Monday, August 4, 2014

No Benches? No Problem.

I had a morning appt with my eye doc to check my pressure because I have glaucoma. We were all pleasantly surprised that both eyes measured at 13 which is where my doc wants my pressures to be. I reminded him that normally I see him in the early afternoon after I've worked out. Today I hadn't actually worked out yet. Standard medical literature says that exercise should lower eye pressure, especially intense cardio. Lifting heavy weights can raise eye pressure. I do both, although we can quibble over what constitutes "heavy." After all, I'm not a power lifter.

My health insurance has changed so the co-pays are nearly double what they used to be. I'm happy that I don't need to schedule an appt with him until next March, although I'll be seeing the glaucoma specialist in November. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

When I finally get to the gym, it's ridiculously crowded. I do 20 min on the LifeFitness and chat briefly with D who is boxing the Nexersys. The Power Kick doesn't register at all anymore for the right machine. I tell her that's why I always use the left one. The free weight area is completely unappealing with the Mayor and his cronies holding court, draped over two benches. There's only three flat breaker benches and two inclined breaker benches. Oddly, the Smith machine is free, and I decide to avail myself of that instead.

It's been a very long time since I benched on the Smith and the new bench is too high and facing the wrong way. There are no foam yoga blocks anywhere to be found so I keep my knees bent and feet up on the bench for stability. I'm very cautious as I unhook the bar. The Smith has a counterweight so I use 30 lbs for the bar weight. The benching feels good and I finish with 20-reppers. Because the bench is an adjustable, I also do my Inclined Benching on the Smith and do better today than I have on the regular breaker Inclined Benches. Have I mentioned how much I dislike those Matrix Breaker Benches?

There are too many bodies in the free weight area so I even do my DB Flyes on the same bench. Finally, when I get to the DB Lateral Raises, I move to a clear space. I move halfway across the gym to the OHP rack to do my Bent-Over Reverse Flyes. In the interim I rerack DBs and rearrange plates because half the morons in the gym today are clueless. It makes me feel like I have OCD. Maybe I do.  DB and BB Curls are standard, but I have to weave in and out and around everyone. I see JF, one of the few male trainers at my gym. He's off-duty working out but I manage to ask him about the old people I see doing the half-ass bench motion that only moves the bar half an inch. He laughs and tells me that those are people who don't know what they're doing, but want to think they can move heavy weight. "I used to do it when I was a kid and didn't know any better," he tells me.

Because I've been at the gym way too long, I cut my Mat Stretch short after doing my second cardio session. I can feel knots forming under my left shoulder blade. Maybe tomorrow's cardio/boxing workout will help? It'll be another abbreviated workout because Guardians of the Galaxy starts at 11 am. I'm quite looking forward to it.

Monday Workout

 Exercise Name
1RM
Lifting Logs
Calorie :   96 CAL
Distance: 2.13 mile
Speed :    6.31 mph
Duration : 00:20:00
154
Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x12
Set 4 : 110x12
Set 5 : 90x20
Set 6 : 80x20
126
Set 1 : 30x18
Set 2 : 50x12
Set 3 : 70x12
Set 4 : 80x12
Set 5 : 90x12
Set 6 : 80x15
37.5
Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x12
Set 3 : 20x12
Set 4 : 25x15
Set 5 : 25x15
Set 6 : 25x15
35
Set 1 : 20x15
Set 2 : 25x12
Set 3 : 25x12
Set 4 : 25x12
Set 5 : 20x15
42
Set 1 : 25x15
Set 2 : 30x12
Set 3 : 30x12
Set 4 : 30x12
Set 5 : 25x15
28
Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x12
Set 3 : 20x12
52.5
Set 1 : 15x15
Set 2 : 37.5x12
Set 3 : 37.5x12
Set 4 : 37.5x12
66.67
Set 1 : 40x20
Set 2 : 40x20
Set 3 : 40x20

Calorie :   281 CAL
Distance: 2.5 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

Set 1 : 01:01:00

2 x 25 x 50 lbs

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

Set 1 : 2 Lap/Rep

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