Abbreviated Cardio

Waking at 3 or 4 am to pee makes for a good assessment as to whether the vertigo is gone. It's not. Everyone I know is tired. I'm tired. My husband is tired. The weekend wasn't particularly physical either. Today I'm having trouble with my cardio routine. Bad enough I have to be mindful of the time so I don't miss the school bus.

I'm surprised that I can actually get on a Precor today. Usually they're all busy. The 4 minute Tabata is hard, but it's never been easy. The Cage Stretch is easy and my head doesn't feel too bad when I bend my face to my shin, my leg 90 degrees straight out. I wrap my hands to box and kick the Nexersys. After 9 rounds at Beginner Level, I realize that I'm beat. I usually do another 5 rounds at Intermediate Level but I know that I can't. Not today. Instead, I do 3 rounds. Because doing 3 rounds is better than not doing it at all.

Those three rounds are tough, perhaps due to the high humidity. The gym tends to rely on cross-ventilation via open doors early in the morning, reserving air conditioning for the heat of the afternoon. I'm also mindful of the time. Each round is 3 minutes, with a minute between rounds. I have limited time. My pink kickboxing gloves are soggy, the wraps are soaked through. I wonder if I can wash the gloves because I really hate the way they smell lately. Fabric refresher doesn't seem to last long enough and since my hands are always up by my face unless I'm striking, I get a good whiff of sweat-stink leather.

12 rounds and I'm done. I walk over to the Mats to unwrap before finishing my cardio workout. Another 20 or so minutes and I'll be done. Normally I finish with 3 more miles. Today I only do a total of 4 miles, but I make it up by adding 5 minutes of Tabata. It's painful. I'm hoping to improve my cardio vascular endurance. The gym scale reads 112.4 lbs. I'm so sodden that I'm blotting my hair with my hoodie. Is it silly to dry off before heading to shower?

Today I have a date with my son to see How To Train Your Dragon 2. But before that happens, my dog, in ill-fated youthful exuberance, tries to leap over a large package in front of the door and lands unceremoniously and painfully at the bottom of the steps. Nothing's broken but he's badly bruised. Hugs, kisses and after a gentle but firm examination, we decide to go to the movies anyway because if no one's home, he'll get bored and go to sleep. And we want him to rest instead of following us restlessly from room to room. He seems a bit better when we get home. His appetite is good. He's an old man in dog years. He just doesn't know it.

Tuesday Abbreviated Workout

 

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   168 CAL
Distance: 2 mile

Duration : 00:22:00

Boxing

Lap/Rep :  12 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:48:00

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   166 CAL
Distance: 2 mile
Duration : 00:22:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I'm not sure I can blame the weather although it is tempting. The cartilage in my nose throbbed this morning as if I had a sinus infection. I'm swimming through a fishbowl of apple jelly and my ears keep popping as if I'm suddenly changing altitude. I dawdle a bit in the mornings now in order to avoid the crowded locker room. The cackling, crowing and bad manners just piss me off. Why leave your locker door wide open? Why put your dirty sneakers on the bench that people sit on to change their clothes? Why strew your clothes everywhere? I also haven't been able to get on the Precors for the past several Thursdays. If I get to the gym later, maybe I have a chance.

Timing works today. I get my 2 miles on the elliptical, with 4 minutes of Tabata after the 5 minute walking warm up. My heart rate seems jumpy today. Maybe because I don't feel 100%. I'm barely sweaty by the time I get off but that doesn't concern me. A quick Cage Stretch and then off to box the machine. I do 11 rounds Beginner and then 3 rounds Intermediate, using the machine to the Left because it's less popular, and seems to register all my strikes. In Beginner mode, I stop the machine a few times and lose accuracy points. I'm tired and drenched by the time I tap in the 3 rounds Intermediate but I want to start working on the harder, faster program. I miss a few strikes but in general, I'm fairly satisfied with the workout.

Then I clamber back on to the Precor for 3 miles. And just because I want to see if I can do it, after 5 minutes of walking, I do 4 minutes of Tabata. I'm surprised I can get myself up to 260 Strides Per Minute. For a few seconds at least. I'm panting when those 4 minutes are done, but it's not hard for me to regroup and ease into a loping steady-state pace. I'm not sure if it's the machine or me, but the heart rate jumps from 89 BPM to 145 suddenly and climbs up to 190 before blanking out and reappearing at 135 where it stays for most of the run. When I'm done, I put my hoodie back on because even my hair is dripping, and I want to lay on the mat and not be gross. I knock out 3 sets of crunches, stretch out my lower back and I'm done. Yay!

I don't feel too bad until I bend over to put cream on my legs after my shower. Wow, that was a mistake. My head hurts, as if all the gray matter broke loose from their moorings. I go home for an ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine and debate whether to take them with a protein shake. If I just take the pills with water, I'll be really queasy with an upset stomach. Bleah. Well, nothing like adversity to make you stronger, right? Yep, gym rats are a stubborn bunch.

Thursday Cardio Workout

Exercise Name

1 RM

Lifting Logs

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   168 CAL
Distance: 2 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:21:00

Boxing

N/A

Calorie :   --
Distance : --
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  14 Laps/Reps
Duration : 00:56:00

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   255 CAL
Distance: 3.01 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:32:00

Crunches

50

Set 1 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 2 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 3 : 50 Laps/Reps

 photos posted for stats:

In Denial of the Numbers

It's becoming routine now for me to warm up with 2 miles and finish with another 3 miles. I wish my body appreciated the effort I make to be consistent with this program. Even though my numbers look horrendous (at least to me) I feel pretty good. I'd like my belly to be tauter but at least I can't actually grab fistfuls of skin off of it. There's some things, like having a baby in your mid-forties, that your body just doesn't quite recover from, especially skin. When I bend over, I see the loose folds of skin hanging off my abdomen. When I was thinner, I had the same issue at the bottom of my glutes, reminding me of a saggy elephant butt. No amount of cardio or dieting is going to remedy these things either.

Today I get to whack the Nexersys. Doing 4 minutes of Tabata after a 5 minute warmup on the elliptical was ridiculously hard. Actually, a lot harder than I remember. I take the remaining 11 minutes at a leisurely pace and make my 2 miles in just a tad over 20 minutes. After a Cage Stretch, I plop myself in front of my usual Right machine (there are two Nexersys stations) but I quickly realize that it's not registering neither the Jab or Cross punches. Both are integral moves to the Follow Me Avatar program.

I ask the gym owner to reset the machine, and I move to the other machine. I suspect it's not as popular because the glare from the plate glass windows makes it a hard to see. But it seems to be a lot sturdier because I have to really whack it for my punches and kicks to register with some power. I only manage to stop the machine three times. I pull back from 9 rounds to 7 rounds on the Intermediate Level because I know it's going to be harder than I'm used to. And it is. I miss several blows and kicks because the machine is moving so fast that the indicators are but a blur that I can't quite follow. I'm also not a big fan of the Sweep move which puts a bit of stress on my knees that a straight forward kick doesn't. Then just because, even though I'm sopping wet and a bit tired, I decide to go for 3 more rounds in the Beginner Level.

Maybe Thursday I'll do 7 and 7. Tomorrow will be an abbreviated workout for Back and Biceps because I've schedule the dog for a bath at the groomers, and he's such a handful that I'll have to pick him up as soon as he's dry. Thursday he goes to the vet for his rabies shot, which thankfully, is only every three years. So I'll be hitting the Nexersys a bit late next time. But I want to get it all in this week because next week is a short week with the holiday, and then the very next day is the 3rd grade class trip to the American Museum of Natural History. Yes, I'm one of several parent chaperones going. Class trips tend to be without any agenda or structure so I'm not quite sure what exhibit we're suppose to see. Or if it matters.

The gym scale reads 113.8 lbs which is loads better than yesterday's 115.4 lbs. Water weight I'm sure. But I'd still like to drop a few pounds of BF. Not sure how it'll affect my performance, but it's not as if I'm competing against anyone, except me.

Workout Logs

Exercise Name

1 RM

Lifting Logs

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   171 CAL
Distance: 2.01 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:21:00

Boxing

N/A

Calorie :   --
Distance : --
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  15 Laps/Reps
Duration : 01:00:00

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   252 CAL
Distance: 3.01 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:36:00

Crunches

50

Set 1 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 2 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 3 : 50 Laps/Reps

Photos posted for actual stats:

Tabata or Not?

When I read that HIIT cardio entails hitting 90% of your max heart rate on the On portion, and 50% at the Off portion, I realize that there's no way I can do this. My heart rate jumps all over the place even during steady state and jogging at 150 Strides Per Minute is as likely to elicit a heart rate of 180 as it is 144. At 54, my maximum heart rate is suppose to be 220 - 54 = 166. It seems kind of ridiculous that every single 54 yr old person should have a max heart rate of 166. I read on a website that exceeding your max heart rate is fine if you don't have cardiovascular disease but gasp, you put yourself at risk for sore muscles and joints, and perhaps, even overtraining. Oh no!

I came across an article about Tabata cardio training yesterday. I've heard the term but never quite understood it. From what I gather, it's a more condensed, intensive version of HIIT where hitting your max can mean going to 170% of your heart rate. In my case, that would be 282 BPM, something I've never done although the elliptical heart monitors have screamed 212 at me. But you only do the max for 20 seconds, and instead of resting for two to three times as long as the On session, you rest for half the amount, or 10 seconds. The article suggests starting out with a 4 minute session after a 5 minute warm up. And that's what I do today.

And yet, I still want that 5 mile total, so after the 5 min warm up, the 4 min of grueling Tabata (oddly, the elliptical was unable to register my heart rate during this), and another 6 minutes of leisurely loping along, I decide to try doing another 2 minutes of Tabata, and then only as much steady state to get me to two miles, which turns out to be 22 minutes in total. I'm not sure if it's the accumulated cardio and high reps, but I was definitely a bit more tired when I got to the Nexersys.

I know the gym owner has had the machines serviced because now they require Users to log in, which means that passing idiots can't just whack the machine as they walk by. I have to log in for each session, but since it only requires a User Name and your own Password, it's not a big deal. I like how the type is huge and easy to read in the glare, but not thrilled that anyone on the ellipticals behind me can also ready my User Name and Password. I'm completely thrown by the new software in the machine and it messes with my accuracy and strike rating. Now, when the Avatar directs you to kick or punch, not only does the avatar light up, but a hollow arrow illustration "shows" you which direction the blow should come from. I don't know what to look at next and I miss several punches.

When I punch or knee-in too hard, the machine stops with the warning sign, but it also doesn't count the blow at all. The accuracy rating plummets as if you'd totally missed the blow. I pull my punches in order not to trigger the warning sign but eventually I get a bit frustrated and go back to whacking the machine as hard as I can. I've wrapped my hands fairly well so they're only a little pink when I finally strip off my gloves.

Back to the elliptical for a lazy 3 miles of pedaling. My heart rate bounces all over the place, but finally settles down at 155. By minute 17, my stomach is growling at me. Three miles takes 38 minutes. I'm not at all happy at how long this takes. I try to keep it in perspective by telling myself that a 5k is 3.1 miles. People get all excited by running 5ks. I think about the advice doctors give people, and about how unrealistic it is. Walk 5 miles everyday. If you're on your feet all day and inspecting equipment, okay, that's probably easily accomplished. But if you sit at a computer desk (as I used to), and drive everywhere (no sidewalks where I live), well, 5 miles is probably damn near impossible without a treadmill or elliptical. Just like it's damn near impossible to get 1200 mg of calcium everyday without resorting to eating a bit of dairy, or taking calcium citrate supplements. I know because I'm trying. Well, at least the sun is out and tomorrow's Pull Day (Back & Biceps). Yay!

Cardio Tuesday

22 min elliptical including 4 min Tabata (20 sec On / 10 sec Off), steady state cardio, 2 min Tabata = 2.02 miles

Cage Stretch

Nexersys 5 rounds Beginner Female Follow Me Avatar
  Accuracy 91% / Strikes 96% / Average Power 137%

Nexersys 9 rounds Intermediate Female Follow Me Avatar
  Accuracy 67% / Strikes 93% / Average Power 105%

50 crunches / 50 knee to elbow crunches

38 min elliptical = 3.00 miles

photos for stats: