With the Best Intentions

Post Workout

As much as I wanted to go to the gym, I was not looking forward to babysitting him. Because I don't really get to work up much of a sweat if I'm coaching. Instead, I let him sleep in again. And I worked on finishing my prints for the next photography show. This show will be harder, because it's very inconsistent. Even though all the images were taken with my old cell, an Apple iPhone5, the quality varies and so do the solutions to make each image memorable. But I'm finally done, or at least satisfied with just under 30 images to matte and frame. As soon as I retrieve the Stilled Life show tomorrow. Because I need to cannibalize their frames and mattes!

I'm hoping to get to the gym in the morning after I drop my son off at camp, then have a go at the kickboxing machine before filling my car with boxes and garbage bags. My hubs is at JFK airport all holiday weekend and might not even get home until Tuesday morning. Ugh. So I've planned my son's holiday itinerary: Saturday we are meeting friends at a local AirSoft gaming arena for CQB (close quarter battles); Sunday we've invited different friends to join us down at the lake for a bonfire (if the thunderstorms hold off) and "fireworks." I even bought hot dogs and buns to roast. We already have marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers...

Today I figure I'd hit two major compound movements: Flat bench and RDLs. At the Smith of course. Not working out for the past 3 days has really made me a slug. I feel slow and fat. I can't get the cross-trainer I like and I plod along, struggling with the machine I'm on. It shows in my mileage. Also, my left knee twinges in the back as if it's never quite recovered from the shingles inflammation. Ugh. There's another old guy in the stretch rack so no hammer grip pull ups until later. I do a quick set of push ups and a cursory stretch before jumping on the Smith. Before someone else gloms it and I'm stuck having to improvise my workout again.

I start with flat benching because, honestly, this is harder. I haven't done those shoulder warm ups in a long time, but I'm not worried. I have no intentions of pushing max weight. Instead, I finish with two high-rep sets just for the pump. I know that pushing heavier will inevitably cause my shoulder to complain, and so far it's been silent. I strip off all the weights and move the bench out of the way. The gym is crowded in the morning. Too crowded. By lunchtime, however the gym is nearly empty. I'm skeptical that I'll be able to pull all my sets for RDLs, but because I'm taking a few extra minutes of rest between sets, I'm actually able to do it. Yaaaay me!

I'm not even tempted to hit any other movements, but I need to get some crunches in after the 2nd cardio session. Maybe I'll even do a set of pull ups. The elliptical is fine. It's my right foot that's getting bothersome. Probably because of the bunion, my pointer toe (what is that? the 2nd metatarsal?) starts to hurt during the last 7 minutes. I'm sure if I had x-ray vision, I'd see one toe crossing the other as I pedal furiously. Double ugh. I'm not sure how to fix this. It's not like I don't have adequate room in my sneakers. It's a problem with ligaments and nerves not holding the big toe straight and true so it drifts toward the other toes. As I've said before, I'm fairly certain this all started after I had surgery to remove a benign tumor off a nerve in my ankle over 20 years ago. Funny how things catch up with you as you age. I may resort to trying (again) a silicone toe spacer to keep the big toe aligned properly, but I'll probably have to cut it down since they come One Size Fits All. And I'm definitely not All.

I get my stretch in at last, and a set of hammer grip pull ups. My left elbow gets very sore during the last 5 pull ups. Maybe I should cut back the reps? I go to the Mats and the old guy who likes to put his nasty sneakers all over the big mat while doing sits ups on an adjacent smaller mat is there. I take a position on the smaller mat on the other side. The mats are set up to form a sort of horse shoe. I finally do some crunches. It's been a long time. Too long. And the gym scale verifies this. I'm fearful of hitting 115 lbs, so I'm ridiculously relieved when the scale reads 112. Which is still too much! But not completely awful. There's still hope...

Thursday
5.82 miles
Big Lifts Day

30 min x-trainer
Calories 133
Miles 3.26
Average Heart Rate 140

Push Ups 50

Smith Flat Bench
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 13
120 x 12
90 x 25
80 x 25

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12
120 x 12
140 x 12
150 x 12

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories 290
Miles 3.56
Average Heart Rate 142

HGPU 31
Crunches 3 x 50