Have you ever taken a look at a piece of gym equipment and been like, "Nope, not going near that." or "What the heck do you do with that?" Well, I guess I'm slowly getting close to getting rid of those phrases from my life.
This week, my Y conditioning class for women made us learn to use the 2 pieces of gym equipment that have totally intimidated me. Mainly because I didn't know what they heck they were.
The first, is pictured above. That's the chin up assisted machine. When I was told we'd be doing chin ups, I was like, "oh no, I couldn't even do a reverse push up last week." And this machine is high off the ground, and scary.
It works like a set of balance scales. If you select enough bar weights to weigh as much as you, you won't be able to go anywhere. If you select no weights, then you need to life your whole weight. So if you weight 165lbs and you want to life 50lbs, you set the bars to 115lbs.
Then you climb up to the second set of foot pads, grab the upper bar (waay up above), and then step onto the top platform. The order you do this is very important. If you're not holding the bars with your hands when you step on the top platform, then as soon as your weight shifts to the platform, it will fall - possibly all the way to the ground.
The trainer was careful to tell us that if something went wrong and you end up standing on the platform at ground level, and you were unable to reach the hand bars (many feet above the ground), that you cannot simply step off. As soon as some of your weight shifts off, the platform will shoot up, taking your other leg, or your teeth with it. So if you end up at the bottom, you need to use the lower handles to 'climb' back to the top.
That's a lot to think about.
I was so nervous doing this. I made everyone else go first. The trainer was great and did all the instructions each time, and managed the weight bars. When it was my turn, I was scared she'd put on too much weight(by picking a light bar, oddly enough), and I'd shoot to the bottom and dislocate my arms. I was certain it would happen.
I started at 30lbs and it was way easy. You control everything with your arms, you force yourself and the platform up and down by pulling and pushing. I pulled and up and asked for more weight. It was really neat.
Stepping down is tricky too. You need to hold the bar and slowly step backwards and off the top platform onto the middle ones. But I did it, and it was fun, and I'll probably do it again on my own.
The next machine was even scarier. It was this piece called the "Radiat" which it has many different attachments and things you can do. I've always stayed away from it.
The trainer slide the bench away, and attached a curved metal bar to the pulley at the top of the left side, probably 6 feet off the ground. Then she took an aerobic step and placed it at a 90 degree angle, facing the left pulley.
The task, to do rowing motions while sitting on the step on the ground. The tricky part, getting the metal bar down low enough to make this happen. Of course, she made it look effortless. She stood up, put the weight bars (or plate weights) at 65lbs, grips the metal bar with both hands, and in one swift (with not hands) sat on her bum on the step. Then she placed her feet into a locked position at the base of the machine.
I could not replicate that. I stood, gripped the metal bar and started to pull. Nothing happened because I cannot move 65lbs with my arms. I was told that you don't do it with your arms, you do it with your whole body. You need to drop your bum, and shift your weight down using your whole body. Yeah, I totally could not do that. The trainer helped and put some force behind the metal bar for me. Then, when I got down, I was tons of pain.
She's all about pushing ourselves. She hates it when people attempt to do lots of reps and small weights. Fine. But I could barely do 3 reps at 65lbs.
You had to lean back as if you were in a recliner, and then keep your back and your body perfectly still, lock you feet in, and then just extend and bend your arms. If you "rocked" your whole body forward that was incorrect and wouldn't work the right muscles. Honestly, all it felt like was that the weights were heavy, my bum was heavy, and my poor arms were becoming spaghetti getting trapped because the top.
I needed less weight, and that's when I discovered the most trickiest part - getting back up. You can't let go of the metal bar and use one hand to help you up. You have to go from on your bum to on your feet - no knees, no wrists, no bending, no turning. My arms hurt, I wanted up, but couldn't figure it out. The trainer said, "Just let the pulley pull you up, shift your weight again." Nope, didn't work. Too unbalanced. Finally, she put one hand on the metal bar and one hand on me, and I got up.
I repeated the process at 45lbs. The way down was easier, I just did a squat and then brought my feet forward. The way back up was still tough, but I only needed the trainer to put one hand on the pulley. I'm not sure I'd rush out to redo this one again. I think the sitting near the floor, and almost 6 feet away from the top of the pulley was the worst part. I would do it again if I could sit on a bench, like in here:
Both of those exercises were supposedly for back, though I only felt them in my arms. Next we did some chest stuff. First, we went over to the chest press. I had previously struggled to use this machine on 10lbs (seriously! pain!) and when I saw the trainer set the default weight at 30lbs I cringed a little. I didn't want to be the wuss again.
Turns out, I might have been doing somethings wrong on the machine. There's a yellow bit by the elbow that you can rotate forward or backward, and she said to always more it forward. The hand grips need to always be at your armpits or lower. And you need to rotate your fists around the hand grips so that the back of your hands are facing away from you, not towards you. 30lbs was tough, but I did it ok.
Next up, bench work with free weights. We were give 2, 25lb weights and shown how to do a chest press with them. Laying on your back, you bend your elbows and take your fists (with the weights) to your shoulders. Make the back of your hands face down, the underside of your forearm face up. Your arms should be fairly level with your body. Then you lift up and innerward and somewhat towards your toes (3 dimensions!) so that you bring the weights together, about an arm's reach above your mid-chest. Don't lift them above your head, keep 'em above your chest.
Then we were taught flys, which are somewhat similar. Basically, you start laying down with your arms straight (but not locked) and facing out and level with the ground. Then you keep your arms straight and lift up and in, to end with the arms an arm's length above your chest. Supposedly flys are harder, so the trainer made us switch to 20lbs. I think she said the chest presses work your lower chest and flys work your upper chest, which is better for women because that supports the bust.
The last formal thing we learned was bench rows. I'm not sure if that's the proper name. It was another back (rather than chest) exercise. You placed a left knee and left palm on the bench, then placed your right foot about 2 feet away from the bench. You hold a 25lb weight in your right hand down by the floor with your straight right arm. Your back should be level with the bench. Then you simply keep everything still but your arm, and you bend at the elbow bringing the weight up and in.
Simple right? Well, I couldn't keep my back straight for the deadlift last week - actually I couldn't figure out how to straighten my back in the first place. And I got a repeat of that. I had no body sense, I couldn't tell if I was hunched over or curved or what.
I got down and tried and asked. I was reassured, yup I was fine. But rotate your shoulder. Uh? I point my elbow out. No, rotate your shoulder. Turns out, my right shoulder was 'dropped' meaning it was closer to the ground than my left. When I tried to fix it, I just bent it towards my ear, which was still the wrong dimension. The trainer came over and told me just to turn at the waist a little, and I did and that worked. Wow, body movements are complicated!
I also have no body sense when it comes to push ups. We ended the session with a few informal tips on things. The trainer did the run down on push ups, explaining that against the wall is the easiest, with your feet on the ground and your upper body on a low bench is slightly harder, then the standard ones, and then "advanced" push ups are with your feet on a bench and your upper body on the ground.
I wanted to try some with my upper body based on a bench, but I couldn't fit out how to hold my entire body straight. "You need to tuck your bum in more, your bent at the waist." I had no idea I was. That's why I don't do yoga in groups, what feels right to me probably looks nothing like the poses I'm trying to accomplish. And that's probably why it took so long for me to learn how to float in water, I have no clue what a straightened body is supposed to feel like. In all honesty, it feels unnatural and terrible. I know I have horrible posture, I'm pretty sure my back is never straight, and my head is usually a few inches ahead of my spine.
So, I know this class is definitely helping. Each week, I'm learning a ton, even when we're using machines I've used before. However, given that the workout was supposed to be back and chest, it's my armpits that hate me today. Even cutting up a kiwi in kitchen was kinda painful tonight. Maybe I'll feel more tomorrow.