I've lost enough that building muscle is moving up on the importance list, and I'm close enough to goal that preserving muscle by some means other than getting enough protein is also moving up. So I think it's time to add weight work.
I'm not particularly coordinated - if I try jogging in place with my eyes closed, I fall over. (Seriously. After like 3 steps.) I still can't do a pushup, even after seeing James' most excellent drawing, because I have no ability to look at a picture and make my body do that thing. I'm slightly better if I look at a live person, but even then, it takes me a long, long time to figure it out. (This is why I don't do exercise videos. I spend all my time staring at the screen, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, and don't actually do it. It took me days of playing DDR before I could do any of the two-footed steps, because I couldn't translate arrows into movements. It's bad.)
So I conclude that it would be really helpful to me to work with an actual person, so I get the form right. The nearest gym to my house with actual people is 10-15 miles away, which is far enough that even if I had money for membership (which I currently don't), I wouldn't go regularly - and gym membership would eat up any money I had to pay an actual person. I can get a weight bench and free weights off craigslist for $150 or so, though, so what I really need is a live person.
The city parks department (not for my city, but the closest big city) has a couple of exercise rooms that are really cheap to use ($25 for 20 visits), but horribly inconvenient in location and hours. One of them has a "Weights for Women" program, where you get 30 minutes one-on-one, for $2.50 (yes, two dollars and fifty cents) per session. Times and location are still horrible, but I could fit in a half a dozen sessions before I got too work-swamped to get away during those hours.
In my experience, parks department instructors range from horrible to average. Would I be better off saving my pennies and getting a "real" trainer (probably $50 a session, for hour-long sessions) who would come to my house? (There are such people in my general area.)
I'm not particularly coordinated - if I try jogging in place with my eyes closed, I fall over. (Seriously. After like 3 steps.) I still can't do a pushup, even after seeing James' most excellent drawing, because I have no ability to look at a picture and make my body do that thing. I'm slightly better if I look at a live person, but even then, it takes me a long, long time to figure it out. (This is why I don't do exercise videos. I spend all my time staring at the screen, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, and don't actually do it. It took me days of playing DDR before I could do any of the two-footed steps, because I couldn't translate arrows into movements. It's bad.)
So I conclude that it would be really helpful to me to work with an actual person, so I get the form right. The nearest gym to my house with actual people is 10-15 miles away, which is far enough that even if I had money for membership (which I currently don't), I wouldn't go regularly - and gym membership would eat up any money I had to pay an actual person. I can get a weight bench and free weights off craigslist for $150 or so, though, so what I really need is a live person.
The city parks department (not for my city, but the closest big city) has a couple of exercise rooms that are really cheap to use ($25 for 20 visits), but horribly inconvenient in location and hours. One of them has a "Weights for Women" program, where you get 30 minutes one-on-one, for $2.50 (yes, two dollars and fifty cents) per session. Times and location are still horrible, but I could fit in a half a dozen sessions before I got too work-swamped to get away during those hours.
In my experience, parks department instructors range from horrible to average. Would I be better off saving my pennies and getting a "real" trainer (probably $50 a session, for hour-long sessions) who would come to my house? (There are such people in my general area.)
