Leg Day Puzzle

I'm a bit baffled by how much ground I'm losing on the Precor ellipticals. It's now taking me a lot longer to pedal the same distance. Oddly, in 20 minutes I can cover over 2 miles on the LifeFitness Cross-trainer but I apparently burn only half the amount of calories than when I'm on the Precor and I need 25 minutes to hit the same mileage on the latter machine. I've been front-loading my 5 miles on Leg Day, and that usually takes me 53 minutes. Today, at 55 minutes I've only done 4.5 miles. I don't understand what's happening. I can work through the sporadic discomfort in my left knee, right IT band, the stiffness in my lower back. I am keeping check on my heart rate, but that's not really a new issue. I may just drop to 3 miles on my lifting days and keep the Tabata for my cardio days.

The Smith machine hasn't been maintained and there's gunk in the tracks. I can feel the gritty resistance when the bar is just about head height which makes doing Smith Squats more difficult than it should be. Still, I get my sets done. I also get my sets for Smith SLDLs. The gym is intermittently crowded with regulars greeting each other like long-lost brethren. I see Island Jerk chatting with M. When I first arrived at the gym, he was outside trying to convince a young strawberry blonde (a dead ringer for Alexis on TV murder mystery show Castle) to do something she was politely declining.

The one body part I
don't actually work

While I'm seated at the Leg Extension machine, D waves as she heads towards the Nexersys machines. She's grumpy because her youngest woke her up at 2 am after she'd only gotten to bed at 1 am. I'm glad my son sleeps through the night once he goes to bed. I just have trouble convincing him that he needs more sleep than adults do and so he has an earlier bed time. Leg Extensions actually feel okay today. I don't risk using the Leg Curl machines and move directly to Glute Ham Raises at the Lat Pull Down. I'm the only person I've ever seen do it at my gym, and I know people are staring, especially the guys. Don't really care. It still feels like an odd push up.

After a go at the Torso Twist, I eye the Step Mills. They're completely deserted so I do 15 minutes at Level 7. It gets me warmed up for the Mat Stretch. I've now got 3 sets of Dive Bomber Push Ups and that last set is really hard. At some point I figure it'll get easier. I do one regular 60 second plank and I hope that PJ Pants gets bored and moves on from the cable station where he's situated. He tends to stare like an idiot. I finish up with lower back stretches. Tomorrow I'm going to try and get two Tabata sessions in before and after kickboxing the Nexersys. I'm letting my knee heal up so I'll be doing just the Beginner level program. The gym scale reads 112.0 lbs. Not horrible. Not great. I don't mind the size that I am, but if I'm not careful, I can put on size fairly quickly, and not in a good way.

My hubs and I watched the CrossFit games and American Ninja Warrior over the past weekend. One thing I have noticed is that those CF women are powerfully built, like power-lifters but tons leaner. I'm impressed. When I grow up, I'd like a body like that. Kidding. They're also a lot taller than I am so they can carry the size easier. Still, they were pretty damn inspirational.

Leg Day Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   498 CAL
Distance: 4.5 mile
Duration : 00:55:00

Smith Machine Squat

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 140x12
Set 5 : 160x12
Set 6 : 130x12

Smith Machine Stiff Legged Deadlift

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 140x12
Set 5 : 160x8
Set 6 : 130x12

Leg Extensions

Set 1 : 75x12
Set 2 : 105x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 135x12

Glute Ham Raises

Set 1 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 12 Lap/Rep

Torso Rotation

Set 1 : 25 x 50 lbs
Set 2 : 25 x 50 lbs

Step Machine

Calorie :   110 CAL
Lap/Rep :  754 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Dive Bomber Push Up

Set 1 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 12 Lap/Rep

Plank

Set 1 : 00:01:00