Due to an incongruence in scheduling, my Goodlife membership expired on October 15th, and will be renewed on November 1st.
To bridge the gap, I'm currently enjoying a 10-day membership at the swanky, premium Delisle Club (part of the Extreme Fitness chain of gyms). Truth be told, I like Extreme a lot. I will comment on the following two points:
Towels Everywhere!
The towels at the Delisle club are both large and plentiful, whereas at Goodlife, I am often treated like Oliver Twist when requesting one. While I often have to offer up my membership card as collateral at Goodlife for the pleasure of drying my sweat where the sweat of 10,000 meatheads has tried before, there appears to be a towel shelf around every corner at the Delisle Club. And the towels are large! I can now cover BOTH ass-cheeks while walking back and forth from the showers, instead of having to choose between left and right.
Cardio Machines + TV!
Cardio sucks. It is boring and tiresome and makes me weary. Having the opportunity to watch television on the stair climbers, ellipticals, treadmills and exercise bikes, however, helps pass the time enjoyably. I often wonder, though, how many people at fancy gyms get caught watching softcore cable pornography while rockin' their cardio workout? (For the record, I watched UFC, which I suppose is akin to porn of a particular variety.)
To make a long story short, the Delisle Club is massive, fancy, and features many lovely amenities. If you can get over the sticker price, I would totally recommend it.
I should also mention that, as a bit of a recovering Lefty, I believe that every community centre in Toronto should be like the Delisle club. Alas, they are not, and it doesn't count to our favour as a society.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Physiotherapy update, the second!
Ankle stability continues to improve... hopefully back to a point next week when I can comfortably train on it.
Alas, my corporate membership for Goodlife is expired, being between cycles on October 15th until November 1st. Until then, I have been gifted with a 10-day pass to Extreme Fitness, whom I intend to visit tomorrow for the first time ever.
Review to follow.
Alas, my corporate membership for Goodlife is expired, being between cycles on October 15th until November 1st. Until then, I have been gifted with a 10-day pass to Extreme Fitness, whom I intend to visit tomorrow for the first time ever.
Review to follow.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Physiotherapy update!
Went to physiotherapy last night, at the doctor's referral.
The good news is, they think that my ankle will be fine to train on in a few weeks - I was basically told, "if it feels okay to train on, then it's okay to train on."
More updates as they become available, but I'm pretty pleased. Maybe I'll only have lost four weeks' training time when this is over!
The good news is, they think that my ankle will be fine to train on in a few weeks - I was basically told, "if it feels okay to train on, then it's okay to train on."
More updates as they become available, but I'm pretty pleased. Maybe I'll only have lost four weeks' training time when this is over!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Man with No Ankles
Well, it turns out that the sprained ankle has totally derailed my cardio plans. Weight training continues as usual, and I happily discovered the magic that is the assisted pull-up machine the other day.
Of course, Thanksgiving weekend has passed. Despite four solid days of feasting, I have managed to stall my weight gain at a single pound.
Going to try to reduce carbohydrate intake this week. Results as they become available. Off to the gym!
[181.2]
Of course, Thanksgiving weekend has passed. Despite four solid days of feasting, I have managed to stall my weight gain at a single pound.
Going to try to reduce carbohydrate intake this week. Results as they become available. Off to the gym!
[181.2]
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Disaster Strikes! - 12:15 edit
Quote of yesterday,
Jay, my personal trainer, at my suggestion that we should use my ankle sprain as an opportunity to make me a ridiculously top-heavy beast:
Jay: "Yeah, this'll be an opportunity to pump up your forearm and grip strength. You'll be able to one-inch punch a shark."
Indeed.
Jay, my personal trainer, at my suggestion that we should use my ankle sprain as an opportunity to make me a ridiculously top-heavy beast:
Jay: "Yeah, this'll be an opportunity to pump up your forearm and grip strength. You'll be able to one-inch punch a shark."
Indeed.
Disaster Strikes!
I sprained my ankle at judo on Wednesday night.
Rather than let this derail my fitness plan, I'm going to try to make this into an opportunity to maximize efficiency in my training regimen. I can imagine three fairly large challenges that I'm going to face this fall as a result:
1) I've been training for a jiu jitsu grading on November 28th. The doctor said to stay away from sports for 4-6 weeks, which means I'm going to lose that training time;
2) The ankle thing is going to make it a bit hard to do cardio;
3) Since I assume that I'm going to be less active, I'm going to have to modify my diet to better suit that inactivity.
So, there we have it. A new challenge on top of an old challenge. Wouldn't have it any other way.
[182.8]
Rather than let this derail my fitness plan, I'm going to try to make this into an opportunity to maximize efficiency in my training regimen. I can imagine three fairly large challenges that I'm going to face this fall as a result:
1) I've been training for a jiu jitsu grading on November 28th. The doctor said to stay away from sports for 4-6 weeks, which means I'm going to lose that training time;
2) The ankle thing is going to make it a bit hard to do cardio;
3) Since I assume that I'm going to be less active, I'm going to have to modify my diet to better suit that inactivity.
So, there we have it. A new challenge on top of an old challenge. Wouldn't have it any other way.
[182.8]
Thursday, October 1, 2009
On Leadership
Tuesday fared better than Monday.
My plans to play squash after work were stifled somewhat by the fact that a windstorm had knocked out power lines to the Goodlife gym close to my work. Despite the fact that there was (mostly) no power to the building, my friends and I were still allowed in. The courts were too dark to actually play a game, but we rallied by the light of the gym's skylights.
Have you ever played squash in the dark? I can't recommend it. It's a bit like playing a night baseball game under really dim lights, and losing the ball in the night sky.
Anyway, we were kicked out of the gym after about half an hour, and we retired to a local pub for dinner and drinks. My three companions ate chicken wings and beer, while I sipped water and ate a delicious roasted vegetable, goat cheese and chicken salad.
I got home around 6:30, and was feeling a bit lazy. Sitting at my computer desk, I had resolved to skip the gym when I struck up a conversation with a junior belt who trained at my jiu jitsu club this summer.
Short version of the story: this junior belt, while a great, hardworking guy, is training against his body type. In this regard, he reminds me a lot of myself - and I think I've taken an interested in his jiu jitsu career because I see him dealing with all of the same issues that I have dealt with, and continue to deal with.
I was just about to tell this guy that I was skipping the gym, when I realized that if our roles were reversed, I would push him to fight inertia (see? A theme!), get out of his chair, and go throw some weights around.
So that's how I ended up at the gym on Tuesday night. Fuck inertia.
... the next post in this blog will deal with the issue of my ankle, and whether it's sprained, broken, or made from unbreakable robot parts. I'm inclined to believe A, hoping against B, with C as a dim possibility.
Details soon.
(PS: All-time low weight this morning. w00t.)
[178.8]
My plans to play squash after work were stifled somewhat by the fact that a windstorm had knocked out power lines to the Goodlife gym close to my work. Despite the fact that there was (mostly) no power to the building, my friends and I were still allowed in. The courts were too dark to actually play a game, but we rallied by the light of the gym's skylights.
Have you ever played squash in the dark? I can't recommend it. It's a bit like playing a night baseball game under really dim lights, and losing the ball in the night sky.
Anyway, we were kicked out of the gym after about half an hour, and we retired to a local pub for dinner and drinks. My three companions ate chicken wings and beer, while I sipped water and ate a delicious roasted vegetable, goat cheese and chicken salad.
I got home around 6:30, and was feeling a bit lazy. Sitting at my computer desk, I had resolved to skip the gym when I struck up a conversation with a junior belt who trained at my jiu jitsu club this summer.
Short version of the story: this junior belt, while a great, hardworking guy, is training against his body type. In this regard, he reminds me a lot of myself - and I think I've taken an interested in his jiu jitsu career because I see him dealing with all of the same issues that I have dealt with, and continue to deal with.
I was just about to tell this guy that I was skipping the gym, when I realized that if our roles were reversed, I would push him to fight inertia (see? A theme!), get out of his chair, and go throw some weights around.
So that's how I ended up at the gym on Tuesday night. Fuck inertia.
... the next post in this blog will deal with the issue of my ankle, and whether it's sprained, broken, or made from unbreakable robot parts. I'm inclined to believe A, hoping against B, with C as a dim possibility.
Details soon.
(PS: All-time low weight this morning. w00t.)
[178.8]
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