MandaPanda242's Journal, 19 April 2011

Those 7am classes are tough!!! Good job. I still cant get myself up to get to those. I will keep trying though, youve inspired me to :) 

Thank you! You can totally do it! It gets easier every day. I started by getting up at 8 and then gradually worked my way to 7. The best part is it gives you so much energy for the morning that you dont need coffee to start the work day.  

that's phenomenal. i want to work up to one of those classes. any recommendations? 

Thank you! For me it started with walking on the treadmill..getting faster and faster then sprinkling running in there. It was very pathetic at 1st. I could only run for like 30 seconds at a time, lol. But eventually I could hold a jog for a respectable amount of time. the key, for me anyway, was setting the timer for 15-20 mins or so, and not stopping until the time runs out NO MATTER WHAT! I'm now trying my hand at this HIIT thing. What made it bearable for me was bombarding my senses. Distracting myself from the pain. I mean, listening to fast paced music on full blast and watching whatever was on the treadmill TV and daydreaming about the bathing suit I want to one day be proud to wear all at once. I didnt even bother with cardio classes until I thought it was physically possible. But the endurance comes on very quickly if you dont give up. It sucks, a lot, but push through the pain. And totally try out a spin class. Theyre hard at 1st but after a few tries you'll get it, and its not as embarrassing as it seems it will be.  

Really! How long are they, and what are the intervals like? I've only seen them on YouTube. I've been cycling intervals (no running at all) but I think it might take me another 5 or 6 months to be ready.  

i have been doing 15 minutes total, 1 min walking at 3mph, 1 minute at 5.5, 45 secs at 7, 1 minute if i can push it out, back to 5.5 for a minute, then back to 3 for a minute and repeat. It reallllly sucked at 1st, I wouldnt say its a breeze now, but I can do it w/o feeling I'll die. I havent tried it on the bike. I just kept doing it on the treadmill because I HATE running with the fire of 1000 hells and I knew that being able to accomplish that would be a huge triumph for me, so I made a short term goal. Something readily attainable so I could be really proud of myself when I could finally do it and it would inspire me to keep pushing myself to do things I didnt think I could do. I think that is what kept me going this time. I have tried to be a gym rat so many times in my life before but the goal was always so far away and seemed impossible to reach so i always gave up. This time I made a lot of short term goals that were hard but that I could reach with in a few weeks if I tried hard enough as apposed to in a few months or in a year so I could feel good about what I was doing more often and get the drive to keep going. its really been working. how has interval training been treating you on the bike? I read that it is an amazing fat burner. What are your intervals like? I have been thinking about trying the bike out to get more variety in my routine during the week.  

For the past two months, my intervals have been 6 rounds of 30 seconds high intensity (~23 Kph)/30 seconds low intensity 5x each. Each round is 5 minutes with a minute of rest in between. I split 15 minutes before and after intervals to warm up/cool down for a total 45 minute workout. I cycle on my stationary bike at home and I use the free customizable workout timer at speedbagforum.com/timer.html. They have default interval (30 sec) and tabata (10 sec) settings. It has been suggested to me by a buddy to do instead fewer rounds of 60 seconds high intensity/low intensity. It will take me some time to increase beyond 30 seconds high intensity. You're right that HIIT is hard but often more accomplishable. What are the spin classes like?  

that sounds cool. I will definitely be trying that out. The spin classes vary depending on your instructor. When I went to crunch gym, I think they prided themselves on hiring quirky trainers, so I remember one instructor had the lights out and techno music playing and it felt like a party (a party where youre riding a bike for some reason), She was super intense and I always left feeling like I needed to sleep for a few days. They had another that was a large gay man who only played like Beyonce and Aretha Franklin, etc and sang along and encouraged everyone else to as well. That one made me laugh. At my current gym the instructor is just really straight forward. it wasnt a fun class or anything the way it was at Crunch gym, but I definitely felt like he gave me a good work out. Tomorrow, there is a different instructor teaching the spin class, and I know from taking one of her sculpt classes that she could be a freaking drill Sargent if she really wanted to, so that is going to be a tough one. You just have to feel it out. The experience has never been the same for me from instructor to instructor, but it is great cardio and resistance training no matter the circumstance. I def suggest giving it a go 

LOLOL. I wonder if my neighbourhood gym will let me watch a few classes. Do you go every day? How long are they? 

Well I JUST started doing classes early in the morning like last friday. Theyre at 7am and I was pretty stubborn about not waking up so early then one day I was really curious about the cardio kickboxing class so I just did it! Previously I had been getting up at about 8, getting to the gym at 815 and doing my own routine for about an hour. I have now worked my way up to going Mon-Fri. (That was another short term goal) The spin classes are 45 mins (I dont think I could take much more), Yoga is an hour, and the cardio kick boxing class is also 45mins. I bet they would let you watch if you just ask the instructor before hand. I find theyre very nice and compromising usually if you just make your voice heard. You are indirectly paying their salary after all.  

way cool. thanks for the info. i'll let you know when i actually take one! LOL