Arctic Chill Mid-Week

There's something wrong when the weather app on your phone tells you that it's 28°F outside but feels like 14. Seriously? It's arctic wind chill and there's a wind advisory warning until this evening. I actually get to the gym quite a bit earlier than usual, before women fill the locker room with deafening chatter and hair dryers. I'm able to get on the cross-trainer for 30 minutes so I'm fairly happy. No pull ups today. My shoulders feel a little tight even though yesterday was a Pull Day, but big movements like RDLs work your whole body. And the RG BB Rows work more than just lats.

I even skip crunches, but manage to muscle through my push ups and planks. Trying to make up for a lack of BB pressing means I take 15 lb DBs and do a few sets of seated DB overhead presses, supersetting them with front raises. My shoulder doesn't like that much. Then I go back to the DB lateral superset with Reverse Inclined Flyes. Shoulders don't like the lateral movement, but are perfectly fine with rear delt action. Figures. The DB area starts to get a bit crowded. I know my shoulder isn't fond of the Rip Skulls either and WTF? all the breaker benches have multiple BBs on them. Yet they're not all occupied. Weird. I do my Rip Skulls on a flat bench in the DB area, but limit myself to just 8 reps just to spare my elbows.

Afterwards, I'm wondering whether I should try something new. I have my choice of cardio machines so I ask one of the trainers how to use the new treadmills. She says the manual is several inches thick so she can give me the basics, but not more because no one actually knows all the details yet. It has a lot of different programs, and like the Espresso bike, it also allows you to choose a moving view to "run through". I choose Canyon racing. There's also cityscapes and other types of terrain like jungles or beaches. The Manual setting lets you control the incline and the speed. Otherwise, there's a variety of hills, mountains and other aptly named programs, like Eiffel Tower. No thanks. I'll do the Step Mill if I want to climb floors.

The machine starts off flat at zero degrees. You can raise the incline in 1/2 degree increments. Speed can be altered in 1/10 increments. I choose a leisurely 1.5 mph but gradually up the incline until I'm at the full 30° after about 5 minutes. I plan to do 20 minutes in total. I'm using the handholds because not only do I not trust my sense of balance, but it's the only place you can get a heart rate reading. Because I selected the Manual setting, I was also able to enter Age, Weight and Time goals. I could've set a Mileage goal, or a Calorie goal too. You can save your data and download it through a USB port, but no one knows in what format the data will appear. Because no ones done it. Yet.

I find the 30° incline a bit challenging, but even though I start to perspire, I'm not breathless at this gentle rate. What I do find concerning is that the back of my ankles and my lower shins start to feel stressed. This is unexpected. When my program is done, the machine flattens itself back to zero degrees and prompts a 2-minute cool down. After I step down from the treadmill, I notice that my quads are actually a little tired. Well, that's different.

I do a quick stretch before leaving. The gym scale reads 109.0 lbs even. That's not bad considering I'm not clocking in 6+ miles either. But I've also cut back on my calorie intake. Of course, my son's insistence on ice cream for dessert doesn't help, especially when it's Tin Roof Sundae, a flavor I've never heard of before. I didn't choose it. I'm more of a vanilla bean, or pistachio kind of gal.

Wednesday

30 min x-trainer
Calories 137
Miles 3.75
Average Heart Rate 148

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

DB seated press  s/s standing front raises 
15 lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25 lbs x 12/15 reps x 2 sets
20/25 lbs x 12/20 reps

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 8 reps x 3 sets

True Treadmill
20 min + 2 min cool down
Calories 125
629 ft climbed
Distance 0.48 + 0.02 cool down
Inclined 30% (after 5 min)
Speed 1.5