Fitness chat and tips #3

Can I have a bit of a fitness class / gym vent??

Ok, this is my rant to every person who goes to the gym & doesn't put in their very best effort:

*If you've come to the gym to do exercise, DO IT! Don't whinge about it, don't whine that its too hard, every time you say "I can't", you give yourself permission to fail & that's not good enough.
*Don't take every low option (unless you have an injury, obviously), start out at the high option & drop back to low if you need to. If you start at low, you've got nowhere to go. Even if you only do one of the high option, I'm ok with that, next week you'll do 2! It's the only way to get better.
*Don't accept that you're doing it wrong, talk to the instructor, ask questions, get your technique fixed. It's what they are there for and they love it.
*Say "I CAN" and you'll be surprised at what you achieve.
*90% of the effort in exercising is getting out the door, only 10% goes into your workout. Get into a routine, make exercise a habit & put that 90% into your workout.

Thanks, I feel better. I just had a class with a bunch of under achievers who didn't push themselves and it dragged the energy of everyone down.

Hope everyone else is moving, grooving, rocking out, whatever it is that you love to do, I hope you're doing it! :cheer:

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Can I have a bit of a fitness class / gym vent??

Ok, this is my rant to every person who goes to the gym & doesn't put in their very best effort:

*Don't take every low option (unless you have an injury, obviously), start out at the high option & drop back to low if you need to. If you start at low, you've got nowhere to go. Even if you only do one of the high option, I'm ok with that, next week you'll do 2! It's the only way to get better.


Hope everyone else is moving, grooving, rocking out, whatever it is that you love to do, I hope you're doing it! :cheer:

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Yes you can have a whinge about those lousy class participants.
:hide:Now I will put my hand up to admit that I am someone who will nearly always (for at least quite a few classes) will take the low option - it takes me ages to get co-ordinated enough to get the low option in classes and the confidence to attempt the higher options. But I will attempt them when I get a little more confident in some classes (not usually ones that I know I will fall over my feet with though:redface: )

I haven't been up to much lately either :( Been sick with a cold and school has been ridiculously stressful lately. Had to miss Blake's swimming lesson last week because I was too sick to get in the pool with him :cold: still have a bit of a cough that appears when it wants (for some reason if I get a bad cold/cough it takes ages for it to finish and disappear - sensitive chest but only after having a cold with a cough). I hate having coughing fits just walking around my school library. I have been told to stay home but I've only got the stupid cough and I'm fine with general duties (although my Year 8 & 9s have nearly made me lose my voice) just this cough pops up every now and then during the day :wall:. I would go stir crazy if I stayed home, particularly if it's one of the days that DH is home with Blake - I wouldn't end up getting any rest - and I've got too much school stuff to do, should really get off BB and do some, although sleep is sounding very attractive tonight ..... okay sleep is winning see you all another day (maybe tomorrow if I manage it :p)

Of curse you're allowed to have a whinge Winter! It is frustrating when people don't put in their full effort... How is your training going?

Liz - I hope you're feeling better hon. You'll be back in the swing in no time.

AFM - I had PT Tuesday which went well. D was receptive to physio's wish for me to trial more cross trainer and bike which he let me do. But only 5 min on each. Hopefully more next time. We also adjusted my squats so I'm doing them on that frame with the bar that just goes up and down - impossible to have wrong posture! It was good. I did better than he thought. My only issue was the compression was noticable on my back so we just did the bar and no weights whilst I get used to it. Other stuff was boring. I've not done any training at home this week due to shifts which is frustrating.

Oh, my heart rate monitor HAS crapped itself totally. No longer registers a heart rate at all! So I finally sent it off today to be repaired. I sent it to the proper place in SA and have paid for it to be a priority - hopefully I'll get it back soon!!!!!!!

Hope everyone is having fun!

What is the confidence issue? Explain it to me Leckert, please, cos I really don't get it and I'm not trying to be argumentative ;) Are you worried that people are going to look at you and laugh or that you're going to fall over on your arse? What about for things like push-ups? Do you need confidence to start on your toes before dropping back to knees? What about things like squats, doing shallow squats instead of putting your 'ass to the grass'? To me it's such a cheat. I want to yell at people who do shallow squats and lunges and make them work harder!

Hi All!

Winter: It bugs me too. I went to an Attack class a couple of weeks ago (I may have posted about it already) and there were a couple of girls who had never done Attack and were not taking it seriously. They were giggling and not doing most of it. It was a particularly packed class already and they were just making it more frustrating! If you have an injury of course you take the best option for you, other wise the Attack motto is 'go hard or go home' as quoted by my instructor on my first Attack Class :lol:.

leckert: hope you are feeling better soon.


MG: How long will it take to get your heart rate monitor back? I am curious about heart rate monitors, as it's great to gauge how fit you are with how quick your heart rate returns to normal. What sort/brand do you have? I have heard of the Polar ones.
With all your injuries, you still give your best, that is always great to read and helps me give it my all too.

I did Combat on Wednesday. I did a really silly thing, I forgot to put my Sports Bra on and had to do it in my Materinty Bra :o The knee lifts and couple of other things were just a little bit tricky and boy was I self conscious I didn't have the right bra on!!
The usual instructor wasn't there so we had a fill in. She is and old style combat instructor (been around since release 8 and we are no 48 or 49). She hadn't learnt the new release and didn't have any other music for Combat as the gym has had some technical problems with ear phones and music. So she took us through a Combat circuit/training. Showed us how to do the round house properly, lot's of sprints, pushups, medicine ball plus Combat arm movements, and showing the correct technique. It was great, I was stuffed after and actually felt a little sore in a good way for the next couple of days. She is funny, she is one those really loud shouting get in your face instructors. She was telling us how Michelle Bridges trained her, and how she couldn't walk after a training session with her :lol:

I did Attack last Sunday and again a very busy class. The instructor laid down the law being winter that if you didn't get into the class in time for the warm up then you couldn't participate. A girl showed up just as we finished the warm up and he told her "too late, you can't join this class you have missed the warm up", she looked a bit embarassed and left. He has a point, it's really cold here in Melbourne at the moment, and a good warm up is essential I think.
Back to Attack tomorrow, have a great week everyone, stay warm!!

Heather - it's good to hear the instructor has that attitude. Insufficient warm up (and cool down) is a receipe for disaster!

Girls, don't feel shy to say that with an injury it is frustrating to watch someone with an injury not do their best. I certainly feel that way. BUT, the thing is, how do you know if someone has an injury unless you know them? My injury isn't obvious to the outsider. I no longer limp or whince/cringe/grimace with 98% of movement. To the uninformed, I'd look like an elephant trying to do ballet without all the grace. But in reality, I have a very serious long term injury that I'm rehabilitating and working on losing my weight. Sometimes I only go to PT for the routine because something is better than nothing. The only people who would know that are those who know me. I KNOW people watch me in the gym and make assumptions. And it irks ME. It makes me more self conscious and less welcome.

Having said that, when I see the same people consistently not putting in an effort and I KNOW they don't have an excuse, it irritates the you know what out of me. Especially when I look at healthy, able people who fritter it away. As my boss would say "ijiots".


Heather, I have the Polar F7. I love it. It isn't top of the line but it is good. It does ranges for heart rate, tells you what your HR is, calculates how many calories you've burnt and how many of those are fat burning, it tracks how long you've been exercising. It cost me about $250 last Oct from Rebel. I'm not sure how long it will take to fix but I did pay for the priority. It should be there Monday. One of the guys at work is a semi-professional cyclist and he said the guys at Polar are pretty good and it shouldn't take the 5 weeks I was quoted. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed. It is still under warranty so if it isn't resolved by replacing the battery, I shouldn't have to pay for the repairs.

I've not done anything at all this week. I was hoping to yesterday after work but got called from DD's creche and had to pick her up early as she came down with a fever. She is pretty sick actually. I contemplated a trip to the ED last night... but held off. Going to the Dr this afternoon at 1630 hrs. Hoping for AB's as I am certain it is an infection. Hoping to avoid a hospital admission but she is fairly sick. Was rigoring this morning and slept for 3 hours. Poor kid. She just whimpers all day and night - even in her sleep. Despite panadol and neurofen. Her temp goes as low as 37.4 on a combination of panadol and neurofen... but mostly hovers a 38.3 although hits 39+ easily. Sucks being a nurse and not being able to make it better for her. My poor baby.

Anyway, hoping to get some exercise in this evening despite having only had 2 hours sleep over night and none today...

Keep active girls!

I know it can be frustrating but you have to come to terms with the fact that not everyone goes to the gym to work their arses off. It's something I struggled with in the beginning but some people go for the social atmosphere, some people go to have fun, some for the music, some to get out of the house, some because they think they should...

Just ignore them, they're there for their reasons and you're there for yours and theirs is just as valid as yours. But trust me, I do understand. You want to shake them and scream at them and tell them how amazing great fitness feels. But everyone needs to get there in their own time xxx

I hear ya Winter - being on the instructor side of it all I have to try and cater for all those different partcipants....the hard workers, the 'easers' (easing back into it), the ones there for the giggles lol - meanwhile I need to keep pulling myself back so I can try and include everyone in the class....

I have gotten back into running PT sessions, one lady is having a training session for her work with Melinda Gainsford Taylor in THREE WEEKS. This chic is packing it, she can't do one pushup on her knees - so we have a bit of ground to cover to get her prepared. Wish me luck. After a 10 min light cycle on my spin bike she just about puked in my driveway!!

I hope you're all doing really well and achieving those goals....

How is the pushup challenge going?? I'm at 60 on my toes - NEXT!

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I have gotten back into running PT sessions, one lady is having a training session for her work with Melinda Gainsford Taylor in THREE WEEKS. This chic is packing it, she can't do one pushup on her knees - so we have a bit of ground to cover to get her prepared. Wish me luck. After a 10 min light cycle on my spin bike she just about puked in my driveway!!

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GOOD LUCK!!! I really hope she sticks with it!! What will she be doing with MGT?

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How is the pushup challenge going?? I'm at 60 on my toes - NEXT!

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Well done Lees!! :cheer: I made it to 50 on my toes the other night but I had to stop & stretch for 5 sec at 44 so I haven't got there yet in my mind. Will keep working on it!
What would you like your next goal to be? You can choose the next challenge ;)

Hmmmm, tapping fingers together wickedly hehehehe...

Dare I say TRICEP pushups??

Ouch!!! Ouch!! I'm in pain just thinking about them!!! ;)

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What is the confidence issue? Explain it to me Leckert, please, cos I really don't get it and I'm not trying to be argumentative ;) Are you worried that people are going to look at you and laugh or that you're going to fall over on your arse? What about for things like push-ups? Do you need confidence to start on your toes before dropping back to knees? What about things like squats, doing shallow squats instead of putting your 'ass to the grass'? To me it's such a cheat. I want to yell at people who do shallow squats and lunges and make them work harder!

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sorry to take a while to get back here - been one of those weekends - too much school work and still got this cough that hangs around still (went backwards with the cough today :( )

My problem is that it takes me ages to get my body to understand the moves (body memory type stuff). Please remember I currently don't get to the gym, but when I was going to classes, I would try my hardest but I couldn't get things together in sequence so I was a bit behind if I tried to get the higher options. My really have to concentrate to get the moves right and I was rather unfit when I started. I definitely wasn't there for the giggles, I just had to concentrate really hard to get the basic moves so there was no way I was up for attempting the higher option right off (I also have an ankle that sometimes plays up - usually when I am carrying around less weight than I currently am :rolleyes: ) I guess my confidence thing was a more of a fall over my a*** than trying to show off, and actually getting the moves down.

(Leesa will vouch that I did try hard in the one class that I managed to get with her before the school year started this year :lol: - not sure my arms were ready for me to try the higher weight that day in pump)

Hi Everyone :)

leckert..I get where you are coming from. When you start in the beginning it is best to just get what you are doing and go a good pace. You don't want to go in hard, come out thinking 'I am never going to do that again!).

leesa: Wow Mellinda Gainsford! I would like to meet her and have a training session, that would be fantastic! I hope your client gets really motivated by her :) I have been doing the Tricep push ups in Attack....ouch!

MG: Thanks for the info on the heart rate monitor, might go into my local Rebel and have a look. I hope your DD is feeling better and you managed to get in some excerise.

My week so far has been my usual. Attack on Sunday, again someone came in late, really late, we had already finished the warm up, I thought he was going to let her participate as we were half way through a track an she started. When the track finished he asked her to leave. We do all sort of push ups in Attack, I am getting much better at them and able to do more on my toes!
Combat again today, and the Combat instructor was away again, they are short on combat instructors here. So the girl who took it last week did again this week. She also takes Sweat Zone on Fridays...this felt like one of those sessions :)
We do the Combat moves and she shows us how to do them properly, we also did alot of other things that aren't in a normal Combat class. I now know what the knee lift is called..a Mai Thai (sp?). Everybody that finished was red faced, sweaty and exhausted!!
Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Hi all.....just subscribing to this thread as I need a big kick up the backside to get out in the cold and rain and just DO IT.

6 months ago I joined an outdoor training group for 3 nights a week and got myself feeling fit again. This led to running (which I have never liked, and I could never do) I'm more into strength work (like PUMP) and stop start sports (touch footy, netball).

Anyway, since then I've worked up to running 7kms and been in 2 X 5km fun runs. I've got another fun run (the goal) at the end of July which is 11kms, but I havent done anything for about 3 weeks! I need to just get out there but of course it has to be out the door before 5.50am in the morn or after 7.30pm at night.

Just need some inspiration and a gentle nudge to reach my goal (only 4.5 weeks to go).

Welcome Nel!

Heather - keep up the good work! I am so pleased the instructor is being strict about late commers! And thank you for DD's well wishes. She is much better now and back to normal :)

AFM, I did PT yesterday. We did much more than normal in a challenging sense. He had me standing over two blocks and then squating with a weight - it was good :):):) It was a compromise because he wanted to add weight to the squats I was doing with the bar thing but I was reluctant due to the compression that causes on the spine. So we found a compromise! He also let me do longer on the xtrainer and bike. 8 minutes on each. We're getting there with that. I had no problems at all on either piece of equipment which is so amazing considering all the issues I've had. It really gives me hope that I will be able to return to running again!
Amazingly, I've pulled up with only minor soreness today. And I do mean mild. It didn't kick in until after lunch and it is just when I take a long stride. I am amazed at how good I feel. Although I am so very tired today! I had intended to do another session at home today but I am too tired - I will train tomorrow (have the next 2 days off) and I have another PT session Fri :)

Keep active girls!

Nellnell - Winter is our running expert here - if she can't inspire you to get back to it, no one can. She is a truly inspirational woman!

Leckert - Maybe get back to doing Pump classes? The moves are 96% the same from class to class, rarely do they throw in a new move, but overall its just the sequence that changes, not the moves. Two times a week and you WILL notice a difference :-)

MG - Awesome sounding session hun - I am loving that word 'compromise' hehehe! And it paid off too :-)

Heather - I'm not overly impressed with the girl I trained last week. I spent one and a half hours with her, as she was new to exercise (after a year break) I wanted her to let me know how she pulled up the next day. No news, she didn't contact me. I asked her to keep me updated daily on what exercise she had done - she didn't contact me. The only time I heard from her was the other day when she wanted another session. As shes getting the sessions free (its my mates g/f) I'm feeling used, and not enjoying it. I said we'd have a session last night, but messsaged her as I had a headache and cancelled.

nellnell: Welcome!! And now go out there and RUN!!! Hehehe

leesa: so sorry that girl is such a PITA. Maybe just tell her that you expect commitment from ALL the people you train... dunno :dunno: it's a hard one

AFM, been a good girl riding my bike everyday. My feet are a lot better, thanks to Nettie's advice :p. Otherwise haven't done much. Life is a struggle atm. I haven't had a day off in 18 weeks and I'm sooooo exhausted. (I study five days a week and work four days). I'm out of the house 7 days a week between 6.30am and 10.30pm. Once I get home I have to cook, do my homework, write assignments, learn for the next exam etc... I never get to bed before midnight (last night it was actually 2.30am :o)... I NEED A BREAK... :wall:

Sorry for the rant. Should have posted it in the Bohoo room. I just feel that I should be doing more exercise, but I just don't know when to fit it in. I don't even have time to do washing or anything.. (dp only does it once I start using his socks, because I ran out of my own :rofl:)

Anyway, enough about me. How is everyone else?

Hi everyone!

Nellnell - if you can run 5km & you can run 7km - you know you can run 11km. Get out there and do the training! End of July is over a month a way. 3 runs a week, nudging the distance up a smidge each time & you'll do it easy. :cheer:

(:loveshower: Leesa, I love, love, love your book! I am totally inspired to do a half marathon now. I'm not sure how the baby making plans will affect it short term, but I fully intend to do it one day on my way up to a marathon. I'm putting "marathon" down on my wish list because your book tells me I can do it & I believe it! :loveshower: Have I said thanks, thanks, thanks you gorgeous woman yet?! :loveshower:)