Today is another big day for me as I work to become healthier and stronger, and I will add, happier too. Today is the first day at my new gym. I am excited to begin this next phase of my recovery. While I knew that I had been impacted by the medical event in a physical manner and had felt somewhat weaker, I was more worried about actually doing physical exercise to build strength. Many years ago, I joined a gym and actually tried to go multiple times each week. My effort did not last for very long and my commitment was not very strong.
I knew that this time my commitment to actually going to the gym was very different. My new commitment was now based on seeking out a much different outcome. My commitment was to life, to becoming stronger, and to becoming healthier. To building a new me. When you experience a life changing event you begin to look at your priorities in life differently. Your outlook and goals change once you realize that the clock is only moving forward and your time has become more precious and important.
I met with my personal trainer when I arrived at the gym that morning. We discussed what my goals are and if I had any limitations. My trainer had me use the In-Body Test scale to determine various data points regarding my weight, body mass, body mass index, percent body fat, skeletal muscle mass, and other data points. I am not a big person. Establishing where my body was on the day I started was very important for tracking my progress and to identify when I might plateau requiring changes to my exercise routine. This was the first step to getting started in my Phase II efforts with a baseline for strength training.
So, for those who might be interested here are some of my body data points taken on my first day at the gym. My weight was 144.7 lbs. For reference, before the event my weight was around 155 lbs. My maximum body weight during the previous summer was around 166 lbs. My total body water was 85.1 lbs. My dry lean mass was 30.6 lbs and my body fat mass was 29.0 lbs. My skeletal muscle mass was 64.2 lbs. My body fat was 20.1 percent. All of this didn’t mean much to me but did establish some goals. The scan recommended that I should lose 6.4 lbs of fat mass and gain 12.8 lbs of lean body mass. These goals will be a challenge since I have already noted that I am not that big of a person. Oh, I am 5’-9.5” in the morning when I wake up before gravity shortens me.
We started my initial gym routine with a warmup on the Elliptical machine doing a 1-mile effort and then cooling down for about a half mile. This warmup was based on my Elliptical exercises at cardiac rehab and I knew my comfort zone on this machine. On average I was completing the 1-mile effort with an average time of 10 minutes and 45 seconds at a heart rate between 128 to 136 bpm.
After my warmup, my trainer showed me how to use a number of machines for my initial efforts and what to set the weights at to accommodate my strength challenges. I was very surprised at just how low the weight settings were. I knew that I needed a lot of work on these machines to become stronger. And these were just the first five machines. There were like seven more that my trainer wanted to add as I progressed in my routines to build strength.
Here are the machines I started on in my first day at the gym. I started with the Biceps Curl machine and an initial weight setting at 25 lbs. Then we did the Triceps Extension machine with an initial weight setting at 30 lbs. I knew that my arms needed a lot of work. I then moved to the Torso Rotation machine and a starting weight setting at 25 lbs. My trainer wanted me to do some leg exercises so I then went to the Leg Extension machine and a starting setting of 10 lbs. I was a bit shocked at this low setting so I became obsessed with a focus on my lower body and determined to do better. The final machine of the day was the Leg Curl with a starting weight of 30 lbs. I wrote down everything so I could fully understand, and not forget, what I had just experienced. I also decided to write down everything I was doing so I could look back to see how I was progressing in strength.
Also, as part of my recovery efforts, I will be getting together with the message therapist later in the week for assisted stretching sessions and I will do this for my first month at the gym. My body told me that I was not flexible enough and that I needed some work to help to get the appropriate muscles ready for improvement. I was really looking forward to being stretched.
I know for many who have experienced a major medical event, the thought of pushing out the energy needed for recovery can be challenging and overwhelming. First step, consulting with trusted others, including family members, who can see your vision and your challenges, who can help you with building the confidence to overcome the challenges in your recovery process. Next step, finding a comfort zone in any strength and endurance training you are seeking to engage with, including both aerobic and anerobic exercises. I wish I had done this before starting cardiac rehab, but I did not have that option. As I have noted earlier, what I had anticipated to be my life partner support in my recovery just wasn’t there, and by the end of February was completely gone.
With the start of my Phase II plan, I am actually now looking forward to the rebuilding of me, and to becoming an independent gentleman of experience. I want to become more of a traveler and explorer in my remaining journey in life, and not just someone in the upholstered sofa cart sitting and waiting for the cart to arrive at the final departure point of one’s life. I want to explore the cultures of the world, and of course, the healthy foods of that culture. In essence, I want to not only live, I want to live the many dreams that I have had in life whenever possible. And I invite you to join me in this journey through my writings.
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