Born Again Gym Rat: Surprise Yourself

Monday, March 30, 2015

Surprise Yourself

I don't quite understand the myfitnesspal app on my phone since it gives you caloric credit for doing cardio (via minutes) but doesn't seem to know what to do with strength training. It does have a convenient scanner feature that lets you aim your phone at the barcode on the package in order to upload nutritional data instead of tediously keyboarding everything in. That's a term I never thought I'd use: keyboarding. We were moderately busy over the weekend, and went on a hike because the sun was shining and it wasn't snowing. It took almost three hours to finish, mostly because we were dodging icy spots and taken time to actually look at the fallen trees and little sprouts of greenery. To its credit, myfitnesspal actually lists "hiking" under it's cardio activities, but I think it overestimates just how many calories one burns tromping through the woods.

I get to the gym late today because I want to finish my oatmeal, egg and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries. (Of course, by the time I'm done, I'm so hungry I could eat my arm.) I have trouble getting started with the cross-trainer today, having to restart the program three times before actually doing any cardio. I figure I might slack a bit today and only log in 3.84 miles for warm up. There's a skinny guy on the Smith when I get to the free weight area so I plop my stuff on one of the breaker benches. I hate these benches. I haven't quite decided what I'm doing when I realize that he's re-racking his plates. Yaaay! But the over-sized adjustable inclined bench is in the Smith cage. Not yaaay.

I lay the bench flat. This one doesn't have the hump in the middle although there is still a huge gap between the seat and the bench back. I'm just small enough to have my shoulders fall uncomfortably into this space unless I scoot up and place the gap under the bottom of my blades. My right shoulder feels odd today. It doesn't actually hurt though. My left trap is still sore from last week's muscle spasm. And my left index finger still hurts when I press against it. Boy, this is gonna be fun.

I don't have a lot of confidence today. I don't feel particularly energetic. And the gym is weirdly empty and seems especially brightly lit. By the time I get to 120 lbs I know I can do at least one set at 130 lbs. I was really hoping to do more. WTH... cut my reps down to 6 and see how the next set feels. The next set doesn't feel too bad either, although I'd be lying if I said any of this was easy. I get my 3rd set and feel pretty good about it. Then I drop the weight down to 90 lbs and knock out a quick 25 reps just for the pump. There are regulars milling about. I know a few of the guys have been watching me bench, albeit from a "safe" distance. If I wanted to freak them out, I'd replace the 25, two 10s and a 5 on each side with a big 45 lb plate and a 5. They're already weirded out as it is, but it keeps the creepy old guys at bay.

Because I suffered a nasty trap spasm last week, I'm careful to do two sets of "warm up" movements with the 20 lb DBs before upping to the 25s. I had cut my reps with the heavier weight, but I know I can do more reps. At Set 5, I up the reps. And then I talk myself into doing Set 6. Meanwhile, I see R doing DB presses with a pair of 115s. Then he swaps them for the 125s. In between sets, he's stretching his shoulder and doing ab work with a 45 lb plate. I ask him how he's doing as he grimaces. His knee's inflamed and he's been putting off having it drained. What? Inflamed bursa. He's on a Z-pack and anti-inflammatories because it always drains pus. What?! For him, this is the result of years of football abuse, and heavy training. Bad back, bad knees, bad shoulders. He is happy that his wife is having a girl in August, and we both hope that she takes after his wife and not him. Already his 14-month old little man seems half the length of his wife, and just today scarfed down a 3-egg omelet and half a banana for breakfast. Oh jeeze.

I do some abs and then another 30 minutes on the elliptical, Performance Program #1. While I'm pedaling away, I see a lot of regulars... PJ Pants strolling on the treadmill, Tattoo Tank looking very trim (he's been working hard lately), and oh jeeze, The Mayor is back! He looks twice as wide now, but it's hard to tell exactly in that tent-like polo shirt. He's also still wearing weird gloves that totally cover his hands. They don't look like any exercise gloves I've ever seen. I do my Mat Stretch with Dive Bomber Push Ups and Pistol Squats before heading off to shower and change. PJ Pants looks up from a Cybex machine as if he's going to say something creepy. Yuck. I'm outta here!

Monday Cardio and Workout
(6.77 miles; 18,760 lbs moved)