Born Again Gym Rat: Going to Failure Might Not Be Painful

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Going to Failure Might Not Be Painful

My son asked for cold soup for dinner last night. Because I grew up hearing about the old couple who died of botulism poisoning from eating cold, canned potato soup, I can't abide. Instead, I open a can of chicken & dumplings, toss in some extra pasta (because we don't recognize those little lumps of dough as anything vaguely akin to dumplings) and set it to boil on the stove. He just has to wait until it's room temperature to eat. I had had a leftover turkey meatball on a plate of greens for lunch and wasn't particularly hungry last night. So I snacked. Probably not a great idea but dang, it's hot!

I've been skipping oatmeal breakfasts and just have my cup of instant espresso. Of course, it's thoroughly adulterated with sugar and half and half so it's more like a fast food meal than I'd like to admit in regards to fat, sugar and calories. At least there's no salt. Working out "fasted" hasn't been much of a problem. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting may have physiological benefits such as lower glucose levels and a flexible metabolism that is more responsive. Grazing is for herbivores, not people. No one wants to look like a cow!

Of course, by the time I get home, I'm ready to eat my arm. Thank goodness for protein shakes. I like to use soy milk because it has a thicker texture, and some articles suggest that using both soy and whey together might enhance the anabolic effects of weight training. I have a giant 5 lb tub of mocha flavored whey protein. For the past week, I've been adding a teaspoon of instant espresso coffee to the mix, and using it to wash down fish oil, calcium citrate with vitamin D, and a capsule of milk thistle.

I take just one capsule (1/3 dose) of ZMA before bed because I'm sensitive to the laxative effects of magnesium. ZMA contains zinc, magnesium and B6, and is promoted as a sleep and recovery aid. I haven't noticed any crazy dreams but I do feel better rested in spite of the difficulty of sleeping in this heat. I like my bedroom cold but the fan will have to do.

I've been sticking to my 10 min warm up in spite of my misgivings. Today I see gains. Although I'm stagnant in the bigger compound movements (by choice), I've been seeing gains in secondary exercises. I add two reps to each set of the heaviest Seated Cable Rows. Does that mean I'm stronger? Maybe. Or less tired. I added two sets to the heaviest One-Arm Seated Cable Row as well. I'm still only doing 3 sets of 15 reps at 210 lbs on the Lower Back Extension machine, but I don't feel quite as exhausted when I'm done. Instead, I feel brave enough to try doing hammer grip pull ups for the first time in several months. And I can do them! Yaaaay! I don't want to stress my elbows so after 12 reps, I wander off to do something else. Something with less elbow.

That would be partial Drag Curls, although from seeing photos online, I gather that I'm not the only one who goes from mid-thigh to belly with this movement. I up the weight and it's heavy. But oddly, it's only heavy to pick up. Once I start the movement, it doesn't feel bad. The last two reps of each set are much harder, but not painful. I think the muscles are just going to failure, so it's a bit of a struggle and a grimace to finish the sets. The same is true of the Reverse Grip BB Curls. I do a set of 25 reps at 50 lbs just to reassure myself that I really should be upping the weight. If I can do more than 20 reps, it's too light. An extra 5 lbs solves that problem and I can only go to 18 reps for the next two sets, accompanied by grimacing, long pauses and heavy breathing! My arms are looking really big. Not quite as defined as I'd like, but dang they're big. (I can pick up my 12-yr old 67 lbs dog and put him in the car without any issues, so I'm pleased regardless.)

My arms are shot but I really want to have another go at pull-ups. 30 minutes of cardio should be enough time for recovery. The first 5 minutes of HIIT are twice as hard as I remember, yet I'm able to hit 290 Strides Per Minute. Odd. I'm sucking wet tissue again as I pant, so I take 5 minutes of LISS to recover before the next 5 min of HIIT. I'm only able to hit 290 once and but for a second. Oh well. The LISS flies by, but at least I'm not gasping when I'm done. Instead, I stretch at the Cage, and then knock out 12 more hammer grip pull ups.

The last two are a little hard, but I can still get my nose above the bar so I'm counting them, considering that the bar is about 4 inches past where my hands are located. Oh, they count all right, otherwise I'm smacking my face into the top of the Cage. When I pull myself up, the Cage rocks and I'm leery of tipping it over backwards so I place my hands closer to the center of the "ceiling' for balance. So far so good. My elbows haven't said a peep. However, my right wrist hurts today, bruised from the DB Presses I did on Monday. Either I'm too little or they're too big, but the DBs knock into my wrists when I set them down. Yet another reason I prefer barbell benching. Luckily, I keep wrist wraps in my "Felix the Cat bag of tricks", and that seems to alleviate the pain.

I notice that guys give me a wide berth when I'm done. The college boys were showing off doing kipping pull ups between the two cable stations. It's distracting and annoying to have the whole station shake when you're trying to do Seated Cable Rows, so I try to time my sets for the least disruption. There's only one woman I've seen do decent pull-ups here. She's young and slender with spunky red hair, and pretty good biceps. This week she's got a new do: undercut dark on the left and a flaming swoosh of red swept over the right. It's very dramatic and looks great.

Undercut is so dramatic

There's a few new members today, and a bunch of regulars, like Hollywood, M, The Mayor, Tattoo Tank, Ponytail (who surprisingly has brought a tween blonde girl to the Child Care room), Big Glasses Dude, Maroon, Soccer Boy, Barbie Doll and Red. Red, a middle-age woman with a flip hairstyle, spends a lot of time chatting with The Mayor, but at least she gets a few sets in. I'm not sure what The Mayor exercises besides his mouth. Maybe that's why he can leave without having to change his clothes? I look up from finishing my Mat Stretch and catch glimpse of a new member, a tall, athletic black man who resembles Michael Jordan, glancing over at me. Uh oh. Time to go shower and change!

Back and Bicep Workout
(3.6 miles cardio; 40,769 lbs moved)