The great YMCA adventure begins.......
On Monday, January 29, we joined the Canandaigua YMCA, and on Wednesday, January 31, we were orientated. On Friday, February 2, we used the Y’s exercise-equipment for the first time.
I followed a schedule of sorts at the dreaded PT-gym, although it was mainly to interleaf strength-training with aerobic-training.
So if one exercise-station was occupied I’d do something else; so that similar exercises could be widely interspersed.
E.g. the exercise-bicycle didn’t immediately follow the treadmill, or two arm-strength exercises didn’t fall next to each other.
Yesterday at the Y, as we started out, all the treadmills (eight) were busy, and the recumbent bicycles (five) were all occupied.
But at least one elliptical-trainer was open, so we tried that.
The dreaded PT-gym didn’t have such gizmos at all; the Y has five or six. Ellipticals are huge.
An elliptical is an aerobic machine, except it’s more like running or steps.
It also requires good balance — in short supply for a stroke-survivor.
I did five minutes — next time I’m sure I’ll do more. The biggest challenge seemed to be staying on it; not crashing.
I’m not used to it.
A couple treadmills were open by then in the cardio-room, so we moved to that. Set it at 35 minutes at 3.6 mph at 15%, what I set it at at the PT-gym; although now I recall setting it at 36 minutes.
3.6 mph is a fast walk — running on a treadmill is almost impossible for a stroke-survivor; too sloppy and erratic. Maybe some day I can do it. I’ve had a stroke and I ain’t 48.
I managed to do the full 35 minutes, although the final 10 was puke-city. It’s been at least two weeks since the PT-gym.
Unlike the PT-gym, the Y treadmills have heart-monitors, although mine apparently wasn’t working. The Y treadmills also have a posted 20-minute limit if busy, but no one was waiting for mine.
Next was the recumbent, which also had a heart-monitor. The recumbent was the only machine at the PT-gym with a heart-monitor.
My target heart-rate is 126+ beats per minute; and I got up to that, and slightly over. That was what I did at the PT-gym; and I set it at 21 minutes just like the PT-gym.
The Y also has step-machines, but with a lot more bells-and-whistles than at the PT-gym. I see the step-machine as only a gizmo for more-or-less replicating the steps at the mighty Curve.
At the PT-gym I would do 260; largely because they weren’t real steps. The mighty Curve is only 194 or so, but your body-weight pushes down the steps on a step-machine.
That’s not what happens at the mighty Curve. You’re actually lifting your body-weight about six inches per step.
The Y step-machines measure calories burned, heart-rate, everything-under-the-sun. Set-up was beyond the knowledge of the orientator.
What we’ll probably end up doing is get the step-resistance to be the same as the PT-gym, and then count off 260. All that other gibberish comes later. Heart-rate would be of interest, but only because a step-machine gets it blasting away — as do the steps at the mighty Curve.
The Y gym also has a complete Nautilus circuit, but lacks some of the machines that were at the PT-gym. We were trying to replicate stuff at the PT-gym: but only a few Nautilus-machines were equal. Some were nearly impossible; others a bit off-the-wall.
We noticed they had a pull-down machine in the free-weight room. The PT-gym had a pull-down machine.
What we can’t duplicate at the Y is some of the arm-strength machines the PT-gym had. We have a rowing-machine I bought long ago, and it will probably go back into service; but that’s mainly aerobic. I may have to also build a balance-board similar to the one I used at the PT-gym; all it is is a PVC-pipe screwed lengthwise to a board.
Joining the Y brings the whole package: aging geezers in the locker-room striding buck-naked to the sauna, wipe the sweat off the equipment, the smell of electric-heat blowing out of a vent; and they had it at least at 80° — the pool was a steam-bath.
A flabby 30-ish butterball climbed atop a treadmill, stuffed her iPod into her breast-pocket, stuffed the tiny earpiece into her ear, taped the feed-wire to her bicep, and started blasting away.
Another girl with cellulite thighs was blasting away on another treadmill while reading a raunchy novel; bottled water at the ready.
A musclebound 40-ish guy with graying buzzcut was blasting away on an elliptical while reaching for the ceiling with five-pound free-weights in his hands.
And then Amazon-woman strode in — apparently a Y-employee — to fiddle unused machines.
“Ya mean there are no changing-rooms in the locker-room, so ya gotta change right in front of everybody?” Linda asked.
“Gee; just like high-school!”
I followed a schedule of sorts at the dreaded PT-gym, although it was mainly to interleaf strength-training with aerobic-training.
So if one exercise-station was occupied I’d do something else; so that similar exercises could be widely interspersed.
E.g. the exercise-bicycle didn’t immediately follow the treadmill, or two arm-strength exercises didn’t fall next to each other.
Yesterday at the Y, as we started out, all the treadmills (eight) were busy, and the recumbent bicycles (five) were all occupied.
But at least one elliptical-trainer was open, so we tried that.
The dreaded PT-gym didn’t have such gizmos at all; the Y has five or six. Ellipticals are huge.
An elliptical is an aerobic machine, except it’s more like running or steps.
It also requires good balance — in short supply for a stroke-survivor.
I did five minutes — next time I’m sure I’ll do more. The biggest challenge seemed to be staying on it; not crashing.
I’m not used to it.
A couple treadmills were open by then in the cardio-room, so we moved to that. Set it at 35 minutes at 3.6 mph at 15%, what I set it at at the PT-gym; although now I recall setting it at 36 minutes.
3.6 mph is a fast walk — running on a treadmill is almost impossible for a stroke-survivor; too sloppy and erratic. Maybe some day I can do it. I’ve had a stroke and I ain’t 48.
I managed to do the full 35 minutes, although the final 10 was puke-city. It’s been at least two weeks since the PT-gym.
Unlike the PT-gym, the Y treadmills have heart-monitors, although mine apparently wasn’t working. The Y treadmills also have a posted 20-minute limit if busy, but no one was waiting for mine.
Next was the recumbent, which also had a heart-monitor. The recumbent was the only machine at the PT-gym with a heart-monitor.
My target heart-rate is 126+ beats per minute; and I got up to that, and slightly over. That was what I did at the PT-gym; and I set it at 21 minutes just like the PT-gym.
The Y also has step-machines, but with a lot more bells-and-whistles than at the PT-gym. I see the step-machine as only a gizmo for more-or-less replicating the steps at the mighty Curve.
At the PT-gym I would do 260; largely because they weren’t real steps. The mighty Curve is only 194 or so, but your body-weight pushes down the steps on a step-machine.
That’s not what happens at the mighty Curve. You’re actually lifting your body-weight about six inches per step.
The Y step-machines measure calories burned, heart-rate, everything-under-the-sun. Set-up was beyond the knowledge of the orientator.
What we’ll probably end up doing is get the step-resistance to be the same as the PT-gym, and then count off 260. All that other gibberish comes later. Heart-rate would be of interest, but only because a step-machine gets it blasting away — as do the steps at the mighty Curve.
The Y gym also has a complete Nautilus circuit, but lacks some of the machines that were at the PT-gym. We were trying to replicate stuff at the PT-gym: but only a few Nautilus-machines were equal. Some were nearly impossible; others a bit off-the-wall.
We noticed they had a pull-down machine in the free-weight room. The PT-gym had a pull-down machine.
What we can’t duplicate at the Y is some of the arm-strength machines the PT-gym had. We have a rowing-machine I bought long ago, and it will probably go back into service; but that’s mainly aerobic. I may have to also build a balance-board similar to the one I used at the PT-gym; all it is is a PVC-pipe screwed lengthwise to a board.
Joining the Y brings the whole package: aging geezers in the locker-room striding buck-naked to the sauna, wipe the sweat off the equipment, the smell of electric-heat blowing out of a vent; and they had it at least at 80° — the pool was a steam-bath.
A flabby 30-ish butterball climbed atop a treadmill, stuffed her iPod into her breast-pocket, stuffed the tiny earpiece into her ear, taped the feed-wire to her bicep, and started blasting away.
Another girl with cellulite thighs was blasting away on another treadmill while reading a raunchy novel; bottled water at the ready.
A musclebound 40-ish guy with graying buzzcut was blasting away on an elliptical while reaching for the ceiling with five-pound free-weights in his hands.
And then Amazon-woman strode in — apparently a Y-employee — to fiddle unused machines.
“Ya mean there are no changing-rooms in the locker-room, so ya gotta change right in front of everybody?” Linda asked.
“Gee; just like high-school!”
My brother in Delaware is 48.
posted by BobbaLew at 9:08 AM
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