Adaptations

There's a cold front swooping down from the arctic regions so temps will fall overnight. I've already made a few fires in the woodstove just to keep our house a tad cozier than the 61F the thermostat is set for. I don't really want to dig out my down winter coats just yet. Daytime highs should peak in the 50s. That's not winter coat weather yet.

The gym seems solemn and deserted but that's only because I've arrived between shifts. The early morning crowd has already left but the seniors haven't arrived yet to take their place. Overcast skies match perfectly with the new gray paint on the walls. A different fellow is hoisting ladders across the gym floor today. A short stout woman is complaining to the hapless front desk fellow who is trying to get the Nexersys to boot up. The power light suggests that the machine is on, but the screen remains black.

In better days past... 

I tell them that the Gym Owner had repaired it but it's probably down for the count and headed to the rubbish heap. She tells me that she had offered to buy it from the gym last year. Then she tells me that the Nexersys company still sells this model and replacement parts for it. Hmmm. That's not my experience, but okay... I'm not going to argue with her. I just felt bad for the fellow who was lost in the midst of this conversation. He's actually retired (having suffered a heart attack a few years back) and only comes in occasionally to help out.

I'm tired but I still select the Intervals program on the elliptical. Ten minutes into my program, a woman gets on the adjacent machine. Sometimes she pedals very hard, pumping her arms in a flat-out run, and other times she's alternating her arms in an imaginary shoulder press. She's not actually carrying DBs like another woman who is quite animated on the treadmill, swinging her arms and marching while holding little pink plastic weights. There are quite a few women who just walk. And chat. Really loudly. I guess it's better than being stationary, but new studies indicate that if you want to preserve your mental acuity into old age, busting a sweat and not taking a leisurely stroll is what you need to do.

"Moderately intense exercise" is the key to producing BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a critical element to rewiring and retaining memory functions, according to a 2013 article in Harvard Men's Health Watch. And doing it once or twice a week isn't enough. The recommended "dosage" is 30 minutes 5 times a week. I'm not sure if this applies to women as well since we all know that men and women differ significantly in many physiological responses. Also not answered is whether doing moderately strenuous exercise for an hour 3 times a week has the same effect as 30 minutes 5 times a week. (Is it total duration, i.e., 180 minutes vs 150 minutes, or is it regular intervals of intensity that's needed?)

Contrary to popular belief, it's not just getting more blood to the brain or increased oxygenation that's responsible for clearing "brain fog." Areas of the brain such as the hippocampus are actually activated during exercise. The hippocampus is responsible for regulating emotions, motivation, memory, and learning. Some studies indicate that exercise prevents age-related hippocampus shrinkage!

After my initial cardio exercise, I stretch and remember to whip out that long rubber strip from my time at physical therapy for a shoulder labral tear some years ago. I do mid- and high-band pulls at the Stretch Cage before marching off to the Aerobics Room. It's empty and freezing cold! I'm so bored with the Core routine that I've combined the legs-up crunches and knees bent crunches so that it's basically one long set of 120 reps.

In the free weight area, I sit at a flat bench to do the dreaded DB Shoulder Presses superset with DB Alternating Front Raises. Even with a mere 10 lbs, the Should Press is unpleasant and my right delt twinges in protest. The Adjustable Inclined Bench is useful for the Reverse Inclined DB Flys that immediately follow DB Laterals. I'm getting 20 reps on the Reverse Flys so I should consider increasing the weight on that exercise. A young woman I've seen doing pull-ups and kicking the body bag is on the next bench. Another fellow is on the opposite side of me. Damn it's getting crowded in here! Just as I finish my last set of flys, big goofy Loud Goatee grabs a bench and smacks it down in the space between me and the kickboxing gal.

Well, never mind that she and I were using that space to perform DB Laterals, and then she was doing DB Split Squats with her back leg on a bench. Yep, some dudes are totally clueless. My cue to exit and find an elliptical to do my last 20 plus minutes of cardio.

I get home, the dog has pooped on wee-wee pads in the hallway and I'm thinking okay, maybe he's hungry now. He eats most of a hard-boiled egg but gets weirded out by the sounds my radiators make and is no longer interested in eating. Try again later. I can tell he's listening to the distant roar of the oil burner in the basement. I can hear and feel it too, but it's not like in the month the dog's been here that the house has ever been silent. Yesterday, my son asked me if dogs can have autism. Hmm...

Dreary Thursday Shoulders Plus

30 + 5 cd elliptical
Program Intervals
Miles 2.95
Calories 333
HR 131-207 (87, 95)

Cage Stretch
Mid-Band Pulls 15
High-Band Pulls 15

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Horizontal Scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

DB Shoulder Press s/s Alt Front Raises
10 lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

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

20 elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.09
Calories 235
HR 140-195 (79, 97)

Quick Stretch