Born Again Gym Rat: Pixels movie trailer

Showing posts with label Pixels movie trailer. Show all posts

Monday, July 27, 2015

Fixing What Ain't Broke

I know I partied too much this weekend, drinking too much wine and eating too much salty foods. Still, although I didn't make any Personal Records today, I was fairly satisfied with my workout. My problem with Smith Bench Pressing is my right shoulder. Actually, it's a problem with any sort of benching movement. Today, The Manchurian is one the Smith. I ask him how many sets and he asks if I can perhaps work in. I decline. I'd have to shift the bench and readjust all the weights. It's not productive. I tell him not to rush because I hate pressuring people. He's an older man who was out all winter. When he returned in the Spring, he looked very frail and used a walker. But he's since recovered and built himself up. When he benches, he uses the foam neck pad for Squats to cushion the bar as it touches his chest. That's a new technique I'd not seen before.

While I'm waiting for the Smith, I bench light sets on the Matrix Breaker Bench. I'm too short: my feet don't sit flat on the floor so I'm anchored with the balls of my feet only. I do four sets, which is probably too many for a warm up. My right shoulder feels odd. It doesn't hurt but it feels as if it could shift out of position and become very painful. I only do sets up to 130 lbs even though I've managed to squeak out a few reps at 135 lbs. But not today. I always skip Inclined Benching when my shoulder feels odd. It's better to live to fight another day.

I make it all up in the DB Lateral Raises superset with DB Inclined Reverse Flyes. Warm up with two sets of 20 lbs and move on to 25 lb DBs. Start off with 8 reps Lateral Raises and 12 reps Reverse Flyes, and up the reps to 12 and 15 respectively. Not only do they grow nice shoulders (and who doesn't love nice shoulders?) but they also help with the endurance aspect of jabbing and punching. Having a powerful punch doesn't do you any good if you're too tired to keep your arms up round after round. And I have to admit that after 14 rounds, my arms and shoulders aren't tired. My hands are just a bit sore. Maybe I'll use the new cotton wraps I bought last year. And remember to keep my thumbs tucked and my fists tight.

Working from the body outward, the last body part is triceps. Rip Skulls and then Cable Push Downs. I like the Rip Skulls because they're a full muscle movement, working all three heads of the tricep muscle. The Cable Push Downs are move of a finishing movement. I know I'm going to struggle with the last set at 40 lbs so I use that as an opportunity to do a Burn-Out Drop Set: dropping the weight 10 lbs and adding reps. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

And then, finally, there's the 10 min of HIIT cardio followed by 20 min of LISS. I can't even think about it because I'd talk myself out of it. I'm rewarded by actually hitting 290 Strides Per Minute for a few seconds for three out of the ten minute-sessions. Yaaay! I'm also seeing results from the Smith Split Squats. Workout shorts I'd purchased from Athleta a few years ago, and then regretted buying because they didn't seem complimentary, now fit better. Now that my butt and thighs are bigger, or maybe just firmer? Or maybe just a different shape? I'm not going to argue with results.

Tomorrow is a Cardio and Core Day. And then my son and I are going to see that new Pixels movie.

Monday Push Day Workout
(3.98 miles total cardio; 17,345 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Warm Up

Calorie : 71 CAL
Distance: 1.83 mile
Speed : 7.31 mph
Duration : 00:15:04

Barbell Bench Press

133

Set 1 : 45x20
Set 2 : 65x12
Set 3 : 85x12
Set 4 : 95x12

Smith Machine Bench Press

164.67

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x10
Set 4 : 130x8
Set 5 : 80x25

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

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

Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

37.5

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

Barbell Reverse Grip Skullcrusher

52.5

Set 1 : 15x12
Set 2 : 37.5x12
Set 3 : 37.5x12
Set 4 : 37.5x12
Set 5 : 37.5x12

Cable Triceps Pushdown

Set 1 : 40x12
Set 2 : 40x12
Set 3 : 40x12
Set 4 : 30x14
Set 5 : 20x25

Elliptical Training

Calorie : 211 CAL
Distance: 2.15 mile
10 min HIIT
20 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:00

Monday, July 20, 2015

Precision

Today's Selfie

I hate imprecise writing. This immediately dooms my future as a tech specifications writer, doesn't it? Poor punctuation, typography and worse, the absolute wrong word. I notice this a lot in printed and online articles, pieces that I assume have not only been spell-checked, but proof-read and fact-checked. Sadly, the written word appears so quickly these days that there's no time for review before it's being eyed by others. I've given up on the newspaper, even the once illustrious NYT is wrought with typos and convoluted sentences.

Health Blogs seem to take the most liberties. I read an article over the weekend about the 5 healthiest cheeses. I'm a big cheese fan, although I'm not particularly fond of Wensleydale. (We have blue Stilton in the fridge right now!) Okay, there's the standard parmesan, romano and cottage cheese. And then ricotta, which I like but can't really eat because of the lactose. I'm lactose-intolerant. So when the fifth cheese mentioned is cheddar, notably due to its high fat content, and thus low lactose content, I wince. What about the other hard cheeses like swiss and aged gouda? Worse yet, the author writes that the cheese is low in lactose enzyme, making it perfect for the lactose-intolerant. Ahem, anyone who's taken high school biology will tell you that a word ending in "ose" is a sugar, i.e., glucose, dextrose, lactose. Any word ending in "ase" is an enzyme, as in lactase, which is what is added to lactose-free milk. So what exactly does that last paragraph mean? The cheese doesn't have lactase enzyme in it. It just has barely any lactose sugar in it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed the nonsense because two days later, the article is nearly impossible to find. Just as well.

I've been skipping breakfast lately and just drinking a cup of instant espresso before working out. Regardless of whether I eat breakfast or not, my workouts seem the same and I'm usually ravenous by the time I hit the shower. I'm not particularly fast these days, but I'm not weak either. Unfortunately, doing a few DB Presses while waiting to use the Smith machine, aggravates my right shoulder, even using a neutral grip (palms facing each other). I didn't even go heavy as sets of 12 were at 20, 25 and 30 lbs. I was still able to do high reps, and for me, high reps is 25 and over. Because of the shoulder, I skipped Inclined Benching today, and went light on the CG Bench Press.

I expected to see more people at the gym because it was already 80F by 8 am. There were some regulars. Most of them make themselves fairly scarce. Shaggy hovers a lot but The Mayor keeps his distance. I can still hear him from across the gym though. There is a new guy who seems to hover a lot lately. Tall, skinny, balding. He looks a lot like one of my neighbors but I'm pretty sure it's not him. There are too many newbies, mostly kids. Sometimes I look up from my bench and I'm surrounded by tall, thin blonde women, all wrestling with assorted DBs and BBs. And just as suddenly, they're gone.

Next week might be the start of a month-long cardio and bodyweight routine. Camp ends mid-August so I'll have my son at the gym with me every day for the two weeks until school starts, and that's always an abbreviated workout. But tomorrow we're going to see Antman. Yaaaay! And next week we'll catch an early showing of Pixels.

Oh, I took one of those silly online Fitness Level questionnaires. Because it relies on your "truthful" answers, the results are somewhat suspect. I had a good laugh though...who's to say that it isn't true? Truthfully, I don't feel old. And it's going to be a long while before I actually take advantage of any "senior" discounts.

Monday Push Day Workout
(3.95 miles cardio; 18,785 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie : 69 CAL
Distance: 1.82 mile
Speed : 7.26 mph
Duration : 00:15:06