Leg Day for Me but...

The attack at the Boston Marathon is everywhere in the news. No one mentions it locally, or at the gym or school. It's a horrible tragedy foisted upon the unsuspecting public by someone who either hates runners, or someone looking to maim the greatest number of amateur athletes. It's bringing anti-personnel devices back home. I think of the late Princess Diana and her efforts to ban land mines because of the devastation left after wars end. I think of all the progress made in robotic prosthetic legs and wonder if now there will be enough amputees crying out for limbs to drive research into the realm of science fiction. I'm glad that I'm crowd-phobic; I'll watch from the safety of my laptop.

Today is Leg Day for me. I wake up tired. The right lower back over my hip, what I'm guessing is the external oblique, seems stressed and sore. I'm always stiff when I get up so I'm not overly concerned. I'm just hoping to do at least 8 miles on the elliptical. The JVC headphones start off promising but I quickly discover that they sound a bit tinny. Eventually I figure out that I need to swap out the ear bud cushion (they come with 3 different sizes) because the mediums are actually too large so the buds aren't placed correctly. I get my 8+ miles and I'm happy. And drenched. I feel really good.

Today's Total Workout:
35 min hill = 4.0 miles + 35 min intervals = 4.36 miles  Grand Total = 8.36 miles Wahoo!
Smith Squats: 12 @ bar / 6 x 12 @ 95 lbs
Smith Dead Lifts: 12 @ bar / 6 x 12 @ 95 lbs (I really feel these on my right side today although dead lifts have never been easy)
Cage Stretch & Kicks: an elderly women on the stretch chair beside the cage is unprepared for my kicking routine and gets up in a huff. I guess she was offended but the gym's not the place to get upset when people get physical.
12 Pistol Squats each leg
Seated Leg Curl: 4 x 12 @ 90 lbs
Torso Twist: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Seated Leg Extension: 6 x 12 @ 60 lbs
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Mat Stretch: my stretch and splits are good and I'm happy enough to put on my pink gloves and wander over to the NexerSys station afterwards.
NexerSys: I do 3 intro sessions at Beginner Level: technique, sparring & follow me. Afterwards, one of the guys at the front desk asks me to critique the system because they need the feedback. I'm happy to oblige. It's fun, but even with gloves, I still bruise my knuckles although I didn't actually notice until I took my gloves off. That's probably because I'm "punching too hard" as the system tells me. My accuracy is improving, but because it's hard to hear the "trainer" or understand exactly what and when I'm suppose to be punching or kicking, my scores could be higher. But I manage to keep my Punch Strength at a respectable 92%. I'm sweating slightly when I finish. It was fun and I'll definitely do it again.

I note a few regulars but I'm the least social on Leg Day because I move from exercise to exercise with little time for resting. And still I'm at the gym for several hours! I completely forget to weigh myself today because of all the commotion the broken toilet in the locker room causes. It's spouting water like a geyser tornado and the accompanying roar foretells some sort of broken valve. I still manage a nice hot shower which feels really good. It's a beautiful sunny day, all the tiny biting insects are out and squirrels are trying to steal the sunflower seed holder again. I love Leg Day!

All Better Now

There was still a residual soreness in my throat this morning but by the time I got home from the gym, it was gone. Cured! Maybe it was the zinc I started taking again, or the incessant gargling. Or maybe it was just a 48-hr sore throat. Regardless, I still plowed through my Tuesday routine like a draft horse because honestly, I don't really know any other way of doing it. Head down, plod on. At least I'm not grazing as I work. (I did once see a guy working out with a half bottle of purple sports drink and a half eaten protein bar.)

My cardio still sucked and again I didn't make my 4 mile quota, but at least I felt better warmed up today. Today I blame my distraction on bad earphones. I got a cheap pair of Maxell headphones ($6.99) and they make the odd Sony headphones feel and sound like a million bucks. The Maxell's not only mute the music so badly that at full volume I can still hear ambient gym noise. In spite of the soft clip that goes over the ear, after a few minutes, the hard overly large inside earpiece starts to hurt. The Sonys may be cheap ($6.99) because of their ill-designed asymmetrical wires, but at least they don't hurt your ears and the music sounds great. Boy do I really miss my old Phillips headphones but I can't seem to find them anywhere. I resort to purchasing an expensive ($20 at Kmart, cheaper online but I can't wait and shipping costs a fortune) pair of JVC sport headphones, saving the Sonys as a backup in case the JVCs fail.

Back and Biceps Day, and biceps had a much better time of it. Seated Cable Rows were good until I hit the heavy sets. I feel sloppy when I do them so I'm going to drop my weight. I barely got a chance to do any pull ups because the Smith rack was very popular today. I did however, remember to take my pink kickboxing gloves with me so that I'd have no excuse for not trying out a few routines on the Nexersys station.

Today's Total Workout:
35 min cardio = 3.87 miles (my cardio really sucks this week!)
Seated Cable Rows: 12 @ 90 / 10 @ 105 / 8 @ 120 / 3 x 6 @ 135 lbs
Pull Ups: 12+2 (legs curled to chest)
Chin Ups: 11+2 (legs straight out)
Lower Back Extensions: 2 x 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Cage Stretch & Kicks: I do manage a few kicks outside the cage on the flat floor
Reverse Grip BB Rows: 7 x 12 @ 90 lbs (I don't really mean to do 7 sets but lose count and do an extra set just for fun. Maybe I should up the weight even though I'm not making sets of 15 reps?)
Standing Alternate DB Curls: 3 x 12 @ 25 lbs
Pull Ups: 10+3 (legs straight out)
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Lower Ab Kick Outs: 100
BB Curls: 6 x 15 @ 40 lbs (these seem a tad easy but 45 lbs is too heavy)
Mat Stretch: my stretches and splits are much better today so I'm pleased.
Nexersys station: I put on those godawful pink gloves and do two intro rounds for Beginners: striking and technique. It's fun although again I'm having a hard time following instructions because I can't really hear the monitor very well although I can follow the video fairly well. Still, I admit that wailing on the station with gloved fists is a helluva lot of fun!

I see a few regulars today like B, M, The Mayor, Hannibal BaggyKnees, SkinnyTat, and eventually, R and Fish Guy. I actually don't talk to any of them because I'm so not interested in breaking the rhythm of my workout. I'm not nearly as tired as I was yesterday so I'm thinking today's a good day to get salt for the water softener, and compost for the raised beds. I can't remember but somehow the 40 lb bags of salt feel easier to manage than I last recall. Maybe salt used to come in unwieldy 50 lb bags?

The gym scale reads 109.2 lbs and my home scale registers 106.8 which is exactly what I weighed the last time I weighed myself on a Tuesday. I have on a new Biatta bra and I'm tickled that not only does it fit comfortably (yes, another 36AAA), my chest doesn't look weird when I toss on a T-shirt. I look down and my profile looks like my own and not a mannequin. Or heaven forbid, an Easter egg holder.

My son has tae kwon do at UMAC this evening, about an hour after I pick him up from his after school golf class. Anytime there's a way to get him involved in more physical activities that doesn't involve team sports, I sign him up. No one in my family seems particularly enthralled by team sports of any kind. Just as well. I guess being anti-social runs on the family, although my son is probably the most sociable kid you'll ever meet. But he's not competitive. I'm not either. I just like to kick butt.