I just got a membership to the fitness club at our local community centre and I’ve got a few qestions.
First, guys, what do you wear for your workout, obviously T-shirt and shorts, but what kind of shorts, do you wear shorts and underwear or shorts with the integrated liner, similar to swimming trunks. Also, is it recommended to wear a jock for regular exercise, things like treadmill, stair climbers and weight machines.
The facility also has a pool, is it best to swim AND workout or only do one activity per day, keep in mind that I’m not in the best of shape but not overweight and my health is generally OK.
What about use of sauna and whirlpool, do you do both in one visit and if so, does the order matters.
I imagine I’ll find out some of these when I go for the first time, probably next Monday, there’s suppose to be some kind of orientation session, but thought I’d ask here anyways.
When I was a member (and I will soon be a member again) I wore tracksuit bottoms, with underwear, and a polo shirt.
What is a Jock? (Jock-strap? If so, why?).
The general advice I got when asking here was to alternate weights with cardio. So weights one day, swimming/running/rowing the next. If you’re not going every day (which I assume you won’t be) you could probably get away with a bit of both on one visit)
T-shirt and longish shorts with a liner. Shorts come to just above the knee. Look around and see what other people are wearing. Some people wear shirts made of a special dri-weave material. It’s optional if you want to wear those. They will wick away sweat a little better and may keep you a little cooler. A cotton t-shirt can get a bit weighty if you sweat a lot. It’s not a big deal either way. I like shorts with the liner since they wick sweat away better than cotton underwear. Just be careful not to flash the whole room if you’re lifting your legs up in the air.
I don’t think you really need a jock strap. I see very few people wearing them at the gym. You may want to wear one if you’re more comfortable that way.
If you do swim+workout in the same day, I would suggest swim first. Swimming is very technique dependent. If you’re tired from working out, your form would likely suffer and you probably wouldn’t be swimming very well.
In terms of getting into shape, you may be better off using the motorized machines instead of swimming. I’m talking about the treadmills/stairmasters. Swimming or using machines in which you provide the power (like stationary bikes) are very dependent on your level of motivation. If you’re feeling a little slow that day, it is super easy for your body to take it a little easier. But if you’re on something like a motorized treadmill, you can’t cheat if the machine is set for X mph.
If you’re doing anything involving mats, I would make sure that you wear full workout pants and shirt. A couple of years ago, I was stretching out on a mat with one knee on the mat (wearing workout shorts) and exposed myself and got a MRSA infection. Didn’t know how I got it until my doctor and I ran down the possible causes since he was baffled that I got the infection on the front of my knee and not in the usual places MRSA infections take place, like the armpits, groin or the back of the knee.
Turns out that I told him that I usually have ingrown hairs on the front of my knees so I pick or scratch them. I also worked out at our local gym and I would use the mats there to stretch out my legs, usually one knee on the mat and the other extended to stretch. The mats weren’t always the cleanest, sometimes people sweat on the mats when they stretch out AFTER their workout. By wearing shorts, I was placing my exposed knees on dirty mats and infecting the scratch that I had earlier.
My second sin was that I also was washing my entire body with anti-bacterial soap, which wiped out both good and bad bacteria on my body and created an opportunity for the MRSA to infect me quite readily. So now, I only wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap and regular soap everywhere else.
Our suspicions were confirmed when one of my co-workers got MRSA from the same gym using the same group of mats, except hers was on her lower back, near her butt crack. Poor girl.
At the gym i wear underwear (boxer briefs), cotton shorts, and a cotton t-shirt. This is for weights workouts only. I don’t do cardio at the gym; i run on the road, and for that i wear nylon shorts with built-in liner and a running shirt made of synthetic material for better ventilation and wicking.
I don’t wear the synthetic materials in the gym because the gym is relatively cool anyway (decent air conditioning), and also because i find those synthetics tend to hold odor much more easily than cotton when you sweat.
I understand why you say this, but whenever i am going to do weights and cardio in the same workout, i always do weights first, because i find that if i do cardio first, it saps some of my energy and makes it much harder to lift.
Nowdays, i tend to avoid the problem by doing weights in the morning and going for a run in the late afternoon.