Exercise is Hard on the Knees

Today is my cardio day, not that I don't do cardio every day that I work out. But today is expressly cardio, with some other body weight movements tossed in, because it doesn't feel balanced otherwise. I usually start with 20 minutes on the Octane, but today there's a gal on it. The other one is free, but can't be accessed because the gal has a friend chatting with her, and said friend is planted right in front of the second machine. And I'm so non-confrontational that I'd rather just find something else to do instead of asking her to move.

I haven't done the cross-trainer in a few months. It's not one of my favorite machines because my toes and fingers always go numb while using it. Today is no exception even though I'm not pedaling too hard. The HR monitor acknowledges my grip on the handles but doesn't give me any indication of a pulse rate until the last few minutes. And of course, it tells me that my HR is damn near my maximum heart rate. Of course. Too late for me to do anything about that...

The Expresso Bikes are also available so instead of jumping right on the StepMill, I do the bike course next. I don't want to miss my opportunity just in case the Expresso Bike competition is still ongoing. My gym sponsors all sorts of fun, competitive events but I've never been interested in participating. I'm a little surprised at how hard it is to pedal, but I've moved the gear shift up to 14. It's not the best I've ever scored for points but I still enjoy the Dragons Island game, and even though I'm not pedaling fast, I am pedaling hard and the sweat is dripping off my brow.

I glance over at the woman next to me. Her screen depicts a lovely scenic trail that she's pedaling through. I've done those, and frankly, I find them kind of boring. (I might have more in common with the pre-teen boys than just the sport pants I have on!)

Now I can clamber up the StepMill for another 20 minutes. All together, cardio is just an hour. When I add the pull ups, push ups, core and stretching, that's almost another hour even though it doesn't seem like it should be. Nothing I do today makes my lungs burn, so that's a relief. I've always known that that sensation indicates poor cardio fitness, but I've never known why. Several online sites state that the discomfort is caused by dehydration in the cells that line the airways. What?! I'm drenched with sweat to the point where it's running down the inside of my nostrils, and dripping into my eyes, but my lungs are dried out? It makes sense though, that if you're breathing harder and faster, the air itself is causing the mucous membranes to dry out, sort of like an internal wind burn. It feels like wind burn. Thank goodness it doesn't last very long. With additional continued cardio training, this discomfort should subside. (Let's hope!)

Halfway through the StepMill, I start to sweat profusely. As if suddenly the steps have caught up to me, even though I'm doing the same leisurely pace I started out at. Another type of cardiac lag? I don't know. At the Stretch Cage, I convince myself to do hammer grip pull ups even though I did them yesterday, and the day before. I'm happy with just 20 decent ones, although I'm not kidding anyone by saying I dropped to full extension at the bottom of each rep. Nope. Too hard on my elbows, and this isn't a test of elbow ligament strength.

The only portion of my workout that disappoints me are the Pistol Squats. I can barely squeeze 4 out for each leg, and there's a real danger during the last rep that I'm not getting up out of the one-legged crouch, especially the left leg. Both legs clench in the quads. Ugh. I probably shouldn't be attempting these after doing the Expresso Bike and the StepMill, even though I have in the past. I guess my knees are getting old, and I need to be more considerate. Ugh. I resort to doing Walking Lunges down the side of the gym. Those feel okay, but I'm sure my glutes will be complaining tomorrow.

Next time, I'll see what happens if I try Pistols between cardio exercises, say, after the first 20 minute (which I consider a warm up) but before something as daunting as the Expresso or the StepMill. The worse that'll happen is that I actually fall on my butt because I can't get up. Sigh. I used to be able to knock out 10-12, stepping each leg alternately. So I really hate to give these up. The only thing that relieves my disappointment is the gym scale, nudged down to 111.0 lbs. I hope I don't blow it this weekend since both hubs and son are at a Scout training course until Sunday.

Thinking more about Pistols Squats: because they're so quad-centric, perhaps I should go back to Smith squats, and Smith one-leg squats. I dropped them out of my routine because I don't want bigger thighs or butt. I'm still uncomfortable with my pants feeling tight, especially the right thigh. Sounds weird, right? I'm convinced my right thigh is just that much bigger, just enough to make a lot of pants uncomfortable. But I'm not Tom Platz either. He had legendary quads!

Cardio Friday

20 min x-trainer + 5 cd
Miles 2.69
Calories 194
HR? 163-110

20 min Expresso Bike
Dragons Island
Miles 3.48
Calories 70
Points 145,970

20 min StepMill
Level 3
Total steps 753
Floors 47
Calories 118
HR? 130

HGPU 20
Push-ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Pistol Squats 4 each (struggle)
Walking Lunges 30 total

Stretch