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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
50k steps dancing last weekend, wonder if I'll be able to beat that this weekend? Even though it's only fleeting, it's so nice to be able to go out and dance each weekend for the past few and next few.
I own (2!) traditional kettlebells now, so I've been doing all the big movements. Clean and press, snatches, swings, high pulls, bottoms up cleans, goblet squats, etc.
I have to admit, it's super fun. It spikes my heart rate, but doesn't maker me feel like crap with normal cardio (I suffer from asthma, so I can't really do a lot of traditional cardio). Once you get the form down, it feels very electric, almost like doing martial arts with 24 kg strapped to your fists. Wish I had tried this first once we were driven from the gyms, it's a great replacement for powerlifting at a fraction of the cost and needed and space. I actually take my bell outside and swing it around for a while, which is super refreshing as autumn drops the temperatures a bit.
I don't think it's going to do a lot for my aesthetics (seems like there's limited chest and biceps work), but I can deal with that until the infection rate gets down near nil (in the U.S.? Ha!) or a vaccine comes out and I can get back in the gym.
With a new all-time low of 77.6kg today, I'm starting to like my body again when I look in the mirror. It's still nowhere close to what I want to look like, but I no longer feel like I have a thick layer of fat all over. My fingers and feet are a little bonier, and I've lost a lot around my stomach.
I'm also very close to my original target weight (75kg). In my mind I'm already prepared to set a new target weight of 65kg. When I was around 90kg, I thought losing 15kg would be more than enough to get to the body shape I want; I was wrong. I think I've been fat for too long, and I've forgotten what it's like to be thin, and just got way, way too comfortable being blobby.
65kg puts me in "normal" BMI for my height. I don't particularly trust BMI, but it is a psychological thing to be back in that range. The feeling of being in general lighter, the increased stamina, etc, is just great.
But I can't do a fitness update without writing about figure skating progress! I really like my new coach. The posture exercises are wonderful, and have an impact in the way I walk in my day-to-day life, constantly correcting myself to stand straight. I'm redoing some older steps and feeling a lot better about them, and I know it's because of the posture correction: I no longer fall into the circle after my 3-turns for example; despite not actively practicing them, they improved.
This week has been… emotional. Belgium is going into a "soft lockdown" again as predicted here. The Poseidon (Brussels' only rink) were given the go-ahead and reopened on the 23rd, only to close again today on the 25th. I feel atrociously bad for them.
Also, a good friend of mine has been coming with me ice skating even more regularly, she caught the skating bug as well. She's making some serious progress and it's really fun teaching her. I've known her since I got to Brussels via board game meetups and we've been meeting up more often since the lockdown. I asked her out once and we've been dancing around the "dating" word for a while… and now I'm kind of falling in love with her. Yesterday she invited me to get an airbnb and stay with her in Germany for a couple of weeks so we can keep skating. I uh, don't know what to make of that, but I said yes, so I might be going with her next week…