Cardioeye

Over the last five months or so, I’ve been hitting the gym. More specifically, I’ve been going to the Planet Fitness locations in Waterbury and Meriden; which one I go to depends on what I happen to be working out that day.

Despite the fact that I’ve been going for the last five months, working out something different each day of the week, I have to confess I don’t actually like exercising. I like the results, don’t get me wrong. I like being 13 pounds lighter than I was at Awesome Games Done Quick (As my cousin would say, “that’s close to an entire bowling ball’s worth of weight you lost!”). I like how I feel at the end of workouts. The actual process of working out, not so much. I read an interview with Jack LaLanne (He of berating a much younger man for not being active enough…at age 94) where he, surprisingly, said pretty much the same thing–that he liked the results of working out, but wasn’t a big fan of the actual process.

That said, cardio work is probably my favorite out of any of the routines I do. Part of it is that I’m not aiming for raw muscle mass (Preferring to be more lean and agile), but part of it is the easily trackable progress. From the cardio machines at the gym, my current target heart rate for the “cardio” range is 154 beats per minute. Depending on what machine I’m on, I can either work from there (On the bike, where my legs as opposed to my cardio system are the weak link), or go up into the 170-175 BPM range (On the Arc Trainer, or “The Beast” as my mom calls it). There’s something about watching my heart rate climb that makes me feel good, I guess.

How about everyone else? Anyone out there have a favorite workout routine?

-EE