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Getting dressed this morning, I noticed that the sleeves of my t-shirt are tight: the first external sign of my growing muscles. (I still can't see a difference, but I know I'm stronger.)
Today's workout involved slightly more cardio than usual, and a good mix of other stuff. Beforehand, I'd been worried because my left wrist was sore, but everything worked out fairly well. I did the hip adduction at 100 pounds and the abduction at 90, again: three sets of 15 on each. Cheated slightly to finish the third sets, in both cases, so I won't be upping the weight in a hurry.
Cardio I set the machine for 33 minutes, and actually completed that time. Mostly with a heart rate in the 140s, though down at 136 for the last couple of minutes. Bench press, still at 45 pounds. First set of 15 reps was easy, second was difficult, third I gave up and stopped at 14, having wanted to stop around 10 and really felt I was pushing it by 12. Then I did the seated leg curl, 3 sets of 15 at 55 pounds, with no cramping or other difficulty, so that was good.
From there, I did the rowing, still at 90 pounds, 3 full sets. That one is getting easier, except that I really need to get those fingerless gloves to avoid irritation just where my middle fingers meet my palms. Over to the mat, for crunches and those back arches, alternating sets, 3 x 15 of each. This was the only time the wrist was a problem, briefly, when I leaned on it entirely wrong. Fortunately, those exercises don't make much use of the hands or arms. After the mat work, I went back to the weight room for the triceps pulldown things. Two sets with the rigid handle at 70 pounds, one set with the rope handle at 45.
At Andy's suggestion--which he got from his trainer--I did the leg extension at a very low weight (10 pounds), one leg at a time, alternating until I'd done 3 sets of 12 on each leg. That's supposed to strengthen the muscles near the knees.
Then I did biceps curls, which had fallen out of my regular workout ages ago. The first set, I inadvertently grabbed one 12-pound weight and one 10-pound, so I was unbalanced: the heavier weight in the right hand. I did 12 reps, put the weights down to rest and stretch, and saw the "12" on the end of the heavier one. So I put it back, got another 10-pound weight, and did a second set of 12. That felt like quite enough, so I put the weights away and went over to the stretching machine, where I did everything except the weird "hips, legs, back" one, which has you reach to one side with your hands, then extend that leg toward the other side: often, as today, it hurts instead of feeling like a good stretch, so I stopped that after one very quick attempt.
Between weights, crunches, stretches, and cardio, that was about an hour and a half. So I showered and changed, and went off in search of food. Had a decidedly inferior bowl of Cantonese noodle soup--putting cabbage in vegetable dumplings is a matter of taste, I suppose, but the duck was inferior and there was something not quite right about the noodles. I found myself staring at my bowl, thinking "you don't have to eat it", so I drank the broth, ate most of the duck, made a note not to go back (a place called something like Mi Noodle Shop, Ninth Avenue in the low 50s), paid, and left.
At Amy's Bread, I got rosemary bread to go with the leg of lamb from last night; sourdough chocolate twists for tomorrow's breakfast; and a cinnamon challah roll to eat on the subway home. Then I deposited my Unemployment check and took the A train home.
Today's workout involved slightly more cardio than usual, and a good mix of other stuff. Beforehand, I'd been worried because my left wrist was sore, but everything worked out fairly well. I did the hip adduction at 100 pounds and the abduction at 90, again: three sets of 15 on each. Cheated slightly to finish the third sets, in both cases, so I won't be upping the weight in a hurry.
Cardio I set the machine for 33 minutes, and actually completed that time. Mostly with a heart rate in the 140s, though down at 136 for the last couple of minutes. Bench press, still at 45 pounds. First set of 15 reps was easy, second was difficult, third I gave up and stopped at 14, having wanted to stop around 10 and really felt I was pushing it by 12. Then I did the seated leg curl, 3 sets of 15 at 55 pounds, with no cramping or other difficulty, so that was good.
From there, I did the rowing, still at 90 pounds, 3 full sets. That one is getting easier, except that I really need to get those fingerless gloves to avoid irritation just where my middle fingers meet my palms. Over to the mat, for crunches and those back arches, alternating sets, 3 x 15 of each. This was the only time the wrist was a problem, briefly, when I leaned on it entirely wrong. Fortunately, those exercises don't make much use of the hands or arms. After the mat work, I went back to the weight room for the triceps pulldown things. Two sets with the rigid handle at 70 pounds, one set with the rope handle at 45.
At Andy's suggestion--which he got from his trainer--I did the leg extension at a very low weight (10 pounds), one leg at a time, alternating until I'd done 3 sets of 12 on each leg. That's supposed to strengthen the muscles near the knees.
Then I did biceps curls, which had fallen out of my regular workout ages ago. The first set, I inadvertently grabbed one 12-pound weight and one 10-pound, so I was unbalanced: the heavier weight in the right hand. I did 12 reps, put the weights down to rest and stretch, and saw the "12" on the end of the heavier one. So I put it back, got another 10-pound weight, and did a second set of 12. That felt like quite enough, so I put the weights away and went over to the stretching machine, where I did everything except the weird "hips, legs, back" one, which has you reach to one side with your hands, then extend that leg toward the other side: often, as today, it hurts instead of feeling like a good stretch, so I stopped that after one very quick attempt.
Between weights, crunches, stretches, and cardio, that was about an hour and a half. So I showered and changed, and went off in search of food. Had a decidedly inferior bowl of Cantonese noodle soup--putting cabbage in vegetable dumplings is a matter of taste, I suppose, but the duck was inferior and there was something not quite right about the noodles. I found myself staring at my bowl, thinking "you don't have to eat it", so I drank the broth, ate most of the duck, made a note not to go back (a place called something like Mi Noodle Shop, Ninth Avenue in the low 50s), paid, and left.
At Amy's Bread, I got rosemary bread to go with the leg of lamb from last night; sourdough chocolate twists for tomorrow's breakfast; and a cinnamon challah roll to eat on the subway home. Then I deposited my Unemployment check and took the A train home.