Born Again Gym Rat: Too Easy On Myself

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Too Easy On Myself

Some mornings I wake up and feel as if I've snorted adrenaline before I hit the gym. It's just instant espresso (which my husband claims has no caffeine in it whatsoever) and oatmeal. I reverted back to adding an egg and honey, and some dried strawberries just for fun. At the school bus stop, it's just me and my son. We haven't seen the little girl who just started kindergarten or her mom for the past few days. "She's done", I tell myself. "Her mom needs a hobby", my son tells me. I laugh to myself.

At the gym, Shaggy is on one of the LifeFitness cross-trainers. I clamber onto the one at the end with the TV that is permanently stuck on channel 4. Because I don't care. I don't watch the tv while I pedal with my hoodie pulled low over my face so I can just see the cross-trainer screen. I switch between hands and feet to just feet every 5 minutes. I'm feeling pretty good and I log in over three and half miles in 30 minutes. Then I stretch a little at the Cage before wandering over to the Smith with my fingers crossed that it's vacant.

Island Jerk is in the DB area with a new "client", a young woman I saw him assisting yesterday. At least he's not in my way, and he's not monopolizing scads of DBs, BBs and everything in between. Yay! I decide to do Smith Inclined Bench Press because 1) I can actually place my feet flat on the floor using the adjustable inclined bench and 2) Inclined Presses have been less stressful on my front delts. Because I haven't lifted in a month, I start off easy. Perhaps too easy. I add weight after finishing each set. After 6 sets, I know I need to start with a heavier weight next week.

There are regulars like the Mayor, M, Jude, Tall Pace clustered at one of the Breaker Benches. I see a tall blonde woman doing DB flyes by the BB rack. She has nice arms. Very few women at my gym have decent arms so I tend to notice those who do. I pull off my hoodie because it's going to get in the way of doing BB Rows (it's a boy's XL so it's a little big on me) and I immediately feel people staring while trying not to stare. I'm actually amused, but I don't let on.

Three Quarter Back

Sticking to my Full Body plan means doing a new movement today: Smith RG BB Rows. Again, because I don't really know how much I can lift, I'm conservative with upping the weights. My body is definitely more parallel to the ground with this movement so I don't want to stress my lower back. I can feel my lats so I figure the weight is good. But when I get 20 reps on the last set, I realize that I should really up the weight.

I skip Squats because I think Pistol Squats are already thickening my quads again. I don't need my legs to be any bigger than they are because my pants fit just fine, thank you. But I do only three sets of SLDLs at the Smith, bumping my hips into the bar at the end of the movement. Then three sets of GHRs at the Lat Pull Down Station. Done! Yay! I scramble back up to the cardio platform to pedal for another 25 minutes, and then back down for a Mat Stretch. I realize that benching isn't nearly as hard as doing sets of 50 rep push ups so I go back to 3 sets of Dive Bomber Push Ups, but I add a few reps. While I'm doing those, I can see someone on the adjacent mat in my peripheral vision. It's a guy. I'm not sure but I think he's having trouble with regular push ups. Okay, I'm not even looking at him.

Thursday Workout