School Holidays Mean Crowded Gyms

I let myself have the luxury of sleeping in a bit today. No school in our district due to elections. To the south of us, though, school is in session because voting takes place at the firehouse instead of the elementary schools. The parking lot is the most crowded I've ever seen for an election day morning. I wait in line to cast my vote for local officials. The machine doesn't accept my ballot. Instead it spits out the previous voter's ballot, but he's already left the building.

I raise my hand and flag a volunteer to help me. He takes a quick scan of the errant ballot and says that that voter had made two entries for one position so the machine kicked it out. Voters are suppose to wait until the machine verifies that their vote has been accurately tallied before leaving, but people, especially the seniors, get confused by the not-so-new technology. The volunteer presses a button and the ballot is accepted. Now I can vote. My ballot goes through the machine without any problems, and I get a sticker on my hoodie. Yaaay me.

I get to the gym a bit later than usual because I am driving extra carefully. There's heavy fog and not every driver has the sense to put their headlamps on in the drizzle. I hate these people. The only people I hate more are the ones who are so distracted that they straddle the double yellow line on the road as they drive. One almost hit me on the way home today. Ugh.

Because it's a school holiday for most of the local districts, there are a lot more high school kids in the gym today. They're not interested in the cardio equipment. Nope. They're all trying to put on some muscle. I'm planning to take my son to see Bohemian Rhapsody today since it's $5 Tuesday, and there's no school. But there is kung fu at 5 pm so we can only go to the first showing, at 2 pm. This means I'm in a bit of a hurry. I cut my cardio warm up to 20 minutes. I skip the Cage Stretch and Pull Ups. It's a Push Day anyway, but the Smith is occupied. I don't really understand the old skinny guy who stacks the end of the flat bench up on the plastic aerobic steps to do Smith Inclined Presses. I don't understand it because there are at least two adjustable Inclined Benches.

Reluctantly, I do a few sets of DB Shoulder Presses. My right shoulder twinges a little. It's not a great exercise for me, but I'm in no mood to do the T, Y & I Raises either. As soon as the Smith is vacant, I rush over and drape my blue hoodie on it. Mine! Then I knock out my Inclined Press sets, finishing with high reps. There are a lot of regulars here today, mixed in with all the kids. The Mayor is not wearing an over-sized polo shirt for once. Instead he's wearing a Fila T-shirt that mostly fits. He's also got neoprene pad on his elbows and forearms as well as full-fingered gloves that look more appropriate handling a fire pit. So weird.

Little R and The Mayor are chatting. I've seen Little R with a young brunette here a few times. It looked as if he was training her. Not sure if he was also dating her, since I saw them doing planks with their faces but an inch apart from each other. Gym romance? I wonder. Little R has got nice shoulders and arms, and a V-taper to his back, but I've never seen him do cardio, or squats or anything remotely related to legs. He also doesn't wear shorts so my guess is that he doesn't have any quads or glutes, or even calves. Oh well...

I have no hope of getting on an adjustable bench for Reverse Inclined Flyes, so I grab the 20 lb DBs and set myself up in the seated shoulder press rack. It has a very low seat, which is comfortable for someone with short legs, like me. My super set today consists of DB Lateral Raises and Bent Over Flyes. I have to be mindful of keeping my back straight because it's so easy to lay on my lap which leads to a curved lower back, a dangerous position.

Last are the Rip Skulls. The breaker benches are mostly occupied so I set up on a plain flat bench. I am too short to keep my feet flat on the floor so my knees are bent and my feet are on the bench instead. It's not the most stable position, but I'm not moving such heavy weight. I could probably get sets of 8 reps at the next heaviest weight: 40 lbs. My three sets are fine. I feel pretty good. Time for a quick stretch and then I'm outta here!

Election Tuesday
Damn there’s a lot of kids here
20 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories 185
Miles 1.66
HR 156-190 (87)

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/39
Bicycles 50

DB Shoulder Press (rt twinge)
15lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
80 x 12
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Bent Over Flyes
20lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets
(Beware of rounded back)

Rip Skulls
35lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Stretch