Primal Journal - Owly page 11

[Owly]

Down to 149 this morning. It's weird, they say it is supposed to get harder as you get leaner, but these days, it seems pretty much effortless. I eat my primal foods, make sure to get my sleep, stay active, and avoid drinking my calories. I don't fuss about macros and stick mostly to what's fresh and seasonal (helped by the CSA, since we only get seasonal vegetables).

After a couple of years, it really isn't that complicated anymore. I think it's easy to get too hung up on the details. Now that I have a feel for what to eat and what it feels like to be satiated (not stuffed, but well fed), I find it amazingly simple to stick with this.

Also, I now fit into the smallest of my small clothes--I'm now very glad I didn't toss them after I put on the weight. I put on a size 2 dress the other day and it looked great, and we're not talking something stretchy, we're talking a tailored cotton shirtdress (still in 4-6 in pants though, thanks to the squatter booty and muscular thighs). I'm sort of astonished since I hadn't really expected to get back here. My goal was to get to a healthy weight, and the rest has just been a bonus.

The thing that feels weird is how people who don't know me just assume I'm naturally slim. The people at the office go on and on about things like how much fat is in a Timmies double-double, how they throw away their egg yolks, and how they skim all the fat off their meat. When I comment quietly that I don't worry about fat, I get the "well you don't have to, you're slim" thing. I don't bother saying more since I don't feel like explaining my eating to people. I just quietly shake my head as people torment themselves with Lean Cuisines and fat-free creamer.

[Owly]

Okay, so I went to the gym with my sweetie last night. Not the Crossfit gym--I'm still too broke for that--but to the gym at the local city rec centre that's been newly renovated and reopened. We figured we'd go check out the gym there and see if it would be a good longer term option since the cold months are approaching fast.

First of all, it's almost all machines. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not really a machine sort of woman. I like my free weights and find that machines often force awkward movements even when I adjust them. Part of this problem is that machines are designed for men's bodies, so they are built to men's heights and men's proportions. Some of them adjust okay, but for others, if I raise the seat so my upper body is comfortable, then my feet can't be squarely planted, that sort of thing. Bleh. I'm not a fan of the ladies-only gym concept, but I do like the idea that many of them have equipment that's sized for smaller people (I'm sure some shorter dudes would also appreciate this).

Also, the free weights they do have are nice and new, but I found myself wondering where all the rest of the dumbbells went. Above 10 pounds, there was only one pair at each weight, and nothing above 35 pounds. Seriously. And they have a rack of curl bars, but nothing over 65 pounds there. But hey, there's a big rack of small dumbbells that they can roll around for aerobics classes and not scare people by showing them that they might actually lift more than 10 pounds sometime. And don't even bother looking for barbells.

As for other equipment, well, there's not much. Some mats for doing situps and stuff, but almost no floor space for them. A pullup tower thing with optional assist, but it's so short that my partner had to fold his legs up to use it. Not a standard straight pullup bar in sight. A little rack of medicine balls, the largest being 10 pounds. A couple of skipping ropes. The ubiquitous stackable aerobic steps. They did have a back extension bench and an inclined situp bench at least.

And the dudes. The guy who was doing dumbbell bench presses with the 30s and grunting with every movement when we walked in continued to grunt and snort his way through his entire workout. Now, I'm not anti-grunting--I've been known to let out some odd noises on the last couple of reps of a hard set or when I'm pushing for a new 1RM on my deadlifts. But seriously, you don't need to groan with every rep of your lat pulldowns, dude. And I'm pretty sure I saw him kiss his biceps. Then there was the skinny young guy in doing some crazy workout he'd probably read in a fitness magazine that might have worked better for him if he hadn't done it all with 4 pound weights. I get that not everyone is strong, but I saw the kid rip out 10 pullups easily, so I'm not sure why he's messing around with the teeny weights.

Anyhow, we did a reasonable upper body workout with what we had and then headed off to the hot tub for a few minutes before heading home. All in all, it was a reasonably equipped gym for someone starting off or for people who really like machine-based workouts, but it wasn't for me. I found myself laughing at myself when we left, though, since a few years ago I would have found it intimidating and more than adequate. My partner says it's because I've grown out of that sort of setup now. He may be right. Or I may just be becoming a gym snob asshole. Heh.

So the quest for a good gym at a more affordable price continues. Our next stop will be at the large city-run athletic facility about 10 minutes from here. They are supposed to have a lot more serious equipment since they offer training programs for athletes, plus there's more aquatic facilities and an indoor track. If it seems like a good option, we'll probably go with it since the city pass would also allow us to use the pool and such at the smaller facility we were at yesterday, which would be a nice option. If that doesn't work, then we'll consider the sports centre at one of the universities in town since I will get alumna rates at that school and their setup is quite nice, but it's a pain to go there and deal with parking and stuff, so it's not my top pick based on the inconvenience factor (which tends to deter me from going as much as I should).

But I made a vein pop out on my chest, which I think is sort of cool but also makes me think that I'm a dork for getting all excited about it.

[Owly]

Also, we decided to get a rotisserie chicken after, but they were all out, so we ended up at the pizza place nearby that offers gluten-free pizza and I totally plowed my way through mine (they only offer GF in individual sizes). I blame Safeway. But damn, it was good. Pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, and tomatoes. Yum.

[Owly]

Dear barbells: I missed you!

(More gym hunting update later.)

[Jac]

Hi Owly - just had to come visit after I saw your amazing photos in the success thread! *waves*

In your first post you set a goal of fitting your favourite blue dress from Korea - did you do it?? Looking at the hot photos, I'm guessing yes!

[Owly]

I did! I fit into it a few months ago, and I love being able to wear it again. I'm glad I kept it around.

[Owly]

Okay, so an update on the gym hunt. I think we may have found a good spot at the larger city facility not too far away. It has a much better equipped gym with a couple of squat racks (which is good, because when we arrived there was some dude doing curls in one of them, but I didn't have to beat him with a dumbbell because the other one was free).

Anyhow, the bro factor is still definitely there (hence the curling in the squat rack). Lots of dudes pumping and preening, and some very amusing exercises from some of them. I was the only woman lifting really heavy--there were some women in the free weight area, but all of them were playing with small dumbbells, not doing any heavy stuff or big lifts. But I didn't feel unwelcome or out of place, and although there was some scoping out going on, it was nothing like I've dealt with in commercial gyms. And there were some BIG dudes in there too, mostly bodybuilder-ish sorts but also just some large men lifting.

Still nothing for a serious pullup bar really (just towers), except that at my height, the crossbar of the squat cage works well, so I did some of those between sets. Worked on slow negatives to hopefully build strength and up my numbers for continuous pullups. Did some squats and deadlifts, discovered that I've lost some strength on them over the summer off lifting, but I expect that to come back quickly since it will probably only take a couple of sessions to wake things up again and get all the muscles firing properly.

Also, I discovered that part of the reason my partner likes to do squats with me is that apparently the view is good. Heh.

[justyouraveragecavemen]

What? There's an ulterior motive behind helping you workout? Boyfriend--helping girlfriend--ulterior motive? I just don't understand, it can't be.

[Owly]

What? There's an ulterior motive behind helping you workout? Boyfriend--helping girlfriend--ulterior motive? I just don't understand, it can't be.

Ha! Yes, well, I have similar motivations for going to the gym with him. I thoroughly enjoy...spotting him.

[Owly]

Happy gym day! Did bench press for the first time in ages, and I've never done all that much of it, so my 1RM is a rather unimpressive 85 pounds. Or rather, it was, because I did 85 pounds for 2 reps today. A small victory, but considering that I've been away from barbells all summer, it's nice to get back under the bar and find that the pushups at least kept me from losing strength. Also, I'm doing a lot of slow negatives on pullups and chinups right now and finding they're enjoyable and offer a good challenge in trying to come back down as slowly as I possibly can.

Sadly, my squats and deads definitely suffered over the summer, but that will come back as my body adapts again to the exercise. I'm still strong, but I know from the way the first session back at those lifts went that I will need to work a bit to match my PRs on those again.

But we start 5/3/1 next week, so I'm hoping to see some good gains.