January 13th, Friday

Even though it'd been mentioned on the radio, it hadn't really occurred to me that today was Friday the 13th. All I knew was that it was Friday, there's no school on Monday, and after the gym I needed to shop for some leafy greens for supper. I'm not sure why it appears that the neighboring town gave their kids the day off because the gym was packed with high schoolers. Ugh. The temps have been falling so even though it's a beautiful sunny day, it's also cold again. No wonder all the cardio machines are occupied.

I do 30 minutes on the elliptical to warm up. Because I have a clip holding my braid tight to my head, it's nearly impossible for me to keep my hoodie up while I'm pedaling. However, it provides a decent shelf for me to drape the blue headphone wire to keep that off my neck. Which means no tugging at my ears as the wire sticks to my sweaty neck and shoulders. Problem solved! The clip reminds me of old-style samurai warriors with their top-knots. There are a few younger dudes who occasionally sport man-buns here. Most of the women have their hair high in tight ponytails which makes my head ache just to see them. A few have their hair in buns. I like the clip because I can always unclip it to lay flat on a bench or mat, and my hair is still braided and mostly out of my face. When I was a child, my mother would wear her hair in a bun secured with a million bobby pins. But she had coarse thick hair, and mine is baby fine and slippery.

I get a few more pull ups than I expect so that's nice. I also manage to finish my entire set of push ups, crunches and planks without too much struggle. Finally, I put myself into a downward dog position and start doing Hindu push ups. My palms pull at the seams in the gloves, which is a bit uncomfortable. I still miss my old leather FlexSport gloves. I make it to 40 reps before I'm realize that I might not make it back up. The 41st rep is a regular push up. I always end weird push up sets with one regular push up, just as a proper way to end things. I know. I'm weird like that. I'm sure I traded reps here for reps of regular push ups at the beginning, but I'm not that concerned.

The Smith is free and I give it a good once-over before determining that I'm too worried about smacking my head on the top of the frame to attempt a muscle-up. I'd be looking down at the bar once I've pulled myself up, and not up where the frame is so I can already see me hurting myself. Bummer. My lower back is a tad stiff and sore when I set up for RDLs. I don't make it all the way to 130 lbs because my form starts to break down at 120 lbs. Well, this is the 2nd pull day this week so I'm not that concerned about this either. But I'm fine to do RG BB Rows even though I'm essentially doing a RDL when I pick up 130 lbs for the start position. Mindful of my joints and a certain amount of fatigue, I save my last set of pull ups for after all is done. Cable Rows are getting easier, so perhaps it's time to consider adding a tiny bit more weight.

There are regulars mixed in with the high schoolers. Creepy Frankenstein stays in machine city. Shaggy grunts loudly on the preacher curl machine. I've read that guys push more weight when women are present in the gym. I wonder if they're conscious of their own behavior? Agent99 has maintained her weight loss, but seems to have lost her muscles. It happens. I get on the elliptical even though I feel spent, and tap in the Intervals program. I find that there's always extra energy hidden and the trick is to force your body to utilize it. 10 minutes into the program and I'm starving! I want to eat my hand! But I focus on the program instead and my hunger dissipates. Unfortunately, my ear buds tell me Low Power about a minute before turning themselves off. Luckily this occurs just as I finish the cardio program, but I need ear buds that will actually last as long as my workouts! Sigh. Maybe my workouts are too long? Naaah!

The tank is purple, not blue!

There's a middle-age woman stretching in the Cage so I go to the Mats and do some of my routine, like splits and shoulder rolls. I look up and now there's a younger couple in the Cage. He's encouraging her to put her hands on the bars overhead and do a pulling stretch. I'm too far away to see if that's suppose to lead to a pull up. Eventually they leave and I'm able to do a few side-bends before launching myself into pull up mode. Getting my nose to the bar counts as far as I'm concerned, and I count 36 reps. Done! My knuckles feel raw and pink. Odd since kickboxing was two days ago. But I'll dab some dit da jow on them when I get home. It always helps. The gym scale reads 110.0. Only 2.5 lbs to go before I'm where I want to be, where I used to be before I cut out a lot of my cardio and got bulky...

Friday the 13th Workout
(5.15 miles total cardio)

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Calories 288
Miles 2.55

HGPU 36 Yaaay!
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Dand (Hindu) Push Ups 40 Yaaay!
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith RDLs
Bar x 12
12 x 80, 100, 120
(Fatigue and sore hips)

Smith RG BB Rows
21 x 80, 100, 120, 130

Seated Cable One-Arm Row
45 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min elliptical
Intervals
Calories 296
Miles 2.60

HGPU 36 Yaaay!