Cardio Thursday

This is the 4th day of my new routine and I wasn't sure how well I was going to be able to do HIIT cardio before whacking the Nexersys machine. I did actually finish 21 minutes on the Precor, doing 30 seconds On and 90 seconds Off. I was really surprised I could get myself up to 256 Strides Per Minute more than once for a few seconds. Now the only thing I wonder about is what bad thing is suppose to happen to you if you tend to exceed the recommended Heart Rate? I'm 54 which means my Maximum Heart Rate is suppose to be 175, but when I'm upping my pace, it's closer to 190. Web info suggests that this will increase the likelihood of cardiac mortality. Bleah. The website heart.org is worse, giving me a max heart rate of 170 and telling me I should be somewhere 80-145 beats per minute to be in the proper zone. It's certainly going to take a lot longer to do 5 miles if I have to go that much slower.

Today there's no competition for the Nexersys. I'm not sure if the other machine got fixed or not, but I tap the screen of the system I normally use, just to make sure it works before I go through the arduous process of wrapping my hands and stuffing them into my gloves. And I do mean stuffing. The machine's a little finicky and I'm not quite as focused as I should be. I hate it when people stand behind me or next to me, chatting, because I'm a tad worried about knocking into them accidentally. My scores for the 5 Beginner Rounds are slightly worse than last time, and my 9 Intermediate Rounds are slightly better. Go figure.

In between rounds (it's only 60 seconds) an old man gingerly steps between the machines and starts to question me on whether I'm kicking the pad with my toes or the side of my foot. It's actually the ball of my foot for the front kicks, but I'm so annoyed that after I say "Foot" I wave at my screen to signal that the next round is starting. Sweeps are with the side of your foot. And I'm wearing cross-trainers anyway, not bare feet. I'm so annoyed that my Power Hooks are causing me to get that Punching Too Hard error message.

When I'm done, I pull off my gloves and wraps and climb back onto an elliptical for a nice two-mile jaunt. I find myself pulling back when the built-in heart rate monitor in the handles register 180 BPM. Two miles takes me 21 minutes. As I step down from the Cardio Platform, I see the young Mountain-wide dude talking with an equally wide friend. I don't make eye contact but I know they're staring. I don't really know why unless it's because I made him move his DBs last week when I wanted to use the Smith machine. Okay, I have a thing about personal space, and I hate being crowded, especially if there's no good reason for it.

I pull my hoodie back on so I can do those dreaded crunches. Actually, crunches are easy. It's that ridiculous hip movement called Knee-to-Elbow crunch that kills me. But I do two sets of each. Time for a long hot shower. The gym scale reads 112.8 lbs. Good. We've been eating leftover smoked ham (hock) and beans all week. Yesterday I added another can of pinto beans to the crock pot and some fresh kale. When I walk in the house, it smells like a baked bean factory. I like it over brown rice. Tonight I might add some sweet potatoes to it.

Cardio Thursday

21 min HIIT cardio 30 sec On / 90 sec Off = 2.02 miles

Cage Stretch

Nexersys 5 rounds Beginner Follow Me Avatar program
  Accuracy 91% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 141%

Nexersys 9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me Avatar program
  Accuracy 84% / Strikes 102% / Average Power 117%

21 min Steady-State elliptical = 2.02 miles\

2x50 Crunches
2x50 Knee-to-Elbow Crunches

photos posted for actual stats: