gym Archives - Cynthia Gellis

August 5, 2019August 4, 2019

Indoor Cycling, Summer Edition

I have recently made some changes to my indoor cycling schedule. I’ve traded in my Saturday morning class for Sunday. I know, I’m surprised at myself too!

I’m happy that I am managing to still get in at least two classes a week, even without having an overwhelming amount of grrrr to get out on a daily basis like I used to. But every time I go to the gym on Sunday morning, I crack myself up. Here’s the thing:

Yesterday was a beautiful summer day in southern California. Around 9am I got in my car, drove one mile to the gym, and spent 45 minutes in a dark room taking an indoor cycling class. There is nothing about doing that which isn’t at least a little ridiculous. It felt like I was living in a scene from LA Story.

First, it’s barely a mile. And I don’t think that it is too much to expect that I can comfortably and safely walk there during daylight hours (I give myself a pass to drive when it is still dark out). Also, after 8am parking enforcement is in full effect. Either drive around for 10-15 minutes looking for a spot or pay to use the metered parking. If you’re going to spend 10-15 minutes driving around looking for a free parking spot (like I did), you may as well have walked.

Second, it was a beautiful day but here I was choosing to do my exercising inside. Not just inside, but in a dark room. I really can’t get over my own ridiculousness. If I had decided to go to the 8:30 class instead, I wouldn’t give myself such a hard time because that still counts as first thing in the morning on a Sunday. By 9:30, you should have already started your day (unless you had a big Saturday night, which I did not).

One important component for getting habits to stick is to make them automatic. There aren’t options, it is just what you do. I don’t spend any time thinking about how I’m going to get to the gym on any other day. But on Sundays I keep considering all the options. I should walk…maybe I could take my bike…then I have to dig it out of the garage…do I need air in my tires? And by the time I’ve run through the whole monologue, it’s late. I need to either decide ahead of time that I’m going to bike and make sure that everything is ready, or I need to take that option off of the table and just know that I’m going to walk.

The bottom line is that I still make it to indoor cycling at least twice a week and that is what really matters. But I can’t help but laugh at myself about how I get there.

January 14, 2019January 7, 2019

Strength Training Works

I’ve been spending my Mondays with Adam doing glutes, guns and guts for a few months now. I am still the wimpiest gal in class, but I have a workout buddy who I partner up with every week and she helps keep me motivated. The workout still makes me sweat my brains out and feel like I’m going to die but I’ve learned to keep a towel tucked into the back of my pants like a little tail so that I always have it handy as we move through the circuit.

Here’s the thing that I want to tell you: strength training works.

Ok, so that isn’t a shocking revelation. I’m just saying that with the rest of my weekly activity staying pretty much the same, I’ve lost three inches from my waist and hips since I added this into my week.

Every week is a mash-up of a bunch of various exercises using dumbbells, barbells, TRX, steps, Bosu, and any other random stuff Adam finds laying around the gym. When I started out, I would always pick the lightest weight so that I could do more reps and not take breaks (who knew that one minute could be so long?). I remember Adam telling me that he would rather see me doing less reps with a heavier weight and thinking he was crazy.

As the weeks went along, I would pick at least one exercise on the circuit to try a heavier-than-I-wanted weight. Sometimes I would surprise myself with being able to manage it. Sometimes I would notice that the exercise felt more effective because other muscles were being recruited to provide stability. I’ve learned that using heavier dumbbells (20lbs) for exercised like walking lunges forces you to engage your core and helps you keep your balance more than a lighter weight will. Sometimes I would just have to stop after a couple of reps and find a lighter weight. C’est la vie!

My favorite development over the past few months is the improvement in my posture and my shoulder strength. I really took for granted having a strong upper back from all those years of ballet training. Sitting at a desk, staring at a computer all day has that sneaky way of building that permanent hunched forward posture that is neither attractive or comfortable. Eventually, I hope to get everything evened out; it’s nice to see and feel the progress so far. It made me really happy when I could see the line of my shoulders more closely matching the line of the barbell when we were doing back squats last week. I am not a fan of the over-developed trapezius look.

So even though I suck at it and it hurts, I keep showing up and trying my best. I’m never going to be the ripped girl in the belly shirt, but I am optimistic that if I keep it up, eventually I will be able to do a proper push-up (and maybe even crush some 10lb dumbbells for bicep curls).

November 26, 2018November 25, 2018

100 Cycle Classes with Rachel in 2018

On Saturday, November 17, I completed my 100^th cycle class with my instructor, Rachel. Not only that, I was the first person to complete the challenge that she set out for us in January. I don’t know how that happened, but I am basking in a sense of accomplishment over it.

I had only become a Rachel groupie a few months earlier. There is just something about when she is yelling, “yes, you can!” at you that makes you believe it.

Rachel teaches twice a week, Wednesdays at 5:45am and Saturdays at 8am. No one goes to spin class at those hours for just for kicks, those are serious, get the grrrr out people. But 100 classes is still a formidable challenge. I love getting activity credit, checking things off, and discrete goals so I signed up right away.

At first blush, it seemed nearly impossible: Rachel teaches twice a week and there are 52 weeks in a year, so you can only miss four. All year. Yikes. If she was subbing for another instructor, that would count; also, you could count up to ten classes with other instructors toward your 100 (so really you only need to take 90 Rachel classes). If someone was subbing for her, that counted toward your ten. Ok, still challenging, but potentially moderately do-able.

I wound up using nine of my ten freebies, so I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of the year to making those up. My new-improved goal is to have 100% Rachel classes before Christmas. I’m not a perfectionist, but I do like to go back and fine-tune things when time allows.

Did I mention that there were prizes? How fun is that?

At 25 classes, you got a certificate. To me, this is a prized possession. For so many years a big part of my job was creating and producing recognition certificates and awards but this was the first one that I had received since I was in school. It makes me so happy to see it on my refrigerator every day.

At 50 classes, you got a granola bar. I somehow neglected photographic evidence of this award, but let me tell you, it was delicious.

At 75 classes, you got a water bottle. A fancy, Lulu Lemon squeezy-style water bottle. It says, “Your GOALS are showing.” This treasure spent a few weeks on my desk (aka dinning table) as a trophy before I deigned to put it into action.

I had to show up to class number 101 to claim my final prize. It is starting to feel like winter in So Cal and as I walked out to my car at 5:30am that morning, I remember thinking that I really should spring for one of those cozy Lulu Lemon snappy scarf things. Long story short, that was my prize!

Sally and Anabel thought that my accomplishment was great and sure, that was a nice gift, but they really thought that the gift bag was the real prize.

I am very grateful to Rachel for all the time and energy and resources that she put into this challenge because she loves her spin tribe. And I am so honored to have found and been granted membership into this group.

November 5, 2018November 4, 2018

Good Morning Habits

I sure hate this whole changing the clocks thing. I really, really wish that we didn’t do it at all. But if we’re going to have to “fall back,” I’m going to encourage you to take advantage of this week to put that time to work for you. If you don’t have an early morning habit and want to start one, this is the week. Now’s your chance!

Caveat: you will probably wind up wanting to go to bed an hour earlier (aka, your usual bed time before the time change) too.

If you want to try to get up an hour earlier to work out, here is my advice: KEEP IT SIMPLE. Trust me, you can get out of bed, but you don’t want to have to do a lot of thinking after you do.

First tip: set out your gym clothes before you go to sleep. Just make a little pile (don’t forget your socks and sneakers) somewhere near your bed. If you put on your gym clothes as soon as you get out of bed, it’s a deterrent to climbing back into bed. Also, have your gym bag ready to go – water bottle, headphones, cycling shoes, yoga mat, grippy socks, whatever – you don’t want to be looking for/collecting these things when you’re just waking up.

Next: get out quick. Brush your teeth, grab your gym bag and get out the door.

Last tip (or actually, this probably should have been the first tip): know what you’re going to do when you get to the gym. You already know that I’m a fan of group fitness classes. More reasons why: 1) they happen at set times, so you know when you need to be there; and 2) someone is going to tell you what to do when you get there, so you only have to be awake enough to listen. Also, you usually have to sign up ahead of time and there is usually some sort of penalty for no-showing, which can be motivating on those days when turning the alarm off and rolling over seems like the better option.

If you aren’t interested in starting an early morning work-out habit but you do want to start meditating or journaling or eating a healthy breakfast or one of the million other things “first thing in the morning” options that you haven’t tried to start doing yet, this is your week. Pick one. Try it. Starting your day by doing something for yourself is a wonderful gift. Maybe you decide that the best gift you can give yourself is that time in bed, that’s ok too.

For me, I feel like my “first thing in the morning” list is long enough. Sure, there are more things that I would like to do like meditate, or drink hot lemon water, or read the news (ok, well maybe this is a good one to keep not doing). But, going back to my main point, it’s better to: KEEP IT SIMPLE. When something becomes important enough to me, I’ll find time in my day to make it happen. In the meantime, I’m going to protect the small habit that I’ve established.

Do you already have an early morning routine? What gets you out of bed?

October 15, 2018October 14, 2018

Indoor Cycling, part 1

I love to watch the Tour de France on TV every July. The drama! The metaphor for the human condition! The scenery! I totally get why folks like to spandex up and ride bicycles for miles and miles outside in the fresh air, but cycling as a sport is something that I prefer to participate in as a spectator.

I do like ride my beach cruiser around the neighborhood. Sometimes I’m going somewhere that is just a little too far to walk, or the parking situation is too much trouble. But serious outdoor bike riding is not for me. The two big reasons why are: 1) the ground is hard; and 2) cars.

I do like to ride bicycles inside.

I first tried indoor cycling about 16 years ago. I have never been a cardio person and cycling is super challenging for me. The great part back in those days was that there really wasn’t anyway for anyone to know if you weren’t keeping up. I could just dial the resistance down or slow my pace or both when I started to feel like my lungs were on fire and my heart was going to explode. I still got stronger as time went along and could maintain an increasingly greater levels of effort but I certainly wasn’t ever keeping up with the class.

I credit indoor cycling classes for helping me discover the beauty of morning workouts. I think that it’s a great way to start a morning workout habit because you don’t necessarily need to be fully awake to do it. I mean, there’s not a lot of coordination or balance involved. And usually the room is pretty dark. You can get half-way through your workout before you realize what’s happening.

My current cycling routine is Wednesday mornings at 5:45am and Saturday mornings at 8am with Rachel. There is a great camaraderie in her class and once I had started showing up regularly, I was warmly welcomed into the tribe. Which is great and all except it’s not like the old days when no one really knew what you were doing. These bikes light up! Blue = easy, green = moderate, yellow = hard and red = breathless. So everyone can tell who is keeping up. Fortunately, everyone is very supportive and we really just judge each other on whether or not you show up.

Rachel’s class is very different from other instructors. She has us grind it out at various moderate-to-hard (green and yellow) intensities for long stretches with occasional bursts of red sprinkled in (last Saturday was 28 minutes straight through before any recovery, then repeat). It’s a different kind of mind game to hold pace for those long stretches. I’ll tell you, I still remember the first time I kept up on a six minute hard hill. Something clicked over somewhere around the four minute mark. I don’t know how to describe it, but all of a sudden I wasn’t just surviving anymore. I’ve been a Rachel groupie ever since.

I will tell you all about Rachel’s Great Cycle Challenge of 2018 in a future post.

September 17, 2018September 16, 2018

Monday Workouts with Adam (aka: Glutes, Guns, and Guts)

Even though I go to the gym four to six times a week, I am no gym rat. I check-in and go straight up the stairs to the group fitness class area, take a class and run away. Occasionally, I will watch those fit people who seem to know what to do with various weights and equipment from what I like to think is the invisibility of the elliptical machines and imagine the day that I feel strong and confident enough to try some of those things.

Group fitness classes are my sweet spot – I like someone telling me what to do without the overwhelming amount of attention that a personal trainer offers. And I like being able to participate in a variety of activities without any pressure to actually be good at any of them. My current routine includes two yoga classes, two indoor cycling classes, and one barre class each week, which is respectable, but I needed to settle on something to do on Mondays.

Monday workouts are super important to me. I feel like a good Monday workout sets the tone for the whole week. It’s the same sort of reason that I work out first thing in the morning: no matter what the rest of the day or the rest of the week has to throw at you, you’ve already accomplished one important thing. I find that I’m better able to be present in and patient with whatever situation that I find myself in after I have taken care of that piece of business.

So, back to the gym. Finding my Monday morning exercise jam was a challenge. But then an instructor who I really liked at a different exercise studio joined my gym and I found the courage to try something completely different!

Adam teaches a set of three thirty-minute classes on Monday mornings that I like to call Glutes, Guns, and Guts. Thirty minutes lower body, thirty minutes arms, thirty minutes abs. I’m not much of a strength workout girl, so anything involving weights (um, how do you put this barbell thing together?) and “functional” exercises is super intimidating to me. But since I knew Adam from before, I was slightly less intimidated to show up and give it a try.

Holy smokes this workout is hard for me! My “heavy” dumbbells are 7.5 pounds (the gal next to me is crushing 20s and I’m wishing I had grabbed 5s). There is this thing that I think is called a reverse step-down, that just clobbers me. I don’t know why stepping down onto my knees and then back up to my feet is so hard! You would think that my thighs have never experienced that range of motion before. But that’s ok, I’m just there to do what I can. Every week I feel a little stronger in ways that are different from my comfort zone workouts. And that’s cool. Maybe eventually I will feel like I’m strong enough to find the confidence to venture out there onto the gym floor (because I will know how to put that barbell together and what to do with it once I have).

Was there a time that you tried something new at the gym?