Born Again Gym Rat: In Spite of the Numbers

Thursday, August 20, 2015

In Spite of the Numbers

I let my son sleep in this morning since we were up binge-watching Once Upon A Time. Or rather, I was, and he was playing a game on his phone. But he tends to stay up as long as I'm up. Which is bad for him since he needs sleep to grow, and bad for me 'cuz it means I'm not a great parent. But it's summer vacation, and time will come soon enough for crushing responsibilities.

We got to the gym at a reasonable hour, but there weren't any boys his age in the Child Care room. Luckily, my son is fairly easy-going as long as he has his phone to play games on. I probably cut the moleskin patches a bit small this time around. Even though I taped and cotton-wrapped my hands, I still had some residual bruising from whacking the machine. It is painfully obvious that I need to practice wrapping my left hand more because doing it once a week isn't enough to acquire any sense of speed or competence.

I haven't been wearing my blue hoodie to warm up lately. It makes my gym bag lighter, but I've got goosebumps when I start my warm up. For the past few days, my right achilles tendon has felt tight immediately over the heel as I start to pedal. Eventually the discomfort goes away, but I'm careful to stretch gently but thoroughly after any cardio. Doing 5 rounds of Beginner Follow Me gets me warm enough. For some people, that might be a workout right there. But it's really just a warm up. The 9 rounds of Intermediate is a workout.

I've clipped my ponytail to my head with an assortment of barrettes. My hair is so long now that sopping wet with sweat, it makes a formidable whip. It's quite unpleasant to have your own hair smack you in the face when you're kickboxing. The barrettes hold everything in place so I'm quite pleased in spite of the girly-girl appearance. I'm not a girly-girl, but barrettes keep the stray hair out of your eyes, nose and mouth! Of course, I could just cut my hair back to the Pixie style I used to have. The problem with short hair is maintenance, and I'm big on zero maintenance. Of course, I do miss being able to stick my head under the faucet for a proper cooling off.

There's a few rounds where the program and the music are totally in sync, which makes scoring blows so much easier. I'm still befuddled by some of the weirder combinations, like "Jab, PowerSweep". It throws you off balance because at first you're reaching with your left lead, across your body upward for the Jab (right pad). Then you need to step back to use your back Right (Power) Leg to sweep the bottom left pad. The machine doesn't always register my Power Kick or Sweep. Bummer. And of course, I'm punching too hard with my right Cross, and even right Power Hook. Go figure! My numbers were better last week, but I still feel as if I'm progressing. Or maybe I'm just not sucking at this.

I have three rounds to go when D shows up. She smacks the adjacent machine next but quickly gives up. Just a few blows and the machine has rebooted. She's a lot bigger than I am, with slower but more powerful punches. Think Foreman and Ali. Between rounds we exchange greetings and I tell her I'll let her know when I'm done. She's off to use the Cybex machines until then since her son is now in the Child Care room too. But he's 5.

My knuckles sting and I'm worried about friction burns. When I peel everything off, my knuckles are a bit pink and the left hand is a tiny bit sore, but otherwise everything is intact. There's not a lot of people at the gym today, although I do catch a glimpse of The Mayor, Red, Ponytail, and Tattoo Tank. It's been hot for over a week, and the humidity hasn't abated. I've been wearing summer dresses made of swimsuit material so they're bright and cheery, and dry quickly. I catch Shaggy staring intently from a cross-trainer when my son and I first enter the gym. I don't know why guys think that staring is going to alter the universe in their favor. It's just plain ol' creepy.

Today my son and I will be visiting his classroom to meet his new teacher, and to check the class roster for potential conflicts. I'm not happy that my son is in a class with an extra teacher. The extra teacher means there are at least 5 kids who require special help, and I hope this doesn't detract from my son's 5th grade experience.

Tomorrow is Leg Day, but it's mostly Cardio Day. It will also be the last full workout I'll be able to take for the next two weeks because camp will be over, and school doesn't start until after Labor Day, Sept 8. The surrounding towns all start on Sept 2. So the next two weeks will be modified workouts, probably mostly cardio and body weight movements, but not necessarily restricted to it. If I get a chance to bench sets for reps, I will.

Thursday Workout