... oh my god!!!: Breaking the workout boredom

November 2008 this year, was my 2nd year Anniversary of being a member of the gym near my office, so plus and minus that is also the length of time I have been a regular patron of the gym. Of course if you must get really technical, you would have to deduct those months I was on maternity leave plus a month during Ramadhan.

I went back to the gym right after the Hari Raya break. There is more motivation to go to the gym now because I have 5 other colleagues from the very same department that frequents the gym too. Well actually, the 2 guys have been a member way before I delivered. The other 3 ladies just joined, so now I have 3 other ladies as my gym buddies. So, this makes it more interesting and even motivates (pronounced as DRAGS) me to go even more often. Before they joined, I was happy with a minimum of once a week, ok, the most is twice a week. Now, 3 times a week is pretty the norm. I normally had to drag myself to the gym each week. Nowadays, it is much much easier to get 3 days workout weekly.

My normal routine would be 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 30-35 minutes on the treadmill and 5 minutes or so of variable weights and stretching. This has been it all this while, so since there were more of us now, I thought that it would be fun to try out something new in order to have more variety in our workout. I have tried an RPM class 2 years back when I first joined the gym. I stopped because a colleague who were able to conduct the class quit the gym, and I just couldn’t join the gym’s class as the timing was not convenient. I approached the trainers at the gym, requesting for their permission to use the RPM room during our lunch break. However instead of getting to use the room, they even agreed to run a class during our preferred timing as long as there are at least 5 people at any one time. This is easy cause, there are already 6 of us from my department alone, plus a few more from other departments, and we have a full house!

We started in the 1st week of December. The 1st class was hell!!! It was really a torturous 45 minutes. Painful! I sweat like a pig! Never has my gym outfit been soaked with sweat as it did during that 45 minutes, not in the pass 2 years ever!

Here is some information about RPM taken from
http://www.lesmills.com/global/en/members/rpm/about-rpm.aspx ,

which apparently is the programme that Gold Gym follows.

RPM is basically ™ is a 50-minute indoor cycling class based on outdoor riding. You ride to inspirational music over the equivalent of 20-25 kilometres of varied terrain, controlling the intensity of your workout with a resistance dial and pedal speed.

The benefits of RPM:

Increase your cardiovascular fitness, burn fat and tone and shape your legs, hips, and butt
Increase leg strength and muscular endurance without building bulk
Burn up to 600 calories in a normal 50-minute structure (RPM™ has been proven to burn up to 800 calories in one hour)
Release endorphins to give you that natural high and leave you feeling fantastic

Your RPM™ instructor will lead you and the pack through a journey choreographed to nine tracks of music

and incorporating riding positions and speeds to suit the terrain.

1. Warm up
Warms up the legs and increases core temperature. The pace is easy and the resistance light.

2. Pace
Speed and intensity increase as you work towards your top personal pace. The road is flat until you encounter a small hill designed to warm up the climbing muscles.

3. Hills
This is the first set of hill climbs which will increase your leg strength and endurance. Your instructor will coach you through the positions, resistance and intensity.

4. Mixed Terrain
A short recovery, then stay in the working zone through a series of short climbs, fast descents and sprints.

5. Intervals
This is like a cycling time trial designed to cover the most amount of distance in the shortest possible time.

6. Free Spin
Picture a flat open road where you will ride at your top pace with light resistance.

7. Mountain Climb
This is the last working track. The road starts out easy but quickly climbs as you strive to reach your full potential.

8. Ride Home
Finish the journey and ride home together. Recovery is the name of the game.

9. Stretch
A final stretch to complete the workout.

Pictures and points from:
http://www.lesmills.com/global/en/members/rpm/a-typical-class.aspx

Of course my arms have not gotten to be as wonderfully toned as that lady in orange. However, I do get that last benefit mentioned i.e after a class I would feel absolutely fantastic! Ha!ha! okay that’s stretching it a bit. Sure I feel great in the sense that yeah, I survived the last 45 minutes and great I completed a good cardio workout, such a great achievement but to be honest I must say that I also feel half dead!! Really, you do feel really “worked out”. However, this is all compensated with the fact that you can tell yourself yippee, now I can eat a horse if I want and not feel guilty about it. He!he! that brings me to the entire reason I started working out in the first place, to be able to eat anything I want and not feel guilty.

Ok, so we have been going to RPM for 3-4 times now, and we don’t actually look like those in the photos above, and I have to declare that the 2 fellas in my deparment that are in the class are tri-atheletes!!! Yes, such pressure that we get. Anyway, here are some pictures of us slogging in the class.