Surprise Flexibility

My son is rarely awake before I am. Today was no exception. We manage to get to the gym just as torrents of rain subside. It's early afternoon and the gym is mostly empty. My son has had a scratchy cough every morning that disappears until he goes to bed. Intermittent yawning punctuates his elliptical pedaling. I do my HIIT cardio. I always toy with the idea of doing something easier, like one of the Fitness Programs, but ultimately I return to the Norwegian 4 x 4. Why? Because it's hard and because HIIT cardio is still the gold standard for aerobic fitness.

My son still does his pullups and push-ups even though he complains he's tired. In the classroom, two vacuous teenage girls are lying close to the stack of mats, complaining about being fat and wondering if they'll make the cheerleading squad. What's annoying is that they had to grab small hand weights and yoga blocks from the other side of the room just to plant themselves in front of the mats. The entire room is empty, but they're sprawled in a corner with gym equipment. One girl scoots out of the way when I walk over and give her a hard stare before grabbing several mats for me and my son to use.

My son and I do Smith Inclined Presses and Close Grip Lat Pulldowns. Now he's really tired. But he maintains his form. I see an errant red sliver on the floor -- someone has lost a nail tip. I guess these things happen. The gym is busier now with teenagers straggling in. Outside, the sky gets dark and suddenly it's raining so hard that I can see sheets of water bouncing off the parked cars.

My son loves jogging on the treadmill but I tell him that it's not doing much for me. He agrees we can do something else but one of the Step Mills are occupied and there are only two. We can do the Recumbent Bike or back to the elliptical. I'm game to do one of the Fitness Programs because I miss the forward-then-backward pedaling. Afterward, we go to stretch in the empty classroom.

My son is able to rest his head on the floor while bent backward. It's called the Hero pose in yoga. He can do this with his shoes on. I take my shoes off to do this move but I've never allowed myself to lean that far back. I'm not entirely certain that I can! It's a good stretch for the front quads and hips though. This is literally the only stretch my son can do better than I can. I'm impressed.

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 290
Miles 2.66
HR 139-200 (100)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 23
Child 8
Child Push Ups 30

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

Smith Incline Bench Press w/ Child
Bar (30) x 12
50 lbs x 12
Child 70 x 13, 12, 12
70 x 25, 25, 25

Lat Pulldowns
70 lbs x 12
85 x 12, 12, 12

20 + 5 cd elliptical
Program 1
Miles 2.07
Calories 232
HR 147-192 (78)

Mat Stretch