My Winter Storm Prep Workout

Today is Friday and because I've hit every major body part once this week and enjoyed smacking the Nexersys, I felt free to improvise and do a combination workout. Especially since I don't think I'll be getting to the gym on Monday, courtesy of Winter Storm Titan, and tomorrow I'll be spending a lot of time supervising my son. We'll probably hit a bunch of the cardio machines and then I'll show him push ups and pull ups by the mirrored wall so he can see his form. Maybe we'll do some DB work with the little plastic ones too. But I'm not counting on it being much of a workout for me.

Top: Precor elliptical HIIT;
Middle: LifeFitness bike LISS;
Bottom: Matrix StepMill LISS

I start off with a 20 minute warm up on the Precor, but since I did "steady state" yesterday, I decide to do HIIT today. 45 seconds "run" and 75 seconds "jog". I'm pretty warm by the time it's over. I haven't done an Arm Workout in a long time so that's on the agenda today, but I want to do two big compound exercises first, just to work everything properly. So I do reps at the Flat Bench. I'm still having trouble finishing the 3rd set of 20. I get to 19 and have to rack the bar, take 10 breaths and then push out 5 more reps. I was hoping for more but it's all I can do.

Today I've decided to finally use the Olympic bar for BB Rows as well, now that I've gotten to some real weight! I have my ProLoc collars in my bag, but I actually don't need them. The new flat edge plates don't allow the barbell to roll around and, as long as I'm careful how I set it down, the plates don't move. I start off with just the bar for a quick warm up, then add a pair of 25s. Then tens. Then fives. Then finally, another pair of fives. I need the VGs because my wrists are twinging and I suspect that's a tendonitis alert. I get three full sets at 135 and I'm really happy. I'm sure the Mayor, M and Tall Pace who are playing musical chairs with the squat rack and the inclined bench have noticed because they keep traipsing directly behind me.

Okay, now I can just focus on the Arm Workout. I don't have too much hope of pushing a lot of weight doing Rip Crushers, so I start with a 30 lb BB. Then add 5 lbs in magnets. Then grab the 40. My wrists are bothering me. I probably should use the EZ bar, but I don't. Maybe next time. Three grueling sets done. Dang these are hard. The BB Curls are easier although it takes a set before my right elbow warms to the movement. Because I can get 13-15 reps at 50 lbs, I should probably up the weight a tad next time.

For fun, I decide to knock out a few sets of Bent Over DB Flyes for rear delts. I feel as if they're lagging because I don't do much overhead movement. Three sets aren't too bad. Next time I'll up my sets to six. An extremely frail elderly lady is on the adjacent bench. She's waving a baby blue beauty bell in the air. I'm not sure what exercise she's doing, but it's good to see her doing something. Because I haven't done BB Reverse Curls in months, and they're suppose to be good for my bad elbows and wrists, I start them again. Afterwards, more as an afterthought, I attempt One-Arm DB Extensions. I know that my triceps are shot, but figure that at least there's a good stretch in this movement. My left arm is so much weaker than my right that I can't finish the last set properly. I head for a Cage Stretch only because both Step Mills are busy.

For LISS, I clamber onto one of the LifeFitness recumbent bikes and read my mail and online forums. When 20 minutes is done, I don't really feel like I've done anything although the bike tells me I've gone almost two miles. Really? I'm not satisfied and the Step Mills are both free now, so I climb up and do 20 minutes there. I'm a little bored so I up the speed to 5 for a bit while singing to my iPod. But I'm a silent singer. You can see my mouth moving, but I'm not making any noise. Now I feel good. I do a quick lower back stretch on the Mat and I'm done for the week. Yay!

The gym scale reads 112.4 lbs and I'm good with that. I saw the gym owner fixing the Nexersys yesterday so I'm looking forward to smacking it around again. But that'll have to wait until next week. After I shovel us out. The school bus driver is already saying "See you on Tuesday."

I have one of those ridiculous weekends again. Chinese school and kung fu. Then we should return some library books, go to the gym, also get my son a haircut so I can see his face. Sunday we have a play date in Connecticut. I'll be bored. I need to prep files for the tax accountant but it'd be rude to do that at a play date. The supermarket is awash in apples lately, and not just the standard golden delicious and macintosh, but exotics like fuji, gala and pink lady. I like the sweet crispness of the fuji and gala apples, but I'm happy with goldens. I buy some ambrosia apples because the name is intriguing. They're yellow with a blush of pink, and they're crisp. But they're not really sweet. My son says they're tart like Granny Smiths. I don't think they have much flavor, so they're consigned to being cooked with pork tossed with mustard, and cabbage for supper.

Storm Prep Workout

20 min Precor elliptical HIIT: 45 sec run / 75 sec jog = 1.71 miles

Flat Bench Press
12x45 (bar)
20, 20, 19, 5x95 lbs (was shooting for 3x20)

Reverse Grip BB Row
12x45 (bar)
15x95 lbs
12x115 lbs
12x125 lbs
3x12x135 lbs PR Yay! (thankgoodness for VGs otherwise I'd never be able to hang on to this)

Rip Crusher
12x30 lbs
12x35 lbs
3x12x40 lbs (dang these are hard!)

BB Curl
15x45 lbs
13, 13, 15x50 lbs (time to up the weight)

Bent Over DB Reverse Flye
12x25 lbs
3x12x30 lbs (should do 6 sets next time)

BB Reverse Curl
3x20x40 lbs (I'll add sets rather than up the weight here)

One-Arm DB Extension
3x12x20 lbs (left arm failed at rep 11 on 3rd set)

20 min LifeFitness recumbent bike LISS = 1.92 miles
20 min Matrix Step Mill LISS = 947 steps