It's been 4 days since I discontinued using the timolol eye drops and I finally feel like myself: my face, especially around my eyes are no longer swollen and itchy and I don't feel quite as tired. It's weirdly disconcerting how having blurry or itchy or squinting eyes can color your whole attitude toward the day. It's downright depressing because it makes it hard to read or trust what you see, bright lights and low-light are both problematic.
I get to the gym a bit later than I'd like but there's no Senior class so I feel optimistic. Unfortunately, both elliptical #1 and #2 are occupied and there are a number of fat old men I've never seen before. One of them is huffing on #1 and another one eyes me as I walk past him because his stationery bike is in the row in front of the elliptical machines. Wind Breaker dude is busy pedaling on #2, so I get on #3 which at least allows me to select a program to pedal to. Later, a woman gets on #4 next to me but I don't think she's interested in any of the programs: she's pedaling so slowly it's as if she were walking on a step machine. Weird.
The fat dude on the bike is also pedaling slowly. Maybe he's got knee problems. Or he's just out of cardio shape. Meanwhile, I'm pedaling hard and fast, singing along to my tunes (but to myself) until the program ends. I almost make it to 2.9 but not quite. Still, it feels good to not have to fight myself. Even pull-ups feel slightly better although I don't get more reps, but the reps feel stronger.
I'm focused on what to do next. The layout of the free weight area has changed with new stations replacing the old Breaker Benches: 3 flat, 2 inclined, 1 declined. All gone. In their places are individual cages for squats or benching. These are smaller than the MaxRack and Smith machine, both of which have been moved toward the DB racks. Well, at least the cable stations are intact and I can do Seated Cable Rows. I watch as other folks enter the area and look around, just as confused as to where certain stations are situated now.
There are a lot of kids in the stations closest to the DB racks. Some cages don't have benches, so good for squats. I find a cage with a bench close to the Aerobics Room. There's a bar on the heavy-duty arms protruding from the frame. I push the bench in so that when I pull my arms over my head with a light BB, I won't smack into the structural support post just a few feet away. No wonder no one wants to use this station. Better for me though. My head just clears the Oly bar. The whole setup is too cumbersome and heavy for me to adjust, so I'm careful to not bump my head.
Apparently this is the new equipment the gym owner was talking about some months ago. There's actually a large empty space in the middle of the free weight area, and I wonder if there's more equipment coming. Well, so much for this place becoming a senior fitness center, right? There's even some new equipment in the Aerobics Room, although it's modest: a "portable bench" with DBs stuffed underneath, placed next to the unruly pile of foam mats. The 3-tier exercise ball rack used to be there, but that's been moved to a wall across from the machines, next to the defunct water fountain. The drinking fountain costed too much to keep sanitized during the pandemic, so now it's just a non-working fixture. You can buy water from the coolers near the front desk. Or bring your own.
I'm able to knock out all my core exercises without any issues. Until I get to Wall Sits. Those are super hard today, and while I did grind out 2 minutes and 30 seconds, I can't say it was easy. My FitBit, which I took off the charger and put on my wrist right before I went to bed, has dropped to 22% in roughly 18 hours. It used to last 2-3 days before needing a charge. And the screen is illegible most of the time, with a static poltergeist visage that doesn't allow me to access any information. I need to open the app on my phone, and that tells me my HR is back to peaking at 146. That's more like it!
Of course, I'll be restarting use of the Timoptic drops on Sunday, which will mean a lower HR and probably BP (it has been creeping up without the beta blocker, in spite of the losartan). And it also means I'll be struggling to do cardio next Monday. So not looking forward to that...
I read a silly article about one of Madonna's kids proud of himself for leaving the nest and not having enough money to buy food. It made me think of the William Shatner song Common People on his Has Been album. Yes, I own that. But in case you wanted to hear it, here it is courtesy of YouTube:
25 July 11:46-1:46
Changeable Thursday
no timolol / ?? FitBit
Precor elliptical #3
Program 1
Time: 30+5 (5776)
Distance: 2.89
Cal: 324
Avg Hr: 155, 185-84
?? Fitbit: 55-146 (30% battery!)
HGPU 15 (ugh!)
Seated Cable Rows (12:54)
50 lbs x 15
60 x 15
70 x 15 (12:46), 15 (12:49), 15 (12:54)
All 6 Breaker benches (2 inclined, 3 flat, 1 declined) replaced
with 5 standalone squat/combo cages. Smith machine & Max Cage moved
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