Gorillas in the Mist

I did something I haven't done for a very long time today, I went to the gym.

I wasn't pumping out big weights or anything. I know weights training is something that some triathletes swear by, but I don't have that form of strength training in my program at the moment. It doesn't really matter that much anyway since this isn't a blog about the merits or otherwise of weights in triathlon.

No rather I was at the gym doing my usual strength work, Pilates, body weight strength type exercises, that sort of thing. I usually do this at home in the evenings, however, I am keen to try and streamline my evenings a bit to make it easier to get to bed earlier and so I thought I would try doing my strength work during the day instead. This is particularly convenient since my office building contains a little gym, so getting in a quick work out is easy (and free).

Now, I am not particularly anti the gym. As I said above, I know weights is a big part of some peoples strength routine and in previous lives I have spent a lot of time in gyms myself. But today's visit reminded me of a lot of the things I don't like about them. So much grunting going on, so much look at me behaviour. I know weights can be heavy (that is kind of the point) but I don't need to hear about it. It is like watching something from a nature documentary. And this is from fellow office workers, hardly muscle bound gym junkies.

The fault is at least partly mine. I made the mistake of going at gym peak hour of 11:30, just before most people break for lunch. In future I think I will do my strength session either earlier or later. The session only takes 30 minutes to an hour when I focus and get on with it and so I can slot it in anywhere really.

I am definitely going to persevere though. Getting it done during the day makes it just that little bit more likely that I will do it properly. Plus having it done now means there is one less thing to do between dinner, story time and bed.

Speaking of getting things done. I haven't had my run yet today. That is down for this afternoon. Looking forward to getting on with it. Riding and swimming tomorrow. Starting to feel a bit like training (you have to sing it to the tune of Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas) for it to work properly).