Don't Pause

In the locker room I see a woman who once complained that her inner upper arms had suddenly developed deep wrinkles. I see now that it's spread all around her upper arms, as if she'd lost all her muscle mass. Somewhere I read a dubious article entitled Warning Signs of Wrinkles In Odd Places. I'm not sure how reliable the article was, but it stated that the sudden appearance of upper arm wrinkles meant a sudden onset of high blood pressure and should be checked. I'm actually so shocked by how bad her upper arms look that I don't say anything to her at all. She's also rushing in and out, gabbing with her friends from Body Pump Class and I didn't want to interrupt her, or worse, scare her with unsubstantiated malarkey.

Today was Whack the Machine Day and while I love doing that, I hate the fact that I have to wear more protective footwear than my pliable trainers. In fact, I'm really starting to dread having to don my raspberry and grey Asics because eventually they make my feet hurt even though I have a big square of moleskin on my bunion. All the ellipticals were filled with chatty women today so I warmed up on the cross-trainer. It's still cold enough where I'm not even close to busting a sweat after 10 minutes, even wearing a hoodie.

At first, my right shoulder complains a bit during the Beginner rounds, but once I'm warmed up and that's after all 5 rounds, my shoulder feels okay. I blank the machine a few times and lose Accuracy Points. The 2nd round at the Advance Level is designed so that no one can score properly as it flits from one combination to another without pause. Which means you'd have to have foreknowledge of the blow to strike properly. Not possible. And I don't really care.

Occasionally between rounds I catch a glimpse of regulars on the treadmills, or at one of the Cybex machines. But normally I'm too focused on the machine immediately in front of me to notice much of anything. Afterwards, I pedal 20 minutes on the elliptical and then stretch at the Cage. I get to rep 35, then 36, 37, 38. And then I stop as I wonder if I can make two more reps. That pause is the kiss of death. I should've just kept going instead of wondering if I could. As the Nike slogan goes, "Just Do It". Don't think about it.

I hear loud voices and it's The Mayor on the treadmill, chatting with LoudMouth, the old guy who desperately needs a hearing aid. On the other side of the gym, I see TowelGuy using the assisted pull up machine to do just that. I've seriously never seen anyone graduate from that machine to do actual pull ups. I have seen that machine used for other things unexpectedly. Tattoo Braid uses it as a stepping device for his legs. It's probably a lot easier than climbing the Step Mill, something I've never seen him on. Most male gym users are divided between weight lifters (who sometimes use machines), and overall fitness guys who do both cardio and weights. There are also a very few guys who only do cardio, and you'd think they'd be wispy creatures, but in fact, they are usually fairly stocky dudes trying to manage their weight.

I suck down virtually all my water and the gym scale proclaims 110.0 lbs. Well, that's fair. Tomorrow I'll do cardio, and maybe a LeftOver Day, picking movements that don't aggravate my joints. My son doesn't have school so I'm letting him sleep in, but then we have a lunch date with an old friend at the local Indian restaurant. One of her cats has cancer and the chemo is making him worse than the actual illness. I sent her a Valentines Card (from her cats) and she loved it. My son will probably just plug himself into his headphones and watch silly YouTube cat videos. My hubs will be in Boston for the day, but plans to be home for supper. I wonder what I'll make...

Thursday

10 min x-trainer
Calories 47
Miles 1.24

Nexersys
5r Beginner
5r Intermediate
5r Advance

20 min elliptical
Program 3
Calories 157
Miles 1.81

HGPU 38

Photos for actual stats: