Born Again Gym Rat: cardio and more cardio

Showing posts with label cardio and more cardio. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2017

St Pat's Day Workout

It's a bit chilly when I take the dog out but the roads are all down to dry blacktop. The remaining 16" of snow is soft and slushy. It's just that there's so much of it. My dog can't walk his usual routine, and stands stymied and perplexed at the chest high expanse of white that looms before him. I haven't gotten around to shoveling a path for him. Yet. So he plods halfway up the road before deciding to turn back, all the while furiously sniffing the ground.

I'm sure he's looking for the feral cats. Or roadkill. He's good at dragging me off to examine the latest smushed little body. The last one was a victim of feline foul-play, because what else would behead and disembowel a vole, and leave it out on the leaf litter for all to see? Wild animals are usually hungry animals, and hungry animals eat their kills. This is someone's house pet. At least my dog keeps watch over the bird feeder and barks an alarm should he see something slinking through the hedges. When he's not sleeping.

I get to the gym after the morning rush. My favorite cross-trainer is available and I pedal 20 minutes there. Today is a Cardio Day and I want to take advantage of all the available machines. At some point I'll have to try the new treadmills. The gym owner says it's quite the workout when angled at the proper 30° (that not one user is doing). Afterwards, I actually do a set of pull ups at the Stretch Cage, but I'm careful to keep my elbows flexed the entire time so as not to put undue stress on my injury. It seems to work because I don't feel any discomfort. At the Mat, I do my push ups first, then core. Whew! Got my 80 done without too much worry. It's been easier in the past, when I used to do push ups every day. I should go back to that. (If my hubs would clear the lumber and ladders from under the pull up bar in the garage, I'd actually consider working out at home on more temperate days. But I'd miss the great hot water and water pressure at the gym. Plus, I don't have to clean the shower there!)

I feel the need to work shoulders today so I revise my workout to include Front DB Raises. Nix on any sort of pressing movement. Because I haven't done these in literally years, I start off very light with a pair of 15 lb DBs. A set of 12 has a wee bit of initial discomfort in the right shoulder but it fades. Then I grab the 20 lb DBs and do 12 lateral raises. Last, I grab a pair of 25s for Reverse Inclined DB Flyes. So I have 3 separate pairs of DBs all at my feet, and my hoodie draped over the Inclined Bench. Thank goodness the gym is virtually empty. I'm being a DB Hog today!

I see Flirty Girl doing squats and lunges at the other end of the gym. She's gotten lean and her back and shoulders have nice definition. Perhaps she's working on a physique show? She's been chunkier in the past. But her leanness is coming at a cost: her arms are looking awfully skinny today. I'd like to be a bit leaner, and somehow I don't think I'd lose all that much muscle. But I look back on photos from 5 years ago when I was at my lightest (106 lbs), and dang, I was scrawny! Privately, I flex my arms to see if I still have biceps. Yep, hard little baseballs nestled between elbows and shoulders. I'm sure eating liverwurst and swiss didn't help the body fat cause, but I'm less married to the idea of being shredded than I am to being strong and injury-free. Of course, I still want to look good though.

I do 20 minutes of Intervals on the elliptical. Then move down the line for 15 minutes of Octane Laterals. I feel a bit uncoordinated doing this machine because I just barely fit. And then I move down to the Step Mill. There are two and one is occupied by a young fellow who started when I was on the elliptical. I plan to do another 15 on the Step Mill, but I get bored and need to spice up the stepping with variations, like side-stepping or cross-stepping. He's just plodding. But when he's done, he spends an impressive amount of time spraying down the machine and wiping it off. I have to skip the Stretch Cage when I'm done because the old guy who spends 20 minutes staring into his phone while bending his leg is now planted there.

The guy from the Step Mill is actually on the adjacent side Mat. There's a middle-age lady foam rolling her entire body on the other side Mat. I have the big Mat in front, which is my preferred mat anyway. I do most of my routine, but skip the end where I have to pull out my hair clip in order to lay flat on my back. Meanwhile, older regulars have appeared for their lunch hour workouts. Frankenstein's greasy shoulder length crown of hair has been shorn short enough so that it sticks out reminiscent of Bozo the Clown. Except it's not orange. Yesterday the Whil Wheaton doppleganger jogged on the treadmill in front of me wearing faded camo shorts. When he adjusted his waistband I could see the word MARINES printed in big block letters across his back side. There are Marine insignias on the back of each thigh. Now I really wonder what kind of ink he's got all down his arms. Hhhmmm, I never took WWd to be a Marine, but I'm not totally surprised. There's a sizeable number of guys here wearing FD T-shirts. That stands to reason since firefighters have to be in awesome shape, not that these guys are. But some of them are fairly impressive.

The gym scale reads 109.7 lbs. I'm okay with that. I haven't been trying to lose body fat lately although I should probably take this more seriously. I read the obits and realize that no matter how wealthy you are, no matter how brilliant you are, if your time is up, well, there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Of course, you don't need to hurry it along, and maybe all those little life choices actually do help you to live a long and active life. My grandmother lived to be 93. Will I? Dunno. She needed to be cared for by my uncle and his family during the last years, so I'd say really, she lived to be 88. I guess it's whatever helps you sleep at night... Or not.

Friday St Pats Cardio Day
5.94+ miles

20 min x-trainer
Calories 95
Miles 2.52
Average Speed 7.51
Average Pace 7:59
Average Heart Rate 152

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

DB tri-set Front Lateral Rear
15/20/25 lbs x 12/12/15 reps x 3 sets

20 min elliptical
Intervals
Calories 209
Miles 1.82

15 min octane + 2 min cool down
Calories 118
Miles 1.60
37 floors

15 min StepMill
Floors 48
Calories 114
775 steps

Thursday, September 4, 2014

First Day Glitches

My son and I waited for the school bus with another mom and her little girl. It was her first day of school ever and she was very nervous. Kindergarten is a big deal to a 5 year old. This is the first year we've managed to retain the same school bus driver as well so everything seemed auspicious. I get to the gym and cut pieces of sports tape to wrap around my knuckles and finger before heading out to the cardio platform.

I finish the 10 minute cardio warm up (with 4 min Tabata) and head to the Cage for a quick stretch. Then as I plant myself in front of the Nexersys, a text message pops up on my phone from the school district. They're on Lock Down due to police activity at the Middle School and High School. What?! My first thought is that this is a prank because no one wants to go back to school. I'm also glad that none of the elementary schools are near the Middle and High schools which sit at opposite ends of the grounds. But then my mind starts to wander to school tragedies in this country and elsewhere. It's hard to focus. I know there's not a lot I can do except be ready. Eventually school sends a message that all students are safely inside. Then another message that normal functions have resumed. Whew.

Still, my focus is off and I can see it in my accuracy and power scores. I'm trying to equalize my left and right but sometimes I wonder if it isn't the machine that's all glitchy when it tells me that my left Jab is a mere 80% but the right Cross is 170%. Because I don't have time constraints today, I punch in 12 rounds Beginner and 3 rounds Intermediate. Eventually I'll work up to 5 and then 7 rounds. The odd combinations for the Intermediate rounds still flummox me and I miss several blows. I figure I should concentrate on accuracy more than power for now.

When I'm done I head to the Mats to sit down and pull off my gloves. I see a few regulars like The Mayor, B, LoudMouth, Shaggy, Skinny Joe and R, but the only one I chat with briefly is "Texas" whose baby is due in a few months. I can't even think about how I feel or whether I want to do something or not. I just do because it's the only way to get things done. The 2nd cardio session is always harder than the first, and 5 minutes of Tabata is exponentially harder than 4. But I can't think about it or debate it in my head. Just do it. And then, because it's been a really long time, I clamber up the Step Mill for 15 minutes at level 6.

Even though I have time, I don't do a Mat Stretch. Instead, I put my hoodie back on so I won't make the Mat all gross and sweaty, and stretch out my lower back. The gym scale is missing in the locker room and I'm bummed. Apparently it broke last night, but will be replaced eventually. I have a load of groceries to buy and by the time I get home I'm starving. But I want to know how much I weigh. Because I'm compulsive. And I want to know that what I'm doing is working. It's actually a bit surreal because my home scale reads 107.6 lbs and 19.5% BF. This is completely unexpected. Especially since dessert yesterday was my son's Apple Dip that he learned to make at camp: 1/2 block of cream cheese (I used neufchatel because it's lower in fat), 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp brown sugar. Mix thoroughly and coat apple slices. It was really good. I figure it couldn't be any worse than ice cream.

Thursday Workout