Oh, what shall I wear...??

In the early weeks of January one of the Saturday Afternoon Regulars was seen sporting a new work out outfit, with YSL inscribed on it. I have no idea if it was genuine at all, but it did seem rather an odd departure from her normal wear, so I'll hazard a guess it was a Christmas present.

Fortunately things seemed to have changed a lot since the 80's when work out wear was a leotard and legwarmers (and of course a sweat band carefully arranged in your hair), and things seem to be a lot more relaxed now and cover a little more of your body. However there still seems to be a uniform of leggings and tops at the moment.

I am pleased to report that I feel more body confident now and so have moved from the baggy T shirt, let's hide my body as much as I can look, to wearing a more form fitting dri-wick top, which is actually way more comfortable, especially as the French have a hatred of air-con.

At the moment pink racer back T shirts are the in thing. In fact these racer back T shirts are the in thing, probably because they cost a mere €7 from Decathlon. As mentioned the popular colourway seems to be pink top and black leggings. However one Coven member has a bright turquoise top and leggings combo which she delights us with from time to time. Sunglasses optional. Leggings can vary from skinny to the ankle, capri style and yoga pants. Anything goes. After an organised run you may see a T shirt or two proudly proclaiming that their wearers took part in a 10k or marathon but then they disappear again. One woman has a T shirt with a sperm swimming up over her shoulder, the front is too worn to see what it is saying but it intrigues me. Midriff bearing tops are only worn by 2 women and one of those also wears shorts as well. Everyone else seems to remain well covered!

Men seem to go for the T shirt and shorts option and there are some interesting T-shirts to read during class. I once saw a guy wearing an England top as he ran on the treadmill and thought that was a brave top for him to wear. As the gym is Lyon there are a fair amount of Olympic Lyonnais combos at any one time. However, if you are a guy reading this please, please, please don't think that nylon football tops are appropriate gym wear. They make you stink. So don't. Ok? I am also pleased to report that the craze for men to wear stupidly small muscle T's and brightly coloured jogging bottoms has disappeared but compression tops are still worn by some of the more serious body builders.

There is the usual collection of named brands but the aforementioned Decathlon seems to be the most popular and beats Nike, Adidas et al hands down. A while ago, an older female was seen a couple of times in a Nike top that proudly proclaimed that she was a Porn Star, then I think someone must have translated the wording for her as she stopped wearing it.

 At one time my baggy T shirt look was acquired from not winning at the pub quiz, so I was sponsored by drink companies and promoted the likes of Fosters, Smirnoff, Desparados and Jack Daniels during body pump. I now have gone for the lazy option and found that black tops tend to co-ordinate with my black, navy or grey leggings very well, though do occasionally sport a bright coloured top so that I can't be accused of being too boring.  

Gym Gerbil

First up - I must apologise for a lack of posts at the end of last week but I was laid low with the lurgy and part from an update of my current temperature, there wasn't much to report.

So tonight I hauled myself of to the gym for the body balance class. Monday nights are not my favourite time to go but are marginally better than Friday nights, so Mondays it is then. And what a friendly night tonight was!

I arrived and was given the usual cheery greeting from the receptionist.

In the changing rooms I said a 'Bonjour's' to a some of regulars I see.

As I went to wait for the class to start a 'Hey, Charlotte, ça va?' was yelled across the gym floor from Hot Guy.

When the body pump class left the studio I saw one of the 2 people that I also know outside the gym, and had a quick chat.

Once inside the studio I saw the other person I know from outside the gym.

When leaving, I exchanged a couple of friendly 'Bon Nuits'.

When getting on the metro, I saw and 'bise'd' another guy I chat to regularly.

Now what does this all mean?

Has my strategy of slinking into the back of the class and keeping my head down totally failed?
Am I going too often?
Am I turning into (shock, horror) a Gym Bunny?????

This last option is too hard to think about, so I think I'll call myself a Gym Gerbil for a bit and see how that fits....

Improved flexibility

So in body balance on Saturday I was in a Hindi squat and then instructed to sit back on the mat behind me, and I have to admit I misjudged this slightly and landed with a bit of a bump. This caused the instructor to add 'délicatement avec grâce et finesse.' and smile at me. Bastard...

I enjoy body balance. In the dark, murky past I used to do Ashtanga yoga and Pilates and used to be very flexible and strong. I used to be a real flexigirl. The Ashtanga was very dynamic and was hard!

At the gym that I used to go to in the UK the guys on the gym floor were very good at telling all the 'muscle men' to do stretching and advising them to go to stretch classes. So every now and then one of them would appear in a yoga class, looking slightly nervous but at the same time confident that they would find a stretch class easy peasy. A few of them made it beyond the sun salutations, some even made the first half hour. I only remember 1 of them sticking with it and returning week after week.

My gym now doesn't do yoga but does body balance (a mix of tai chi, yoga and pilates) and stretch classes - imaginatively titled Le Stretch.

I've been working away at these and have got most of my flexibility back, isn't muscle memory is amazing. I do feel a lot better after each class, it's good to feel all stretched out. The only thing I have trouble with is my hips, I can do forward bends, and my back bends are pretty good, but my hips.... They always have been difficult, I have never been able to a lotus position for example.

The latest couple of releases have had some tough hip openers, and I began to notice a gradual change, which has been good. Then for the last 3 Sundays the instructors have again concentrated on doing hip opening exercises, and boy have my hips been painful. It has payed off and though painful, I can reach deeper into stretches and feel really pleased. Finally the hard work is playing off.

Still can't do the lotus position though....

Friday weigh-in.

Hmmm, stayed the same, and I've been eating really healthily and gone down a belt notch.

Will hope it's because I've been increasing the weights in my work out and what I've lost in fat, I've gained in muscle. 

Pride commeth before a sore bum!

So after posting the moan the other day about the lack of effort some of the women put in at the gym, it seems that actually I could have been putting more effort in too!

Shortly after publishing that post, I sauntered into my usual body pump class and thought to myself that I needed to up the weights for the squats - so I put two more kilos on the bar and was feeling dead proud of myself when I completed the track with no major incidents.
Then we got to the tricep track and Hot Guy told C (another female who uses similar levels of weights as me) and I to go to 10 kilos. I start shaking my head slowly at him and he nods slowly back saying "Ah yes, Charlotte". As C did, I had to too!
I survived, though the last few chest presses were a little wobbly.

Then Hot Guy tells us to use the 5 kilo weights for the first part of the shoulder track, this was actually quite easy to do and I had been thinking about it being the next set of weights that I increased.

 When I increase the weights I normally put them up for one set of muscles, then see how it goes for a couple of weeks, then when I'm comfortable with that, will think about increasing the weights for another set of muscles. So uping the weights in three sets of muscles on one day was a big a thing.

Two days later, on the Sunday, I amble into the class thinking to myself "It's Petite Girly today, so I'll try the new weights but if I get tired, I'll go back to my normal weights for the shoulder tracks."

But to my surprise Hot Guy is there instead of PG, so I can't wimp down can I?
Then he gives us the 'option' to increase the weights for the back muscles - and calls out my name as one of 'Les Experts' who he expects to see with increased weights.

I ached all week, finally feeling better after a good stretch in body balance on Saturday.

Then yesterday, just as my friend and I are gossiping before the class starts, Cute Guy announces that he changing the running order of the body pump class to make it more challenging. Not what I wanted to hear.
He put the lunges straight after the squats (no time for the legs to recover) Then strung all of the upper body ones together (again no time to recover) and had a new, tougher tricep track. It was a challenge.

Despite a session in the steam room, I ached all afternoon, especially my arms and as for my bum.... I raided my medicine drawer and though I didn't have any ibuprofen, found relief in some paracetamol and codeine tablets (really can't remember what I was given them for.)

Despite all the bitching and the achy body, it does feel achy in a good way - I know that I've worked hard and tested my muscles. However I would like to keep these weights for a little while before any more 'challenges' arrive.

The Coven

I feel it is time to introduce you to some of the people at the gym.

First up is the group of women that I call the Coven. This is in my mind, I haven't yet done it to their faces but there may well be a day soon... Don't get too excited by the name, this is the last group of women you'd expect to see dancing naked through the woods at midnight, I call them that because they cackle very loudly and rather too often.

They go to the gym everyday in the mid afternoon, do as little 'working out' as they can possibly get away with, talk very loudly, take over the changing rooms and then leave.

Sometimes I can laugh at them, other days I want to punch them.

They are all middle aged ladies who instead of lunching, go and annoy everyone at the gym. There about 7 of them but fortunately they don't all turn up at once but, boy do they have the capacity to talk.

There they are on the treadmills at a slow walking pace with a slight incline - chatting to each other.

There they are in body pump, using 1kg weights, (or even no weights or bar) - chatting to each other.

There they are strolling along in the swimming pool - chatting to each other.

I do find them annoying, fortunately I don't go often at the same time as them, so don't often see them. There seems to be a ringleader and it reminds me of the school gang, and the others try and keep up with her. She talks the loudest and the others follow. I really am tempted to point out to them that as they are standing so close to each other they don't have to shout, but then I'll just be the nasty teacher and they'll try and get back at me.

They have decided that the best way to dry themselves after a shower is to go into the sauna. Really annoying if you are relaxing in there. One will bang the door open and come in, then the others will follow 1 at a time (so lowering the temperature) squeeze into a tiny space, all trying to dry themselves at the same time, so elbows are going everywhere, then all leave separately - lowering the temperature even more.
Recently they have discovered that the most annoying way they can dry their feet is to use the hairdryers, so sit in a row - blocking the bit between the showers and the changing area, chatting loudly over the noise of the hairdryers.
Whatever happened to drying yourself with a towel?

Of course they can't get their hair wet - so they don't swim in the pool, they amble up and down it really, really slowly for 20 mins and tut at you if you get in their way by wanting to swim. I mean, who ever heard of actually swimming in a swimming pool?!?!

They flirt with the men in the class (who I don't think really like them) and swoon over the instructor S, who is the most unswoonable guy ever. Really! He's the worst instructor and gives you no motivation whatsoever, they like him as he calls out their names during the class which makes them all giggle. Fortunately he doesn't know my name. Even more fortunately he has started alternating his class with one of the female gym staff (who makes you work hard) and on those weeks the Coven all discover that they have an injury of one sort or another and so stay in the cardio area. Relief!

For the Coven the gym is a place to meet up and chat, and I guess there's nothing wrong in that, I just wish they weren't so loud and were a little more considerate of others. Also, though they are doing very little exercise, at least they are doing something which is better than nothing.

Friday weigh-in!

Standing on the scales went well this morning and I've released another half kilo.

At first I was a teensy bit disappointed but then realised that back in my weightwatchers days I would be pleased with half lb and this is a whole lb and a teeny bit.

It's interesting the psychology of having a different unit of measurement. When I was in the UK using units of stones and lbs seemed normal but in terms of a goal weight everyone seemed to be focused on a round number of a stone or half stone.
In the US people again seem to want a round number - a coaching colleague was talking about reaching 180lbs as his goal.
Now I'm in kilos I'm not sure where I'll end up, will the psychology of whole numbers apply? 65 seems to heavy for me and I think I'd have to stave myself to get to 60, so do I end up with a number in the middle?

I am hoping that I get to a point when I look at myself and think 'Yep, that's great!' and decide that that will be my ideal weight. the scales are important to help give me the motivation to get there, but I don't want them to be the be all and end all. My muscle mass is greater than last time I lost weight, so it's a whole new experience this time.