Posts tagged gym

So today is the 18 week mark and I feel AWESOME!  My left knee is much MUCH further along at 18 weeks than my right knee was at 18 weeks last year!  I did another interval workout last night at the gym - 1.5 miles in 18 minutes.  This is slow BUT it is an interval workout so walk/jog takes longer.  I told my PT about my progress and she wants me to try jogging for 3-4 minutes and walking for 1 minute.  Woohoo!

On another cool note, I did these lateral bounding exercises at PT this morning.  Basically, bounding (leaping) in different directions as far as one can reach.  It is pretty cool and my leg felt very strong doing it.  All in all my knee is feeling PRETTY FREAKIN GOOD! :)

As promised, an update on my jogging experience.  I joined a new gym on Saturday (I love it there…must go tomorrow…US open tonight :) ).  I warmed up the knee on the elliptical because I didn’t see the upright bike until after I started.  After warming up and stretching a bit, I hopped on the treadmill and did a 12 minute interval.  2 minutes jogging @ 5.7 mph and 1 minute walking @ 3.7mph.  This pace was good to start, even though it’s soo slow compared to my 7+ mph  pre-injury(-ies).  Jogging actually felt really good — good core workout and my knee felt about 95%.  It was getting a bit tired towards the end, but I was determined to finish the 12 minutes.  I will be doing this workout 2 times a week until I reach the 5 month mark.  At that time I will increase the interval to 3-4 minutes of jogging (hopefully at a faster pace) and 1 minute of walking.

More to come…

Tomorrow is the big day!  I appropriately titled this post from one of my all-time favorite movies. (5 points if you can name the movie)

Last night I went to my gym for the last time (I won’t give the name of the place but I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t offer me anything to stay).  I went with the intention of putting my membership on hold, but things developed from there.  My being pro-active and trying to put my membership on hold was not good enough, as I was a few days late for the May 4th billing cycle — I needed to tell them last Thursday.  As a result, I am going to be paying for 2 weeks of sitting on my butt at home.

Continuing on…I told the guy helping me that I wanted to put my membership on hold for about a month.  He took me through the billing cycles and said I could put my membership on hold until June 1st or June 15th.  I said June 15th — I am going to be in Cali on June 1st.  The next words out of his mouth were “ok, that will be $12.”  Now, I think I paid the stupid hold fee last year, but seriously the head membership lady has seen me on my crutches, talked to me about my injury, and knew what I went through last year.  I said I’d like to talk to her.  She came over, and explained exactly the same thing to me.  I told her I understand the policy and that you have a 3rd party billing system, but that’s it??  You are not willing to offer me anything?  She took me through the billing cycles some more - however, she explained that I can’t come back mid-month.  I’d have to come back June 1st or June 29th.  She also tried to explain that when I returned that cycle I’d only be paying $6, blah blah blah.

I then pulled my last straw and told her I’m moving at the end of July.  Based on what she was telling me, I might as well cancel my membership now rather than pay for one billing cycle in July and then cancel it the next week.  This was her chance — her chance to offer to not charge me for putting my membership on hold.  But she didn’t offer me anything.  Instead, she continued to make small talk with me, asking me about when my surgery is and how I recovered last year.  HELLO!!! I’m cancelling my membership right now — you seriously don’t care?? We are in a recession and you don’t care that I’m cancelling my membership?  I understand gyms are a business, and that they need to make money, but they also need loyalty.  I think they could have eaten the $12.  As a result, they just lost over $150 by letting me cancel yesterday as opposed to mid-July.

So here I am, ready for my surgery and no longer attached to a gym. Depending on how my PT goes, I might join somewhere for a month but am certainly not signing any long term contracts until I’m settled in my new residency (wherever that may be). :)

Next post will be post-surgery!

Yesterday my right knee was fine, but now that it’s been two days in a row of rain, more rain, and yes more rain, my right knee is ACHY!  Yes, my right knee, not my left (yet).  I feel like I’m 25 going on 75!  (sidenote: 13 going on 30, is a GREAT movie! haha).  That achy, sore feeling that I get in my right knee when the barometer drops is not something I’m looking forward to with my left knee.

But with the negative, comes the positive….or so I like to think (positively)!  Yesterday was a good day at the gym…I bumped up the resistence to level 4 on the bike.  I need to keep up my quad strength.  Also, I did 20lb curls on the hamstring machine.  Keeping up the strength in the surrounding leg muscles is really important for after the surgery.  You lose your hamstring and VMO muscles really quickly post-op.  The VMO is a tiny muscle, but so crucial for the placement of your kneecap.  My VMO in my right leg was non-existent for close to 4 months post-op.  Post-PT, I did a lot of step-ups to try to build it back up.  Its still not nearly where it used to be, but its getting there.

Anyway, that’s all I have for this rainy day.  Can’t wait for nicer weather this weekend!

Countdown: 8 days!

Quick update…last night I rode the bike at my apartment complex “gym” since I didn’t feel like driving to my regular gym (which is only another 2 minutes away but requires walking up stairs, which adds time).  Anyway, my knee was feeling really good.  I was able to use the full length mirrors to check out my range of motion when laying on my stomach, and it was rocking!  Beside the awkard little shift in my knee cap, my range was almost the same as the right knee.

Tonight I’ll hit up my regular gym and do a full arms and legs workout.

Countdown: 10 days!