MetaChat - Gym update

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15 April 2007

Gym update →[More:]As some of you may know, I recently joined a local health club and I really feel as if I'm getting into the groove. The first couple of weeks I pootled around, lazy swim, whirlpool, steam room ... but I know I need to do more, so I've hit the cardio room now.

I'm so unfit, so my goal for the time being is to improve stamina. So yesterday and today I began with 15 minutes on the bike, and then moved to the treadmill where I did 45 minutes power walking, getting my heart rate up around 140bmp. It's enough to make me sweat and I feel as if I've worked hard at the end of it. I know compared with how fit I used to be 10 years ago this is nothing, but baby steps are needed here - if I went straight into a spin class I'd end up in hospital. My heart and lungs are strong (I come from a family of brass instrument players and have inherited good lungs) and my resting heart rate is just 55.

What I love about this gym (and I expect like all modern gyms - I've been out of the loop for a while) is that I can plug my headphones in and watch TV whilst I'm working out, then I don't notice the time passing. Although I'll try not to do what the woman on the bike in front of me did yesterday - stop pedalling and watch the cookery show for half an hour.

Afterwards, a couple of lengths of the pool, then steam room, shower and home.

I've booked my first class for next Wednesday - yoga.

This afternoon I've been like a thing possessed - I've done a ton of laundry, cleaned the house, made soup, cooked two different kinds of chicken and it's still not even time for the football!

I made a fabulous one-pot dish, a sort of Greek-inspired chicken dish. Recipe to follow.

post by: essexjan at: 09:28 | 17 comments

Mediterranean chicken
Serves 2 (or one greedy person)

This is a delicious one-pot meal. You need a skillet with a lid (or a large plate you can use as a lid)

In a large skillet over medium drizzle a little olive oil. Crush 2 cloves of garlic and add to the oil.

Place two chicken legs skin side down and fry until the skin starts to go crispy. Turn them over. Do the same on the other side. Put the lid on the skillet turn down the heat and let the chicken cook for 10-15 minutes until almost done.

Take the chicken out of the pan, Set it to one side and cover it. You should have lots of nice garlicky, chickeny, olive oily juices in the pan.

Turn the heat up. To the pan add a couple of chopped courgettes (zucchini) and a chopped red bell pepper. Fry them in the juices. Then de-glaze the pan with a squeeze of lemon juice and give it a good stir. Add the finely-chopped zest of half a lemon, a generous handful of pitted black olives and the same of chopped parsley. Return the chicken to the pan. Stir everything around.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add a handful of cherry tomatoes and (optional) a generous amount of spinach. Stir into the chicken/veg mix. Cover the pan, simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Like most Mediterranean food, this dish is best when it's slightly cooled, almost lukewarm.

Serve with crusty bread to mop up all the chicken/lemon/garlic/herb juices.

posted by essexjan 15 April | 09:40

Sounds yummy, ej.

There's this gym called "The Rock" a few blocks from our apartment, near the train, that I've flirted with a couple of times. I'm a little intimidated, though. There's this long flight of stairs from street-level to the gym above; the sight of these stairs alone gives me angina. Then there's this flat screen TV next to the door that shows skinny people in skimpy spandex in step classes that makes me wonder even what I'd wear. I need to get in shape before I join the gym. A whirlpool and steamroom sound lovely, though.

(you'll have to walk slower for me when you visit in June : )

posted by Pips 15 April | 10:03

This gym is great in that I'm not by a long shot the oldest/fattest/unfittest person there. The last gym I was a member of, about 7 or 8 years ago, was full of posers and women who swam in full make-up and never got their hair or faces wet. When I got in the pool they would give me this "who let a manatee in here?" look. But my jelly arse* feels right at home in my new gym.

*soon to be replaced with 'bum of steel'

posted by essexjan 15 April | 10:13

I'm going to start beating up teenagers to get back into shape.

posted by PlanetKyoto 15 April | 10:42

God, now I’m feeling hungry all over again. And I just had a Chicken Tereyaki Subway half-an-hour ago:/

Good to know you’ve been well jan! I’ve gotten a bit overweight myself, and plan to hit the gym soon too. Although, I think walking would be the best exercise for me; I remember, prior to taking my medication, I would walk a lot too, mostly in circles, thinking rapidly, for hours at a stretch, and that is what maybe had kept my weight down for so long. Not anymore though.

Swimming is something else I would love to do.

posted by hadjiboy 15 April | 10:56

Pips, I wear a t shirt and sweat shorts when I go--so far no one's said anything to me in the locker room or sauna; I have my Ipod while I'm on the bike...I try to get 40 minutes on it a few times a week. The only change I notice is that I'm not bursting out of my clothes.

posted by brujita 15 April | 10:58

There are only two legitamite resons for physical exertion:1) you are being paid 2) you are being pursued by law enforcement, grizzly bears, cannibal zombies or performance poets. If anyone needs me I'll be in the opium den.

posted by jonmc 15 April | 11:04

That sounds delish, jan. I will definitely try that -- thank you. I am trying to get away from always depending on skinless boneless chicken breast and go back to using actual pieces of a chicken.

And congratulations on getting into the gym. So much of getting fit is about repetition - not how hard you work out or what you do, but just continuing to keep with the program week in, week out. Your hour-long workout sounds excellent for easing in, too. Best wishes. I have slacked off all winter and need to follow your example: I'm registered for a 5-mile race next Sunday, but I will be slowly trotting through it because I've been so lazy this year. And I don't feel as well. For me, the best reasons for working out are not about appearance but about the things you mention: increased energy, relaxation, lifted mood, a body that feels good to live in.

Way to go!

posted by Miko 15 April | 11:34

gym rave/

I love my gym! There are women there of every age, size, and shape. The majority are white, but it's probably 65%, so it's not like it's blindingly so. Lots of extensive tattoos, too, which I love, and of course piercings, but mostly I see the typical eyebrows and tongues, which are so common I don't notice them anymore.

I usually stay in the women's section, so I haven't noticed if the men are equally interesting.

And actually, one of the things I love is that the machines DON'T have TVs on them, which I think are hard to ignore if you don't like them- even turned off they're still a huge black square 18" in front of your face. Some of the pedalling machines (you pedal with your legs out in front of you) do have TVs but if you stop pedalling I think they turn off- you're powering them with the pedalling.

I'm lucky in that the treadmills in the women's section have windows, so I can watch people going in and out of city hall- usually a diverse crowd in its own right.

/gym rave

posted by small_ruminant 15 April | 11:46

My gym doesn't have TVs in the machines, but plasma screens around the room. You pick the machine that's facing the show you want to see (there's a choice of 8 or 9 different channels), plug your phones into the machine and tune to the channel for the sound.

There's also machines with no TV near them for people who don't like them.

posted by essexjan 15 April | 11:54

"if I went straight into a spin class I'd end up in hospital."

I went straight into a senior's no-impact get-up-and-sway-around-a-bit class, and I did end up in a hospital. That's how bad my heart is.

Hang in there, ej, the trick is to make the gym part of your lifestyle where you don't even think about going, you just go automatically.

posted by mischief 15 April | 12:04

Congrats, ej!

You've just about inspired me to start going to the gym near my house to use the treadmills a couple times a week.

posted by BoringPostcards 15 April | 13:28

You should have seen MY first spin class. I weighed over 200 pounds (not sure what that is in stone) and I am only five feet tall. Let's just say at half that weight I'd have been looking FINE.

I did fine (except for my butt which was SORE) but then one does NOT try to keep up with the triathletes, no matter how much the instructor is yelling. Thankfully I found the one instructor who does NOT yell, and I mostly stick to his classes.

(If you do try make sure you take water and make sure you drink the whole bottle during the class. It makes a huge diff.)

Essexjan, what you are doing sounds exactly right, tho. But do try the spin when you feel up to it.

posted by bunnyfire 15 April | 14:15

BTW I answered your question re my proposal and marriage on that thread. Don't drink anything while reading it unless you WANT to spew beverage all over your screen.

posted by bunnyfire 15 April | 14:16

Congrats on the new workout regime - I steer well clear of gyms for fear of my ego. I went out running this afternoon for the first time in a couple of weeks. I went too far in too much sun; it was bad. Looks like I'll have to go back to running in the late evening. Arse.

posted by TheDonF 15 April | 16:21

Good for you essexjan! The recipe sounds delicious, I have to make it.

My new job in cardiac rehab is fabulous for working out, it's a little gym. I walk on the treadmill or hop on the stairmaster when it's slow. During my long break I power walk to Panera Bread for a cup of soup.

I broke down and bought a pair of fug Crocs. They're hideous but oh so comfy. I wear them to work and they make you want to walk! At my regular nursing job I briskly walk the halls when I have free time.

posted by LoriFLA 15 April | 21:50

EJ, and all you fellow exercisin' bunnies,

Start hydrating assiduously, and not just when you're actually working out -- keep a bottle of water around and sip on it. If you're doing it right, you'll want to pee about every half hour. Your body's metabolism uses water as its medium for all biochemical processes, and it can work the weight-loss magic more efficiently if there's enough water present. Plus you'll feel even better.

I salute you for doing the gym thing. I'm happier out in the park in any kind of weather, seeing the change of seasons. Never liked gyms much.

Thx for the recipe -- if I ever finish the venison chili, I'll have to try Greek-style chicken next. Opa!

(Lori, I just bought some knockoff ventilated sneakers -- the kind designed for water and mud -- just for dogmarching. I know what you mean about "Wow, these make me wanna GO!")

posted by PaxDigita 16 April | 09:32

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