It's Not Prince Spagetti Day

I have to keep reminding myself that today is a Pull Day, a Back Day, because Wednesdays are traditionally not only Prince Spaghetti Day, but also Leg Day. But today is not Leg Day. And even though we're not on a tight schedule, I do have to be mindful of the time. Needing a better cardio warm up, I punch in Interval 7 on the Precor and turn up the volume on my iPod. After four and a half miles, I'm ready for the Lat Pull Down station. I always start with Wide Grips on the lightest bar I can find.

Straight-arm Lat Pulldown

While perched atop the seat in order to reach the handles, I see a surprisingly muscular shoulder attached to a well-developed tricep. It's a woman in a baseball cap and racer-back tank doing seated calf raises. When she stands to add plates to the machine, I can see she's got large well-curved quads and glutes as well. I complete my sets and head across the gym to the Cage Stretch. When I return to the cables to do Close Grip Pull Downs, I see that she's doing Leg Presses. She hasn't come with an entourage or even a trainer, but she does sport a plastic gallon jug of water. Before I move towards the benches in the dumbbell area, I pause for five seconds, pull out one earphone and walk up to her. I don't want to interrupt but I'm worried she'll leave without me saying anything. She's doing straight-arm lat pulldowns, but she looks up as I approach and smiles. (That's encouraging. I have to remember to do that when someone approaches me.)

"I just wanted to tell you that you look great," I try not to gush. She smiles even more, "Thank you!" I tell her that I never see any women with muscles working out here at this time (some probably come earlier or later in the day due to work schedules). "You have great arms," I say because it's true. "You do too," she offers, but I know that hers are much bigger than mine. "Yeah, but you're competing, right?" She seems surprised but pleased, "Yes, this November." Instead of saying Hey, good luck, all I can repeat is "Well, you look great" and then I leave before I'm stuck with nothing to say at all because I'm sooo not good in social situations. I think women need to encourage each other, especially in a traditionally non-female enclave. I've said what I wanted to say, and now I don't know what else to do, so I go back to my workout. At least I know how to workout without any prompts or cue cards.

My hands surprise me today by actually behaving, and I surprise myself by upping my weight on the DB Row. I don't have lifting straps in my gear bag. Yet. Today I actually don't need them, but I am wearing wrist wraps as well as the elbow braces. (I don't do anything without wearing elbow braces, not even squats!) I start with 30 and rather than tire out my hands with small progressions, I jump the weight to 40. Because I know I can handle 45 if my hands behave. And then, I grab the last dumbbells on the top row, a 50. I need two hands to walk it back to the bench, but I can get 6 reps, and I can get 3 sets. It feels good. I'm already eyeing the 55s and 60s in my mind.

I glance up at the clock and realize that I just have time to do a bit of abs, and oh yeah, almost forgot Lower Back Extensions. Because I hadn't really thought of my lower back all day, I do 4 sets instead of 2. For Mat Stretch, I play with rolling the Dive Bomber Push Ups so that I'm nearly gliding my belly an inch over the mat as I move forward and back without pushing my hips up at the end. It's hard on the chest and front shoulders, but fun.

Back Day Workout:
35 min Interval 7 = 4.5 miles Yay!
Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs: 12 @ 60 / 12 @ 75 / 12 @ 90 / 12 @ 105 / 10 @ 112.5 / 8 @ 120 lbs
Cage Stretch with Heel Dips and Side Kicks
Close Grip Pull Downs: 12 @ 90 / 12 @ 105 / 10 @ 112.5 / 3 x 8 @ 120 lbs
One-Arm DB Row: 12 @ 30 lbs / 12 @ 40 lbs / 10 @ 45 lbs / 3 x 6 @ 50 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Up: 125
Lower Back Extension Machine: 4 x 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Mat Stretch with 10 rolling Dive Bomber Push Ups & 3 with hands under waist, and splits, etc.

The gym scale's barely budged since yesterday and reads 110.4 lbs but I feel great. What's going to tucker me out is all the errands I have to do with my son in tow, from shopping for tonight's dinner to visiting the Chamber of Commerce to get American flags (to deliver to our neighbors for a 9/11 tribute), to the post office, to the mall to buy sneakers for the ever-growing child, to the toy store (to view the latest Skylander offerings)... Egads, there's dirty dishes, laundry and dinner to prep. But, wait, we still have to deliver what flags we can... okay, who's got a car in the driveway? They're probably home... Can't wait until tomorrow because even a double cardio Leg Day is still more relaxing than everything else I have to do. LOL!