All pain no gain????

Eeeyouch..... my muscles have been so sore the last couple of days!  Why you may ask? Well, finally last Thursday I made it to the gym. A whole three days later and I still feel a little sore but much better then I was.  NOT GOOD!  Goes to show how much I have let my fitness go over the last errrrrrrrrrrr......... well lets just say in far to long.  There is nothing wrong with sore muscles after being at the gym, but after only half an hour, that's not good!  My workout is suppose to be about an hour and I only managed half hour and I really had to force myself to do that much.  I did a mixture of cardiovascular exercises and weights (yes I achieved this all in half hour!) Some exercises were easier then others, for example I could push myself on the cross-trainer but the bike I found much harder as it really hurt my thighs and I could only really do it on  a low level.   I struggled because my muscles have become really weak from lack of exercise and laziness.

Cardiovascularly my fitness level isn't that bad (not great but not that bad) but I don't actually get to push myself physically because before I get out of breath etc my muscles are really hurting me.   I had a chat with Hubby who knows a lot about gym workouts etc and have revised my workout so most importantly it's going to build on my strength but it will also be more enjoyable (hopefully).  By doing both of these I will in turn achieve a lot more and improve my fitness.  The workout that was given to me at the gym made me focus on time more, when I did manage to get to the gym and do some exercise the whole time I would be thinking "another minute to go, nearly there, nearly finished".  This means when I do the workout I don't feel I am achieving anything and I'm not encouraged to continue, I'm just getting myself through it, going through the motions.  My new workout focuses more on targets. For example doing 1000 metres on the rower. When I achieve that I will then focus on reducing the time it takes me to do it.  I'm feeling more enthusiastic about things and rather then just getting through the work out (well half my workout in my case) I think I will push myself more.  I'm not the most competitive person but you do need realistic personal targets  to keep your motivation up, well I certainly do.  I'm in the right frame of mind though to get on and do things, it's taken me the best part of January to get into the right frame of mind but I'm there now which is the main thing.   This has really emphasised to me the importance of doing regular exercise.  Not for the first time I will say I don't want to get years down the line and regret not looking after my health better.  I am very lucky that physically MS hasn't had a greater impact on me, therefore I should take the opportunities I have now to improve my fitness  and health and do my best to make the most of them.