Thursday is Arm Day

The days are getting warmer again and it's downright pleasant when I get to the gym, except of course for all the cackling hens clucking their way to the hen house, ahem, yoga class. The rest of the gym is really empty today and it makes me very happy. Thursdays is Arm Day and all I need to do is get my cardio warm up out of the way. A little over four and a half miles later, I'm ready to get down to business with a big movement. It's always a bench press, but because my wrists and hands have been funky lately, I'm not doing close grips. I'm just going for reps today.

For the last two weeks I've done 6 sets of 12 reps at 95 lbs (on a real bench, not a Smith). I figure it's time to up the weight a tad so after getting a comfortable 12 reps, I add a 5 lb plate on each side. I hate using the little weights. I know I'm a small person but I like moving in larger increments (10 lb plates). It's all the self-control I can muster to use the 5s. I'm benching just under my body weight for reps and I figure that's not too shabby. I get 12 reps but I have to work for them. So of course, I have to do another set. And then another. Four sets is enough. Then I do a set at 95, getting 15 reps easy. I plan to do only 50 reps with just the 45 lb bar, but I get a bit distracted and find myself doing 60. I probably should've kept going and just made it 75. When I sit up, a middle-age woman at the pull down station a few yards away is staring at me, looking completely bewildered.

After the Cage Stretch, I wander back to the dumbbell area with an armful of magnetic discs. I don't really have a plan except to alternately work biceps and triceps. I like DB bicep curls so I do a few of those standing, alternating with one-arm tricep extensions. Then I add a bit of weight and swap the extensions for skull crushers because I haven't done those in a while. My elbows have been really tender lately. I get a few sets of kickbacks before grabbing the 40 lb barbell for curls. Last week I used the 50 and it was fine, but this week the elbows are complaining and even the 40s hurt a little. Normally I do abs between biceps and forearms but today I just want to be done. The free weight area is starting to get crowded with a guys. I see a tall thin girl doing dead lifts. A middle-aged woman struggles to return a pair of 10 lb plastic beauty bells to the rack because she's also adjusting the cell she's plugged into. Yep, complete lack of focus there.

The Reverse Grip BB Curls aren't as bad as all that, even after doing a few sets of regular curls. Sit ups and crunches are afterwards, before I hit the Mat Stretch. My leg biceps and glutes are already stiffening up as a result of yesterday's workout so the splits aren't as good today. But I still get my workout done. I feel pretty good.

Trying to get a back shot

The gym scale reads 109.0 lbs. I try to get a better photo of my back since the last one I took wasn't very good (since I wearing a tank top that didn't reveal much back). The tall thin girl walks in and asks if I'd like her to take my back photo. I'm surprised but agree. She gets two photos but the exposure is funky for the second picture. I thank her, and then I ask her if she's the one doing dead lifts.

She runs through a litany of things she's doing to prepare for a contest five weeks out. She's also cutting. I look at her puzzled. She's competing in a bikini contest for a physique federation that's affiliated with the fashion industry. The most important thing is the walk, and she pulls out the lucite heels that I've seen figure and bikini competitors wear. "People always get the wrong idea when they see these," she says to me, but I assure her I know exactly what they're for. Because I do.

Back shot 1

Back shot 2

She tells me that people, especially men, are always giving her unwanted advice. Today, a guy on the Step Mill told her that she'd get better results if she moved slower. I ask her which guy and she describes a middle-aged man I've seen plenty of times. "I think it's kind of rude to give advice like that," she says. I agree with her because he didn't actually ask her what her goals were before telling her she was "doing it all wrong". I warn her about spotters, and then joke with her that I don't talk to anyone because mostly they can't tell me anything that's useful anyway. I wonder how she's going to look in 5 weeks because she is so tall and thin. She tells me about her trainer and we laugh about the ridiculous cost of posing suits. "What, are there real diamonds on them?!"



Arm Workout:
35 min cardio Interval 7 = 4.63 miles Yay!

Olympic Bench Press: 25 @ bar (45 lbs) / 12 @ 75 lbs / 12 @ 95 lbs / 4 x 12 @ 105 lbs / 15 @ 95 lbs / 60 @ bar Next time I'll go for 75 reps to finish 

Cage Stretch with BW heel dips and calf raises and side kicks

Standing DB Curls 12 @ 20 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 27.5 lbs superset with 
One-Arm DB Extension: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs

Seated DB Curls: 3 x 8 @ 27.5 lbs superset with 
Skull Crushers: 12 @ 30 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 35 lbs

DB Kickbacks: 15 @ 20 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 25 lbs

BB Curls: 15 @ 40 lbs / 20 @ 40 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 45 lbs
Reverse Grip BB Curls: 3 x 20 @ 40 lbs

Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Ab Crunch Station: 100

Mat Stretch with 10 wide legged DBPUs, 5 rolling PUs, 10 regular stance DBPUs, splits, etc