Boredom Begets Trouble

I got to the gym a bit later than usual but still managed to get on my favorite cross-trainer for 30 minutes of pedaling. Coming off a long weekend, I stayed up too late and didn't get quite enough sleep so I was a bit unfocused. Still, I did manage to get my reps in for pull ups. The shoulder is still bothersome, especially when I need to cross my arm over my body and reach for something. I'm predominantly right-handed although fine motor coordination resides with my left hand. So, that's something like "cross-dominance". I used to call it asymmetrical ambidexterity, but I'm not equally dexterous in both hands. Each side has its specialties.

I see a few regulars including The Mayor. But he's got his skinny blonde teenage son with him, so he's noticeably quieter. I ignore B and pretend I don't see her. She's giving me weird looks when I do wave Hi at her so I've stopped even doing that. My guess is that she's upset that I don't pull out my earbud and stop to chat with her anymore. But she's never been one to stop by and say Hi to me, and I still can't get over her abruptly walking away from me in mid-conversation, as if I didn't even exist, to go tell another woman her tale of woe. It's always a tale of woe. I'm also tired of her making recommendations for clothes and shops, but then adding at the last minute that she'd never go shop or buy there. Because it's okay for you and me. But not her. I'm done. Others have dropped her too. She once remarked to me that her "best friend" suddenly stopped talking to her and wouldn't explain why. Makes me think of that statement, "Well, if you don't know then I'm not going to tell you." Seriously.

I feel good enough to knock out a few push ups, crunches and planks. The Smith machine is vacant and I'm very happy to do a few sets of Inclined Bench Pressing. Again, the first lighter sets are more painful than the later heavier sets. I'm not sure why. My right shoulder also doesn't like DB Lateral Raises, but again, the discomfort subsides as I progress with reps. I'm okay with using a lighter weight for the Lateral movements because it also spares my elbows and forearms. I don't need anymore tendonitis. The heavier DBs I use for Reverse Inclined Flyes don't bother my shoulder at all. Rip Skulls start off a bit tight and worrisome, but eventually I can relax into the movement. Not painful. I am bored though. And I've been toying with the idea of doing a few sets of V-bar tricep cable push downs. It's my last movement before heading back for more cardio so I'm comfortable going light.

30 lbs seems okay although my right arm gets a bit twingey. Even 40 lbs is okay. I know that my chest and triceps pop when I'm doing this movement. I just wish I could see what it looks like, but I'm too short to see my reflection in the far mirror wall. 45 lbs is heavy, and although I get all my reps for the set, my right shoulder isn't very happy with me. It starts to ache deep inside the pectoral insert on the humerus. Not good. Ugh. I really need to baby this side of my body a lot more! Pedaling the elliptical is all legs and lungs so the rest of me is good with that. I do worry when I hit the Stretch Cage. Hey, no battle ropes lying on the floor today! I make my reps for hammer grip pull ups, but again, the shoulder feels achey. Ugh.

I think I need to blow off whacking the kickboxing machine this week and maybe next week too, until this arm-shoulder-pec thing is recovered. I saw the old guy boxing the machine again today, but he was only there for maybe one round. The clock said about 3-4 minutes. It's one of the few things I really look forward to, but not worth doing permanent damage. Online, I find charts of deltoid and pectoral anatomy to pinpoint the area of distress. If I've torn or strained the pectoral insert into the humerus, it's going to take longer than a week for it to heal up. Without me doing stupid things like bench pressing and V-press downs. And I can't imagine that whacking the machine is going to help. I suspect the tendon is just bruised and not actually torn because nothing turned black and blue, nothing felt hot or inflamed. I guess I'll just have to be happy and patient with cardio and Pull Days.

Tuesday
6.29 miles

30 min x-trainer
Calories 141
Miles 3.73
Average Speed 7.46
Average Pace 8:02

HGPU 36
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Bench
Bar x 15
12 x 50, 70, 80
60 x 25 reps

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

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 12 x 3

V-bar Press Down
30 lbs x 12
40 x 12
45 x 12 Right Shoulder! Ugh!

30 min elliptical
Program 2
Calories 289
Miles 2.56

HGPU 36

Post Orson

Winter Storm Orson was actually worse than Storm Niko, if only because the light fluffy snow was capped with a layer of heavy frozen rain. They call that sleet and it left a hard candy shell on everything including cars, trees and garbage bins. After the snow and rain had come and gone, alerts went out for a High Wind advisory, which in some ways is scarier because you never know which tree will drop a limb or fall over across the road. I shoveled my car out this morning, making good use of the two-hour school delay. My hubs had to go to his office, and then to Boston overnight for an early morning meeting tomorrow. So much for Valentine's Day. I have a red Old Navy T-shirt that says Heartbreaker on it. Maybe I'll wear that tomorrow?

My right shoulder and hip definitely don't like shoveling these days. But I get done what needs to be done. I drive my son to the school bus stop because all the slush and ice make walking down the hill a bit precarious, especially since he's carrying his viola and his backpack. The gym parking lot is virtually totally free of snow and I'm impressed. Management must've contracted with a better snow removal company because usually the lot is icy and only partially plowed. I've forgotten to pack my Bluetooth earbuds today although I have several pairs of wired headphones. But the case on my new iPod makes it difficult to manually adjust the volume so I opt to use my old square iPod with the unevenly wired Sony MDR-J20s.

I can't get on the cross-trainers at first so I do Program 1 on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I'm a space case today, having left my gear bag with my gloves inside my locker. Ugh. I can't do pull ups without gloves to protect my hands, especially the crease where fingers adjoin the palms. My arms are already tired from shoveling so I'm not surprised that pull ups are strenuous. All I'm asking for is more than 31, and I get it so I'm happy enough. Regular push ups don't bother me but I don't want to test my luck by pushing past 80 reps. Crunches and planks are fine too.

I drag the small flat bench over to the Smith, but it's a waste of time. I can bench the bar okay, but add a little weight and my shoulder complains vociferously. It's only 80 lbs and barely more than a dozen reps. So that's a no-go for high reps, low weight flat benching today. I swap out the flat bench for the bigger adjustable inclined bench. At first the warm up feels painful and I wonder how far I'm going to get. But as I add weight, my shoulder seems to settle down. Of course, I'm not pushing my luck here either and let it go with just a single set at 80 lbs. I already know that the DB Raises aren't going to be fun, so like last week, I use both a pair of 20s and 25s to get my delt work done.

Frankenstein is at the DB rack and I stop a good dozen feet behind him to let him put his weights back. At first he's about to drop the 25 pounders in the nearest slot, which is actually where the 15s go, but he pauses a moment and slides the DBs into the correct slot. Good boy! Maybe this Jedhi mind control thing works? Afterwards, he lumbers back to Machine City to finish his workout. I'm glad he's not lingering and staring.

There's a couple of new faces here today. One is wearing a form-fitting spandex long sleeve shirt and leggings. He's got quite the V-taper, like he's wearing a Superman suit. Because he's also wearing a watch cap low over his brow, I'm not sure if he's the blonde bodybuilder dude who usually comes in the evenings, and who I've seen at the local beach occasionally during the summer. There are other guys I recognize from the past few months... no one creepy though, so that's reassuring.

The power goes out and all the machines stop. Well, all the treadmills stop. You can still pedal the cross-trainer and the elliptical even without power, but you lose all your data. A few emergency lights come on. It's enough for the muscle heads to keep pushing weights. After Rip Skulls, I find the cross-trainer I like best and punch in 30 minutes. 7 minutes into it and the power goes out. So there goes my data, but I'm still pedaling... the power comes back on after 5 minutes and I try to adjust by tapping in 26 minutes. 7 minutes into it and that's 0.75 miles to add to my cross-trainer mileage. The treadmill people start running or walking again.

The lady who seems to have had a stroke is in the Stretch Cage. I know she won't be there too long but I don't want to rush her. I sit in the adjacent Torso Twist machine and do a set of 25 reps for each side with minimal weight. That happens to be 30 lbs. My shoulder is tired although not horribly achy by the time I get to my second set of pull ups. I catch myself miscounting and make up for it. Still, I manage to make it to 36 reps, although again, the last 4 are definitely not pretty. I see the Latin Lovebirds in a corner of the gym. He's coaching her on Preacher curls and her long skinny arms look like they need all the help they can get.

I do a quick modified Mat stretch routine to get the kinks out of my shoulders. A tall slender guy drops onto the end of my mat to do some flexibility moves. He's not bad. It's unusual to see younger guys doing that. Usually it's old guys who can barely bend over. I'm hoping the power stays on long enough for me to take a nice hot shower. The gym scale reflects this weekend's over-indulgences: 111.4 lbs. Ugh. It's hard for me to eat proper when my hubs is around because I want to make meals that the entire family enjoys, and he's a meat at every meal kind of guy. Oh well...

Monday
6.75 miles est

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories 289
Miles 2.56

HGPU 35
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith Flat Bench
Bar x 15
80 x 15 right shoulder
Smith Inclined Bench
Bar x 16 hands placed shoulder width
50 x 13 slight discomfort
60 x 13 less discomfort
70 x 12 okay / gym lights go out
80 x 13 shoulder ok

DB Laterals s/s Rev Inclined Flys
20/25 lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min x-trainer + 7 min
Calories 125 +
Miles 3.46 + .73 = 4.19 miles
Average Speed 7.97
Average Pace 7:31

Torso Twist
2 x 30 lbs x 25

HGPU 36