Most BORING gym session ever experienced!

[SteelWeaver]

Attack of the deathly dull 60 min cardio session!

Rolled out of bed at 6am for my first ever empty stomach a.m. cardio session this morning. 55mins on the Stairmaster at 135 or so BPM, and I was wondering if my brain would ever recover! I never realised how slow that is - I always ride my bike for cardio, hard, thinking I'm too slow.

And yet, my legs got sore - I guess that would be the empty stomach part of things.

Would reading a book whilst doing this be a bad idea, so long as I keep track of my pulse?

 

[SteelWeaver]

The only friends I have who are coercible enough to do this to themselves at THAT time of morning are BOOKS, and maybe one or two mags.

Even my training shoes were reluctant when I shoved them in my bag! And they're usually gung ho!

 

[MS]

Ahem. Isn't it a bit early in your diet to be hitting the extra cardio like that???? Be patient. You can't judge if the diet is working properly until you've monitored your fatloss for a few weeks without changing anything else. You've also got 5 months to go, so I really, REALLY think you should take things a bit slower. It will also save some of those bored brain cells from a painful death.........

 

[SteelWeaver]

WHOAA!! Really??!!! None extra at all? OMG it's Christmas all over again! But then I never thought I'd have to ask for my brain cells back and extra sleep.

Seriously though - I think half the reason my progress has been so (relatively) slow, is all the cardio I used to do. I've only really cut down on it since September, and up til then was riding my bike to and from work at least 3 times a week - so that's 6 - 8 45 min sessions per week. (Doh!) Last year (oh, 2000) I used to add an extra 2 classes of high impact aerobics, too! I was ignorant, what can I say?

Since December I've only ridden to work once a week I miss my morning Tokyo gridlock eat-my-dust power wave, the shaking fists, the triumphant cackle of glee as I glide by, free while they're trapped in the traffic! Heh heh.

(OK, try to get to the point, Steel ...) Soooo... shall I just continue with that one (well 2 - one there, one back) session? Wait til the weight loss slows? Then add sessions one by one?

 

[KBgrl]

been there......done that........the only thing that helps me is oprah.......

 

[new@gettinbig]

Hmmm get yourself some good music...makes the time go by so much faster. You will get used to it in no time

 

[MS]

Yes. Just keep doing what you've been doing for cardio. If you've got the calories right for your diet you should be losing that 1.5lbs per week without any extra cardio. If you have excess energy, use it lifting weights! Cardio is an auxillary tool to use if and when needed. You're still a bodybuilder first and foremost.

 

[Gladiola]

Attack of the deathly dull 60 min cardio session!

I KNOW the feeling... particularly in comparison to how fun I find my aerobics classes to be!

Yup, I agree - TV, book, mag, music, or even a combo.

I was reading on the bike (wired up to my new HR Monitor! ) and someone said,

"You will damange your eyes reading on the bike. With your body moving & trying to keep your eyes focused on the book - eye strain."

What do ya think?? My guess is that's a myth, but I don't really know.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Unfortunately, the TV's all in Japanese, which could technically help me improve, but mostly it's only food shows - weird stuff like how to cook sea cucumbers (hint - this is NOT a vegetable) and giant squid ink. Eugh! Anyway, those earphone things make me feel like a mummy - all muffled and off-balance.

Books and moving - well, can't comment - I've been rather badly short-sighted since primary school. Could be, though. You could try big-print books (?).

MS - cool! I'll skip the new session for now then. What shall I do about breakfast on my bike day - I usually eat breakfast BEFORE riding - should I switch that to after?

It's kind of hard to tell the weight loss at the moment - I lost 2 kilos when I wasn't training because of my back, and cut out the creatine, but I went back on the creatine on Monday, so I don't know if that causes water retention or something - it's not like the weight is falling off ...

Anyway, will monitor.

Enjoy your cardio, girls!

 

[MS]

For now it doesn't matter too much if you eat before or after your bike ride. Later on it would be better (but not crucial) if you do your cardio before your first meal or after your weights session (possibly both in the last few weeks if everything hasn't gone according to plan).

If you still haven't lost any fat after two more weeks, then you know your diet needs adjusting. I strongly recommend you keep the creatine in for the whole diet. Anytime you're a veggo or cut out redmeat and seafood you seriously need to consider creatine supplementaion. This is particularly true while dieting IMHO. Later on (when you hopefully dip below 12-14%bf) you might want to stock up on some glutamine and free form aminos as well (just make sure it comes from non-animal sources LOL).

 

[Debu]

been there......done that........the only thing that helps me is oprah.......

I used to tape it everyday for my 60min long bike ride at home!

 

[Sapphire]

cd walkman or watch the tv's at the gym to catch up on the news. It passes the time and keeps you up to date on what's going on. Try doing stairs for 30 and another machine right after for another 30 if 60 min is your goal.

Books aren't worth it for me. I find they don't stay open well so you need one hand on the book, the other on the machine, it's a nightmare for me

 

[wyst]

Ah...Wooseboks.

Wooseboks?

 

[Gladiola]

Books aren't worth it for me. I find they don't stay open well so you need one hand on the book, the other on the machine, it's a nightmare for me

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with the book on any piece of equipment but a bike... unless I had a nifty holder-rack - then it works great on a stair-master. Those things are invaluable!
If your gym doesn't have one, it might be worth it to put in a request to the gym manager.

(Found some sites in case anyone is wondering what I'm talking about!)

http://www.nefitco.com/cardio.html
http://store.yahoo.com/bigfit/upandoverrack2.html

 

[ashe]

music....

without it i don't know how i could get through a long cardio session!!!

 

[KBgrl]

I used to tape it everyday for my 60min long bike ride at home!

LOL... yea shes great. ill catch her at the gym when its a slow long cardio session. when i do high intensity i cant watch the TV... i need my beats then.