a note on the new gym

This gym is small here at the apartment.  No bars, just some dumbells and a broken multi-purpose machine.  The rest is treadmills, stairmasters and bikes, which are popular.  Those and the ab cruncher benches, all of which I don't use.  I think they're silly.  I'd rather really run or ride or climb.  Or crunch.

The only other people I've seen use the dumbells are women who do lite workouts, and that hasn't been often.  I've had to change my routine a little.  For example, some dumbells are missing, but they have the all-in-one dumbell that you can adjust.  So I have to use that for 25 and 40 lbs, I think it is.  And when I''m ready for 60 lbs +, I'll have to go there, too.

I don't mind the smaller gym, the fewer options, the different crowd - mostly thirty-somethings and middle-aged professionals here.  I've chatted with some of them, just a bit.  It's more, what's the word...well, the conditions encourage social interaction.  Which is nice.

Back on track

looks like I'm back on track.  It did my four workouts this week.  I still have to get back on track with the protein shakes, though, and the ab and back workouts.  I took off a few pounds for each exercise so I could get back into it without hurting meself.

Unbelievable

So, it seems I gained around 10 lbs in a month.  Confused I am.  New gym, new schedule...is that the answer?  Well, like I said, whatever.  I'm happy.  I've never weighed this much, and 200 lbs is a big benchmark.

Weigh-in

In the past, I weighed myself after a workout. So all the weights up to this month, March, are all on the same scale after a workout and should be good. This month we have moved and I no longer use the gym nor the scale I used to. So, I used another scale, here in the athlete's gym.

Today I went into the old gym and used the scale with pants and shoes, my business casual attire, not the gym clothes I usually have. I didn't come straight from a workout either, though I did workout out this morning. The scale read 194 lbs. The scale at home said 200 lbs. yesterday and the scale here in the athlete's gym says 199 lbs. Whatever. Should I average them out, or what?

Spring Break for my Shoulder

I haven't worked out for one week, exactly, because I hurt my left shoulder my last workout. Not sure how, as I mentioned last post. I'll get back on it soon enough.

Owie

I hurt myself yesterday. I blame it on my erratic workouts - I haven't begun a routine since we moved. It has to do with my new ride to school, the city bus. It takes quite a bit longer than driving (ten minutes by car, 60 minutes by bus) and I haven't timed my whole day effeciently yet. Frustrating.

So, yesterday I had some time at home to work out, so I wanted to start doing it right. I had noticed that I'd been forgetting to warm up for the sake of saving time, so this time I went all out. I ran up and down six flights of stairs and then did two ten-rep sets of squat thrusts - focusing on push ups at the same time.

When I went to incline press, I couldn't do the 50 lb dumbells, only did 8 reps, then I couldn't do 45 lbs, did 6 reps. I didn't notice my left shoulder was hurting until last night. This morning it hurt even more and I realized I must have hurt it a little at the workout and then aggrevated it later in the day when I walked to the grocery store and carried the groceries back home. It was a load.

So, I think I'll use this week or so to heal up, figure out my schedule, then get back into it. I'll also start up a journal, so I can record everything going on as I bulk up, not just the gym stuff I'm writing about here..

Now to finish up, two updates: we took new photos for March, which will be added to the slide show soon, and it looks like my monthly weigh in puts me around 196.5 lbs! That's what it says on the scale here in the athlete's gym, when I'm wearing jeans. I should add my weight to the slide show. I started at 176 or so in September - that's 20 lbs in 6 months. Dang, y'all.