The Body is Stronger Than You Think

I woke up hungry again this morning, in spite of a tasty dinner of poached wild-caught salmon, rice and sautéed spinach in butter. I even ate dark chocolate spiked with chili peppers for dessert. Having purchased another carton of eggs this week, I proceeded to add one to my oatmeal this morning, along with fresh-frozen blueberries (you can get fresh pints fairly cheap at the supermarket), a dash of salt, spoon of raw sugar and water. The egg gives the oatmeal a light and fluffy texture, which is a delightful change of pace. Gotta keep things fresh!

The impending storm is wreaking havoc with the air pressure and humidity, and my sinuses and equilibrium as well. I feel as if I'm teetering on the verge of a vertigo attack, and it's not very pleasant. When I dip my head to rinse toothpaste out of my mouth, I hold on to the sink to make sure I don't fall over sideways. Still, after my son is safely aboard the school bus, I drive off to the gym. Sticking to my routine isn't all that hard, as long as I ignore the tiny voice that tells me sleeping in can be therapeutic. Plenty of time to sleep in now that weekend classes are over! Stiff and sore legs remind me that yesterday was Leg Day. It takes me about 6 minutes of brisk peddling (175-180 SPM) before my body warms and loosens. I punch in Interval #7 because I can deal with 2 minutes segments right now. Intervals #8 is definitely the harder program in my opinion. Again, I don't catch my second wind until the last few minutes of Cool Down, but I manage to make a good show and I'm happy with my mileage. Now I'm ready to go lift some weights!

While I'm benching B comes over. She accuses me of not looking up at her on the Stair Climber when I'm lying on the bench. Good grief. I tell her that I'm lucky I don't bump into people because I have such tunnel-vision when I work out that I really don't see people. That's nicer than telling her that I don't really want to interrupt my workouts for a lot of chatter. She proceeds to catch me up on the latest developments in her garden. She's now hand feeding the wild chipmunks who come to her bird feeder. By the time she leaves, I'ml cold. I have two more heavy sets to do and then two drop sets. The first heavy set feels awkward, but improves on my next attempt. Perhaps because I'm warmer. The drop set of 12 reps is easy, but the real test is the final set.

Yay horseshoe!

Lately I've not been able to do a complete straight set of 25 reps. Today I'm determined to do it properly. Although I have to pause momentarily at reps 20, 22 and then for each subsequent rep until I hit 25, I don't actually set the bar down, and this feels like an accomplishment. Someone is peering at me from the Stair Climber on the raised cardio station adjacent to the Smith machine. It's odd to watch someone watch you to see if you're actually going to finish.

When I get to the Cage Stretch, Old Florida is using it to hang and stretch. I don't like to rush anyone so I hang back and wait my turn, stretching my hamstrings doing a few slow lunges and then some slow toe touches. Except that I can put my elbows to the ground. After OF leaves, I stretch and kick, and head back to the free weight area. It's horribly crowded with The Mayor and an assortment of men, young and old. All the benches are in use except for the one under the Smith so I use that for Bent Over DB Raises.

By the time I get to standing Lateral DB Raises, superset with Tricep extensions, all the old guys have left for the cable machines, and it's just a bunch of college kids. And me. I don't intimidate easily so they're forced to work, and walk, around me. This becomes especially amusing when I decide to do DB Tricep Kickbacks because I have to bend over a bench with my arm parallel to my body. I set up so I can see my position in the mirror which coincidentally happens to be in front of the Seated Bicep Curl station, and next to overgrown boys trying to heave DB in front of themselves. Good thing I'm not wearing shorts today. In the grand scheme of things, I don't actually do much Tricep work, and yet, I have huge upper arms. Go figure!

Today's 2nd Push Day of the Week Workout:
35 min interval #7 = 4.50 miles Yippeee!
Smith Bench Press: 15 @ bar / 12 @ 95 lbs / 10 @ 115 / 8 @ 135 / 3 x 6 @ 155 / 12 @ 135 / 25 @ 115 lbs Yay! Finally! 
Cage Stretch & Kicks
Bent Over Rear DB Raises: 6 x 15 @ 25 lbs
Standing Lateral DB Raises: 3 x 15 @ 20 lbs
Standing Lateral DB Raises SuperSet with One-Arm DB Tricep Extension: 3 x 15 @ 20 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Torso Twist Machine: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
DB Tricep Kickbacks: 15 @ 15 lbs / 3 x 15 @ 17.5 lbs Next week I'm going to see how the 20 lb DB feel but I'm leery of putting too much pressure on my fragile elbows. Still I do enjoy watching my triceps flex and the way the delts jump at the end of the movement.
Mat Stretch: I'm definitely feeling Leg Day today because the splits are a tad stiff.

Mo joins me on the mats and we chat briefly before I go shower. The gym is full now. There are a lot of regulars and a lot of new faces. Ranger Rick is showing a newbie some basic weight exercises. Skinny Blonde is jogging away on the treadmill. Fish Guy, Hoodie Tattoo, Ollie, Short Pace, PJ Pants and Nixon are scattered throughout the gym. The scale reads 109.2 lbs but I'm ok with that. I don't feel fat and puffy. B tells me that I look as if I've lost weight again. Maybe my gym clothes are stretching out from wear and tear. I don my bright blue, Gap khakis (size 00) tucked into black snow&rain boots and I feel pretty good. I'm not sure I want to brave the weather this evening for kickboxing even though local news reports that the storm has headed southwards. I'm still feeling vaguely vertiginous. But I'm looking forward to upping the weights again next week.

There's nothing more satisfying than proving that you're really stronger than you think you are.