Be Your Own Bad Ass

We got about 6 inches of the white stuff. I won't say fluffy because it was more akin to wet sand with a thick hard ice crust on top. Although it didn't look like much, my son and I spent about 90 minutes shoveling our walkway, the car, the driveway and the ice dam the town plow truck deposits across everyone's driveway as it shoves snow down the road. At least it wasn't cold out. That was my Friday workout, and then I didn't do anything all weekend. Well, nothing that can be mistaken for exercise.

Today it's cold and dreary and feels like snow, although that's not in the forecast here. We're expecting buckets of rain tonight into tomorrow, so that's going to be fun. I wonder if my son's trip to West Point will be postponed again, or not. The gym is not as crowded as I expect for a Monday before a big feast holiday. But perhaps people have already begun their holiday travels? The treadmills are full of runners, joggers, walkers and talkers. There's one skinny gal who insists on sprinting with hand weights. They might only be 2-3 lbs, but I shudder at the impact damage this is doing to joints like elbows, shoulders and knees.

I get on the elliptical and do my HIIT cardio. I'm a bit tired and unfocused since my hubs had to get up at 4 am to be in Boston by 8 am. He went to bed early, but he likes to listen to audio books. So I give him an hour or two before I creep in and turn everything off so I can sleep. Then his snoring kept me up so I had to find earplugs. Suddenly, I can hear my heartbeat inside my ears. Ugh. Eventually the snoring stops, and I remove the earplugs. I can feel my heart racing and I know I'm suffering from anxiety. Being sleepless only makes it worse. I only know I fell asleep because my husband woke me up, although he tries really hard not to. I'm a pathetically light sleeper. Luckily, I did sleep in over the weekend so that sort of makes up for it. But only sort of.

I copy my routine from last Monday but I never follow anything perfectly. After doing pull ups and core, I start with the T-bar Rows. The station is set up without the plate in the middle, which means the bar sits lower. Fine with me. In the start position, my thighs are parallel to the ground and I'm bent over with my upper chest and armpits nearly on my knees. I keep my back straight and pull up. As I increase the poundage, the angle between my body and my legs opens to take pressure off my lower back. I could just do a lower weight, but I'd be doing a ridiculous amount of reps and not feel anything in my lats.

I have to wait until one of the two Lat Pull Down stations is free. And I hate asking how many more sets, so I just plant myself on the Seated Cable Row, as if I'm going to do those instead. Luckily, I don't have to wait too long and I affix the neutral close grip handles to the cable. I've decided to test myself today and see how it feels to pull more than my weight. I've done it in the distant past, but I was younger then. And probably lighter. Yes, I've been stress-eating so I feel thick and chunky at 112 lbs. I'd like to lose 5 lbs to get back to my reasonable weight, but that's so hard to do around the Holidays and I mean, from Halloween through New Year's.

Last week I struggled to get 12 reps at 100 lbs for 3 sets. This week I decide to up my last sets to 115 lbs (figuring I don't weigh more than that), but cut my reps. I briefly thought about just doing a drop progression in reps (8, 6, 4) but realized during the 2nd set that I still had enough in me to do more. I admit that my last two reps for each set wasn't quite handle to chest, more like handle to chin, but I'm happy that I was able to actually finish with 8 reps. Of course, it was a bit of a struggle to get into position. Because I'm so short, I have to stand on the seat to grab the handles, then I can kneel on the roller pads that anchor the knees in place with my hands over my head. I yank hard to drop down and hook my legs under the pad and seat to anchor myself. Now I can do the pull downs. I'm only pulling a few pounds more than I weigh. If it was more, I'd have a much harder time of this. Still, I'd like to be lighter, thinner, leaner. That, however, does not keep me from walking around like a bad ass.

After all that exertion, I baby myself with super light Seated One-Arm Cable Rows. I'm doing these mostly for the lat and shoulder stretch, and a bit of bicep work. I finish with Reverse Grip BB Rows. I know I can go heavier, but since I feel the stress on the brachioradialis, I figure this is working fine. I don't feel my biceps when I do this. They're much bigger and stronger muscles on me, and can handle heavier curls. I'm less concerned with those than with the smaller, weaker forearms. Finish with stretching, and then a hot shower.

The biopsy wound seems less inflamed now, and it's become quite hard, like a scab. Since I have a genetic skin condition called ichthylosis vulgaris, I need to exfoliate and use strong moisturizers that also dissolve layers of dead skin that accumulate in a fish scale pattern (hence the name). But I have to studiously avoid the biopsy area because creams with lactic acid, glycolic acid and uric acid, are incredibly irritating. They'll only make the rash worse. A dry cold winter is the worst time for sufferers of IV... we're constantly slathering on moisturizers in an effort to stave off fissures and the itchy flaky skin that accompanies every change of clothing. Oh well... it could always be worse. The Old Farmer's Almanac forecasts a wet winter. That could be starting tonight.

Pre-Turkey Monday
Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 264
Miles 2.52
HR 134-173 (107)

HGPU 23

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

T-Bar Rows (reg position)
Bar x 20
25 x 15
45 X 20 x 3

Lat Pull Downs (close neutral grip)
70lbs x 12
85 x 12
100 x 10
115 x 8 (hard!), 6, 8

Seated 1-Arm Cable Rows
30lbs x 12 reps ea x 3 sets

RG BB Curls
30lbs x 25 reps x 3 sets

Stretch