The pointy end goes where...?
Okay, so I'm no Arya Stark but I have just come back from my first fencing lesson, which was good fun. The local club does lessons for adult beginners and I was delighted to discover that I'm not the only newbie in town - there's a guy attending who's done 3 weeks more and another woman who's done 6 weeks more. I was warned by the guy that my legs will probably hurt tomorrow but we'll see - I have faith in the 4 months' worth of gym work I've been doing before now (the leg press machine and squats, as suggested by at least one person reading this!) and hope to prove him wrong. Part of my telling people I wanted to do it was to make myself actually follow through, so I'd given myself a deadline of Easter to make enquiries otherwise I knew it might well come to nothing. I've committed myself for 10 weeks and then we'll see what progress I've made and if I want to carry on, but there's a structure there to do it in if I do.
Part of my trying to be healthier was also about sorting out my diet a bit, though not ridiculously restricting what I eat as much as being a bit more aware of what's what. By just eating a little more sensibly in terms of more veggies and less carbs has seen me lose about a stone and a half since November (that's just over 10kg for those metrically inclined) without neglecting the odd cake or pizza. I've always been of the opinion that those ridiculously structured diets may work for some people but if I end up feeling like I'm being punished, that's never going to stick.
I have to say, I've been quite happy with my gym experience as well, though the classes have been a bit more hit and miss. I started doing Pilates every week, but then the management apparently decided that class I was going to wasn't popular enough and began to mess about with it, before cancelling it completely - I've now joined a class on another day, but it's early evening, which I didn't really want. After a couple of weeks of being the only person turning up for another class, which meant one-to-one attention, I have now dropped out of that one and am committed to going to the gym instead.
It probably helps a bit that my gym is at a council leisure centre, so I suspect that has an impact on the clientele being a bit more diverse and all shapes and sizes are usually present. To date I've had no hassle from anyone, even when I started using the weights recently, with that area being a bit stinky with testosterone and unwashed men at times. It probably helps that I have resting bitch-face and a set of headphones, as well as being that bit older, so the only thing that's happened is people wanting to move stuff for me if it's in the way!
I've also found that, of all the cardio-related machines, I like the rowing machine the best. I was immensely amused the other day by the bloke who plonked himself down on the other one when I was midway through my second trip to that machine that afternoon; I could almost see him thinking 'if a woman can do it, then it can't be that hard' but there is still a certain amount of technique involved which he couldn't quite seem to master. What with him and the guy who grunts when lifting like he's giving birth, there's always entertainment to be found...
Also posted at my Dreamwidth account - happy to receive comments on either post.
Part of my trying to be healthier was also about sorting out my diet a bit, though not ridiculously restricting what I eat as much as being a bit more aware of what's what. By just eating a little more sensibly in terms of more veggies and less carbs has seen me lose about a stone and a half since November (that's just over 10kg for those metrically inclined) without neglecting the odd cake or pizza. I've always been of the opinion that those ridiculously structured diets may work for some people but if I end up feeling like I'm being punished, that's never going to stick.
I have to say, I've been quite happy with my gym experience as well, though the classes have been a bit more hit and miss. I started doing Pilates every week, but then the management apparently decided that class I was going to wasn't popular enough and began to mess about with it, before cancelling it completely - I've now joined a class on another day, but it's early evening, which I didn't really want. After a couple of weeks of being the only person turning up for another class, which meant one-to-one attention, I have now dropped out of that one and am committed to going to the gym instead.
It probably helps a bit that my gym is at a council leisure centre, so I suspect that has an impact on the clientele being a bit more diverse and all shapes and sizes are usually present. To date I've had no hassle from anyone, even when I started using the weights recently, with that area being a bit stinky with testosterone and unwashed men at times. It probably helps that I have resting bitch-face and a set of headphones, as well as being that bit older, so the only thing that's happened is people wanting to move stuff for me if it's in the way!
I've also found that, of all the cardio-related machines, I like the rowing machine the best. I was immensely amused the other day by the bloke who plonked himself down on the other one when I was midway through my second trip to that machine that afternoon; I could almost see him thinking 'if a woman can do it, then it can't be that hard' but there is still a certain amount of technique involved which he couldn't quite seem to master. What with him and the guy who grunts when lifting like he's giving birth, there's always entertainment to be found...
Also posted at my Dreamwidth account - happy to receive comments on either post.