Fighting Through Lethargy

Honeysuckles in the privet hedges

Tiny seed pearl spray dot the privet hedges and a light floral scent emanates from the star-shaped blossoms. Then a morning breeze shakes the lazy honeysuckles entwined throughout. Their heady fragrance means the best part of summer is here. It's a good thing I exercise inside a gym, otherwise I'd never get anything done, spend all my time sniffing the flora and watching the fauna. Last night I caught sight of frenetic hopping inside our lightly fenced raised bed garden. It was a bunny, about the size of a robin. It'd managed to make a hole in our nylon deer fencing and squeeze through. Before I could get the gate open, it'd found the hole and hopped off like a frantic Peter Rabbit. Now while bunnies are cute, they're also pests and I've got too much invested in my dwarf snow peas to allow hungry rodents pea leaf dinners. (Never mind the chipmunks I find lounging in the bird feeder filled with black oil sunflower seeds.) My husband buys a roll of chicken coop wire and attaches that to the fencing, so hopefully Peter Rabbit will find his meals elsewhere.

Today my legs are a lot stiffer and I'm hoping that my cardio warm up will loosen things up. The only Precor available is #3 which is the smoothest one, but also has a tad more resistance to the peddles. No matter. I punch in Intervals # 7 and peddle away. Because I manage more than 4 miles, I'm happy. It's not my best overall, but it was the best I could do today. The Smith is free so I adjust the bench and the bar. I'm tired and I need to adjust my workout as well. It's been a long time since I did high reps so I knock out 25 reps with 95 lbs. It feels pretty good. I knock out another 25 reps at 115 lbs. I know I don't want to bench heavy today so now I'm wondering what to do next. I add a pair of tens reflexively just to see how many reps I can get. Only 12. I'm disappointed but not horribly surprised.

I drop back down to 115 lbs and can only knock out 20 reps this time. But 95 lbs seems light and I can again press out 25 reps. Done! Yeah, if only. Next week I'll have my son with me at the gym 2 days a week for 5 weeks so I'll need to create a different workout plan with abbreviated days. Meanwhile, I try to make the most of the "unlimited" time I have today.

Today's Push Day:
35 min cardio Intervals #7 = 4.16 miles Yay!
Smith Bench Press: 12 @ bar / 25 @ 95 lbs / 25 @ 115 / 12 @ 135 / 20 @  115 / 25 @ 95
Cage Stretch & Kicks
Bent Over Rear DB Raises: 6 x 15 @ 25 lbs
The 25s always feel heavy in my hands but not so much so when I raise them for Rear Delts. This gives me hope that I can use them for the Lateral Raises.
Standing Lateral DB Raises: 6 x 12 @ 25 lbs
I have to cheat a little to get them up but in general the movement feels pretty good. I don't dare use the 25s with the tricep movement because they're too heavy for my tiny (5.25" circumference) wrists to handle.
One-Arm Tricep Extensions: 20, 15, 15 reps @ 20 lbs
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Torso Twist Machine: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Ab Crunch Station (again): 100
DB Kickbacks: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
I'm so tired that I momentarily rest standing there with my head on the bench. It's not like me at all because I usually try to keep the momentum going by pacing or dancing around to my iPod.
Mat Stretch: the splits are stiff but not as bad as I feared. It feels good to just plop down like a rag doll with my head on my shins but no doubt it looks pretty weird. 

When I leave the Mat area I see Ranger Rick, Nixon, Ollie, R and a few other regulars in the free weight area. It looks pretty sparse in there. I feel as if some of them expect me to come over and chat with them, but I don't. What would I say to them anyway? I'm too tired to think about it. The only thing I want to do is stand in a hot shower. I've purchased replacement yoga pants but of course, it needs to have 6 inches lopped off the bottom so I don't trip. I like the Marika brand Balance collection even if I do wear a size M in their stuff. At least it's mostly cotton and shouldn't retain odors the way the completely synthetic pants do.

Need a haircut again!

The gym scale reads 109.6 lbs which is okay. My home scale tells me 107.4 lbs and I'm good with that. What I'm not happy with is that my right bicep seems to be declining. I thought it was just a bad photo, but my injured left elbow has a much nicer bicep (with the faint hint of that coveted bicep split) than the lesser injured right side. Hmmm. I can't decide whether I need to increase exercise for the right side or if it's overworked from babying the left side and needs a break. Maybe I won't even do biceps tomorrow. How radical would that be?! I'm so tired I could get good with that. Of course, I'd still have to do forearms... Maybe I won't even do abs! Whoa! Well, I took my measurements today and I'm still built like a fireplug so not doing abs for 3 whole days (Fri, Sat, Sun) probably won't have much effect. I'm good with that!