Give And Take

Today

Sometimes it's all about the first move. Running up or dancing up the Step Mill. Level 8 isn't really fast enough. Did the caffeine just kick in? Maybe it's because even though I've been ferrying my son from play date to play date, I've been physically inactive all weekend. I've only had a cup of instant espresso this morning, and we get to the gym late. Maybe it's because I'm not wearing a hoodie and the gym is still fairly cool? 15 minutes on the Step Mill barely gets me warm but at least I'm not horribly worried when I approach the Stretch Cage for my first set of hammer grip pull ups.

I do the same types of push ups as last Friday, but I add reps to the first (and easiest) set because it's just regular push ups. 60 reps. I look up and catch sight of a guy smiling in an embarrassed way and shaking his head. I get the impression that he's also somewhat shyly infatuated from the way he tries to glance over without staring. And I'm so not even vaguely tempted to talk to him or anyone else who seems to hang with The Mayor. Skinny, tall, balding, bad teeth, and not much to look at physique-wise. Nope. I wonder how many push ups he can do.

The Diamond Push Ups are still hard on the wrists and forearms, but my joints are okay. I take my time, counting. The Dand (Hindu) Push Ups are more difficult than they look, but I can make it to 25. In between I do two sets of planks, but I'm only able to do 25 crunches. My abs are kind of shot by this point! Lower ab scissors are easy though. The last set of push ups are Side To Side, and I can do them, but my right elbow's not happy. I don't want to substitute Dive Bomber Push Ups because those are hard on the shoulders. I wonder if I can do any One-Arm Push Ups and how hard they'll be on my joints. I guess there's no way to know until I try!

I'm breathing hard when I get back to the Cardio Platform. I still want to do 30 min of cardio so I punch in Performance Program #2. I don't see the meek Mouse newbie but I see Shaggy. He's gotten more bold lately, chatting with Pear at a table while she waits for her husband, Einstein, a tall skinny man with glasses, mustache and a huge mop of unruly grey hair. Pear and Einstein are unfortunately the people I see performing ridiculous quarter reps at the bench. Shaggy looks like he's stalking prey, turning to intercept the bleached white haired girl with the violet over-rinse. She ignores him. I deftly step around him. He's still creepy. And desperate. Maybe he's got a wedding he needs a hot date for?

I see a young woman looking uncertain as she does a few bench dips with bent knees. She'd be better off with her legs straight out but she probably doesn't know if she's capable. And she's uncharacteristically alone. Most young women come to the gym with either their boyfriends or a gaggle of chatty girls for moral support. The truly dedicated ones come solo, with no distractions but perhaps, with a bit of fear. Because you never know what you're truly capable of until you try.

After cardio I do a set of pull ups, and then stretch at the Cage. Then added another set of hammer grip pull ups, but they're too close to the last set and my left elbow noticed. But I'm really happy that until that last set, I didn't feel my arms at all in the movement, which is as it should be. It should be back, lat and core. Today I manage to keep myself fairly straight as well, my body not swaying, and my knees not curled to my chest. Not sure if I'm getting stronger or just wearing myself out. Kidding.

Tomorrow I'm going to whack the machine again. And stretch my lower back.

Monday Body Weight Workout

Step Machine

Warm UP

Calorie :   133 CAL
Lap/Rep :  58 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12

Regular Push Up

60

Set 1 : 60 Lap/Rep

Straight Arm Plank

N/A

Set 1 : 00:02:00

Diamond Push Up

25

Set 1 : 25 Lap/Rep

Crunches

25

Set 1 : 25 Lap/Rep

Dand Push Up

25

Set 1 : 25 Lap/Rep

Plank

Bird Dog

Set 1 : 00:02:00

Side to Side Push Up

20

Set 1 : 20 Lap/Rep

Scissor Kick

50

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12

Elliptical Training

Perf Prgm #2

Calorie :   304 CAL
Distance: 2.65 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12
Set 2 : 112x12

Knowing What Ails You is Half the Cure

Looks like a pillowcase!

When I woke up at 4:30 am in excruciating pain, I thought for a moment that I'd inadvertently pulled a back muscle. The pain was radiating through my torso and I couldn't breathe. Unfortunately, our society has primed us to ask "What can I take for this?" as a first step, instead of "What is happening?" As I cleared the sleep from my brain, I realized that this was the same sensation I get when I've eaten something that my stomach just can't handle. Its response is to shut down and somehow trigger surrounding nerves in the diaphragm and back. Until I manage to vomit up the offending item. It could be an apple skin. Or tomato skin. Once it was simply a stalk of watercress.

Once I did that, and drank copious amounts of water to rinse stomach acids from my throat and teeth, I fell back asleep. And I woke up feeling as if nothing untoward had happened during the night. I try to avoid foods that I have trouble with. A friend of mine asked me why I didn't just take a pill for it. She was concerned about not getting all the vitamins and nutrients found in the skin of apples and tomatoes. Uh, no thanks. I don't think I'm going to develop malnutrition from not eating those things.

This tank from Athleta is definitely lightweight, but it's so billowy that even an XS feels like I'm wearing a pillowcase. I take 20 minutes to do a "warm up" on the elliptical with program Performance #2. I hope this gives me enough time for planks, push ups and pull ups. Planks are actually getting easier so I've moved from 90 seconds to 2 minutes on most sets. I still can't Bird Dog with my lower leg straight, but I keep trying.

Added new push ups today. Boy are they hard! The first 50 regular push ups are surprisingly easy. The second set are "diamond" push ups where hands are placed close to each other, fingers and thumbs forming a diamond shape. This puts a lot of stress on the triceps. I'm glad I'm able to do 25, and I do each rep slowly and deliberately. The third set are the Dand or Hindu push ups. I'm slow and deliberate, but 25 reps are hard. But I can do them. The last set are Side To Side push ups, which means you bend and lean all your weight on one arm, push up and then lean all your weight on the other arm. By this last set, my arms and chest are tired. And then I go do more hammer grip pull ups.

At some point I'll be able to add another set of pull ups. As it is, I'm just happy I can get 3 full sets and my elbows are okay. It feels really awesome to pull myself up without struggling, and part of me is always surprised that I can do it. Not sure if it's any particular back exercise or a combination of all the work, but I'm definitely stronger than I used to be. What's odd is that today the scale read 108.4 lbs, a 3 pound drop. I'm going to asume that it's just water.

Friday Body Weight Workout
(total cardio = 4.54 miles)

Elliptical Training

Perf Prgm #1

Calorie :   202 CAL
Distance: 1.77 mile
Duration : 00:20:05

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12

Push Up

Regular : 50 Lap/Rep
Diamond : 25 Lap/Rep
Dand : 25 Lap/Rep
Side to Side : 20 Lap/Rep

Plank

Straight, Elbow : 00:01:30
Legs Lifted : 00:02:00
Bird Dog : 00:02:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12

CybexTorsoTwist

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Elliptical Training

Intervals

Calorie :   320 CAL
Distance: 2.77 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

156.8

Set 1 : 112x12

Whacking the Machine Again

Post Workout Selfie

I was a little worried about hitting the Nexersys more than once a week, but I had to know if proper hand wrapping would really protect me from serious knuckle damage. My hands aren't sore so that's good. I do my 10 minute warm up and spend a few minutes taping and wrapping before stuffing my hands into gloves. I've braided my hair and clipped it to my head, but the intensity of the Intermediate Follow Me workout causes my hair to fall loose from my head.

I'm constantly readjusting my hair between rounds and eventually I give up, happy just to clip the hair out of my face. At least it's braided so that it's not a wet ponytail smacking me in the face when I twist as I throw a Power Hook. I have favorite moves, and less successful blows, like the Lead Sweep. But I'm most happy with how my hands feel. Two of my fingers feel a bit odd, perhaps I've taped them a tad too tight, but my knuckles don't hurt, my hands don't hurt, and I haven't lost any skin. Yaaaay!

People constant walk past in my  peripheral vision. The machine doesn't register my Lead Kick. And is overly sensitive to my Cross and Power Body. I note with some caution the woman who mounts the mountain bike simulator closest to my machine. She has three bikes to choose from but of course, being somewhat oblivious, she chooses the one most likely to result in personal injury if she isn't careful. She's on the bike for maybe 15 minutes. 14 rounds means 56 minutes, of which 42 are active and 14 are rest minutes. When I'm done, I put my hoodie on and lay down on the Mat to stretch out my lower back. It's been really stiff this week. And my lats are still sore. It's hard for me to believe that my body-weight workout is actually harder on my body than pumping iron. The body is adaptable! I plan to maintain this workout for a few weeks, and then move back to weights. Eventually.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   97 CAL
Distance: 0.05 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

5 r Beginner
9 r Intermediate
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 Rounds Beginner Follow Me

9 Rounds Intermediate Follow Me

The Exercise Cure

After standing in line for over two hours yesterday, my left hip was out of sorts. I'm not sure why, but it hurt to walk, and once we got inside the church to pay our respects, the hip felt even worse. Resting it didn't improve matters and it was just as creaky this morning when I took the dog for a walk. I had already planned to modify my workout so I took advantage of the empty Step Mill when I got to the gym. 15 minutes became 20 minutes. The hip hurt at first, but loosened up and eventually normalized. Cured! I had the Step Mill set to a pace of 6, which is faster than LISS (3) but not quite running up the stairs. It took me a good 15 minutes to even feel warm, and I had my blue hoodie zipped up! I see workman traipsing through the gym so I guess the new A/C has been installed in the exercise room. People must be on vacation the last week before most schools start. I only see a handful of regulars like Shaggy, Maroon, The Mayor, Ollie, Big Glasses Dude and PonyTail.

I'm not doing any HIIT or LISS this week. I'm also not eating properly either since my son is home and I have to feed him reasonable lunches. This inadvertently leads to snacking on my part. The scale tells me that I'm heavier (111 lbs today), but I can also see it in the mirror. However, I'm not unhappy about being stronger, or at least feeling stronger. Today I add another set of hammer grip pull ups. That makes three sets of 12 reps. I discover that it's the pull ups that are making my abs sore because I'm curling my legs to my chest to keep from swaying. I also accidentally increased my planks, going from 90 seconds to 120 seconds on two out of three sets because I wasn't really paying attention. I still can't do the Bird Dog with a straight lower leg. Balance is everything, and makes the move feel a bit like yoga. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Dand, or Hindu Push Up. But usually the butt is higher,
like in a Downward Dog position

Push ups took more time than expected as I'm trying a new version. Actually, the first set was just 50 Regular push ups. The second set was 25 Dive-Bomber push ups. That's probably the most Dive-Bombers I've ever done in one set. The third set was a new movement called Hindu Push Ups (or Dand in martial arts). It looks like a Dive-Bomber, but isn't. The key difference is that the Dive-Bomber has you roll back into the start position with your shoulders pushing, and the Hindu keeps your arms straight while your back is arched. Then your hips actually pull you back into a Downward Dog position. It's not as hard on the shoulders, and stretches the upper back. I only do 20 of those, fairly slowly. I'm pretty sure I can do more. Maybe on Friday.

Dive Bomber: note the bent elbows
from position 4 to position 5.

I do another set of hammer pull ups before getting on the Precor for 30 minutes of Performance Program #3. I only make 2.68 miles even though I'm pedaling like crazy. I see Shaggy approach the meek new member on the treadmill. He's literally inches from her face talking to her as she walks, while he stands on the side rail of her machine. She's small, middle-aged but not in bad shape. If she doesn't already know him, then this is either flattering, or creepy. Her body language doesn't suggest intimacy. People who are obviously dating don't get this close at the gym. I'm thinking Shaggy has personal boundary issues, and I'm really glad he's not my problem.

Tomorrow I'm going to whack the Nexersys machine again. I want to see how my hands hold up to a twice weekly session now that I've been practicing my hand-wrapping (yes, that's what I did in front of the TV last night). Friday, I'll do cardio and whole body again. I think I'm actually more tired from this workout than my previous HIIT cardio and weights. Go figure.

Wednesday Whole Body Workout

Step Machine

Calorie :   154 CAL
Lap/Rep :  65 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:20:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 112x12

Pushups

Regular : 50 Lap/Rep
Dive-Bomber : 25 Lap/Rep
Dand : 20 Lap/Rep

Plank

Straight/Elbow : 00:02:00

Leg Lift : 00:01:31
Bird Dog : 00:02:01

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 112x12

Elliptical Training

Perf Prgm #3

Calorie :   308 CAL
Distance: 2.68 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

CybexTorsoTwist

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 112x12

Day Two Whacks the Machine

Today my hand wrapping skills are even worse than last week and I find myself re-wrapping in order to keep the velcro ends off my wrists. Those loosen too easily and become annoying. They have to be attached somewhere inside my gloves. At least I cut the moleskin patches big enough this time. There's no issue with my knuckles, with chafing, cuts, scrapes or bruises. I'm also wearing a snugger tank because the looser, airy tanks are just that. Too loose and airy. The straps fall off my shoulders, the front billows and allows my headphone cord to risk tangling with my gloves. I'm giving serious thought to draping my headphone cords behind my neck but I'll probably forget how they're attached and wreck the delicate wires. It's happened before.

I also have my hair braided and clipped to the back of my head, just to keep it all out of my face. My lats are sore and so are my abs! I guess those hammer grip pull ups are finally working the targeted muscles. Super-setting planks with push ups is probably why my core is sore. But my chest is unscathed. Plain ol' push ups, even lots of them, aren't enough. I might have to resort to diamond push ups, or side-to-side push ups.

My kickboxing numbers aren't as good as they used to be. But I'm not concerned. The machine isn't registering all my lead kicks. I'm also not sure how it calculates Accuracy since I've noted rounds where I made all the correct blows, the machine registered the strikes but still tallied low Accuracy points. Plus, I plan to whack the machine twice this week. I'd really better practice this hand wrapping technique and get it down so I don't waste time wrapping and re-wrapping.

My lower back is also really stiff so I take a few moments to stretch out on the Mat after I peel all the protective layers off my hands. The Mayor always looks so desperate as he glances over at the Mat. Desperation is not my problem. Your infatuation fantasies are not my problem. Because that's what I think of all the guys who stare and drool like love-struck puppies. Now, if they actually were cute puppy-dogs, well, that'd be another matter.

Today my son and I go to see the movie Hitman: Agent 47. Even though it got terrible reviews and we were prepared to be bored, or worse, we actually enjoyed ourselves. Never mind that my son actually talked me into buying him this game. It was pre-owned so it only cost me $7 at GameStop. I've seen much worse movies. This actually wasn't bad, and yes, I'd see it again. It's not great like Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but I think it was at least as entertaining as The Man From UNCLE. Actually, I think I'd prefer to see this over The Man From UNCLE.


Later, I take my son to Kmart to buy him a respectable shirt and pants. We have a wake to attend and I'm not going to bring him in shorts and a T-shirt. He cleans up nicely, and is actually relatively well-behaved considering the 2+ hour wait outside the church. He puts his phone in my purse and doesn't complain about being bored, or how hot it is. For 10 years old, he's incredibly mature. I'm not sure how my son will handle seeing a dead child but I tell him the boy looks like he's sleeping. While we wait, we discuss all sorts of matters like stained glass, knee rests and why the cross is the penultimate Christian symbol.

Tomorrow will be another Cardio and Full Body Core workout. I might cut cardio down to 45 minutes to give me more time to squeeze in a 3rd set of pull ups. And maybe some crunches or leg lifts or scissors. Maybe.

Tuesday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   95 CAL
Distance: 0.84 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

Kickboxing

5 rounds Beginner
9 rounds Intermediate
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner Follow Me

9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

The Wandering Right

When I was a child, I thought that people were born symmetrical, except for their hearts of course. So it bothered me that my face seemed nicer on the left side than the right where the eye was a bit smaller, the cheek a bit flatter. My rib cage is smaller on the right side as well. I knew that babies had soft bones. Perhaps a preference for sleeping on my right side had compressed everything? Could it be corrected? It's amazing what children think about when they're suppose to be asleep.

Never mind that once my grandmother discovered I wrote and drew with my left hand, she bought me left-handed scissors that I could not use. Because I'm not truly left-handed. Or right-handed. I'm asymmetrically ambidextrous. If I try, I can hold a pen in my right hand and actually produce a drawing. I can write in cursive and sign my name. It's uncomfortable and makes my brain itch. However, I can switch obliviously between my right and left using cutlery, making my dining companions crazy. Chopsticks, however, are resolutely in the left hand and there have been many instances of dueling sticks at the supper table.

Truly severe asymmetry!
German arm-wrestler Matthias Schlitte

My right side is stronger than my left. But my left is bigger, and more coordinated. During One-Arm Seated Cable Rows, the movement seems almost natural in my left hand, but I struggle with it in my right. Catching and tossing a ball is right-handed, as is drawing a bowstring. My right eye is dominant as well. It's also the eye with troubling Visual Field results. But my vision is better in that eye. My vision keeps changing though. I suspect that there's some flexibility in my lens because sometimes I see people or objects and I swear they looked bigger, or taller than they did before. Everything is mutable, from my heart rate to my IOP., and that's probably not a good thing.

My right side has a lot of physiological issues including a confluence of snaking blood vessels that double back on themselves in my shoulder and neck. I've been warned not to do shoulder presses since congestion there leads to a disturbing hearing loss in my right ear. It's only temporary, but unpleasant. It happened last week while I was pedaling on the elliptical. I thought my headphones were either broken, or filled with sweat. Instead, my ear was plugged. Eventually it popped and I could hear normally again.

My right foot has a bunion which I ascribe to ankle surgery I had some near twenty years ago to remove a benign nerve sheath tumor (schwannoma). The ball of my right foot and several toes (and not my left) falls numb after too long on the cross-trainer. Lately, my right heel feels tender where the Achilles tendon attaches to it. It could be the beginning of tendonitis, or bursitis of the heel, but it never lasts longer than 5 minutes at most. 10 minutes into the cross-trainer and I have other things on my mind. Online resources are only concerned with persistent pain. Mine doesn't qualify.

When I look down at my feet, I notice that my right foot travels across the pedal. The left foot stays fairly put. My right hip isn't as flexible as the left when I'm at the Stretch Cage. My right shoulder cramps and knots when I'm at the computer too long even though I mouse on the left side. I can trackball ambidextrously, but mousing can only be done right-handed. Go figure. Wielding a sword, even a mock wooden one, makes me right-handed. Kickboxing the Nexersys machine makes me right-handed. My right is my Power side. With caveats.

Cross-training is always the smart way to go unless you're training with a specific goal in mind. I just want great overall fitness. Today is Day One of the Abbreviated Workout. I'm using Cardio as a base, and then adding what seems important at the moment. Today is cardio, core and two basic strength and endurance movements: push ups and pull ups. Pull ups are the only exercise I'm a bit leery of injuring myself with because I have weak flaky joints. So I do hammer grip pull ups, and I space my sets far apart to give my elbows plenty of recovery time.

I haven't done sets of push ups in a really long time. Even the first set of 50 was a bit more difficult than I remember. I had to pause at 40 for a second before doing 5 reps, pause and then finish with the last 5 reps. I do planks in between the push ups, which I'm sure doesn't really make push ups any easier. Nor does it make planks any easier! But the hammer grip pull ups are easier than I remember. I actually don't feel my arms or elbows doing this, probably because I'm concentrating so hard on getting my face clear of the Stretch Cage Roof. I do admit to keeping my arms slightly bent to prevent over-stressing my elbows. They actually feel okay when I'm done. Yaaay! Maybe I really am stronger than I used to be? I'm certainly bigger.


Monday: Day One Abbreviated Workout
(6.79 miles total)

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie :   144 CAL
Distance: 4.18 mile
Speed :    8.33 mph
Duration : 00:30:06

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 112x12

CybexTorsoTwist

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Push Up

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 50 Lap/Rep 

 

SuperSet With

Plank

Set 1 : 00:01:30
Set 2 : 00:01:31
Set 3 : 00:01:31

Elliptical Training

Perf Prgm #2

Calorie :   298 CAL
Distance: 2.61 mile
Duration : 00:30:04

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 112x12