Pre-Dawn Start

I finally made it to the gym before the crowd and it was nice, except that Lazy Pedals was already on the elliptical that I like. At least the 2nd one was vacant and I could do Program 3 on that, without the benefit of the unreliable and somewhat suspect heart rate monitor. Yaay me! But I'm still "fat" so not so much Yaay. It's much easier to pack on the pounds than to peel them off. Now, I'm looking at an extra 10 lbs instead of 5 and for a small person like myself, that's monumental.

The Aerobics Room isn't as empty as I thought it would be: there's a "cute" couple doing weird poses right in front of the far mirrored wall. It almost looks like they're playing Twister but I'm not really looking at them so it's hard to tell what exactly they're doing. She's giggling so loudly I can hear her through my ear buds and tunes. So I'm smack in the center of the room doing my routine and change is good, but I prefer not to be out in the open. They exit through the side door that leads directly into the free weight area and I see them again when I set up for shoulders.

It must be Leg Day because the Cute Couple move from the squat rack to the leg press. He's got some moderately nice arms. She's always totally covered: I've seen her solo before in the squat rack on previous days. Meanwhile, there are no adjustable benches in the DB area so I plant my gear on one of the Inclined Breaker Benches. Someone's taken the Olympic bar from that bench which is better for me since I don't have to worry about smacking my forehead when I lay face down to do rear delts et al. 

The other nice thing about using the Inclined Breaker Bench is that there's no huge adjustment knob on bottom of the bench where I have smushed my fingers on the down stroke of the movement (on the free-standing Adjustable Inclined Benches). The angle is set for the bench and only the seat is adjustable. 

I look around and realize that I'm not the only gym rat who does warm up cardio before smacking the weights because I recognize at least two other guys who were running on the treadmill when I was pedaling furiously. I won't lie: the workout was hard but simultaneously exhilarating, and I was glad when it was over. I think I might be sore tomorrow someplace other than that pesky sciatic glute and calf.

Dave Draper passed away last week at age 79. Not ancient but old for a body builder. Most of them develop cancer or heart conditions well before they hit their 60s. I subscribed to Dave Draper's newsletter, IronOnline, for a time. He was fanatical about lifting and pushing his special protein powder mix but he was really nice and very sincere. I just realized that Lynn Conkwright passed away in 2017 at age 63. Or maybe I knew then and forgot? (I'm in my 60s and I worry about mortality: I have a teenager after all.)

Women's bodybuilding was so exciting back in the 80s, before it got dominated by steroids and a sense that women couldn't win titles unless they looked like men. Women like Claire Furr, Janice Ragain and Cory Everson were lauded in the 80s. And who could forget Juliette Bergman or Sharon Bruneau? After Lenda Murray, I lost interest... because seriously, the "female Haney"? No one wants a female Arnold. Maybe Zane... 

Finally, I reading some cautiously optimistic news about the Omicron variant: those infected with it while previously vaccinated show increased resistance to the more lethal Delta variant. It's not official yet but word has been circulating...

30 December 2021

Early Thursday & Sciatica

Precor elliptical

Program 3

Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5720)

Distance: 2.87

Cal: 3.21

HR: n/a

Crunches 60

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

60 Dead Bugs

Elbow Plank 60s

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12x

Fire Hydrants 25 x 2

Bird Dogs 60s x 2

Child’s Pose

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25

Mild Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga

DB Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incl Flys

10 lbs x 15/20 reps x 1

15 lbs x 15/20 reps, 15/25

15/20 lbs x 15/25 reps x 3