Sunday at the Gym

Honestly it was hard to get in gear and go to the gym today.  My weight has been steadily low for about a week, at 160ish instead of my usual 163ish.  So the ' need' to be at the gym is not as apparent as it has typically been, that and I played two games of hockey last night.

But in the end the furnace must be stoked and the beast must be fed.  I went to the gym doing my leg day program.  Let me say that leg day designed for getting ready for hockey is just that much more difficult after playing hockey about ten hours earlier.

I do love the gym on Sunday mornings though.  No one is there practically.  I can get to all my equipment and do all my exercises without having to work my way around people.  So much nicer and less crowded than a weekday.

I whipped though my program in an hour, including the stretching and feel great, much better than the headachey wafflepants I was this morning.

Now to head to chapters to see if they have Justice League #2 and perfect my nightwing mask for this Saturday.

The Right Equipment

If you want to get a job done right you need the right tools.  I’m sure you’ve heard this before and I’m not telling you anything new, but it really is true.  In my sporting life I have found this to be the case over and over again as I progressed toward fitness.

When I began at the gym I just did my thing and basically used one or two tools out of the whole set available to me, both at equipment at the gym and my own body. Eventually I got some guidance and now I use all the equipment for their intended purposes

I bought actual running shoes over the summer and while I have heard it said that $100 running shoes don’t make you go any faster I would disagree with that if they are actual running shoes and the extra money is spent on function and not branding.  The ankle that I snapped over doesn’t hurt with those shoes on and they provide much more stability than $30 Wal*Mart shoes do.

Over the summer I also finally bought some Under Armour shirts and again am amazed at how well they actually work and provide the benefits they claim on the labels.

An so finally I have brought this idea to my hockey while I have been slowly integrating new things for hockey like new skates for last year (my first pair of new skates turned me from an ankle burner into someone that can actually skate a few years ago) and today I have bought a composite hockey stick.  It was a cheap one yes (I’m still not ready to fork over $100+, or even $50+) but it is a composite stick.  Here’s hoping it does for my shot what new skates did for my skating.  It would be nice to have a bullet shot for a change.

The right equipment for the right job simply makes things easier!

You Know You Have A Good Job When…

You don’t really want to use sick days, and the people you work with are genuinely interested in your wellbeing.

I spent Monday evening and night alternating for freezing cold and hot and sweaty.  Lovely.  Not as awful as it was in March since it only lasted two non-consecutive days, but not all that great either.

I wasn’t all that thrilled that I had to stay home on both Friday and on Tuesday, I missed ‘my’ kids, I missed my friends at work too.  And I know how much an upset of routine can make our room go bonkers.  I was happy to be back at work today.  I enjoyed reading books on the couch, I enjoyed the fresh air outside, but mostly I enjoyed how much, even after three months being at work doesn’t feel like work.

You know you have a good job when you enjoy it even when you don’t feel 100%.

I Am Iron Man

In keeping with the idea of revving up my cardio for bursts today I deviated from the usual weight training and did my Cardio Iron Man program that Jodi gave me about a year ago or so, I think.  It consists of a rotation between the rower, spin bike, treadmill and the stepper.

Round one is three minutes rowing where I aim for mid 40’s of strokes per minute, six minutes of spinning (one minute sitting, crank up the tension and one minute standing, turn it down a bit and a minute with my arms on the bars (repeat)).  Six minutes on the treadmill follows starting at seven miles per hour and going up by .5 each minute, then finish on the stepper where I try to keep it at about 110 steps per minute.

Round two is more of the same except it’s two minutes of rowing and stepping and four minutes each of the spin bike and the treadmill (1:20 minute lengths for the three stages on the bike and go up .5 every 40 seconds on the treadmill).  To finish on the treadmill this round I just kept tapping up on the speed and was going at about 11mph for the final 30 seconds.

Round three, more of the same, 1.5 minutes on the rower and the stepper and three minutes on the bike and the treadmill.

It is an intense workout and because of the constant switch up it’s easier to push hard on each machine each time around, the desire to coast never comes up as it does when running a long distance. the whole work out takes 39 minutes and at the end I added some back extensions and the stability exercises that the chiropractor gave me.  Apparently I have lots of abdominal muscles and they are dominating my lower back a bit so I have to get back on working my back a bit more.

So while I didn’t get to do my usual marathon of activities this weekend, partly because I have decided to not do much on Saturdays in the way of intense workout so as to be better prepared for hockey and partly because of rainy weather today, I feel that a game as goalie, karate, a game as forward and a workout that lasted over an hour is good enough for me to feel satisfied.