Apparently Weight Lifting is Good For Your Brain

I took yesterday off and did a bunch of chores, actually fell asleep on the sofa with the dogs and made up my sleep deficit. But of course, this meant that I wasn't really sleepy when I went to bed later. Bummer. Just can't win the sleep battle. 

All us gym rats know that exercise is good for us so it's amusing and validating to read research articles stating that exercise is not only good for your body but your brain as well. Well, duh. You know blood flow and oxygen and all that... but yesterday, I read an article suggesting that weight lifting actually helps to mitigate Alzheimer's. Click here to read the article.

This, of course, gives me greater incentive to push some weights today. This will also be the third day this week that I've made it to the gym, which is challenging cuz it's so easy to find other things to do instead. I'm tired and made adjustments to my routine by cutting 10 minute off the cardio program, but compensated by doing Intervals. Because that's not something I do regularly, I find it much more difficult that the standard three programs on the Precor elliptical.

I get a set of pull-ups and I'm slightly disappointed. Better than 15 but not 20 like last week. The half pull-up means I pushed and couldn't quite do the complete rep. Some days I have a series of half reps, but not today. There's a handful of people in the free weight area. I search for the two Nautilus benches. One is in use and the other one is in a bench cage. There are other adjustable benches and I try to adjust one to a shallower inclined angle but it's stuck in the 90 degree position, bolt upright and totally unusable for me. Ugh. I'm about to head over to the bench cage several yards away when the fellow on the bench close to the DB rack exits the area. Yaaay! I glom onto it like wet paint.

You can always tell newbies in the free weight area: they're the ones doing their thing literally right in front of the weight rack. Okay, even some seasoned folks are that inconsiderate, but they're just lazy butt holes. Most of us know to step back a few feet so as not to block access to the rest of the racks. There's a new face in the gym today and she seems unsure as to what she's doing and where she should be doing it. Hopefully she'll figure it out, or come at a different time in the day. Because half the time she's in my way. 

I escaped to the Aerobics Room once I finished my sets. It wasn't empty which surprised me. It's pleasantly warm outside and was only moist in the early morning (when I was at the dog park with my puppers). Even though I'm tired, I was still able to complete the entire routine including Walking Lunges and ending with a quick Wall Sit. That only lasted 90 seconds, but that was quite enough.

4 April 2025 12:24-2:16

Friday — Cardio and then some

66°F!!

Precor elliptical #1

Program Intervals

Time: 20 + 5 (3354)

Distance: 1.90

Cal: 198

Avg Hr: 138, 200-87

New FB: 40-126

HGPU 18.5

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 

15 lbs x 25/15/25 

20/15/20 x 26/15/26 reps x 3 sets

20 Hip Bridges 

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 30 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 30

Arm rotations 20

Air Squats 25

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Walking Lunges 21/21

Wall Squat 90 sec

Mid-Week and It's Okay

I spent hours yesterday trying to get my new color photo printer to communicate with my laptop via WiFi. My old photo printer hasn't worked since before the pandemic so it's been more than 5 years. I took the old one to Staples because they accept e-waste, and then I ordered an inexpensive model from Canon. Not the best printer, but definitely affordable, and able to accept 13x18 paper. 

I can print images with a USB cable but that requires me actually sitting right next to the printer, and that's not something I always want to do. Especially since the machine is advertised as being WiFi accessible. Eventually, I get a dialogue window asking me for the printer password. Uh, since when do home printers have or need passwords? 

I put a call into the Canon service center, and after a good long (20 minute) wait with peppy piped-in Muzak, I get an actual tech on the phone. Who then walks me through the process of getting my printer recognized on our home WiFi system. That takes another 90 minutes. The tech tells me that I'm not the first person to call with this issue, especially since there is nothing documented about this included with the device. But apparently, a few years ago a law was passed that required manufacturers of WiFi connected devices to have randomly generated passwords. I had no idea!

Used to be you could enter the device's serial number as a password, but now it's a complete unknown, unless you know the secret number of taps to use on the WiFi button. Then the printer takes a few minutes and eventually prints out a sheet of info with the super secret password at the very bottom. Jeeze, you'd think this was an issue of national security. There's literally no documentation to tell the average consumer how to access this. You NEED to contact tech support. Or be satisfied with a hard-wired USB cable.

I get to the gym later than I'd like, but earlier than Monday. Today was a cardio day and I had access to all the machines I like to use. I saw a lot of regulars, people I haven't seen in a long time because they normally come earlier in the day. While my time on the elliptical wasn't quite as good as Monday, it's still over 2.8. Pull-ups were good this week for the first two sets. I didn't push it for the 3rd set and was satisfied with 15 reps. Cuz, I was really truly tired by then.

What's surprising is that I'm not sore at all from all those push-ups on Monday. Nope. Not even a little bit. Maybe, if I really pushed and made it to 75, I'd probably be sore. But I'm not supposed to be doing stressful movements like that, according to my glaucoma doc. So I guess not. I was so tired that I started to lose count when doing my standard push-ups. I think I got to 30 but I'm not sure. I got to a point, spaced out and started again and got to 10. So ten plus where ever the hell I was. Maybe 15, maybe 20. I don't remember. Ugh.

After air squats, I decided to see if I could still do side lunges. It's a staple stretch and it's been a long time. As long as it didn't aggravate my sciatica I'm okay with it. The knees were a bit stiff but in general it was an okay movement and nothing hurt when I did them. Tomorrow I'll find out whether there's any repercussions.

At home, I dug out my BB collars and tossed them into my gear bag, just in case. They're more bulky than heavy, unlike a spring collar. But at least I can secure plates to a bar should the one I want to use be unavailable. Always best to be prepared. Being an Eagle Scout mom has left its mark.

2 April 2025 12:22-2:23

Wednesday — All Cardio

Spring Cardio 

Precor elliptical #1

Program 3

Time: 30 + 5 (5544)

Distance: 2.82

Cal: 312

Avg Hr: 159-83, 186?!

New FB: 42-136

HGPU 19.5

Matrix StairMaster (R) 1:10-1:20

Manual timer 8+2 cool down

Minimum 5 minutes

Speed 5 (48-45) / 2 (36) / 1 (33)

Steps 439

Floors 27

Cal 66

Hr 106

HGPU 19

Life Fitness X-Trainer #4

Program Manual L1

Time: 12 (+3 min cool down) = 15

Distance: 1.36

Cal: 114

Avg Hr: 128-135

HGPU 15 (didn’t push it)

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 25 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 30? Lost count

Arm rotations 20

Air Squats 25

Side Lunges (10 each side)

Neck stretch / Eye yoga