The Phantom Period

I woke up wondering why my breasts felt lumpy and tender. When the inside of my left hip twinged with a familiar cramping, I remembered that this is what my period would feel like on alternate months. (The other months were stealth, when I would have no warning signs whatsoever save the sudden ruin of garments.) This is all fine and well except that I don't get my periods anymore. Apparently, I just get phantom ones. The effect also seems to extend to a sudden burst of energy and strength prior to my periods as well. I'm dreading the let-down when I'll feel as if someone's pulled the plug out of life support and coffee won't be enough to keep me upright.

My warm up on the elliptical felt great and I logged just under two miles in twenty minutes. Next month I might start to work back to 4-5 miles a day. The Smith machine was occupied by chatty men traipsing back and forth from the Smith to the actual Squat rack (there's only one of each) and an Inclined Bench. The Mayor, M and Tall Pace are among the gaggle. I fold my towel lengthwise and drape it across my shoulders for additional padding while I maneuver the Hack Squat machine. It's definitely heavier than just an Olympic bar, and even though I punch 50 lbs into the Jefit App, I think it's closer to 75 lbs. I play with different foot and hip positions because really I'm not big enough to fit this machine correctly. My lower back hurts when I place myself flat against the back of the machine to do front facing Hack Squats so I stand further out. My knees and hips aren't very happy. There's no way I'm going to add weight to this and do sets. I do a few back facing "power" squats as well, but again, nothing feels right. Then the Smith is free. Yay!

I pretend I haven't wasted my time with the Hack Squat machine and do progressive sets of Smith machine Squats. My back doesn't start to feel crunchy until I have 160 lbs, and I stop at 10 reps. I got 12 reps last week. Oh well. Note that the only time I go Butt to Heels is for the first warm up set of 25 reps with just the bar. My knees won't put up with going so low once there's weight on the bar. All the rest of my sets are parallel. I strip the bar and drop it to the ground before loading it again for Smith Stiff-Legged Dead Lifts. Today I decide not to use the Step Platform. I'll probably use it again next week. Last week I had trouble hanging onto the bar with the heavier weights. This week I give the Under and Over grip another shot. It's especially hard to do with the Smith machine because rotating the bar away from your body causes the bar to hook (at least with the way I'm positioned). Still, I do better this week and manage to pull 160 lbs for 12 reps. That's probably the only time I've ever pulled more for SLDLs than for Squats. I thought about doing SLDLs with the Olympic bar, but The Mayor and his posse seem to be holding court in that space.

I look again and The Mayor is doing skull crushers, using the Preacher Curl rest to hold the bar so he can grab it overhead from the flat bench he's sprawled out on. He's not doing Rip Crushers, but really sloppy regular ol' skull crushers. The bar doesn't appear to be monstrously heavy so I'm not sure why he needs to use the Preacher bar rest at all. And I'm not curious enough to ask.

I get a quick Cage Stretch and then do a few sets on the Seated Leg Curl and the Seated Leg Extension. Given a choice between the Step Mill and doing DB Lunges, I'll choose steps every time. But I keep checking the clock because I need to pick up a few things at the store, drop stuff off at home, get laundry going and then head out to my doctor's appointment for a Bone Density Test. I also need to sign my son up for tae kwon do camp for next week's Spring Break because I don't want him sitting around all week playing video games. I can only bring him to work out at the gym on weekends. During the week he'll have to stay in the childcare room, where all he'll do is play video games or watch TV. Tomorrow will be another abbreviated day since there's Early Dismissal again. But tomorrow's Boxing Day! Yay! I always love whacking the Nexersys. What I don't love is that the gym scale reads 115.0 lbs today. WTF? Yep, it's like I have my period. But without all the inconvenience.

Wednesday Leg Workout

21 min (time read 20min 55sec) = 2.05 miles

Icarian Hack/Power Squat machine
Front facing 4x15x50 lbs (really feels more like 75 lbs)
Back facing 2x15x50 lbs

Smith machine Squats
25x30 lbs (bar) speed squats Butt to Heels
12x80 lbs
12x100 lbs
12x120 lbs
12x140 lbs
12x150 lbs
10x160 lbs

Smith machine SLDLs
12x30 lbs (bar)
12x80 lbs
12x100 lbs (put on VGs)
12x120 lbs
12x140 lbs
12x160 lbs Yay! PB +10 lbs
12x100 lbs

Cage Stretch

Seated Leg Curl
12x75 lbs
12x90 lbs
2x12x105 lbs (-1 set; my hammies felt really tired)

Seated Leg Extension
12x90 lbs
12x105 lbs
12x120 lbs
12x135 lbs

20 min Matrix Step Mill = 1161 steps