Mix It Up Thursday and a Surprise

There's no mention of the fact that today is Pearl Harbor Day. Maybe there's too much other bad news worldwide? It's also really really cold when I wake up. I wasn't expecting temps to be quite so cold but me and the pups went to the park anyway, knowing that no one else would be there. After 30 minutes, the dogs were genuinely interested in leaving, maybe because they always get a few chicken jerky bites when they get in the car. One of my pups starts drooling even before I get the canister out of my pocket.

I have a few errands to do before I make it to the gym and since it's Thursday, the parking lot is fairly empty. Plus, the weather looks really iffy with snow flurries and unfriendly overcast skies. The gym isn't crowded and I get on the elliptical of my choice. At some point I should do a few "runs" on other cardio machines; I just haven't figured out which ones yet. Again, I'm really happy to eke past the 2.9 mark so everything's gravy from here on.

Normally I'd either be at the Stretch Cage for pull-ups, or off to the Aerobics Room to do Core exercises. But I felt the need to mix things up where I can, and one of the things I can do is change the order of the exercises. (Because bodies acclimatize really well to routines!) So what happens if after cardio I push weights and do the core exercises at the end? This way I can end with Walking Lunges and Wall Squats! Of course, I worried how badly DB inclined bench reps would impact the push-ups that follow stretches and Dead Bugs.  Admittedly, it was harder this time. And the ending Wall Squats were almost unbearable, but I did manage to stay upright for the full 90 seconds. 

The DB shoulder workout was really good, mostly because I didn't pre-exhaust myself. Doing cardio first is a must though (I hate it so much I'm always tempted to skip it if it's not the absolute first item to knock off my exercise list). I see a bunch of semi-regulars, including a very athletic, tiny woman (I think she might be shorter than me but I have an oversized sense of my actual height, until I can't reach something even on my tiptoes) who impressed me by doing several small sets of chin-ups on the bar affixed to the combo cage next to the Smith machine. Awesome! She's quite a powerhouse. 

Less impressive was the pretty teen girl who pulled off her sweatshirt to move tiny plastic baby bells in her sports bra and leggings. Well, it was getting late and the HS kids are trickling in... 

I tend to read a lot of news and articles online and they invariably have links to other articles, or TikTok or Instagram accounts. Maybe it's because I've got an ad blocker and most of the cookies have been disabled, but the TikTok links never work. I always get dropped into whatever the latest post is, and going back to the original link and re-clicking just brings me to a totally different video. Instagram is slightly better. But imagine my surprise when I click a link to view an image and I get dumped into an image of a familiar face. 

OMG! I know her! And she's fulfilling apparently a lifelong goal of competing and placing in an over-50 fitness pageant. She looks fabulous, with a smooth even tan and sleek lines. Although not very muscular, she doesn't exhibit that horrible gauntness that plague some competitors and her skin looks great. Even better is that she did not succumb to stuffing her chest. (Women's fitness is rife with fake boobs.) Kudos to her for achieving that dream!

I admit I'm a tiny bit jealous. In my 50s, competing in the Masters Class meant going against women who were over 35. Uh, no 53 year old wants to stand onstage with a 39 year old. I gave up my dream of competing once I realized that losing a lot of my body fat left me with lots of thin wrinkly belly skin and an even more horrendous saggy butt. You can't hide any of this in a bikini onstage. My ultra dry skin has little elasticity and there's no remedying those defects. I've seen women compete like that and it's not good. 

Plus, I'd never be able to achieve any semblance of a smooth tan because my skin is so patchy and scaly. Now that I'm packing more weight, my butt isn't saggy and wrinkled, but I admit I should drop a few pounds. Of course, these days I'm more concerned with how long I can go without a new bout of sciatica, because it tends to come out of nowhere... it's why I've decided not to get that second Shingrix shot.

7 December 2023 11:34-1:23
22°F Thursday Pearl Harbor Day & I’m mixing it up

Precor elliptical #1
Program 1
Time: 30+5 (5846)
Distance: 2.91
Cal: 326
Avg Hr: 156, 203-81

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 sets

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5 alt/ss = 100
20 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg bridges
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Upper stretch w side bends & twists
Walking lunges 42 steps total
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat 90s that hurt!