Okay, so it’s been a caarraazzyy week! Had Monday & Tuesday evenings off from the side job but have also had a full blown FDA on site audit going on at the day job all week which always adds a completely different stress level in ANY medical device setting!
As you may have already read, Monday morning I hit legs as week 4 called for then chilled around the grill Monday evening. Next I hit HIIT cardio Tuesday morning but once I found out I had Tuesday evening off, after Tuesday’s crappy morning start I decided to get a jump on the week since Friday at 8AM I’ve got my orthopedic surgeon’s appointment to get this cranky knee looked into.
Now about a month ago I joined a brand spanking new gym that had JUST opened. It’s 10 minutes closer to the day job so being an early “0” Dark-Thirty workouter that seemed ideal as the closer you get early the less insane traffic you have to deal with PLUS being a brand new facility ALL the equipment is sparkly fresh & fully functional which is always a plus!!! It’s a Planet Fitness franchise which is more geared toward out of shape folks like me that are looking to transform rather than the uber heavy iron, power lifter, body builder style of gear like my old gym BUT PF has everything I need for the foreseeable future.
Well, as I eluded to, having Tuesday evening off I decided not to waste the opportunity to hit Helga’s House of Pain (actually the name is ATC Fitness) for one last heavy UBWO blasting dose of iron before my membership swished down the drain & I’m telling you…the volume just rolled & MMM!!! The old GROWL came roaring back!
Normally being a morning blaster I know that my lifts aren’t as heavy duty as they could be since PM workouts almost always rival the early morning numbers. I can only assume that’s because you body’s awake, more so fed & already somewhat warmed up from the day SOOO I kinda sorta applied Suz’s previous program’s pyramid approach, tearing through my first superset at all my previous AM personal record weights then when I began the second lap of the gears I upped every station at least 20%, whatever the nearest plate beyond that was, & MMM!!! It felt GOOD & OMG did the old guttural growl come roaring back! One of the differences at Planet Fitness is that they do cater to very modest folks so to keep them from being scared away by “iron heads” fully courteous behavior by all is required. Now, that kinda flys in the face of one little previous behavior that helped earn me the Griz moniker.
Back in 2010 when I was going through Body for Life & was working out at the workplace gym one thing several people noticed, the site fitness center manager included, was that I tend to zone out during sets & growl through the reps. I don’t spit or swear like lots of intense lifters tend to but rather emit a deep guttural GROWL at the iron as it gets incinerated. Well, that’s not allowed at Planet Fitness so I keep a conscious lid on the volume BUT at Helga’s the other night, shredding ALL of my former PRs for UBWO it felt good to just let’er rip!!! There were a couple teenie bopper high school track star looking jock boys & a couple cheerleader types standing right in the middle of everything just gabbing away, which is always VERY annoying! Now I chose machine stations that focused on the muscle groups identified in week 4’s day 3 so I pounded Pecs & Delts on the pec deck then immediately across the main aisle is my arch nemesis (since my 3rd & ensuing 4th right shoulder dislocation) the overhead shoulder press. After that I cranked off hammer curls & tricep extensions with Helga’s rubber plated dumbbells then on Supersets 2 & 3, when I went crazy heavy (for me), I added in seated tricep press downs as I love the way that station focusses the tricep BURN!
SOOO anyhow, the social hour teenie bopper club had convened right in the main aisle between the pec dec & the o’head shoulder press stations. I caught them kinda side glancing at me as I growled through pecs & delts of superset 2, going heavy, then as I ambled through, kinda sorta around them, glaring into their young souls as I passed & settled into o’head press it was on! My nemesis was going down & as I rolled through rep 9 & beyond each rep cranked the growl just a bit deeper & I couldn’t help notice they were looking my way then about rep 13 they just scattered, boys went one way, girls the other LOL! I know I know, I’m just a big ol’grumpy bear meanie but if they want to hang out & chit chat…there’s a McDs right across the parking lot & a Tropical Paradise smoothie bar right next door!
Anyhow, I blew through supersets 2&3 at record (for me) weights then dropped back to my former bests for superset 4 to close it all out & WHEW!!! It felt SOOO awesome! 54,600 LBs (LBs * Reps) of iron went by the wayside & I was sweating like an old nag Clydesdale tied up out front of a glue factory by the time all was said & done! WOW!!!
Hump day came along & I blew through day 4’s HIIT then worked last night back at the side job. This morning back at Planet Fitness I cranked off another bone warming leg day & tomorrow I’ll see about getting core & long haul cardio knocked out before my ortho appointment although I may have to hold all that for Saturday depending on mood & time, making sure to give it the justice & time it requires. If that gets delayed I’ll just add in an extra HIIT day into week 4 to fill the calendar!
Hope y’all are having an awesome week & I’ll make sure to put up a post doc blog, provided this doesn’t turn into a waste of time pre-diagnosis, deductible claiming, appointment LOL. Yes, I do have a bit of disdain for MOST docs even though I’ve spent my entire adult life serving the medical device industry from a manufacturing standpoint!
Rock on pals!!! It just keeps getting better as the steam builds!
