Two Days Post Winter Storm Maya

I literally stayed home all day with my son on Tuesday as it snowed. At 17F, the snow didn't flake. It was powder, which was easier to sweep than shovel. I only swept a narrow path to the birdfeeder and then down the driveway to retrieve the newspaper and the mail. Because I know better than to clear everything when sleet and freezing rain is forecast.

By Wednesday morning, when the schools had all declared a two-hour delay, a thick quarter-inch crust of glistening ice topped every surface in the blazing sun. Pristine surfaces could be shoveled as the snow beneath created a cushion against the ground. Any place I had swept clear of snow the day before was now a solid impenetrable sheet of ice. Pretty and really slippery, because the only thing more slippery than ice is wet ice. And since temps were in the mid-30s, the ice was slowly melting. Shoveling ice is almost as heavy as shoveling wet sand, except it stays on the shovel. Mostly.

It takes me an hour to clear the walkway and driveway. The car is so iced over that I can't get the doors open, or rather, the front doors open a fraction, just enough for the dash to tell me a door is open. But not really open. Not open enough to get into the vehicle and put the key in. Luckily, I manage to yank a back door hard enough and I can crawl in over the seats. The car takes over 30 minutes to defrost enough where I can clear the windshield. So much for that idiotic advice to warm your car by slowly driving it. Can't drive a car if you can't see out of it!

I had planned to take Wednesday off to take my car to the dealership. My car is one of thousands subject to a front passenger airbag recall, but the dealership has run out of loaner cars. I have to reschedule for next week. I'm back at the gym today and start off with HIIT cardio. But I'm unusually tired. The cardio goes fine but everything else seems hard. I've done this routine before so I'm surprised. All I can think is that ice shoveling, which had me sweat through my clothes and left me panting halfway done, has taken a much greater toll than I anticipated. Oh jeez.

One of these days I'll ask a cardiologist if it's normal for a heart rate to go from 159 to 200 and back down to 129 in a matter of 60 seconds while keeping the same pace. I don't notice any soreness but I'm only comfortable with a set of 20 pull ups. Push ups, crunches, and planks are all routine. The Smith is available and RDLs are first on my list. These don't feel bad and I knock out my standard 3 sets of 12 reps for the heavy set. But when I go to the Lat Pull Downs, I can tell something is off. I'm off. My first two sets are okay, but the heavy set isn't pretty, even with reduced reps.

Knowing that I'm not as strong as I'd like, I revise my routine, deleting the T-bar Row and replacing it with One-Arm Seated Cable Rows. Those feel okay. Last are Reverse BB Curls, and then a high school guy I've never seen before gloms both the 30 and 50 lbs BBs. Ugh. I can either grab the 20 or the 40. I grab the latter, probably a mistake, knowing I can't do Reverse Curls with that weight. But I can probably do regular BB curls, so that's what I do.

It's then that I discover my forearms are sore, probably from ice shoveling! Only with the weight in my hands do I feel discomfort radiating from my elbows along the outer edges of my lower arms. I can bring the bar up from my thighs to 90 degrees (making it perpendicular to my body) but can't move it to my chest for that bicep squeeze. Yeah, the weight's too heavy. Still, I do 3 sets. Of course, if I'd been thinking clearly, I would've ditched the barbel and just picked up some DBs for alternating curls. But hindsight is 20/20...

Pull Valentine Thursday

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 281
Miles 2.62
HR 138-203 (109 / 89 / 114)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12
120 x 12, 12, 12

Lat Pull Downs
85lbs x 12
100 x 10
115 x 7, 8, 8 barely

Seated 1-Arm Cable Rows
30lbs x 12 each arm
35 x 10
40 x 8, 8, 10

BB Curls
40 lbs x 12, 12, 12

Mat Stretch

Hard Choices

Fitness health isn't one-size-fits-all even though that would be so much easier. I'm currently debating how to maintain my fitness routine without causing additional damage to my vision. While exercise is generally thought of as healthful (and most of us don't get enough of it), strenuous exercise can cause internal eye pressures to rise, which is something no one with glaucoma wants. Increased eye pressure damages the delicate optic nerve crucial for sight. Once vision is lost, it's not recoverable.

Balance this against recent evidence showing the benefits of intense exercise not just in our telomeres, but in staving off nerve degeneration which might be related to memory-loss and retention. (Click here for the NYT article.) I'm also working hard to keep my blood pressure low as there is a family history of dangerously high hypertension and several premature deaths due to strokes and cerebral aneurysms. Knowing your family history can be scary.

Studies have long suggested that doing only cardio isn't enough to age well because bones need weight-bearing movements to keep their density. I just don't know how much is enough. Today I started cutting back reps on some of the heavier movements but added additional sets elsewhere. And I started the workout with HIIT cardio just to get warmed up. Perhaps I'd be able to lift heavier if I merely did a plain, steady-state cardio warm up for 10 minutes, but I'm not looking to be bigger, or even necessarily stronger. My goals are to maintain decent musculature and stamina, but what I consider "decent" might differ from the average gym rat. And because I'm old ('cuz I ain't a kid anymore), I have to push a little harder just to keep that equilibrium.

The human body is highly adaptive so I'm not surprised that I'm able to do the 4x4 HIIT cardio routine and then lift weights. Muscleheads will warn you not to do this because you'll be too tired to push your hardest afterward. Perhaps. But being big and muscley doesn't mean you're healthy, or even fit. I see the biggest competitors run out of steam during the Titan Games on TV if they haven't trained for stamina.

I only do one set of pull ups today. My legs are still sore from Friday's workout. Those Walking Lunges combined with 2:1 Lying Leg Curls make this morning's HIIT cardio a challenge. In the mirror at home, I can see my right leg is slightly bigger than my left. It's the dominant leg -- when I'm pedaling as hard as I can on the elliptical, it's the right leg that pushes hardest and leads. You can't change "side dominance" in things like cardio, although weights should help to even things out. Of course, I'm not doing one-legged squats but maybe I should?

I get done with push ups and core just as the Boot Camp class starts and I make a quick exit. The Smith is free so once I wrestle the bench into position, I'm ready to go. I'm not willing to let go of Inclined Benching just yet, but worrying about increasing my IOPs causes me not to add 10 lbs and cut the reps to 5. That's what I should do -- bench 100 lbs for 5-8 reps. I've done it in the past, but I was less worried about my eye pressures back then.

I do add 2.5 lb magnetic discs to each dumbbell during my delt supersets. It doesn't feel that different. Maybe I'll move up to 25 lbs next week? I know I'll feel that. Past that weight and my elbows and wrists start to complain -- I don't want to risk injury. I decide to do Rip Skulls even though the elbows have given me warning twinges. My compromise is drop sets and it's only 3 sets anyway.

I see Gym Owner. Sometimes he works out with the rest of us regulars. I'm excited because now I can get him to attach the V-bar to the press-down cable station. He's talking to B when I wave the V-bar handle at him. B says that she also has trouble getting the handle affixed because she's only an inch or two taller than I am. (But I got 20 lbs on her!) He shows us a trick for the height-challenged folks: grab the carabiner clip and pull the cable down, then stick the pin in to keep the cable low while attaching the handle. Cool! I just don't know if I'm tall enough to reach the carabiner clip.

I haven't done V-bar press downs in ages. I add weight and drop reps, then reverse the sequence. What really starts to hurt though are not my triceps or even my arms. Nope. It's the side of my padded glove hands pressing against the metal handle. I have some boney little hands! I know I don't need bigger arms and triceps are two-thirds of your upper arm. Maybe I should do some bicep work? I've been letting all my back exercises serve double-duty by training biceps as well. I don't know that doing curls would serve any purpose, and there's always a concern that my elbows will develop tendonitis. I have such delicate, tiny joints.

Stretching lets me pay specific attention to my shoulders and back. I'm trying to prevent developing too many knots, but I'm a knotty person. I'm probably going to spend tomorrow inside, watching the snow turn to sleet. Winter Storm Maya is coming. Shoveling is a given. There's a good chance school will be canceled and a two-hour delay scheduled for Wednesday, which is the day I'm supposed to get my airbag replaced at the dealership. My brother told me to call them before going because his experience with his old Ford was showing up for a scheduled appointment and then being told that there were no replacements in stock. Ugh. I hope Subaru dealerships are more responsible than that!

Pre Storm Monday
(Sore from Friday)

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 282
Miles 2.63
HR 140-199 (105)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith Incline Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
90 x 12, 12, 12
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20 lbs x 12/15 reps
22.5 x 12/15 x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 12, 10, 8

V-bar triceps press down
20 lbs x 12
30 x 12
40 x 10
45 x 6
40 x 8
30 x 12

Mat Stretch

That Hollow Feeling

Rain and fog this morning. The gym isn't very crowded when I arrive. I get on the elliptical and once again amuse myself with the heart rate monitor. My pulse drops to its lowest rate (85) during the height of the 3rd high-intensity session. It also peaks at its highest rate during that session as well, tripping past 200 bpm. What I find interesting is that the lowest HR isn't when I first get on the machine -- my pulse is about 129.

I've increased the intensity of this program slightly. The 4 minutes of high-intensity break down as 1 minute "go as fast as you can" (about 230-270 SPM aka Strides per Min) followed by 3 minutes of moderately fast pedaling (160-170 SPM). It's useless to link the intensity level to heart rate what with cardiac lag and Raynaud's syndrome. This week I've increased my pace during those 3 minutes to about 180-200. And I've slowed the 3-minute "active rest" period to 70-90 SPMs, down from 110-120. The only difference I'm able to discern when I'm done is that I have slightly more mileage. Well, that makes sense...

I knock out my pull ups without any issues, but I'm revamping my core exercises. I've noticed that my tummy protrudes below my belly button, and while women really can't help having that fecund shape (as evidenced in countless Renaissance paintings), I'm compelled to add at least one lower abdominal movement. No point in letting all those internal organs hang unsupported. Today I sneak in horizontal leg scissors between crunches and planks.

The StepMill is free so I spend 15 minutes there at a low speed: level 3. After 10 minutes, sweat is dripping off my nose. Again. I do another set of pull ups. They seem neither harder nor easier. For my last cardio romp, I have a choice of machines but I decide on the Octane. I'm also busting a good sweat after a mere 15 minutes here. And back for more pull ups. Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment as I zip up my hoodie and start lunge walking down the side of the gym. I'm breathing a lot harder at the end of this than after the Octane or the StepMill!

Before my legs can complain too much, I adjust the Prone Leg Curl machine and proceed to do my 2:1 sets. The first set is easy. The second one is easy until rep 5. Then it gets progressively harder. It's the same for the third set. I'm done, more or less. Except for one last set of pull ups. I'm not struggling at the end, I'm just tired. I know this because, after rep 20, I just hang for a second and then get my chin to the bar one more time.

In the locker room, I'm overcome by an odd feeling: hollowness. I'm totally spent. I only drink water during my gym time, and usually workout "partially fasted" since half a cup of coffee with cream and sugar is still caffeine, fat, and sugar. So yes, I'm normally hungry when I've finished a workout, but not usually "empty." This is a totally different feeling, and I don't experience it very often. My routine doesn't seem to be costing me any muscle mass or strength. (But I can't push as hard as I'd like because of my glaucoma issues. Good thing I'm not a powerlifter.) I've got a cooler bag in my car with a cold 16 gms of protein RTD, and my vitamins. That'll hold me until I get home where I can mash half an avocado into some whole wheat toast and top that with a few crushed cloves of garlic. Yum!

Rainy Cardio Friday

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 282
Miles 2.63
HR 130-203 (95, 85, 105)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

15 StepMill
Speed 3
Total Steps 530
Floors 33
Calories 84
HR 134

HGPU 20

15 Octane + 2cd
Default setting
Calories 109
Miles 1.48
Steps 2052
Floors 34
HR max 126-138 (67)

HGPU 21

Walking Lunges
27 x 2 = 54

2:1 Lying Leg Curls
(Head up due to pressure)
20lbs x 12 each leg x 3 sets

Quick Cage Stretch
HGPU 21

Down and Dour

I skipped the gym yesterday and got errands done before my afternoon glaucoma doc appointment. I had a standard VF (visual field) test and a pressure check. My eyes have been extremely dry and uncomfortable, with the left eye feeling gloppy. Sometimes it aches a little. My left eye is also the non-dominant one, with a slight swelling in the upper lid and a tendency to close halfway when I'm tired. So I'm surprised when the VF tests show that my right eye is the one with greater vision loss. I'd had trouble concentrating with my right eye patched closed -- the dominant eye "sees" the inside of the eye patch while I'm trying to focus my left eye on the glowing center orb and tiny pinprick lights flash sporadically in the surrounding field. My pressures go up in the darkness but I'm still dismayed that both eyes read 16. It's not horrible, but considering I'm on 2 medications plus I've had stent and cataract surgery, I'm disappointed. Ideal pressures would be 10, but I've never gotten them that low. My glaucoma doc will probably mention more advanced surgeries like shunts in the future, but I'm not willing to think about that just yet.

I'm pretty certain that if I gave up HIIT cardio and weight-lifting, my pressures would drop, just as they did when I spent 6 weeks recovering after surgery. But eventually I'd lose all my cardio and strength fitness, and my telomeres would shorten to nothing. I'd also go crazy with anxiety. Fitness and mental well-being is such a difficult balancing act that I can see why people give up and give in to indolence and sedentary overeating. That would be easy. I think of one of my favorite Shawn Mendes songs (yeah, I have a lot in common with gen z teens). It's a really boring music video, but a great song:


My eye doc does surgeries on Wednesdays so there's a new doc covering for her. He looks like a kid and literally sounds like Shaun Murphy, the autistic resident in the medical drama The Good Doctor. I'm not sure why all the millennials I run into have this weird, not-quite-Valley-Girl cadence when they speak. It's surreal. We discuss different eye drops since there are so many on the market, and he assures me that I should choose whichever one provides the best relief to me since everyone is different.

The front office bills me not just the co-pay, which is expensive because a glaucoma doctor is a specialist and they cost more, but also additional money for the exam. I know that the exam is completely 100% covered under my insurance but she insists on charging me $69 toward the $1500 deductible. Ugh. Later I go home and spend an hour on the phone with my insurance company. No, I've been charged incorrectly. Exams and tests are completely covered. I also question the bill from the out-of-network anesthesiologist from September's surgery. Thankfully, the NYS Surprise Bill Law protects me from having to pay him thousands of dollars. At least I hope that's how this works.

I read an article about how people are going to be upset when they find they owe the IRS tax money instead of getting a refund. My husband texts me to complain how his paycheck has seen very little increase in spite of a raise. I told him that the new tax laws weren't going to benefit us, but he didn't believe me. We live in NYS and we're going to get skunked. I blame rich politicians who benefit from wealthy corporations getting massive tax breaks and incentives. They appoint and hire their industry buddies, use tax-payer funds to decorate and travel, and make the term "public servant" more than ironic. These are already wealthy individuals. Their concerns are not our concerns.

When I wake up this morning, I'm already depressed. I spent several hours last night helping my son navigate through his course choices for next year, his freshman year in high school. My HS experiences at a massively overcrowded city magnet school cannot compare to the spacious one he will attend in the Fall. Meanwhile, my own job search is disheartening. Part of my problem is that I have too many interests so it's hard for me to focus on a specific path. I feel like I have adult ADD. I've signed up for a slew of different skills courses courtesy of my public library and lynda.com. Which one should I do first? What jobs am I looking at? Which ones might actually hire me in spite of my lack of experience and daunting education? Yes, I'm simultaneously over and underqualified for everything except jobs that I don't want because the commute is impractical for someone who is basically a single parent most of the time.

I put a blanket in the dryer to warm it up so my son can wrap himself in it as I drive him to school. My car is one of thousands now subject to a recall for a defective and potentially deadly front passenger airbag. Just great. The service appointment is for next week. Until then, my son gets to ride in the back, but those seats don't have warmers and neither of us knows where the air or heat vents are, or even if they exist.

Behind me, someone
hitting the heavy bag 

I get to the gym and take a deep breath. Today I'm going to whack the Nexersys. If nothing else, I'll feel a little better getting out all my frustrations and anxiety. The Beginner rounds work well as a warm-up. I enjoy the Intermediate rounds but feel as if the machine has lost some of the more complicated combinations. Today, the screen does not go blank and I never get the Hitting Too Hard warning. I must be slacking. M is teaching a woman how to use the heavy bag hanging near the front entrance. There are people on the Expresso bikes behind me, and women chatting while dolefully pedaling the Octane several feet to the left. The dead Nexersys machine is just a placeholder now. I feel better when I'm done. I skip doing pull ups today because I'm planning a cardio routine tomorrow, one with several sets of pull ups.

I admit that I'm freaking out a bit about turning 59 next month. My grandmother was 60 when I was born. Am I having a mid-life crisis? Perhaps. Should I have done things differently when I was younger? Absolutely. Truthfully, when I got out of school I was totally adrift and lost, with no plans for the future. I'm still wrestling with all my anxieties and insecurities even though my parents are long dead. It's hard to push past mental obstacles that have loomed so large for so long. The physical obstacles are less oppressive. That's perhaps why I enjoy my gym time so much and am loathe to give it up. If nothing else, I'm trying to ensure that my son grows up with a secure and stable childhood, knowing that he is loved and encouraged to be the best he can be. I need a little of that for myself as well. Gym life at least gives me validation when nothing else seems positive.

(BTW, I read that Shawn Mendes works out like a fiend to combat anxiety, and he's developed a great physique. Of course, he's still a teenager too. Click here to view his youtube workout video compilation.)

Downer Thursday

10 min elliptical
Calories 89
Miles 0.80
HR 154-178 (115)

T, Y & I Raises
5lbs x 15 x 2

Mid-Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys FM
Beginner 7r
Intermediate 7r

Quick Mat Stretch

Some Days I Feel Like A Bruiser

This warm spell won't last but I'm enjoying it while I can. Today peaks near 60F and even though there are still banks of melting snow, I don't feel the need to wear my winter parka. Mud season has come early. I'm not sure if the gym is going to be cold or not so I put on leggings and an unpleasantly clingy tank. I'm too self-conscious to be comfortable in clingy clothes and prefer oversized baggy items. But baggy clothes tend to twist and get caught up when exercising. I see lots of large women with their ill-fitting bras squished under tight tops, and as much as I shouldn't judge, I also fear being judged. I know that I'm hardest on myself.

Seeing other women makes me feel less self-conscious, especially the ones who work out as hard as I do. Their clothes are not necessarily flattering either. Whew. The gym is sporadically crowded with regulars for class and regulars for weight-lifting. There are cardio buddies and spin pals. My cardio makes me warm and limber. I do minimal core and then head straight to the Smith for RDLs. When I stand slightly too far from the bar, my lower back aches. I toe myself a quarter inch closer, remind myself to keep my feet pointed slightly out, and all is well.

I see another woman in the MaxRack next to the Smith. Her workout is fairly impressive although I think I've got at least 20 years on her. That's right, I think she's maybe in her 30s. And I'm not. I keep forgetting that I'm close to 60. Damn! Do I have 30 years on her? Somehow that doesn't seem quite right even though I've got gray hairs floating around my face. Most of the time I've got my hair tied back, but the strands are so baby-fine that there's always a loose one tickling my face. It makes me crazy because that's as annoying as having a fly land on you continually. Except my hair won't bite, and flies often do.

Afterward, I look around and see that the Lat Pull Down stations are free. One has a standard bar, but the other one dangles the close grip neutral I favor. I don't know how much I weigh today, but I'm reasonably certain it's less than 115 lbs. My arms are tired and even though I'm able to pull down 8 reps, it isn't pretty. Repeat. My form starts to loosen after rep 5, but I push for 8 anyway.

I don't want to do Seated One-Arm Cable Rows today. Instead, I go back to the T-bar Row station even though I know now that at the heavier weight, I'm doing shrugs. I know this because over the weekend I noticed my own traps, as in, "Whoa, I have traps! Where did those come from?" In the mirror wall, I see someone big and a little dumpy. These clothes do not enhance my physique at all. I ignore the bruiser looking back at me and finish with reverse grip barbell curls. Next week I'll up the weight by 5 lbs.

I've been debating with myself whether to replace my microfiber hair towel. It works well and sucks the water from my hair quickly, but like a lot of microfibers, it has a tenacious grip on nasty odors. Lately, it's had a whiff of mildew that several launderings haven't been able to wash out. Then I remembered the stink-free sports detergent I bought some years ago. I only use it for the most stubborn of odors and this qualifies. One tiny capful creates bountiful suds. I toss a sleeping bag into the washer to keep the towel company. It's not a very big towel and it seems wasteful to do a load, even an extra small load, for just one towel.

After a turn in the dryer, I take a sniff. Like magic, the towel is odor-free. This product really works! My son's old kung fu teacher recommended it: he said he used it for all his hockey gear so he could vouch for it. I'm vouching for it too.

I came across this music video a few days ago. While I'm undecided as to whether I like the song Medicine (by Bring Me The Horizon aka BMTH) well enough to add to my workout playlist, the visuals are stunning and disturbing. I've embedded it here:



Balmy Tuesday Pull

30 min elliptical + 5 cd
Program 1
Calories 318
Miles 2.86
HR average154 / maximum198 (85-105)

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12
120 x 12, 12, 12

Lat Pull Downs
85lbs x 12
100 x 10
115 x 8, 8, 8

T-bar Rows
Bar x 25
25 lbs x 20
35 x 20
45 x 20, 20, 20

RG BB Curls
30lbs x 25 reps x 3 sets

Quick Mat Stretch

Moving On

The weather is ridiculous lately. It's currently 57F as I type, up 30 degrees from when I drove my son to school with fog and black ice warnings. This sunny warmth isn't going to last though, as the temps are forecast to drop back into winter later this week. I decide today's a good day to haul some extremely aged firewood into the house.

The gym isn't as crowded as I expected. Perhaps everyone is hung over from what I hear was a rather dull and unexciting Super Bowl game, commercials and half-time show included. This whole year already feels like a big rut, and not least because the Chinese food market we go to a few times a year has closed down. Apparently, the mall where they were located is slated to be torn down. Figures. And the store did not relocate. They just closed their doors. Ugh.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year (of the Boar) and we normally buy dumplings, pork buns, roast pork, and roast duck. The next closest place was H-Mart, which I'm not overly fond of because they are expensive, and they're Korean. Which means they don't have all the items we would buy for Chinese New Year. I buy different brands of frozen dumplings but I'm not hopeful. There's no pork buns, no egg custard tarts, no red bean cakes or boxes of taro-filled mochi (sticky rice cakes). My husband is in Boston anyway, but I'd still like to make something a little special for my son.

I get on the elliptical and do the 4 x 4 HIIT cardio program. At least I'm warm when I'm done. Routine pull ups, push ups and core work. The trick to doing pull ups? Get your hands completely around the bars so that you can focus on your back. I have tiny hands, so most bars are too wide for me to get a good grip. That's why I love the Stretch Cage. It is the only place I can get my fingers completely around the top bars.

Class doesn't start for another 15 minutes so I have time to do my core workout. There are several women there already, with mats and DBs, doing their own communal routines. Some stay for the class, some like me, don't. The Smith is free so I do my standard Smith Inclined Press routine. At some point I'll get bored with it, but not when I do this only once a week. The Smith bar seems to stick in the tracks and both my left shoulder and right elbow complain. I haven't even put any weight on the bar yet! The bar glides better once I've added plates. My joints stop complaining.

Lazy Pedals and M are noisily chatting with a large middle-aged woman. I click my earbuds to increase the volume. The DB area is crowded with B and her gym hubs and his son, and a few other guys. Luckily, by the time I get there for DB supersets, they've moved on to another part of the gym. Then B comes back and M shows her core movement I've seen Spider Grandpa do. You grab overhead bars and pull yourself parallel, then twist your hips back and forth. This is called Hanging Wipers and variations of this movement can be found on the Redefining Strength website. Click here to visit that page.

from Redefining Strength 

Regulars like Ballet and PO Goatee bounce between stations. There are also a few women like Hollywood and tall, thin Ruffles. Ruffles has a monochrome tat of what looks to be curtain or petticoat ruffles on her left shoulder. She's been coming regularly for the past several weeks and spoke loudly about her impending divorce in the locker room. Uh, TMI!

The DB superset and Rip Skulls are routine today. I thought about doing V-bar press downs but my elbows weren't bothering me by the time I got to the skull crushers, and the wrong handles were attached to the pushdown stations. I suppose I could've grabbed someone tall to help me replace the handle, but when I looked around, there wasn't anyone in the area. I also could've dragged the big metal platform over to the station, but I've done that before, and it's no fun. Maybe I'm just lazy today, or maybe I haven't decided to move on yet. The last two reps of the last set were a bit tenuous, as were the last two reps of the Inclined Press. It's probably time for a change.

Change is hard. I'm an overthinker, so change is really hard. I'd been stuck in a holding pattern since last week until I got word about my last quiz. Sadly, I didn't quite make the cutoff so that's both a disappointment and a relief. Now I can move on. I'm easily distracted by things I think I should be doing, especially if they're physical. Actual physical actions like doing laundry, cleaning dishes, shopping for groceries, hauling firewood are all so much easier to accomplish than sitting at my laptop to study, or write. And I find it impossible to write if someone's in the same room as I am. Crazy, right? My house is so small that I don't have a place to close the door literally and figuratively, and I'm not typing in the bathroom. I can manage this blog, but it takes me a while. Writing other things takes much longer and needs more quiet. I think I'm becoming a hermit. If we ever move, I'd like a room where I can close the door just to write. Didn't Virginia Woolf famously write about that?

Post SB Monday

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 270
Miles 2.57
HR average 134 maximum194 (105-115)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 23

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
90 x 12, 12, 12
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
(Happy with 8+)
40 lbs x 12, 12, 12

Mat Stretch

Persistence

It's been two days since I was last at the gym. This morning the thermometer reads 4 degrees lower than last night. It's 7F. Well, at least the numbers are positive, unlike a day ago. I drop my son off at school. He's been home for two days and eager to see his friends again. Tomorrow we plan to go to the City of Science exhibit and meet up with other friends.

The gym isn't very crowded when I arrive. Because I'm cold, I wear an extra layer under my hoodie: a sleeveless workout vest. Even after 10 vigorous minutes on the elliptical, I'm not really warmed up. There are a lot of people in the free weight area so I grab a pair of 5 lb DBs and plant myself on one of the breaker benches. I still have my hoodie on and it stays on until I'm standing in front of the lone working Nexersys.

The other machine is still broken, but this one looks like someone has at least wiped the screen clean. The Power Dig is also still broken, but the Sweep sensors seem responsive today. I do 7 rounds with the sleeveless vest and I don't bust a sweat until the end of the 5th round. I take my vest off and do another 7 rounds of Intermediate. The screen blanks 4 times, but only sounds the Hitting Too Hard Warning once. The machine also seems to be skipping some of the programs and repeats other programs. But I can't tell that until the session ends and I'm able to view the program number listed on the score sheet.

I feel good. Good enough to strip off my hand protection and do a set of pull ups. It's been 3 days. I get 25 without any issues. Now I'm happy too. I still have a few errands to do, and not because this weekend is SuperBowl Sunday. I want to use my coupons before they expire.

At the supermarket, I see shampoo on sale. I like using coupons with sale items, and I have one worth $3.00 if I buy two bottles. The sale offer is "Buy 2 and pay $5." With a $3 coupon, each bottle is just a dollar. I have other coupons for other sale items. The cashier at checkout is annoyed with the woman in line ahead of me because the coupon doesn't match the item she's buying. She's so annoyed that she refuses to scan my shampoo coupon and tells me that I don't have the correct items. I tell her I do and hold up the bottles. She refuses to scan the coupon and hands it back to me while muttering that I should read my coupons better. WTF? The man behind me is literally breathing on the back of my head, he's that close. I feel pressured to exit the store, or at least that particular check out line.

When I get home, I review my receipt and make a decision to go back to the store, but this time directly to Customer Service. Yeah, I'm that person. The person who will chew on something that doesn't make sense and look at it six different ways. I'm the one who questions everything and has no problem going back to ask why or why not. Sometimes it works out. I ask the fellow behind the counter to explain why the coupon isn't valid. No, it's valid and he doesn't understand why the cashier had any issues. He hands me $3 cash. Yaaay me.


Frigid Friday

10 min elliptical
Calories 89
Miles 0.81
HR 149-190 (81)

T, Y & I Raises
5lbs x 15 x 2

Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys FM
Beginner 7r
Intermediate 7r

Quick Cage Stretch
HGPU 25

Mat Stretch