Recovering From the Weekend

I'm a bit startled at how crowded the gym is this morning, but then again, it is Monday -- the traditional "make up for all your weekend sins" workout day. I'm similarly guilty, having indulged in greasy pepperoni and meatball laden slices of pizza, salty fried dumplings and sushi, chocolate KitKat cake, chips, and cheesy popcorn. Luckily, the machines I plan to use are available.

I don't think I'm on the elliptical for a particularly long time at 33 minutes, but it's longer than most people on the treadmills or other cardio equipment. Only a few people do HIIT cardio and you can tell who they are. Like me, they alternate between an all-out "run" and walking, or jogging. Everyone else appears to be doing a steady state program, except for the ones who are talking. I don't think I can walk for 20 minutes with my head turned to the side without getting a horrible neck ache.

Pull ups feel okay as I'm doing them, but later at the Smith, I notice that my right elbow is a bit wonky. I'll have to keep an eye on it because I don't want to have to deal with tendinitis. Today's workout wasn't easy, but I'm going to venture that it could've been harder. Which means I need to change it up a bit, either by doing an alternate movement, upping the weight, or the reps. The most difficult adjustment is to the big movement since I don't really have a good, safe alternative to the Smith Inclined Press. But I could up the weight and cut the reps. I can probably do that for the DB superset as well. The Rip Skulls are more problematic as I've already upped the weight to 40 lbs. And since the new cable stations were installed, I've barely looked at V-bar tricep press downs. But perhaps I should again.

I see regulars like Ballet, Big Tank, Frankenstein, Pissed Off Goatee and a few others. B has found herself a new "gym husband" to follow around. She's not happy unless she's the center of male attention. Personally, I can't really work out with a partner unless they're willing to do what I want to do, which is rarely the case. And I can't stand around chatting without getting bored, and cold. Like my father would say, "Less talk. More do." It works for me. Honestly, I only work each body part once a week, with the exception to cardio exercises. But I feel confident that I'm maintaining a decent level of strength, and I think my arms look good, especially for someone pushing 60.

The gym showers have plenty of hot water with great pressure. I don't worry about how long I'm in there, trying to rinse the shampoo out of my long hair. Because it's been so dry and cold, I've been extra vigilant about applying moisturizer to my skin. Every large bottle of lotion now only comes in a pump top, which is great for home use, but horribly impractical to cart to the gym. You can lock the cap down in place but I've had them come loose inside my bag and leave a mess. Normally I pump half a bottle of lotion into a travel squeeze bottle. This works fine until there's only an inch of lotion at the bottom. The pump's tube is always too short to get the remaining cream, and I think that's by design, forcing you to buy another bottle sooner than you'd like.

Lately, I've taken to carting the original lotion bottle upside down with pump locked in place. It's a bit tricky to get the lotion out while simultaneously holding onto the pump cap and tube since there's no place to set anything down while standing in the shower stall. I'm frustrated enough to google "how to get lotion out of a pump bottle." I'm surprised to find not just YouTube videos but also replacement cap products. Once upon a time, large bottles came with a standard cap and a second pump cap to use for your convenience. Not anymore. Once upon a time, medium and large bottles had the same diameter mouth so that caps were interchangeable. Not anymore.

The most useful YouTube video I watched showed how to measure the pump tube, then suggested going to the hardware store to purchase a foot of clear 1/4" tubing. This can be cut down to just an inch or two, and fitted over the too-short pump tube. Now the pump can reach the bottom of the bottle. Other solutions sold on Amazon are replacement caps that purport to fit most pump bottle diameters. One brand contains a built-in tripod to hold the bottle upside down. Another brand has a proprietary flat cap base to allow the bottle to balance upside down by itself. Both utilize gravity to get the dregs of the lotion out. None are fool-proof although reviews are mostly positive. The one common complaint is occasionally a bottle is not quite right and the cap leaks. So now the question is, do I want to spend $10+ on this, or should I invest $4 to buy tubing? Home Depot carries 10-foot lengths of PVC clear tubing that can be cut to length. I don't need 10 feet. The tubing is reusable and I can just continue to pump my lotion into the travel bottle. Or I can just be lazy and continue to do what I'm doing until the bottle's empty.

17F 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 272
Miles 2.58
HR 141-198 (114-97)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 23

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

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
90 x 12, 12, 13
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
(Happy with 8+)
40 lbs x 12, 12, 12

Mat Stretch