Universal Push Day

My boys went hiking with their Boy Scout troop, and camped overnight in Harriman State Park. I stayed home with the old dog, a good fire, some sangria and control of the TV remote. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot done, but finally caught up on some sleep. Of course, I'm tired again today. Not as tired as my husband, who, after he unpacked from camping, had to repack for a trip to Boston for work. That's a 3-hr drive from where we live, but at least he'll be sleeping in a hotel bed instead of on a foam mat, inside a sleeping bag. My son said that the inside of the tent was raining when he awoke. Moisture from their breath condensed on the tent walls, tent walls that did little to keep the cold out. I think it dropped to 13F again on Saturday night.

Tomorrow it might hit 50F. Still, I went out and bought two more bags of walkway salt, because come February, when we're all tired of shoveling and salting, all the stores will be out of salt. It's happened before, so I'm buying a little insurance for the months ahead. Today is Monday and a moderate30F. It's also Universal Bench Day. Because. It's Monday.

I don't have much hope of getting to the Smith so I blithely pedal on the cross-trainer for 30 minutes. Then I do my routine pull ups, push ups and core workout. I look up and the Smith is actually vacant! Mine! I've added the band pulls into my routines more often, figuring they won't hurt. So I'm surprised when inclined presses actually twinge my shoulder and tricep slightly. Well, only for the first 4 sets, which is nearly all of them. But by the time I get to my heavy sets, followed by high reps, my shoulder and arm feel fine. Like I've said before, I need a lot of warm up.

The rest of my workout felt fairly standard, no pain, no issues. I'm a little frustrated in that I can't progress enough to build up more mass or strength in my shoulders. Every time I up the weight, I risk damaging my joints and tendons. The best I can do is work on higher rep counts. I'm still not brave enough to do RDLs again on the Smith, although I've been toying with some light bar-only squats. But my pants are tight enough as is, so the last thing I want is to have my butt bust out of my clothes. Seriously. Some of my favorite gym bras feel too tight. Must be that pull up thing and my back! Maybe I don't need to worry about RDLs just yet?

Tomorrow I have a check up appointment with my glaucoma doc, and because of her office's unpredictability in over-booking, I'm not sure what time I'll get out of there. So I'm resigned to skipping tomorrow's workout. Besides, tomorrow evening is our Scout Holiday party and I'm suppose to bring juice boxes (got those last week). And donuts. I asked my son whether I should get a box of Entemann's chocolate donuts (I'm partial to the chocolate-coated devils food variety) or a box of Dunkin. He said Dunkin, half jelly and half creme. Oh boy...

I don't want to buy fried chicken for dinner tomorrow when we'll be in a mad rush between kung fu and Scouts. Instead, I've decided to make a ziti casserole with browned ground meat, tomato sauce, mozzarella and pasta. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll sauté some mushrooms and canned olives. If I bake it in the early afternoon, we can eat it before going to kung fu. It's either that, or I make my version of crispy chicken. It's a variation of roasted chicken thighs, but I soak the meat in buttermilk for a few hours, then roll them in panko crumbs and seasoning (garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt). Bake in the oven for about 90 minutes at 350F and you get a nice, moist chicken thigh with a very crispy skin. At least on top. The part that's stuck to the pan (aluminum foil if you're wise) tends to be a bit soggy. I'm sure I can solve that by using a rack to bake the thighs, but I'm not willing to risk my cooling racks for this. Yet.

Monday

30 min xtrainer
Calories 142
Miles 3.84
Average Heart Rate 140

HGPU 26
Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Push Ups 60
Scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Crunches 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Press
Bar x 15
50 x 13
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 8 x 3
60 x 25
50 x 25

BB Front Raises s/s Upright Rows
20lbs x 15/15reps
25lbs x 12/15reps x 3 sets

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25lbs x 12/15reps x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
40lbs x 12
45 x 12
40 x 12