Mixed-Emotions Monday Pull

While at the fundraiser dinner on Friday, I received a text from another Scout leader. The local judge who was at our Court of Honor the previous Friday (in an official capacity and also as one of the Scout Cooking Competition judges) had suddenly passed away from a heart attack that morning. I'm still having a hard time processing this. It's not like he was old and obese. In fact, he was two years younger than me. (I do not consider myself old!) And like me, he was short. And a bit overweight. But he was a dynamic figure, easy to talk to and always willing to volunteer for a good cause. I actually think he was directing foot traffic at the Cornell Extension Plant Sale a few weeks ago where I bought my milkweed plants.

My husband says that most men don't survive their first heart attacks, that if you suddenly throw a clot, well that's it. While the specifics might be true, in general, a lot of people survive their first heart attack. As of 2016, the average age for a man to suffer his first myocardial infarction was age 65. In women, it's 72. But women have a higher mortality rate from heart disease. The judge was 57. He didn't smoke, but heart disease may run in his family. We hear stories all the time about people dying suddenly. Normally, we only "know" them because they're celebrities. Like Luke Perry, dead at age 52 from a massive stroke. Or Bill Paxton, 61, from complications due to an aortic aneurysm. I've known other men who have survived heart attacks. And one who didn't while working overseas, a friend of my husband. This fellow had survived a previous cardiac event, but was admittedly, not in the best of health.

We can pay our respects this afternoon, but my husband and I will wait until our son gets home from school. Later this evening is my son's Stepping Up ceremony because, for some reason, schools have decided not to call this middle school graduation. Scouts have been asked to don their Class A attire while paying their respects to the late judge. But my son will not want to be dressed as a Scout when he steps onstage to receive his "diploma." Scouting just isn't cool these days, unless you're with your Scout buds.

I managed to sleep in over the weekend, but on those days I actually feel more tired than usual. Today I'm at the gym a tiny bit earlier than usual. However, I can't get on any of the good ellipticals and I'm stuck with the one at the end that doesn't register heart rate and clunks loudly if you pedal too fast. It doesn't bother me and I set the timer for 33 minutes. I feel a lot better, a lot more awake, more alive once I'm done. The rest of the workout is fairly routine with standard pull-ups, pushups, core and Smith RDLs. The gym seems busier than usual, but as long as I can get to the stations I need, I'm oblivious to it all.

It seems as if Shiny Shoes and Loud Goatee are hovering, but that could also just be my paranoia. Shiny Shoes is actually reracking plates onto their appropriate stations. I don't know about Loud Goatee. Smith RDLs proceed without any issues. The set of Smith RG BB Rows, however, stress my forearms and that's new. I just know this is going to haunt me later. Lat Pull Downs are also routine, but I'm rushing a little, so my heavy sets aren't as good as they could be if I had rested more.

The only change to today's routine is that I'm doing Alternating Cross-Body Hammer Grip Bicep Curls standing instead of seated. Standing allows a greater range of twisting motion from hands down by the thighs to across the body and ending in front of the upper chest. While seated prevents swaying and using "body english" (Grammarly insists this should be capitalized, but the word "english" in sports terms is not necessarily initial capped.) for heavier weights, it also limits the trajectory of the DBs. Again, my forearms get tired doing this, and only my forearms. This works the biceps a little more than RG BB Curls though.

I see a glint across the gym, like a spool of shiny fishing filament. It's WannaBe with newly lightened hair. She saunters across the free weight area sporting a very tight white tank top over what seems to be a pushup bra. The two women standing next to me doing their DB variation workout roll their eyes. I manage to suppress a smirk.

I'm not entirely sure that the men have actually noticed the blonde bimbo even though she walks perilously close to Loud Goatee on the Preacher Curl Bench. Ten minutes later, WannaBe has put a pink Staff hoodie on and is instructing a timid, tiny woman on floor exercises. I grab my gear and get on the elliptical for 25 minutes. This time, the heart rate monitor is working.


Monday Mixed-Emotion Pull

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 294
Miles 2.68
HR N/A

Cage Stretch
HGPU 23

Push Ups 60
Crunches Legs Up 40
Bicycles 50
Crunches knees bent 50
Horizontal Scissors 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12
120 x 12, 12, 12

Smith RG BB Row
80lbs x 25 x 3

Lat Pull Downs
85 x 12
100 x 12
115 x 12, 10, 9

Standing Hammer Grip Alt DB Curls
20 lbs x 15 each x 3 sets

20 elliptical + 5cd
Program 1
Calories 236
Miles 2.09
HR 149-188 (136)

Mat Stretch