Do You Have Your Plan B?

Back Day and all
I see are biceps.

One of the most difficult things to teach young children is adaptability. Too often when expectations are not met, there are tears, frustration and incomprehension that all is not lost. Resiliency is not a standardized skill that can be taught in school although we'd all benefit if it was. We should always have a Back Up, a Plan B just in case things aren't what we were expecting. Today, I remembered my iPod and the rest of my gear but I had no Precor machine to board because Tuesdays is the day that everyone does morning cardio. Even the sludgy Life Fitness machines were all occupied! That left only the Cybex Arc trainer because my knees can't handle the impact of running on a treadmill. Luckily, I'm vaguely familiar with the machine, familiar enough at least to make it go. It (the TV screen AND the Cybex display panel) doesn't actually power up until you start peddling so it appears non-functional to most people.

Calories on top; Time on bottom.

Because I'm slightly too short for this machine, I break my time into smaller segments to minimize my lower back discomfort from reaching for handles a tad too far. After 10 minutes of gliding with my hands holding the side rail, I punch in 15 minutes and place my hands on the alternating handles which sometimes manages to measure my heart rate, but more often does not. Then a final 10 minutes with my hands down by the side rails again. I have no idea what the total mileage is as I snap quick photos with my cell phone, but I know how many calories it thinks I burned. (When I get home I compare it to the Precor and find that the Cybex claims to have burned more in equal time.) Sweat is dripping from my hoodie and I'm satisfactorily warm-up. Ugh, I've broken the zipper pull on this hoodie yet again and it's not worth paying to replace it more than once. I guess it's become a pullover until it's too frayed to wear. That shouldn't take long with daily use.

I've given up Seated Cable Rows for now because although my lower back doesn't hurt, it still feels stiff and unwieldy. And I certainly don't want another bout of sciatica. I might be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. Instead, I do a few sets of Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs and hang at the end of each set just for the stretch. This constitutes my first "big" muscle movement so I do Cage Stretches then return to the cable station with the handle I usually reserve for Seated Cable Rows. I figure I can do rows without involving my lower back by doing Close Grip Pull Downs. By the last three sets, I'm just able to wrestle myself down under the thigh pads to anchor me to the seat. No Bent Over BB Rows either unless I want to pick up the 60 lb BB and do a million reps. No thanks.

Inclined DB Rows

One-Arm DB Row
muscles involvement

There aren't many people in the free weight area so I position myself on an inclined bench and perform a few sets of dumbbell rows. The 20 lbs are too light, the 25s are better, and the 30s are just too big. I do sets with them but I risk smacking my hands or the DBs because they're so wide and I have small hands, small arms, not a lot of radius. I feel my middle back but want more lat involvement so I move to a flat bench and do a set of One Arm DB Rows, upping the DBs after each set until I reach the 45s. I can get 3 sets of 8 hard reps with these. It's not Arm Day, but my biceps are pumped. I'm so toasted that I'm looking forward to a few sit ups for relaxation. Instead I do two sets of Lower Back Extensions first. My lower back is definitely stiff, but at least it doesn't hurt. Plan B seems actionable. At least until my elbows start to complain. Ssshhh.

When I finish sit ups, Mo is standing next to me with an acrid cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup. She's teasing me, "Boy I can really feel that burn," "Oh, you can feel MY burn?" I ask, "Sure it's not the coffee?" Her workouts are only an hour so she's off to run errands. I'd barely be done with cardio if I limited my time to just an hour. Instead, I dance over to the Mats and do my mat routine. I even manage a few seconds rolling forward in the horizontal split. It's the stretch that needs the most work. The Dive Bomber Push Ups feel good and I knock out 10 with shoulder width hands, and another 3 with hands under my waist. Maybe I'll remember to see how many actual push ups I can do on Thursday, Arm Day... What I don't remember to do is weigh myself at the gym. My home scale tells me 107.6 lbs and I'm good with that. It's my back up.

Alternate Back Workout:
35 min Cybex machine... no idea how many miles! 450 calories
Wide Grip Lat Pull Down: 12 @ 60 (warm up) / 2 x 12 @ 90 / 3 x 10 @ 105 lbs
Cage Stretch with Heel Dips (it's a full flex from standing tip-toe to dipping heel 2") and side kicks
Close Grip Pull Downs: 12 @ 60 / 12 @ 75 / 12 @ 90 / 2 x 10 @ 105 / 3 x 8 @ 120 lbs
Inclined DB Rows: 12 @ 20 lbs / 12 @ 25 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 30 lbs
One-Arm DB Rows: 12 @ 30 lbs / 12 @ 35 lbs / 12 @ 40 lbs / 3 x 8 @ 45 lbs
Lower Back Extension: 2 x 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Up: 150
Torso Twist Machine: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Mat Stretch with 10 Dive Bomber Push Ups (hands under shoulders) + 3 (hands under waist) with vertical and horizontal splits