BodyProject

[curgoth]

I made it to the gym 4 times this week. Monday night, my legs were sore, and I ended up stopping fairly early in. The other three nights, I made it through about 3 hours each, so I spent 10-11 hours at the gym this week. And, yeah, I feel good about that, and my body feels good - my good friends the endorphins are back. The regular "body combat" cardio class got cancelled tonight, and was replaced by an impromptu class by one of the trainers, a senior citizen former olympic boxer who used to train the British Special Forces in unarmed combat.

On the other hand, I am having a moment of doubt tonight. I mean, that's quite a bit of gym time, right? I'm still not sure I'm doing enough, though. I'm not as strong as I want to be, and I can't do as much as I want to be able to do. I'm also still too fat, and that's a medical, not qualitative opinion. The fat, I know I'm going to have to get rid of by watching what I eat, and I haven't been doing a good enough job of that.

I guess I need to revisit this in a while, as a sanity check - how much is enough? How hard can I push myself, and how much of my life am I willing to put into this to reach the (ultimately arbitrary) goals that I have set for myself? How realistic am I being about my goals?

Comments

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

Ten hours in one week is plenty, unless you're training to be an Olympic athlete. Don't push yourself so much that you burn out.

'luck!

[pancakex.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 10 hours is a lot, especially over just 4 days. I've heard that it's better to work out more frequently (i.e. more days) for less time each day as opposed to just going a few days and working out for 3 hours at a time. I find that doing this works better for me, too. Otherwise, I guess, my body seems to sense that I've taken a few days off and starts to not work as well. I feel slow, and don't have enough stamina. As opposed to going every day for a long stretch, even if it's only for 45 minutes - then it seems as if I can work harder, and for longer. It makes no sense, because you'd think that if I went to the gym every day I'm be SO tired, but I'm not - it's like I become energized by going regularly, but only confuse my body if I go sporadically.

[curgoth]

The problem with trying to workout every day is mostly a matter of time - with the commute I have, if I go to the gym, that's pretty much it for me for the night. So, if I do something social on Friday night, that's one day down, if I have an appointment during the week, there goes another night, etc.

[pyralea.livejournal.com]

If you enjoy spending that much time at the gym, great. It's a healthy hobby. But if you plan to continue with that intensity, you should probably talk to someone at the gym about sports nutrition. Balancing your diet properly will help you see results (adding to your motivation) as well as let you not burn out. (I'm starting to sound like my sister, who is in school for sports medicine and nutrition...) You probably know a lot about sports nutrition, but sometimes going to one of the advisors is motivating.

Question is, are you doing it for the right reasons?

[curgoth]

I do enjoy killing myself at the gym - goals aside, that's what keeps me going back. Even when I'm stuck in a plateau, results-wise, exercising just makes me feel good.

I see a (non-sports) nutritionist once a month, so I *think* I know what I'm doing, diet-wise. The problem is more that, of late, I've let things slip quite a bit, particularly in terms of limiting calories while keeping the protein high and fat low. Also, my sweet tooth keeps sneaking up on me.