Born Again Gym Rat: Smith Inclined Press

Showing posts with label Smith Inclined Press. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Confused Old Men

Had to vote first. Road accident causes delays and I get to the gym later than I planned.

Cardio, foot numbness... try out different gloves to do HG pull ups. Not really satisfactory. Gotta find gloves with enough padding. Back to Amazon...

Right shoulder a bit wonky with the push ups. Not gonna push it! Planks and crunches are okay. Gym is crowded with lots of guys. But the Smith is empty. Yaaay for me!

Disheveled old man keeps looking over at me. WTF? He's at the seated Chest Press with weights I know he can't possibly move. He just sits there looking over at my space. Finally he comes over and asks me how many sets I got left. When someone asks that, it's pretty much a given that they want to use the station next. So I hurry up a bit but I hate being rushed. Instead of going for 120 lbs, I keep the weight at 110. No point in injuring my shoulder since it's already feeling a bit off.

I move over to the DB area. WTF? He's not even using the Smith. Finish up my 6 sets. I see Anime Hair Girl a lot these days. Back to the Smith with the Inclined Bench. The old geezer is nowhere in sight. Best I can figure is that he wanted me to help him, as if I was some sort of nurse or aid. Mind you, I'm dressed in gym gear (ratty blue hoodie, black pants, sneakers, gloves, headphones), not hospital scrubs or a T-shirt that says Staff. I don't chat with anyone, I don't smile, I'm not friendly, or anything close to what I would call "approachable". I hope I don't see him again. Ever.

Pull ups suck when your gloves don't have enough padding and are too big so that fabric catches under your hand unevenly. I have other gloves at home so I guess I'll have to take each pair for a test run with pull ups to see if they'll do. Cardio is my friend. Program #1 today.

Another set of pull ups, but first some easy stretching. Old Hippie Dude stands there with his mouth agape. He's the weirdo who walks around the gym barefoot after yoga class. Must be smoking too much pot. Because gym rules don't apply to him. Must be the weather too. Everyone's in an antihistamine daze. And all the Florida Snow Birds have come back to roost. Time to go.

Tuesday Workout
(6.65 total cardio miles; 22,550 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie : 136 CAL
Distance: 3.75 mile
Speed : 7.48 mph
Duration : 00:30:06

Hammer Grip Pull Up

190.4

Set 1 : 112x21

Seated Flat Bench Leg Pull In

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep

Alternate Hand Pushup

Set 1 : 30 Lap/Rep

Plank

Straight/Elbow

Set 1 : 00:00:30
Set 2 : 00:00:30
Set 3 : 00:00:30
Set 4 : 00:00:30

Crunches

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep

Wide Hand Pushup

Set 1 : 80 Lap/Rep

Plank

Bird Dog

Set 1 : 00:00:30
Set 2 : 00:00:30
Set 3 : 00:00:30
Set 4 : 00:00:30

Crunches

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep

Smith Machine Bench Press

154

Set 1 : 30x15
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x10
Set 4 : 110x12
Set 5 : 80x25

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

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

Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

41.67

Set 1 : 20x20
Set 2 : 20x20
Set 3 : 20x20
Set 4 : 25x20
Set 5 : 25x20
Set 6 : 25x20

Smith Machine Incline Bench Press

112

Set 1 : 30x15
Set 2 : 50x12
Set 3 : 70x12
Set 4 : 80x12
Set 5 : 50x25

Hammer Grip Pull Up

209.07

Set 1 : 112x26

Elliptical Training

Prgm#1

Calorie : 254 CAL
Distance: 2.9 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

216.53

Set 1 : 112x28

Friday, April 8, 2016

Arbitrary April

Because I'm having twinges of sciatica in my right leg again, I decide that today is not "Leg Day" so no Smith Split Squats, no Glute-Ham Raises on the Lat Pull Down machine, no pistol squats. If there's anything I can't do when my hamstrings are wonky, it's pistol squats. I'm not sure what exactly has caused this flare-up. It could be the cardio mileage, or the stretching, or Tuesday's kickboxing. Or a combination of it all. I suspect it's the stretching. Bummer. Of course, the only way to know for sure is to actually skip hamstring stretches for a week while doing everything else. I guess I'll try that next week. At least I didn't get a stitch under my ribs today.

Lately, I've been waking up with heartburn, but only from sleeping on my left side. If I lay on my back or my right side, I don't get it. Limbs get tingly in the night and that frequently wakes me up. But my fingers also go numb a lot, and that's a bit worrisome, especially in the morning when I'm trying to re-braid my hair to keep it out of my face and off my neck. Lately, I've also taken to smearing lotion all over myself before going to the gym. It's the only way I can prevent the tortuous prickly itchiness I get when I'm warming up, but not yet busted a sweat. It's probably because I have such painfully dry skin and the winter air isn't doing me any favors. But I do like the dearth of biting insects! Meanwhile, my heels have developed fissures and I slather them in petroleum jelly every night before bed. I remember my grandmother doing the same when I was a child. She was in her 60s then, and at 56, I'm not so far from that. At least I don't look like I'm nearing 60!

After 30 min on the cross-trainer, I go to the stretch cage. Hammer grip pull ups are so much easier to do if you don't fully extend your arms. I think it's more important to feel the movement in your back (lats) than to strain your elbows and forearms, but I'm not a purist. I'd certainly catch a lot of flack if I were in Boy Scouts, or the Army. I'm feeling a tad guilty about not doing full push ups so today I cut my reps and only get 30 T-push ups. I add back in planks, and do crunches anyway. Then do another set of regular push ups, but with stricter form than usual. I actually think I'm still sore from Wednesday's workout, but it's hard to say. (I didn't work out yesterday because I had to wait for a service guy to come to the house between 9-12, and of course, he showed up at 11:45.)

There are a few noticeable newbies. One is a father/daughter team. He's a mountainous black man, and she's a skinny track star. He has her doing squats and lunges. Then after she's gone, he takes off his sweatshirt, and he's moving weights. There are a lot of HS kids as well, mostly boys. I do Smith Inclined Bench Presses today because it's not flat benching. I can't go as heavy, but it doesn't hurt my shoulders either. I figure the movement works the arms, chest and shoulders differently so once a week is good. Then a light set of DB laterals super set with Reverse Flyes, just for reps. I can't find the 30 lb BB so I grab the 20 and a bunch of magnetic discs for BB Upright Rows. I can definitely feel this in the rear delts and I keep the movement slow and deliberate. My right forearm gets a bit sore but my left is okay. Which reminds me: I haven't done BB RG Curls in ages. Yikes!

Another set of pull ups and these are so much harder. Probably because I drop for full extensions for the last five reps. I can barely get my nose up to the bar for the last two. Off to do 30 more minutes of cardio on the elliptical. I like the Interval program because I can get some decent mileage, although it doesn't have the backwards pedaling that seems to ease my sciatica. Then the 3rd and final set of pull ups. I toy with the idea of a 4th set after the Mat Stretch, but I worry about pushing my luck and developing that nasty under-the-sternum pain. Because my sciatica is making itself known, I don't do some stretches that I know will aggravate it. I'd probably be fine with only stretching once a week or once every other week. I know: it's not what anyone wants to hear, especially in the fitness industry. But I'm not selling anything, only reporting things that happen to be true for me.

Lunch

By the time I get home I'm starving, too hungry to just have a protein shake. No, I want real food! I pop open a can of sardines (in olive oil) and mash that into half an avocado, mix it with raspberry vinaigrette and toss it onto a handful of arugula. Slather the whole combination over some toasted ciabatta slices and it makes a wonderful late lunch. The dog eyes my plate and licks his chops.

Friday Workout
(6.79 miles total cardio; 16,540 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie : 134 CAL
Distance: 3.67 mile
Speed : 7.34 mph
Duration : 00:30:03

Hammer Grip Pull Up

205.33

Set 1 : 112x25

Seated Flat Bench Leg Pull In

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep

T - Pushup

Set 1 : 30 Lap/Rep

Crunches

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep