More Strenuous Than It Looks

Monday is universal Bench Press day according to Buff Dudes (I like to watch their instructional YouTube videos), and everyone else. We were relatively inactive this scorching weekend, not quite hitting the 100s, but close. Instead, we chose to shelter in place, taking refuge in the marvel of air conditioning. We don't have central air or anything fancy. We just have one well-positioned wall unit in our attic-computer room that manages to cool the entire house if we leave it on long enough. I haven't turned it off since last Thursday.

My son and I get to the gym a bit later than I'd like. It's already crowded with kids even though it's not noon yet. Neither of us is sore anymore from last week's lunges, so we start with the treadmill. Then the Step Mill. Seven and a half minutes into it I realize that my son is frustrated, fiddling with the On/Off control button on his station. His machine quit after a few minutes and he can't get it to restart. I hit the Stop on mine, hop off and reboot his, which basically means actually unplugging the machine, counting to 10 and plugging it back in. That fixes it, but I've lost all my data. Instead of just setting my timer for an additional 7.5 minutes, I go for the full 15, figuring I can add half that number back to the stats to get a fairly accurate tally.

My heart rate is a lot higher on this machine even though I'm not breathless. There are two Step Mills and only one has a working heart rate monitor in the handles. I usually use the other one and ignore the blank HR information. Today I can see how much more strenuous walking up the stairs for 20 plus minutes really is. (165 is damn near the maximum 167.4 so that's probably not a good thing. Of course, in the past I've done speeds twice as fast, so was that dangerous? Ugh!) We're both sweating a little when we're done.

I have my son place his hands just outside his shoulders to do pull ups. He does one and looks at me questioningly. "That's good!" I tell him, and he knocks out 5 more, with his ankles crossed and his body mostly straight. It's hard not to lean into the Cage because it's not anchored to anything and can actually tip forward given enough momentum. "Where do you feel it?" "Forearms!" Yep, I can relate. The blue mats haven't been replaced yet. We walk off to the classroom where another fellow is doing a few movements with DBs and ankle bands. My son tells me that doing 10 T-push ups is too easy so I suggest 15 or 20. I've only ever gotten to 20. He makes it to 15 red-faced.

We both find planks hard for the same reasons: hands going numb. The mirror wall helps him keep his body aligned though. We knock out Bird Dogs and Side Planks without any issues. There's a lot of people in the free weight area, but the Smith is open so we start with Smith flat benching. He's surprised at how light the bar feels. We stop at 60 lbs although I'm sure he can go heavier. We stop because the next exercise will be so much harder: Inclined Press on the Breaker Bench.

He forgets to set his feet flat on the ground so balancing the Olympic bar is that much harder. I remind him and show him how to adjust the seat, and why it's important. Today we're just doing the bar. It's heavy enough at 45 lbs. He muscles through his second and third set even though I tell him he can stop at 8 or 10 reps if that's all he's got. Obviously, it's not. But three sets is enough for him right now. I'll show him DB Presses and maybe Flyes later in the week. I'm not a big proponent of Flyes because I
 don't actually see its necessity.

We wander over to the Lat Pull Downs. There's a narrower rowing bar affixed to the pulley, but he's fine with using that. Since we ended with 70 lbs last week, that's what we start with. After two sets, I ask him if he's game to try the next plate. At this point it jumps 15 lbs instead of 10. I tell him that only getting 6-8 is perfectly fine. He pushes himself to get 10. Now his hands and arms are really tired and he doesn't want to do Seated Cable Rows. Okay, we can work on hip stretches.

"My arms are going to feel it tomorrow" he tells me. We'll see. I tell him that his arms are his weak link and he's not happy about that, but I tell him that arms connect you to everything upper body, so of course, they get worked more, but they'll also get stronger faster. He's happy about that. He tries the hip hinge movement and pushes his butt against the wall as he bends over. "Oh, I guess you have to arch your back a bit," he tells me. He needs this exaggerated motion to identify what part of the body should be moving and what part should be stationary. There's no mirror in the stretch area so that makes it harder to determine proper form. We'll get there... Wednesday is July 4th but our gym will be open until 3 pm. And I plan to take my son, because we need to do our lunges!

Tomorrow, we plan to see the new Jurassic Park movie, if the power grid holds up. Reports everywhere of grid failures due to the heat. We're the Northeast, so yes, we have hot summers, but not like this. Ugh. My hubs is working from home this week so maybe we can convince him to come with us for the first showing at 11 am. The earlier we go, the better since it gets progressively more crowded later in the day. I get on the gym scale and hold my breath. It reads 109.8 lbs. So good news, bad news is how I see it. Good that I'm not a million pounds, but bad in that I'm probably losing muscle mass and getting fat. Ugh. Wednesday marks 4 weeks. I don't see my eye doc until next Tuesday. I hope I have the all-clear to resume normal activities. Well, normal for me, at least.


Monday with Max

30 treadmill
Incline 5%
Speed 3
Calories 190
Miles 1.49
Average Heart Rate 118 (70%) /134 (80%)

15 Step Mill + 7.5min
Speed 3
Total steps 559 + 279.5 = 838
Floors 34 + 17 = 51
Calories 87 + 43 = 130
HR 145-165 (86-98%) ooops!

Max pull ups 6
Max T push ups 15

Elbow Plank 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

Max Smith Bench Press
Bar (30) x 12
50 x 12
60 x 12

Max Breaker Inclined
Bar (45) x 12 x 3

Max Lat Pull Downs (Close Grip)
70 x 12 x 2
85 x 10

Stretch