Heavy Arms

Just as my knuckles seem good to go, my fingers start to ache and sting. It's this weather. As we age, our skin loses it's ability to hang on to moisture. Add a genetic predisposition to dry skin and we have winter skin fissures. If I let them go long enough, I'll find blood oozing from the hairline cracks in my finger tips and along my nail cuticles. My fingertips seem swollen and sensitive to every touch. Thank goodness I'm not susceptible to chilblains as well, although I've been making good use of Hot Hands® pocket warmers. But it's not enough. Gloves aren't enough. Using heavy creams and petroleum jelly isn't enough.

The only solution I've found is to use "liquid skin" which is a sort of plastic-like glue you can paint over the breach in your skin. It dries like clear-coat nail polish, and smells like it too. There are several brands. Most of them sting like the dickens too. If you look hard enough, you can find some with an anesthetic like lidocaine to numb the area. I paint my fingertips liberally and try not to touch anything while they're drying.

I use a double patch of moleskin on my right pointer knuckle today, and it seems to help. Although my session isn't quite as good as Tuesday's, I'm very pleased. It was a great workout. The machine did blank several times, and I've informed the gym staff that perhaps something needs to be tightened. What I really like is the ability to ramp up for the very last two rounds of a 15-round routine, calling on stores of endurance and strength that aren't readily apparent. It's a head rush. My arms and especially my shoulders feel really heavy today. I'm wondering if the DB delt workout from Monday is finally catching up with me? Who can really tell?

Morning Selfie pre-workout

Afterwards, 15 minutes on the Step Mill and then some pull ups before doing most of my Mat Stretch. I've decided to see if doing pull ups every day will help or hinder my progress. Today, I felt a bit tired for the last 2-3 reps. Sometimes I underestimate myself, because I almost broke my nose coming up to the cage roof so fast for that last rep. I'm still waiting for my ZMA to show up. I've been taking chelated zinc gluconate and magnesium oxide at bed time, but it's not the same as the ZMA. I'm assuming that the A stands for "acetate", which is how the zinc and magnesium appear in this formulation. My sleep hasn't been great. But eating dark chocolate-covered espresso beans for a late afternoon caffeine boost probably isn't helping.

Friday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   99 CAL
Distance: 0.87 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

Follow Me 

Lap/Rep :  15 Lap/Rep
Duration : 01:00:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   111 CAL
Speed :    6
Lap/Rep :  47 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

165

Set 1 : 110x15

One Leg Bodyweight Squat

139.33

Set 1 : 110x8

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner Follow Me

5 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

5 rounds Advanced Follow Me

The Hair Thing...

Body Weight Workout Good!

You know you're a short-hair kind of gal when people repeatedly say to you "You look great! Got a new haircut?" when all you've done is tie your hair back and cut your bangs because they were in your eyes. I'm having a love-hate relationship with my hair these days. It's mostly hate. I find it everywhere, long strands in my purse, on the floor, curled up with dust bunnies. It's the type of hair that comes between you and your stud earrings in a painful manner. Loose strands settle on your clothes and skin, making you jump to imaginary spiders on your arm. Ponytails pull on my scalp too much and I worry about losing my hair from the tension it creates. Now I mostly braid my hair, which is messy. There's always stray hair floating about my face, which I use barrettes to clip back, but baby-fine, straight hair never stays clipped for long. I'm not a "product" person so you won't catch me using gel, mousse or hairspray. I do love the fact that my hair is only ever so slowly starting to grey. But I'm seriously considering cutting it all off. Except that it's getting cold now.

I take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before eating a cup of plain Greek yogurt and maple syrup. So far so good. I get my son on the bus. Yesterday was horrible without any caffeine, so I decide to have one cup of instant espresso. I can't drink coffee black because that bothers my stomach. There's always at least two teaspoons of sugar and a good amount of half and half to make it palatable. My husband has forsworn all additives to his coffee because he doesn't want the calories. Black coffee doesn't bother his stomach. There's less caffeine in instant than fresh brewed, but it's more than a can cola will provide. Yes, I know, caffeine is a GI tract irritant, but it's not worth feeling as if you're going to pass out behind the wheel while driving home because your eyes feel like boulders about to roll out of their sockets. At least I'm not going through alcohol withdrawal!

The coffee stays put, and I don't have heartburn. Yaaaay! The gym is a tad busier than usual for a Friday, maybe because it's cold and rainy outside. The LifeFitness cross-trainer that I favor has been repaired so I do my 10 minute warm-up there and I'm happy. The cross-trainer registers more mileage than the elliptical does in the same amount of time. I'm not sure why.

Round 1 Adv

Round 2 Adv

I'm very careful to wrap my hands because the right is still a bit sore from Tuesday. I pull my punches a little so as not to re-injure myself. I'm very happy with my current routine of 3 rounds Beginner, 8 rounds Intermediate and 3 rounds Advance. At some point I'll drop some Intermediate rounds and add them to the Advance. The machine seems to favor 5-round sessions. I do hit hard enough to stop and blank the screen twice during the Intermediate session. The non-stop action has me panting at the end, but it feels surprisingly good. Endorphins kicking in! There are combinations I've never seen before in the Advanced session so I pull my power in order to increase my Accuracy and land better strikes. There are some combinations that I'm not sure how to score better. I'm moving as fast as I can, the machine registers the blows, but I'm getting zilch for the score. Oh well...

Round 3 Adv

Because the Advance Level requires such a rapid succession of blows, I'm forced to move from one stance to the next without re-setting. It requires more flexibility and balance because you might be moving from a Power Sweep immediately into a Power Kick. You don't have time to step back and reset for the Power Kick. You just pivot from the Sweep to the Kick. I'm a bit frustrated with one combination in particular, again, because it's asking for Jab / Cross / Lead Kick / Lead Kick, and my brain-body interprets the directive as Jab / Cross / Power Kick / Power Kick. At some point I'll get my brain and body to coordinate properly. Just takes practice. A whole lot of practice!

Round 3 Prep Screen

I'm aware of people passing directly around me to get to the mountain bike simulators, or the CF equipment. The Mayor and another fellow in a red tee wander past to use the cable machine. Scruffy sees all the stations are busy and returns later. Tattoo Tank is just leaving. A lot of middle-aged men and women think they'll be able to do pull ups if they use the Assisted Pull Up machine enough. Never gonna happen. My lats are sore. They're never sore when I do weights, but doing weights is probably what made me strong enough to do pull ups. I think they might actually be growing as well. I'd like to see if my back looks any different, but who has time to set up a tripod to take back selfies? It's a whole production to get that picture.

After whacking the Nexersys machine, I climb the Step Mill for 15 minutes while singing to myself. Then a quick lower back stretch on the Mat with Camels and Cats, Bridges and Knee-Ins. Done! The scale reads 109.4 lbs. I guess cutting out all that hard cider is like going on a diet. Oh well. It's not like it's going to go bad any time soon.

Friday Workout

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie :   47 CAL
Distance: 1.29 mile
Speed :    7.67 mph
Duration : 00:10:08

Kick Boxing

Follow Me

3 r Bgnr
8 r Intmd
3 r Adv
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   111 CAL
Lap/Rep :  46 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

3 rounds Beginner

8 rounds Intermediate

3 rounds Advanced

Whacking the Machine Again

Post Workout Selfie

I was a little worried about hitting the Nexersys more than once a week, but I had to know if proper hand wrapping would really protect me from serious knuckle damage. My hands aren't sore so that's good. I do my 10 minute warm up and spend a few minutes taping and wrapping before stuffing my hands into gloves. I've braided my hair and clipped it to my head, but the intensity of the Intermediate Follow Me workout causes my hair to fall loose from my head.

I'm constantly readjusting my hair between rounds and eventually I give up, happy just to clip the hair out of my face. At least it's braided so that it's not a wet ponytail smacking me in the face when I twist as I throw a Power Hook. I have favorite moves, and less successful blows, like the Lead Sweep. But I'm most happy with how my hands feel. Two of my fingers feel a bit odd, perhaps I've taped them a tad too tight, but my knuckles don't hurt, my hands don't hurt, and I haven't lost any skin. Yaaaay!

People constant walk past in my  peripheral vision. The machine doesn't register my Lead Kick. And is overly sensitive to my Cross and Power Body. I note with some caution the woman who mounts the mountain bike simulator closest to my machine. She has three bikes to choose from but of course, being somewhat oblivious, she chooses the one most likely to result in personal injury if she isn't careful. She's on the bike for maybe 15 minutes. 14 rounds means 56 minutes, of which 42 are active and 14 are rest minutes. When I'm done, I put my hoodie on and lay down on the Mat to stretch out my lower back. It's been really stiff this week. And my lats are still sore. It's hard for me to believe that my body-weight workout is actually harder on my body than pumping iron. The body is adaptable! I plan to maintain this workout for a few weeks, and then move back to weights. Eventually.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   97 CAL
Distance: 0.05 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

5 r Beginner
9 r Intermediate
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 Rounds Beginner Follow Me

9 Rounds Intermediate Follow Me