Day Six. All alone!

There may be no lonelier place on the planet than a gym at 4:30 p.m. on the Sunday of a Memorial Day weekend. I can attest to that. And I have photographic proof. In a somewhat weird “Where’s Waldo” kind of way, it’s hard to make out even me, lost amongst all that empty equipment! [...]

Five @ The Factory.

Day Five. Five exercises. Elliptical Trainer: 15 minutes at the beginning (ends in 5); 10 minutes at the end (multiple of 5): Total, 25 minutes Leg Lifts with a Ball, slowly:  10/10/10 (multiples of 5) Hip/Back Stretch with Leg Drop: Just 2, but for 50 seconds per side. Cat/Cow Stretch alternating with Upward Dog: 10 [...]

Day Four. Where optimism starts.

Day Four. The big day. The first time in weeks that I would actually hold a dumbbell. Ooh, the anticipation… Truthfully, I was a little bit excited. Yes, I’m a geek. I headed to The Factory, reviewing my plan in my head:  No more than 50 minutes weight-training. Baby-weights. Teeny-tiny baby weights… Only chest and shoulders. [...]

Little tiny baby steps.

It was a very tentative me who approached the gym for Day One of “Training On My Own” (subtitle: with a back injury). So tentative in fact, that I decided that 15 minutes on the step mill would be my entire workout. Yeah, my entire workout. At Level 4. And still, I was worried… But [...]

Getting the hell out of the way…

No one has ever accused me of having a small ego. Because I don’t. I have always had what I see, unapologetically, as a very healthy self-image, and it has always stood me in good stead. It is the source of my self-confidence and the reason for my lack of shyness, and it probably goes [...]

Live, from The Factory, a Muscle Girl progress report…

Okay, it’s not really live – that just sounds so much more dramatic. It is a progress report, though. Of sorts… It’s been quite a while since I announced that “Muscle Girl” was back in action, and yet I haven’t posted once since that earth-shattering proclamation! Kind of makes you think I’ve been slacking, doesn’t [...]

Going Heavy at the Factory.

I had a great workout tonight. It was a great way to start the week, and even though my girl Jae bailed on me, I had a lot of fun. It wasn’t busy, but there were enough regulars in the gym to make the room convivial, and having people who could spot was a definite [...]

Forget what the calendar says… it really is autumn.

Sunday, my gym was closed. This was a bit of a problem as it was a HIIT cardio day for me, and I have only just got my head around to using the elliptical trainer instead of my beloved stepmill. Now, I had no choice but to do my HIIT outside, so I chose to [...]

Diet 101, the professional version. Oh, and Leg Day.

I don’t normally weight train two days in a row, even for different body parts, but I made an exception today. And for a very good reason. Those of you who have been reading for a while know that since January, I have made three attempts at cutting on my own. And you will have [...]

Weary Wednesday.

I hit the gym late afternoon today. A new time for me, and it was pretty much empty. Mr. Hollywood was just leaving, and two other men (one on the treadmill, one lifting) were finished long before I was, so it was a pretty quiet cardio session. But I don’t mind that, from time to [...]