Woo! I went to the gym again last night for the Body pump class. It was fun. I'm not as sore today as I was last week and I was able to do a few more of the exercises I struggled with last week. And the teacher's suggestion to do squats instead of lunges was perfect; my feet don't hurt at all today and I can definitely tell in my (massive) butt that I did 100+ squats last night. I cannot do a plank to save my life though. And that is what we end with, so I feel pretty weak and crappy when I'm done because I struggle with that, even after being pretty successful with the entire workout. I need to look up the proper form for modifying them while you are working your way up to doing them correctly.
I think I unintentionally ticked off my friend Amanda regarding the class though. Last week she loaded up her weights and after we got home she ran into Peter and she was telling him how her neck was killing her and how something popped in her neck. So last night as we were walking in I suggested she lighten up so she didn't hurt herself again...well...she flew into this whole "I can handle the weight it's just ..." blah blah something else. For one, I didn't want her to hurt herself, and two, her form is atrocious because she is using too much weight. To me, it is better to use a lighter set of weights and get the form right every time--that whole idea that "practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice makes perfect," like when you are learning a musical instrument. Am I wrong about that? Should I have not said anything? There is a guy in the class that does the same thing--he must have 50 lbs on the bar and he looks ridiculous straining with every move, making crazy faces, because after the 25th rep he is dying. I actually added a little weight last night for some of the sets. I think next week I will keep it on for all of them.
I'm not sure if I am going to go to the gym again tonight or maybe tomorrow night; I have a TON of stuff that needs done around the house. Our garden is out of control and needs attention. My upstairs is a wreck because I moved some furniture around so my scrapbook stuff can be better organized, but I need to actually organize it now. The painters started last night to FINALLY get my first floor taken care of. I can't wait. The colors look so incredibly good; I can't believe I picked them out. I am really excited for it to be finished.
4 comments:
Hang in there with the planks! That was one of the exercises I was doing as part of PT for my SI joint and when the PT first added them in I thought I'd die--15 seconds and I was sweating and shaking on the "modified" version and he wanted me to do 150 seconds each front and both sides! But within a few weeks they were no problem and I was doing the unmodified version with perfect form. There are some good YouTube videos for doing planks that you can check out.
I think you were wise to suggest to your friend to lower the weights. She just got defensive, but if she hurt herself again she might give what you said some thought. I'm surprised the instructor doesn't help people figure out what weight to use--if people are visibly straining it can't be good!
YouTube! Brilliant idea. I didn't even think of that as a resource.
Body Pump is supposed to be CARDIO with weights -- it's not weight training. So you're not supposed to use the weight level you'd use for regular weights; you're supposed to add just enough that you're working hard but not struggling. So you were certainly right to tell your friend your recommendation, and the instructor has decidedly dropped the ball in this one. But I wouldn't push it any further; you told her what she thought, and if she chooses not to listen, that's her mistake.
I struggle with Plank Pose in yoga too. However, My biggest problem are my wrists. I can't support my 250 pounds on my bony little wrists. We also do Plank Pose as an extention of Downward Facing Dog. We do Dog pose and then push foward into Plank pose. One time he had us do it the other way around (mostly because he wanted us to do a longer stance dog pose) and THAT time I did it fine. So maybe my bigger problem is not PLANK pose, but just wrist fatigue.
I STRONGLY agree with your premise that correct form is WAY more important than heavier weights!
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