Gym Rat Workout

The gym is more crowded than it's been in months. While I'm glad people aren't dead, I'm not thrilled that they're at the gym during my workout time. Still, I have access to my elliptical of choice and there's no one in the Aerobics Room. The weight area is noisy with guys who can't control their egos or their weights and it's a lot noisier than I'd like. The AirPods do little to drown out the ambient music and endless chatter and I'm tempted to fish the wired MPow earbuds out of my gear bag. But I don't. I like the MPows better, except for that pesky wire that if not draped over my hair clip, sticks to my neck and throat. 

I'm tired when I start cardio but always feel energized by the time I get to the weight area. It's already mid-afternoon but I'm determined to do a "regular" Seated Cable Row routine which means doing a pyramid: increasing the weight for each set then decreasing it while adjusting the number of reps accordingly. Meanwhile, I see a young woman, a regular who might be in HS, who routinely attempts a muscle-up between machine crunches and chair dips. 

Today's muscle-up is more ungainly than I normally see from her: she struggles to hoist herself up past the chin-up bars so it's not the smooth two-step move we're all used to seeing. I'm not sure if I've ever seen her do anything else for her triceps besides dips. I hate dips: they really kill my elbows because I have short arms and don't fit at the proper angle. Chair and bench dips are easy though and I don't really consider them much of a workout. 

I'd like to try a muscle-up but haven't figured out where I could do it. The girl's small but still taller than I am and drags a box over to the center handles bridging the two separate cable systems, then makes a leap to reach the handles. Her hands are bigger than mine too as I can't get my hands around any of the pull-up/chin-up bars. And if you can't get your hands around the handle, it's nearly impossible to hoist yourself up. It's why I use the Stretch Cage. But that piece of equipment isn't stable and might tip over on top of me if I attempt that move. Better to be safe than maimed. 

Still, the pyramid routine for Seated Cable Rows felt good and didn't stress my lower back. I have to be careful not to aggravate whatever has happened to those vertebrae because sciatica's a bitch and just might be forever. 

3 May 2021
Cloudy Monday

Precor elliptical
30 min + 5 cool down
Program 1
HR 142-188
Cal 311
Distance 2.81

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Happy Baby stretch
40 Dead Bugs x 2
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Push-Ups 50
Mat stretch w Seated Twist

HGPU 16

EZ Seated Cable Rows
70lbs x 12 reps
77.5 x 12
85 x 12
92.5 x 8
85 x 10
77.5 x 12
70 x 15