Last Call For Exploring

The gym was only open from 7 am to 3 pm today because it's a major holiday. They're only truly closed on Christmas and Easter, but have shortened hours on other holidays so that staffers can actually be with their families. We also had plans for the afternoon, so I wake my son up a tad earlier than usual to get at least an hour or two of workout time. The gym is crowded! And not just because it's already hot and humid outside.

Because we have someplace to be later, I keep an eye on the clock. We cut our cardio warm up to just 20 minutes. While my son is plodding along with eye glued to his phone, I explore the Octane machine a bit further. It has 10 programs ranging from Manual to two different Interval programs and some mountainous challenges. I choose the Fat Burn/Cardio program just to see what it's like. It asks for how long I want to work out, how much I weigh and my age. Then it asks me what my target HR is? I'm not sure if it's asking for an actual number or a percentage so I start to punch in 75 as in 75% and it tells me that HR is too low. Uh, okay.

I tell it 139, which is 83%. The console reflects my HR, how fast I'm going, how many steps I've taken, how many miles that translates to, how many floors that equals, how many calories I've burned, how much time has passed, how much of that time was within my target heart rate. Good grief. It be nice if all that info was on one screen that I could snap with my phone, but the info constantly rolls past so you might miss something if you're not constantly darting your eyes from your phone to the console.

Rowing Machine

From cardio we jump right into the machines. There are a lot of people in the free weight area and on the cardio platform. There are a lot of machines I've never used before. It's an opportunity for both me and my son to explore. Most of the machines are Cybex brand. Some of the newer ones are Life Fitness or Star Trac. We start with an Inclined Chest Press, which also allows users to perform an Inclined Flye movement, but we have to lower the weight for that. I show my son how to adjust the seats and arms, how the plates and little discs work and how much they weigh.

Tricep Press

Out of all the machines, the Tricep Press and the Ab Crunch machine are the two that least impress us. The Tricep Press has arms you push down. They move independently, which I suppose is useful if you need to isolate. The Ab Crunch seems like something you rest your head on to nap. My son is not thrilled with the Lower Back Extension either, claiming that it bothers his knees as he pushes back against the roller. I offer him the choice of doing Pull Downs or Pull Ups and he chooses the latter. He really hates the Lat Pull Down machine. I'm not really sure why and he can't explain. Oh well...

Lower Back Extension

Pull Ups are really hard when done at the end of a workout. We don't even have time for any core stretching so the Hip and Leg stretches at the Cage will have to suffice. School doesn't start until Wednesday, so I told my son I'd take him to the movies tomorrow. We'll see The Meg because there are no new movies opening until mid-September. But I'm thinking about coming to the gym early to get some HIIT cardio done. I've read that the best HIIT program is something called the 4 x 4 Norwegian Interval program which consists of four 4-minute high intensity intervals (at 85-95% HR = 142-159) with 3-minute rests in between. I've never done that before, but literature suggests that it's much more effective in increasing VO2 max, an indicator of cardiac efficiency. It will take a bit over a half an hour if I add a 5 minute warm up. I think I can handle that.



Last Summer Monday

20 Octane + 3 cd
Calories 175
Miles 1.85
Steps 2704
Floors 45
AHR? 128/154

Cybex Inclined Press
30lbs x 12 x 3

Cybex Inclined Flye
15lbs x 12 x 3

Cybex Lateral Machine
30 x 12 x 3

Star Trac Triceps Press
20 kg x 12
30kg x 12

Cybex Ab Crunch
M45lbs x 12 x 1

LifeFitness Row
35 x 12
40 x 12
45 x 12
L50 x 12
M55 x 12

LF Low Back Extension
75 x 12
105 x 12

HGPU 15, 15, 15, 13+ 2 (60)
M 8, HGPU 8, 7, 7 (30)