Scarier Than I Seem

I didn't go to the gym last Friday, or over the weekend. Or yesterday even though I had every intention of going. But shoveling 4-5 inches of sloppy wet snow was enough to convince me to stay home. It got warm enough for a lot of the white stuff to melt, but spots with accumulations over 4 inches still have snow today. And it's raining. Been raining all day and temps are a chilly 36F. I take a long time to get out of the house, finally arriving at the gym well past 11 am. The gym is fairly empty so I'm happy about that. Of course, there's someone on the Smith, but since I need to warm up, I figure I still have a chance of doing a Push Workout today. Otherwise, I can always just make this a Cardio Day... I've eaten too much over the Easter weekend so I'm not surprised by how bloated and puffy I feel. I'm not sure if it's what I'm eating or just my aging body in rebellion, but lately my fingers and knees have been intermittently painful.

Yesterday, after doing the dishes, I looked down at my ring finger to see a throbbing blue vein on the side of the digit. The finger feels and looks swollen. The vein looks angry. I grab an ice pack out of the freezer, wrap it in a dish towel and clutch it. Eventually my finger calms down and stops hurting. A few hours later, a finger on my other hand starts to throb painfully. I don't resort to an ice pack because I don't see any swollen veins, and eventually the pain subsides. Weird. Sometimes patches of my skin feel like it's been burnt because it's painfully tender. But there's no burn, no redness. Just inflamed angry nerves. It makes me worry I'm at risk for developing some awful neurological disease. A few weeks ago, the side of my cheek felt burnt. I discovered a swollen gland in my lower jaw. That happens sometimes. In the past I used to take golden seal tea and echinacea capsules. Now I just remember to ingest more raw garlic because I don't eat it every day. The swelling goes down and the skin tenderness dissipates.

I'm feeling pretty lazy today so I only tap in 20 minutes for cardio warm up. But I stick to my routine for everything else. The Smith is still occupied by the time I'm ready so I drop my gear on one of the Inclined Breaker benches. Wait. The fellow is pulling plates off the bar to re-rack. He nods at me and I nod back. Cool. The Smith is mine. The machine needs servicing because it feels wobbly with just the bar. Add a few plates and everything feels better, more stable. I didn't bother to braid my hair this morning, so it's just in a low loose ponytail.

I'm trying out new Mpow Flame bluetooth headphones. While I'm disappointed that they have a sweat flap over the power port, the sound is pretty good. The only other iffy thing about them is how they fit in my ears. The headphones come with several sizes of ear pieces, and one super squishy memory-foam earplug version. I use those. The over-the-ear hanger is soft and comfortable, but everything is a bit loose and I'm perpetually worried that the earpiece will pop out of my head. That doesn't happen though. And the noise-cancelling function actually seems to work because I can barely hear The Mayor! Eventually, I do braid my hair and clip it up just to get it out of the way. Because hair is distracting. Not just for me. It seems to attract a lot of attention from The Mayor and other guys at the gym today. Whatever...

I'm still not brave enough to set my sights on a weight I can just get 5 reps at. Probably because I really fear damaging my shoulders. I don't have that issue when I move on to DB Laterals super set with Reverse Inclined Flyes. I suppose I could up the weight on the second movement though, since I am getting 15 reps. Not that I don't feel them — there's definitely muscle fatigue. I braid my hair for the Rip Skulls because I'm not entirely certain that a ponytail won't just get caught everywhere as I try to lie down with a 40 lb solid state barbell. Then, I clip the braid up for V-bar press downs. I haven't done back-to-back tricep exercises in years. What the heck! I do a set at 30 lbs just to see how it feels. It's too easy, so I up the stack to 40 and squeeze out 3 sets. At this point, when I look down, I can see the horseshoe edges stick out from my upper arms. I'm too far from any mirror to really see my form, but I'm fairly rigid. Bending at the elbows, my chest leaning slightly into the cable. My chest might actually be "popping" as I press down. Some of guys look a little intimidated. I don't show it, but that's very amusing to me.

Then a quick Mat Stretch before a nice hot shower. The gym scale tells me 112.4 lbs. Yep, just as I suspected. Ugh. I plan to do Smith RDLs tomorrow. I'm still reading the portion of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe I downloaded from Amazon. I haven't decided to buy it yet, but I probably will. This is the most in-depth guide to squat mechanics I've ever read. And it might help me now that I've decided to add Squats back into my routine. Of course, I have an eye doc appointment this Thursday for a Visual Field test. I might make it to the gym afterwards. And the electrician says he's ready to pour a concrete pad on Friday for the new generator. My hubs wants me to be there for that. Not looking good for gym time... Ugh.

Push Tuesday

20 x-trainer
Calories 162
Miles 2.43

HGPU 28
Push-ups 60
Elbow Plank 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 12
70 x 25
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
25lbs x 8/15reps x 4 sets

Rip Skulls
40lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

V-bar Cable Press Downs
30lbs x 12 reps
40 x 10 x 3