New Year, Same Routine

I was out of the gym for almost two straight weeks so I was a bit worried this morning. But it's amazing how quickly you can fall back into a routine once you've done it for several months. Awake at 6:05, at the gym by 7:20, on the elliptical with my soft and squishy Skechers memory foam sneakers. It's the first time since I had the toenail biopsy. I don't need to wrap the afflicted area but I use two fabric bandaids to protect the nail and stitches during my workout. After showering, I peel off the protection, rub a bit of Aquaphor on it (as per the recovery instructions) and stick my bare, unprotected foot into my sock. I can see and feel a new toenail, but it looks deformed and battered, mostly because there's a lot of discoloration. We'll see how it grows out.

The elliptical didn't feel bad but I was still careful not to ram my toes as I pedaled faster. Pull-ups were more of a challenge and I only did 20. It's probably because I've put on a bit of weight with all this inactivity. Four pounds exactly. Not horrible, but not great considering it's only been a little over two weeks. If I put on 2 lbs a week, I'll be obese by the time my birthday rolls around. Ugh.

The gym is a lot emptier than I expect. It's the day after New Years and normally there's a gaggle of newbies signing up to fulfill their pledge to get into shape this year. Or perhaps, like a lot of us, we just didn't make any resolutions? There's shiny new aluminum plating along the lower wall in front of the Smith machine, stopping short of the Squat Rack. There it is still orange and chipped. Signs on the two non-functional Nexersys machines promise they'll be repaired. Uh, right. And one of the three toilet stalls in the women's locker room has been out of service since before the holidays. The automatic flush system needs more than just new batteries. Still, I'm happy to be back. 

I knock out six sets of DB superset shoulder movements, followed by three descending sets of Rip Skulls. My hands are inexplicably cold with a creeping numbness. I don't like losing control of my equipment. Warming up means returning to the elliptical, but only for a total of 20 minutes. Then a stretch to loosen all the tightly kinked muscles. Tomorrow I'll do a Pull Day, but without any pull-ups. I got a set in today. No need to rush. No need to risk elbows. 

Post-New Year Thursday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 1
Miles 2.91
Calories 327
HR 142-200 (86, 90)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20

Elbow Plank 60s
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Crunches 60/60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 15
70 x 25, 25, 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Inclined Flys
20 lbs x 12/20 reps x 3 sets
20/25 lbs x 12/20 x 3

Rip Skulls
40 x 12, 10, 8

15 elliptical + 5 cd
Program 1
Calories 189
Miles 1.68
HR 156-192 (90)

Mat Stretch

Back to the...

I'm finally back in the gym after nearly a week off. And because I've been fairly inactive this entire time, I almost talked myself out of going. It's amazingly easy to make excuses. But I've learned not to listen to myself most of the time. I get to the gym a bit late in the morning because I like having an empty locker room. Early morning is packed with women jostling for a position in one of the classes. I feel a little like a newbie, and I look like hell. My skin has gotten very dry so my face seems drawn and tired even though I've barely been up three hours.

I'm undecided as whether to adhere to my previous program or make adjustments. But I did lift last Monday so I should be okay. I do a 15 min warm up on the cross-trainer. It's humid but relatively cool today. But almost every woman here is wearing shorts. Except for the older women. I only wear shorts on Leg Day. My warm up gets me warm but not even close to sweaty. It's a bit frustrating. I see  giant rubber plates in a CF plate rack where the stretch cage used to be. There's a fellow doing Olympic-style clean and jerks there.

I see a towel on the Smith so I know Tattoo Tank is using it. I track him down and before I can ask, he laughs and says, "Just three more." He's shorn off the stringy collar-length hair. The buzz cut looks good. I do a bunch of sets on the Matrix breaker bench facing the Smith. A large woman is on the oppsoite breaker bench, struggling with her set. She's lost a ton of weight but still has a lot to lose before she isn't categorized as obese. She's got a 10 and a 2.5 lb plate on each side of the Oly bar. I would've thought she'd be stronger by now, but I keep my thoughts to myself. I used to be able to do 25 reps with a 25 lb  plate on each side. But that was last year.

As soon as Tattoo Tank is done, I toss my gear into the Smith cage, then retrieve one of the smaller flat benches. I wrestle the adjustable Inclined Bench out of the way, but there's hardly any place to park it except perpendicular to the breaker bench. I can already tell that my right front delt is iffy today so again, I don't hit my max weights. The smaller flat bench allows me to place my feet relatively flat if I use the base as blocks. There's a lot of newbies this morning. Colleges are out and the gym offers a summer deal for students on break.

I've stopped doing Inclined Benching for now. It's not worth the damage to the front delts. However, DB Laterals and Reverse Flyes are always good. I guess I shouldn't gripe about newbies re-racking  the DBs haphazardly. At least they're putting them back, right? But it's annoying to find everything out of sequence. I especially hate it when plates are re-racked willy nilly. Because you have to unrack all theses stupid large plates to get to the 10s. And there's a place for the big plates, but dum-dums are too lightheaded or distracted to notice or care. Maybe it's my OCD?

I don't notice Venus until I'm back at the breaker bench to do Close Grip Bench Presses, followed by RIP Skulls. She's in the new Max Rack doing Leg and Glute movements, wearing a snug, long -sleeve, B&W brindle-patterned top and black yoga shorts. Her legs are surprisingly smooth. I was expecting more definition. She's letting her blonde hair grow out brown. I don't see Chatty Guy.  I'm glad my gym is civilized. She's doing Hip Thrusts. There's a guy in the adjacent Squat Rack. And guys all over the benches. But no one is rude.

On the elliptical, I make a concession and only do 5 minutes of HIIT. I can still reach 284 SPM but I don't want to tax myself too much on my first day back. During LISS, the machine occasionally freaks me out with ridiculous heart rate readings, but a quick finger to the throat to check my pulse dispels any worries. Maybe it's the act of taking my pulse that calms everything down? Does it matter? I see Venus at the cables doing Glute Kickbacks. More regulars trickle in.

I haven't stretched in a week and wonder how hard this will be, especially since I'm not really warm. But it isn't a problem. Splits are fine. There's a large woman on one mat so I use the big mat out front. She leaves to exercise and Venus shows up on the mat but I have no idea what she's doing because I'm focused on getting through my stretch routine. No abs today. No push ups or pistols either. Tomorrow's another day!

Monday Push Workout
(3.91 miles cardio; 18,070 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Warm Up

Calorie :   72 CAL
Distance: 1.81 mile
Speed :    7.22 mph
Duration : 00:15:03

Barbell Bench Press

133

Set 1 : 45x12
Set 2 : 65x12
Set 3 : 85x12
Set 4 : 95x12

Smith Machine Bench Press

160

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x8
Set 4 : 120x10
Set 5 : 120x8
Set 6 : 80x25

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

31.67

Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x12
Set 3 : 25x8
Set 4 : 25x8
Set 5 : 25x8
Set 6 : 20x12 SuperSet with

Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

35

Set 1 : 20x15
Set 2 : 20x15
Set 3 : 25x12
Set 4 : 25x12
Set 5 : 25x12
Set 6 : 20x15

Barbell Close Grip Bench Press

119.17

Set 1 : 45x25
Set 2 : 65x25
Set 3 : 75x10 Bleah!

Barbell Reverse Grip Skullcrusher

52.5

Set 1 : 15x12
Set 2 : 37.5x12
Set 3 : 37.5x12
Set 4 : 37.5x12

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   171 CAL
Distance: 2.1 mile
5 min HIIT
25 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:01

Back to the Grind!

We returned to NY late Saturday evening amid torrential wind and rain. I'm glad my husband can drive through anything because this didn't faze him in the least. I, on the other hand, don't do well on rollercoasters and most other amusement park rides, so the drive home from JFK was very stressful. I only relaxed when we got to the empty, twisty roads near our house. Sunday was spent unpacking, sorting through a week's worth of mail and having the dog trail me everywhere since he didn't want to lose sight of me, lest I disappear for a week again.

I did go to the gym Monday after a good week and a half absence (Wednesday was a snow day, Thursday was Thanksgiving, Friday we tidied the house, and Saturday we packed and left). There was a gym at our resort but honestly, I hadn't packed any sneakers, and we didn't really have any down time unless it was at 11 pm. For exercise we walked for miles around both Universal Studio theme parks, ate like hogs, and put on a few pounds anyway.

Monday's workout felt pretty good, although I am sore today. The DB Lateral Raises were superset with the DB Reverse Flyes. I'm happy I got all 6 sets. I did slack off on the Inclined Press with only 3 sets of DB presses. I figure I'm easing back into working out with just under four and a quarter miles. LOL!

Monday Cardio and Push Day Workout

 Exercise Name

1RM

Lifting Logs

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   100 CAL
Distance: 2.55 mile
Speed :    7.56 mph
Duration : 00:20:14

Smith Machine Bench Press

168

Set 1 : 30x15
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x12
Set 4 : 120x12
Set 5 : 110x12
Set 6 : 90x20

Dumbbell Incline Bench Press

35

Set 1 : 25x12
Set 2 : 25x12
Set 3 : 25x12

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

30

Set 1 : 20x15
Set 2 : 20x15
Set 3 : 20x15
Set 4 : 20x15
Set 5 : 20x15
Set 6 : 20x15

Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

30

Set 1 : 20x15
Set 2 : 20x15
Set 3 : 20x15
Set 4 : 20x15
Set 5 : 20x15
Set 6 : 20x15

Barbell Lying Triceps Extension

52.5

Set 1 : 15x15
Set 2 : 37.5x12
Set 3 : 37.5x12
Set 4 : 37.5x12

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   187 CAL
Distance: 1.68 mile
Duration : 00:20:19

Torso Twist Machine

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Plank

Set 1 : 00:01:10

Dive Bomber Pushup

20

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