Firstly, let me say that I am not going to post about every day I have at the gym. That could become tedious for all concerned! But I thought I might post perhaps for the first week or first seven days – not necessarily consecutively – on how I am finding my return to the gym. Then maybe milestones achieved or ‘events’ associated with my new regime.
So, today was Day 2 of my new fitness campaign. I finished work and drove straight to the gym and got changed there. I have found in the past I have come home and my husband has suggested a walk, or I get distracted by something else and then I find I can easily put off going to the gym.
Lesson 1: Go straight to the gym from work
I admit when going into a new environment, although I am a bit of an extrovert in the main, I can get quite nervous. I am probably more so now as I don’t fully trust my body to do what it should when I want it to. I also think that I am more self-conscious than I used to be too! Once I got there, however, I found myself reasonably comfortable once I got started. Everyone was doing their own thing and no-one looked particularly interested in what I was doing.
Lesson 2: Realise no-one is looking at you. They are doing their own thing.
I am just doing cardio for 30 minutes at the moment till I get my programme, so I have three machines that I use for that. So, I do 10 minutes on each machine. They are the cross-trainer, the bike and the treadmill. When I went on Day 1, I did the cross-trainer last. Bad mistake! I have learned that the cross-trainer is the machine I like the least and I did it at the end when I was knackered from the other two machines. This time I started with the cross-trainer and got it out of the way and then went on to the bike and then the treadmill. Much better.
Lesson 3: Do the thing you are least fond of first!
So, here I am home again after Day 2 of my return to the gym. I am a bit tired, but not absolutely shattered by any means. I feel good that I am starting to attend to my fitness again and hopefully will not only get fitter and stronger, but lose weight too! After two decent long bike rides in the weekend and a walk into town and now two gym sessions, I am feeling like I am finally on the way to fighting Parkies via exercise. It is early days, but I intend to keep it up for the sake of a better future keeping Parkies under control for as long as I can.
I am going to take a couple of days to do other physical activities, walks, bike, etc and then I’m back to the gym on Thursday to start my proper programme. Will report back after my first real session to see if I survived!
My journey with Parkinsons 