The Gym Thread

I did 45 minutes of swimming laps today and 20 minutes brisk walk to the pool and back.  This afternoon I will walk to pick my daughter up at school- about 1 mile each way. 

My goal is to work-out every weekday morning. I can go to the gym for an hour a day, so I can do 30 minutes of cardio, 20 minutes of weights, and 10 minutes of stretching.

Working out every day is fine, but you really need to leave a day of rest in between strength training sessions. Maybe try concentrating on weights on M/W/F with some light cardio and stretching, and then concentrating on cardio on T/T?

Since my post earlier about my gym cancelling my beloved Boot Camp class, I did get a very well-written and thoughtful reply back from the manager there, but in the end it didn't really change anything. So at least until my 10k in May (Bupa London 10,000 if anyone else is running?) I'm going to use that time on Mondays to roadrun my Tower Bridge to Westminster Bridge circuit and hopefully increase my weekly mileage a bit. I'm doing about 20k a week right now but I'd like to increase that to 30 before the race if I can. Fingers crossed, anyway!

Working out every day is fine, but you really need to leave a day of rest in between strength training sessions. Maybe try concentrating on weights on M/W/F with some light cardio and stretching, and then concentrating on cardio on T/T?

Thanks for your suggestion, Squirrellypoo.

What do you think about 30 minutes of cardio every day, and then 20 min of legs (weights) on MWF and 20 min of arms (weights) on TT?

What do you think about 30 minutes of cardio every day, and then 20 min of legs (weights) on MWF and 20 min of arms (weights) on TT?

Yeah, that's fine! Sorry, I shoud've clarified earlier - you want to give your muscles a day to rest in between, so if you're alternating muscle groups then you could actually strength train every day!

If anyone is in need of a new gym bag, Decathlon have a sale on right now. After using the same old rucksack since 2002(!!) I finally bought a new one on Wednesday - this slate blue bag, which was on sale for £8 at the surrey quays store. It's got a separate shoe compartment, water bottle storage, and a bunch of interior pockets for all my shower stuff and office clothes. I'm really happy with it and I thought I'd give a heads up if anyone's near a store.

If anyone is in need of a new gym bag, Decathlon have a sale on right now. After using the same old rucksack since 2002(!!) I finally bought a new one on Wednesday - this slate blue bag, which was on sale for £8 at the surrey quays store. It's got a separate shoe compartment, water bottle storage, and a bunch of interior pockets for all my shower stuff and office clothes. I'm really happy with it and I thought I'd give a heads up if anyone's near a store.

Good find! That's exactly what I need, actually.

Brand new member here and brand new to the UK.

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any gyms that offer childcare near Westminster? I happened upon the Queen Mother Sports Center and they only offer 2 hours twice a week.

Thanks!

Hi DBW! Welcome to UK-Y.

Not sure about which offer childcare, but here are some of the larger gym chains that you might want to check out: Virgin, Cannons, LA Fitness, Fitness First. You can look on their websites to see what services they provide. I know that different locations offer different things.

You might also want to check out the Westminster Council leisure centres.

David LLoyds tend to have both creche and childcare facilities:http://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/

Does anyone know of a gym in London (pref. North) with circuit training facilities?

arrrrrrgh. I had an ICE COLD shower at my gym this morning. I ran four of the showers for 10 minutes trying to get the water to go hot and I finally had to suck it up and shiver in convulsions to get the skanky sweat off me. I feel I was pretty restrained when I complained to the front desk, especially considering I was still tense and shaking on my way to work.

I mean, really, I don't have particularly high expectations when it comes to gyms. Working machines, free weights, and a hot shower is all I ask.