Friday Finale and It's the 13th As Well

I can see that my son is starting to dread me waking him up to go to the gym, and I only do it 3 days out of 7. However, he's going away for 8 days of Boy Scout summer camp where he'll be up at 7 am instead of 10, and in bed by 9 instead of the wee hours. Hopefully he'll be more receptive to gym time when he gets back as there's a few weeks before the next session of Scout Camp. Because I'm not letting him spend all his time on the couch playing video games!

My left eye has been achy when I wake in the morning. And it looks slightly red. I know that my IOPs rise in the darkness because the pupil dilates, forcing pressures up. There's not a lot I can do about that. The Travatan® is suppose to work best when administered once daily at night. Azopt® also works to lower IOPs but through different biochemical means. The oldest medication, pilocarpine, works differently by causing the ciliary muscle to contract, forcing the trabecular meshwork to expand and increase eye fluid drainage. It stings, like being squirted in the eye with grapefruit juice. I've pretty much exhausted the medication checklist as I've tried several and have developed allergic reactions to Lumigan® (bimatoprost), timolol and brimonidine (Alphagan®).

I haven't lifted heavy in over a month and my IOPs are not any lower, so maybe pulling heavy weights isn't really having any deleterious effects. But I don't really know. My IOPs used to be lower, but my workouts used to be more intense. There's not enough information to tell me whether resuming heavy (for me) lifting can be beneficial. Only cardio seems safe. I get my IOPs checked in 2 weeks, so I'll compare them. They were the lowest when I did nothing at all on the days immediately following the operation. But I can't do nothing. Seriously, that's just not healthy. 

Yesterday my son helped me lug 4 bags of water softener salt into the basement. We actually needed 6 but I didn't know that when I bought them. The bags are 40 lbs apiece and we have to climb over the knee-high sandbag wall before descending three steps into our wet half-basement. I take a bag out of the back of my car and hoist it onto my shoulder. I still need to walk along the side of the house to get to the back. My son just grabs the bag and hugs it to his chest. "Isn't it easier to carry it on the shoulder?" I ask him. He says it isn't, and I'm surprised. But he's got almost 40 lbs on me, several inches in height, and much bigger limbs. My face is red and I'm panting by the time we're done. He doesn't look tired at all, but he complains that those bags were heavy. I don't know what to think.

Today he's tired. I let him sleep until 10 am and then off to the gym we go. He says he couldn't get to sleep until well after 4 am for no apparent reason. I offer to make him chamomile tea for tonight. I know that when he gets to camp, the routine there will reset his circadian clock, but it'd be nice if he wasn't totally exhausted by the time he got there.

Because we're at the gym slightly earlier than usual, it seems crowded. We do 30 minutes on the treadmill first, then 15 on the StepMill. When I first touch the heart rate handlebars, the screen shows me a HR of 94 and then climbs slowly. Meanwhile, SquareJaw is blathering loudly to a guy with shoulder-length hair I don't recognize. My son and I both agree that if the person isn't wearing headphones but is still yelling, they must be deaf. At the Stretch Cage, I turn off my tunes and pull out my headphones so that I can speak to my son in a soft voice. The gym is blaring This Is America, the controversial Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) hit song and video. I'm not a fan and I wish I had my tunes turned on. Apparently I'm not the only one, because halfway through, the channel changes abruptly. Yaaay!

I tell my son I'm expecting 10 pull ups from him. He rolls his eyes (he wouldn't be a normal 13 year old if he didn't) but actually gets them done. Great! He's not comfortable enough to drop into a full extension at the bottom of the movement, but I'm not concerned with that. His forearms ache a bit afterwards, but that discomfort doesn't last. I keep an eye on his joints because he's a child (with tender growth plates) even though he's bigger than I am. I suspect that I'm actually stronger. But that might only be because I know what I'm doing, and he doesn't. (Also, his fast walk is faster than my fast walk on the treadmill and stairs.) I do 15 because that's what I can do without feeling too stressed. I make a point of monitoring my breathing as well! We go to the classroom to do our push ups. I want to challenge him so I tell him that at the end of 20, we'll rest in the top position and then see if we can get 10 more. Not a problem!

Since we did flat breaker benching on Wednesday, I have my son do Inclined Benching at the Smith. No shoulder stuff today since that's already included in this movement. The first set at 60 lbs is cut short because he's unhappy with a wider grip on the bar. The next two sets are better, but he complains that he's tired. Yes, I know. Just three sets of Lat Pull Downs and then lunges. He doesn't remember starting at 70 lbs last time, but he did. His form is getting sloppy and loose because he's tired. I think I'll have him do this movement first next time. Maybe even lighten the weight so he can use better form. He'll be happy about that part, and maybe I'll actually join him in some of these exercises, but at a lower weight. At least if I work in with him, it'll give him a resting pace. He's so anxious to get things done that he doesn't rest enough between sets.

He rolls his eyes again when I tell him Lunges. But he marches across the floor. He feels them more in the front quad of the trailing leg, instead of the hamstring and glute. It's probably because he's not actually performing a Walking Lunge where you bring the back leg past the front leg, instead of stopping at the front leg, then stepping forward. That's just a lunge. It carries a different momentum and stress when using an actual walking gait. It also emphasizes balance. He's still frustrated by the stiffness of his hips and legs, but I encourage him to do what he can. We discuss the scissor machine and how it can make the leg adductor and abductor muscles so tight that stretches become more difficult. Next time I'm going to have us try the Dead Bug pose. It looks silly enough to be fun.

Friday the 13th

30 treadmill
5% Incline Speed 3
Calories 191
Miles 1.50
Average Heart Rate (94) 109/126

15 StepMill
Speed 3
Floors 31
Total steps 509
Calories 82
Average Heart Rate 122

Max pull ups 10
HGPU 15

Push ups 20, 10
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 12
Max
50 x 12
60 x 6, 12, 12

Max Lat Pull Downs
70 x 12
85 x 12, 12

Lunges
Max 27
Me 32

Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s

Stretch

Scary Thoughts About Exercise and My Glaucoma

 I don't find much information regarding exercise and glaucoma treatments until I specify pull ups. Then a whole slew of exercise-related cautionary tales emerge off the web, including:

NIH reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4911456/

I avoid doing head stands and similar movements, but now I have to rethink the hip and posterior chain stretches that have me placing my elbows on the mat in front of me... Ugh.

And the only reason I'm doing further research is that after I got home from the gym, I noticed my left eye seemed bloodshot. It had been achy even before I went to workout so I wasn't horribly worried, but hours later I was concerned enough to administer a few drops of anti-inflammatory meds. Thank goodness for left over medications!

However, overall, it appears that cardio exercise produces lower IOPs in most people so it's only exercises that might require greater exertion, and holding one's breath (VM, aka Valsalva Maneuvers) that are a cause for concern. That includes bench pressing and dead lifts. Actually, that probably includes pull ups too because it's hard to inhale properly when doing this movement. Ugh.

The NIH article rightfully concludes that it's not possible to know currently whether exercise is beneficial or not because activities that raise IOP may cause lower IOP readings afterwards, but it's not known whether the subsequent lower pressures are enough to mitigate any damage that occurs during the actual exercise itself. There's also the pre-workout, which for me is just a cup of coffee. Caffeine is shown to increase blood pressure, heart rate, and IOP, but I'm not about to give up my breakfast beverage. Besides, it's just one cup.

However, I will have to look at the SuperBeets® that my hubs swears by. I had a dose yesterday before going to the gym. It has a very pleasant beety taste (one tsp in 6-8 oz of water), and is suppose to increase nitric oxide in the body, which enhances blood flow and increases circulation. I'm told that a dose is the equivalent of eating 3 whole beets. Recent online literature suggests that nitric oxide might be useful in lowering IOPs by targeting the trabecular meshwork of the eye.

The Valeant pharma drug Vesneo, renamed Vyzulta and marketed by Bausch & Lomb, received FDA approval last November. Unfortunately, recent studies show that the new drug only drops IOPs by 1mmHg, which is not a lot. On the other hand, this occurred in 50% of the participants, so it's not a statistical fluke. The other participants were on plain ol' latanoprost, which is what I was on before my doc decided that the brand name Travatan® was a better drug. Personally, I don't think there was any difference, and the generic latanoprost is cheaper. As it is, my IOPs have been rising steadily over the past year. High IOPs are anything over 22, so Tuesday's right eye reading of 19 is rather alarming. Realistically, I don't think there's any way my IOPs will ever drop to <10 mmHg.

Reference: https://www.glaucoma.org/news/blog/new-nitric-oxide-medication-to-reduce-intraocular-pressure-takes-on-glaucoma-from-a-new-angle.php

I guess I'm going to give up heavy (160 lbs+) RDLs because I really don't want to exacerbate my glaucoma. Any weight that has me holding my breath to move it is potentially sight-threatening, so that's that. Sigh. High reps and middling weights are okay for me. As long as I'm doing something! I can even make peace with the bike and the treadmill, but I'm going to sneak in pull ups, and some push ups too... Gym Rats are adaptive.

Never Trust the Numbers

I really like my glaucoma doc, which is why I'm willing to look past her unprofessional staff even when their actions make me furious. For example, if you are scheduled for a 2 pm appointment, the office should be open at 1:55, or earlier. The door should not be locked, with people waiting in the hallway, while you can hear the staff moving about and talking inside. At 2:01, I pound loudly on the door with my fist. I'm pissed off and I've only been standing there for 10 minutes, not like the two elderly women who have been in the hall since 1:20. A new staffer (who thinks I'm 40 yrs old) takes my eye pressures and tests the vision in my left eye. 20/20 and egads! IOPs of 18!

Eventually the doc does the pressures herself and they are better and worse: 14 left eye, 19 right eye. Another staffer tells me I still have to pay an additional $1450 to satisfy the insurance deductible because the first $1500 is not applicable. Ugh. When I get the 2nd eye operated on, I will have to shell out an additional $1500 on top of that! But if I act before the calendar year is up, my deductible will have been satisfied and I shouldn't have to pay anything further. Yeah, we'll see about that... I ask the doc about options should the iStent not be suitable for the right eye. We discuss shunt surgery, which requires cataract surgery first. Because it cannot be done concurrently with cataract surgery, I'm looking at a long recovery time. Ugh. Shunts make me nervous because they drain into a synthetic reservoir placed under the surface of the eye, toward the top back where it's not noticeable. Ugh. My left eye feels achy and still itches.

My doc wants me to wait until next week before resuming normal exercises. She only says this after asking what it is exactly that I want to resume. She's a bit concerned when I tell her HIIT cardio, weights, pull ups, push ups and kickboxing the machine. Considering the patients in the waiting room, I'm not surprised since half of them are so elderly and out of shape they require walkers and other assistance.

Today I decide I'm going to ease back into some things, but not others. My son and I do cardio first. The heart rate monitor jumps to 200 the moment my fingertips touch the metal bar then drops down to 109. Well, that's going to skew my average ridiculously. WTH? I'm warm and slightly damp when we exit the treadmills. My son is not very limber and struggles with the Cage stretches. However, he does knock out 9 pull ups today. Hurrah! His left forearm always aches afterwards, but I can't convince him to do hammer grip pull ups instead. Today, I do my first set of pull ups in 5 weeks. I'm nervous that I won't be able to do any. Still, I do more than 9, but not as many as I used to do. Instead, I get to just about half at 15, and that seems more than reasonable.

We got into the classroom to do push ups and other core exercises. My son is happy to do just 20 and I join him, then decide out loud to "oh, let's do 5 more!" and he does 5 more. So we both do 25. Then we both discuss our frustrations with various plank positions while performing them. Hands, elbows, shoulders going numb and falling asleep. Yep. We ease into the free weight area through a side door from the classroom. Luckily the place is fairly empty. Earlier I saw The Mayor with his kid again. But they were done before we finished our cardio. I see a few other regulars, mostly Little R and Maroon.

Since I'm trying to teach my son and still keep the workouts interesting and fresh, I have him do movements with variations. Three days a week means cardio plus full body exercises. Today we're on the flat Breaker Bench for just 3 sets. But I have my son change his hand position each set, starting with a standard shoulders width, then a wide grip to stress the chest, and finally a narrower grip that emphasizes arms. We're still just using the Oly bar but at 45 lbs, it's enough weight as my son struggles to stabilize the bar while pressing. I don't actually tell him where he should feel the stress until after he's performed the set, and then I ask him. When he confirms, I tell him he's done it correctly.

He's less than thrilled to be doing DB Shoulder Presses, but feels better about it when he's seated at a stand-alone seat. The backing helps his posture and he's able to focus on the shoulders. I tell him to rotate the DBs as he presses up to change the feeling. The only thing he resists is bringing the two DBs together over his head to make the little clinking noise. Because like me, he doesn't really want to call attention to himself. Lastly, Seated Cable Rows and I start him at 60 lbs because I know he can pull more. He complains when I up the weight to 70, but he's still able to do two sets without breaking his form. That's enough. After some hip stretches, time for me to shower. He's happy to just change his clothes, dab on some deodorant and wait for me. He says the Mens Locker Room smells yeasty. Yuck, that's pretty gross!

My son and hubs go away to Boy Scout Camp for a week, and I'll be left to my own devices. I'm planning to ease back into weights, starting as if I was a newbie. Because 6 weeks is a long time. But since I was able to do half my pull ups, and half my push ups (probably could've done more, but I don't want to discourage my son), I'm less worried now.

BTW, Ant-Man and The Wasp was actually a very entertaining movie, with so much going on (including the requisite Stan Lee cameo) that it'd be worth seeing again. Those familiar with the Marvel® universe know to wait until after the initial credits roll to see the quickie cliff-hanger that ties in to the Infinity War movie. Sadly, we missed that one, but once it's streamable, we'll have to catch up. Seriously.



Wednesday Humps

15 Recumbent Bike
Level 1
Calories 67
Miles 2.23
Average Heart Rate 115 (68%)

30 Treadmill
5% Incline
Speed 3
Miles 1.49
Calories 191
Average Heart Rate 121 (72%) /200 (!!!)

Max Pull Ups 9
HGPU 15

Max Push Ups 25
Push Ups 25

Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Max Flat Bench
45 lbs (bar) x 12 x 3
Max DB Shoulder Press
10lbs ea x 12 x 3
Max Seated Cable Rows
60 x 12
70 x 12 x 2

Stretch

Another Monday

We had surprisingly pleasant weather over the weekend, only to have the heat return last night. Well, at least it's not as humid, although I'm reading about a hurricane barreling up the Atlantic. That's right, it's hurricane season! The sump pump is flooding the back of the yard, adding to our already high water table. The domino effect means our septic pump alarm has been sounding off every two to three hours for a good minute or two. Then the pumps reset and the alarm shuts off. You can silence the alarm, but only temporarily. Until the next time the tank floods, usually in two to three hours.

I've asked the peat moss septic system maintenance company to come a month early to pump the tank, and disconnect the alarm. Because it's not neighborly to have your alarm sound off every two hours in the middle of the night. All it does is make everyone really irritable. Seriously. I get the alarm disconnected. Whew! Hurricane season means a lot of rain, and potentially a lot of flooding. Never mind we're halfway up a big hill and everything flows down to the lake. Our property is akin to a pocket, with underground springs coursing under the clay and between the granite boulders. I put the hose from the sump pump into the pot with the milkweeds. Mine haven't flowered yet, although the wild ones by the school bus stop are in full bloom. Yet, I don't see any butterflies except for the dancing white cabbage butterflies, aka sulphurs.

My son did not want to get up this morning even though I actually let him sleep in for an extra two hours. Boy Scout Camp is going to be really rough for him next week! We do the recumbent bike and treadmill. I find my heart rate increases when I start singing along with my tunes. But I hate keeping my hands up on the heart rate monitor since it's way over my head. This makes my hands and shoulders numb in spite of the increased heart rate. Neither of us is sore from Friday's lunges, so that makes us both happy. Not planning to add weights to the lunges either. My hands will go numb carrying DBs (yes, I've done it before), and I want my son to do this for both the hip and hamstring stretch as well as the quad and glute workout. Weights are not necessary.

My son gets 8 pull ups and I'm happy. Hopefully, my eye doc will tell me tomorrow that I can resume my normal exercise routine. I can't even guess how many pull ups I'll be able to muster after being "inactive" for nearly 5 weeks. It's like being an invalid! (I ate half a bag of potato chips last night and expected the scale to record water retention due to salt intake. Instead, it read 109.8 lbs. I'm relieved and yet somehow disappointed. Still, I shouldn't be eating all this junk...)

My son does his 20 push ups and then we do a few planks. He looks tired but we still have weights to knock out. The Smith Inclined Bench is very inviting so my son does his sets there. I suggest moving up just 5lbs past the 60, but he resists. Okay. I know he can do more, but I don't want him to fail either. Failing would be discouraging and it's too early for him to be able to weather this properly.

We move to the Lateral Shoulder Raise machine, but my son complains about feeling too much stress in the back of the right side of his neck: trapezius muscle. That's not where he's suppose to feel this. He seems to be shrugging slightly on the right side, hence the tension. But he doesn't know how to not do that. He does his sets and we move on. I give him the choice of pull downs or cable rows. Pull Downs are fine. His hands are still closer on the bar than I think they should be, but I remind myself that he's just a beginner. I was in college the first time I tried this contraption. He's still in Middle School.

Earlier, while we were wiping down the Recumbent Bikes, I could hear The Mayor. Today he has his teenage son with him. He's quieter when he's spotting the kid on the bench. Later, when he's loud again, he's surrounded by other young men. Not sure if they're his son's peers or just other other summer rats. They look older, bigger than the kid, who looks older and bigger than my kid. I also see two other fathers with their noodle-arm boys, one struggling with a Shoulder Press station.

Because I'm not cleared to lift weights yet, I just hang around my son and record his sets. When I'm back to my routine, I'm not quite sure how we'll work this out. I'm used to doing a lot more sets. My Push Days are a lot more intense than just three sets of 12. Hopefully he'll be inspired to try and keep up with his mom as opposed to just sitting with his eyes glued to his phone. We'll see...

I've joined an online ichthylosis vulgaris (IV) support group, because my skin seems to be getting worse. The dryness and scaly flakes are readily apparent, even a day after vigorous exfoliation. I really need to slather on the lactic acid cream, even though it makes me sticky and smell like milk. Some of those scale-dissolving creams reek of ammonia, so things can always be worse. High humidity is suppose to calm this condition, but many of us get intense prickly itching when temps rise. I suffer from this if I can't break a sweat (and find myself scratching mercilessly), but who wants to be sweaty all the time? I'd rather be cold! But of course, my skin really hates that. Of course.

Monday with Max

15 Recumbent Bike
Manual Level 1
Calories 66
Miles 2.19
Average Heart Rate 118 (70%)

30 Treadmill 5% Incline
Speed 3
Calories 191
Miles 1.49
Average Heart Rate 119 (71%) / 130 (77%)

Max pull ups 8
Max push ups 20

Elbow Plank 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Max Smith Inclined Bench
Bar (30) x 12 warm up
50 x 12
60 x 12 x 2

Max Lateral Raise machine
20 lbs x 12
30 x 12 x 2

Max Lat Downs
70 x 12
85 x 12, 12

Stretch

It's Tough Being A Gym Rat's Kid

My son and I tend to be night owls, which according to science, is bad for one's longevity and health. Of course, some of these tendencies are heritable conditions. My parents were night owls too. Of course, they didn't live long into old age so maybe there's something to this early riser thing? They didn't die from heart attacks though. So, I'm not sure what to make of all the hoopla. Our area was hit with thunderstorms and torrential rains, and the temps have dropped slightly, but the humidity persists. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

I get up and find that the dog couldn't wait for me to take him out this morning. My hubs, who has been working from home this week, had to clean up the mess. The dog still wants to go for his walk with me, because I indulge his desire to sniff all the places he thinks the cats are hiding. He also needs me to fix his breakfast, which includes a pulverized Proin® tablet and a drizzle of Metacam® on the roll of honey turkey I drape over the ground turkey, hearts & gizzards, sweet potatoes and rice stew that I've cooked for him. I make one big batch for the week, and dole out a portion every morning. He gets a can of low-fat (1.4 – 1.2%) dog food (Weruva or Science Diet) in the evening. And bread in between. I don't think he's malnourished, but come evening, he acts as if we're starving him. I don't think it's his pancreatitis. I think it's because he's an old dog, and old dogs love food. When he was a puppy, he wasn't all that interested in eating. I had to hand-feed him. Of course, he wasn't all that interested in chasing balls or playing fetch either. What he loved was running and being chased. By my son.

My son and I get to the gym and it's already past noon. Because we plan to end our session with those dreaded lunges, we start with just quick walking on the treadmill. Followed by the stairs. Then pull ups. Today my son gets 7 and he's quite proud, but hoping to get 8 tomorrow. I don't tell him that tomorrow's Saturday and I'm not planning a gym session until Monday. We skip push ups and core. He's not very happy about being here, but at least he hasn't outright refused. What he's more unhappy about is my hubs plan to go hiking tomorrow. The last thing my son wants to do is go hiking in steamy weather, especially since Boy Scout Camp is a week away, and all they'll do is go hiking. He's exaggerating, but I have no idea how hot Rhode Island will be.

Today is a Pull Day, and my son complains that he's still tired from yesterday. Only Lat Pull Downs, Seated Cable Rows, and then those Lunges... I encourage him to try doing the next heavier weight if he gets 12 reps with ease. We have to back down on the Cable Rows. His arms are tired. I tell him it's just lunges across the length of the classroom and back. We count so that we have an idea for next time. His stride is much longer than mine and he's done before I'm halfway across the room. He's relieved that all we're doing is stretches because he's sooo done.

Afterwards, we do hip stretches. The cardio got me warmed up, but I haven't done anything else so my eye doc should be happy. I'm conflicted about my appointment on Tuesday though, since it's also $5 Tuesday at the movies and I'd love to see the new Ant-Man and Wasp movie. I think my son would probably enjoy it as well. The gym scale reads 110 lbs even. Great! That's what my home scale read this morning. Of course, it also told me that my body fat is creeping up (16.2%). Ugh. Not unexpected, really. It could be worse. But it can always be better. My eye still feels as if there's sand under my upper eyelid. It's the same discomfort I got when I became allergic to my other glaucoma eye drops. I can't even imagine having this discomfort in both eyes simultaneously, so I'm really glad I put off having the right eye done. At some point though, I'll have to have something done. Ugh.



As we go to leave, I see another woman and her son in Machine City. They're both tall and thin, and she's clearly trying to instruct him. I smile to myself. Whew! I'm not the only mom here with her boy. I see some guys staring at me while we're on the Step Mill, but I'm not sure if it's because we're Asian (not a big population here), or what. The regulars know better than to stare outright. My son and I really need to get to the gym earlier in the day though. The later in the day, the more kids show up. Unaccompanied teens who have just rolled out of bed and meet their friends here. Oh well...

Friday

30 treadmill
Incline 5%
Speed 3
Calories 191
Miles 1.49
Average Heart Rate 108 (64%) / 132 (79%)

15 StepMill
Speed 3
Calories 88
Total steps 562
Floors 35
Average Heart Rate 125 (75%)

Max Pull Ups 7
Max Lat Pull Downs
70lbs x 12
85 x 4 (wide grip not comfortable), 12, 12
Max Seated Cable Rows
50 x 12
60 x 10
50 x 12

Walking Lunges
Me 32
Max 24

Stretch

After the Fourth

We decided to see the new Jurassic World movie at the first showing on Tuesday. The theater was surprisingly temperate. It's usually icy cold, but we're lucky that it was open at all. Some car hit a utility pole late Monday afternoon and took out power lines all the way past the shopping center. We're pretty sure the driver was "distracted" because road conditions were good. Power got restored to that area in a few hours. We've been fine so far although reports of outages and brownouts from the prolonged intense heat are stressing the grid. The movie was entertaining, but I wish there was more interaction between Owen and Blue. Of course, (spoiler alert!) I'm sure there's going to be a sequel since Blue opted to run off into the hills of civilization, rather than board a caged freighter to a protected sanctuary. Well. at least Claire flees dinosaurs in sensible shoes this time.

I'd planned to take my son to the gym on Wednesday July 4th since the gym only closes for Christmas and Easter. On holidays, the gym will close early around 3 pm, more than enough time for most gym rats to get their cardio done. However, we had too much prep to do since we'd invited a few families to come eat with us, have their kids run around our lawn with water guns, balloons and the hose, and then we'd all set off to the lake to set off supermarket fireworks, aka glorified sparklers. Because NYS prohibits real fireworks unless you've got that special license.

A gym rat like me doesn't let scheduling snafus get in the way of a good workout though. My son and his friends swam a lot yesterday so he was tired when I got him up this morning. I'd made an appointment with his pediatrician because I wasn't entirely satisfied with the dermatologist we saw almost two weeks ago. The little bubble bumps on his knees turn out to be molluscum contagiousum, a type of contagious viral wart that spreads easily among kids. The dermatologist says it'll go away by itself, otherwise he'd have to resort to freezing them off. At home, I tell my son to apply tea tree oil to keep them from spreading down his leg. But underneath the bubbles, there's rough red skin. The bubbles are shrinking but the red skin is spreading in patches behind his knee. My son says it doesn't itch. The derm seems not to have noticed this. Weird. The pediatrician says no signs that it's bacterial or viral, so probably just eczema. She prescribes a cortisone cream to reduce it's spread. Of course, the CVS doesn't have it in stock and needs to order it. Of course...

We get to the gym around noon. The Mayor is on the treadmill with SquareJaw. I can't believe I can hear him all the way across the gym. At least until I put on my headphones. My son and I pedal the recumbent bike and then walk the treadmill while plugged in. Once we're done with cardio, we turn off the tunes. The gym has pop music blaring in the background. I'm okay with the latest Shawn Mendez, but rap stuff definitely annoys me. There's still no replacement for the big blue mats so we retreat to the classroom after my son does his pull ups. He gets 6 today and I'm happy for him. He just rubs his forearms. He's tired from all the swimming yesterday so opts to do regular push ups instead of T push ups. I'm fine with it. We do core and both feel how shaky we are holding our positions.

Today is a Push Day. He's concerned that he's too tired to do this. I tell him: just 3 exercises, just 3 sets per exercise. Not so bad. He chooses to do the flat breaker bench with just the bar even though the Smith is available. He doesn't like how the noisy pulley needs servicing on that machine. I have to slow him down because he knocks out two sets of 12 reps back to back. Yes, this is probably too light but there's other exercises to be done. I show him how to do DB Laterals with 10 lbs. I'm worried it's too heavy because he's not familiar with this movement. He tries it, and again with 5 lb DBs but doesn't feel it in his deltoids. Instead, the base of his neck, the traps are stressed. I move him to the Lateral Machine. We add weight incrementally from 10 lbs because he's still not feeling it where he should. Finally, he moves the pin to 30 lbs and says now it feels right. Hmmm...

Last, I show him Rip Skulls with a 20 lb bar and only have him do 6 reps per set. He says this is much more a shoulder exercise than the other movements. But he also feels it in his triceps. Good! I've had friends tells me that they only let their boys do cardio and body weight (push ups and crunches) exercises because they don't want to impact the long bones. I'm not having my son squat or even use heavy weight, so I'm not all that concerned. He's got nearly 40 lbs on me and is just overall bigger than I am. I'm pretty sure he can handle the exercises I'm having him do, without any adverse effect on his growth plates. In boys, those continue to grow from ages 16-21, depending on the individual.

We stretch out afterwards and then I go shower. This will be the first time in 4 weeks that I've showered without sealing the water out of my eye, not that I plan to get water in it. I've stopped administering the post-surgical drops although I'm still using the glaucoma drops, because I don't know if the surgery has had the desired effect of lowering my IOP. I go back to my eye doc next Tuesday. My eye still feels a tad weird, as if the lid was a bit tight and interfering with my vision. How often do you feel as if your eyelids were just a size too small? Weird, right?

Tomorrow will be cardio, and a Pull Day: lat pull downs, seated cable rows, and maybe some light DB curls, or not. The gym scale tells me 110.4 lbs, which is better than I expect. But of course, at this point my stomach is growling at me and I can't wait to suck down a Fair Life milk shake in the car.

Post-Fourth July Thursday

15 Recumbent Bike
Manual Level 1
Calories 64
Miles 1.96
Average Heart Rate 106 (63%)

30 Treadmill
5% Incline
Speed 3
Calories 190
Miles 1.49
Average Heart Rate 117 (70%) / max rate 135 (80%)

Max pull ups 6
Max push ups 20

Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

Max Flat Bench
45 lbs (bar) x 12 x 3

Max DB Laterals
10 lbs x 6
5lbs x 12
Max Lateral Machine
12 x 10, 20, 30 lbs

Max Rip Skull
20lbs x 6 reps x 3 sets

Stretch

More Strenuous Than It Looks

Monday is universal Bench Press day according to Buff Dudes (I like to watch their instructional YouTube videos), and everyone else. We were relatively inactive this scorching weekend, not quite hitting the 100s, but close. Instead, we chose to shelter in place, taking refuge in the marvel of air conditioning. We don't have central air or anything fancy. We just have one well-positioned wall unit in our attic-computer room that manages to cool the entire house if we leave it on long enough. I haven't turned it off since last Thursday.

My son and I get to the gym a bit later than I'd like. It's already crowded with kids even though it's not noon yet. Neither of us is sore anymore from last week's lunges, so we start with the treadmill. Then the Step Mill. Seven and a half minutes into it I realize that my son is frustrated, fiddling with the On/Off control button on his station. His machine quit after a few minutes and he can't get it to restart. I hit the Stop on mine, hop off and reboot his, which basically means actually unplugging the machine, counting to 10 and plugging it back in. That fixes it, but I've lost all my data. Instead of just setting my timer for an additional 7.5 minutes, I go for the full 15, figuring I can add half that number back to the stats to get a fairly accurate tally.

My heart rate is a lot higher on this machine even though I'm not breathless. There are two Step Mills and only one has a working heart rate monitor in the handles. I usually use the other one and ignore the blank HR information. Today I can see how much more strenuous walking up the stairs for 20 plus minutes really is. (165 is damn near the maximum 167.4 so that's probably not a good thing. Of course, in the past I've done speeds twice as fast, so was that dangerous? Ugh!) We're both sweating a little when we're done.

I have my son place his hands just outside his shoulders to do pull ups. He does one and looks at me questioningly. "That's good!" I tell him, and he knocks out 5 more, with his ankles crossed and his body mostly straight. It's hard not to lean into the Cage because it's not anchored to anything and can actually tip forward given enough momentum. "Where do you feel it?" "Forearms!" Yep, I can relate. The blue mats haven't been replaced yet. We walk off to the classroom where another fellow is doing a few movements with DBs and ankle bands. My son tells me that doing 10 T-push ups is too easy so I suggest 15 or 20. I've only ever gotten to 20. He makes it to 15 red-faced.

We both find planks hard for the same reasons: hands going numb. The mirror wall helps him keep his body aligned though. We knock out Bird Dogs and Side Planks without any issues. There's a lot of people in the free weight area, but the Smith is open so we start with Smith flat benching. He's surprised at how light the bar feels. We stop at 60 lbs although I'm sure he can go heavier. We stop because the next exercise will be so much harder: Inclined Press on the Breaker Bench.

He forgets to set his feet flat on the ground so balancing the Olympic bar is that much harder. I remind him and show him how to adjust the seat, and why it's important. Today we're just doing the bar. It's heavy enough at 45 lbs. He muscles through his second and third set even though I tell him he can stop at 8 or 10 reps if that's all he's got. Obviously, it's not. But three sets is enough for him right now. I'll show him DB Presses and maybe Flyes later in the week. I'm not a big proponent of Flyes because I
 don't actually see its necessity.

We wander over to the Lat Pull Downs. There's a narrower rowing bar affixed to the pulley, but he's fine with using that. Since we ended with 70 lbs last week, that's what we start with. After two sets, I ask him if he's game to try the next plate. At this point it jumps 15 lbs instead of 10. I tell him that only getting 6-8 is perfectly fine. He pushes himself to get 10. Now his hands and arms are really tired and he doesn't want to do Seated Cable Rows. Okay, we can work on hip stretches.

"My arms are going to feel it tomorrow" he tells me. We'll see. I tell him that his arms are his weak link and he's not happy about that, but I tell him that arms connect you to everything upper body, so of course, they get worked more, but they'll also get stronger faster. He's happy about that. He tries the hip hinge movement and pushes his butt against the wall as he bends over. "Oh, I guess you have to arch your back a bit," he tells me. He needs this exaggerated motion to identify what part of the body should be moving and what part should be stationary. There's no mirror in the stretch area so that makes it harder to determine proper form. We'll get there... Wednesday is July 4th but our gym will be open until 3 pm. And I plan to take my son, because we need to do our lunges!

Tomorrow, we plan to see the new Jurassic Park movie, if the power grid holds up. Reports everywhere of grid failures due to the heat. We're the Northeast, so yes, we have hot summers, but not like this. Ugh. My hubs is working from home this week so maybe we can convince him to come with us for the first showing at 11 am. The earlier we go, the better since it gets progressively more crowded later in the day. I get on the gym scale and hold my breath. It reads 109.8 lbs. So good news, bad news is how I see it. Good that I'm not a million pounds, but bad in that I'm probably losing muscle mass and getting fat. Ugh. Wednesday marks 4 weeks. I don't see my eye doc until next Tuesday. I hope I have the all-clear to resume normal activities. Well, normal for me, at least.


Monday with Max

30 treadmill
Incline 5%
Speed 3
Calories 190
Miles 1.49
Average Heart Rate 118 (70%) /134 (80%)

15 Step Mill + 7.5min
Speed 3
Total steps 559 + 279.5 = 838
Floors 34 + 17 = 51
Calories 87 + 43 = 130
HR 145-165 (86-98%) ooops!

Max pull ups 6
Max T push ups 15

Elbow Plank 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

Max Smith Bench Press
Bar (30) x 12
50 x 12
60 x 12

Max Breaker Inclined
Bar (45) x 12 x 3

Max Lat Pull Downs (Close Grip)
70 x 12 x 2
85 x 10

Stretch