Born Again Gym Rat: Maybe A New Plan

Friday, April 17, 2015

Maybe A New Plan

I'm not liking how little time I seem to have and as much as I enjoy my gym time, I need to cut back. My biggest worry of course, as a woman in her mid-50s, is that the moment I cut back on my cardio pounds will magically gravitate to my abdomen. There is a lot of information that suggests lower estrogen levels lead to an unpleasant middle-age transformation where fat migrates from the hips to the stomach. Yep, your butt gets saggy and your belly gets bigger. How attractive! Health-wise, stomach fat is the worst fat of all, a potential precursor to diabetes, heart disease and possibly some cancers. Egads!

There is also literature that suggests people of short stature have a greater risk of heart disease, and premature death. Fortunately, this correlation can only be made of men, and not women. Still, I worry whether I'm doing the right things that will enable me to live a long and relatively healthy life. My in-laws are in "assisted care" now since both have declined significantly, mentally and physically. But they were never very active people either. It's scary. And since they live in Florida, the senior center of America, every health institution there is poised to keep them dependent until their finances are completely obliterated. I told my hubs we are absolutely never moving to Florida.

I'm going to try easing back on cardio a little, and cutting back on Arms a lot. My triceps are disproportionately enormous compared to my biceps and forearms. Just as my quads are huge compared to my leg biceps. Elbow and knee issues might be to blame. Bad elbows get painful when doing heavy bicep work. Regardless, if I add a few arm exercises to Chest Day and Back Day, I can just do cardio on Tuesdays. I still want to whack the kickboxing machine once a week so that will be either Thursday or Friday. I'm also going to incorporate more HIIT as well so maybe I only do 20 min sessions instead of 30. And then I'll keep an eye on the scale and my clothes, and see what happens.

Today's workout is fairly routine: two 30 minute cardio sessions, some Smith Squats, Smith Split Leg Squats, Smith SLDLs. My finger still hurts so I cap the SLDLs at 100 lbs because that's as much as my hands can support without VGs. The GHRs are much more difficult now that I'm adding momentum to the push-up movement. I can do 8 before I start to feel my lower back. Then the last 4 reps become more an isometric exercise.

I walk past the Step Mill and realize that they are both vacant. Mine! I do 15 minutes at a leisurely pace but still bust quite a sweat when I'm done. A note about the Smith Split Leg Squat, which I find very effective in isolating the glutes. It really bothers my knees. Not the knee squatting, but the bent knee stationed behind me when I place my foot on a bench. (Today there were no benches available so I used a Step Platform with a half dozen supports to raise it to the desired height.) Lunges bother my knees enough so I don't do them at all.

Creepy PJ Pants is lounging at the cable station across from the Mats where two big, sweaty, middle-age men are chatting, so I decide to do some rudimentary stretches in the empty classroom down the hall. There are two other people there doing their own stretches and box jumps away from the din of the rest of the gym. As I stretch I get a better look at myself in the huge mirrored wall. And the first thing I notice, oddly, is how curvy my body is. I've never thought of myself as curvy because I have a tiny bust and a big broad back, a long waist and short legs. It's a pleasant surprise to finally think, "Hey, everything looks pretty good". Of course, now I'm really worried about changing my program. Because it's not true, you can't just change it back and expect things to revert back to the way they were. The human body just doesn't do that.

Friday Cardio and Leg Day Workout
(6.8 miles total, 13,110 lbs moved)