Dealer's Choice Cardio

I let my son choose the cardio routines today. He was still tired after I dragged him out of bed at noon to come to the gym. Naturally, he selected the Recumbent Bike first. If we do 3 sessions of cardio for 20 minutes apiece, we've done an hour and that's a decent Friday workout. I'm not even counting the pull ups, push ups and core stuff.

I'm a bit disappointed that we start with something so lazy. On the other hand, the Step Mill is somewhere in today's routine, and that always guarantees profuse sweating. In between, I give my son the choice between the Precor elliptical, Life Fitness cross-trainer or a Cybex cross-trainer I don't quite fit into. He doesn't want to work arms at all so elliptical is the hands-down winner. I get to watch TV while playing my tunes. The replacement bluetooth headphones arrived a few days ago.

broken memory foam ear pads

I bought the same brand MPOW because I like how good the music sounds using them. But I'm not really happy that they lasted only a few months, or that the memory foam ear pads arrived as if mice had chewed on them, and they broke apart the instant I tried to apply them to the headphones. I always have to use the smaller ear cushions because like my eyes, my ear holes just aren't that big! However, the MPOWs were the cheapest earphones (at $20) with the best sound quality. They make the gym's own speaker system sound thin and tinny.

My son and I take turns doing our pull ups. While he's on the Stretch Cage, I can see Noodle Arm Boy and his dad taking turns on the Assisted Pull Up machine, doing Assisted Dips. I don't know. Somehow I think that you should do a few real dips, or bench dips. As it is, I don't fit comfortably into dip stations — I think my wingspan is a little short.

Then we retreat to do push ups, core and planks. Between sets, we attempt to emulate the Dead Bug (or Happy Baby) pose I've seen online. Neither of us can get our knees and thighs on the ground. But at least we don't have our legs straight up in the air either. I can feel the stretch in my hips. We try different arm positions. Not getting those thighs on the ground! Then I realize we've forgotten lunges. Both of us groan, and I say that we don't have to do them. We don't actually have to do anything. But my son says that since we're here, we might as well. Good boy! Then, he tells me he'd like to nap until 4 pm as he lays on the foam mat, with his face on a towel and his butt in the air like an overgrown baby. Silly boy.

We still need to pick up groceries I forgot yesterday, and walk the pup. He's due for a dose of Visbiome with some yogurt. I think he's feeling better, although I did have to clean up the newspapers again this morning. But he had a good appetite for breakfast and that's reassuring. I've ordered more senior male dog wraps from Fosters & Smith. I got some from Chewy.com but the Large was the biggest size I could order, and it's not quite big enough for my mid-size (63 lbs, 28" waist) pup. As I head towards the locker room I see Crazy with her white chihuahua. Ugh. There's already a bowl of water, a back pack, a pillow and other stuff on the floor. I literally can't wait to shower and leave. Ugh.

Cardio Friday

20 recumbent bike
Level 1
Calories 78
Miles 2.0

20 elliptical
Program 1
Calories 168
Miles 1.55
AHR 129-170 (uh oh)

20 StepMill
Speed 5
Total steps 944
Floors 59
Calories 141
AHR 129

HGPU 15, 15, 15, 15 (60)
M pull ups 8, 7, 6, 7 (28)

Push Ups 60
M 35
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20
Dead Bug Stretch
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Lunges 32
M 26

Floor Stretch