Born Again Gym Rat: Working Tuesday Like It's Monday

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Working Tuesday Like It's Monday

I don't think very many people left their houses yesterday. My road never saw the salt-dispensing town plow truck or the garbage truck. I find out today at the school bus stop, it was because some woman down the street left her car in the road and the trucks couldn't get pass it. I'm not surprised, but I have a very low opinion of a lot of people on my road, mainly because they're idiots.

Today I drive my son down to the school bus stop because he has his viola as well as his backpack. Usually orchestra is on Mondays but they're gearing up for a Winter Concert next week, and we got an email that Monday's practice will take place today. I wonder if Tuesday's Chess at Recess will be cancelled then? My son tells me that he's bummed I signed him up for Intermediate Chess at the local library because he just found out that coming to kung fu 3 days a week (only 2 days is required) gives him extra-credit. I'm not quite sure what that means in reality but I tell him that he's already signed up, and when the 8 sessions are over, we don't have to sign up again, unless he really likes it. We sanded and painted his Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car this past weekend as well, although we'll wait until my husband gets home to affix the wheels and other items.

Because it's fairly cold outside, I opt to use the LifeFitness cross-trainer furthest from the front doors. I get a little pissed off when after 20 minutes, the machine displays an ominous "motherboard error" and quits my program. At least I have enough time to record the stats before resetting the machine for just another 10 minutes so I can finish my warm up. When I venture over to the Smith machine, two teenage girls are chatting next to it. I ask if they're just starting because when I say, "How many reps do you have left?" they give me a puzzled look. "Oh, no... we're done," they say, walking off without taking the 10 lb plates off the bar. Yep, idiots.

I drag the flat bench to the Smith and knock out my Bench Press sets. My right front delt feels a little wonky today. Worse, I've got all the symptoms of a head cold, one that seems fairly benign except for the mild vertigo I'm experiencing. Ugh. Not again! My ears feel full, so I took a 1/2 dose of real Sudafed, aka, pseudoephedrine. Now when you buy it at the drugstore, not only do they scan your license, they make you sign a digital form where you promise you aren't making illegal drugs with your purchase. WTF?

I skip inclined presses because both adjustable benches are being used and I hate the fixed inclined breaker benches. Instead, I drag two DBs over to the OHP rack where I superset Bent-Over Rear Flyes with DB Lateral Raises. Because this is older equipment, the seat is positioned lower than all the newer benches, and my feet actually sit flat on the floor when I bend over. Yep, I used to fit into the equipment before it all got upgraded. After 3 sets of 15 reps, I decide to grab four 1.25 lb magnetic discs from the front desk, upping my DBs to 22.5 lbs each. I squeak out 3 more sets of 12 reps. I note the regulars working out. Tall Pace is looking really jowly lately but he's probably in his 60s. If he's younger than that, then he's aging really badly. I see a few guys who seem to have lost weight and are starting to shape up a bit. But I don't see the Mayor, or Island Jerk, or B. B's probably still waiting for her husband to clear the ice out of her driveway.

I'm feeling wide-waisted so I glance over at the Torso Twist machine but it's occupied. I don't want to do too much core work today because I'm planning to do Back tomorrow. It's a short week and I need to squeeze in all my critical workouts. Instead I opt to finish with a few sets of RIP Skulls at a Breaker Bench Press station, where, seated backwards, I can place my feet on the bottom bars that secure the rack. Then 30 minutes on the Precor elliptical where I change the Incline every 5 minutes or so, or pedal backwards for a while.

I usually start with 20 wide dive bomber push ups where my legs are spread apart like I'm going to do a split. Because the shoulders feel okay, I move into a regular dive bomber stance and do another 20. Then the dreaded plank. Some hamstring stretches, a few pistol squats, a few vertical splits (legs in front and behind instead of side to side), then the rest of my stretch involving upper back, neck, lower back, hips. Done. The locker room is crowded and I note to avoid this time at the gym. A young woman is blow drying her long hair, oblivious to everything around her. Her bag and all her clothes take up 2/3 of the bench behind her. She's still at it when I get out of the shower. As I'm retrieving stuff out of my locker, a skinny little girl comes in to change her clothes. Her locker is two over from mine. There's no place for her to sit. I look over at the MissOblivious and yell to get her attention. She's vaguely apologetic when I ask if this is all her stuff. So I say loudly, "Benches are for people, not stuff. There's a lot of people here." MissOblivious drops her bag onto the ground instead of shoving it under the bench, or under the counter where she's staring into the mirrow, so now people are tripping over her bag. Yep, idiot.

The skinny girls actually wishes me a good day. I'm surprised and mutter something back. I'm not good with the social graces, but dang it, idiots make me mad.

Tuesday Workout