Arctic Chill Mid-Week

There's something wrong when the weather app on your phone tells you that it's 28°F outside but feels like 14. Seriously? It's arctic wind chill and there's a wind advisory warning until this evening. I actually get to the gym quite a bit earlier than usual, before women fill the locker room with deafening chatter and hair dryers. I'm able to get on the cross-trainer for 30 minutes so I'm fairly happy. No pull ups today. My shoulders feel a little tight even though yesterday was a Pull Day, but big movements like RDLs work your whole body. And the RG BB Rows work more than just lats.

I even skip crunches, but manage to muscle through my push ups and planks. Trying to make up for a lack of BB pressing means I take 15 lb DBs and do a few sets of seated DB overhead presses, supersetting them with front raises. My shoulder doesn't like that much. Then I go back to the DB lateral superset with Reverse Inclined Flyes. Shoulders don't like the lateral movement, but are perfectly fine with rear delt action. Figures. The DB area starts to get a bit crowded. I know my shoulder isn't fond of the Rip Skulls either and WTF? all the breaker benches have multiple BBs on them. Yet they're not all occupied. Weird. I do my Rip Skulls on a flat bench in the DB area, but limit myself to just 8 reps just to spare my elbows.

Afterwards, I'm wondering whether I should try something new. I have my choice of cardio machines so I ask one of the trainers how to use the new treadmills. She says the manual is several inches thick so she can give me the basics, but not more because no one actually knows all the details yet. It has a lot of different programs, and like the Espresso bike, it also allows you to choose a moving view to "run through". I choose Canyon racing. There's also cityscapes and other types of terrain like jungles or beaches. The Manual setting lets you control the incline and the speed. Otherwise, there's a variety of hills, mountains and other aptly named programs, like Eiffel Tower. No thanks. I'll do the Step Mill if I want to climb floors.

The machine starts off flat at zero degrees. You can raise the incline in 1/2 degree increments. Speed can be altered in 1/10 increments. I choose a leisurely 1.5 mph but gradually up the incline until I'm at the full 30° after about 5 minutes. I plan to do 20 minutes in total. I'm using the handholds because not only do I not trust my sense of balance, but it's the only place you can get a heart rate reading. Because I selected the Manual setting, I was also able to enter Age, Weight and Time goals. I could've set a Mileage goal, or a Calorie goal too. You can save your data and download it through a USB port, but no one knows in what format the data will appear. Because no ones done it. Yet.

I find the 30° incline a bit challenging, but even though I start to perspire, I'm not breathless at this gentle rate. What I do find concerning is that the back of my ankles and my lower shins start to feel stressed. This is unexpected. When my program is done, the machine flattens itself back to zero degrees and prompts a 2-minute cool down. After I step down from the treadmill, I notice that my quads are actually a little tired. Well, that's different.

I do a quick stretch before leaving. The gym scale reads 109.0 lbs even. That's not bad considering I'm not clocking in 6+ miles either. But I've also cut back on my calorie intake. Of course, my son's insistence on ice cream for dessert doesn't help, especially when it's Tin Roof Sundae, a flavor I've never heard of before. I didn't choose it. I'm more of a vanilla bean, or pistachio kind of gal.

Wednesday

30 min x-trainer
Calories 137
Miles 3.75
Average Heart Rate 148

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

DB seated press  s/s standing front raises 
15 lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25 lbs x 12/15 reps x 2 sets
20/25 lbs x 12/20 reps

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 8 reps x 3 sets

True Treadmill
20 min + 2 min cool down
Calories 125
629 ft climbed
Distance 0.48 + 0.02 cool down
Inclined 30% (after 5 min)
Speed 1.5

When Did They Change the Rules?

I watched the Super Bowl with my son yesterday after the Puppy Bowl was over. For the most part I was able to follow most of the plays. And I wondered if the Patriots were going to do the unthinkable and lose? Or even more unlikely, score enough points in the second half of the game to actually win. The half-time show was awesome. I knew most of the songs, and of course, the show finale, Bad Romance is on my cardio playlist. After the Patriots score another touch down (TD), I see scramble for the 2-point conversion. And the ball never makes it into the End Zone. The player gets shoved out and a flag gets thrown. There is cheering and I'm confused, because apparently all the Patriots needed was for the ball to float over the goal line. But from where I'm sitting, the ball doesn't even do that, cradled in an elbow that's not directly over the white painted line. I have vivid memories of players making a big show of kneeling in the end zone and smacking the ball down onto the turf. I must be old. When did a touch down not actually require the ball to touch down?


I get to the gym feeling a bit out of sorts. Not enough sleep. Most of the cross-trainers are in use so I pedal 30 minutes on the elliptical. There's a guy looking at his phone while "stretching" in the Stretch Cage. He's there so long that I give up and just move on to knee-ins and push ups. I only do 80 push ups, and skip the crunches because honestly, I don't feel like taking the clip out of my hair. I do a set of Bird Dogs though. There's a flat bench in the Smith so that's good, but the weights have been reracked haphazardly. Ugh. I hate that. My shoulder is still iffy today. I don't push too hard.

Because I know my shoulder didn't like the Inclined BB Press last time I did it, I do a few light sets of DB presses with just 25 lb DBs. Then, I drop the DB laterals to 20 lbs, but keep the 25s for Reverse Inclined Flyes. The 20s are light, but the 25s cause pain in my shoulder and forearms lately. Next time I'll grab the magnetic discs to make the 20s into 22.5s, a happy median. The gym is crowded today and I recognize a few regulars like Maroon, Shaggy, Little R and BigMustache. But no Mayor today. Creepy Frankenstein lumbers through Machine City. I make a point of avoiding him.

Rip Skulls don't hurt too much so I'll keep them at 40 lbs for now. A girl does squats with the 20 lb BB a few feet away. I'm not quite sure why she takes her sweat shirt off to do them. If I were her, I'd leave the shirt on just for cushioning against the back of my neck. Personally, I don't like squats because they hurt my elbows. I can't seem to get my arms in the proper position to secure the bar properly on my shoulders which is why I've resorted to Smith Squats in the past. Less issues with my arms being at the proper angles to keep the bar in place. Plus, my knees complain a lot if I use more than a modicum of weight. Worst, I don't need bigger glutes. I have a hard enough time finding pants that fit as it is. But, at some point, when I drop a few pounds so I don't have to worry about having clothes that fit, I will do Smith Split Squats again. And probably Pistol Squats.

The cross-trainer that I favor is free so I pedal on it for 30 minutes. I glance at the timer to see "19:29 time elapsed" just as my right foot starts to tingle painfully. By the time I get off, the whole front of my foot is pins and needles numb. Ugh. I'm glad I can walk it off! The Stretch Cage is finally free so I stretch a bit before doing pull ups. I've found that doing a prolonged side-bend has been extremely helpful in alleviating the lower back discomfort I've felt from RDLs. Pull Ups are almost a head trip. The first 20 are easy. The next 10 are slightly harder. The last 9 are much harder. I'd like to make it to 10, but I can't. What is that? 39? It's only one set, but it'll do. The old guy who likes to put his feet on other people's mats when he does sit ups is sitting on equipment directly behind me. I'm not sure if he's waiting or resting. I'm sort of creeped out because he follows me to the Mats where I do an abbreviated stretch routine. I half expect him to drop onto the end of my Mat and do sit ups, but he just stands there and stares. Ugh. Creepy old guys.

The gym scale reads 111.0 lbs. Not horrible. Not great. I ate a lot of cheese and crackers watching the Super Bowl. I'll have to do better if I want to drop these 3-4 lbs! Ugh.

Monday
6.52 miles

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Miles 2.51
Calories 283

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith Bench
Bar x 15
80 x 15
100 x 15
120 x 8
90 x 25

DB Inclined Press 30*
25 lbs x 12 x 1
@45*
25 x 12 x 2

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25 x 12/15 x 3

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min x-trainer
Calories 145
Miles 4.01
Average Speed 7.99
Average Pace 7:30

HGPU 39

Packing On Unwanted Mass

Again, it takes me a long time to get out to the gym. I was completely non-productive this weekend although I had planned to get quite a few things done. I blame the chest cold, but in reality, I'm feeling rather melancholy about losing all the musicians of my formative years. Well, I guess Simon and Garfunkel, and the Rolling Stones are still kicking. I don't feel old, but somehow it seems like I've lived a long time because there are so many things I have yet to explain to my son.

I knock out my cardio and basic warm up moves: pull ups, push ups, crunches, planks. But the side planks bother my shoulders and I'm not in the mood to wrestle with flat benching, even on the Smith machine. I very nearly sprained my thumb again wrestling with trying to remove the filter portion of our coffee press. Eventually my husband succeeded, but not without me wasting 15 minutes prior. The adjustable inclined bench is always by the Smith, so today I'm just doing Inclined Benching. And maybe some DB Lat Raises.

Because I'm not pre-exhausted on flat benching, I can up the weight! Yaaaaay! I've been stronger, but there's no point in dwelling in the past. After muscling through three sets, I finish with high-reps just for the pump. The gym is moderately empty, and I take this opportunity to up my weights on the DB Lateral Raises. I'll stick to 20s on the Reverse Inclined Flye in Two Positions (angles), because my joints and forearms complain a lot when I go heavier. Yes, 5 reps Reverse Flyes where arms come out perpendicular to the body, followed immediately by 5 reps Reverse where arms are doing that Superman thing. Followed by 5 reps perpendicular, then 5 reps Superman. That's one set of 20 reps.

I get to the gym late enough that most of the creepy guys are gone. On Friday, having my son with me activated a "creepy guy force field" that kept them on the other side of the gym. Nice! I don't mind most people, just the ones I can hear through my headphones and the ones that stare. Seriously, WTF? Younger guys don't stare. (Probably because I'm old enough to be their mom.) It's only the creepy middle-age guys who are totally ill-behaved.

For some reason I'm not busting much of a sweat today although my clothes reek after the workout. The scale confirms the nasty truth about my weekend eating and drinking habits: they are not good ones. 113.4 lbs is way more than I ever want to be! I feel as if I'm busting out of my tank and sports bra these days. That's okay for the tank because I can always go up a size if I really have to since they're Small or XS. But the sports bra is a whole 'nother animal because I'm maxed out at XL. There's no bigger size for a small-busted woman. The only solution is to drop some body fat! As if I didn't already know that...

Monday
6.28 miles

30 min x-trainer
3.73 miles
137 calories
7.43 average speed
8:04 average pace

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Bench
Bar x 15
70 x 15
80 x 12
90 x 12 x 3
50 x 25 reps

DB Lat s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20 lbs x 12/20
25 lbs x 8 / 20 lbs x 5/5/5/5
25 x 12 / 20 x 20 reps
25 x 10 / 20 x 20

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories: 288
Miles: 2.55

HGPU 31