Every window of the car was frosted too thick to see through this morning and it was cold in the gym as well. I kept my hoodie on for all of cardio on the elliptical. Of course, I was warm and sweaty by the time 35 minutes had elapsed and I needed my hoodie on the mat when doing Child's Pose in the Aerobics Room. My abs are a tad sore. My arms are a tad stiff but nothing like my lower back and legs before I got the blood moving. I guess I'm sore from yesterday's workout?
Push-ups and air squats are easy but I'm not in the mood to play around with extending my plank time or trying yet another variation. The free weight area is a bit more crowded and there are a few new faces like the well-built man on the bench adjacent to mine. He looks around before each set and I'm surprised that B hasn't wandered up to chat him up. I knock out my tricep routine, do a few minutes on the steps and then it's time to go...
It's been four days since I went to the gym so it was overdue. And it's been four days of overindulgent eating with nary any exercise, with the exception of filling and lugging a three cubic foot wheelbarrow of firewood. The gym wasn't very crowded but filled up as the morning progressed. Taking time off usually has a negative impact, and I'm lucky I was able to squeeze past 2.8... Not great but not horrible.
The weather is unseasonably mild with a high of 52F, overcast skies and a damp wind that makes you keep your jacket zipped up. A storm in the Midwest promises to drench us mid-week. Some folks have opted to go for a run/walk outdoors and only return to the gym to pick up their car keys...
I did manage to do two sets of pull-ups. I felt my abs when doing crunches and Dead Bugs. Planks and Bird Dogs were easy. Maybe I should do more of them? Or hold them for longer? I have enough time for 10 minutes on the stepper and the final set of pull-ups. Rates vary on the Step Mill because even though the speed is set at 6, which should translate to 60 steps per minute, the dashboard shows a rate that arbitrarily varies between 52 and 55 steps per minute.
The husband is away for the week on business and I'm relieved to have quiet uneventful nights where I don't worry about terrified dogs amid the chaos of drunken incoherence. The problem with addiction is that the addict doesn't think there's a problem. Legal woes are just bad luck necessitating a need to be extra careful. But not the need to seek to treatment, to seriously consider quitting drink. Alcoholism is like being controlled by a parasitic infection, (which oddly enough, seems to convert wolves into pack leaders and ants into zombies)... go figure. Could this have been the basis for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? It sure feels like it.
Schools are half day right before a major holiday so my son will be back home about three hours after boarding the bus. The gym is cold and I feel sluggish while pedaling the elliptical. It's not very crowded today. After a decent set of pull-ups, I head to the Aerobics Room to do my core routine. The doors are closed which is unusual. When I enter, I'm greeted by a big goofy blonde lab. The gym owner's dog! His daughter is back from college and somehow both she and the dog are at the gym. (The dog is much better behaved than my own two rascals, and because he's a lab, he's ultra friendly but as wide as a coffee table. My own pups tend to be lean and a bit leggy, like wolves.) Gym owner is setting up battle ropes and assorted DB stations for the Hump Day Boot Camp class that starts in an hour.
I've warmed up enough to take off my hoodie, which is good because I don't want to put my face on the mat when I do Child's Pose. While it's not advised for glaucoma sufferers, I do it so briefly that I don't think it'll hurt my eye pressures. And the stretch helps with lower back issues, which sciatica invariably is. My sciatica has been dormant for months now, even on the road trip up north, so I'm happy to continue with my exercise and stretch routine.
Squeals of delight mean the dog is in the free weight area. But he's gone by the time I get to the Inclined Breaker Bench to do my shoulder routine. Just as well. Invariably, the warm up set with just 10 lb DBs is the hardest. Just 10 lbs and my shoulders burn, but it is a very effective warm up and then my shoulders don't hurt with the heavier weights. I also don't need to pause and manage 25 reps straight through for all three sets. Yaay me!
In the locker room, I'm already showered and dressed when B comes in looking unhappy. She complains that it's too cold inside. She's wearing her usual leggings and unusually, a skin tight long sleeve shirt. I tell her in my most monotone, disinterested voice that perhaps she should wear more clothes. Because, knowing her, she's dying to strip down to a tank top and flirt with new potential gym hubbies. And usually she complains about having hot flashes, but she's well into her 70s so I don't comment on that. She seems very unhappy that I'm not as indignant about the indoor temps, that I'm not sympathetic or commiserating with her. Truthfully, I just don't care and that makes me feel very serene, calm and just slightly amused. Maybe I'm just tired.
It's a tad warmer today with highs in the mid 40s. Temps will actually hit 50F on Turkey Day! But I'm still cold inside the gym and don't take my hoodie off until I do triceps, which is after warming up on the elliptical and doing core in the Aerobics Room. People must be taking the week off as the gym seems emptier than usual although I spot regulars here and there. I muse about "Asian squats" because I've read yet another article about them, not that I'm learning anything new other than I should see if I can do this with my feet closer together. (Yes, I can.) And I also have the perfect body type for this: short limbs, long body, high flexibility. While I can keep this position for several minutes, eventually my shins hurt and my toes go numb...
I got less sleep than I wanted (or needed) mostly because my son isn't feeling well but tends to stay up late into the night even though there is school the next day. I give him two pink chewables of generic Pepto because that's supposed to be good for digestive woes. He doesn't want to stay home sick since he has exams today and tomorrow. We're trying to finish the paperwork for his Eagle project so we can finally check that off the list! Even when he leaves for college, I'm still going to worry about him...
As tired as I am, I'm in a better mood today and find myself singing along with my tunes during my workout. I'm also blithely ignoring the chatbot regulars because I honestly have nothing to say to them. Unlike a lot of people, I don't go to the gym to socialize so I'm fine with not saying anything to anyone. And I don't understand people (or maybe it's just women?) who feel the need to make a noise or grunt for every movement they make, whether it's putting on their shoes or stashing their bag in a locker. Maybe they're not really certain they exist unless they emit sounds? Sorta like a reverse sonar?
After triceps, I do 10 minutes on the Step Mill, with my hoodie draped over the back console. As vigorously as I'm moving, I don't get sweaty. Oh well... I plan to at least do cardio and core tomorrow before bringing pups to the park, and then picking up pies I ordered from the local farm store to bring to my brother's house for Turkey Day. He's a big fan of the blueberry ones. Maybe I should play the lottery today. Pumped some gas and got a round number; doesn't happen all that often without even trying.
My weather app read 15F when the alarm went off this morning. It was at least 20 by the time I got to the gym. But I was so cold that I kept my hoodie on through the entire cardio session and only took it off briefly to do a set of pull-ups. I actually put it back on once I cooled down in the Aerobics Room. And I kept it on while doing 10 minutes of steps and another set of pull-ups.
College kids are back for the holiday break but the gym isn't very crowded today. It's been frosty for days now, and not good weather to be standing around fumbling with car fobs. My 12-year old Subaru only has one key entry on the driver's side so when I tried to unlock the passenger side door to put groceries inside, I couldn't. And when I used my key, the car alarm went off and nothing on my fob would quiet it down. I had to actually start the ignition to turn the alarm off! Thank goodness I didn't have to go to the dealership for a replacement part. It's just the battery...
I'm very happy that you can find just about anything on the internet, including YouTube videos showing you how to change your fob battery, and the fact that the CR 2025 can be replaced with a CR 2032, which apparently has a larger capacity. Luckily, I already had an opened package of CR 2032 in my cabinet (they come in packs of 4)! I'll have to remember to buy a replacement package because we always keep spare batteries handy. Be prepared!
Temps are supposed to warm up to mid-40s during the day. My dogs don't care. They've been deliriously happy running through the park in the cold. They're winter pups and the arctic winds give the park a very wintry feel. But at least it's not snowing, like it was in Buffalo where the snowfall dwarfs even regular height folks.
Western New York is under a snowstorm watch, in anticipation of several feet of the white stuff. It gives us pause as to what colleges my son is looking to apply to since most colleges are closing this weekend to allow everyone to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's just cold here. Below 30F when I get up, and only 39F when I take the dogs to the park. It's so cold I can barely get warm pedaling the elliptical until halfway through.
I've decided that today will be an E-Z day, with just the routine cardio, core and pull-ups, but two sets. I know the second set is never as easy as the first, but at least it's done. I'm not impressed with the knee-tap plank so I might ditch it. Today I only feel it in my quads, not my lower abs. Dead Bugs work that much better, and I always do those after crunches.
The gym will be open on Thanksgiving, but I'm not going. Heck, I might not make it on Black Friday either, but only because I have the dreaded annual mammogram and echo scheduled for that day. I am amused that research is now showing exercise to be beneficial to cancer prevention. We all know that exercise is good for you but it's always been assumed that just meant cardiovascular system (heart and lungs), and muscle & bones to keep you from falling over and breaking something when you get old. But cancer? Whoa... and all because the exercising body greedily prevents oxygen from becoming available to those rogue miscreants.
I've been watching a lot of odd detective shows, like The Sinner with Bill Pullman. And The Stranger, with its oddly catchy soundtrack, Monster. What I love about streaming these shows that the close captioning option gives me the name of the song and the band who performs it. And this is how I've come to enjoy Walking On Cars, an Irish band that sadly disbanded a few years ago. But not before releasing a few albums. I'm going to listen to a few more songs before seeing if anything's on CD. They've become immensely popular since that show aired...
I skipped the gym yesterday to do errands, but don't think I didn't do my fair share of heavy lifting. I managed to wrestle a 50 lb bag of black oil sunflower seed into my car before heading off to the Job Lot where I loaded several 30 lb bags of ice melt into my shopping cart before discovering better ice melt (pet and plant safe) in the back of the store, next to an array of snow shovels. Which meant emptying the cart and loading two bags of 50 lb ice melt. These were also cheaper! But infinitely harder to pick up and load into the cart, and later, into my car. Getting everything out also took a bit of effort.
A 50 lb bag of seed is definitely easier to move than a comparable amount of salt, even though the seed bag is over twice as big in volume. I can't find anything online to help me explain (I'm probably using the wrong search parameters and the wrong search engine) why it is so much easier to pick up a 50 lb solid iron plate compared to a bag of seed. And the bag of seed is easier to hold onto than a bag of salt.
They all weigh 50 lbs, but the solid plate gives you something to grab and exert pressure on, whereas the seed and sand act like fluid and behave worse than "dead weight." The easiest chore I've done is load my wheelbarrow with firewood from a rack several yards from the house, drag it closer, and then carry the firewood, 4-5 pieces at a time, up five steps into the house to stack next to the wood stove. Winter is here!
I got to the gym today and did a routine 35 minutes of cardio, core and stretching, and then the DB shoulder exercises. I added a few reps back to the Inclined DB Press and it didn't suck so that was good. Sitting there, I glance up at the ceiling to see one of the fans. It's not moving. All the others are a blur. This one is so caked with dirt that I worry it will rain sticky dust everywhere should someone turn it on. Yuck!
Tank and B are chatting and laughing so loudly I can hear them through my tunes. The caterwauling dissonance emanating from the gym speakers doesn't help either. It might be Miley Cyrus. An old guy sets up in the Squat Rack immediately to the left of me. He doesn't even take his heavy jacket off but does a few quick reps, adds more plates, a few more reps. Then he leaves. Well, that was kind of weird. Time for me to go anyway, since it's cold and damp but dogs don't care and need their "run like loonies" time...
Although we got back from our trip on Sunday, I couldn't pick up my pups from the Dog Spa until Monday morning. And then they needed to run around in the park before coming home to be fed. If I get to the gym too late, it's full of HS kids even though school is in session. So I skipped the gym yesterday, and skipped it on Friday as well. And didn't do nearly as much walking on our tour of the far upstate college as we had done for other schools. It was a long drive in bad, rainy, windy weather and the only good thing was one particular restaurant in the hotel we stayed at after our college visit.
It would've been a much better trip if my husband hadn't gotten so drunk that not only did he need hotel staff help making it back to the room and then he sat passed out inside the doorway, but my son had to go down to the lobby desk to retrieve his credit card. Also not sure why he has a big scabby bruise on his forehead either. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well all weekend. My husband managed to stay "sober" for roughly 10 days since his DWI arrest, but then he made up for it and that went on for a few days. I'm thinking he has to be sober today for the zoom program he's required to log into. I don't get much sleep on nights where he's stumbling through the house, and I don't know that once that program is over he won't pour himself a drink. Because I can't control him. I can only control me.
It's 29F when I get my son up for school and afterward I head to the gym. Unfortunately, three out of four ellipticals are in use and I'm not in the mood for the cross-trainer which gives me shin splints. The stair machines are both empty though so I spend 20 minutes doing that, but it barely warms me up even though I'm doing my usual Speed 6. I feel better when I knock out my pull-ups and then head to an empty Aerobics Room to do core. I add another set of Knee-tap planks, but this time doing alternate knees. Again, it's hardest on the toes!
There's too many Chatty Cathies by the DBs so I use a bench on the other side of the BB rack. It's a tad inconvenient but at least I don't have to deal with all the cackling and flitting. I have time for more cardio and all the ellipticals are empty now. But I don't have a lot of time. Twenty minutes is fine including the "cool down" so I change directions every three minutes and forty-five seconds. Finally my left knee is warmed up and doesn't hurt like it did on the steps and doing air squats...
15 November 2022 Frosty Tuesday After 4 Days Off!
StepMill (L) Manual 20 min Speed 6 (52-55) Steps 1087 Floors 67 Cal 150 Hr 131
HGPU 23
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 Knee-tap plank 15, 10 alt knees Push-Ups 25 Air Squats 25 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls 30 lbs x 12 reps each x 2 35 lbs x 12/12 reps x 3 sets
Precor elliptical #1 Program 3 Time: 15 + 5 cd (3174) Distance: 1.62 Cal: 179 Avg Hr: 142, 186-82
Since I didn't have to wait for the plumber (yaaaay!), I went to the gym. It was as cold inside as it was outside. The heavy fog had frosted my car windows but by midday, the sun warmed everything to a balmy 62F. Welcome to Autumn in New England. I'm so cold that I don't take my hoodie off until more than halfway through my cardio workout while waiting for the numbness to leave my fingers as I hold the elliptical handlebars.
I'm pleased with the stats today, and I can't say enough good things about not getting up in the pitch black dark, although I know this is short-lived. As winter encroaches, the days continue to shorten. And although I'm not a morning person, I feel better waking up in the light...
It's freezing in the Aerobics Room and I cool down quickly. There's a fellow doing some sort of stretch and DB routine in the spot I usually occupy. I've seen him before and he's memorable only because he ties his long reddish hair up in a top knot. I imagine he looks a bit like a Viking when it's down, with the full beard and mustache. Later, I see him in the Squat Rack so he also lifts. Cool. I skip the Anti-Rotation Plank but still do over a dozen Knee-Tap Planks. Rolling forward is hard on the toes, for both the shoes and the feet!
Abandoned Benches
Today I'm doing shoulders. The DB area is almost empty except for a few folks traveling between benches and exercises. Unfortunately, a few dunderheads or maybe just one asshat has left big plates on both the decline and incline breaker benches, and then just walked away. Ugh. Re-rack your damn plates!
My hardest set is always the first one, a light 10 lb warm up with high reps. But yes, all they're all high rep sets. My funky elbows, shoulders and wrists won't allow me to go any heavier without serious tendon and joint issues. I might be able to go up another 5 lbs but my tiny hands don't elicit any confidence in their ability to actually hold 25 lb DBs over my head for any length of time.
Interestingly, an article in T-Nation discusses the differences between men and women workout routines, and high reps due to better endurance/stamina appears to be key. Yes, the warm up is the most strenuous set, and afterwards, all the other sets are heavier but a lot less painful. Go figure...
10 November 2022 Frigid Thursday
Precor elliptical #1 Program 2 Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5782) Distance: 2.90 Cal: 324 Avg Hr: 152, 194-80
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 Knee-tap plank 15 (rough on toes) Push-Ups 25 Air Squats 25 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
DB Incl Press s/s Lat Raise s/s Rev Inc Fly 10 lbs x 25/15/25 reps warmup 15 lbs x 20/15/25 20/15/20 lbs x 20/15/25 reps x 3 sets
I went to the gym and did a regular combination workout. It felt pretty good, except that it's been seasonably cold both inside and outside. Cardio got me warmed up and sweaty. Pull-ups weren't as hard as I remembered them to be. The Aerobics Room was cold and quiet, and I wondered what had happened to the Wednesday class since no one was setting up. I'm not sure that the Anti-Rotation Plank is working for me, but I do feel my lower abs just a skosh when I do the Knee-Tap Plank. Push-ups feel okay but my knees are uncomfortable during Air Squats and I kept adjusting my feet to minimize the discomfort.
I missed yesterday's workout, so I do the Triceps routine today as well. I tend to check my email between sets and I get correspondence from my son's guidance counselor, asking me to consider adding art schools to the list of schools being applied to. I don't agree at all with this decision. We're looking at schools that have both strong engineering programs as well as an active and vibrant art department with access to illustration, design, and digital media. Because truly, my son doesn't know what he wants, just what he doesn't want.
I'm able to do my four sets of skull crushers and rip skulls without any elbow or wrist issues. And the showers seem to have been unclogged so I'm no longer watching my shower shoes float away when I soap my toes. It's 47F and breezy at the Bark Park, not horribly cold but enough for me to wear a down coat and fleece hat to keep my wet hair from giving me chills.
I was planning to take tomorrow off since I'd scheduled a plumber to come, but today I find the source of my perpetually wet floors... the tap to my slop sink turned ever so slightly on, the faucet turned almost parallel with the back of the basin, water almost imperceptibly running down the back of the sink. No need for a plumber! I'm relieved, and slightly aghast that the sink has been running for three days. Ugh. Now I can plan a regular shoulder workout without worry. Yaaay me!
9 November 2022 Worrisome Wednesday
Precor elliptical #1 Program 1 Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5642) Distance: 2.85 Cal: 316 Avg Hr: 147, 194-77
HGPU 23
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 Anti-rotation plank 12 total Knee-tap plank 15 (knees together) Push-Ups 25 Air Squats 25 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls 30 lbs x 12 reps each x 2 35 lbs x 12/12 reps x 3 sets
My dogs are thoroughly confused by the fall back aspect of Daylight Savings Time. Personally, I'm glad for the extra hour of sleep and waking to a rising sun instead of bleak darkness. It's also been ridiculously warm, peaking today at 72F with 80% humidity, so the gym feels sticky and vaguely unpleasant. I do a full 35 minutes of cardio, pausing to replace my earbuds with Airpods because 20 minutes into the routine, I get the stern warning voice: power low.
That means there's only three minutes of battery life left before silence. Of course, I forget that I need to pause my iPod to do this so another stop to retrieve that out of my gear bag. (I've learned from sorry experience never to clip the iPod to my sweaty body because they're just not sweat-proof!) Which means my stats should be better and probably will be next time.
As I've said in previous posts, music sounds better through the wired Bluetooth earbuds, and I like being able to control the volume from the buds themselves. The Airpods are cranked as loud as the iPod will go, but still not loud enough to drown out neighboring conversations. Or the horribly tinny wail of Miley Cyrus over the speakers...
The Aerobics Room isn't much cooler but it is quieter. I do my full Core workout and test two alternative planks: anti-rotation plank and knee-tap plank. You can do alternate knees but that requires coordination with longer legs than I have. I do a dozen reps with both knees together. The anti-rotation plank is harder and akin to Mr. Miyagi's Wax On, Wax Off movement while laying a few inches off the ground on three points of contact.
Feeling guilty about over-indulging this past weekend, I successfully convinced myself to do a second set of pull-ups, and then 10 minutes on the Step Mill. We went to the West Hartford Symphony concert because one of my husband's co-workers is a member, manning the drums and cymbals. The program shows only three pieces, a brief intermission and then a documentary film. What? I was prepared to be bored, but this was extremely interesting and the best part of the evening! Afterward, the subject graciously answered questions posed by the audience.
The film is about Norman Malone, a man who survived childhood tragedy (his syphilitic father tried to kill him and his brothers before killing himself) and his quest to discover and master piano pieces composed for just the left hand. We learn about Maurice Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who was wounded in WWI and lost his right arm. Better yet, the music is dissected and explained and I feel wonderfully educated as well as appreciative and entertained.
Here's a YouTube teaser clip... the actual film can be streamed or purchased for a fee.
7 November 2022 Fall Back Monday
Precor elliptical #1 Program 3 Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5526) Distance: 2.82 Cal: 311 Avg Hr: 147, 185-123
HGPU 22
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 Anti-rotation plank 12 total Knee-tap plank 15 (knees together) Push-Ups 25 Air Squats 25 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
HGPU 20
StepMill (R) Manual 10 min Speed 6 (52-55) Steps 536 / 541 Floors 33 Cal 78 / 70 Hr 138 / na
I was in such a fog when I packed my gym gear that I didn't really notice that my sneakers didn't match. Two different brands, two different colors and sizes. That's the first time that's ever happened! At least the socks paired, and the footwear was close enough in color/texture that no one else noticed, as far as I could tell. People tend not to look at feet unless there's something fluorescent on them.
I got on the elliptical and pedaled for 25 minutes, busting a mild sweat and knocking out a set of pull-ups. I got through most of my Core workout in the Aerobics Room when I remembered the plank variations. I popped open the webpage on my phone and gave three versions a test run.
The Anti-Rotation Plank was okay but I needed to clear my water bottle and gear bag from the mat before accidentally sending things flying. The Knee-Tap Plank was weird, maybe because I have a disproportionally long body and short limbs. It's not a very big movement and I'm not sure I could feel anything in the lower abdominal that Dead Bugs didn't already address. The Reverse Plank was a total fail. Not only did I not feel it in my back (erector spinae), the stress hit the back of my knees. Afterward, my lower back stiffened and felt out of sorts. Not doing that one again.
The DB area was vacant--my invitation to do my DB shoulder routine. I'm not sure I'll get a chance to exercise tomorrow as I'm following my husband to the Subaru dealership tomorrow morning. He went to replace the headlamp at the local oil change place and that was an exercise in patience. The first place couldn't figure out how to access the headlamp bulb, the second place didn't have any in stock and suggested my husband go across the street to the auto parts store to buy one. Installing a new bulb made no difference. Since my husband got pulled over for a non-working headlamp, he doesn't want to constantly incur police scrutiny.
We did go to court on Tuesday with a lawyer recommended by an addiction medical rehab place, and the lawyer managed to get the charges reduced. It still means my husband has a restricted license now with additional fines and costs for attending mandatory drink/drive programs. But at least he's taking his alcohol addiction seriously now, because dealing with his excesses has been exhausting. I think I actually got 7 hours sleep last night!
1 November 2022 Mix-Matched Thursday
Precor elliptical #1 Program 2 Time: 20 min + 5 min cd (4052) Distance: 2.04 Cal: 228 Avg Hr: 132, 192-78
HGPU 22
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 Sampled: Anti-rotation plank, Knee-tap plank, Reverse plank Push-Ups 25 Air Squats 25 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
DB Incl Press s/s Lat Raise s/s Rev Inc Fly 10 lbs x 25/15/25 reps warmup 15 lbs x 20/15/25 20/15/20 lbs x 20/15/25 reps x 3 sets
I got the bare minimum 6 hrs of sleep before the alarm went off. At least temps are a balmy 57F when I start the car in the dark. It takes me forever to get myself on the elliptical and even then, I'm pedaling distracted because I'm in the middle of a text conversation with an alcohol treatment center. My husband got pulled over for a DUI last night and with stricter impaired driving laws, he stands to lose his license, which would be catastrophic since he drives to airports in other states and his schedule is erratic and unpredictable. Worse, the court appearance is for tonight and this is only slightly ridiculous because the case hasn't even made it's way to the DA's desk. Yes, I've had to contact an attorney as well.
So I'm half-assed pedaling the elliptical while texting. But it's warm and humid so working up a sweat is no problem. And the Core routine is routine although I did promise myself that I'd look at alternative planks that might not exacerbate my sciatica. Now, if only I could remember what they are and how to do them right when I'm in the Aerobics Room and ready to actually do them! Click here for that article.
I have time to do Triceps today and I use the bigger 1/2 lb discs. My elbows complain a bit so I add more rest time between sets and get it all done. Dogs want to go to the park even if there's no one to play with. Overcast skies with patchy fog and intermittent drizzle means a lot of dog folks stay home. Not us! A little weather never hurt anyone...
1 November 2022 Balmy Tuesday
Precor elliptical #1 Program 1 Time: 20 min + 5 min cd (3876) Distance: 1.99 Cal: 219 Avg Hr: 144, 190-87
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 Upper body stretch Eye yoga x 3
Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls 30 lbs x 12 reps each x 2 35 lbs x 12/12 reps x 3 sets
