Rest in Peace Mr Cohen

This morning I read Leonard Cohen's obituary, and mourned the passing of another influential artist, just as beloved but not as well known as David Bowie. In the garage, I still have the vinyl albums I first listened to in high school, although I don't think I have anything to hook my turntable up to anymore. The song Suzanne and later, Bird on a Wire, always touched me in a weird sad way. I'm glad he seemed happy in his last days. Surprisingly, I've never heard his most covered song Hallelujah, until today. It's beautiful.


I let my son sleep in a bit before dragging him off to the gym. We get on the cross-trainer for 30 minutes. He's plugged into his phone and watches YouTube videos while pedaling. Well, at least he's moving. I don't expect him to do pull ups, but he at least tries. He manages to get two each time, but he only counts five. His arms hurt from the effort, and as much as I try to guide him into straightening his body and holding it straight, he curls his knees in front to keep from swaying. It's something I've done myself early on, but now I know better. Crossing your ankles and bending your legs back at the knees keeps the swinging to a minimum, but it's hard for an inexperienced person to know just where their body is in the plane of things. He's also in danger of bumping his head on the roof of the Stretch Cage because he's not comfortable enough to arch backwards and up. It'll happen in time, if I can get him to persist. I'm not a helicopter parent or a tiger mom, but I am stubborn. 

At least crunches are easy

I know the frustration my father must've felt after he achieved his 3rd degree black belt, and tried to teach my siblings and myself some basic martial arts. We were typical Asian bookworms, whole-heartedly discouraged from doing anything vaguely exciting, dangerous, strenuous other than reading and studying. At 12 or 13 years old, I couldn't do ten push ups, or sit ups to save my life. Neither could my siblings.

The big blue mats are all occupied so my son and I use the vacant class room with it's slippery wood floor, and a pile of individual neoprene mats. The mats slide out from under our hands too easily and make doing push ups a challenge. I'm not sure why my son's form has deteriorated, but his whole body lays on the floor after each push up. I tell him that I don't think that's how these are suppose to work. Fitness enthusiasts will touch their chests to the floor, but I'm too worried about smacking my face. I'm not going for perfect form. I'm going for numbers to build muscular endurance. I think it's working.

He tells me that he's tired because of the cardio. Hmmmm. He barely busted a sweat pedaling, but it was for a continuous 30 minutes. Still, I'm dismayed that he can only do 5 real push ups at this moment. I knock out my 100. Then we do crunches. Those are easy for him. Whew, at least that's something. Then I show him the Bird Dog plank. He's never done this one, and he shows me his variation of Side Plank vs my version. Both cause us shoulder discomfort, especially since the hard wood floor makes our shoulders and wrists ache.

The blue mats are finally empty so I ask him to do T push ups. He can do 3 or 4. What about Hindu push ups? Are those like Dive Bombers? I show him how to do them, and he manages 2 or 3 before falling on his face. I do 25 and tell him we're going to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. Ugh... He plods along while plugged in again. I race through Program 3. "Are we leaving yet?" "Uh, no, let's try doing a few pull ups again." "What? We did pull ups before!" "Try just a few more." He manages two. I tell him I'm proud of him since this is the most pull ups he's ever done. Seriously. I do my set and we're done. He's planted himself on a stool by the locker room while I shower and change.

My husband laughed at me when I told him I was taking our son to the gym today. "That means you're not actually going to work out." I know that's usually the case when I take him on weekends, but today I had a different game plan. And for the most part, it was successful.

Friday with my son
5.91 miles

30 min x-trainer
3.35 miles
144 calories
6.64 av speed
9:02 av pace

HGPU 31
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 30s
T push ups 10
Hindu push ups 20

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Miles 2.56
Calories 289

HGPU 31