Geelong's Gym

Have you ever thought about the effect exercising in the heat has on your body?

I love the heat… when everyone else is retreating to the indoors and air-conditioned buildings, I’m starting to come to life.  And the hotter the better… or so I thought.

Tuesday, a couple of weeks ago, the weather was forecast to be 39 degrees celcius, so I advised my personal training clients to train early to avoid the midday heat.  We take all the precautions we can to ensure no ill-effects from heat related illness.

But then I found myself with a bit of spare time in the middle of the day, so what do I do?  I decide to go for a walk for an hour or so… congratulating myself, because I’m being sensible only going for walk and not a run!

On goes the sunscreen, light weight clothing, sunglasses, hat and 2 litre camel back filled with cold water… and off I go.

If someone (or yourself) is suffering from heat illness, follow these steps.

After an hour, I’m enjoying the heat and feeling fantastic… until I take a big shuddering breath and wonder what that’s all about.  I take notice of my pounding heart and decide to turn on my heart rate monitor to see where I’m at.  Now I usually walk briskly on about 110-117 beats per minute…

160 beats per minute!!!

That’s full on running heart rate… my body is working hard to cope with the heat.  While in my head I felt fine, clearly I’m compromising my health.  Fortunately I’m only 15 minutes from home and I stick to the shaded areas, while constantly sipping water.  But when I get there and look in the mirror, my face is beetroot red – not my normal response to a walk at all!

While having a cool shower, I chastise myself… WHAT’S GOOD FOR MY CLIENTS IS GOOD FOR ME!

As we’re currently in the height of summer, here are a few tips from Sports Medicine Australia Victorian Branch to remember when considering exercising in the heat:

• Exercising in hot, humid conditions can lead to dehydration, heat illness and sometimes even heat stroke.
• Symptoms of heat illness – light-headedness, nausea, headache, confusion, not sweating, agressive or irrational behaviour – be alert for any of these signs!
• Stay hydrated – drink water before, during and after exercise.
• Take rests, preferably in the shade.
• Wear light coloured, lightweight and loose clothing that allows easy evaporation of sweat from the skin.
• Wear sunglasses, 30+ sunscreen and a hat.
• Reduce the duration and intensity of your warm up.
• Do NOT undertake strenuous activity if you have recently experienced a high temperature, infection, diarrhoea or vomiting.
• If you have a medical condition such as asthma, diabetes, a heart problem, epilepsy or obesity, are taking medication or are pregnant, you may experience difficulties exercising in the heat.
• If you are suffering from heat illness – lie down in a cool place, remove excess clothing, wet your skin or use ice packs and drink cool water.  If your symptoms don’t improve seek medical assistance.

Here’s a helpful temperature guide from SunSmart:

Temperature: 31-35; Risk of Heat Illness: High-very high

Uncomfortable for most people, modify activities.  Reduce intensity, take more breaks and limit duration to less than 60 minutes.  Be cautious when relative humidity reaches over 50%

Temperature: 36 and above; Risk of Heat Illness: Extreme

Very stressful for most people, modify, postpone or cancel activities.  Reschedule to a cooler part of the day or cooler location.  Be cautious when relative humidity reaches over 30%.

My sister and her family were travelling, by train, from the country to Rod Laver Arena to watch a day’s play at Australian Open.  The train would pass through and stop briefly to collect more passengers at Geelong.

Rod Laver Area

Now I could have said to her on the phone…”Hope you have a lovely day and see some great tennis” and be done with it.

Instead, I decided to meet their train and spend the few, precious moments with her on the platform.

So, runners on.  Run to train station… with heart rate a little higher than normal due to anxiety about missing the train and the excitement of seeing my sister.

Get there with 5 minutes to spare and pace up and down keeping a look out for the train.  Heart rate jumps again when I hear the whistle.  The carriage doors open and there she is with her three kids so hugs and kisses all round. 

And then the chatter…a week’s worth of words in 3 minutes!!!

Then back on the train they get, whistle sounds, and they’re on their way again.

I slowly jog home feeling so happy at having seen some of my family.  I breathe the outside air and marvel at the green of the trees.  Life feels pretty good. 

Then I glance at my heart rate monitor as it ticks over 300 calories spent.  Worth the effort to see someone for a few moments???

You betcha!

When did we lose our ABILITY to be active?

We used to go to the gym just to get fitter and stronger for a sport.  Then we used the gym to help with rehabilitation of injuries.  We discovered body shape could be altered through exercise.  And of course, we are constantly told to exercise consistently for better health and well being.

Isn't it great to see kids running around and enjoying the outdoors?!

But now it seems that gyms are playing a very important role, which we didn’t foresee, starting with children as young as 7 years…  Gyms are teaching children the importance of simply being active, something that we all took for granted when we were growing up.

I’m sure you remember how we all played outside with our neighbours, hung from trees, played games of footy, soccer and chasey.  Now it’s no longer safe or we live in a housing complex with no trees or there’s no open space to even think about playing a ball sport.  Children today have much fewer opportunities to test their bodies and understand the potential of their muscles.

How then, as adults, are they going to know how to exercise for health and well being?  How are they expected to know how to combat lifestyle diseases, like cardio-vascular disease and Type II Diabetes?

As for the ever-growing obesity epidemic…

Sobering, isn’t it?

So, going to the gym is all about re-abilitating ourselves into the world of activity.  It’s giving us back childhood opportunities to learn about how our bodies move.

How then, can the gym not be part of your life?

A sight to behold!  Geelong’s Gym Personal Trainers certainly know how to push to the max!

As a Personal Trainer, you get used to seeing other trainers working their clients hard, pushing them into uncomfortable head space, challenging their muscles and stamina in order to initiate change.

What you don’t see very often is two trainers pushing each other to the max.

Sure, they work along side each other, spot each other and share knowledge and stories, but going for broke is a rare sight.

Burning calories at that rate will have you fitting through the small door in a heart beat!

Recently, I witnessed the most intense training session ever! No stopping, giving up, wasting any precious time. Two Geelong’s Gym trainers, Adam Ryan and Nathan Moore, were trying to set new PB’s (Personal Best).

In what?  How many calories can be burnt in the shortest time.

And the best outcome to date is 672 calories in 38 minutes!

WOW!                             

And why?  Why not!

I read a line in a book the other day that said, “I am a verb! I am alive, dynamic, ever active and moving. I am being a verb”.

We have a knack of taking a verb that is alive and turning it into a dead noun.

For example, I have a gym membership. Woop-de-do!  Doesn’t get you any fitter or healthier does it, just because you have it?  You have a noun… a membership, nothing more.

Try being an active gym member who exercises regularly; it’s got a lot more potential than just saying you have a membership.  The verb of exercising takes you away from the noun into something dynamic and exciting.

Maybe we could all put some more “doing” into our workouts and into our lives.

And no, this isn't what I mean!

With 189km to ponder things whilst Walking Home, shadows was a topic of solo conversation in my head many times.

With the weather in the high 30s and full sunshine blazing down on the walkers, shadows were everywhere.

It occurred to me that shadows are often used in a negative way…hiding something, representing an issue that hasn’t been resolved, some deep dark secret lurking in the shadows!

Well here are some of my learnings:

• Shadows are great company and throw many dimensions to an otherwise flat picture.
• Shadows don’t weigh you down or slow you down.
• Shadows can give enormous relief from a seemingly in-escapable situation… in this case, the sun.

On day 3 of our walk from Camperdown to Colac, the air temperature was 35^oC.  The bitumen temperature was 60^o C.  Our feet were burning, our blisters were screaming, heat rash was appearing on many and heat stroke was starting to take its toll on a few.  The greatest relief was to walk closely to someone and find shade.

Some nasty blisters!

So here is my new saying in life:

Sometimes it’s really important to walk in someone else’s shadow.

Well it’s not long now until we hit the road from Warrnambool to Geelong and this may be my last blog before we head out.  Hopefully I’ll be able to send through some updates whilst on the road.  For all those who’ve wanted to sponsor me, this is your chance.  I’ve reached my personal target but clearly I set it too low and didn’t realize the generosity of my friends.  Our group target is still a little way off.

 I bounced out of surgery exceptionally well last week.  Still no talking but attempting to whisper and only a bit of a sore tongue.  I’m also back eating normally and didn’t lose any weight so feel very ready.

Yes, that's right... those really are shoes in the fridge!

Well with all the training we’ve done, nothing has prepared us for the heat wave currently upon us.  I walked 20km yesterday and loved it…the warmer it gets, the more active I get…but I’m the only one in the group who feels this way.  It will truly test most of us, and for the first time, road burn on our feet is a real and likely possibility.  This is radiant heat from the bitumen.  I think we’ll all have to put a spare pair of shoes in the fridge in the food van.  Seriously!  Nothing like dry socks and cool shoes after a few kms.  I bought another 5 pairs of excellent socks yesterday (over $80 worth!) as I think I’ll be churning through them.

So thank you for all your support and I hope I step out well on your behalf.  If you still want to sponsor me in The Walking Home Challenge and lend your support, please click here.  This is a secure donation site, so all you need to do is search for me, Ann Cramp.

Annie xxx

Oh…nervous time…only 7 days to go and the reality of walking is kicking in. We have been involved in quite a few photo shoots for various media, so keep a look out for that.

I have a little hiccup in my preparation for this event as I headed into hospital Wednesday last week for surgery on my larynx (voice box). I have nodules that must come out for future health reasons but also to be able to speak clearly. Gone is the husky voice I hope, but won’t know what I sound like for maybe a month!!! Peace in our house!

What this means though, in terms of the Walking Home Challenge, is that my food intake over the next few days will be sorely diminished and that’s not ideal leading into an endurance event. I will most likely have a stiff neck and jaw pain so walking in the lead up may not even happen – wait and see.

The great news is that my walk of 43kms Saturday before last was effortless. It was 28 degrees which is getting close to nearly warm in my language. I didn’t crave easy carbohydrates (junk food) so my body is metabolizing fat storage well now. AND – No stiffness later that night or the next day. It was like I’d been resting all weekend. Couldn’t have been happier.

So off to Warrnambool in 7 days it is…with little white board in hand to write instructions and requests to the team and maybe even use it for a quick tap on the rump to get them moving!

Thanks for being on this journey with me. Step by step.

Annie

I’ve been training to participate in the Walking Home project for Homelessness – 189km walk from Warrnambool to Geelong. A group of us are walking this distance over 5 days, camping out at the regional towns along the way. I’ve had to give every spare minute to building these walking kms…conditioning shins, hips and feet. No extra running coming into Touch season this year – it’s just walk, walk, walk. I go to watch my husband play cricket and I walk around and around the oval, first one direction, then the other. I walked for 5 hours on Saturday and clocked up 30kms. I’ve also been able to keep the weights going and I’m getting strong.

Well the crunch time came – my reality check! My first run at Touch!

WOW!!!!! I could go and go and go when everyone else had stopped. I really felt like the Ever-ready Bunny off the battery commercial. My endurance base has grown phenomenally and I was able to bounce the short, sharp running off that.

I have never been in such good shape coming into a Touch season. Aerobically fit and muscle strong. Who would have thought that walking in between seasons could do that?