Born Again Gym Rat: Monday Blues Are Rainy

Monday, June 1, 2015

Monday Blues Are Rainy

I'm really late to the gym because I've gotten distracted by tossing bags of old clothes into my car to take to the Goodwill later. I have some old toys I need to scrub my son's name off before taking them to Once Upon a Child. They might give me a few dollars for his Leapfrog 2 and 25 game chips since everything works. I love the internet because I type in my search for removing Sharpie® marker off hard plastic and get a slew of websites. The first suggests using tea tree oil. Really? Alcohal works but it's too slow. I look at the time and realize I have to deal with this later, after the gym.

I've spent all weekend binge-watching Penny Dreadful now that we seem to have ShowTime. That and Orphan Black are my two favorite shows lately, but that means I haven't gotten enough sleep. My glutes were sore all weekend as well, but that's the only part of me that's ever sore. I've made a point of concentrating on those Smith Split Squats!

I do a 15 min warm up on the LifeFitness cross-trainer. I'd really like to cut this to 10 min but I wouldn't be really warm. The Smith is free and I'm happy to replace the big adjustable inclined bench for the small flat bench. I'm disappointed in how heavy 110 lbs feels. Ugh. But I add more weight and cut the reps as planned. I stop at 130 lbs even though I could probably get 135 for 4-6 reps. My whole right arm and shoulder feels odd. It's not painful. Yet. Maybe it's age. Kidding. But I skip the inclined bench again.

The DB area is moderately busy with regulars and college boys. I use the big Matrix Inclined bench for my Reverse DB Flyes, supersetting with standing DB Lateral Raises. My arms and delts looks really good, and I can see my pecs flex when I bring my arms down. Yep, wish I had a picture of that. I feel pretty good now, but I have to find a flat bench for the Close Grip Bench Presses and then Rip Skulls. College boys are spotting each other on the bench. At least they're not as loud as the old guys. I like finishing with Rip Skulls because of the stretch. Plus, my arms looks awesome when I'm done.

Part of me tries to talk myself into only doing 5 min of HIIT cardio, but I do 10 min. It's hard. My husband started trying it on our garage elliptical, even installing a cool Intervals app on his phone to help with the countdown. I tell him it wouldn't help me bcause I can't see my phone when I'm on the elliptical: it's in a plastic side pocket. The LISS becomes my reward afterwards. Then I debate (with myself) where I'm going to stretch. My neck and shoulders feel tight and stretching is critical while I'm warm to prevent horrible stiffness.

I start out with my hoodie fully zipped, but need to strip it off to do my one set of Dive Bomber Push Ups. A thin girl with nicely toned arms is doing an assortment of push ups... standard, diamond, push-up handles. But I don't think she's ever seen Dive Bombers before. My shoulders feel a little achey so I only do one set of 20. Splits have become quite easy, but I've worked hard to achieve this. No abs today. Tomorrow's a cardio day, so there'll be time for abs then. I don't want to over do them because I already feel as if my torso/abs are thick.

I drop off the clothes at Goodwill and note the little resin model of the White City fro Lord of the Rings sitting on the counter next to the register. The girl with a big slash of green hair tells me it's a bookend, but there's only one. She's processing a receipt for me but has no idea what I'm talking about when I tell her it's from Lord of the Rings. Oh yes, before I forget: a cotton ball with a little tea tree oil removes Sharpie marker from plastic toys!

Monday's Push Day Workout
(3.95 miles cardio; 15,380 lbs moved)