Headphones

I was complaining to my husband about not having what I consider decent earphones for my gym tunes. He offered me an assortment of old earbuds that he no longer uses. The wired one pairs easily with my ancient iPod and I appreciate the ability to adjust the volume with buttons on one of the earpieces. Ear hooks keep them secure. That's the one I use today. The other options are harder to use, mostly because they resemble NYC transit tokens with no discernible buttons. A pair with ear hooks comes with an instruction booklet that states the tapping on the left earbud raises the volume while the right one lowers it.

Unfortunately, the left one refuses to pair and tapping only lowers the volume of my iPod until it is silent and nothing I do can bring the sound back up. It also advances the songs on my iPod even though I can't hear anything. Well, that's totally useless. I also have a pair of knock-off AirPods, but I'm worried they'll also fall out of my head, and again, there's no volume control. My husband tells me that it's just assumed that everyone is streaming through their iPhone and volume would be controlled there. Eventually I'll have to resort to that once my iPod dies, because its battery will refuse to charge, and it'll be another favored piece of technology rendered obsolete. 

I have errands to run after the gym so I cut my cardio time by 10 minutes. Elliptical #2 is in disarray: the panel under the pedals is laying perpendicular, which renders the machine unusable. The easy solution would be to place it back in position (it's not secured by bolts or anything else), but of course, no one will do it until the gym owner gets back on Monday. It's already hot outside and the gym isn't very busy, probably because there are college graduations and it's Mother's Day this Sunday. Plus, people love exercising outdoors early in the morning when it promises to be hot later in the day. And today should hit well over 80 degrees.

After cardio and core (the Aerobics Room is pleasantly air-conditioned), I head for the DB free weight area. Only two regulars, Tank and M, are at the flat benches. A few new faces wander in to the DB area for a set or two and then wander out. I do my DB Shoulder routine with the only difference being that the last set is really AMRAP (as many reps as possible). Last time, I stopped the DB inclined press at 30 reps even though I could go further, mostly because I weirded myself out once I got past 25. You can definitely be your own worse enemy. Today, I'm mentally prepared to go to 50 reps but I only make it to 40, but I'm not disappointed. I might be sore tomorrow. High reps can do that.

12 May 2023
Scorching Friday

Precor elliptical #1
Program 1
Time: 20 + 5 (3944)
Distance: 2.01
Cal: 222
Avg Hr: 130, 168-92

20 Hip Bridges
Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
20 Hip Bridges
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12x
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Upper body stretch
Eye yoga

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys
10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up
15 lbs x 25/15/25
20/15/20 x 25/15/25 x 3
15 lbs x 40/20/40 cool down