Final Friday

Slowly but surely, I am getting my son up earlier in the day although he's not quite there yet. We get to the gym before noon today and that's progress. It's also the last day my son and I will work out together this summer since his membership expires at the end of the month tomorrow. Even though he's gotten a good eight to ten hours sleep, he claims he's exhausted and yawns intermittently.

We warm up on the elliptical, do our cage stretches and pull-ups, he does pushups, then we wander out to the free weight area. It's loud and noisy because a gaggle of young men are gathered around one of the breaker flat benches. We perform our standard Inclined Bench sets and my son is stronger than when we first started this summer. I'm pleased. We also do Seated Cable Rows. That is more taxing, but my son still agrees to do one more exercise. His biceps are burnt from rowing, so I suggest we try Tricep Press Downs. I prefer the V-bar and we start with that.

My son doesn't like the way the angled handle creates pressure points on the outer hands so we switch to a straight bar handle. I don't like it as much. Afterward, we do 20 minutes of cardio to warm up again. On the Step Mill, my son stops to say his knee hurts. I tell him that it's not necessary for us to do the same cardio machines. "Use the recumbent bike instead," I tell him, figuring it'll be easier on his knees. Instead, he hops on the elliptical and watches videos on his phone. His knee seems fine when we go for our final stretch.

Although I'll miss his company, I'll be glad to get back to my own routine, again focusing more on cardio while trying to maintain some semblance of strength. I'm not a cardio bunny yet.

Combo Final Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.88
Calories 322
HR 155-197 (87)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20
Child 8

Child pushups 30
Crunches 50/50
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Bench Press
Bar x 12
50 x 12
Ch 70 x 12, 12,
70 x 25, 25, 25

Seated Cable Rows
70lbs x 12 reps
85 x 12 x 3 sets

V-bar Tricep Press Down
20 lbs x 12
30 x 12
40 x 12 (8),
(Ch straight bar 30 x 6, 20 x 12)
SB 30 x 12

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Steps 729
Floors 45
Calories 115
HR 140

Mat Stretch

A Change of Pace

I'm nearly as nocturnal as my son, but he's a teenager so he has an excuse. Regardless, I'm up much earlier than he is and need to prod him several times to get him out of bed. I've spent the past several hours doing household chores and deciphering the 4-page letter that came attached to the email sent from the HS principal. He sent the same email last week but the link to his letter led to a blank screen with an ominous error message.

After two days, I got fed up and had to look up his specific email address (as well as that of the vice principal) to state "letter link contains no data" -- hitting Reply to the email only gets you dumped into a Siberian wasteland which responds with a Failure to Deliver Because This Email Address Does Not Exist. Never mind that my school tax bill is more than twice my property taxes, and that administrators earn well over a hundred thousand dollars (as do many teachers) in New York State.

This morning, parents finally received an actual working link to the 4-page letter detailing the specifics to parent pick-ups and drop-offs, attendance, bus schedules, etc. A barely noticeable link leads to a single page of select teachers and courses and their school supply requirements. Ugh. Two of my son's teachers list specifics. Then I realize that there's no actual Math teacher on my son's schedule. He has a class and a room, but no named teacher. Double ugh. Tomorrow is HS Orientation at 9 am. That should be fun. Not.

At the gym, I decided to refrain from HIIT cardio to see if my weird toenail stripe dissipates. Otherwise, I have to schedule a biopsy of the nail matrix with a plastic surgeon, and I'd rather not do that if possible. I feel as if I already see too many doctors for someone not old and not decrepit. I do elliptical program 2 for 30 minutes plus a 5-minute cooldown, but I don't actually slow down until the last 10 seconds. Personally, I don't think cooldowns are necessary. Stretching, on the other hand, is vital to keeping muscles and joints flexible and limber.

After we do our crunches and other ab work in the classroom, and after my son has groaned through 30 pushups, I tell him that we should try different machines. School starts next week so this is our last working out week together. We start with a StarTrac Chest Press that looks as if we've boarded an Everglades hovercraft. Even without additional plates, the handles bear weight. I just don't know how much and guess 30 lbs. My son and I gingerly add a few small plates after each set until we reach an additional 30 lbs per side. Now it feels heavy.

I'm not entirely happy with the machine because only the seat height and handle length are adjustable. I'd also need the handle height to adjust to my limited stature. My palms and elbows bear the brunt of the weight, and I'm seated upright, so bonus there. But I can't say that this feels any better than actually pressing a bar on an inclined bench. However, it is different and my son is more engaged in the process because I've told him that I've never used this before and I need his input.

We move onto the StarTrac Triceps Press. I remember doing this a long time ago, and not being particularly impressed. I'd rather do Rip Skulls or V-bar Press Downs. My son tries it and tells me the issue is with the handles again being too high. Instead of pressing with his triceps from the elbows, he's scrunched up in a shrug position. This means that the seat should be higher, but that takes his feet off the floor. This isn't a good machine for anyone except those with the weakest arms. Maybe a pencil-pusher.

Most machines are either presses, abs or legs of some sort. We are hard-pressed to find any sort of pulling machine with the exception of a Life Fitness Row. My son thinks it's okay. I really hate having my chest smushed up against the pad in order to pull the handles back to my sides. And I don't even have a big chest! We finish with pedaling on the Recumbent Bike and some stretching.

Tonight I'm taking my son to play with the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset at our local library. I did it two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. One of my son's friends might show up for this. There's also another even just for teens tomorrow afternoon. I've signed him up for that as well. And a Do It Yourself Eye of Sauron event on Wednesday. Because it's the last week of summer vacation and when school starts there won't be any of this fun stuff on the calendar.

Combo Machine Monday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 2
Miles 2.92
Calories 327
HR 148-185 (96)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20
Child 8

Crunches 50/50
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Child pushups 30

StarTrac Chest Press
Unloaded (30?) x 12
10 each side x 12
20 x 12
25 x 12
30 x 12

Child StarTrac Triceps Press
50 x 12

LF Pectoral Fly
Child 35 x 12
Us 45 x 12

LF Row
Ch 25 x 12
65 x 12

20 Recumbent Bike
Quick Start
Miles 2.85
Calories 88
HR 112

Mat Stretch

The Same But Different

My son and I got to the gym at 2 pm once again. I admit that we went to bed much too late. Of course, hearing the oddest wailing outside at 4 am didn't help one bit. (I leave my screened windows open in the summer to help with cross-ventilation.) There's a dog up the road that does quite a bit of barking. I can hear him/her clearly through the swamp in spite of tall trees and dense brush. But this sound wasn't barking, growling or whining. It wasn't cats having a row either. The more I reflect, the more I think it's possible that those were coyotes.

The 40-second mark in the recording below sounds a lot like what I heard last night. But there were only two voices, not a whole pack.

My son complains that he's tired before we've even begun. I tell him to set his own pace while we're both on the ellipticals. I'm still doing the Norwegian HIIT cardio even though my legs feel sluggish and heavy like fallen timber. We can't get on the Stretch Cage right away so we move right into core exercises. I have to remind my son to do his pushups. Then back to the Cage to stretch and knock out a few pull-ups. I only get 20. My son gets 8. Seven looked really good but his forearms got tired and the eighth was a struggle. A valiant effort though.

The Smith is vacant so we do our standard Inclined Bench Press. My son is able to complete his three sets of 12 reps at 70 lbs. He did have to pause for a moment before the last two reps for the last set, but he's definitely stronger. I knock out my 25 reps without any fanfare. We did Lat Pull Downs on Wednesday, so today we do Seated Cable Rows. This is based on the principle "Same But Different." We are hitting the same basic muscles (back, arms and shoulders) as we did two days ago, but differently.

Even though we are using the same close-grip handle, my left shoulder blade doesn't roll or knot up with this movement the way it does during Lat Pull Downs. We pull exactly the same weight but this is harder and more critical to retain strict form. Eight-five pounds is as much as my son wants to attempt. I can go heavier with Lat Pull Downs but not with Seated Cable Rows. Moving up past 85 lbs risks my lower back, and in a weird domino-like sequence, my right hip, glute, sciatic nerve, and hamstring. That doesn't happen with Lat Pull Downs because of how the upper body is positioned with the shoulders arched back and the hips held stationary. Instead, my left shoulder tends to knot up. Everything has consequences!

My son tells me he's exhausted. I tell him he can rest on the stationary bike and stare at his phone while I pedal the elliptical behind him. He declines and gets on the adjacent elliptical. He barely breaks a sweat. Later, he complains about getting hot to the point where he's very uncomfortable, but not enough to sweat and how unpleasant that is. I tell him he might have an extremely mild form of IV (ichthyosis vulgaris) since it's a dominant hereditable condition. His palms are extremely lined but don't look ancient (like mine do) and he doesn't seem to have any tell-tale scales either. Issues with heat and sweating are common for people with IV.

We're both hungry, even after drinking 16 gms of whey protein. At the grocery store, we scan the frozen pizza selection. My mom used to buy Ellios' brand. I see that's still an option, as well as Tree Tavern. Back in the 60s, those were excellent brands that my mom would doctor with extra cheese and sauce. This, of course, rendered the pizza thick and heavy, and prone to a mushy collapsing crust. There's a big variety in the freezer case but we settle on Red Baron Classic Crust 4-Cheese Pizza. Red Baron has been around since 1976! My son questions why pizza is named after a World War I German flying ace, and I have no answer. I don't think anyone does.

Friday Combo

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 291
Miles 2.65
HR 139-175 (78)

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

Child Push Ups 30

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20
Child 8

Smith Incline Bench Press w/ Child
Bar 30 x 12
50 x 12
Ch 70 x 12, 12, 12
70 x 25, 25, 25

Seated Cable Rows
70 lbs x 12
85 x 12, 12, 12

20 + 5 cd elliptical
Program 1
Miles 2.04
Calories 227
HR 148-182 (85)

Mat Stretch

Mild Hump Day Workout

My son has been reluctant to finish his assigned summer reading. Lord of the Flies and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes might make for great movie fare, but actual print is another story. Online gaming with his friends is much more exciting. Truthfully, there's a whole different personality that emerges when he's online: loud, raunchy, irreverent and yet, still darkly humourous. This means he stays up much too late and is hard to wake come morning, or should I say, afternoon. We got to the gym by 2 pm and he was still yawning.

I'm still sore from those Walking Lunges I did two days ago, mostly the left hamstring. Yesterday, we skipped the gym and went to see the Angry Birds 2 movie. It was silly but still funny. Of course, I'm easily amused. Except when I'm not. (Hey, I fell asleep on La La Land twice!) Today, I start with HIIT cardio. My son has on his comfy headphones instead of earbuds as he pedals along while watching cat videos on his phone.

We knock out our pull-ups and core, then my son remembers to do his pushups. It's late in the day but the gym isn't that crowded yet. There are several stations with loaded bars so it's hard to know if anyone's using them. I hate it when people walk away without reracking their plates. We skip the Smith because there's a lot of plates on that bar. Besides, my son should learn to be comfortable with free weights. (Many gyms don't have a Smith machine.) We haven't touched any of the circuit machines all summer.

We do a few light sets on the Inclined Breaker bench. At least I can step up on the platform behind the rack to spot my son. We only use the bar (45 lbs) and then a set or two with just an additional ten pounds. Free weights require much more body control, which my son isn't used to. He learns how to adjust the bench seat height, and how the bar should feel in his hands. He might never become a gym rat, but I want him to learn the basics anyway.

Then we do a few sets of Lat Pull Downs. I could do more at a heavier weight, but my son is actually tired. He likes the idea of pedaling on the recumbent bike before ending with a standard Mat Stretch. When we get back to the car, my son tells me he's hungry. I always put a few bottles of RTD protein in a cooler in my car for exactly that reason. There's no better time to ingest vitamins and protein than right after a workout.

Some people have complained that exercise whets their appetite and with that increased hunger, there's even greater weight gain. A few studies have found that people (and especially women) with high amounts of body fat have a blunted response to the appetite-suppressing effects. Those people are advised to be particularly mindful of their caloric intake.

All I know is that when I exercise vigorously, I eat less. As much as I purport to hate cardio, I do it religiously because it makes me feel good, and I'm not endangering my vision. Now I just need to get my snacking in check!


Wednesday Combo

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u
(4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 288
Miles 2.65
140-173 (115)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22
Child 8

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

Child Push Ups 30

Incline Bench Press w/ Child
Bar 45 x 12 x 2
55 lbs x 12 x 2

Lat Pulldowns
70 lbs x 12
85 x 12 x 3

20 recumbent bike + 5cd
Manual 1
Miles 3.01
Calories 104

Mat Stretch


Sent from my iPhone

Reassessing the Routine

I'm definitely bigger than I was a few months ago, and if I were a guy, I'd probably be happy about it. But I'm a really short woman who already has trouble finding nice clothes that fit properly, so this added size isn't welcome news. I confirmed it by stepping on my home scale this morning. I need to drop 5 lbs of serious fat and water. I say fat and water because I'm certain that at least a pound or two is water from overly salty weekend fare.

We ate Japanese last night to celebrate my husband's birthday. Miso soup ramen is high on the sodium scale. We also ate at Golden Corral on Saturday after we picked our son up from Scout Camp. The buffet-style food has some winners, but most of it is unsurprisingly high in salt and fat. Except for their coffee, which was probably the worst coffee I've drunk in a very long time. No wonder coffee is free there--it's like dishwater.

Most of you will scoff at 5 lbs, but if you are my size, it will be nearly 5 percent of your body weight. I could say it's because I've cut my workouts down from four or five days a week to just three, or that I've reduced my cardio since bringing my son to work out with me. But the reality is that reducing my exercise has increased my appetite so I'm eating more.

It's been understood for years that exercise leads to a decrease in appetite and several theories have been proposed to explain why ghrelin (a hormone linked to increased appetite and growth hormones) and leptin (another weight management hormone) decrease. There's also evidence that raising body temperature with vigorous exercise works to decrease appetite. It's not known if sitting in a sauna for 30 minutes will also have the same effect. Of course, I'd rather do HIIT cardio than sit in a hot wooden box.

I had a follow-up appointment at my dermatologist this morning to check on the suspicious line running the length of my right big toe. Not only is it still there, but the skin below the nail bed appears raised and reddened. Wearing wool socks makes the itching worse after a while, which is a bummer because I love my alpaca wool socks. The doctor doesn't think it's melanoma but can't say for certain what exactly is happening. I've had this dark stripe since March so that's six months. Too long for a standard splinter hemorrhage. He recommends a plastic surgeon in my health insurance network to perform a nail bed biopsy. Of course, my first question is "Will I still be able to exercise?" because he tells me that there will be a few stitches in my toe after the procedure. I'm suspicious that this might be psoriasis but the doc doesn't think it is. Psoriasis, an autoimmune disorder, has popped up in my family sporadically.

I don't get to the gym until nearly 1 pm so there's a lunchtime crowd, but it's not really crowded. I'm actually leery of putting a lot of pressure on my toes after my doctor's appointment. When I do HIIT cardio, I press hard on the front of my feet the faster I pedal so I wonder if this is causing my toe issues. Today I do program 1 on the elliptical instead. Then my standard cage stretch and pullups, followed by core exercises. But instead of pushing weights, I step on the Step Mill for 20 minutes and then another set of pullups. I finish with 2:1 Seated Leg Curls (with increased weight) and finally, Walking Lunges. I haven't done the latter in some weeks, but these don't feel too bad. I just hope I can walk tomorrow.

Solo Abbrev Monday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 1
Miles 2.91
Calories 326
HR 144-205 (95)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20

Crunches 50/50
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Calories 113
Total steps 709
Floors 44
HR 136

HGPU 20

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 12
30 x 12
37.5 x 12
45 x 8

Walking Lunges
29+29=58

Mat Stretch

Solo Cardio Friday

I haven't done a Cardio Friday workout in several weeks. It feels a little strange getting back to it. I skip the Norwegian 4 x 4 for Precor elliptical Fitness Program 3 and do it for 30 plus minutes. There's also that 5-minute cool down afterward which I never use to cool down. That's what time in the stretch cage is for! Today I'll also do three sets of pull-ups. I hope my elbow puts up with my ambitions.

My beat-up old yoga pants are so worn that they slip down my hips during cardio. Yep, I'm retiring them from active duty. They're perfectly fine to walk around in, except they have no pockets and won't stay up during an intense "run" when I'm doing HIIT cardio. Nothing more annoying than constantly having to yank your pants back up while pedaling furiously.

I recognize a few regulars. Stinky Butt has been wearing cologne or deodorant so I can't call him Stinky Butt anymore. He's not here today though. Pullups don't feel too bad, but I'm not doing any more than 20 at a stretch. It's enough. I do time on the Step Mill and become annoyed when B texts me out of the blue. Ugh. I give serious thought to switching my phone to airplane mode. I hate being interrupted for trivial chit-chat while I'm in the middle of something. My phone will keep buzzing me to let me know I have a text unless I click on it. That means I've read it. Not answering would be rude. My text back is prompt but brief. The only reason I don't turn off text notifications is so my son can get a hold of me in case of an emergency. Otherwise, it'd be off for my entire workout.

B hasn't seen me all summer and is dying to know if I've been on vacation or something. If she'd been paying any sort of attention, she'd remember that I bring my son during the summer and we come later in the day. But that's the sort of detail I remember about other people. She doesn't remember anything about other people because all she can focus on is herself. It's one of the reasons I don't talk to her anymore.

Like most introverts, I value a few close friendships and don't have the time, energy or interest for anything more superficial. Acquaintance relationships have to be really easy to maintain or else they just fall away. Maintaining a lot of noisy relationships is completely exhausting. It's funny, but I've never thought of myself as an introvert until this past month. It's kind of a relief to realize I'm not that weird after all.

After the Step Mill, I do a set of pull-ups, look around and settle on the cross-trainer for my last cardio exercise. Then a final set of pull-ups. (I skip Walking Lunges yet again because it's the one movement that totally wastes me. My husband and I have to leave at 5:30 am tomorrow to retrieve our son from Scout Camp. Parents are expected to be there no later than 9 am and it's over a 3-hour drive. Sitting in a car for 3 hours the day after an intense workout will be painful enough.) The 2:1 Seated Leg Curl feels pretty good though. I might consider upping the weight slightly the next time I do this.

Before getting down to Mat Stretches, I decide to video myself doing those alternate hand pushups. That's where I discover exactly where my hands place, and it's not quite at hip and shoulder. But it is asymmetrical. Good enough! I also know I shouldn't be doing downward dogs and pushups in general. I did these twice because shooting a video with an iPhone takes a bit of practice, and even then, it's not the best angle. But you get the idea. And no, I won't be doing them again. Because my vision is more important.

Solo Cardio Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.94
Calories 331
HR 150-200 (86-87, 97)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22

Crunches 50/50
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Calories 114
Total steps 718
Floors 44
HR 136

HGPU 20

15 X-trainer + cd
Manual Level 1
Calories 143
Miles 2.08
BPM 145

HGPU 20

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 12
30 x 12 x 3

Mat Stretch with
2 x 6 alternate hand pushups