Born Again Gym Rat: Feeling It

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Feeling It

new gloves

I didn't quite make 6 miles yesterday, partly because I had a flare up of pain just inside my sternum during my first cardio session on the cross-trainer. The cross-trainer is also where my foot goes numb and it probably aggravates my sciatica, because today I'm feeling tightness in my right leg along the outside of my calf and in my toes. Yep, it's an early warning sign to ease up. Too bad though, because as much as I like the Precor elliptical, where I don't have these issues, it doesn't do anything for my upper body, well, because it's an elliptical. With the cross-trainer, you have the option of having your arms stationary, or not. Of course, I'm not quite sure why this affects my diaphragm or any of the organs under my sternum. Maybe I just need to stop eating crap.

Luckily, the pain subsides by the time I get to the stretch cage and I muscle out 25 reps. The last two reps are really hard, and I only get my nose to the bar from a full extension. After crunches and a whopper set of push ups, shallow but fast, as a warm up, I mosey over to the MaxRack for RG BB Rows. Maroon is in the Squat rack to my right, and a new guy at the Smith to my left. I hate newbies. They might know how to lift, but they almost never re-rack their weights. I see Maroon crack a smile out of the corner of my eye as I give the new weights a weird look. The new 5 lb plates are the same diameter as the old 10 lb plates, but half as thick. The old 5 lb plates were the same thickness but obviously smaller diameter-wise.

There's other new stuff in the gym, like a gliding ab machine (see right >). I see two of the staff try it out by kneeling on the flat board and grasping the top pad. The smaller woman tells the guy that it hurts her lower back. That's how I feel about the roll-out ab wheel. Glad it's not just me. At least my new Weider® workout gloves seem to be holding up, not staining my hands, and are reasonably comfortable. Plus they were only $8.

My lower back is stiff. Most of my sets at the RG BB Row go okay until I hit 145 lbs. I've done this weight before, but not recently. I can pull it fine. I can probably dead lift more, but for a barbell row, it bothers my lower back unless I'm nearly 30 degrees and it's almost a shrug. That's disappointing. I need to strengthen my lower back without aggravating my sciatica. Maybe I should consider doing dead lifts and pull ups and stop the RG BB Rows altogether?

I run into Mo and she's very chatty. Her arthritis is bothering her but she's getting back to yoga. I say a few words of encouragement but I don't really want to lose my momentum so I cut it short. I hate getting cold in the middle of a set. I'm still doing BB Rows when she tells me she's done so we say Bye! Even without chatting, I feel like I'm at the gym an inordinately long time. From rows I go to Rip Skullcrushers but since I haven't done them in a long time, I start super light. And then progress upwards. I can't find the 30 lb bar so I grab the 20 and two 2.5 lb magnetic discs. Then the 30 lb bar returns so I do a set with those just in case the 2.5 lb discs weren't really accurate. The 30 lb bar definitely feels a bit heavier. Then I add the discs. Next time I might start with the 40 lb bar and see if I can get 12 reps. I've gone heavier before, but that was months ago...

With a super light 20 lb barbell, I try a move I've long avoided: BB Upright Rows for shoulders. I've read that the key is to have a very wide grip so my hands are inches from the ends of the bar. I do slow and deliberate movements. I can feel it in my delts, but I also feel it in my forearms and wrists. An EZ bar wouldn't help because the grip would be too close. I'm not sure how much heavier I can go with this movement. Unfortunately, The Mayor seems to be doing the same routine at the other end of the gym. I think he's super setting Rip Skulls with Upright Rows but he makes so much noise and spends so much time chatting that I don't wonder that he looks like the Bloviator.

By the time I get to One-Arm Seated Cable Rows, I'm worried that I won't be able to do pull ups. I only do 3 sets but I up the weights slightly each time. It's a good lat stretch and bicep workout in one. To give myself a fighting chance of doing another set of pull ups, I do another 30 minutes of cardio, but Program 3 on the elliptical. I feel pretty good when I'm done, but I can only get 23 pull ups. Done. I don't even bother stretching for a cool down because I have grocery shopping to do before my son gets home from school.

Tomorrow will be a rest day as I have to wait for the water softener guy to come service the unit and replace the RO (reverse osmosis) filter that supplies our drinking water. At least I'll get a few things done around the house....

Humpday Workout
(5.94 miles cardio total; 23,126 lbs moved)