Sometimes You Get What You Need...

It's Friday and I know I'm tired because I'm not able to make 4 miles on the Precor. However, the rest of my workout seemed pretty good. I actually parked decently close to the gym, and the sun was shining even if the chill wind ripped right through my clothes. The gym's not horribly busy either, and that's a relief. I'm trying to time it so that I avoid the class mobs.

I nod to B as I prepare to do Seated Cable Rows. She's got a lifting buddy! He's a bald middle-age dude who've I've seen around (and reminds me of the late actor Pete Postlethwaite), but not one of the regulars. They take turns kneeling on a mat, pulling the cable in front of their faces to contract their abs. Then I see them chatting on the ellipticals together. She seems really happy. I know this is what she's been looking for since her trainer, C, left some years ago.

Later, she comes up to me, when I'm resting between sets of Pull Ups and tells me breathlessly that this is the best workout she's had in a long time. "I don't know how it happened! I was up on the steps and we just started chatting and then next thing you know, we're meeting at 9 am, because he does stuff before because he has a life after all, and I've never worked so hard. I feel great! I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow because we did legs today..." She's grinning from ear to ear and telling me how lucky she is now. It's good to see her enthusiastic again. It's just what she needed to get her over her "depression". But as a bonus, my last set of Pull Ups seemed even better than the first set. Bonus for me!

As I've said before, I'm a solo flyer. I haven't actually met anyone I'd even consider as a lifting buddy. And I'm not easy to talk to either, at least as far as men are concerned, and there are no women I want to work out with. Not at this gym anyway. My problem is that I never see "it" coming, ie, I think I'm friends with a guy, and the next thing you know, he's trying to hug me. It's weird and it's happened more than once in my life. At least here, guys are too polite to approach me unless it's for a very specific reason ("Are you done with this bench?"), and I don't have any reason to approach them. If anything, I go out of my way to avoid groups of two or more. I guess I'm just not "interactive".

Today's Total Workout:

Left Bicep

35 minutes cardio = 3.87 miles (elliptical #1 doesn't run as easy as #3)
Seated Cable Rows: 12 @ 90 lbs / 12 @ 105 lbs / 3 x 10 @ 120 lbs (I actually wear my lifting gloves AND the grips in order to get enough padding on my hands to pull the heavy sets)
Cage Stretch & Kicks
Smith Rack Pull Ups: 12 / 10+2 / 12+2 Yippeeee!
Reverse Grip Bent-Over BB Rows: 15 @ 70 lbs / 6 x 15 @ 75 lbs
Alternating DB Bicep Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Concentration Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Lower Back Extensions: 2 x 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Torso Twist Station: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs (Baggy Knees is stationed across from me and I try hard to avoid any contact with him -- he's just too creep for me even though B claims he's harmless -- I just don't like his body language)
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Lower Ab Kick Outs: 100
Reverse Grip BB Curls: 6 x 20 @ 40 lbs (the last set was fairly difficult but it was still doable)
Mat Stretch

After I stretch, I see Mo and we chat for a few minutes. A Planet Fitness Gym is going to open up in a long-vacated supermarket space down the road and that'll give the NY Sports Club a run for their money. She actually knows M, recognizing him as one of several cops from Tower Fitness years ago. I see R come in and stretch out his shoulders as he waits for his brother. Mr T-shirt has been in the free weight area all morning with some other regulars. I even see ZZ briefly.

I actually don't remember if I weighed myself at the gym before I showered today so I weigh myself once I get home. It reads 105.4 lbs and that seems pretty good. Then for fun, I try to see what I look like doing Tricep Press Down. I'm really surprised to see the deep line across the back of my shoulder, the rear deltoid, when I look in the mirror. I was expecting to see triceps and perhaps pectorals puffing out. The photos are a bit fuzzy because cameras are specifically right-handed and damn hard to focus in mirrors. And my hall mirror is old (purchased on eBay) and probably a bit distorted. But there's decent lighting so...

I think the horseshoes of my triceps look pretty good but I remember seeing striations on them when I was younger. I was probably, inexplicably, leaner somehow, but I can't see dropping below the 18.7-19% body fat that I am now. Not without horrendous effort, and giving up things like vanilla ice cream and sauteed spinach in butter. Nope. I'm going to be 53 years old and there's no reason to get all crazy about things like diet. Not when I'm perfectly happy being a Born Again Gym Rat.