Ooops!

I'm not quite sure what's going on with my 12-yr old dog but he spent all night pacing from the bedroom to the kitchen where he peed on the newspaper under his water bowl. I got up and put down new newspaper. And he peed again. And again. Then there was a bit of blood. Then more blood in the pee. I'm not one to panic. Instead, I research It's rare for a male neutered dog to have a urinary tract infection, but dogs can develop kidney and/or bladder stones. I call my vet as soon as I get my son on the school bus.

They can see me and my dog first thing this morning. After taking urine and blood, all the while poking and prodding, the doc tells me that they'll have partial test results tomorrow and sends us home with half a course of antibiotics on the off-chance that this is indeed some sort of infection. If nothing changes, we'll have to come back for X-rays, which will involve sedation, always a danger for an older dog. This is my morning. I still make it to the gym although I"m not used to walking in wearing street cloths. I don't wear my gym clothes out to do errands. Ever. I often see women blow-drying their hair after working out, but not showering. Reminds me of the Jeff Foxworthy quip about redneck men using the dryer to refresh their clothes, because dry and hot equals clean. Not!

The gym is moderately busy because it's late morning. I do my 10 min cardio warm up on the elliptical and spy Shaggy at the cable station in the CF area near the mountain bike simulators. His eyes look squinty today. I haven't seen Mouse in quite a long time. I wrap my hands and start my routine, beginning with 3 rounds Beginner. I must be punching too hard. By round 3 of the Intermediate session, my right Cross knocks the Padded Arm off-kilter and it falls forward an inch, slightly limp. I can't get it to retract or reposition. Ooops! I pause the machine and ask one of the trainers if he can fix the machine.

He can't. But he tells me that a technician is coming in a few days to fix and adjust both machines. The other machine doesn't register any blows at all on the Right Cross Pad. I take this opportunity to tell him about the software glitches in the Intermediate program. Maybe it'll all get fixed? I can only hope! Meanwhile, I have no choice but to restart the program and continue with the wonky Right Cross Pad. It's better than quitting! But it's hard to see the screen and I have to stand a bit closer to peer between the two red pads. I also try not to hit so hard.


I see R, and his tiny little wife at the cable machines near the CF area. I know he's extremely happy with two adorable tykes now, and happy is making him fat. He seems to have put on 20 lbs, his face is full and I barely recognize him from the back! I wave a quick greeting at him as he passes and he smiles. I reset the Nexersys and do 6 more rounds at the Intermediate Level. I've lost the data for the two rounds I did before I paused the machine, but it doesn't really matter. I'm determined to do 5 rounds at Advanced Level, just so I can get a feel for all the different combinations.

There are still a lot of combos that totally flummox me, and my accuracy scores reflect my inability to process and react to the new series of blows and kicks. Plus the stupid Right Cross Pad is in the way half the time, making it hard to see the screen. So, I'm totally bemused by the machine's recommendation that I am "outpacing and over power for my level" and I should add rounds. My accuracy is abysmal since I completely blew a whole series of combinations. But that didn't seem to affect my Strike number, or my Average Power. Well, yippee for me!

I do 10 minutes on the Step Mill and then head into the locker room. The gym is mostly empty now. The gym scale continues to puzzle me. It tells me I'm 109.8 lbs soaking wet. When I get home, I pull out my own scale. I'm thoroughly convinced that if I'm losing weight, it's because I'm losing muscle mass. I don't look any leaner. If anything, I think I look soft and round. My scale reads 107.6 lbs and 14.9% BF. Whoa! What? I guess dropping half a percent body fat isn't really noticeable. I take my measurements. My waist and hips aren't any smaller. But my back is bigger. How am I lighter?!

I'm so scary! LOL!

My abs do look flatter though since I stopped doing crunches and sit ups. Is it really the Apple Cider Vinegar? I've been taking 1 tablespoon each morning, chased with a cup of water. And again before bed. I've been sipping mashed limes in water with a spoon of honey as well. Today I bought more limes, and two bags of lemons. Lemons are suppose to work better so I buy regular lemons, and a bag of Meyers Lemons. I'd buy key limes too if I saw them, but I just have regular little green limes. Maybe it's because I'm not drinking any hard cider these days. I miss that, but I don't miss the heartburn that might accompany it. I'm even eating bananas and Greek yogurt on a regular basis. I've got this awful craving for liverwurst, but I'm worried it might be too spicy. Plus, deli meats are truly bad for your health, so it'd be quite a wicked indulgence. Oh well...

Tuesday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   96 CAL
Distance: 0.85 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

3 r Bgnr

2+6 r Intm
5 r Adv
Lap/Rep :  16 Lap/Rep
Duration : 01:04:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   75 CAL
Lap/Rep :  31 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:10:00

Photos for actual stats:

3 rounds Beginner

6 rounds Intermediate

5 rounds Advance

3rd round of Advance Level

final (5th) round of Advance Level

Whacking the Machine

I love whacking this thing. It's the one thing I can honestly say I haven't gotten tired of, and always look forward to. Today is the day I've decided to drop another round from the Beginner Follow Me program and add it to the Intermediate session. So few people use these machines that I'm not particularly worried about the 7-round restriction that my gym has imposed. No one ever does more than a round or two and I suspect that they don't really have the stamina to do more. But I could be wrong. I'm not here in the evenings when most of the riff-raff shows up. I'm here with the stay-at-home moms, seniors, students on summer break and shift workers.

As I've mentioned before, what I most enjoy about the Intermediate rounds is that the pace is quicker and the machine allows harder blows before freaking out. I still get the warning message "You are punching too hard. Change your stance or power to prevent damaging the machine." Really? I'm going to outpunch a 200 lb dude? I don't think so. I'm getting better at my Lead Sweep. That's a relief. But my left hand is starting to throb between the last two knuckles. Uh oh.

I have not been able to keep my left hand tight when I punch and I suspect that the force of impact is damaging my hand. Oddly, I don't have this issue with my right hand: I'm able to keep my thumb tucked in spite of the grip bar in the palm of the glove. I clench my left hand when jabbing and the pain in my hand dissipates so at least I know what I need to do to continue. I'd briefly considered quitting the program because of the pain, but I'm glad I figured it out and stuck it out. It's weird to consciously clench your fist. Normally I keep my hands fairly loose until I punch. My right hand automatically forms a correct fist with the tucked thumb. But my left does not. I've worried about really hurting my thumb, accidentally catching it on the pad or stubbing it. I've never considered how the open thumb position weakens the structure of the punching hand. Until now. Lesson learned!

While I'm whacking the machine, I hear a loud raspy voice behind me. It sounds like The Mayor. He's not usually in this part of the gym but he's chatting with someone on one of the cross-trainers. He himself would never be caught dead on a cross-trainer or an elliptical. It's distracting, and annoying. I have a tendency to get more aggressive the further I am into the session. More aggressive means hitting harder, and faster. I don't doubt that I'm probably really intimidating at this point. I'm not particularly concerned with how people perceive me and maybe that's even scarier? As I walk back to the locker room after stripping off my gloves, I can see guys giving me a wary look.

I took a selfie before I got to the gym. Lighting is everything. I figure one of these days in the future I'll be whining about being old and weak. At least I'll have a few photos to remind myself of how lean and strong I was in my mid-50s. I"m no skinny-minny. You can see how thick my torso is. I might never see a 6-pack, but I'm not unhappy with how I look.

Morning Selfie

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   94 CAL
Distance: 0.83 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

Nexersys

Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner Follow Me

9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

Priorities

I was almost late to the school bus stop yesterday so I gave myself more travel time today. Today traffic is exceptionally crazy. Thursday seems to be the day all the big trucks come through town, and everyone else is out celebrating the end of the school year. The town is also fixing potholes and painting new road lines all over the place. Yep, I feel like I'm stuck behind a parade going to the gym this morning.

The gym itself is relatively quiet even though there's a few classes on the schedule. Today is the day I get to totally ignore everyone because after a 10 minutes warm up, I'm fixated on the Nexersys kickboxing machine for an hour. That leaves me more than enough time to shower and change and get back to the house in time for Early Dismissal.

My right shoulder felt a bit achy when I got up so I put a dab of Penetrex cream on it, and hoped that would be enough. It was. The only discomfort I felt today was in my left pointer finger, and I worried that the proximal phalanges might've suffered a stress fracture. Yeah, maybe I do punch too hard? Later, when I unwrapped my hand, everything felt okay though. Maybe I'm taping my fingers too tight? Hmmm. The only other bodily discomfort I suffer are my feet. By the end of 14 rounds, they are battered even though I take pains to wear leather cross-trainers for protection. The mesh shoes are too lightweight. Today I wore the larger Asics. Last week I wore the true-to-size Rykas and the bunion on my right foot chafed. Today, my left foots seems a bit bruised. But my knuckles are fine.

Warming up with 6 rounds feels right. I stop the machine a few times but don't actually blank it out. However, there's several blows that don't register which drops my Accuracy rating, especially in the Intermediate Program. Oh well, there's not much I can do about that. Eight rounds is probably my limit for this level right now. I'd have to improve my cardio stamina to go further. And maybe try and find better footwear. It's so frustrating though, since you can't really tell if a shoe is going to work for you until you actually wear it during a workout. Well, I haven't broken any toenails lately, so that's good. It took months for that one on my left foot to grow out all the way from the nail base to get to the point where I could actually trim it off.

I don't have enough time to do anything except unwrap my hands and do a quick lower back stretch. My shoulders and upper back will probably stiffen up later today. Tomorrow is Leg Day but I will have my son with me, so it'll have to be a super-abbreviated workout. Perhaps an hour of cardio and just some Smith Split Squats and GHRs at the Lat Pull Down station.

I make it to the school bus stop with time to spare, and watch the town's line-painting truck go by. There's a cluster of pretty brown fritillary butterflies and lots of bumblebees on the milkweeds near the intersection. Tiny green clusters of wild grapes hang under hand-sized leaves. Too bad there's so much poison ivy that every foraging foray is fraught with danger. Well, it's summer. I keep finding dead dragonflies too so I take their photos. If I was organized, I'd collect them and make 3-D collage boxes with them and other found items. I knew someone who made beautiful image boxes out of butterflies and flowers, shells and tree bark. But I'm not that organized.

Thursday Kickboxing Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   96 CAL
Distance: 0.85 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

6 Rounds Beginner Follow Me

8 Rounds Intermediate Follow Me

You Don't Know Until You Ask

It's finally cooled down but only because it drizzled a bit this morning and the skies have been mostly overcast. It takes me a while to get out the door because I have to cut and position my little squares of moleskin first. The roadwork adds at least 10 minutes to the 17 it takes to get from my house to the gym. I see a young woman boxing the Nexersys when I walk in. Her punches are unsure and tentative. Hopefully she'll enjoy what she's doing and continue to improve. Later I see her at the cable station. After I stash my gear in a locker, I'm chagrined to find that for all my prep, I've forgotten my gloves and wraps. Again! Ugh. Well, before I resign myself to losing an hour driving back to my house to retrieve my gloves, I'll ask the front desk for a loaner pair. You never know what's possible if you don't ask. The gal produces a pair of grey kickboxing gloves with UFC printed across the top. "They should fit. The other ones we have are huge."

I wrap white tape around my knuckles and my pointer fingers. There's no way of knowing where the chafing will be in an untested pair of gloves. My hands swim inside but they offer adequate protection. However, halfway through the Beginner rounds I feel a sting on the inside edge of my left pinky finger. The seam is rubbing it raw. It takes me another round before it dawns on me that I have a roll of white tape at my feet. I don't normally bring that out from the locker room with me. Today I can actually remedy the chafing between rounds. And I do with a piece of tape. But not before I notice that there's a bit of blood inside the glove now. Oh well...

Two middle-aged women are chatting while pedaling the Cross-trainers behind me. They're so loud that I can hear them over my tunes and the Country Western music the gym is blaring. I'm not sure what kind of workout they accomplished other than their mouths. Maybe LISS? My husband shared his copy of Bastille's song Pompeii with me so now it's part of my workout mix. But of course, everytime I hear it I think of the earthquake in Nepal. It doesn't keep me from singing along though. Thank goodness I'm pretty much just lip synching so no one can actually hear me. But the beat of songs like that help me find my rhythm when I'm whacking and kicking the machine.

My left side tends to knot up from this endeavor so stretching is required unless I'm really short on time. I'm suppose to do HIIT cardio today, but I just can't bring myself to do it after whacking the machine for a good hour. If I'd been lifting weights, it would've been a no-brainer. Instead, I go straight for 30 minutes of LISS. I keep an eye on my heart rate while pedaling the elliptical. It's pretty much a steady 110 bpm, occasionally dropping to 105 so I have to speed up a bit. Oddly, the elliptical registers erratically, sometimes with an alarming 190 bpm even though I'm pedaling a steady 100 SPM. I think I'd notice if my heart rate suddenly zoomed from 110 to 190, right?

I feel cold so I'm happy to be wearing my hoodie, but I'm worried that this will affect my stretch routine. Splits are still easy. My lower back needs the stretch. My shoulders especially tend to tighten after a bout with the kickboxing machine. I hear back from my son's teacher that I'm most likely accompanying the class to the Locust Grove Historic Museum. I'm quite pleased, but now I'm trying to figure out whether I'll have time to do some HIIT cardio in the morning beforehand.
I finally hear the Barred Owl hooting after a long winter of silence, but it's 3 pm, not the middle of the night. Perhaps he's just marking his territory. They don't migrate and are apparently the only North American owls with brown eyes. All the other species have yellow eyes. Their vocalization has been likened to the phrase: Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all.

Wednesday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   76 CAL
Distance: 0.77 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

Boxing

7r Bgnr

7r Intmd
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Elliptical Training

LISS

Calorie :   150 CAL
Distance: 1.95 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

photos for detailed stats:

 7 rounds Beginner Follow Me

7 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

Strength Comes in Many Forms

The one thing I'm really happy about is that boxing the Nexersys absolutely does not aggravate my damaged index finger. I cut little rectangles of moleskin to stick to my knuckles, wrap my hands with white sports tape and do a 10 minute steady-state warm-up (while varying the incline) on the Precor elliptical. My quads seems a tad stiff and I feel slow. Not enough sleep. I'm barely warm when I settle in front of the kickboxing machine, but that's what 7 rounds of Beginner Follow Me are for. To be followed by 7 rounds of Intermediate Follow Me.

The machine is still flaky, still overly sensitive to my Cross and Power Dig, still barely registers my Lead Kick unless I kick it just right. I'm wearing my old Asics Gel GT-2160 cross-trainer shoes because I need to be able to kick the pad with my toe or it doesn't score properly. The leather shoes I have aren't flexible enough. (Today I'm expecting to get two pairs of Ryka shoes: one leather and one mesh. I've got fingers crossed that they'll actually fit my feet which are small, with small narrow heels and a wide ball of foot.)

I don't really feel great until the Intermediate program because I spend a lot of time resetting the screen during the Beginner rounds. It takes me a while to remember to pull my power on the Power Dig and Cross. I'm too short to Power Elbow or Lead Elbow and just use a glancing blow for those moves. Uppercuts are also tricky. I like the Power Body best because I don't have to hold back, and I can reach that pad comfortably instead of having to arc up for a Cross, Jab or Hook. I'm really dancing to the music, a blow or kick for every beat. It feels great. It's really my favorite thing to do at the gym. Of course, the machine advises me that I should add rounds. I wonder if I did 15 rounds straight, if it would still give that assessment.

I have just enough time to pull off my wraps and the tape and do 10 minutes on the elliptical. I prefer a few minutes of intense HIIT cardio. Today I start with 2 minutes steady-state, then 15 seconds of all-out Intensity (managing to get up to 284 Strides Per Minute), dropping down to 90-120 SPM for 45 seconds, and repeat 4 more times. Then 3 minutes of catching my breath and mopping my face (160 SPM). I'm surrounded by people pedaling obliviously. At least until I reach the Intensity portion of my program. They seem startled out of their trances, probably because the elliptical tends to clunk noisily at such high speeds. That, and the water bottle shakes ominously in the handle holder.

Tomorrow is Leg Day. Wonder what I'll do...

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   97 CAL
Distance: 0.85 mile
Duration : 00:10:07

Nexersys Kickboxing

Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   74 CAL
Distance: 0.88 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

photos posted for actual stats:

7 rounds Beginner Follow Me program

7 rounds Intermediate Follow Me program

With the Click of a Button

Today is April Fool's Day and the weather sure had me fooled, with forecasts promising a balmy 60°F this afternoon, and me waking up to a good 1/2 inch of hard frost on the windshield. I drive my son down to the school bus stop because I'm in a hurry to get my workout done before my eye doc appointment. I figure I have just enough time to get a good 12-14 rounds in, considering each round lasts 3 minutes with a 1 minutes rest in between.

To be safe, I spend 10 minutes on the elliptical just to warm up. I still don't understand whether I'm pedaling faster or if the mere act of punching in additional data (age/weight) into the machine has increased my mileage readings. It's not quite a steady-state warm up either as at each minute marker, I change the incline setting up or down by 2-4 levels. I'm warm and sweaty by the end of 10 minutes. An old guy is stretching at the Cage so I do a quick hamstring stretch in front of the Nexersys instead. I've already affixed moleskin and white tape to my hands while I was in the locker room. Now all I need to do is use the cotton wraps and stuff my hands into my gloves.

The machine doesn't register my Lead Kicks (left side front) and is still overly sensitive to my Cross and Power Dig, beeping plaintively and flashing the warning screen: You Are Punching Too Hard. Uh, yeah, right. I do 7 rounds and feel moderately warmed up while I ignore the slight twinges in my shoulders. Holding your arms up in a fight stance round after round is actually kind of taxing. Then I punch in 7 rounds Intermediate and the machine refuses to register a whole series of combinations. I pull the power on my Cross and Power Dig, and inadvertently miss a few Power Elbows and Hooks. Oh well. The pace is quicker at the Intermediate Level, and it's more tolerant of the harder blows. But not immune.

I stop the machine several times, but not hard enough to blank the screen. At the end of it, the machine tells me I'm still outpacing and overpowered. It advises me to add rounds. Really? Of course, I'm only suppose to do 7 rounds, or 30 minutes, according to the paper sign affixed to the bottom of the screen. But since no one else is waiting to use it, I'm not feeling constrained by the rules. Besides, the gym owner is standing at the front desk. If it bothered him, he'd say something to me. The way I see it, other women see me whacking this machine and the next thing you know, they'll be wanting to give it a go as well. Big Blonde Yoga Girl has been watching from the cross-trainer on the cardio platform. She's been coming regularly and is one of the few women I see in the free weight area. But if she ever wants to smack this machine around, she's going to have to find a place to put her phone because hers is attached to her upper arm. I can't think of anything more uncomfortable or restrictive!

I barely have enough time to shower and change so I don't do a warm down or any HIIT cardio or even any stretching. I get to the doc's office 5 min late but no one else is there, and the intern is still learning how to perform the tests properly. At least the sun is shining.

When I finally get home, I stash the last-minute Easter goodies the Easter Bunny will deliver this Sunday. And then decide to update my weight and body fat. I've been a bit lax about it even though I weigh myself at the gym on a daily basis. But that's more for a guideline. This home scale weigh-in is more "official". I've had a birthday since the last reading so I have to adjust the data and inadvertently punch another setting. The difference in the readings is rather dramatic! I've actually emailed the manufacturer's tech support to ask them about this. I'll let you know what/if they reply.

Although I weigh the same (110 lbs) in Regular and Athlete setting, everything else is different. I had been using the Regular setting because reviewers of this scale said that the Athlete setting really skewed the readings negatively. And then of course, I forgot all about it. Until today when I did comparison readings. As a Regular 55 year old 4'11.5" female, my Body Fat is 20.9%, Muscle mass is 35.8% and Bone is 4.4 lbs. Not great readings as far as I'm concerned. But under Athlete, I'm still the same 110 lbs, but now my Body Fat reads at 15.4%, Muscle mass at 38.6% and Bone is 4.6 lbs. I don't entirely believe that. But hey, with the click of a button, I've dropped 5% BF! Only I know better. There's no way I'm 15.4% BF, but it's nice to pretend. Yep, it's April Fool's Day, isn't it?

Meanwhile, in playing around with the MyFitnessPal app, I discover that under "Strength" you can scroll through various activities, like fixing your car or doing woodworking, or house cleaning. Eventually I find things like Martial Arts, Circuit Training, and Strength Training (which isn't afforded much of a caloric expense). Tomorrow is suppose to be 60°F for real. Yeah, we'll see...

Wednesday Workout

10 min Precor elliptical = 87 cal  and 0.95 miles

7 rounds Beginner Follow Me Nexersys 
  Accuracy 90% / Strikes 95%/ Average Power 138%

7 rounds Intermediate Follow Me Nexersys
  Accuracy 83% / Strikes 95%/ Average Power 115%

photos posted for actual stats:

7 rounds Beginner

7 rounds Intermediate

Accountability

Today I remembered to pack my gloves but forgot the scissors. Ugh. Luckily I have a small pocket knife that I use to score the moleskin so I can affix it to my knuckles. My left index finger still hurts when I grab heavy things, like the frying pan. Ugh. I wrap my hands in white tape and put my weight-lifting gloves on while I warm up on the elliptical for 10 minutes. A quick stretch and then I use cotton wraps before stuffing them back into my old pink Everlast kickboxing gloves. My neck and left shoulder are still stiff but feel better when I work out and everything loosens up. I tap in 7 Rounds Beginner, and then 5 Rounds Intermediate to get 12 rounds total.

I'm wearing my new Saucony walkers and they are a tad too big for kickboxing the machine. There's just a bit too much room in the toe box so my (left) Lead kick doesn't always land correctly and the machine counts it as a missed strike. Ugh. But my hands feel okay and my shoulder doesn't really bother me when I throw jabs and cross punches. Uppercuts are a bit more troubling and I have to be extremely cognizant of my hand and wrist placement so that I don't hit with a bent wrist. That'd really hurt. The machine is still flaky and the Intermediate program glitches more than once. Of course, I'm still hitting too hard. Of course.

When I'm done, I climb onto the elliptical for anther 10 minutes, but do 5 minutes of HIIT instead of a full 10 minutes of steady-state. I haven't done HIIT in months, and it's just as painful as I remember it. But oddly, I'm able to hit close to my max speeds (272 SPM) for each peak so perhaps time away from this was a good thing.

I've installed a new app on my phone called MyFitnessPal. It's helping me track my calories, and nutritional breakdown. It's less helpful when I have to punch in my exercises since it only seems to take cardio seriously. This app tells me that I'm not eating enough protein, and ingesting too much fat and sugar. Figures. So today I don't eat oatmeal with an egg in it for breakfast. Instead I toss a scoop of mocha flavored whey protein into my instant coffee. It does NOT mix well, and I wind up sort of eating my coffee this morning. At least I'm not hungry during my workout.

However, I'm ravenous by the time I get home, and I make myself a tiny sandwich (3 oz Boars Head Honey Turkey deli meat) on 2 oz of baguette bread with a tsp of hot and spicy mustard. Dessert is a whole ruby red grapefruit with a scant spoon of sugar on it. I still have 1490 calories left for dinner and snacks, according to the app. Since I've been tracking my food, I'm finding subtle changes to my behavior, because now someone, even though it's just me, is "watching". Being accountable for my food makes snacking much harder. I'm not overweight by any means these days, although I was taken aback by an old photo I found of me and my husband, shot a year after we got married. My face is round like the moon although you can't really see the rest of me.

I'm much more aware that the older we get, the harder it is to maintain an athletic build. At odds with my quest for lower body fat and a leaner look, is the idea that high amounts of protein can lead to bone loss. The studies seem mixed but the latest one I found online suggests that with adequate calcium supplementation, higher protein intake (from food) and the alkalizing effects of fruits and vegetables, bone density can be improved. Sure, I'll bite.

Thursday Workout

10 min steady state elliptical = 0.86 miles

7 rounds Nexersys Beginner Follow Me
  Accuracy 88% / Strikes 95% / Avg Power 134%
5 rounds Nexersys Intermediate Follow Me
  Accuracy 85% / Strikes 96% / Avg Power 116%

2 min steady state / 6 min HIIT (15 sec On / 45 sec Off) /2 min steady state = 0.76 miles

Crunches: 3 x 35


photos for actual stats:

These New Gloves Aren't Working For Me

Left: old pink gloves.
Right: new black palmless gloves.

I'm totally bummed. Not only are the two Nexersys machines at the gym completely flaky in different ways, but my new gloves are failing me as well. I put moleskin over my right ring and pinky knuckles before using sports tape, and then cotton wraps. I'm careful to use band-aids on both my pointer fingers before ensconcing them in sports tape because last week's seam burn was really painful. Even though I have a hard time stuffing my hands into the new gloves, I'm still sliding a bit. So when I'm done, my knuckles are bruised pink, and I've taken the skin off my left index knuckle. Left? The jab left? Oh jeeze... I steal a bit of the dit da jow I bought for my husband for Christmas and dab it on my bruises. They immediately feel better. The skinned knuckle gets a pair of criss-cross band-aids. We'll see how long that stays on.

Afterwards, I got on the elliptical for 2 min of steady state and then 8 minutes of Tabata: 15 seconds On (maxing at 276 Strides Per Minutes) followed by a gasping 45 seconds Off (55-60 SPMs). A quick stretch and then off to the locker room to peel off all these soggy clothes, and shower. The Korean woman asks me today if I'm a "sportswoman" and I look at her puzzled while replying, "Uh, no." She has no follow-up questions so I put my earpiece back in. Later, a tall older woman asks me if boxing the machine is fairly intuitive, and if she'll need gloves. Well, the front desk offers loaner gloves, but I wouldn't want to use someone else's sweaty gear. There's a tutorial but that's impossible to hear above ambient background din.

The Left machine is stuck with its touchy keyboard and overly-sensitive sensors. It goes a bit whacky during one round and doesn't register any of my power kicks. It also goes blank screen dead at least half a dozen times from a cross or a good hook. After doing 5 rounds of the Intermediate Program, I move to the Right machine which still has my beginner settings from when I logged in last. 7 rounds at Beginner should be easy. Instead it's annoying, again, because it doesn't register the Lead Kick, and is overly sensitive to the Power Dig. The sensors are whacked out as well. My jabs are registering at 140%, yet my cross is averaging 55-80%. And I absolutely know my right cross is a lot more powerful than my left jab. So I can't trust any of the readings on either machine. Bummer. But I got a good cardio workout.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   99 CAL
Distance: 0.87 mile
Duration : 00:10:09

Nexersys Kickboxing machine

5 rounds Intermediate Follow Me avatar program

  Accuracy 75% / Strikes 98% / Average Power 117%

 

7 rounds Beginner Follow Me avatar program

  Accuracy 84% / Strikes 94% / Average Power 133%

 

Elliptical Training

8 min HIIT 

Calorie :   70 CAL
Distance: 0.74 mile
Duration : 00:10:01

Photos for actual stats no matter how unreliable...

5 rounds Intermediate

7 rounds Beginner

At Least I'm Consistent

Maybe it's a touch of OCD but I tend to be a bit compulsive in things I care about. At least it's nice to be consistent. Today I only let my son sleep in to 8:30 because I want to catch the 2nd showing of Big Hero 6, which opened last Friday. Because it's Veteran's Day, there's no school and I know the movies will be crowded. The gym child care room is not. Weird. I do my 10 minute cardio warm up which contains 4 minutes of Tabata (15 seconds On / 45 seconds Off) and then a quick cage stretch before I smack the kickboxing machine for a few rounds. Okay. Twelve rounds.

Nothing particularly different about today. I tape and wrap my hands before stuffing them into my pink kickboxing gloves. My right pinky knuckle is sore but I haven't scabbed anything up so that's good. I do spend a lot of time re-setting the machine because half my cross punches are too hard and stop the machine. Like I said, nothing much different. Except during the 10th round, some guy decides he needs to whack the other machine for a minute or two. He punches and jabs and kicks. There's a flurry of activity, but I'm not impressed. What did he do? A 3-minute round? Maybe it's because I spent my childhood watching bad Shaw Brother kung fu movies, but endurance and perseverance is ingrained into my vision of training.

After I strip off the gloves, wraps and tape, I put my hoodie back on and do 10 minutes of Tabata (1 minute steady-state to get into gear, then 10 minutes of 15 seconds On / 45 seconds Off). I feel pretty good. A quick lower back stretch and a basic upper back movement to prevent knots from forming under my shoulder blades and I'm off to the showers. My son and I buy our tickets with 45 minutes to spare so we wander up to the creperie restaurant. They're running a special on Tuesdays: buy one savory crepe and get one sweet crepe half price. My son orders berries and Nutella. I opt for the spicy Caribbean chicken stew crepe which is surprisingly tasty with tender chicken chunkes and a medley of olives. The salad is a bit wilted so I pick at that. By the time we get back to the theater, we hear grumbling about the show being sold out. Since we already have tickets, we just waltz right in. It pays to plan ahead.

Tuesday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.78 miles (81 calories)
I'm amused that I seem to burn fewer calories but cover more distance below.

Nexersys 12 rounds Beginner Follow Me (48 min)
  Accuracy 97% / Strikes 100% / Average Power 137%

11 min elliptical = 1 min steady state + 10 min Tabata  = 0.81 miles (78 calories)


photo posted for actual stats:

Double Cardio Thursday

Every day is a new day. Today I don't feel particularly dizzy when I roll out of bed. Tilting my head back to administer eye drops doesn't make me grab for the closest stationary object. But bending over to brush my teeth makes me want to hurl. Yep, still got vertigo. Just a tad different from yesterday. Still, I feel as if I'm getting better.

Today is the last day of school and it's only 2 1/2 hrs long. I get on the elliptical and do my 2 miles with 4 minutes of Tabata. It would probably hurt less if I didn't go as fast as I can for those 20 seconds, maxing out at 275 Strides Per Minute. But what would be the point then? I barely have enough time to drop to a walk in 10 seconds before having to pedal as fast as I can. It takes me about 45 seconds to recover from the Tabata and ease into a steady-state pace until I hit 2 miles. Sweat is dripping off my brow and I pull my hoodie over my face to blot it.

A quick Cage Stretch and then I wrap my hands to box and kick the Nexersys. Yesterday I took my son to the mall to return some clothes, and also to shop for summer sandals for him and a new pair of boxing wraps for me. After wending our way through the maze that is Sears, we find the Olympia Sports store only to be told that they no longer carry such items. "You have to go to Sears. They carry that stuff," the clerk tells me. How annoying. So we go back to Sears. I refuse to buy pink wraps, the only ones hanging next to stupid pink kickboxing gloves. The only other wraps are a pair of red ones sitting in an open package that used to contain two more rolls. There's no label or tag on it. I take the lone roll to the elderly cashier and ask him if I can buy it. He takes it to the back, then returns a few minutes later, stuffing it into a plastic bag. "It's a gift," he says. "Really Are you sure?" I ask. I don't want him to get into trouble. "We'd just toss it out anyway because we can't sell it and there aren't any more in back. So just take it." I thank him profusely. Score! I have a new pair of boxing wraps, and they're not stupid pepto pink.

I feel more energetic today than the last time I boxed this machine. Still, by the 9th round, I'm completely drenched. The combinations strikes for some rounds leaves me gasping and a bit breathless, but I recover quickly. I stop the machine a few times and lose accuracy points again. Bummer. I have time, so I do 3 rounds Intermediate. Today I realize that there are glitches in the screen because my strike rate is much higher. I'm striking when no blow is called for, but only because of a residual flicker on the monitor, or ghost images. 12 rounds is enough. I strip off my gloves and wraps and do 2 more miles on the elliptical, the first 5 minutes a gentle stroll, then 5 minutes of heart-racing Tabata, and the remaining time at a steady-state jog. My hips and lower back seem a bit stiff today so I drop onto the mat for some lower back stretches and hip bridges. Done.

The gym scale reads 111.2 lbs. I'm pleased. At least I'll still fit into my summer clothes. Today my son and I are planning to trim our hedges or at least the parts we can reach. My son only comes to my nose and I'm not all that tall. I buy new hedge trimmers at Kmart and spray my rusty old ones with WD-40 lithium grease. I've already harvested the first snow peas of the season. The zucchini don't look very promising as there are only three melon leaves in a field of yellow wood sorrel. But I'm excited about the snow peas. My husband is in Boston until Saturday. Then he'll be home to ostensibly smoke some ribs and do some work at his computer before returning to Boston for another several days. My son starts camp on Monday. Summer's already begun!

Thursday Abbreviated Workout

Exercise Name

1 RM

Lifting Logs

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   169 CAL
Distance: 2 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:22:00

Boxing

N/A

Calorie :   --
Distance : --
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  12 Laps/Reps
Duration : 00:48:00

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   164 CAL
Distance: 2 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:22:00

Photos posted for actual stats: