Tuesday Tribulations

I drive my son to the bus stop this morning because it's raining and I don't want him to soak his sneakers before he's even arrived at school. He's all excited about the Chess at Recess club he's joined, as well as the new orange and teal braces he got yesterday to fix a wicked cross-bite. Then I head off to the gym. The parking lot looks really sparse and I'm assuming that all the women arrive suddenly and "just in the nick of time" to fill the class that starts at 9:30. I'm already on the elliptical by the time they descend.

Mac'n cheese and left-over grilled steak laden with seasoning and salt make me feel puffy and slow this morning, but better than yesterday. 45 minutes gets me 5.09 miles and I'm warm and happy. I also have my grey cotton hoodie on so there'll be no fussing with the blasted zipper. No B today. I see R glide in, looking thin but not in agony. I also see M making the rounds, chatting and socializing. I see this all peripherally because I've got my head down and my iPod turned up for Seated Cable Rows. The Cage Stretch feels pretty good too: the left hamstring feels nearly normal in spite of the deep dull ache in my glute that persists when I raise my leg to chest height.

I decide not to do chin ups in order to give my forearms, elbows and grips some time to rest. My elbows always seem worse after close-grip chin ups and I haven't found anything at the gym that enables me to do regular chins or pull ups without killing my forearms. My hands are just too damn little for the equipment (although I can chin my self just fine at home in the garage)!

Today's Total Workout:
45 min cardio = 5.09 miles
Seated Cable Rows: 12 @ 90 / 12 @ 105 / 3 x 8 @ 120 / 12 @ 90 lbs
Lower Back Extensions: 2 x 25 @ 90 lbs
Cage stretch & kicks
Lat Pull Downs: 12 @ 90 / 5 x 12 @ 105 lbs
Bent Over Barbell Rows: 5 x 12 @ 70 lbs (embarrassingly, after my sets, I can't put the 70 lb bar back on the shoulder-height rack and have to leave it on the floor instead)
Lower Back Extensions (again): 2 x 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Seated Twisting Sit Ups: about 100
Seated Alternating Dumbbell Hammer Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 (these actually feel really good today)
Lower Ab Kick Outs: about 100 (my underwear is giving me a rug burn now!)
Reverse Grip Barbell Curls: 5 x 20 @ 30 lbs (I was torn between using the 30s or the 40s for same reps but less sets. Fatigue won and I went with the lighter bar.)
Mat stretch (this feels really good today but I still need to work harder on the left hamstring)

I chat with R briefly to see how he is. He won't admit to being better although he's had another shot and his sciatica has improved. But his wife thought he'd contracted meningitis over the weekend because of the fever, nausea and pain. Migraines apparently also run in his family. He's a mess! But it's nice to see him at the gym today. He says he's thinking about cutting back in order to give himself time to heal, but then what would he do with himself. What a Gym-rat junkie! I should know.

The little tag on my brand new GAP all-cotton underwear is chafing my backside. I'm either going to cut those annoying little tags off, or wear my underwear inside out. That explains all my old anonymous cotton briefs which are missing sizing and brand information. The scale tells me I'm right to assume that I'm retaining a lot of salt-sensitive water: 110 lbs. And I don't have my period anymore. (sigh)

The home scale reads a tad better: 107.2 lbs, 19.2% BF, 52.4 TBW, 38.6% muscle, 4.6 lbs bone. I look up the last time I weighed about 107-8 lbs and compare all the other readings. Everything seems within range. The Levi's tag, on the other hand, really has to go! I've got a scab on the small of my back now due to the plasticized stitching that holds the tag in place.

I did discover one great solution to keeping "stretch" jeans in shape, especially around the waist where they tend to become really huge: wear a belt before the jeans get stretched out! I got this great simple black leather/silver square buckle belt at Marshall's (Calvin Klein Jeans) for around $14 and it actually helps to keep the waistband from muffin-top proportions. Caveat: if you use the belt after the waist stretches out, well, there's just no hope of making the loose extra fabric look halfway decent. Wash it, toss it in the dryer and try again!