Better yet, I'm able to focus enough during pull-ups to cross my ankles and keep my legs straight below me (instead of dangling loosely). It makes the movement both harder and easier: if your body is straight it's less likely to waver, which adds drag to the pull. But keeping your body straight with crossed ankles isn't a relaxed position. So easier and yet harder. But ultimately, I'm able to get a few more reps today.
Technically, the Senior class is over at 12:30 and I walk over to the Aerobics Room five minutes past that. Nope. Still full of people and chairs. I sit down at the Cable machine for seated rows to kill time. While I'm doing my reps, I glimpse an odd couple: tall, slender athletic man, maybe middle-aged with a baseball cap (so I can't see his hair or his head) doing a few pull-ups on the bars between the two cable stations. Sometimes he manages a muscle-up as well.
Then there's the woman. She might be young enough to be his daughter. Or not. She's slender but has some shape to her arms and legs, so fairly athletic. Mostly she stands around looking unhappy. As I'm finishing my last set of Seated Cable Rows, I see the dude sit down and put his arm around the woman, as if to comfort her. (Is he her dad or her boyfriend--I can't tell.) They're both sitting on the moveable platform (people use it to reach the pull-up/chin-up handles on the bar between the cable stations). BTW, those bars are too thick for me to get my hands around and too high for me to reach, even standing on the platform. Yeah, I'm short.
I see the stack of chairs get wheeled out of the Aerobics Room but I need to finish my sets first. Unfortunately, because it's actually a decent temperature outside (70F), the a/c isn't running. Ugh. All my exercises are completed without any issues. Even the Wall Squat feels okay today. No quad burning! My HR is slightly higher and my BP has always been erratic. Some days its normal but most days its not, but not ridiculously high like last summer. I am trying to get more sleep, especially after reading a disturbing article that speaks directly to people who routinely go to bed after 1 AM, stating that they suffer from more psychological disorders even if they're night owls... Ugh.
I am actively trying to fall asleep earlier! I drink chamomile tea, now take my magnesium supplement around 9:30 PM instead of with the rest of my vitamins after exercising, and tried the free samples CVS distributed last week of the Nature's Bounty Sleep 3 Time-released Gummies with melatonin and theanine (a natural sleep aid). I only eat 1 gummy each time, and I think they work. CVS wants a lot more money for this product (which isn't even in stock on their shelves) than I can buy at Amazon. I think I'll probably order it on Amazon, once I have enough items in my cart to qualify for free shipping. Because I refuse to pay for Prime.
I have some issues with their labeling though: Why is it called Sleep 3 when there are two active ingredients? Front label says 2 gummies, 10 mg per serving. Back label says 2 servings. Which would mean there's 4 gummies? But there's only 2 gummies and no where does it say that each gummy is 5 mg. Instead, it says 1 serving is 10 mg melatonin. As if they can't bring themselves to admit that each gummy is 5. Because other brands also sell 5 and 10 mg doses. But maybe not time-released. And maybe not with 100 mg theanine (per serving). I haven't experienced any sleep hangovers so far. But of course, I've only tried them twice at half dose serving.
(Finish at 12:52)
No comments:
Post a Comment