Beer is Really Fattening

I had way too many brewery products yesterday at the last lakeside BBQ of the season, including Red's Apple Ale, Stella Artois, and Stella Artois Cidre. And my eating habits weren't stellar either although the lentil salad with kale, beets and a lovely mustard vinaigrette was so good I had seconds. Not that I was hung-over this morning, but I felt sluggish what with temps in the low 50s. I actually had my fleece hoodie on over my sweatshirt to walk the dog this morning.

I'm not happy that my lower back is stiff and a tad achy lately. Perhaps I'm sleeping wrong? My skin's not at all happy with the sudden seasonal changes either and I'm having to slather moisturizer everywhere even though this afternoon will be in the high 70s — shorts and tank top weather. I get a slow start on the Cross-trainer and only log in 3.19 miles in 30 minutes. Push ups still end with headaches, so I wind up sitting on my knees for a few seconds before getting up just to acclimatize my body to the different positional altitudes. It seems to help a little. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to get 3 sets of 50 push ups? Naw. Gotta have goals, right?

I've changed my routine a tad to "super set" Hammer Grip pull ups and Body Weight Squats (butt to heels) for every set of push ups I do. For fun, I smack the ground with my palms on the down stroke for squats and clap my hands together when I stand up fully. Because I don't do GHRs today, I'm curious to see if my glutes and quads will be sore tomorrow. I haven't done any DB shoulder work in two weeks and wonder how that is impacting my kickboxing power and form. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. The Smith is free so I do my 3 sets of Inverted Rows there. These are definitely not any easier. I feel as if my form is compromised if I arch enough to touch my chest to the bar so for the majority of my reps, I just get to within an inch of the bar instead.

Crunches and Pulse-Ups are never easy, but at least I feel as if I did some core work. No planks today. And I cut my Dive Bomber Push Ups down to one set. One quick set of Pistol Squats as well. The kids have all gone back to school, and there are some regulars and a lot of newbies being given a tour of the facilities. The 2nd cardio leg on the Precor annoys me because all the data disappears as soon as I stop the program. At least I know I got 2+ miles.

Again, there's no gym scale in the locker room. I know eating poorly and drinking too much will really screw up my weight and body fat measurements but I'm not too worried. At least I know now what works for me, and how to achieve it.

Monday Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   143 CAL
Distance: 3.19 mile
Speed :    6.33 mph
Duration : 00:30:00

Push Up

50

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 40 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 40 Lap/Rep

Sit Squat

25

Set 1 : 25 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 25 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 25 Lap/Rep

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 110x8
Set 2 : 110x8
Set 3 : 110x8

Inverted Row

156.8

Set 1 : 110x12
Set 2 : 110x12
Set 3 : 110x12

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   200 CAL
Distance: 2.04 mile
Duration : 00:26:00

Crunches

50

Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep
PulseUps : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 50 Lap/Rep

Dive Bomber Pushup

Set 1 : 15 Lap/Rep

Pistol Squats

Set 1 : 6 Lap/Rep

Abbreviations Galore

Top: LF treadmill = .64 miles
Bottom: Row = 1.57 miles

I took my son to the gym yesterday. After 20 min on the treadmill and another 20 min rowing on the Concept II erg, he did sets on various Cybex machines, discovered ones he absolutely didn't fit into, did better on Inverse Rows at the Smith machine, as well as basic bench presses with a padded, weighted 20 lb bar in the DB area. Again, he was too tired to do the 3rd round of cardio but managed to squeak out several sets of crunches. Then we took a drive and got a supermarket-cooked chicken for dinner, and gelato just for fun: Italian cheesecake and Peeps for him; raspberry coffee with heath bar crumble for me. Not quite as good as their pistachio, but tasty enough.

Today I'd planned to drop my son off at tae kwon do for a few hours but they were closed when we arrived. I found out when I brought him to my gym that their town's school board completely screwed up their holiday schedule. Whereas we lost days during Winter Break in February (no one's planning to go anywhere anyway), this town took snow days away from Spring Break. So Carmel NY had school today, and Mahopac did not. But Carmel's off the rest of the week. They were going to have the day after Easter as well, but lost that as well. What this means is that I had to bring my son to the childcare room at the gym today and limit myself to a 2-hour workout, which, when you count showering and changing, isn't enough time to do my entire routine. I dropped sets off everything except the Flat Bench because that's the important lift. I managed to squeeze in a Cage Stretch but no additional cardio. I'll just have to make it up the rest of the week.

Today's Abbreviated Monday Workout

20 min Precor = 1.93 miles

Flat BB Bench
12x45 lbs (bar)
10x95 lbs
8x115 lbs (now I'm just starting to feel warmed up)
8x125 lbs
(I had The Mayor spot me here but I can't remember if I did 8 or 10 reps. Bummer. He asked if I was upping the weight and I said, "Just a tad." He says, "You should just toss a 45 on there." But that'd be such a pain to do the drop sets afterwards.)
6x135 lbs +2 reps Yay!
(The Mayor spotted me ^^ here too and was surprised I didn't need a lift off)
10x115 lbs +2 reps
20x95 lbs (for fun)

Inclined BB Press
12x45 lbs (bar)
10x65 lbs
My right shoulder's feeling a little achy so I'm not unhappy cutting my sets way back today
10x85 lbs

Inclined DB Flyes
12x25 lbs
3x12x30 lbs

Standing Lateral DB Raises
12x25 lbs
8, 8, 12 x 30 lbs Couldn't resist upping the reps on the last set

Bent-Over DB Reverse Flyes
12x25 lbs
3x12x30 lbs

I barely have time for a quick Cage Stretch before I change and shower. I'm only 10 minutes late to rescue my son from "baby purgatory". The gym scale reads 113.0 lbs. I'm good with that. The tae kwon do school has called back and offered me a free week of summer camp for the mix-up this morning. That's cool.