Why Do It? Because!

Apparently Daylight Savings is to end next Sunday. For some reason I thought that was suppose to happen in April, but everything is subject to change. For the convenience of the sugar lobbyists, and farmers, and other special interest groups. Still, it appears that Spring is in the air. Today's a balmy 45°F even though we have banks of slushy snow lining our road. Other less pleasant things loom in the horizon, like taxes. And birthdays. Mine, for one. All my siblings as well. In two weeks, it will be the 2nd anniversary my joining Gold's Gym in Carmel. It's probably one of the better birthday gifts I've ever given myself, although 3 weeks in Hawaii for my 50th was pretty damn wonderful.

I'm toying with the idea of contacting the IFBB Pro René Marven, whom I saw last year at the NPC Show in Poughkeepsie, to ask her advice about my fitness future. She has a consulting service and a team of title winners, but I suspect they are all half my age. And René herself is phenomenally muscled. I've posted a poster (left) I stole from a Gold's Gym page, featuring several Hudson Valley Gold's Gym competition title winners, because they're pretty damn inspiring to look at.

I've also noticed that there are a ton of blogs out there but a lot of bloggers stop posting after the first year. I'm not sure if they get bored, run out of things to say, or just have better things to do. The two that I enjoy the most, even if I don't completely subscribe to all their tenets, are: nerdfitness.com and marksdailyapple.com. I write mine because I'm compulsive. It's a way for me to keep tract of my progress (or not) and it keeps me honest (with myself). And it's fun. Because working out is fun!

Today's Total Workout:
35 minutes Precor#3 (yay!) = 4.11 miles (my right outer ankle is sore and I suspect that's from yesterday's bout with the LifeFitness elliptical)
Seated Cable Rows: 12 @ 90 lbs / 12 @ 105 lbs / 3 x 10 @ 120 lbs
Cage Stretch & Kicks (my lower back is feeling stiff so I skip Lower Back Extensions today)
Smith Bar Pull Ups: 12 + 2.5 (got up to half my face on the last rep) / 10+2 / 8+3
I see B briefly but she's busy working out with her new bud D. She tells me that she'll be here next Monday but after that she'll probably be gone for two weeks, trying to get her deceased parents' house ready for sale.

My phone takes
the worse photos ever

Reverse Grip Bent-Over BB Rows: 15 @ 70 lbs / 6 x 15 @ 75 lbs (after some experimenting, I find that picking the weighted bar up straight-legged as in a dead lift is the easiest, least worrisome method to position the bar for the start of the movement)
Alternate DB Bicep Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Concentration Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Ab Crunch Machine: 3 x 50 upper / 2 x 50 lower (I get a thought to maybe do a couple of light sets on the Lower Back extension but suddenly a really big, new guy with a waist-length ponytail sets himself down on the station; I take that as a sign to let this exercise go for today)
Reverse Grip BB Curls: 6 x 20 @ 40 lbs (still grimacing for the last reps on the last sets)
Mat Stretch (I'm really enjoying listening to Jerry C's Pachelbel's Canon remade as a breath-takingly fast electric guitar piece while I do my stretches. Surprisingly, the Game of Thrones theme music, in several variations, also makes good ab crunching music.)

Friday's not as busy as it used to be. Perhaps the initial excitement of the New Year's resolution has started to fade. There are regulars though. Most prominent is The Mayor. Between sporadic sets here and there, a spot for someone benching, and endless pontification, he looks like he's just killing time while waiting for someone, or something better to come along. Everyone else is actually working out. Amazing Stretch & Curly Cap, Eagle Eye, 5o'clock, Tattoo Tank (this kid wears tanks split to his waist to show off huge lats), Irish Lass, "Barbie" & Jerry (he reminds me of the late actor Jerry Orbach), MacGyver (same dark brows, light hair and basic looks), LoudMouth, even HoJo are all fairly busy with their routines. Women and teenage boys seem to chat the most. Solo flyers like myself hardly ever chat at all. Unless we're done.

The gym scale doesn't work, reading LoBattery so I weigh myself when I get home, after going to the supermarket for the 4th time this week (is this old school or what, going to the market every day!?), picking up a supply of Ensure® from the CVS, and paying the cable bill in person. My home scale reads 105.4 lbs, the exact same reading I got last Friday. I have to admit that my exercise routine eats up a lot of time, and the blog eats up the rest, but still, I can't see myself not doing it. Why? Because!