Friday, August 17, 2012

     The only sport I've ever been any good at is bowling.  My highest game is 233 that I scored way back in the 1970's.  I took bowling in college (just for the credit and to pass time away).  The teacher told us if we scored 200 or more and made at least a 50 on the final he'd give us an A.  Well, I took care of the score during the first week.  Besides bowling, I've not been much good at sports.  Truth is I wasn't interested in most of them.  I loved to swim, but not competitively nor enough to make it a workout sport.  I knew how to play baseball, softball, tennis, and volleyball but cared only to play for the fun of it with neighborhood friends.  I hated football (still do).  My point in all this is to emphasize that I'm not (never was, don't care to ever become) an athlete.  I enjoy working out with weights simply for the pleasure that I get from doing it.

     For sure, bowling and weight training have one thing in common for me.  I can do either one alone and, yea, be in my own little world.  I'm not anti-social.  I enjoy being polite and having pleasant conversations with people.  But, I avoid being in the way of other people, and I enjoy doing what I want to do.

     I didn't start working out with weights until I was in my mid thirties.  I took a training class at a university, and I've been working out, off and on, ever since, simply for the pleasure that I get from doing it.   It's been so easy to do while living in Korea, for their a gym nearby just about every neighborhood, so I've been able to walk to it in less than thirty minutes or ride my bike, and I've never had to sign a long term contract, but simply pay a month at a time.  I don't know for how long I'll have this convenient luxury, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

     Usually, I ride my bike for five to ten minutes to get to my gym, Chicago Fitness Center.  That's a pretty decent warm up, especially on the "leg" days (like today).  Once there, I walk in, take off my shoes, grab some workout clothes, change clothes in the locker room, and head for the workout area.   

    This morning, I was up at 7:30 and made a breakfast of cold cereal and milk mixed with sliced banana and pumpkin seed.  Of course, I chased that down with black coffee.

     Three sets of 10 "Good Mornings"  (20kg, 30kg, and 35 kg) was the first exercise I did.

     Using the same machine and working with the same plates in reverse (35kg, 30kg, and 20kg), I did forward lunges for each leg.  Yes, I was huffing and puffing by the time I finished those.  Whew!



     Using the same machine, but after repositioning the bars, I did three sets of dead 10 dead lifts (30kg, 50kg, and 60 kg) slowly.

   

      Next, I used the cross over cable machine to do two different exercises.  On one side I used a straight bar to do push down back extentions.  On the other side, I used a rope to do up right rows.

Push down back extension: 8 x 15, 10 x 15, 12 x 10














     Upright rows:  4 x 15, 5 x 12, 6 x 10

     Finally, I made a circuit of four exercises in this order: leg curls, incline sit ups, leg extensions, flat bench crunches.

Leg curl machine: 6 x 15, 7 x 10, 8 x 8

Leg extension:  7 x 15, 8 x 15, 9 x 15

Lunch:  
8 oz of plain yogurt mixed with dried cranberries;
Slice of banana and pumpkin seed bread spread with peanut butter;
One fried egg;
Stir fried cabbage (yum);
Black coffee.

Weight after lunch was 72.1 kg