Born Again Gym Rat: Surprising Even Myself

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Surprising Even Myself

I'm not getting enough sleep and I'm tired in the morning. But that's not unusual. I try to extract myself from conversation at the school bus stop and am really grateful that it starts to rain, giving me a graceful exit off the road. When I get on the LifeFitness this morning, I have grave doubts that I will be able to log in 3 miles. But I do and then some. A trim elderly lady is stretching at the Cage so I wait. She's one of the more limber women at the gym and I remember when she first joined because she told the trainer she wanted to look like me. Oh my!

I'm always a bit apprehensive when I start my push ups because I'm never certain that I won't just fall on my face. The first set is actually easy which gives me the confidence I need. Hammer grip pull ups aren't too bad either, but first sets are always easier than last sets. My last set of push ups has me pausing briefly at rep 40 and 45 but I muscle through. The last set of pull ups isn't horrible but reps 8-12 only have me getting my nose to the bar instead of my chin. I'm still counting them.

My last set of Inverted Rows has me losing my grip at reps 8 and 10 and I find myself laying flat on the floor under the bar for a moment. I'm so glad I don't land on my face when doing GHRs. And the Lower Back Extension machine is actually easy. Maybe I should consider upping the weight to 210? I realize today that I'm short-changing my Dive Bomber Push Up count because I always do a push up before and after the actual Dive Bomber Set, sort of as a way to set my position. Pistol Squats are pretty easy too and I only stop at 13 because it puts me square in the middle of the mat and I have other things to do in my routine. Between the DBPUs and Pistols, sweat is literally raining off my hair onto the mat anyway.

I still have waaaay too many things to do and not enough time. I got a new photo printer but I don't like the way it prints, and it's lack of user controls. I still have my old dissembled printer and now I have to put it back together and hope it works the way it used to. Meanwhile, between my son's elementary school Halloween party and the Cub Scout activities, I'm squeezing in his kung fu classes and Chinese language school, and one of his friend's mom wants us to sign up for archery classes so that the boys can try out for Junior Archery League. There's a Minecraft meetup at the local library that my son made me sign him up for next week. Everything's in my phone calendar. Tomorrow his class goes to see Dolphin Tales 2 at the cinema which means I have to pack him a lunch. He'd like me to pull out the sandwich press and make him a real grilled cheese. With cheddar! I used to make them but he preferred American cheese when he was 5. Now he complains that American isn't real cheese. I'm proud of him, but of course, I'm just making more work for myself. I still haven't called the plumber to fix the sink although I have all the parts now. And I need to get the oven fixed too. And the dog's license is up for renewal which means I have to trot down to Town Hall to show them the rabies certificate. Husband in Boston this week. Again. At least I know why I'm tired. (Oh, I estimated my body weight at 112 for the exercise log but the gym scale read 109 today. Whatever.)

Thursday Workout