Born Again Gym Rat: Abbreviated Monday Workout

Monday, January 26, 2015

Abbreviated Monday Workout

I'm glad I spent Saturday shoveling out parking spots for guests. It made my son's birthday party much less of a hassle. Although not having a house phone really kind of sucked because of a glitch with the Fios service (fixed today). While my husband fiddled with the laptops to set up a viable MineCraft server, I ran off to pick up the ice cream cake, and order several pizzas. Which I couldn't do from the house because we don't get any cell signal bars there. Two out of the expected five guests were sick so it was a rather intimate party. More of a play date. But we had pizza and ice cream cake, and my son had a great time. Then we parents each checked our phones (we do have WiFi) and discovered that not only was there a Winter Storm headed our way, but an additional Nor'easter. Bringing 12 to 24 and maybe 30 inches of snow. What?!

I'm having a heck of a time finding out what the storms are named. (Just like newspapers no longer automatically list someone's age anymore, or oddly, pertinent facts like a basketball player's height.) Friday was Iola. Next on the list, (according to the weather.com site "winter storm names") is Juno and Kari. Followed by Linus. Good grief.

Because it's 17°F this morning, and my son's backpack is heavy with traditional Chinese sweets, I drive him to the school bus stop. But first I have to warm up both my husband's car and my own, then move his out of our long narrow driveway and up the road, then move mine, then move his back. Then mine. So that when my hubs finally gets up at 9 am, he'll be able to load his stuff into the car and not have to lug it all up the road. Because he's driving to Boston to be at the airport tonight. For the entire week. And as long as I have the car running, I might as well go to the gym. Because of the storm, we all know (several times over) that today is Early Dismissal. Which means my son is at school for all of 2 1/2 hours. Which means it's Abbreviated Workout Day. But at least I get to work out.

I get to the gym before 9 am and all the cross-trainers are occupied. Okay, I can start with the Precor instead. I do 30 minutes of Intervals while trying to figure out my phone. It's a lot different since I upgraded the OS from 6 to 8 (totally skipping glitchy 7). I don't even stretch before glomming the Smith for my usual sets of benching. Afterwards, I see a lot of kids. The next town over actually closed their schools today. I notice a young blonde woman with nice arms. She's got an athletic build and probably plays a sport. Her friend is also working hard, but she's a tad chubbier and less athletic. I have my hoodie on most of the time until I have to put on wrist-wraps. I know the big guys are trying not to stare. Dang, I have some big arms. Cool.

There are no Inclined Benches so I skip Inclined Benching and move directly to DB Laterals and Reverse Flyes. There are also no 20 lb DBs. WTH? Whatever. I grab the 25s. I know I can do them because I've done them in the past. Yes, the distant past. I tell myself that as I go heavier I should cut my reps. But I don't listen much. Okay, I'm not bringing those weights all the way up to my shoulders either because I have too many joint issues. But I'm happy to knock out four sets. My arms look different these days. I think it's because somehow I'm bigger. But I just can't quite figure out where exactly. Oh well...

I do some abs, and have just enough time for 30 minutes on the cross-trainer. Because with limited time, cardio is more important to me. I do a quick Cage Stretch and off to shower. I'm also saving myself for the grueling task of shoveling out the driveway and walkway later. The Gov has already declared a State of Emergency ahead of the blizzard. Tomorrow's going to be a lot of fun. Yep.

Monday Workout (total mileage 6.47; total lbs moved 9,930)