Acknowledging Fatigue

I didn't sleep all that well last night. Perhaps it was the rainstorm. I'm a light sleeper and despite the soothing white noise from the floor fan, I still managed to wake several hours before dawn. Perhaps it's a good thing that this is the last day of summer camp, and I'll be doing abbreviated workouts for the next two weeks. I suspect I'm over-tired, or even, over-trained in spite of working each body part only once weekly. Except for legs. Because I do some semblance of cardio nearly every day, even if it's just 10 minutes of HIIT followed by 20 minutes of leisurely LISS. The body is adaptive, but there are limits!

It seems counter-intuitive to plan more cardio and less lifting for the next two weeks. But what I'm planning is a sustainable program change: something I can do that won't make me unhappy. Cardio makes me happy. We'll see if I lose any size, but I doubt it. I have the type of body that retains mass and strength very efficiently. Being scrawny just isn't in my genetics.

I'm in a rush this morning so I neglect to put a patch of moleskin over the bunion bump on my right foot. The leather trainers I wear for whacking the Nexersys, and for Leg Day (I own two pairs), seem to chafe at that spot. Worse, I have a rectangular birthmark (shaped like a flag) very close to the bunion, and I'm leery of inflicting any damage to such delicate tissue. No one wants to effect changes to a black birthmark (melanocytic nevus) because of the potential for it to degenerate into melanoma. Pedaling on the elliptical and cross-trainer aggravate the chafing. I don't have this issue with my mesh shoes, but they don't provide enough foot support when I'm shouldering weight for Split Squats. Next time I have to build time into the schedule to apply that patch!

The Smith Split Squats are heavier than I remember. Worse, my lower back seems a bit sore but only when I do the movement. I keep adjusting my stance, but the soreness persists. I only do one heavy set today. I don't want to chance an injury. I think my back is just tired. I do three heavy sets of Smith SLDLs, which means GHRs are going to be super hard. The gym isn't as crowded today. I see Venus, trailed by Chatty Guy. I guess they are dating after all. She's got her long wavy blonde hair loose, with dark roots showing. That seems to be a valid look these days. She has a stunning figure, big bust, tiny waist and high round butt. The college guys can't help but give her a second stare.

The gym staff is busy today with several new members being introduced to various machines. Most of them are middle-age women who seem very timid. I hope they find their comfort zone and discover how much fun this all is. GHRs just get harder each week. But of course, I'm not helping myself by increasing the workload my hamstrings have to contend with prior to doing GHRs. It's a case of pre-fatiguing the muscle group to make them work harder. I'm such a sadist.

I always do the Interval program on Fridays. Maybe I should change that next week. Even though I'm pedaling at a pretty good pace, I'm only able to log 2.81 miles which isn't enough to break the 7-mile total. I'm also trying to keep my heart rate reasonable. Venus is on the treadmill for 10 minutes then switches to the rowing machine. After 10 minutes she's on the Step Mill. I had thought about doing a few minutes on the Step Mill as well, but there's only two machines and a tall thin woman with lavender highlights in her bleached white hair is on the other Step Mill. (I know it's bleached because I can see the dark roots near her scalp and neck.)

At the Stretch Cage, an older woman (maybe she's my age -- I can't really tell) gets off the Cybex Glute Machine and puts her leg up on the platform next to me. I guess she's stretching her hamstrings. I do my own hamstring stretch and then, as usual, stick my leg out 90° to the side and rest my foot on the side bar of the Cage. Then I move it up so that it's about 135° from the floor. I change positions so I can bring my foot up the next rung, until I'm at the top side rung and my foot is over my head. Then I rise up on tip-toes and stretch the calf of the supporting leg. I do this with the other leg as well. The woman seems taken a back. Her rolled up mat tells me that she's taking the Yoga class. I hope she's not discouraged. Shaggy is giving me a wide berth today. I think I prefer it to his past behavior where he seemed to be hovering.

At the big Mats, I do my routine stretch but add a few pistol squats. They're actually pretty easy but I only do 10 in total, which is 5 per leg. I could do more but it takes a bit of time, and I'm impatient to change and shower. I'm tired. And hungry. And I have errands to do. I'm so outta here!

My son wants to see Hitman: Agent 47, the movie based on the game he just talked me into buying him. Granted it's a pre-owned game so for $7 it's okay although I blanched at the Sales Clerks warnings about it's M rating, violence and sexual situations. The movie got horrid reviews, and although I think I'd have a vaguely better time at American Ultra, my son has his heart set on Hitman. So I guess we're going to see Hitman on Tuesday. 

Friday Leg and Cardio Day
(6.93 miles total, 11,385 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie :   141 CAL
Distance: 4.12 mile
Speed :    8.24 mph
Duration : 00:30:04

Smith Machine Single Leg Split Squat

196

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x12
Set 4 : 120x12
Set 5 : 140x12

Smith Machine Stiff Legged Deadlift

168

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 120x12
Set 5 : 120x12

GHRs

Set 1 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 12 Lap/Rep

Elliptical Training

Interval Prgm

Calorie :   325 CAL
Distance: 2.81 mile
Duration : 00:30:15

One Leg Bodyweight Squat

129.5

Set 1 : 111x5

In Spite of the Numbers

I let my son sleep in this morning since we were up binge-watching Once Upon A Time. Or rather, I was, and he was playing a game on his phone. But he tends to stay up as long as I'm up. Which is bad for him since he needs sleep to grow, and bad for me 'cuz it means I'm not a great parent. But it's summer vacation, and time will come soon enough for crushing responsibilities.

We got to the gym at a reasonable hour, but there weren't any boys his age in the Child Care room. Luckily, my son is fairly easy-going as long as he has his phone to play games on. I probably cut the moleskin patches a bit small this time around. Even though I taped and cotton-wrapped my hands, I still had some residual bruising from whacking the machine. It is painfully obvious that I need to practice wrapping my left hand more because doing it once a week isn't enough to acquire any sense of speed or competence.

I haven't been wearing my blue hoodie to warm up lately. It makes my gym bag lighter, but I've got goosebumps when I start my warm up. For the past few days, my right achilles tendon has felt tight immediately over the heel as I start to pedal. Eventually the discomfort goes away, but I'm careful to stretch gently but thoroughly after any cardio. Doing 5 rounds of Beginner Follow Me gets me warm enough. For some people, that might be a workout right there. But it's really just a warm up. The 9 rounds of Intermediate is a workout.

I've clipped my ponytail to my head with an assortment of barrettes. My hair is so long now that sopping wet with sweat, it makes a formidable whip. It's quite unpleasant to have your own hair smack you in the face when you're kickboxing. The barrettes hold everything in place so I'm quite pleased in spite of the girly-girl appearance. I'm not a girly-girl, but barrettes keep the stray hair out of your eyes, nose and mouth! Of course, I could just cut my hair back to the Pixie style I used to have. The problem with short hair is maintenance, and I'm big on zero maintenance. Of course, I do miss being able to stick my head under the faucet for a proper cooling off.

There's a few rounds where the program and the music are totally in sync, which makes scoring blows so much easier. I'm still befuddled by some of the weirder combinations, like "Jab, PowerSweep". It throws you off balance because at first you're reaching with your left lead, across your body upward for the Jab (right pad). Then you need to step back to use your back Right (Power) Leg to sweep the bottom left pad. The machine doesn't always register my Power Kick or Sweep. Bummer. And of course, I'm punching too hard with my right Cross, and even right Power Hook. Go figure! My numbers were better last week, but I still feel as if I'm progressing. Or maybe I'm just not sucking at this.

I have three rounds to go when D shows up. She smacks the adjacent machine next but quickly gives up. Just a few blows and the machine has rebooted. She's a lot bigger than I am, with slower but more powerful punches. Think Foreman and Ali. Between rounds we exchange greetings and I tell her I'll let her know when I'm done. She's off to use the Cybex machines until then since her son is now in the Child Care room too. But he's 5.

My knuckles sting and I'm worried about friction burns. When I peel everything off, my knuckles are a bit pink and the left hand is a tiny bit sore, but otherwise everything is intact. There's not a lot of people at the gym today, although I do catch a glimpse of The Mayor, Red, Ponytail, and Tattoo Tank. It's been hot for over a week, and the humidity hasn't abated. I've been wearing summer dresses made of swimsuit material so they're bright and cheery, and dry quickly. I catch Shaggy staring intently from a cross-trainer when my son and I first enter the gym. I don't know why guys think that staring is going to alter the universe in their favor. It's just plain ol' creepy.

Today my son and I will be visiting his classroom to meet his new teacher, and to check the class roster for potential conflicts. I'm not happy that my son is in a class with an extra teacher. The extra teacher means there are at least 5 kids who require special help, and I hope this doesn't detract from my son's 5th grade experience.

Tomorrow is Leg Day, but it's mostly Cardio Day. It will also be the last full workout I'll be able to take for the next two weeks because camp will be over, and school doesn't start until after Labor Day, Sept 8. The surrounding towns all start on Sept 2. So the next two weeks will be modified workouts, probably mostly cardio and body weight movements, but not necessarily restricted to it. If I get a chance to bench sets for reps, I will.

Thursday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   94 CAL
Distance: 0.83 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing Nexersys

5r Bgnr
9r Intmd
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner

9 rounds Intermediate

Going to Failure Might Not Be Painful

My son asked for cold soup for dinner last night. Because I grew up hearing about the old couple who died of botulism poisoning from eating cold, canned potato soup, I can't abide. Instead, I open a can of chicken & dumplings, toss in some extra pasta (because we don't recognize those little lumps of dough as anything vaguely akin to dumplings) and set it to boil on the stove. He just has to wait until it's room temperature to eat. I had had a leftover turkey meatball on a plate of greens for lunch and wasn't particularly hungry last night. So I snacked. Probably not a great idea but dang, it's hot!

I've been skipping oatmeal breakfasts and just have my cup of instant espresso. Of course, it's thoroughly adulterated with sugar and half and half so it's more like a fast food meal than I'd like to admit in regards to fat, sugar and calories. At least there's no salt. Working out "fasted" hasn't been much of a problem. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting may have physiological benefits such as lower glucose levels and a flexible metabolism that is more responsive. Grazing is for herbivores, not people. No one wants to look like a cow!

Of course, by the time I get home, I'm ready to eat my arm. Thank goodness for protein shakes. I like to use soy milk because it has a thicker texture, and some articles suggest that using both soy and whey together might enhance the anabolic effects of weight training. I have a giant 5 lb tub of mocha flavored whey protein. For the past week, I've been adding a teaspoon of instant espresso coffee to the mix, and using it to wash down fish oil, calcium citrate with vitamin D, and a capsule of milk thistle.

I take just one capsule (1/3 dose) of ZMA before bed because I'm sensitive to the laxative effects of magnesium. ZMA contains zinc, magnesium and B6, and is promoted as a sleep and recovery aid. I haven't noticed any crazy dreams but I do feel better rested in spite of the difficulty of sleeping in this heat. I like my bedroom cold but the fan will have to do.

I've been sticking to my 10 min warm up in spite of my misgivings. Today I see gains. Although I'm stagnant in the bigger compound movements (by choice), I've been seeing gains in secondary exercises. I add two reps to each set of the heaviest Seated Cable Rows. Does that mean I'm stronger? Maybe. Or less tired. I added two sets to the heaviest One-Arm Seated Cable Row as well. I'm still only doing 3 sets of 15 reps at 210 lbs on the Lower Back Extension machine, but I don't feel quite as exhausted when I'm done. Instead, I feel brave enough to try doing hammer grip pull ups for the first time in several months. And I can do them! Yaaaay! I don't want to stress my elbows so after 12 reps, I wander off to do something else. Something with less elbow.

That would be partial Drag Curls, although from seeing photos online, I gather that I'm not the only one who goes from mid-thigh to belly with this movement. I up the weight and it's heavy. But oddly, it's only heavy to pick up. Once I start the movement, it doesn't feel bad. The last two reps of each set are much harder, but not painful. I think the muscles are just going to failure, so it's a bit of a struggle and a grimace to finish the sets. The same is true of the Reverse Grip BB Curls. I do a set of 25 reps at 50 lbs just to reassure myself that I really should be upping the weight. If I can do more than 20 reps, it's too light. An extra 5 lbs solves that problem and I can only go to 18 reps for the next two sets, accompanied by grimacing, long pauses and heavy breathing! My arms are looking really big. Not quite as defined as I'd like, but dang they're big. (I can pick up my 12-yr old 67 lbs dog and put him in the car without any issues, so I'm pleased regardless.)

My arms are shot but I really want to have another go at pull-ups. 30 minutes of cardio should be enough time for recovery. The first 5 minutes of HIIT are twice as hard as I remember, yet I'm able to hit 290 Strides Per Minute. Odd. I'm sucking wet tissue again as I pant, so I take 5 minutes of LISS to recover before the next 5 min of HIIT. I'm only able to hit 290 once and but for a second. Oh well. The LISS flies by, but at least I'm not gasping when I'm done. Instead, I stretch at the Cage, and then knock out 12 more hammer grip pull ups.

The last two are a little hard, but I can still get my nose above the bar so I'm counting them, considering that the bar is about 4 inches past where my hands are located. Oh, they count all right, otherwise I'm smacking my face into the top of the Cage. When I pull myself up, the Cage rocks and I'm leery of tipping it over backwards so I place my hands closer to the center of the "ceiling' for balance. So far so good. My elbows haven't said a peep. However, my right wrist hurts today, bruised from the DB Presses I did on Monday. Either I'm too little or they're too big, but the DBs knock into my wrists when I set them down. Yet another reason I prefer barbell benching. Luckily, I keep wrist wraps in my "Felix the Cat bag of tricks", and that seems to alleviate the pain.

I notice that guys give me a wide berth when I'm done. The college boys were showing off doing kipping pull ups between the two cable stations. It's distracting and annoying to have the whole station shake when you're trying to do Seated Cable Rows, so I try to time my sets for the least disruption. There's only one woman I've seen do decent pull-ups here. She's young and slender with spunky red hair, and pretty good biceps. This week she's got a new do: undercut dark on the left and a flaming swoosh of red swept over the right. It's very dramatic and looks great.

Undercut is so dramatic

There's a few new members today, and a bunch of regulars, like Hollywood, M, The Mayor, Tattoo Tank, Ponytail (who surprisingly has brought a tween blonde girl to the Child Care room), Big Glasses Dude, Maroon, Soccer Boy, Barbie Doll and Red. Red, a middle-age woman with a flip hairstyle, spends a lot of time chatting with The Mayor, but at least she gets a few sets in. I'm not sure what The Mayor exercises besides his mouth. Maybe that's why he can leave without having to change his clothes? I look up from finishing my Mat Stretch and catch glimpse of a new member, a tall, athletic black man who resembles Michael Jordan, glancing over at me. Uh oh. Time to go shower and change!

Back and Bicep Workout
(3.6 miles cardio; 40,769 lbs moved)

Cross Trainer

Warm Up

Calorie :   47 CAL
Distance: 1.37 mile
Speed :    8.15 mph
Duration : 00:10:07

MaxRack RG
BB BO Row

217.5

Set 1 : 55x15
Set 2 : 105x15
Set 3 : 125x15
Set 4 : 145x15
Set 5 : 145x15
Set 6 : 145x15
Set 7 : 105x25

Cable Seated Row

160

Set 1 : 90x12
Set 2 : 105x12
Set 3 : 120x10 +2 reps
Set 4 : 120x10
Set 5 : 120x10 

Cable One Arm
Seated Row

76

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 45x12
Set 3 : 60x8
Set 4 : 60x8
Set 5 : 60x8+2 sets

Back Extension Machine

315

Set 1 : 210x15
Set 2 : 210x15
Set 3 : 210x15

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 111x12 Yaaay!

Barbell Drag Curl

91

Set 1 : 55x12
Set 2 : 60x12
Set 3 : 65x12 +5 lbs
Set 4 : 65x12
Set 5 : 65x12

Barbell Reverse Curl

91.67

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 55x18 +5 lbs
Set 3 : 55x18

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   227 CAL
Distance: 2.23 mile
5 min HIIT, 5 min LISS,
5 min HIIT, 15 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:00

Hammer Grip Pull Up

Set 1 : 111x12 Yaaay again!

Just Squeaking By

My son was quite disappointed in the new action spy flick The Man From UNCLE, but he doesn't have the benefit of historical memory, nor has he ever watched the original TV shows. Still, although I enjoyed this movie, it wasn't as exciting as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, or even Jurassic World. If Antman is still playing next week, perhaps I'll convince my son to revisit that or Shaun The Sheep again. What was a bit disturbing was how similar the latest Napoleon Solo (played dashingly by Henry Cavill) was to Neal Caffrey of White Collar. Yes, a lot less Robert Vaughn and more Matt Bomer. Of course, I liked the new Ilya Kuryakin, played by Armie Hammer as I was never much of a Beatles fan (yes, a reference to David McCallum's popularity at the time).

In order to see the 11:00 show, we had to get to the gym at 9 am. We got there at 9:10 which was plenty early. Still, it was a mad rush for me to get everything done: an hour of cardio on two different machines, and some core/ab work. The new A/C has not been installed yet. But the gym is certainly cool enough when I start. Today, I am uncharacteristically not wearing my blue hoodie, so it takes me a good 20 minutes before I feel even vaguely warm. Perhaps that is a good thing because I do make great mileage.

The Torso Twist is a boring machine, but it's either that or doing side-bends with a plate. And I don't really want to be wrestling plates. Crunches and scissors go fast enough. Even the planks go awfully fast. I do variations for each set and end with the bird dog, but on a bent knee. Next time I'll try doing it with a straight lower leg. (Set 1: 30 sec full; 30 sec elbow; 30 s full. Set 2: 30 sec full; 30 sec full left leg up; 30 sec full right leg up. Set 3: 30 sec full; 30 sec left arm & right leg up; 30 sec right arm and left leg up.)

I do admit to wasting a few minutes catching up with R. His wife was scheduled to have a C-section over a week ago and I wanted to ask how everything was. He shows me photos of his new daughter, and one of his 18 month old son cuddling her. His son is big, like a 4 year old, but of course, height runs in R's family. I tell him that I'm rushing through my workout because, "11 o'clock movie with my son".

Everything is good today, although I was hoping to do a bit more mileage on the Precor elliptical. Pedaling as fast as I can and I only log in 2.71 miles. That's a bit disappointing. I realize that part of it is determined by what program I'm actually running: today is Performance Program #1. Usually I do Program #3. These programs have you move forward through various inclines for exactly one quarter of the program. Halfway through you pedal backwards. Then forward. For the final leg you're pedaling backwards. There are three performance programs, with three different "courses". The online Precor manual calls them cross-training programs. I think #3 is the hardest, but perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps it's #1!

Core and Cardio Workout
(7.04 miles total)

Cross-Trainer

Steady State

Calorie :   145 CAL
Distance: 4.33 mile
Speed :    8.65 mph
Duration : 00:30:03

TorsoTwistMachine

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Plank

Set 1 : 00:01:30
Set 2 : 00:01:30
Set 3 : 00:01:31

Abs

Crunches : 25 Lap/Rep
Scissors : 50 Lap/Rep
Crunches: 25 Lap/Rep

Elliptical Training

Perf Prgm #1

Calorie :   313 CAL
Distance: 2.71 mile
Duration : 00:30:03

Humidity is Not My Friend

Today's Selfie

Because I had an eye doc appt at 10:30 this morning, I didn't get to the gym until nearly noon. Suddenly the gym is crowded with teenage boys and I have no hope of getting on half the equipment I normally use on a Monday (Smith machine, Bench). After 10 minutes on the LifeFitness cross-trainer, I find myself wrestling with some DBs to do a few sets of DB Presses. Keeping my arms positioned in a normal press seems to spare my right shoulder. My shoulders don't like the "neutral" grip when I press. I'm not even moving that much weight, but since my legs are too short for my feet to sit flat on the ground, I'm not all that concerned. It's extra work just to stabilize my core.

Last week I had thought to try doing sets for reps of free benching with just 95 lbs, but today I can't even get on one of the three Matrix breaker benches. There are just too many guys here today. The few women are either in a class or cowering in a corner with little plastic Beauty Bells. Oh well. At least I can do my normal DB routine for delts. I hate it when guys do their DB routine right up against the DB rack so that no one else can get to the weights. I feel like saying, "What'sa matter? 'Fraid you can't move those weights back to the rack if you step back two feet?" But those would be kind of like "fighting words". Of course, when I lift, I'm not going to feign girly daintiness either.

It's probably time to up the weight a smidge on the Rip Skulls since I got 4 sets of 12 reps at 40 lbs. But those sets totally shot me for the next tricep movement. No benches for CGBP so I do a few sets of straight bar Tricep Cable Push Downs. It's a good thing I had anticipated how hard this was going to be, and set the weight at 30 lbs. Failure came quickly after 3 sets.

Doing HIIT cardio was like sucking wet tissues into my lungs. Humidity is not my friends when I'm desperately trying to oxygenate. I could only bear to do 5 minutes of it at a time. Luckily, it's Monday and Mondays are always the hardest for cardio because I'm such a slug on the weekends. I admit that I've missed the Stretch Cage and I'm glad it's back, although I haven't had the nerve to try pull ups on it yet. Nor have I tried any practice kicks at the side bars. It's too centrally located now, and this makes me a tad self-conscious. Which probably sounds funny coming from someone who drops into dramatic splits on the big mats.

Maybe I should go try those Dive Bomber push ups again? I've been looking at push up variations, but nothing with elevated feet. That will raise the pressure in my head, and as someone with glaucoma, I can't risk anything like that. Diamond push ups and side to side push ups look like fun though. And I remember doing push ups interspersed with punching a body bag, or tapping the opposite shoulder when my hubs and I used to take a kickboxing class together. I was really good at stuff like that.

I've been taking a half dose of milk thistle for the past few days. It's a purported tonic for the liver and gallbladder, and can help with diabetes, inflammation and cholesterol issues. At my last physical, my doc mentioned a slight elevation in my liver enzymes, and a potential for a pre-diabetic condition. I'm not sure if she says this to everyone, but being Asian predisposes me to diabetes even though I'm not overweight. I've haven't noticed any difference except that my fingers no longer feel stiff when I wake, and my stomach seems more noisy. Milk thistle is suppose to release toxins from the liver as well. I'm just really happy about my fingers since I can't remember the last time I woke up without having to stretch out my hands before I got out of bed.

Tomorrow is Cardio and Core Day, and then my son and I are going to see The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I hope I won't be disappointed. I remember watching the TV show when I was a child with dashing Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as the two spies and best buddies. We both enjoyed Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, so we have our fingers crossed.



Monday Push Day Workout
(3.41 miles cardio; 10,970 lbs moved)

CrossTrainer

warm up

Calorie :   46 CAL
Distance: 1.25 mile
Speed :    7.45 mph
Duration : 00:10:06

Dumbbell Bench Press

52.5

Set 1 : 25x15
Set 2 : 30x12
Set 3 : 35x12
Set 4 : 35x12
Set 5 : 35x15

Barbell Incline Bench Press

100

Set 1 : 45x15
Set 2 : 65x12
Set 3 : 75x10

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

35

Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x12
Set 3 : 25x8
Set 4 : 25x12
Set 5 : 25x12
Set 6 : 20x15 SuperSet with

Dumbbell Reverse Flyes

37.5

Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x15
Set 3 : 25x12
Set 4 : 25x15
Set 5 : 25x15
Set 6 : 25x15

Barbell Reverse Grip Skullcrusher

56

Set 1 : 40x12
Set 2 : 40x12
Set 3 : 40x12
Set 4 : 40x12

Cable Triceps Pushdown

45

Set 1 : 30x15
Set 2 : 30x13
Set 3 : 30x12

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   212 CAL
Distance: 2.16 mile
5 min HIIT, 5 min LISS
5 min HIIT, 15 min LISS
Duration : 00:30:03

It's All Good

No scrawny gams here!

I was a bit bummed that I didn't make 7 miles today although I sure tried hard, but I came up just a tad short. It's hard to hit that goal more than once a week. Today would've been the 2nd day. And I can honestly say that I don't miss the 10 minutes of HIIT cardio I skipped on Wednesday. I missed Leg Day last week as well. So I'm not horribly surprised at how ghastly heavy the Smith One-Leg Split Squats feel today. But I grind through it and get my sets done. I was toying with the idea of doing a few more sets of Smith SLDLs, but quickly changed my mind when the two beefy Latino HS boys showed up behind me.

They warmed up for benching with BB shoulder raises. Fine, but don't throw the weights to the ground in front of you when you're done. It's noisy, annoying, and at some point, those solid-state BBs will break. Personally, I feel as if the short one is always trying to get my attention, but being "idiot boys with too much to prove", they think that making a lot of noise is the way to do it. I slam my weights back on the rack (normally I'm silent) and stalk off to do GHRs. Which I still hate, but still do.

Sporadically, I'll catch a glimpse of a HS girl watching me at the Cage Stretch, load plates on the bar, or position myself for a set of GHRs. They're younger and as such, they should be stronger and more limber. I have yet to see this made evident though. I see a new member. He's in great shape with well-defined arms and shoulders, and a V-shape physique. Perhaps a former college athlete? He chats up a lot of the regulars, women especially. His grey hair and demeanor suggest late 40s, early 50s. He's a proponent of snacking right after a workout, so I often see him lounging at one of the tables. At first I thought he was waiting for a spouse or partner but he's been joined by a different woman each time, and lately, by no one at all.

The older regulars are more distinctive than the younger ones, but I can pick out Maroon, The Mayor, Red, BadTeeth, Shazam, Hollywood, The Manchurian, Hannibal Baggy Knees and PJPants. I'm surprised to see Blondie, sporting a weird short mohawk. He hasn't been around for some months, but usually has badly dyed yellow hair and fluorescent clothes. He's not pretty, like a misshaped version of Owen Wilson, and his insecurity and hesitation is obvious. I'm not entirely certain that he knows what he's doing at a gym.

Hint of Leg Biceps! Yaaay!

After the 2nd cardio session, I take time on the Stretch Cage. I never see anyone except me on it these days. The guide book with laminated illustrations is missing from the center of the rack, but that can't be the reason that no one uses it. I drop onto the Mat and do some Pistol Squats and splits. When I sit back to do shoulder rolls, a slender young woman approaches me. I'm always nervous when people want to talk to me, worrying they're going to tell me that my underwear is sticking out of my shorts or something like that. Instead, she gushes about what good shape I'm in and how flexible I am. I thank her, and tell her that I wasn't when I started. Just keep working at it. What I don't say is that I'm probably more than twice her age, so yes, I'm doubly impressive!

I've scheduled a new Visual Field Test for next Monday, so I'll be late to the gym. I should probably eat breakfast! I got really hungry two thirds into the last cardio leg, and it's distracting. Luckily, a gulp of water usually extinguishes the complaints for a little while. The proximal pinky phalanges is a tad sore today, as is that particular knuckle. This doesn't bode well for my plan to whack the machine twice a week. I'd like to just do cardio and body weight exercises for a few weeks. It will be all I have time for. One has to be adaptable, but it helps immensely if you can plan it out in advance.


Friday Cardio and Leg Day Workout
(6.96 miles total, 11,670 lbs moved)

CrossTrainer

Steady State

Calorie :   141 CAL
Distance: 4.14 mile
Speed :    8.26 mph
Duration : 00:30:07

Smith Machine Single Leg Split Squat

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12
Set 4 : 140x12
Set 5 : 140x12
Set 6 : 140x12 OMG!

Smith Machine Stiff Legged Deadlift

Set 1 : 30x12
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 120x12

GHRs

Set 1 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 12 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 12 Lap/Rep

Elliptical Training

Interval Prgm

Calorie :   327 CAL
Distance: 2.82 mile
Duration : 00:30:13

One Leg Bodyweight Squat

continuous

Set 1 : 111x10

Managing Expectations

Post Workout

My son and I went out to look at the night sky around 11:15 last night. The sky was brimming with constellations and stars I hadn't seen before. A literal Milky Way! We only saw a few "shooting stars" before we went inside, but at least we saw a few. My son was unnerved by the raucous sounds of cicadas, crickets and other nocturnal creatures. An hour later, I went outside and discovered that the stars were obscured by heavy cloud cover. It was the same two hours after that. My son was disappointed. He'd expected the Perseid Meteor Shower to be a real show, a virtual shower of shooting stars. At least he's learning to manage expectations. I'm afraid he's growing up too soon.

It was hard waking my son this morning, but I wanted to get to the gym before 11 am. Child Care ends at 1 pm and has a two-hour limit. We get there at 10:30 so I'm happy to have enough time for my favorite activity: whacking the Nexersys machine. Again, I've already affixed moleskin patches to my knuckles. After a 10 minute warm up on the LifeFitness cross-trainer, I quickly stretch my hamstrings and hips, then apply white tape to my knuckles and specific fingers. For a moment I panic and don't remember how to wrap my hands properly, but I take a breath and the wrap falls into place. Wrist, hand, pinky, wrist, hand, ring finger, wrist, hand, index finger, wrist, hand, pointer. I only have enough wrap this time because I've forgotten to wrap my thumb! I only wrap the pinky and ring finger (as well as wrist and hand) on my right hand because it's not as critical. I have a wicked Right Cross, but my hand doesn't hurt from the impact.

Back Selfie

I'm too enthusiastic and it's not until round 3 of the Beginner session that I decide to pull my Cross and Power Dig because I'm tired of stopping the machine every third and fourth blow. 5 rounds is just a warm up, but it's a good warm up. 9 rounds is a great workout at the Intermediate Level, even if the machine tells me that I'm over-powered and out-pacing this level and should "add rounds". There aren't too many distractions today. Actually, the gym is kind of empty even though I can see regulars at the other end, in the free weight area. There is only one round which gets the better of me, and my accuracy plummets to a lowly 77%. It's the round with Cross-Power Sweep and Jab-Power Sweep combinations. However, I have figured out how to score the Lead Sweep. Finally! The Power Sweep is so much easier. And more natural, though.

I've rediscovered barrettes and they are a marked improvement from what I remember as a little girl. These actually stay in my hair after a fashion, and come in cool colors. So I've taken to tying my hair back in a ponytail, and fixing the loose ends to my head with shiny metal clips. This way they're not in my nose, eyes and mouth and I'm so much less annoyed. With enough barrettes, I can clip the entire enchilada to my head and it's like having short hair again!

Mirror is
very distorted

I have just enough time to do a quick lower back stretch before hitting the shower and changing. My son and I have a bunch of errands to do, and then we plan to meet up with friends at a local park with a small beach. It's not until I get home and compare today's stats with last weeks that I can see improvements. That makes me really happy! Tomorrow is Leg Day. And there is only one more week of camp so I'll have to revise my workouts to be much shorter. Perhaps whacking the machine twice a week, and doing some body weight exercises. And cardio, of course.

My glaucoma doctor calls me today to tell me that tests show my left eye has progressed. But she'd like me to take another test just to make sure before recommending further, more aggressive treatment, like SLT (selective laser trabeculoplasty). It's not that I have high pressure in my eyes, except at night. Tests show that my eye pressure rises in low light conditions. And even an IOP of 14-17, which is considered low for normal people, is too high for someone like me. My docs want my pressures down to 10-12. I have to call my regular eye doc to schedule another test, but at least it'll be closer to home.

Thursday Whacking the Machine Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   45 CAL
Distance: 1.26 mile
Speed :    7.47 mph
Duration : 00:10:09

Nexersys

Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner Follow Me (warm up)

9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me