Flat Battery

Another lesson about human physiology was learned last night. On Tuesday I had blitzed the gym, an hour and a quarter of full blown cardio-vascular exercises was enough to get a sweat on but that seemed about it. The muscles were not really protesting, and Wednesday morning I did not feel any ill effects, no aches, nothing. So I went back to the gym on Wednesday.

Nigel has the week off and was already on the rowing machine when I arrived. He was 7 minutes into a 20 minute stint, so I set my clock to 13 minutes so our end time would coincide. That knackered me out.

I then went off and played with the weights. I decided to vary the lifts a little bit. Sets of 15 curls with the 5kg weights, interspersed with sets of about 10 curls with the 7.5kg weights. My thinking is that the 5kgs are easy to lift so I can bang out some quick repetitions to build stamina. The 7.5kg weights are harder to lift so will encourage building muscle mass. I did many sets of both, I lost count but spent about 20 minutes with the free weights.

To follow that up I did the triceps push down exercise. 7kgs, 15 reps, 2 sets. No bother just that shaky, gritted teeth, veins standing out on my neck for the last could of pushes.

Weights done, I thought I should make a showing on the running machines. I headed over, set the treadmill and set off at 7.5mph. Approximately two minutes into the jog I discovered I was well and truly fatigued.

It was a strange tired too. My muscles were all revved up and keen to pound on, my heart and breathing were regulated and even, but I had just run out of steam. It felt very much like I had run out of fuel. My batteries were flat.

I called it a day, and due to Nigel’s hangover, he didn’t really protest when I suggested that the gym was not for us any more. So we made our way to the pool, and after showing off my new goggs, I had a go at swimming but I had nothing left. There was no fuel in the tank.

I got home and consumed many carbohydrates to refuel the obviously dwindled stocks and today I am not going to the gym.

The lesson learned that the rest day that sports scientists bang on about is not just to allow the muscles to recover and grow, it also is a chance for the fuel stocks that have been burned off to be replenished. I will bear this in mind in the future.