Little Details

I decided to cut my cardio today and concentrate on whacking the kickboxing machine. But even though I had strips of moleskin and white tape wrapped over my knuckles, I was feeling a raw stinging on my left hand. The tape was rolling up under the RevGear gloves, exposing my knuckles to the underside of the boxing mit. I tried to pause the machine in order to adjust the tape but after a minute, the machine resets itself and all the data is lost. Luckily I'd only gotten two rounds into it. I pulled off my glove and rewrapped the tape more securely and then logged back into the Follow Me program.

Even though I'd spent 15 minutes on the LifeFitness cross-trainer warming up, I didn't actually feel warmed up until halfway through 5 rounds of the Beginner Program. And I'd only blanked the machine once, although I'd gotten the frustrating "Hitting Too Hard" warning dozens of times. I did manage to make up the "missed" blows by whacking the machine as soon as I hit the reset button, but every now and then even those blows would be "too hard", causing further delays. Whacking the machine is definitely less fun when you have to stop every third blow to hit the reset button. There's nothing more joyous than knocking out power combinations with lightning speed.

The machine is definitely battered. The Intermediate Follow Me program is fun, but every now and then, the machine glitches and runs through combinations without highlighting the appropriate calls. My accuracy rating plummets and I do miss several blows. But I'm having a good time and it's a damn good workout. While I'm whacking the machine, people pass by behind me to get to the stretch Cage or the other Cable system. I see Venus. She's wearing a black tank top and purple leggings and she's doing cable lateral raises for her arms. She's got nice arms. Not as muscular as mine, but definitely nicer than most of the women here.

After I'm done, I peel off the tape and moleskin, revealing sorely pink knuckles underneath. The Precor ellipticals are available so I hop on one for 30 minutes of the Performance #2 program. Venus comes back to the central cable stations for more delt work. Now she's on the Step Mill two machines over, chatting with Island Jerk. He's been much quieter lately. I don't miss him at all. I toss my hoodie back on and do a quick Mat Stretch, but without push ups or pistols or planks. Just stretching. Venus comes into the locker room just as I'm putting my engagement ring on. I don't work out with it on and usually keep it in my purse until after my workout. She pulls on a jacket and shades and heads out without changing or showering. I know that we are both aware of each other. And I'm content to leave it at that.

Wednesday Workout
(4.8 miles total cardio; 12 rounds Nexersys -- 2 rounds not recorded)

CrossTrainer

Calorie :   71 CAL
Distance: 1.94 mile
Speed :    7.65 mph
Duration : 00:15:15

KickBoxing

Lap/Rep :  12 Lap/Rep

5 rounds Beginner Follow Me
5 rounds Intermediate Follow Me
Duration : 00:48:00

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   253 CAL
Distance: 2.86 mile
Duration : 00:30:10

photos for actual stats:

Beginner

Intermediate

Time Off from Whacking the Machine

It's been three weeks since I last whacked the Nexersys machine so I was eager to get back to it. But I'm still sick. I have a nasty wet cough between rounds, and I tire easily. My first four rounds go well, but by the fifth one, I'm seriously doubting my ability to finish all nine. At least I wasn't overly ambitious, because nine is down from the 12-15 I used to do. When I was healthy.

My scores drop but I can discount two rounds where the machine's verbal cues are mismatched with the visual ones: Call Out Boxes tell me to Jab/Lead kick, but the Avatar is blinking Jab/Power Kick. At one point the machine just runs through a series of Combinations without waiting for me to strike. No matter. I get my second wind back during round six. I've cut a big triangle of moleskin and placed the point between my pinky and ring finger and the two base angles over the knuckles. A strip of white tape wrapped around my hand holds it in place. Cotton wraps keep my hands from sliding inside the gloves. My right shoulder twinges sporadically so I alter my Cross to arc more, angling my punch to come in rotated at 45°. It seems to help.

It's scary how fast I can knock out combinations. I've missed this so much. But I don't miss the loud wet cough between rounds. At least no one tells me that I should be home in bed. Nope. I wander off to the carpeted steps behind the Mats to strip off my gear and put my on hoodie. I'm sort of oblivious to everyone because my tunes are loud and I'm concentrating on unwrapping my hands in a neat and orderly fashion. When I glance up because I sense someone is awfully close, I see the Daniel Ryan fan stretching out his hamstrings, reaching his front leg up four steps. Dang he's a big dude. I don't see his crippled girlfriend though. They were both here yesterday.

Normally I do 10 min of HIIT cardio after the machine, but since my cardio endurance isn't even close to what it should be, I take it easy and opt for 30 min on the elliptical. I'd call it Steady-state except I'm constantly playing with the Incline. Then I wander back to the Mats and do a full Mat Stretch. My endurance sucks. Dive Bomber Push Ups leave me a little breathless and I can not wait until the plank is done. Pistol Squats are okay, and I blame them for me having to pour myself into my pants these days. The gym scale reads 110.2 lbs and I'm actually surprised.

I'm down to just one pseudoephredine pill a day. My husband, however, has caught the same cold, and texted me that he's eating them by the handful in order to prevent drowning. He got a 6 month reprieve from Federal jury duty so he's back in Boston. I'm all set to finalize sale of two of my photos tomorrow so I'm excited. We're going to make the exchange in the parking lot outside the gym, so it's even a bit tawdry. Tomorrow's Leg Day. And maybe arms. But definitely lots of cardio.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   92 CAL
Distance: 0.82 mile
Duration : 00:10:10

Nexersys Kickboxing machine

9 rounds Beginner Follow Me avatar program

  Accuracy 95% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 127%

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   249 CAL
Distance: 2.32 mile
Duration : 00:30:10

Plank

Set 1 : 00:01:10

Dive Bomber Pushup

Set 1 : 20 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 20 Lap/Rep

One Leg Bodyweight Squat

134.17

Set 1 : 115x5
Set 2 : 115x5
Set 3 : 115x3


Photo posted for actual stats. You can see where I just run out of steam in the power stats in round 5 and round 9. In round 6, the machine goes crazy and tosses out combinations without waiting for me to strike so the Accuracy reading drops. The same happens in round 9, but by then I'm too tired to even try very hard. Normally my stats are closer to 97/99/139. 

Day One. Again.

I don't get to the gym today until nearly 11:30 am because my hubs is leaving today for Boston and he'll be gone for two weeks straight. Normally he's back on the weekends. You'd think I'd get used to "single parenting" by now, but even I need a break every now and then, or at least someone to share it with. I had a very good time at the Saturday archery seminar my hubs took me to. It ran from 9 am to 5:30 pm, but it was a good 2 hrs travel time each way.

We were told we'd discover muscles we never knew we had. Actually we didn't. And Sunday, we spent time in our yard practicing the basics of the first things we'd learned about stance, arm positioning, grip, and aiming. We're looking for consistency and tight groupings at a measly 5 yards from the target, but you'd be surprised how difficult it is to maintain the same anchor point, the same stance, the same grip each time you shoot once you find a combination that works for you. I bought a kid's bow at Kmart, thinking it'd be easier to shoot for long periods of time rather than using my 22 lb recurve. But I was wrong. The 15 lb (draw weight) kid's bow actually seemed harder to pull! Oh well. My son can grow into that one since his compound is probably about 10-12 lbs.

I get my 10 minutes of cardio (4 min of Tabata) while D is finishing up her last rounds whacking the left side Nexersys. The right side machine is too flaky and most regular users of this machine prefer the left one now, in spite of the glare. As do I. I'm slacking today, so I punch in 15 rounds (60 minutes) at the Beginner Level. There's a sign under the screen that says Users should restrict themselves to 7 rounds or 30 minutes, but I figure as long as no one is waiting in line, WTH.

During the 14th round though, a fellow comes by, looks at my screen and then pulls his gloves on to box the right side machine. He seems to be doing the Intermediate Sparring, judging by the sweeps and knee-ups. As soon as I'm done with my 15 rounds, he moves onto the left side machine. Because it's less flaky. And we all know it. Not to say that it's perfect. The machine's accuracy scoring is suspect again. I still haven't figured out how it can give me a score of 92% when I've hit all my targets (as evidenced by 100% strikes)? There is one round that the machine seems unable to register strikes properly and ghost targets light up the screen. Oh well... When I'm done I do another 10 minutes on the elliptical, with 6 minutes Tabata time. It doesn't feel all that bad anymore. A quick lower and upper back stretch on the Mat with some ab work, and I'm done! Yay!

Monday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.81 miles

Nexersys 15 rounds Beginner Follow Me (60 min)
  Accuracy 93% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 143%

10 min elliptical = 2 min steady state + 6 min Tabata + 2 min steady state = 0.78 miles

50 Crunches / 50 Alternating Bicycles / 50 Pulse Ups

photo posted for actual stats: 

End of the Week

It's catching up to me, staying up too late and eating poorly. I let my son sleep in so we don't get to the gym until 10:30 am. Ten minutes of cardio is hard, especially since my glutes and hams are a tad sore from yesterday. But they don't actually hurt. My upper back, however, is fairly stiff and I attribute that to DOMS although nothing actually hurts. Nothing like a good kickboxing workout to loosen things up!

Being tired makes it hard to stay consistent but I am able to maintain decent power and accuracy. I'm not feeling as fresh as usual by the end of round 12, but I tap in 3 rounds at Intermediate anyway. I figure WTF. Again, the machine gets flakey when I make certain combo blows and the screen lights up when it shouldn't. Since I know the Intermediate Level has this tendency, I'm not as annoyed and try to make the best of it. I know I'm punching harder because in spite of taping my knuckles and stuffing my wrapped hands into kickboxing gloves, my knuckles are pink and slightly bruised when I'm done. My wraps are always sweat-soaked so they go into the laundry with all my gym gear.

While the Beginner Level leaves me sweaty and warm, the Intermediate Level has me positively sodden. I pull my hoodie back on and clamber onto an elliptical to finish my cardio. Because I did 6 minutes of Tabata on Tuesday, I do 6 minutes today out of my 10 minutes of cardio, but I've modified it slightly. Now it's 15 seconds On, 15 seconds Off. And I'm breathing as hard as I can, sucking air deep into the recesses of my lungs, trying to store as much oxygen as possible. I think it aids my ability to recover whether it's pushing weights, knocking out push ups or smacking the machine.

I'm running short on time but I still manage to squeeze in Dive Bomber Push Ups, Pistol Squats and most of my Mat Stretch. Since I'll be participating in an archery seminar tomorrow, I don't want my upper back to be knotted up from today's workout. My husband texts me while I'm in the locker room. He's almost home from Boston and wants to meet us for lunch to check out the Cubano sandwich I had yesterday. My son has a different crepe, one filled with pecans, banana and dulce de leche. I have the chicken sandwich with melted swiss, honey mustard and diced onions. My husband tells me that this sandwich is okay but the one's in Miami are so much better. Yeah, well, when I'm in Miami I'll have to check it out.

Friday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.81 miles

Nexersys 12 rounds Beginner Follow Me (48 min)
  Accuracy 97% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 140%

Nexersys 3 rounds Intermediate Follow Me (12 min)
  Accuracy 82% / Strikes 102% / Average Power 108%

10 min elliptical = 2 min steady state + 6 min Tabata + 2 min steady state = 0.80 miles

Dive Bomber Push Ups: 2 x 15

Pistol Squats: 8

photos posted for actual stats: 

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I totally ate and drank too much this weekend, and not all "good" food. Too many refined carbs! Because pizza, even loaded with garlic, olives, 'shrooms and meatballs, is still pizza. And apple ale is still beer. Chinese noodles and pork buns? Well, there's no way to make those even vaguely low-carb. Cardamom gelato? Pumpkin gelato? Sea salt caramel and coconut gelato? Mango gummies and taro cream wafer cookies? The cooler temps and festive falling leaves make me want to nestle inside a fleece hoodie and nap. But I know better. So against my inclination to feast and hibernate, I pull on my gym gear, tape my hands and go to the gym.

I'm not sure how the Sports Season cycle works but suddenly every store is having a sale on sports tape so I stock up on several rolls. Last year I couldn't buy a roll under $5, now the supermarket is selling them 3/$5.95 which is less than $2 a roll. And yes, they're the same 1.5" x 10 yards white sports tape. I had a bulk order in my Amazon basket but I'm the type to leave stuff in my cart for a few weeks while I determine whether I can buy it cheaper elsewhere. And it turns out, I can buy it at ShopRite cheaper than on Amazon. Yay!

The parking lot is crowded so I'm worried that the gym is too. Turns out that it's mostly women taking classes. There are new faces, and some returning old faces that've been absent all summer. They don't look any better for having been away. Tabata Cardio sucks on a Monday. My kickboxing seems off as well, but I'll blame that on the fact that the machine's left foot is only half on the rubber mat. I stop the machine a few times, it doesn't register a few of my kicks. I'm wearing heavier workout pants because it was chilly this morning, but they make me feel itchy as the rounds progress. Guess I won't be wearing these for kickboxing again.

This new tape is super sticky and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to peel it off my right pointer finger. Back to the cardio platform for another 10 min of cardio (5 min of Tabata). I'm actually getting better at this even though I complain vociferously (to myself). Then back to the Mats for abs. I toy with the idea of doing an alternate version of crunches, say, bicycle twists, but I'm too lazy to do anything new right now. I just want to get my 50 reps per set, stretch out my shoulders and lower back and be done so I can go shower. I still want to take a nap, but at least I'm awake. More or less.

Monday's Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.79 miles

Nexersys 15 rounds Beginner Follow Me (60 min)
  Accuracy 95% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 140%

10 min elliptical = 2 min steady state + 5 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.8 miles

50 crunches / 50 pulse ups / 50 crunches

photo posted for actual stats: 

The Problem with Holidays

I didn't work out for three whole days and I certainly felt it when I finally got back to the gym. Most people take a few days off and feel better for it. I take a few days off and my body reverts to a lethargic slacker state of semi-hibernation. Granted, my diet wasn't the best since I wasn't going to deny myself the occasional apple ale or sangria. And I made peach jam which needed to be sampled in order to determine whether the scant amount of ground ginger was enough. But my husband was home and I wanted to be home too. Never mind that he spent most of yesterday preparing for his week in Boston. Or that he'd been away 4 days out of 5 last week.

My hands and forearms have mostly recovered from the all-day primitive skills course my hubs and I attended last Saturday. It involved us hunting for appropriate wood and then using knives to trim off the bark and through knots to whittle the sticks down to a useable size and shape. We attempted several different techniques from bow-drill to fire saw to hand-drill. Most participants had years of skills under their belts so it was surprising how few actually succeeded in getting an ember out of the process. Lesson learned? Always carry a lighter or fire-starter because primitive fire making is dang hard. If you're going to rub two sticks together, make sure one of them is a match.

School doesn't start until Thursday so I take my son to the gym with me, warning him that since school has started in the adjacent towns, there might not be any kids his age in the Child Care Room. Luckily there are a few. It's Tuesday too, but the cinema isn't showing any new kids flicks so we're not going to the movies today. It's also going to be over 90°F, the hottest day this summer so far.

The gym doesn't feel as cold as it should, even with the A/C blasting, probably because they have the back doors open to air the place out. It feels like Monday because I'm having trouble getting started with my 10 minute cardio warm up, and my body definitely balks at the 4 min Tabata. Still, I get it done. And then I do a quick Cage Stretch and propel myself over to the Nexersys. Shaggy is using the cable machines across from the Cage. He's trimmed down noticeably and no longer wears the baseball cap some guys seem to favor when they work out. I still wonder if the drawn and scrawny woman with the plume of purple hair atop her head is his wife. I saw her a few times last year with him, but not lately. I glance about and see Island Jerk, Ollie, M and B, Big Glasses Dude, Tall Pace, Short Pace, Snow Bird and a few other regulars.

I'm not warmed up enough when I start kickboxing the machine, but it's good enough to maintain a decent score for accuracy, strikes and power. If anything, my power is a tad better, and has been improving in 1% increments for the past several weeks. Half-way through the 15 rounds and I finally feel warmed up although I've been dripping sweat for a while. Two rounds that contain the odd combination of Jab-Lead Kick, Cross-Lead Kick continue to mess with my rhythm. In trying to increase my Power score, I also risk lowering my Accuracy Score because I'm still, upon occasion,  hitting too hard and stopping the machine. I can only smile and whack the machine extra after I hit the reset button.

I still have a bit of time when I'm done, so I quickly strip off my gloves and wraps and jump onto the elliptical for another 10 minutes. 5 minutes of Tabata is harder and I'm lucky I can make the speed I do. I've even put my hoodie back on to keep my hair from whipping sweat through the air. No time for a real stretch today as I head to shower and change. The gym scale reads a surprising 111.2 lbs. I was expecting to be heavier. Oh well.

My son and I run a few errands, like dropping off a return package at the UPS store. A middle-aged customer chatting with one of the clerks turns around and says to me, "Do you work out at Gold's gym? You do, don't you?" I carefully examine his face and have absolutely no idea who he is. "Uh, yeah," I say. I must be more oblivious than I thought when I'm working out because I don't recognize him at all. He smiles but I'm always suspicious and cautious, especially of people who seem to know me. He doesn't seem too weird, but my son is creeped out. And I need to be more aware.

Tuesday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.80 miles

Nexersys 15 rounds (60 minutes) Beginner Follow Me Avatar Program
  Accuracy 97% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 136%

10 min elliptical = 2 min steady state + 5 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.78 miles

photo posted for actual stats: