New and Used

I got my new used car home yesterday, but it almost didn't happen. They wanted me to come over at 6 pm. What?! No way! Wednesday? Not good for them. How about 2 pm. Okay, we can do that just as long as someone is home to meet the schoolbus at 3:45 pm. My hubs decided he could work from home as long as he dialed into a conference call at 1 pm. So we planned to drive to the dealership earlier and just sit in the parking lot since my hubs can't do a conference call while driving. The conference call gets cancelled at the last minute. What a waste of time. So we go to lunch. And just as we head to the dealership, we get a call that they can't register the car to me because they haven't received the lien-release from the previous owner. What?!

So we get on the highway to go home and are just at our exit when the dealership calls. The lien-release got delivered to the dealership next door by accident. They have it now. Can we come back? So we turn around and head back. It's sunny out but we've seen the severe weather warnings. After my hubs drops me off, I tell him he has to meet the school bus. Because there is so much paperwork, I'm not able to get home in time to take my son to his MineCraft meetup at the library either. My husband has to do that too, while preparing to leave for Boston the next day. Meanwhile, the sky darkens, I hear thunder and then rolling sheets of water crash down from ominous storm clouds. The wind is whipping rain sidewise. "I'm not driving in that," I tell the finance guy. Eventually the sun comes out again and all my paperwork is finalized. Just in time for pre-rush hour traffic. Yippee!

This morning I put a few things back in my car, including my ancient Sirius Radio receiver. The antennae is a magnet you stick on the roof of your car, and then the wire trails through the window. It's ancient technology because I'm sure everything is BlueTooth these days. I put the antennae on a piece of rubberized matting (used to keep rugs from slipping) on my dashboard. The suction cups have long lost their abilities so I remove the mounting and stick the receiver inside a shelf just below the radio and 6-CD changer. I'm not sure why a 6-CD changer became the icon of luxury 5 years ago. It's good I have several dozen CDs in a big shoe box, just for putting in my car.

Today is Back and Biceps Day with HIIT and LISS cardio. Oddly, I'm still sore from Monday's home workout which consisted of 20 minutes on an elliptical, 150 push ups (not all at once), sit ups and some very light DB work. I suspect it's that new movement, DB Lying One-Arm Lateral Raises, with the measely 5 lb DB that has my lats a tad achy. I only work each body part once a week but I still feel guilty for all the time I spend at the the gym. And it's not like I'm a chatty person either. Today is fairly routine, but I have to check last week's log to know how much I should be lifting. I'd slack off if it weren't for records of my previous workouts.

I up the weights at Seated and Standing One-Arm Cable Rows. Because I'm twisting my arm as I row in to my lat, my biceps seem to be getting the bulk of the benefits. Which means they are absolutely exhausted by the time I try to do full Drag Curls. I can complete partial Drag Curls and that movement is enough for me to feel my biceps contract. Bringing my elbows forwards to finish the movement isn't very graceful, and doesn't seem very productive for my short arms and long torso. RG  BB Curls are my last exercise before doing HIIT cardio. It's just fun fun fun today! I know I can't do 10 straight minutes of HIIT cardio. I'm just too tired. So I do 5 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of LISS to recover a calmer heart rate before another 5 minutes of HIIT. The next 15 minutes of LISS goes by effortlessly. I do a partial Mat Stretch because my lower back feels achy and tight. I'm still following my hot showers with cold for as long as I can stand to shiver. It's not very long, maybe 10-15 seconds. But it feels good.

I get out to the parking lot and wonder if I'll recognize my car. Not only is it bigger, newer, shinier, it's a different color altogether. And it has leather seats and steering wheel! OMG! This is the nicest car I've ever owned. Ever. I feel like a kid. The only things I absolutely had to have were automatic transmission (bad knees can't do a stick), fog lights and alloy wheels (because of the rust isues). Everything else is like icing on the cake!

Wednesday Workout
(3.97 miles total; 30,655 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

WarmUp

Calorie :   74 CAL
Distance: 1.91 mile
Speed :    7.66 mph
Duration : 00:15:02

Max Rack Reverse Grip Bent Over Row

Set 1 : 55x15 (Bar)
Set 2 : 105x12
Set 3 : 105x12
Set 4 : 125x12
Set 5 : 125x12
Set 6 : 125x12
I would've done sets at 105 if it werent' for my tracking app telling me to do 125 lbs.

Cable Seated Row

Set 1 : 90x12
Set 2 : 105x10
Set 3 : 120x8
Set 4 : 120x8
Set 5 : 120x8

Cable One Arm Seated Row

Set 1 : 30x12
Upping Wt today
Set 2 : 37.5x12
Set 3 : 45x12
Set 4 : 45x12
Set 5 : 52.5x12
Set 6 : 60x8

Cable Standing One Arm Row

Set 1 : 40x12
Set 2 : 40x12
Set 3 : 40x12

Back Extension Machine                

Set 1 : 210x15
Set 2 : 210x15
Set 3 : 210x15

Barbell Drag Curl

50.67

Set 1 : 40x8 OMG!Set 2 : 40x7
Set 3 : 40x7

Barbell Reverse Curl

66.67

Set 1 : 40x20
Set 2 : 40x20
Set 3 : 40x20

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   193 CAL
Distance: 2.06 mile
5 min HIIT
5 min LISS
5 min HIIT
15 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:00

Trying New Things

My kahlua pork turned out well and we enjoyed pulled pork over sticky rice and pan-fried pineapple slices. My hubs discovered cinnamon-spiced broiled pineapple slices at a Brazilian churrascaria (steak house) while in Boston. It sure beats eating canned pineapple rings. We also bagged up 9 lbs of home-made Cajun-spice beef jerky that's finally done, having been in the food dehydrator for over a week. It has to be so dry it snaps when you bend a strip in half, and with days of torrential rain, that's been difficult to achieve. But it's done.

Today the sun is out. And the temperature's gone from a wet, chilly 50F to a blazing 70. There's a lot of teenagers at the gym today. Very chatty teenagers. I do my 15 min warm up and then use the Star Trac Max Rack for RG BB Rows. I've dropped the weight in order to improve my form and go for reps, as is my wont. I don't like how my form falls apart with the One-Arm DB Rows, especially at the heavier weights so I'm skipping those.

I saw a video on how to perform a Shotgun Row, aka, One-Arm Cable Row. I try this seated and then standing. I'm actually fairly cautious by nature so I start with very light weight until I get the hang of the movement. Because I'm able to stretch my arm farther than its length, I have to position my start further back than I expect. I hold the handle with a neutral grip and rotate my arm so my hand faces up as I pull in to my side. It almost looks like the pocket hand in a martial arts punch stance. I make sure I am standing so that I have to cross the center line as I pull back. That's suppose to guarantee lat involvement. I don't know. I feel it more in my arms and delts. I wish I could see myself do this exercise. That would help me determine if it's doing what I want. What I want is something to replace the One-Arm DB Rows. At the heavier weights, I feel stress in the  muscles over my hips and lower back.

To my surprise, my left side adapts to the new movements easier than the right. Yes, I'm asymmetrically ambidextrous, but my right side is stronger. Which is why I always start with the left side. However, it doesn't explain why my left looks better than the right. Hhmmm. The Lower Back Extension machine is a no-brainer and I do all three sets without much issue. I'm getting tired, though so I'm not seeing an increase in weight or reps anytime soon.

I do remember biceps before the final cardio leg. I know I'm performing incomplete Drag Curls, but as with the Glute Ham Raises, I might do a partial movement for several weeks until I'm comfortable before adding the second half of the exercise. In this case, I'm able to drag the bar halfway up my torso while focusing on keeping my elbows from flaring out. The second part is harder because it involves pinning the elbows and moving the forearms up the torso until the BB is across the chest.  Of course, I worry about how this part will affect my wonky elbows. Next week I'll drop the weight back down and try to do full sets. At least my BB RG Curls are good.

HIIT cardio is ridiculously hard, but I max at 290 SPM which is a PR for me. I've only rarely gone past 280. The girl on the adjacent elliptical seems perplexed by my sudden manic bursts of speed, followed by several seconds of breathless grimacing. I'm not sure if this is normal for everyone, but I don't start to really sweat until after the exertion is over, and I'm drenched doing LISS cardio. I do most of my Mat Stretch, skipping Dive Bomber Push Ups, Planks and Pistol Squats. Maybe I'll do those on Friday. Tomorrow I get to smack the kickboxing machine. Yaaaay!

Wednesday Back and Biceps
(4.05 miles; 33,980 lbs moved)

Cross-Trainer

Warm Up

Calorie :   73 CAL
Distance: 1.84 mile
Speed :    7.32 mph
Duration : 00:15:06

Max Rack BB RG Bent Over Row

Set 1 : 55x15
Set 2 : 75x12
Set 3 : 95x12
Set 4 : 105x12
Set 5 : 125x12
Set 6 : 125x12
Set 7 : 125x12
Set 8 : 95x25

Cable Seated Row

Set 1 : 90x12
Set 2 : 105x10
Set 3 : 120x8
Set 4 : 120x8
Set 5 : 120x8

Cable One Arm Seated Row

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 30x12
Set 3 : 30x12

Cable Standing One Arm Row

Set 1 : 20x15
Set 2 : 30x12
Set 3 : 40x12

Back Extension Machine

Set 1 : 210x15
Set 2 : 210x15
Set 3 : 210x15

Barbell Drag Curl

(partial)

Set 1 : 40x12
Set 2 : 45x12
Set 3 : 50x12
Set 4 : 55x12
Set 5 : 55x12
Set 6 : 55x12

Barbell Reverse Curl

Set 1 : 45x20
Set 2 : 45x20
Set 3 : 45x20

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   222 CAL
Distance: 2.21 mile
10 min HIIT
20 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:03