Gym Diary: Tuesday, August 21, 2012

This morning, I learned that Phyllis Diller has died and that Rosie O'Donnell suffered a heart attack. I've never been an ardent fan of either (or anyone else), but I knew who they were, and enjoyed their humor, and television appearances from time to time. The headlines bearing the sad news got my attention in that "What's this? Stop what you're doing and read about it" sort of way. The same was true for a few other people, not counting family members, who've passed away over the year:

Lucy

Elizabeth Montgomery

Julia Child's

Goober

Andy Griffin

Aunt Bee

Fred McMurray

Red Skelton

Eva Gabor

Jonathan Frid

As usual, I got up out of bed at 7:30 a.m. and stepped on my scale... 71.2, but 70.9 after going to the bathroom. After breakfast and dumping my poop, it was 71.9. Stepping on a scale has been almost a religious activity of mine for years. Call it habit. Call it compulsive. Call it ridiculous. Gotta do it! Gotta know the number!

I'm doing no eating disorders. The fact is I eat well, and I eat pretty much whatever I want. Sometimes, I want a steak, baked potato, and salad on the side. Sometimes, I want ice cream or a waffle loaded with goodies, or a pizza loaded with everything. Sometimes, I want only a couple of poached eggs on top of some bread.

This morning, I wanted two cups of coffee, not one. In South Korea, a "cup of coffee" is NOT a "cup of coffee." It's a little dixie cup half full of sugar water with a little bit of coffee in it. That has never cut it for me. When I want a cup of coffee, I want it black, I want it in a ceramic mug, and I want the mug to hold about 8, not much more, not much less.

Last night, I walked to a supermarket and bought some shower soap for home and gym. I was supposed to buy some dish washing detergent. I even wrote that on my shopping list, but I didn't look at my shopping list (on my iPhone), so I forgot to buy some.

I'm glad my gym isn't fancy. Basically, it's a warehouse in a neighborhood.

There my gym shoes were right where I left them yesterday. Looks like they haven't been moved a bit.

See those windows up there? In the room on the other side is where people go for yoga, aerobic, and cycling classes. The membership fee is higher if you want to be a part of any of that. But, you can pay for one month or three months to use whatever parts of the fitness center you want to use.

Upstairs adjacent to the aerobics/ yoga / cycling classes room are various cycling machines one can sit on. There's an extra fee for that too.

I'm a cheapo, so I just pay for the basic membership and use the stuff available on the bottom / main floor.

Usually, I don't do the exercises in the same order as I did them last time. I mix em up. However, I usually follow a game plan like this. Do chest, arms, and sit ups on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Do back, legs, and crunches on Tuesday and Thursday. Remember legs have larger muscles. At the top of the human legs is the human butt, and the human butt is one of the human's biggest muscles. So, I give the legs and butt more time to recover. Also, at my age, I'm very careful about my back. I don't do very heavy weights for back exercises, and I do the exercises slowly and carefully.

* Some words about the butt that I would say are these. I should keep my butt in shape, because everything above the butt (back, shoulders, neck, head, arms chest) counts on my butt being in good shape. The butt goes a long way to help me stand up straight.

I'm not a fitness guru. I am NOT here to give advice. I'm simply sharing what I do. I have read a lot, taken classes, and have talked with many gym trainers, plus I have found lots of information and many pictures and videos to let me know that I've rational grounds for doing what I do. Please, do your own homework for your own fitness and health practices.

As I was saying, usually I mix up the routine a bit. Today, I decided to start with dead lifts (See machine above with the yellow plates.). This gym has several of these metal apparatuses, so I didn't mind hogging this one for awhile. After dead lifts, I did "good mornings," forward left and right lunges, and light weight squats. In between each of those I did crunches. Here's the order in which I did all that.

1. Dead lifts, 30 x 10
2. Crunches legs up, 25
3. Crunches legs down, 10

4. Dead lifts, 30 x 11
5. Crunches legs up, 25
6. Crunches legs down, 12

7. Dead lifts, 30 x 12
8. Crunches legs up, 30
9. Crunches legs down, 20

10. "Good Mornings," 20 x 10
11. Crunches legs up, 30
12. Crunches legs down, 20

13. Good Mornings, 30 x 9
14. Crunches legs up, 30
15. Crunches legs down, 25

16. Good Mornings, 30 x 9
17. Crunches legs up, 30
18. Crunches legs down, 25

19. Lunges L and R, 20 x 8
20. Crunches legs up, 30
21. Crunches legs down, 25

22. Lunges L and R, 20 x 8
23. Crunches legs up, 30
24. Crunches legs down, 20

25. Light wt. Squats, 20 x 8
26. Crunches legs up, 30
27. Crunches legs down, 20

28. Light wt. Squats, 20 x 8
29. Hip push ups, 20
30. Crunches legs up, 30