Weight! One Minute…

So, there I was, dressed in shorts and a tee-shirt, arms out to the side and bent upwards at the elbow with each hand hooked into a grip. The aim was to pull the weights forward, hold them steady for a count of ten, and then slowly return the arms back to the starting position, for a certain number of repetitions.

First time OK. Same for the second. Third, fourth and fifth repetitions also OK, although by this time I was starting to feel the pull more.

Sixth time, the right arm pulled slightly ahead of the left one – only slightly, but enough for my back to feel it. Pushing my back into it, I managed to regain the left-right balance, and managed another two reps.

Ninth time and all momentum had gone. Right hand slipped out of grip and left arm lost its strength completely.

I brought both arms to my side, and sat on the bench feeling somewhat done in. Should I do another set? I thought. No pain, no gain. I lifted my arm, felt the pain, and thought no, enough is enough for one day.

I hadn’t realised that I’d had the weight machine set on one of its more heavier settings, but anything lighter I wouldn’t have noticed… I lied to myself.

Luckily somebody else wanted to use the machine, and the leg contraption was free.

I’ve mentioned this one before. The leg contraption.

One lies on the bench and lifts one’s knees up to one’s chest, and then places one’s feet into, well, a panel of some kind. The aim of this machine is to extend the legs out, pushing against the panel which in turn lifts the weight. The muscles are worked by the push and pull of the weights, not whether the legs are outstretched or bent at the knees; and the weights are at their resting point when the knees are up by the chest.

This was an easy one to start off with. Just lie back, push out and then push against the force as the weights were lowered again. Two sets of ten reps completed, I wanted to push myself on the third set.

Weights: increased.

Me: in position.

Legs extend outwards, no problems there… uh oh, a wobble. Gently bring the knees back toward the chest. There, done.

Next rep. Puuuusssshhhh…. legs outstretched. Oops… wobble again. Gently bring the knees back to…

GENTLY!!!

GAK!

When one’s knees find themselves besides one’s ears, one knows one has been pushed a little too far. When one is trapped in said machine and needs help to roll out of it, one knows instantly to never use said machine again.

With me, I don’t know my own strength. Hence I could use the heavy weights without realising how heavy they were, until I realised how heavy they were.

Many Moons ago, I was driving in my first car, and I had accidentally got it caught tight against a gatepost. I couldn’t drive forward, as the post would have dug further into the passenger door, and I couldn’t reverse as the post would have snapped the passenger side mirror off. I didn’t know how to drive out of the situation and I suddenly had a brainwave.

Simple! Lift the car around.

Lift it. The engine’s not that heavy. Lift the car and turn it slightly, so I can drive it again.

So, I got out of the car, went to the front (the engine end), lifted the car without a second thought, turned it around slightly, put the car down again, got back into the car, drove it forwards, parked the car, pulled the handbrake on, and felt a sharp twinge of pain in my back. The handbrake caused the twinge… can you believe it?

I wouldn’t dream of lifting a car at the engine end nowadays. I wouldn’t dream of using a weight machine either, well not for my arms anyway – and certainly not for my legs. Once trapped, twice shy!

I just need to think of the above three incidents and feel my muscles work out… although I can’t think of any of them for long without chuckling. And chuckling puts and end to my imaginative work out.

I’m not really one for physical exertion. I’m not that co-ordinated…