Another Setback

Our Boy Scout Camporee got canceled this weekend and we took advantage of it by doing...nothing. I slept in and actually got a full 8 hours of sleep, which felt amazing. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Sunday, and the only explanation is that Friday night I took a ZMA capsule before bed. I haven't remembered to take this supplement in a long while, so that might explain my poor sleep all these weeks. Last night I remembered to take a capsule (the recommended dose is 3 capsules but I'm much too sensitive to the magnesium levels at that amount), and felt almost rested when I got up this morning. It's definitely Autumn. Wet leaves everywhere! Especially on my car windshield!

I feel sluggish and tired when I get to the gym, so naturally I ask myself what do I hate most? Well, that would be HIIT Cardio, so of course, I do Norwegian 4X4s to start. I always like to follow cardio with some core, unless I forget and jump right into weights. There's a crowd at the Smith because it's National Bench Press Day (i.e., Monday). Usually these guys are at the breaker benches, except Lazy Pedals is amongst them, so that explains why they're huddled at the machines. Ugh. I guess today's a Pull Day after all.

T-bar Rows feel okay enough for me to add another 10 lbs. Now this is heavy and I'll stick with this weight for a while. My lower back bothers me too much to do any sort of rowing movement with my body parallel to the ground. I'm better at a 45 degree angle. There's a wide neutral grip bar on the Lat Pull Down station. Too wide for me. I swap it for the slightly narrower grip with the broken rubber grips. I wish they weren't so sticky. I assume it's because they're degrading, because I don't really want to think about why else they might be tacky to the touch. Yuck.

I have to stand on the seat to reach the handles, then drop down and lock my legs around the base. The handle allows me to arc my back and push my chest into it, but this also means I'm leaning back slightly because I can't do this if I'm seated totally vertical. The elbows don't retract all the way if you're sitting straight up, but rotate so they pull behind your body if you're leaning back. I'm actually not sure what the proper form is for this movement. I just do what feels effective.

Everything is going well until I decide to do a few sets of Seated Cable Rows. I should've stuck with the One-Arm rows, but the super lightweight (aluminum?) close grip handle is already affixed. Because I did 85 lbs last week without any issues, I think I can try the next plate. 85 lbs feels kind of heavy today, and I should've listened to my body. Instead, I moved the pin down one plate just to see how hard 100 lbs would be. It's heavy, but that's not the issue. The issue is that my lower back immediately seizes up. I'm immediately stiff. Weird. I knock out the set, but I probably shouldn't have. I don't think I've aggravated my sciatica, but I put the pin back at 85 for the last set. Ugh.

For the rest of my gym session, I'm walking a bit stiffly, even during my Mat Stretch. Nothing really hurts. It's just that I've lost some flexibility... Well, I definitely know where my limits are. And it's not like I went in cold, either. Tomorrow I have to return to the house after driving my son to school because there's still a big leaking hole in the tube leading from the sump pump to the front lawn. I had scheduled the plumber to come two weeks ago, and this was the earliest he could fit me into his schedule. I'm glad it's not an emergency. Of course, I'm also not sure I'm getting to the gym...

Monday Blues
Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 270
Miles 2.55
HR 138-178 (107)

HGPU 20
Push-ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50

T-bar Rows
Bar x 15
25lbs x 12 reps
35 x 15
45 x 12 x 3

Lat Pull Downs
(medium neutral grip)
70lbs x 12 reps
85 x 12
100 x 12, 10, 10

Seated Cable Rows
85lbs x 12 reps
100 x 8 (lower back weird)
85 x 12

RG BB Rows
30 lbs x 20 reps x 3 sets

Stretch