Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Shocking Exercise

I had my first workout at Curves today. It was fun! I was worried that I wouldn't make it all the way through the 1/2 hour workout, but I had no problems and didn't feel like I had to push myself too hard. The nice thing about Curves is that you can do things at your own pace. Well, sort of. You have to move from machine to machine every 30 seconds, but whether you want you do 50 reps or 5 is up to you. I did minimal reps concentrating on building technique and getting used to the machine. I'm really more interested in strength training than in muscle building. In between the machines are platforms that you are supposed to walk or jog in place on. I opted for a modified marching, and may add some upper body movement as I build my stamina.

I have to admit, I am afraid of raising my heartrate too high, lest I get shocked. My particular type of arrythmia is not exercise-induced, but it's still a little sobering to think that at 180 beats per minute I'll be getting a very large jolt of electricity delivered straight to my heart via a wire threaded through my vein. It's been almost 3 years since I had my ICD implanted (April 2002). I can't believe it. Already there have been huge strides in ICD technology since then. In particular, there's a new device called a biventricular pacemaker which shows extremely promising results in assisting congestive heart failure and raising ejection fractions (a measure of how much blood your heart pumps out verses what it takes in). I won't be due for a replacement for another couple of years but it looks like my upgrade will be dramatic.

Anyway, I enjoyed my workout at Curves and hope that I'll be able to lose some weight, lose some inches, and build stamina through my workouts there.