Is the Week Over Yet?

What a bummer. I had my whole blog typed up here but it got lost and didn't upload properly. Well, here's my workout.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   92.2 CAL
Distance: 0.82 mile
Duration : 00:10:02

Boxing

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

Step Machine

LISS

Calorie :   170 CAL
Lap/Rep :  67 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:20:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

7 rounds Beginner Follow Me

7 rounds Intermediate Follow Me

Warming Up Is Suppose to Help

Pre-gym Morning Selfie

Yes, the Stretch Cage is gone for good. Bummer. Not only did I use it to stretch my legs and hips, but it was the only place I could use a Hammer Grip to do pull ups. Now there's no place that accommodates my tiny hands and fingers. Double bummer. The gym owner tells me that the stretch chairs are now positioned next to the recumbent bikes. It's a good place for them as far as I'm concerned because neither does anything for me. Seriously.

Today is Leg Day, and that's a good enough excuse for me to do 30 minutes of cardio on the Cross-trainer. Use it or lose it. I'm not able to make the same mileage anymore. Bummer. I am busting a sweat though, so that's reassuring. I wander down into the free weight area. Yellow balloons are tied to the three new pieces of equipment: a tricep machine, a chest press, and a power rack cage. The latter is situated right next to the Smith machine. Whew! I'm happy the Smith is still there, and apparently vacant, so I glom onto it for my Squats, One-Leg Split Squats and SLDLs.

Squats feel unusually heavy today, the weight painful on the base of my neck and upper back. Then I realize that the pad that's affixed to the bar is not the one I normally use so I pull it off and replace it with the thicker neoprene half sleeve. That is soooo much better!

New Power Rack Cage

Between sets, I glance over at the new cage. A small diagram on the side bar shows the different exercises that can be performed on it. It appears that the bar is affixed to metal rods that keep it inline. A guy drags one of the big adjustable benches over to do Inclined Presses. He's flummoxed by the way the bar is attached to the guides, eventually gives up, and resorts to DBs while still seated inside the cage.

There's a lot more people willing to check out the tricep machine and the new chest press than the rack. The rack looks medieval even though it's brand spanking new. Next week maybe I'll get one of the trainers to show me just how it works because I'm curious. The rack also has pull-up handles at the very front top of the cage. I can't reach them without standing on something very tall, and the hammer-grip handles are probably too wide for me anyway. But I won't know unless I try.

Leg Day Selfie

I see Jude, The Mayor and other regulars. Because all the equipment has been rearranged, people are milling about trying to locate their favorite bench, etc. I can't find anything to use as a low bench for my Split Squats so I grab a bosu ball. That actually works well since it's the right height. My injured left index finger only hurts intermittently so I put my VGs on for the heavier sets of Smith SLDLs. The diagram on the new cage suggests that one can perform DLs there but I'm not sure whether you'd be facing the mirror or the gym to do it. I've done a lot more sets today than I have for the past few weeks. I think doing a 30 minute warm-up really helps. But the idea of GHRs leaves me worried. Still, I'm not one to let the thought of failure keep me from the very last exercise in my routine.

I'm actually surprised that I can do actual GHRs today, pushing myself up to perpendicular, feeling my hamstrings and calves contract. Or at least I get the first two sets, and then most of the last set. By rep 8, I can feel my lower back, a signal that my form is crumbling. Back to the ellipticals for 30 minutes. I try talking myself into doing just 10 min of HIIT cardio, but since I did 12 last time, I do 12 this time. I'm trying to work up to 15 min of HIIT, and 20 min of LISS. Today I manage to keep the LISS portion fairly steady. And although HIIT started off a bit slow, with me hitting a max of 264 for the first three cycles, my legs acclimatize and I'm able to reach a max of 284 for a few seconds during the 10th cycle. Then it's all downhill. Well, not really. But I'm only able to reach 264-268 for the last two cycles. Then it's a slow jog. The gym is fairly empty today because it's nice out and that's where everyone wants to be. I seize this opportunity to use the Step Mill for 15 minutes for more LISS. At least we're not hiking tomorrow: I'm sure my glutes are going to be complaining.

Friday Leg Workout
(5.95 miles cardio, 16,560 lbs moved)

CrossTrainer

Calorie :   147 CAL

Steady State
Distance: 3.79 mile
Speed :    7.57 mph
Duration : 00:30:03

Smith Machine Squat

210

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 140x12
Set 5 : 150x12

Smith Machine Single Leg Split Squat

98

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 60x12
Set 3 : 70x12
Set 4 : 70x12
Set 5 : 70x12

Smith Machine Stiff Legged Deadlift

196

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x12
Set 4 : 120x12
Set 5 : 140x12
Set 6 : 90x12

GHRs

Set 1 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 12 Lap/Rep

Elliptical Training

12 min HIIT  18 min LISS

Calorie :   187 CAL
Distance: 2.16 mile
Duration : 00:30:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   104 CAL
LISS
Lap/Rep :  43 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Left to My Own Devices

My husband left this morning for Boston where he'll be until late Friday night if all goes well. Last time he wound up staying until Saturday afternoon. That means my son is my "hot date" for Valentine's Day. I've already hidden a tube of Sweet Tart candies for Friday. If there's school, he'll be bringing two bags of popcorn for the class party and tiny Valentine cards with heart-shaped pops attached to them. I'm toying with the idea of running out to Dunkin' Donuts that day just to buy heart-shaped donuts for us to share Friday night. Yep, diet blown. There's no telling how bad Winter Storm Pax will be, but I feel prepared.

Top: 20 min HIIT cardio elliptical
Bottom: 20 min LISS stepmill

 

Today I can do whatever I want at the gym so I decide on a modified HIIT cardio program to start. Instead of 1 minute "run" and 1 minute "walk", I do 45 seconds "run" and 75 seconds (1 min 15 sec) for the resting phase. It's still hard, and I don't make as good mileage, but it gets me warmed up. Well, I don't actually start sweating until minute 15 and my legs are a tiny bit sore from yesterday. Probably because I upped the DBs 5 lbs for those lunges. I do a quick Cage Stretch before I plant myself in front of the Nexersys station. Wrapping my hands is almost like a ritual but I take more care this time to make sure my knuckles are tightly covered. Last week I got knuckle rug-burns because the wraps were sliding inside my gloves.

I don't usually do HIIT cardio before boxing so I wonder how awful or good this is going to feel. Nine rounds of Beginner Follow Me to start. My accuracy gets better as the program progresses, which just validates my belief that I'm slow to warm up. I start to key in 5 rounds for the Intermediate Program when I'm distracted by the old guy on the bike adjacent to the boxing stations. He waves a dime at me and I shrug him off because goddamnit, why are you bothering me over a dime? So the Nexersys goes to 3 rounds and I think, well, I'll just do another 3 rounds after this session.

What's nice is that the machine appears to select from a random range of programs so the first three Intermediate rounds have different combination requests than the next 3-round session. My accuracy actually improves 10% from the first Intermediate session to the next. During round 6 (total Intermediate rounds) I'm very pleased to read that my accuracy is up to 78%, I've hit all my strikes (100%) and my power is 111%. This means I'm starting to get comfortable with this level. I'm really happy! But I don't feel done so I grab my hoodie and clamber onto the Matrix Stepmill for 20 minutes of LISS while I read email and check the online forums.

I need to stretch afterwards so I plop my soggy self onto the Mats, knock out 25 regular-stance Dive Bomber Push Ups, a single 60-second plank and a few leg and lower back stretches. I get a twinge in my right calf that verges on a cramp. I'm pushing too hard. I've got to learn to let go and relax. The gym scale reads 113.2 lbs which is pretty good considering I completely drained my 1.5 liter bottle. I actually remembered to bring the high protein Ensure today so I drink that in the car before doing a few quick errands. By the time I get home an hour later, I'm starving again. Figures.

Hump Day Pre-Storm Workout

20 min elliptical modified HIIT (45 sec on / 1 min 15 sec off) = 1.62 miles
Cage Stretch

Nexersys 9 rounds Follow Me Beginner Female
  Accuracy 94% / Strikes 103% / Average Power 135% (yeah, I'm way too strong for beginner mode)
Nexersys 3 rounds Follow Me Intermediate Female
  Accuracy 73% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 102% (I've improved a lot from the past few weeks)
Nexersys 3 rounds Follow Me Intermediate Female
  Accuracy 83% / Strikes 97% / Average Power 98% (the very last round is my best at this level)

20 min Matrix Stepmill level 3 = 758 steps
Mat Stretch with 25 Dive Bomber Push Ups and one 60-second plank

Photos for actual stat reference:

9 rounds Beginner Follow Me

Two 3 round Intermediate Follow Me sessions