Originally posted by: KingGheedora
Originally posted by: kyzen
Just got back from my most tiring workout yet; lasted 43 painful minutes (35 on a treadmill @ 2.8-3.5 mph, 8 on what I initially thought was an elliptical, but very much wasn't). Almost too tired to shower before bed, but I think the girlfriend would kill me if I crawled in smelling like this
My inner gadget whore is incredibly amused with how my new iPod can interface with some of the gym equipment, and help me log my workouts much easier.
Many thanks for all the support so far; feeling obligated to post an occasional update is definitely making this easier.
I would suggest you set a goal for yourself of being able to do X miles Y times a week (or use time rather than speed as your goal metric). Use your first few sessions to figure out what you're able to do comfortably right now, obviously still enough to work up a sweat, and don't be a pussy about it, it is still a workout, and increase by a little each week. You shouldn't be describing it as painful. It'll be easier to keep up with cardio if you know exactly how long you are going to run or precore every time you get into the gym. And you'll be more motivated to keep going if you know the workout will not be all "BRING THE PAIN!!!" intense. I use a simple excel sheet to track my planned and actual distances. I have until mid-November to reach my current goal.
What kind of interaction is there between the ipod and the gym equipment? Are you using an iphone or an ipod touch, and if so did you have to download an app? Is it storing your workout data on the ipod? Does the cardio equipment have an ipod dock? I haven't seen anything like that at my gym. Sounds cool.
Before long it will become a habit to post your workouts here. It's pretty much the first thing I do as soon as I can get to a computer after working out, and definitely helps w/ staying motivated. keep it up!
There's a cable on the equipment I can plug my iPod into. I'm currently using a Nano (5th gen, though the friend who got me to sign up uses a 4th gen), haven't tried my new 3rd gen Touch yet. It saves the basics of your workout - type (treadmill, elliptical, etc), distance, time, calories burned according to the machine (however accurate that is), and what program you chose on the machine (weight loss, interval, etc). When you sync your iPod it'll upload the exercise statistics to
Nike Running, and chart everything out for you.
One of the things I really like about it is that it lets you set goals, like you just mentioned, and easily see your progress towards them. Currently I have a few goals set up to run certain amounts of miles, do a certain number of workouts, and burn a certain number of calories by a date I chose in October.
Also, the 5th gen Nano has a built-in pedometer that seems to be fairly accurate. It doesn't integrate in the same site as the gym workouts do, and doesn't provide as many historical tracking options, but I've been using it to try to make sure i'm walking around more. The first few days I used it I logged only ~800-1500 steps a day, I've been consciously trying to walk places I might otherwise drive to, or take longer routes for what might otherwise be a short walk, and now I'm up over 2500 steps a day (trying to get to 5000 a day).
I'm a database architect for a living, so I wasn't super excited about carrying that work over to my home life, but the iPod thing is tracking almost all my exercise for me, so I only need to track my weight lifting, and calorie intake. I couldn't be happier with it
The gym, for what it's worth, is a 24 hour fitness; a lot of their locations apparently have the iPod syncing equipment. Supposedly you can watch videos from your iPod on the equipments personal screens, but I haven't tried to figure that out yet.
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