A badly bruised ankle left me sedentary for most of the month of August. This was a blow from a very active summer when I developed a gym and skating routine. But after a restful family vacation before Labor Day I knew I had to get back on the active track. I’m into the third week and I started back skating two weeks ago.
I’m sticking to the basic premise of my gym goals, and that is alternating the aerobic activity. With this cycle I planned to do three weeks of the stationary bike, then three weeks of the elliptical, and then three weeks on the treadmill. This Monday was the start of the third week and what I planned to be a week on the bike. However, when I got the gym Monday night the four or so stationary bikes were being used. One person was reading a magazine and another one was on a cell phone barely peddling. They looked like they would not be finishing soon, so I went to an open elliptical machine. So quickly I decided to do 2 week cycles of each machine. With that thought I did the elliptical machine tonight too. Thinking of it now as I write this I think that the week cycles break it up and is a system that makes sense to me, but I think I should be able to alter the workouts based on circumstances like availability.
A few years ago when I thought of starting back skating I emailed one of my old skate friends for advice. He emailed back something like ‘it doesn’t matter what you skate, as long as you skate.’ I think that can be applied to a lot of things. For the gym what aerobic machine I use is not the important issue, but doing it regularly is what needs to be done. I’m convinced that being in better shape could only help my skating.
Consistency with being active is something I’ve had problems with my whole life. I’ve had periods where I’m really into it to the point of over exercising, and I’ve had years where lethargy set in. I think with the gym I need to set realistic goals, and go for 3 times a week. I can do this very easily on an every other day schedule. I think more than this would be time consuming, and less than that would not be beneficial. I think if I’m able to be consistent I’ll see results by spring. I’ve been fairly consistent with it over the summer and I have already seen results.
Not pushing it at the gym makes sense because that is not my focus. I would like to progress at skating. Until I find some night spots for weeknights, I’m constricted to skating on the weekends now, and maybe less once winter starts. As an adult skating is exercise and you definitely feel it after a session, so I think being lighter and more in shape would only help.
Also this winter I need to be consistent with the gym, so I don’t get in worse shape. People can get out of shape a lot quicker than they can get in shape. I know that very well.
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