It is interactive and you can just plug in your machine reading for correction. You can use it here. Another thing that I discovered the last time I was using an elliptical and the gym while that was that I had problems with the built in heart rate monitors that utilize the hand grips. There was a lot of variation from machine to machine and even while exercising on the same machine I would get wildly variant readings. I like having all the numbers spit out it once at the end of my workout instead of having a separate wrist monitor although of course the separate monitor was the accurate one. I found that I could just wear the chest strap from any Polar heart rate monitor and it would communicate with the equipment in the gym as long as I did not use the silver groups. That way I could still use the readout reference at the end and just write it all down at once. Of course if you are using an all-in-one activity tracker this is entirely moot. I know I am probably the only one in here that is that fussy about numbers. But I thought if there were any other data geeks in here it might be handy. |
07-07-2013, 09:29 PM | #406 |
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Kelt, I am struggling a bit with understanding what you are saying. Are you saying that your experience in the locker room is worse than in regular bathrooms? I wonder if you are just noticed it more because since you were looking around the locker rooms (to assess the spaces), you grazed over people's faces and typically you avoid looking at people in the bathroom?
To be direct, I personally would never do the pool thing just so that I didn't have to deal with the whole shower/locker room thing. I would suspect that locker rooms would be worse for butches for two reasons: 1) women are probably even more conscious of their environment because they are getting undressed 2) the amount of time I had to spend in that space would be longer than in a public restroom which just means my discomfort would last even longer. I suspect it would become intolerable. However, I would bet that yes, if you went the same time every day people would get used to you and also you will learn to do whatever it is you already do psychologically to get through public bathroom experiences. Perhaps it won't be as bad as you think? Good luck.
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07-07-2013, 10:00 PM | #407 | |
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I have been trying to figure out someway to get in and out without having to use that space while still being able to do a weight workout and a water session in the same visit. I have postponed too long and I want to be able to get in a good 12 week run before January when everything will get all clogged up. I was then going to take January and February as a period for maintaining my gains from the fall and assess at that point whether or not I need to do another 12 – 16 week run at that time. So far, I think I'm just going to have to tough it out. Part of why I am writing all of this in here is to hold myself accountable, so that I won't chicken out again. I hate that it has to be like this. Just when I think I've got it all figured out how to move around in this world I run into another brick wall. It is tiring after 50 years. Thank you for being able to articulate that succinctly. |
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07-08-2013, 03:58 AM | #408 | |
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I really hate that butches have to go to such lengths just to use a public gym. It makes me so sad and frustrated. Good luck to you Kelt whatever you decide to do. |
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07-08-2013, 04:26 AM | #409 |
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Kelt,
I am also a numbers person when it comes to my workouts. I like to have tangible proof of what I did, although I did know that the readings were overestimated on the machines and I adjust accordingly. But....seriously.....42% on the ellipticals? Wow. That's a tremendous difference. As for the showers, I don't like to shower in public at all. It's a 'stuff' preference rather than a 'person' preference. I like my stuff in a certain place and when I have to do that kind of stuff outside of my usual routine, it throws me off and I'm uncomfortable. I'm definitely a creature of habit, so even when I was at the Y that had a pool and jacuzzi, I never changed there. I waited until I got home. |
07-08-2013, 07:33 AM | #410 | |
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The numbers, especially on the elliptical, we're pretty disturbing for me too. I figured that at least this way I won't be head-scratching if something doesn't turn out the way I planned it to due to an error in somebody else's calculations. I have been investigating some of the full on activity trackers but sadly, the two that hold the most interest for me are not available yet. That's okay, the system I have in place now has been working pretty well. I will just stick with that. Off to the beach!! |
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07-08-2013, 08:34 AM | #411 | |
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Is there a reason why you must change in the locker room, Kelt? I am not sure that you were even talking about changing, just maybe you were talking about putting your clothes in the locker? Sorry, Kelt, I still need more clarity!
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07-08-2013, 09:24 AM | #412 |
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The workout attire is on (oh, for about two hours now); if only I could begin the actual WORKOUT!
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07-08-2013, 12:02 PM | #413 |
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It really does for me! (Interesting Experiment)
How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety
In an eye-opening demonstration of nature’s ingenuity, researchers at Princeton University recently discovered that exercise creates vibrant new brain cells — and then shuts them down when they shouldn’t be in action. For some time, scientists studying exercise have been puzzled by physical activity’s two seemingly incompatible effects on the brain. On the one hand, exercise is known to prompt the creation of new and very excitable brain cells. At the same time, exercise can induce an overall pattern of calm in certain parts of the brain. Most of us probably don’t realize that neurons are born with certain predispositions. Some, often the younger ones, are by nature easily excited. They fire with almost any provocation, which is laudable if you wish to speed thinking and memory formation. But that feature is less desirable during times of everyday stress. If a stressor does not involve a life-or-death decision and require immediate physical action, then having lots of excitable neurons firing all at once can be counterproductive, inducing anxiety. Studies in animals have shown that physical exercise creates excitable neurons in abundance, especially in the hippocampus, a portion of the brain known to be involved in thinking and emotional responses. But exercise also has been found to reduce anxiety in both people and animals. How can an activity simultaneously create ideal neurological conditions for anxiety and leave practitioners with a deep-rooted calm, the Princeton researchers wondered? So they gathered adult mice, injected them with a substance that marks newborn cells in the brain, and for six weeks, allowed half of them to run at will on little wheels, while the others sat quietly in their cages. Afterward, the scientists determined each group’s baseline nervousness. Given access to cages with open, well-lighted areas, as well as shadowy corners, the running mice were more willing to cautiously explore and spend time in open areas, an indication that they were more confident and less anxious than the sedentary animals. The researchers also checked the brains of some of the runners and the sedentary mice to determine how many and what varieties of new neurons they contained. As expected, the runners’ brains teemed with many new, excitable neurons. The sedentary mice’s brains also contained similar, volatile newborn cells, but not in such profusion. The runners’ brains, however, also had a notable number of new neurons specifically designed to release the neurotransmitter GABA, which inhibits brain activity, keeping other neurons from firing easily. In effect, these are nanny neurons, designed to shush and quiet activity in the brain. In the runners’ brains, there were large new populations of these cells in a portion of the hippocampus, the ventral region, associated with the processing of emotions. (The rest of the hippocampus, the dorsal region, is more involved with thinking and memory.) What role these nanny neurons were playing in the animals’ brains and subsequent behavior was not altogether clear. So the scientists next gently placed the remaining mice in ice-cold water for five minutes. Mice do not enjoy cold water. They find immersion stressful and anxiety-inducing, although it is not life-threatening. Then the scientists checked these animals’ brains. They were looking for markers, known as immediate early genes, that indicate a neuron has recently fired. They found them, in profusion. In both the physically fit and the sedentary mice, large numbers of the excitable cells had fired in response to the cold bath. Emotionally, the animals had become fired up by the stress. But with the runners, it didn’t last long. Their brains, unlike those of the sedentary animals, showed evidence that the shushing neurons also had been activated in large numbers, releasing GABA, calming the excitable neurons’ activity and presumably keeping unnecessary anxiety at bay. In effect, the runners’ brains had responded to the relatively minor stress of a cold bath with a quick rush of worry and a concomitant, overarching calm. What all of this suggests, says Elizabeth Gould, director of the Gould Lab at Princeton, who wrote the paper with her graduate student Timothy Schoenfeld, now at the National Institute of Mental Health, and others, “is that the hippocampus of runners is vastly different from that of sedentary animals. Not only are there more excitatory neurons and more excitatory synapses, but the inhibitory neurons are more likely to become activated, presumably to dampen the excitatory neurons, in response to stress.” The findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience. It’s important to note, she adds, that this study examined long-term training responses. The runners’ wheels had been locked for 24 hours before their cold bath, so they would gain no acute calming effect from exercise. Instead, the difference in stress response between the runners and the sedentary animals reflected fundamental remodeling of their brains. Of course, as we all know, mice are not men or women. But, Dr. Gould says, other studies “show that physical exercise reduces anxiety in humans,” suggesting that similar remodeling takes place in the brains of people who work out. “I think it’s not a huge stretch,” she concludes, “to suggest that the hippocampi of active people might be less susceptible to certain undesirable aspects of stress than those of sedentary people.” |
07-08-2013, 02:59 PM | #414 | |
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I will be doing a two-part work out when I go to the gym. The first part of it will be a weightlifting workout which if done properly will leave me quite sweaty, I will need to shower off before I get in the pool. I will also need to shower the chlorine off of me when I get out of the pool so that I can put on dry clothes and not ruin my car. Wearing the suit underneath of my workout clothes would be impractical because a.) It would be very hot and, b.) Should I need to use the restroom I would have to completely disrobe anyway. Restrooms are in one end of the locker room. Unfortunately the first place but I looked at had a very generous locker room with completely private showers and I thought that was what they would all be like. The other two places not so much. The first one is an insanely expensive tennis club so I will not be going there and choosing one of the other two instead. I will likely walk softly and carry an enormous towel. Last edited by Kelt; 07-08-2013 at 03:08 PM. Reason: Spelling |
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07-08-2013, 03:02 PM | #415 |
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And now back to your regularly scheduled programming:
Today's workout, 9 miles Nordic walking in sand. Three hours walk time, one hour chat with friends. |
07-08-2013, 03:11 PM | #416 |
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Today... I laughed so hard my abs hurt!! Watched The Heat with Teddy.....lol
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07-08-2013, 03:23 PM | #417 |
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Yesterday...hour and half walking with purpose and a long day doing stuff.
Today...an hour walking with purpose and a long day doing stuff Kelt, might I venture that women in various states of undress might be uncomfortable just having someone they've never seen before and who is fully dressed in outdoor wear regardless of the sexuality and gender presentation of that person. Just a thought. I've not used public facilities for any changing for a lot of years. Actually, not since the Space Cadet and me had an adventure staying with local friends and using a(public) hammam (bathhouse) in Marrakesh. We had to persuade the indomitable women on the door that I was indeed female bodied and qualified to use their side of the hammam...and all this in halting French. I've never been so closely scrutinised by a large group of women ever, before or since. Ah wuz traumatised I tells ya! |
07-08-2013, 03:37 PM | #418 |
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I use this website and this website to help me calculate how many calories I've burned during my workouts.
I am not advocating obsessing about calories, not at all. But, my weight loss plan already includes a two pound weight loss every week, and I want to be sure that I am eating enough to be healthy and so that I don't feel deprived and hungry and so my body doesn't go into starvation mode. I don't work out so I can eat more because that feels like obsessive behavior to me. I work out because it feels good and I want to be healthy and strong. What was the question? I've been taking Zumba classes and water aerobics, and today I tried a 30 minute stretch class and a one hour weight lifting class, woof. In general, people at my Y are very nice and very helpful but there is a lot of fat phobia and people talking trash about their own bodies and their own food choices. |
07-08-2013, 04:03 PM | #419 | |
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07-08-2013, 04:19 PM | #420 |
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treadmill--one hour
swimming--half hour I joined the community centre pool for laps! |
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