Numbers Never Tell the Whole Story

Today is universal bench press Monday so of course that was what I was obliged to do. First I had to get my warm up out of the way. I got to the gym a tad late and was crestfallen to see a gal up on the ellipticals. Imagine my surprise and relief when I saw that she was pedaling the tractor, leaving #1 open and free for me. Yay! I didn't notice sore glutes or any other body parts until I started pedaling, and I was moving fast and hard. Just barely made my quota. But at least I made it. Yay again!

I've been playing with the free version of a workout app called Jefit. I can't say I like it much, because I spend a lot of time scrolling around for my exercises to plug into a log. Some I can't even find, like the torso twist machine. There's a torso twist listed, but it only allows reps, not weight, so that's not the one I'm doing. The only thing I like is that after I punched in all my reps, weight and sets for Benching, it gave me a 1 rep max of 150 lbs. Which is 5 lbs more than the last website I checked gave me (punched in 6 reps at 125 lbs and got 1 rep max of 145 lbs). Which brings me back to Benching. There was a lot of chatting today, but when I'm plugged in, I don't hear anything at all. Just me arguing with myself.

I've cut back on my warm up sets and reps to see how it affects my benching, although I have to consciously limit the count. It's just waaay too easy to do a lot of reps. I do 3 sets of 12 reps, increasing the weight a bit each time. When I get to 115 lbs, I hesitate for a moment, but I've done this weight before (just last week for sets). I get 10 reps and brace myself for the next set which will be my heavy set. I know, it's only 125 lbs. But I still need a spot.

I ask The Mayor and he tears himself away from chatting with Sunshine, then tells me to position myself more under the bar. I'm not sure if I do or not, but I've got better control of the bar compared to the past few weeks. Again, I need a little help for the last 2 reps. The first 4, I'm proud to say, I get with no help at all. And my form is much better with more control of the bar on the descent. I know this is all true because I drop the weight on my next set and I can barely squeeze out 6 reps. But at 95 lbs, I can do a full 12-rep set and that's how I leave it. This is not how I've benched in the past, but I'm trying to up my weights and cut my sets and reps. At least for the next few weeks. Today's benching was an improvement even if the numbers stayed the same.

Breaker Benches Coming Soon!

My hamstrings and quads are stiff when I get to Cage Stretch, no doubt because I've cooled down a tad. I haven't stretched out in two days and I wonder what would happen if I limited my stretching to just two or three times a week. Just a thought. My kicks are fast and high so I'm happy. I grab 4 discs from the front desk on my way back to the DB area. It has brand new thick rubber flooring! I only have two more exercises to do today. For some reason, I don't really count abs or stretching even though I do them almost every day. Perhaps it's because I do them every day.

Rear inclined DB flyes are next. I always wonder if I can do them and then I'm always surprised at how many I can actually do. I warm up with 25s. Add a magnet, do another set. Add a magnet, do another set. The DBs look silly with magnets affixed to both ends, but they're still more manageable than the actual 30 lb DBs which have plates too large to fit comfortably under the Inclined Bench. After those are the Standing Lateral Raises. Those I warm up with a set of 20s first. Then I move back to the 25s. A small blonde middle-aged woman (who've I've seen sporadically manning the front desk) is standing a few feet away. She's got those plastic beauty bells and she's flopping her arms without much control. I'm not sure if the weights are just too light, or if she really has no control over her limbs. I move to the 30s and I think she's intimidated. The first two sets I manage 8 reps. Oddly, I squeeze out 10 for the final set.

After doing sit ups, I see creepy PJ Pants. Several old men greet him as he waddles into the weight area. He's not even that fat, but somehow he reminds me of a Disney duck (Huey, Dewey or Louie, take your pick), probably because he leads with his belly. Just a few crunches, then a go at the Torso Twist, a tumble on the Mat and done! Yay! My hamstring doesn't cramp today so I'm fairly pleased with the whole Mat routine although I'm toying with the idea of adding a plank somewhere between regular-stance DBPUs and walking my hands back to my ankles.

The gym scale reads 110.2 lbs which is good considering I spent the entire weekend ferrying my child to his classes and birthday parties where the cuisine was pizza, chips and ice cream cake. I had a glass of wine which I nursed for two hours (one of my friends called me out on that because she just about chugged her glass) because hubby was away all weekend (absolutely no drinking and driving here) so perhaps it's just the liquid calories that I've really got to worry about.

Monday Work Out
35 min elliptical  Hill 5 = 4.01 miles Yay!
Olympic Bench Press: 15 @ bar (45 lbs) / 12 @ 75 lbs / 12 @ 95 lbs / 10 @ 115 / 4 + 2 (spot) @ 125 / 6 @ 115 lbs / 12 @ 95 lbs
Cage Stretch with BW heel dips & calf raises and Side Kicks
Inclined Rear Delt Flyes: 12 @ 25 lbs / 12 @ 27.5 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 30 lbs
Standing Lateral DB Raises: 12 @ 20 lbs / 12 @ 25 lbs / 12 @ 27.5 lbs / 8, 8, 10 @ 30 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 150
Ab Crunch Bench: 100
Torso Twist Machine: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Mat Stretch with 12 wide-legged DBPUs, 3 rolling, 12 regular-stance DBPUs, balance & hamstring movements, splits, lower & upper back/shoulder stretches, etc

Bench Press Monday

We all joke that Monday is National Bench Press Day because more likely than not, we're doing just that: bench press. Which means it's Chest Day for most people. I, unlike most people, only have one chest exercise, sometimes two. Bench press and the occasional decline bench press. For the last two weeks I've used a free standing Olympic bench, but I was at the gym later and there were people to spot me. Today, the first day of school, I'm at the gym earlier, and it's so desolate I think I see tumbleweeds blowing through the free weight area. The only regulars I see are those I don't trust to spot me: the chatty ones. I see B and give her a brief wave before moving on. She's probably pissed at me for not stopping to chat but I find that not only do I cool down too much if I chat before working out, but it's hard for me to talk with a woman who relies so heavily on having men do things for her. Granted she's a bit older than me (she'll be 61 in a week or two) and she's in great shape for her age, but it's hard to relate to a woman who's never held a job, never had kids, never had a dog, and has her husband or male friends do all the vaguely difficult things, like pump gas. Granted, her house is so spotless you could eat off the floor, but perhaps that's not so difficult if you don't have kids or pets.

I know the elliptical will be a disappointment since I've been a slug all weekend but I punch in Hill 5 anyway and peddle away furiously, just missing my 4 mile quota. The Smith looks abandoned except for the 45 lb plate and three 10s on each side. I ask aloud several times if anyone's using it and no one takes ownership so I strip the bar and move a bench into position. By the time I've done my 3rd set, the Manchurian appears, looking a bit disconsolate. I feel a little bad, but really, if you walk away from your bench for more than 10 minutes, you can't expect it to still be there when you finally get back. I only do one set at my heaviest lift and then pyramid down, not wanting to push my luck with my right shoulder. I woke up with it feeling a bit sore so perhaps I slept on it funny.

After Cage Stretches, I grab 4 magnetic discs (2.5 lbs each) and mosey off to the dumbbells to do delts. On the inclined bench, I warm up with a 15-rep set with the 25 lb DBs. Then I add the discs until my last sets are at 30 lbs. I don't like the 30 lb DBs because the plates are too wide to fit under the inclined bench for Reverse Flyes. I don't use quite as much weight with Standing Lateral DB Raises because my shoulders are tired and I don't want to risk injury. But I'd like nicer shoulders so I always try to do at least 6 sets for each exercise. Today I have time for barbell upright rows but I need to rest my delts first. Resting means doing abs instead.

My lower back is still stiff, and especially noticeable when I do the Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups. I only do 125 although I could probably knock out 200 without much more effort. The Ab Crunch Station is also one of those exercises where I could do a lot more than I do. I only do 100 today. The Torso Twist is busy so I grab my discs and a 30 lb barbell. Because I can get 15 reps without so much as a pause, I add 5 lbs and do another set. Then I exchange the 30 for the 40 lb barbell and repeat for 12 reps. Finally I grab the 50 lb barbell. I can get 10 reps with a 2-second pause between rep 6 and rep 7. I could probably get 12 reps this way, but since I want 3 sets, I keep to 10 reps. My wrists and forearms are more tired than my shoulders and I should probably think about adding another movement like DB shoulder presses, or decline presses, but I'd rather do Mat Stretch and leave the gym after a reasonable amount of time. I don't want to be here for hours and hours.

Monday's Workout:
35 min Hill #5 = 3.99 miles Bleah
Smith Bench Press: 25 @ bar / 12 @ 95 / 10 @ 115 / 8 @ 135 / 6 @ 155 / 12 @ 135 / 15 @ 115 / 20+5 @ 95 lbs
Cage Stretch with BW Calf Raises and Heel Dips and Side Kicks
Inclined Reverse DB Flyes: 15 @ 25 lbs / 12 @ 27.5 lbs / 10 @ 30 lbs / 3 x 8 @ 30 lbs
Standing Lateral DB Raises: 15 @ 25 lbs / 2 x 12 @ 27.5 lbs / 3 x 10 27.5 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Barbell Upright Rows: 15 @ 30 lbs / 15 @ 35 lbs / 12 @ 40 lbs / 12 @ 45 lbs / 3 x 10 @ 50 lbs
Torso Twist Station: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Mat Stretch with 10 Dive Bomber Push Ups & 5 DBPUs with hips low in both directions, splits, etc. I added a variation to a balance/hamstring movement: standing heel to toe with knees straight, bend over and touch nose to shin with hands tapping floor and then ankle, raise body to upright, back leg moves in front of first leg but pull knee up  and extend lower leg like a front kick before placing foot down on mat. Repeat until for the length of the mat before dropping into a one-legged squat, front leg fully extended, use hands to help glide body backwards until bent leg is also fully extended forward. 

When I'm bored I play with my routines, adding variations to increase difficulty. Balance and flexibility is apparently lost as one ages so I think it's important to practice these types of stretches. I'm not horribly surprised the gym scale reads 111.6 lbs. I feel puffy and a bit thick, no doubt water retention from eating salty foods (Big W's BBQ anyone?) and drinking too much. I finally discovered Redd's Strawberry Ale at the local beer distributor. I'd thought the supermarket flyer had a typo in it when it announced Strawberry Ale on sale. Of course, it was completely sold out, and signage only pointed to where Apple Ale had been. The Strawberry Ale does taste like strawberries, but the Apple Ale is better. And they both beat the hard ciders which seem thick and overly syrupy. Tomorrow is Back Day. I hope my shoulders feel better, but I do have lifting straps in my gear bag so there'll be no excuses. I've even got some orange hand wraps for boxing the Nexersys later in the week. They had pink, and most of my gear is either black or blue, but I couldn't resist orange. Halloween is coming!