Even a Bad Workout Can Be Good

LifeFitness Elliptical

It's a sluggish Monday after a busy weekend, and of course, because this happens occasionally, all the cardio machines are occupied. Drat! Well, there's a spot open on the LifeFitness elliptical so I'm on it. But I only do 35 minutes and the pulse monitor tells me that my heart rate never rises above 117. If that's correct, then I've got to seriously push myself a heck of a lot harder. I only log in 3.51 miles but I'm warm and sweaty. I don't like these machines because I'm constantly bumping into my water bottle which is too big for the holder. I prefer the Precor Elliptical but those don't engage arms. It feels more like running. And I think the glide motion is smoother. It's all personal preference and body proportions (how you fit into the equipment) and everyone's different.

 Tomorrow I hope to get back to my cardio routine. Smith machine calls and my joints aren't complaining yet. I put on my elbow braces and do my standard sets: 12 reps at 95 lbs, 12 reps at 115 lbs, 12 reps at 135 lbs. I get another set in at 135 lbs before giving in to the ache in my lower right forearm and wrist. The thumb's complaining as well. Pectorals, the muscles that this exercise is meant to work, well, they're not really tired. I drop the weights to 115 and get a quick 12 reps, then a furious 15 reps at 95 lbs. Benching the only bar feels silly but I spread my hands far apart to feel a stretch in my chest muscles for 25 reps. Okay, let's rest the upper body and get to the cage for some stretching/kicking.

After a weekend of activities that don't involve cardio, lifting or stretching (unless you want to count flipping my son's mattress and hauling out bags of old clothes slated for Goodwill), I'm always a bit tenuous with the hamstrings on Monday. My right glute is still sore but this doesn't seem to affect my stretch or kicks. I'm just more tired than I expected. I suspect it's because I didn't put in my 5 miles earlier.

I grab the 2.5 lb magnetic discs and head back to the weight area to do delts (shoulders). I do the first superset of front and lateral raises with just the 15 lb dumbbells for 12 reps as a warm up. The rest I do with 17.5 lbs. They don't actually feel much heavier. I may move up into the 20 lbs sooner than later. 2 more supersets, then 3 straight sets of lateral raises. I love watching my delts separate from the tricep and bicep, and the pecs flutter as I raise my arms. It's quite the head-trip. I toss my towel onto the incline bench, plant my face against it and do 6 sets of 15 reps of rear inclined seated raises. (When I get home I notice that my shoulders feels warm to the touch and it's not sunburn. I'm happy.)

Precor 546 Elliptical

I always knock out a quick tricep extension with the dumbbell before re-racking them. 17.5 lbs feels okay for 12 reps. Time to rest the shoulders/arms so I scout out the ab stations. I get 2 sets of torso twists in at the new weight of 60 lbs, and a set of twisting sit ups as well as lower ab kick outs before I go back to triceps. The press down station is busy so I go back to dumbbells and grab a 20 pounder. I knock out 3 sets of 12 reps per arm and I'm really surprised. And pleased. For a slug I'm doing pretty well and lifting fairly strong! Wahoo!

The Decline station looks odd. Oh yeah, someone's jacked the bench up on plates so that it's tilted at an even steeper angle. I can't tell if they're done and have just "forgotten" to put things back the way they were, or not. So I don't bother. I can still do Declines on Thursday (my next Push day). A good 15 minutes of floor stretches and I'm done. I've sucked done my liter and a half of water several sets ago so I'm absolutely parched as I head into the locker room.

I know I'm heavier. I'm always heavier on Mondays. I'm guessing 108.5 but what I get is 109.2. Whoa. That's unexpected. I'm not sure how to process this. Is this good or bad? Hmmm. Could be those really salty brownies we made over the weekend and/or the sushi we ate last night, and this could be water retention (I woke up and my fingers were all stiff and swollen). The only way I'll know is to do my regular routine the rest of the week. If anything, it's just an incentive to work harder the remaining 4 days of this week!

Yes, the gym is open on July 4th because I'm not the only compulsive, endorphin-addicted, exercise junkie out there. My son's day camp is also open, because kids would much rather be outside running about than doing something completely sensible, like sleeping in. Go figure.