To be safe, I spend 10 minutes on the elliptical just to warm up. I still don't understand whether I'm pedaling faster or if the mere act of punching in additional data (age/weight) into the machine has increased my mileage readings. It's not quite a steady-state warm up either as at each minute marker, I change the incline setting up or down by 2-4 levels. I'm warm and sweaty by the end of 10 minutes. An old guy is stretching at the Cage so I do a quick hamstring stretch in front of the Nexersys instead. I've already affixed moleskin and white tape to my hands while I was in the locker room. Now all I need to do is use the cotton wraps and stuff my hands into my gloves.
The machine doesn't register my Lead Kicks (left side front) and is still overly sensitive to my Cross and Power Dig, beeping plaintively and flashing the warning screen: You Are Punching Too Hard. Uh, yeah, right. I do 7 rounds and feel moderately warmed up while I ignore the slight twinges in my shoulders. Holding your arms up in a fight stance round after round is actually kind of taxing. Then I punch in 7 rounds Intermediate and the machine refuses to register a whole series of combinations. I pull the power on my Cross and Power Dig, and inadvertently miss a few Power Elbows and Hooks. Oh well. The pace is quicker at the Intermediate Level, and it's more tolerant of the harder blows. But not immune.
I stop the machine several times, but not hard enough to blank the screen. At the end of it, the machine tells me I'm still outpacing and overpowered. It advises me to add rounds. Really? Of course, I'm only suppose to do 7 rounds, or 30 minutes, according to the paper sign affixed to the bottom of the screen. But since no one else is waiting to use it, I'm not feeling constrained by the rules. Besides, the gym owner is standing at the front desk. If it bothered him, he'd say something to me. The way I see it, other women see me whacking this machine and the next thing you know, they'll be wanting to give it a go as well. Big Blonde Yoga Girl has been watching from the cross-trainer on the cardio platform. She's been coming regularly and is one of the few women I see in the free weight area. But if she ever wants to smack this machine around, she's going to have to find a place to put her phone because hers is attached to her upper arm. I can't think of anything more uncomfortable or restrictive!
I barely have enough time to shower and change so I don't do a warm down or any HIIT cardio or even any stretching. I get to the doc's office 5 min late but no one else is there, and the intern is still learning how to perform the tests properly. At least the sun is shining.
When I finally get home, I stash the last-minute Easter goodies the Easter Bunny will deliver this Sunday. And then decide to update my weight and body fat. I've been a bit lax about it even though I weigh myself at the gym on a daily basis. But that's more for a guideline. This home scale weigh-in is more "official". I've had a birthday since the last reading so I have to adjust the data and inadvertently punch another setting. The difference in the readings is rather dramatic! I've actually emailed the manufacturer's tech support to ask them about this. I'll let you know what/if they reply.
Although I weigh the same (110 lbs) in Regular and Athlete setting, everything else is different. I had been using the Regular setting because reviewers of this scale said that the Athlete setting really skewed the readings negatively. And then of course, I forgot all about it. Until today when I did comparison readings. As a Regular 55 year old 4'11.5" female, my Body Fat is 20.9%, Muscle mass is 35.8% and Bone is 4.4 lbs. Not great readings as far as I'm concerned. But under Athlete, I'm still the same 110 lbs, but now my Body Fat reads at 15.4%, Muscle mass at 38.6% and Bone is 4.6 lbs. I don't entirely believe that. But hey, with the click of a button, I've dropped 5% BF! Only I know better. There's no way I'm 15.4% BF, but it's nice to pretend. Yep, it's April Fool's Day, isn't it?
Meanwhile, in playing around with the MyFitnessPal app, I discover that under "Strength" you can scroll through various activities, like fixing your car or doing woodworking, or house cleaning. Eventually I find things like Martial Arts, Circuit Training, and Strength Training (which isn't afforded much of a caloric expense). Tomorrow is suppose to be 60°F for real. Yeah, we'll see...
Wednesday Workout
10 min Precor elliptical = 87 cal and 0.95 miles
7 rounds Beginner Follow Me Nexersys
Accuracy 90% / Strikes 95%/ Average Power 138%
7 rounds Intermediate Follow Me Nexersys
Accuracy 83% / Strikes 95%/ Average Power 115%
photos posted for actual stats:
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