What a Great Workout!

As I look at my blog, I'm thinking I ought to update my About Me photo because it's kind of old and I'm not sure I look like that anymore. Hmmm. Anyway, it's Friday and as I get to the gym all bundled up because damnit, it was 39°F this morning, I decide that I'm totally done with the one-body-part-a-day workout. Today's a full Push Day!

My favorite ellipticals aren't available (#1 and #3) so I settle for #4 which doesn't clunk exactly, but there is a roughness in the motion that makes me think there's grit in the glide wheel. Whatever. I decide to do the harder hill #5 and 45 minutes gets me 4.98 miles. Worse than yesterday, but I'm sweaty and happy nonetheless. The Smith is free but I've already benched heavy this week, so I opt to do reps. As I prepare to get into my 2nd set of 25 reps at 95 lbs, I see V wander by and I immediately turn my back. I don't want to make eye-contact, I don't even want to acknowledge his presence. He hovers in the free weight area for a few minutes, doing a pitifully sloppy set of something, and then wanders off to accost other familiar faces. The 4th set of 25 reps is a bit more difficult (rep 23 seems to take a long time) so I nix the idea of doing 6 sets. I'll do Decline Benches later.

Cage stretch & kicks follow. I'm trying to get a low, middle & high "side" kick in quick succession without putting my foot down. It makes my hip ache but I manage to get a few done. Back to the dumbbell area for delts. I snag the only inclined bench (because someone has dragged other one to the Cage stretch area where there is a cable machine) and drape my sweaty towel on it even though it might be at least 15 minutes before I do Rear Inclined Dumbbell Raises. The 20 pounders are STILL heavy, (sigh) but I get all my sets done.

R passes by while I'm doing tricep extensions and I see his mouth move (I'm plugged in and can't hear anything but my cardio mix) saying something that's probably "good morning". I don't even have time to respond before he's moved onto a different station. The weather's crappy and I'm pretty sure his back is killing him. I move on to the Ab Crunch station and do a few sets there, and then set my sights on the Decline Bench. I'm only doing reps so my first set is just the bar at 25 reps. Then I add a pair of 10s for 25 reps. Then a pair of 5s for another set. Then another pair of 5s. I can barely squeak out 20 reps for this set so I start dropping the weights back down. And for each set I can barely bench 15-20 reps. Finally I'm back to a naked bar and I muscle through 25 reps while grimacing and gritting my teeth. I'm glad no one is watching me. But it feels exhilarating!

I'm bouncing all over the place to the latest song I've become fond of (Don't Wake Me Up by Chris Brown -- good grief, I'm sooo sick of hearing Taylor Swift on the radio) and the only thing left to do is Mat stretch. I feel really good today. I'm probably going to hurt all over tomorrow, but I'm not going to worry about it. Tomorrow night is the NY Grand Prix Bodybuilding Show in Poughkeepsie and I'm quite looking forward to seeing it. My husband has grudgingly agreed to come with me (I think he might feel a bit intimidated but that's a silly reason not to go). There's a men's Master Class for the Over 45, and one for Over 55, but oddly, the women's Master Class is only Over 35. That kinda sucks (for me, anyway). I just want to see what the winning forms look like. I've given up on the idea of competing just like I've given up on One Body Part a Day training. It just doesn't feel right.

The scale reads a surprising 107.4 lbs but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I do wish R and B both Good Weekends before I leave though. I am working on my "social skills".

Today's Total Workout:
45 min cardio = 4.98 miles
Smith Bench Press: 12 @ bar / 4 x 25 @ 95 lbs
Cage stretch & kicks
Dumbbell Front Raises Alternating with Lateral Raises: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Seated Inclined Rear Dumbbell Raises: 6 x 15 @ 20 lbs
One-arm Dumbbell Tricep Extensions: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Ab Crunch Station: 2 x 50 (upper) / 2 x 50 (lower)
Decline Bench Press (thumbless grip): 25 @ bar / 25 @ 65 / 25 @ 75 / 20 @ 85 / 15 @ 75 / 20 @ 65 / 25 @ bar (45 lbs)
Mat stretch