Week Two Day One

We had a great weekend once we got past the final exam my son had to take for his Chinese language class. Now there's three weeks of recess before the Spring term starts in late February so we're all quite excited about being able to sleep in on weekends. My son's birthday party at his swim school was greatly enjoyed by all participants. I was the only one freaking out because the school never called to confirm our setup, their coffee maker failed (again! this happened at another birthday party we attended here) so one of our guests graciously ran out to buy a "box of joe" from Dunkin' Donuts, and two guests who RSVPed that they were coming never showed up. Nor did they send any word that they were cancelling. One parent never RSVPed at all after two emails and a mailed invitation. Yep, strike them all off next year's guest list. I don't care if you can't make it, just let me know so that my son isn't left to wonder why his friends aren't here.

The pizza was excellent, the mint chocolate chip ice cream cake delicious, with just a bit leftover to bring home. Consumed as dinner. Today I'm making my son's favorite eat-out meal for his post birthday dinner: spaghetti and meatballs. Real meatballs, not the turkey meatballs I normally make. Restaurants seem to serve only one large meatball in a kid's meal. I asked my son how many meatballs he wanted, and his eyes grew big. "You mean I can have more than one?" This is very exciting news.

The morning air was wet in a weird wintry mix kind of way. At 27°F the precipitation should either have been sleet or snow. Instead it was a fine mist of rain. Luckily there's enough residual salt on the roads that they're powdery white, and so no icy roads. By the time I got home from the gym it was 36°F and warm enough for me to drive with my window half open and the heat turned off. Crowds ebb and flowed through the gym. I got on an elliptical for the first 20 minute session. It was hard to start so my first minute was Walking, followed by trying to get my pace up over 220 SPM. I wasn't sore over the weekend so upping my weights was the right thing to do for Friday's B program. I decide that I ought to up my weights on the A program as well.

I put a pair of 25s on the bar and knock out 20 reps with my knees up and my feet on the bench. I hate being unstable but I can only find one yoga block and I need two in order to have my feet "flat on the ground". There's a class in session so I don't want to look for yoga blocks in there either. I strip the bar and run over to the DB area to do One Arm Rows. Last week I used a 30 lb DB. Today I grab the 35. I can get 20 reps, but it's a lot more work. Today I'm lucky in that no one seems to be using the solid BBs so I grab the 30 lb one and do 20 Military Presses. I don't know why, but pressing the BB overhead is easier than doing this movement with DBs. Then I swap the 30 for a 40 in order to do curls. Those go well and I'm running back to the DB area to do Tricep Kickbacks. Last week I used the 15 lb DB so I start with that weight again. I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to knock out my bench press which comes immediately afterwards.

10 minutes LISS recumbent bike

I shouldn't've worried. 95 lbs isn't all that heavy although I find it really annoying that my knees start to shake during the last few reps. I wonder if everyone else can see how much my legs are trembling. DB Rows, Military Press, BB Curls, DB Kickbacks but this time I use the 20 lb DB. Then I run back to the cardio area and hop on an elliptical for 10 minutes. I suck down as much water as I can before the next 5 minutes where I'm pedaling hard and trying to inhale as deeply as possible. I know my mileage isn't as good as last Fridays even though I'm no longer sore. Bench press is next but suddenly the free weight area is full of bodies. I can't really wait around for a free bench so I drop onto the nearby Mats and do 20 push ups before jogging across the gym to the DB area. I can access all the other equipment just fine, but again when I need to bench for the 4th time, there are no free benches. Another set of push ups. I don't know if it's equivalent to benching 95 lbs. I suspect it's not.

Afterwards I do a quick Cage Stretch and then decide to do 10 minutes of LISS. Now all the ellipticals are occupied so I plant my butt on one of the recumbent LifeFitness bikes and pedal lazily while checking email. I know the scale won't be my friend today after this weekend of salty, fatty foods, but I convince myself that it's mostly water weight when the scale reads 114.8 lbs. Wow, that's big. I don't even think I actually look that big. I'll just keep an eye on it during the week because I always eat better on the days I work out.

Week Two Day One (A) Program
20 min Precor elliptical 1 min Walk / 1 min Run = 1.67 miles
Each circuit done twice without rest
Bench: 20 reps @ 95 lbs (+10 lbs)
One-Arm DB Row: 20 reps (each arm) @ 35 lbs (+5)
BB Military Press: 20 reps @ 30 lbs
BB Curl: 20 reps @ 40 lbs
DB Tricep Kickback: 20 reps (each arm) @ 15 lbs / 2nd round @ 20 lbs (+5)

10 min Precor elliptical 5 min Walk / 5 min Run = 0.78 miles
Each circuit done twice without rest 
20 Push Ups
One-Arm DB Row: 20 reps (each arm) @ 35 lbs
BB Military Press: 20 reps @ 30 lbs
BB Curl: 20 reps @ 40 lbs
DB Tricep Kickback: 20 reps (each arm) @ 20 lbs

Cage Stretch
10 min LifeFitness recumbent bike = 0.88 miles