Exhilaration Addiction

I freely admit that Thursday is my favorite day because it's the day I get to whack the kickboxing machine. Nothing else I do in my workouts gives me the same exhilaration. Some might says it's the endorphin rush, the body's response to extreme physical stress. I'm not an adrenaline junkie by any means. I don't drive fast, hate roller coasters and water slides. But I love punching and jabbing hard and fast. I'm still frustrated by the Beginner rounds but I think it's prudent to warm up properly before tackling the 8 rounds at Intermediate Level. By the time I get to the last two rounds, I'm feeling really good: breathless, sweaty and extremely happy. No pain, no pleasure!

When I get to the Nexersys station, the gym owner is whacking the other machine, the one no one likes to use. I know he got the machines mostly for himself, but I don't usually see him working out during the day. Luckily, it takes so long for me to tape and wrap my hands, that he's done by the time I'm ready. It's a crowded setup and I can't imagine two of us wailing away simultaneously.

Today I'm feeling a bit of discomfort in the last two knuckles of my left hand. That's new. They don't have moleskin padding under the tape but I've never needed it there before. Otherwise I feel pretty good. Even the stiffness in my left hip is gone. Shaggy hovers too much for my liking. He's at the cable machine a few feet away and keeps pacing behind me. It's annoying and worse, distracting. But what I'm really annoyed with is the Lead Sweep that the machine refuses to acknowledge, driving my accuracy rating down. I see a few other regulars. Creepy PJ Pants is actually wearing shorts and a T-shirt today. He hasn't been here in months and it shows. He literally waddles onto the treadmill.

When I'm done, I take 15 minutes to climb the Step Mill at a leisurely pace and then stretch my lower back. Of course, that translates into me being 10 minutes late to the Child Care Room and my son reprimands me with, "You're over the two-hour time limit, Mom!" Yeah, oh well... next week I'm taking him to see Antman. Should be fun!



Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   91 CAL
Distance: 0.82 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

6r Bgnr
8r Intmd
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Step Machine

LISS

Calorie :   95 CAL
Flights :  38
Duration : 00:15:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

6 rounds Beginner Follow Me program

8 rounds Intermediate Follow Me program

Making Lemonade

It wasn't too far into the morning when I had the urge to crawl back into bed and pull the covers up over my head. Of course, I was already at the gym when the thought occurred to me. And I'd already dropped my son at school early for his extra gym class, gotten gas at the cheapest gas station in my area, and checked out Kohl's Dept store to see if they had any stuffed bulldogs. (Kohl's periodically sells $5 plush toys for charity and they're advertising characters from Rio 2.) One of my girl friends is a big bulldog fanatic and I thought she'd really like Luiz. But of course they sold the last two yesterday and aren't sure if there's any in the next shipment. Get to the gym, the parking lot is packed and all the ellipticals are in use. Plus someone's boxing one of the machines. I plug in my iPod only to have it give me a Plug Into Power Source warning which I've never seen before. I charged it two days ago, but it's possible that I didn't turn the iPod off when I put it away yesterday. Sigh.

Luckily, there are a few tunes on my iPhone that downloaded automatically when I'd purchased a song for my iPod. Thank you Apple! I don't normally plug into my phone because it's unwieldy enough to fall out of most of my pockets. Today I happen to be wearing an old pair of mesh Nike running pants that just happen to have pockets. Most of my workout pants don't. I can stuff the phone into my pants pocket and still workout. Yay! There are no ellipticals to use so I clamber onto the Step Mill for just 15 minutes. I have no idea what all these steps translate into for distance but livestrong.com has a formula for converting steps to inches to miles (number of steps x 17" / 63,360" [inches in a mile]) but I suspect that it doesn't translate into very much.

The Nexersys are free by the time I get done with my quick Cage Stretch. I wrap my hands and stuff them into my gloves. By the time I'm done, they'll be sodden. At home, I toss the wraps into my mesh nylon lingerie bag along with other delicates and toss it all into the washing machine. I'm a lot worse on the Beginner rounds today, but better on the Intermediate rounds. I'm not sure why. I'm still stopping the machine by punching, kneeing and kicking too hard in the Beginner rounds so that's definitely detracting from my accuracy score. And trying to pull my punches is detracting from my power score. I fair better in the Intermediate round and get a good rhythm going. I find that my accuracy improves a lot when I hop forward for each blow or kick and then step back slightly. It's so humid that I'm drenched way before the rounds are over.

I skip doing abs altogether today. By now the cardio platform is nearly deserted so I climb onto one of the Precors. I'd like to get 4 miles, but I don't want to be here all day. So I settle for 3 miles, paying absolutely no attention to the heart rate monitor except to pull back when it screams 190. The gym scale reads 112.8 lbs and I look like a drowned rat. Whatever. I still have a bunch of errands to do, like catching a sale at the CVS to pick up more Ensure High Protein drinks. The nice thing about living in a small town is that the clerks all know you and everyone's so friendly and helpful. The store only has 3 cartons and I was hoping to buy 4 because buying one entitles you to the 2nd at half price. Plus I have a $6 coupon if I spend $30. I can't because they don't have 4 to sell me. So they override the computer and give me the $6 off anyway. And take 25% off the 3rd carton. I'm all smiles.

"Is this good" the clerk asks me, "because I'm trying to lose some weight. Can I drink this for lunch?"
"I like it. It has the highest protein of all the RTD, and 300 mg calcium as well."
"I heard using protein drinks is really good for weight loss," she continues.
"I like to drink it after I work out," I venture, "but it's kind of expensive so I like to buy 4 when I have a 25-30% off coupon, but you never have 4 for me to buy."
"Well, next time you get a coupon, tell us ahead of time before the coupon expires and we'll order it special for you. But we need that UPC code."
"Wow, I didn't know I could do that," I gush.
"Oh sure," the clerk smiles.

Cardio Thursday

15 min Matrix Step Mill = 811 steps

Cage Stretch

Nexersys 5 rounds Beginner Follow Me Avatar
  Accuracy 79% / Strikes 95% / Average Power 141%

Nexersys 9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me Avatar
  Accuracy 72% / Strikes 98% / Average Power 109%

37 min Precor elliptical = 3.02 miles

photos posted for actual stats:

Boxing As Cure For Soreness

I'd planned to get to the gym early today since my son has a PTO-sponsored "extra" gym class on Thursday mornings that I drive him to. But the 5 am recorded message from the school district announced yet another 2-hour delay. Well, at least I get to sleep in a bit. And then I had to get my car out of my husband's way because although he was headed to Boston for another 3-day round of system testing, we had jockeyed our cars last night to let me out first since he wasn't leaving until 9:30 and Extra Gym starts at 8 am. Except when there's a two-hour delay. Then the school bus comes at 10:34 am. So I didn't get to the gym until nearly 11 am. At least I got there.

Top: 20 min Precor elliptical
Bottom: 20 min Matrix StepMill

I won't lie. My hamstrings are a bit stiff. Not really sore though. I just don't move as quickly as I'd like. I get on the Precor and do my 20 minute warm up, gradually increasing my pace from 150 to 190 Strides Per Minute. For the last two minutes, I muscle through to maintain an over-200 SPM pace and for the most part I'm successful. A quick Cage Stretch and then I shed my hoodie, wrap my hands and pull on my pepto-pink kickboxing gloves. I'm thinking of buying new wraps though because even though they come two to a package, I've been using half a wrap for each hand. But as the gloves stretch out, there's more room to slide around inside, leading to knuckle burns. They don't hurt but they're a tad unsightly, not that I have pretty hands to begin with. But I don't need to develop calluses on my knuckles like some back alley enforcer.

Today's Selfie

My shoulders are tight and my elbows sore. I'm slow out of the gate and stumble around a bit. My lead (left) foot isn't registering kicks on the machine, and my accuracy rating plummets. It takes me a really long time to warm up even though sweat is running off my nose and dripping onto my lips. I'm punching too hard and the machine seems to be deducting accuracy points. When the 9 rounds are over for Beginner Follow Me, I take a swig of water, look around to make sure no one is waiting to use the system and then punch in another session. When I do warm up, in the middle of the 5-round Intermediate Follow Me program, suddenly I'm dancing to my tunes and landing blows and super-fast combinations. I feel really really good. Everything feels fluid. I feel simultaneously loose and powerful. I'd like to do more, but it's getting late. I've actually managed to punch "too hard" at this level, a first for me. Maybe because I'm getting more comfortable with these combinations. I'm tired but in a good way.

Instead, I clamber up to the Matrix Step Mill wearing my hoodie and lifting gloves. Level 4 isn't terribly fast but it's enough to make me feel my heart even though I'm just walking up the stairs. Sweat is pouring off my head so I'm glad I've pulled my hoodie back on. 20 minutes later, I've read all my emails and the online forum posts. The display says I've only burned 129 calories, but I know that's deceptive. Afterwards, I drop onto the Mat for three sets of crunches because I'm feeling a little guilty about neglecting abs. Done!

I'm completely drenched and feel great. The gym scale reads 113.8 lbs and I don't have time today to cross-check with my home scale. I need to get gas, see if there's any hope of purchasing road salt, get laundry going, pick up my son early from school so we can make a doctor's appointment for his annual checkup. I call the hardware store because I don't want to trek across town if there's nothing to purchase. "Tomorrow morning at 8 am we should be getting a delivery," the voice on the phone says. Well, alright now. If there's salt, I'll just be late to the gym again.

Cardio Thursday
20 min Precor elliptical = 1.73 miles
Cage Stretch
Nexersys: 9 rounds Follow Me Beginner Female
  Accuracy 87% / Strikes 105% / Average Power 129%
Nexersys: 5 rounds Follow Me Intermediate Female
  Accuracy 75% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 104%
20 min Matrix Stair Mill = 842 steps
3 x 50 crunches

photos for stats:

 9 rounds Beginner Follow Me

5 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

De-Load Day One

Over the weekend I read up on a new (to me anyway) 21-day program that's suppose to spare muscle but kickstart a shred. I don't need to be shredded, just a tad leaner. But nothing I've tried so far is getting me anywhere. I'm bigger and stronger, but I'm also fatter. Not my plan. I'm not ready to test out the 21-day program yet but this week I've scheduled cardio and then some. Because the 21-day program calls for an actual 20 minutes of HIIT, and I know for a fact I absolutely cannot do 20 minutes of that, I figure I'd give myself a head start.

Today I upped my HIIT by another 5 minutes. It was really really hard, leaving me panting and gasping for breath. That's 5 minutes for warm up (around 180-190 Strides Per Minute), then 1 minute going full tilt (250-279 SPMs), then 1 minute of gasping (70-80 SPMs). By the 7th minute, I was having trouble keeping myself over 250 SPMs, and by the 10 minute, I was happy just to stay at 250. Then I spent the next 5 minutes doing the Intervals at 30 seconds. After a minute to recover, I was once again able to kick up to 270 SPMs for the remaining 2 sets. My husband is giving the increased Interval durations a go but he's happier with 45 second intervals. I can't do math while I'm huffing and puffing and my phone is too inconvenient for me to hit the timer. I'll stick with full and half minutes.

The Cage Stretch feels nearly normal today. My right front hip only twinges occasionally. The hamstrings are okay, but the lower back is a tad stiff. Again, it feels like core stiffness. I toss out a few side kicks and stretch before wrapping my hands and stuffing them into gloves. Again, I only do 9 rounds on the Follow Me avatar program, and another 3 rounds for all out Sparring. When I'm done, I pull my hoodie back on and lay down on the Mat to stretch my lower back. Mo texts me and I'm surprised because I haven't seen her in months. She's sorry she missed me, perhaps tomorrow. I probably won't see her then either. Bt remarks in the locker room that I'm unusually focused, "I don't mean that in a bad way at all, but you're so focused you don't see anyone! That's good!" "Yeah, I got tunnel vision when I work out," I admit sheepishly because another lady tells me she saw me last week and I have no recollection of seeing her since before the holidays.

The frigid arctic air has wreaked havoc with my genetically tropical skin. As much as I hate the summer humidity and heat, my skin hates the dry winter air and now resembles ashy scales peeling off my arms and legs. After a quick shower, I sit in the sauna. A steam bath would be better but we only have a dry sauna. Still, it's enough to loosen the itchy tight layers and I again shower. My stomach growls. The gym scale reads 113.8 lbs which is slightly better than last week. I'll see what it says by week's end, and then I'll take my BF measurements again. It's been creeping up and the reading is alarming at 21.5%. It'll be a few months before I can get in to see my doc for a physical but by then I'll know whether what I'm doing now is working.

Cardio Day One
Elliptical: 5 min warm up, 10 min HIIT  1 minute on / 1 min off, 5 min HIIT 30 sec on / 30 sec off  = 2.1 miles

Cage Stretch with BW heel dips, calf raises and side kicks

Nexersys boxing Beginner Female
Follow Me Avatar: 9 rounds
  Accuracy 84% / Strikes 103% / Avg Power 128%
Sparring: 3 rounds
  Strikes 205%  / Avg Power 86%  / Points 928

Lower back and hamstring stretch

Use Your Strengths and Weaknesses to Your Advantage

I won't lie. I'm really happy that I don't go to the gym on weekends, that I'm a total, blissfully inactive slug. Okay, there's always household stuff to be done, but that doesn't count. Today is Friday and although I'm none too eager about the Double Cardio session, I am quite happy to whack the Nexersys station. Just like I can always push some weights, no matter how tired or crappy I feel. But give me any excuse to get out of cardio, and I'm back in bed with the covers pulled over my head. So whacking the Nexersys is my reward for the prolonged agony of elliptical pedaling. (I need a new verb for this activity but so far I haven't come across any. Suggestions welcome!)

The forecast is a balmy 60°F later this afternoon, but when I leave the house, it's still in the low 30s. There's no more snow and ice but the leaves are mostly bare. The winter sun hangs low in the sky, and since there's no leafy canopy, it's simultaneously bright and bleak. The parking lot isn't too crowded, but there's a din in the gym that's unnerving. I've timed it wrong and I'm caught in the frenetic flurry of women rushing to Zumba, or Spin, or BodyPump. I'm not sure which. I stick close to the lockers with my hoodie pulled over my eyes and my iPod plugged in. At some point it'll be safe to exit and head for the cardio area. There are people on Precors #1 and #2 so I get #3 by default. Uh oh, I notice that the track is starting to grind when the glides descend from peak to trough in the program. It's still not as bad as Tractor #2, which I can hear rumbling over my tunes during a pause in the vocals. My legs are sore and stiff from Leg Day two days ago. I wonder if my arms will be sore tomorrow.

Grinding through Interval 7 is difficult, especially since my left hand and thumb feel achy and sore. My quads, glutes and hammies are whining but I'm good at ignoring all this. My hands, less so. I don't like it when my toes go numb, or the bottom of my feet. But I really hate it when my fingers and thumbs complain. For a millisecond, I consider bagging the 2nd session, and then I toy with doing one of the Hill programs. But I punch in Interval 8 anyway. I know I'm tired because I'm not able to maintain my speed, and my only concern is actually finishing the session, not how much mileage I can log. That says fatigue to me right there. I do finish. Not my best mileage but not shabby either. I'm so tired I can't think about anything. Go to autopilot. Cage Stretch is next.

Bought a Dragon Lady
dress today just for fun

The Cage is relaxing after a fashion. It's two stretch seats and three bikes away from the pair of Nexersys machines. I haven't wrapped my left hand as tightly as I should so I have trouble stuffing it into the glove. Still, I manage to get my sopping wet hoodie, my stuff sack, towel, cell and water bottle all neatly under the body of the boxing machine. Last week I did seven rounds of Follow Me and three rounds of Sparring. I'd like to do 10 rounds of Follow Me but there's only two round increments so I opt to do nine rounds of Follow Me. The sign taped to the station says to do only 30 minutes or 7 rounds, but again, the other station is free, there's no line waiting for admission, so nine rounds it is.

During the first round, my glove catches the cord to my headphones and yanks them right off my head. I scramble to reapply them and tuck my cord into my waistband but the gloves are cumbersome. I miss a few punches in the interim. But I still manage improved accuracy and power throughout all nine rounds. The recommendation is again, add rounds. I'm still trying to learn how hard to punch because punching too hard pauses the machine while sounding a Warning Buzzer, and the punch doesn't get counted. Major bummer.

The maximum number of rounds is 15, but I doubt if I'll be there anytime soon. I don't do any Sparring today because I'd like to do the Dive Bomber Push Up portion of the Mat Stretch without falling on my face. It's always a worry when working arms and shoulders. The 20 second plank starts off hard, but by the 18th minute, I've either given up or fallen asleep, body rigid but eyes closed. I've actually fallen asleep with my eyes open, but only once, and only after being awake for three days straight. The gym scale reads 109.6 lbs and I'm good with that. I'm better with the piping hot shower. I get an email from our Chinese school notifying us that school is cancelled due to smoke conditions in Rockland County which is across the Hudson River. I'm puzzled. Just how big is this fire that the smoke is closing schools in Westchester County? But, it also means I don't have to get up tomorrow morning! Yay! Bring on slug-mode!

Friday Workout:
35 min Interval 7 = 4.32 miles + 35 min Interval 8 = 4.15 miles  Grand Total = 8.47 miles Yay!
Cage Stretch
Nexersys: 9 rounds Follow Me Avatar, beginner female.
  accuracy 78%  /  strikes 99%  / avg power 127%
Each round is 3 minutes, followed by a 30 second round wrap-up, and then a 30 second introduction to the next round. I'm steadily improving when I look at stats from the past few weeks. Yay!

photo posted for actual stats:

Last Day of De-Load

Well, having to take a week off from weight lifting has certainly taught me a few things, like I'm still a gym rat junkie, I can't do without at least 35 minutes of cardio (elliptical) and stretching, and I'm having a great time boxing the Nexersys station although I'm not entirely sure it constitutes a full body workout. I do leave it completely drenched and feeling mildly euphoric, so perhaps...

Today I hop on my favorite Precor and punch in Interval 7 which is, by far, my favorite program. I feel good when it's over although I note a little fatigue in my legs and lower back. I've done better mileage, but this is acceptable. On a normal week, I would've punched in a second session of Interval 8 but I don't today. Instead I look for a free ab station. Only the sit up board is available so I knock out 125  sit ups. The ab crunch station and the torso twist have elderly people moving in slow motion. Well, at least they're moving.

I get to the Cage Stretch and do my routine hamstring stretch, side kicks, heel dips and calf raises. I'm still sweating from the cardio but I can't use the Nexersys with my hoodie on so I strip it off and wrap my hand, pile all my gear under the Nexersys monitor and punch in 7 rounds Beginner Female Avatar Follow Me program. For the first few rounds I don't score any kick points until I figure out that it's not enough to kick the pads so hard that the buzzer sounds and a warning screen pops up. If I manage to kick the pad right square in the X, then it registers. Otherwise, nadda.

There's a fellow on the station next to me, wailing away. I gather he's just sparring. This is the most rounds I've ever done continuously, although there are two-minute rest pauses between each three-minute round. During that time you can see how well or poorly you're doing, and what combinations the machine will likely toss at you for the next round. When I focus on the actual kicks and punches, I sometimes lose power so I have to concentrate really hard to do both. It's probably why I'm so drenched by the time I'm done. All that concentration. LOL! Because I've done 7 rounds in total, I decide not to do a Sparring session. Gotta leave something in the tank. For some reason, people stare when I'm wailing on the machine but not so much when it's a guy doing it. I should be used to it. People tend to stare when I come off the Mats too. Not to be obnoxious, but I tend to ignore everyone. Hey, it's a gym. Where you work out. Duh.

I don't bring my standard RTD protein beverage (Ensure High Protein, yes an old people nutritional supplement) today because I figure I'll go home and mix up that strawberry Qwik flavored protein mix my husband bought at GNC. I complained about getting a headache from it last time but my husband suggested that I try it again, just because maybe it was some other factor. Again, I only use 1 scoop and mix it with lactose-free skim milk. It certainly tastes loads better than the Muscle Milk strawberry RTD which has such a nasty bitter aftertaste that you just absolutely don't want to eat anything at all for hours afterwards. A half hour later and I find myself grinding my teeth with a vague headache, again like I've eaten cold medicine with phenylalanine in it. I need a magnifier to read the list of stuff in this Wheybolic mix... yep, sure enough, there's phenylalanine in it. Blech! I can't imagine taking 3 scoops of this stuff at a time! It doesn't seem to bother my husband but he's already eaten all the pseudoephedrine in the house due to allergies. He's probably immune.

Monday is Columbus Day and I'm hoping everyone goes away on holiday so that I can go to the gym and get a decent workout. Well, not everyone. I'll probably need someone to spot me. Sigh.

Today's Work Out:
35 min Interval 8 = 4.41 miles Yay!
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Cage Stretch with BW heel dips & calf raises and side kicks
Nexersys Station: 7 rounds Follow Me Avatar, beginner female
57% accuracy / 97% strikes / 118% power
Mat Stretch with 12 wide legged DBPUs, 3 rolling, 12 regular stance DBPUs, splits, etc

Again the Nexersys recommendation is that I add rounds because "outpacing and over power for your level". Yes, I admit the warning buzzer went off after every single punch or kick for one or two rounds. Oh well...

Follow Me 7 rounds

Break down of the Follow Me rounds, first round at top, last round at bottom.