Monday 5 April 2010

Bank Holiday Binge Burner?

Gym Ninja went to the Gym Today.

Gym Ninja always loves Bank Holidays so she can train at the gym. Tis her usual pass time now that she is too broke to spend it socialising or shopping!  Oddly, Gym Ninja had no expectations of the place being busy either...and yet it was!

By the time Gym Ninja rolled up at the gym (about 11.15am) it was already as busy as it usually is of an evening. Lots of sweaty people staring into the middle distance, a look of grim determination on their faces. Hmm, Gym Ninja forgot. This is traditionally the Easter Bank Holiday Binge Burner session that most people do, having scoffed chocolate the entire day before, and possibly even for breakfast too...? So much for a nice quiet workout session.

Now GN had been looking forward to this workout as her weekend of exams meant she couldn't do her usual Saturday Slaughter Session that lets off so much steam. So imagine Gym Ninja's disappointment when she awoke to find herself muggy of head and rather tired. But wait! This was predicted a few days back no? Remember, Gym Ninja mentioned that when you have spent months running in a hamster wheel and in this case, working and studying constantly, for it then to stop....well the body just seems to collapse into tiredness.

AHHHR!

But gym Ninja soldiered on. A 20 minute interval run was done first purely because GN felt she needed the benefit of getting her heart & lungs working hard. If she collapsed later then at least she'd gotten herself moving eh?

Again, the best treadmills were all taken. It didn't help that 2 were out of action. 1 of which has been out of action for at least a month. A month! Seriously. Ring someone and get it fixed! You're a National chain of gyms. You will have some sway with the manufacturers surely? Can't you get preferential treatment for a service contract?

Next: legs!  Gym Ninja decided to begin by pre-exhausting her Quads. Burn those buggers out before the compound leg work. Of course, having a nice muscular torso (a male one!) to perv at opposite her did help with that decision somewhat. It's terribly motivating donchaknow!

Once the isolation work for the quads had been done & they'd been suitably worked, Gym Ninja decided that maybe steering clear of heavy squats in favour of the Hammer Strength Leg Press would be a very sensible idea. No chance of falling over with the old dizziness then is there?

TIP: DO NOT train when dizzy. Gym Ninja did and knew she was being foolish. Do as Gym Ninja says, not as she does please!

Gym Ninja loaded up a fair few big boy plates whilst the girl on the next machine looked on in horror....

YES. Gym Ninja is a GIRL.
YES. Gym Ninja is adding heavy weights despite being a girl.
NO, it does NOT mean she will get humungous legs like Powerplant cooling towers.

Ladies: never forget we have 10 times LESS testosterone than guys so we can't get 'mahoosive' easily. Hell, even the GUYs in the gym are 75% teeny tiny  of body and they HAVE testosterone. That should show you how hard it is to gain big if so many gym users don't achieve it.;-)


OK...oh and no,  just in case you are wondering, GN didn't fall over at any point during this workout. But the dizziness did mean that the intensity of the workout had to be dialed back somewhat. Annoying!

Once the leg press had been conquered, Gym Ninja decided to do a fairly light barbell squat (so as not to fall over) some variations on lunges, Barbell Straight Legged deadlifts, plus some rather challenging one legged dumbbell deadlifts.

Yep. Gym Ninja was dizzy yet decided to do one legged work!
Yep, it DID make it challenging!
But wow, how good is one legged training to push you through a plateau!

Next followed some prone leg raises using a Swiss Ball and a smattering of ab work using a medicine ball. Then, once the workout was complete, Gym Ninja stretched out her muscles and staggered downstairs to the changing rooms, her reward of a Choc Mint Promax Shake waiting for her! Mmm.

On route home, GN stopped off at Tesco. Instead of eggs, Gym Ninja had been given a small amount of cash for Easter from family members who appear to think that just because a person doesn't eat traditional chocolate treats, then a replacement must be offered. Bless. So Gym Ninja used it to buy 3 Maximuscle Promax Meal bars plus 4 Maxitone Definity Crisp Bars.

Now Maxitone is the newly launched girly range of Maximuscle products. Gym Ninja does not mean to make it sound like it is a faffy range by the way. It still has the same quality ingredients as the Maximuscle range and gives good results according to others who have told GN they've tried it. It's just that Gym Ninja loves her Maximuscle stuff as she has seen incredible results from it. Plus, Gym Ninja does not feel put off by the Maximuscle name in the way that some women can be (which is a shame that women do get put off thinking it's just for guys). Therefore, Gym Ninja probably won't be forking out for the Maxitone range (it appears to be somewhat more expensive per gram) purely because it has a girly packaging. Maybe it tastes nicer? Sadly Gym Ninja isn't in a position to buy and try right now. But by all means if you see it on the shelf and are tempted to try it, rest assured it's good quality stuff. After all, the Definity Crisp Bars are yoghurt coated versions of Gym Ninja's dahhhrling Promax Crisp bars. Not 'quite' as fab in GN's opinion as the chocolate covered ones, but they hit the spot.

So...did you manage to eat in moderation over Easter people? Did you binge? Do you now feel bad & are considering writing off the rest of this week due to your chocolate stash? Don't feel bad! It's done now. Don't wipe out the rest of this week either, as no doubt you will still be scoffing the stuff regardless, so may as well try and burn some of it off at the gym. Just don't use it as an excuse to cancel out anything good this week ok?

Right, GN is off now....maybe for a small snooze on the sofa-sleep off some of this all-day dizziness!

Toodle Pip

Gym Ninja x