I'd been hoping to avoid all this with my current habits, but apparently it's not enough. And I'm not one to take changes like this without a good hard fight. Okay, I look in the mirror and I don't look horrible, but I'm a lot smoother, and thicker than I used to be. I'm not any weaker although that depends on the day and if my various joints are bothering me. If my elbows, wrists, thumbs and shoulders aren't complaining, then I'm able to move weight and with volume to boot. Is this what aging is about? There's no reliable reference material so I guess I'm my own living experiment. Figures. I subscribe to "Blonde Bomber" Dave Draper's weekly column about being smart in your workouts, but he's in his 70s. I'm a long way off from that! Still, he's amusing to read.
Yesterday was a snow day (no gym) and today there was a two-hour delay so that the schools could get their buses cleared off. I shoveled yesterday and my hands are sore and tired today. It wasn't much of a cardio workout, but the temperature was low enough to make my gloved hands ache and sting. I kept wondering if this is how frostbite begins, and images of blackened digits lost by climbers on Everest danced in my head. My son also shoveled (unbeknownst to me while I was at my computer) and later complained that it was hard work and hard on the back. Such wisdom from a child!
The DB area is remarkably crowded with unfamiliar faces. I catch brief glances of R, Big Mustache, SnowBird, Ollie, ZZ but I'm too absorbed in adjusting my routine in the phone app to really pay much attention. Today I notice that there are two different adjustable incline benches, one with a much larger footprint. That's the one I don't want. I'm annoyed that the angle lever is on the side of the bench instead of behind it like the old ones. The lever gets in the way as I'm doing Reverse Inclined DB Flyes for the rear delts. 45° is too high but it's the lowest setting before going flat. The seat itself is too wide and I'm straddling it like a small child on a pony. Prancer and Dancer, two extremely trim, middle-aged Nordic guys who had flit in here last summer for a day or two, are back again, taking turns with a skull crusher EZ bar. I'm not sure if I prefer them on the adjacent bench or the two chubby Latina girls who giggled between bench dips while staring at a fellow on the other side of me.
I've taken the full complement of magnetic discs because there aren't enough DBs at the right weight for me at the moment. At least I can build my own with the 25s and not have to sit around waiting for a pair of 30s. There's a 30 in the rack but only one. The other three are elsewhere. Lateral raises are next and they feel hard. I start with 20s and inch up to 27.5 lbs. I could do 30s but they'd be ugly. I could also call it a day but I grab the 40 lb BB and move to the other mirrored wall. I know I can do 40 lbs so that's where I start to warm up. My left elbow and wrist is really unhappy, but not as much as if I was doing DB curls. The twisting motion of the DB curl is aggravating my joints lately so I've decided to skip them for a while. When my elbows warm, I up the weight in tiny increments, settling on 50 lbs for sets. It feels okay, looks okay. But the Reverse Grip BB Curls are much more daunting than I remember at the higher weight. I still grind through it.
It's getting late, never mind that I got here after 11 o'clock. Abs on are on the list so I knock out my sets of sit ups, kick outs and crunches. I'm intrigued enough by everyone's talk of the Ab Wheel to investigate it further. I've seen a few of the older guys doing it, but mostly they do Cable Crunches while on their knees on a yoga mat. My shoulders are too tired to even think about Dive Bomber Push Ups so I skip the Mat Stretch and only do a quick Cage Stretch. Then it's off to the showers. The gym scale reads 114.0 lbs and that's disturbing. I think it's mostly water weight because I'd made a chicken stew last night with fresh Chinese noodles that tend to have a high sodium content. It's not a good thing. Tomorrow is Leg Day, and the only thing I haven't decided yet is whether it'll be after a single or double cardio session.
Wednesday Workout:
35 min Interval 7 = 4.15 miles + 35 min Interval 8 = 4.22 miles Grand Total = 8.37 miles Yay!
Incline Reverse DB Flyes: 15 @ 25 lbs / 15 @ 27.5 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 30 lbs
Lateral DB Raises: 12 @ 20 lbs / 12 @ 25 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 27.5 lbs
BB Curl: 12 @ 40 lbs / 12 @ 45 lbs / 12 @ 47.5 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 50 lbs Yay!
No elbow pain at 50 lbs so I'm really happy with this.
Reverse Grip BB Curl: 3 x 20 @ 45 lbs
I have to pause for a moment between at the 15th rep before continuing during the 2nd and 3rd sets.
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Knee-In Kick Outs: 100
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Cage Stretch for hamstrings, abductor, adductor, quads, combination BW calf raise/ heel dips
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