What makes you happy ?

Caffeine makes the heart beat faster. So doing a cardio workout after having drunk something like Red Bull means you actually work less hard because the cardio target is a certain rate (143 for me) and the drink has got you part of the way there already. I think. So in order to really workout harder I should have a soothing mug of Horlicks first, yes? (Not that I go by rate of heart, I go by BPM from Podrunner. Today a 140 is in order).

Post-workout update:
Yesterday. 131 BPM music. 58:26 I hit 1000 calories
Today. 142 BPM. At 58:26 I hit 922 calories.
Ignoring the fact it says calories (which may or may not be accurate) the fact is the number is 78 calories less. Doesn’t seem a lot but it’s a few minutes work.
I’d drunk the equivalent of just over 2 cans of Red Bull.

I suppose I need to do the 142 again.

And yes I know it could be something else too, but it’s a genuine question.

There are some things I’ll happily attempt, some I’ll grudgingly have a go at and others I just avoid. Servicing my bike is one such task. I needed all new cables, wheels realigning, things tightening and it being checked over by someone who knew what they were checking.
Fixmybike in Leicester was just the job. Guy came round, had a look, we discussed costs very briefly and he took the bike into the back of his van. Around an hour later I have a safe and serviced bike. To those of you who have never tried, there is a noticeable difference between a pre and post serviced bike and it’s not just tyre pressures. Cost was 42 quid complete which was amazingly good.
So if you are around Leicester and you want your bike serviced at home, give the guy at Fixmybike a call. Damn good service.

Back to the gym today after several weeks absence.
60 minutes on the elliptical trainer, 130bpm non-stop music.
It was a breeze. Amazingly easy. So easy I’ll do it again tomorrow.
The problem I’ve had before with returning is always weights. Having to drop a couple of blocks, building back up and trying not to hurt in the process. I’m thinking it’ll take a couple of weeks of going every other day at least.

I’ve said it before but it is worth repeating every time: Podrunner is what you need at a gym.

Mainly for health reasons and partly for curiosity I had my first of 10 tanning sessions. It’s not that I want a tan because I dislike that look (though a white t-shirt and the newly honed bod could look good…..) and I know the downsides of sunbeds but it’s something that the GP says would be good.
Anyway, it’s at the fitness place. Questionnaire about my skin type, do I burn, what colour/depth tan do I get, bad reactions to the sun etc and then they work out that 10*5 minute sessions will see me done. It was £22.50 if you do the cost thing. That was all last week and today I went for the first go.

I got the choice of sunbed or standup. I chose the latter. I get shown to a room, given the token to make it work, given a couple of details and off she goes. ‘The tanning tube’ must be six feet wide black structure with about a quarter of it being the door which opens outwards. Inside it’s floor to top of white vertical tubes behind a plastic cover. The floor has small vent holes in as does the ceiling bit. In the ceiling part is a metal handle that forms an almost complete circle. She’s given me two foil eye covers which are to stick over my eyes. 5 minutes. Can’t get bored in 5 minutes. And then I get to decide just what sort of tan I want - “white bits” or “no white bits”. I decide my butt needs a tan so everything comes off. Drop the token into the machine, hop into the machine and close the door. I reached up and grabbed the handle. And just then it got very bright and very warm.
I don’t know if the machine was blowing warm air or if the tanning tubes were emitting a lot of heat but it was very warm. The air was moving bottom to top which I though was odd. The fan was also somewhat noisy. But otherwise I’m there being bathed in whatever the tanning machine was throwing at me, holding onto the handle at the top, stretching and being naked. It’s very odd being naked somewhere other than a shower outside of the home. Even though the door was locked outside it was still a little odd. It ends very abruptly.
In the few minutes after I felt tingly and parts of my skin felt warm (that’s head / arms / shoulder parts). As a first go it wasn’t unpleasant and I have no intention of reading about skin damage (just what isn’t dangerous these days?) so in a couple of days I’ll do it again. With going to San Francisco and wherever the other holiday is I’ll be prepared and looking not too pasty. (Thing is though, if it does the job, I’ll need to keep going…)

1200 calories in 60 minutes on the x-trainer.
Goal :)

(edited - my maths should be better…)

Using the A frame I have 40kg loaded to do squats. Not a huge weight - I can push 101 on the horizontal leg press - but somehow I got my stance wrong. Halfway through the second set I felt a dull deadness in my right thigh. Couldn’t - still can’t - walk as fully as before. It’s the back inside third of my right thigh - if you put your thumb on the front of the thigh then hold it, the area is the part under your fingertips. No idea why and tomorrow I’ll find out if it impedes at all. And next Tuesday I have a Trainer session - part of the deal when I signed up apparently. So I’ll get to play more knowledgeably with the cable gear.
Oh yes - trying to do a session on the x-trainer to 150bpm music is hard work.

At the gym one guy has stood out for a few weeks now. He reminds me of a certain pudgy Bostonian because he too has the same lank hair. What I first noticed was not that he was like a Green Card-wannabe but that he wasn’t wearing gloves, but straps. Most blokes there wear gloves because our hands get sweaty - there’s no other reason, But this guy swaggered around with straps dangling instead. Today though he started in the gym as I did and I happened to get on the x-trainer which meant I could see him with the wall mirror. And was an idiot he really is.

Sits on bench, picks up 2 14kg weights, raises and lowers them 10 times then gets up for a swagger around the gym - the long way - a lap if you will. He repeated this again and again. The weights were not significant, he didn’t break into a sweat and he didn’t use the straps once. There is no reason for him to need that much rest between those weights, there is no need to wear straps and given he is using his arms, why do all the walking - which I’d expect from leg work.

Grade A idiot. I can’t actually think of another poser there that I’ve seen (though one guy is irritating - he collects everything he needs in one corner. That’s barbells, dumbells, mat, 3 different handles and won’t let anyone touch them until he’s finished “Yeah mate, not done yet mate, won’t be long mate”) so Mr Lanky Straps takes the award for being such a complete tosser.

10 reps, 3 sets. In kg

Pec fly: 56
Free weight bicep curl: 12
Free weight tricep curl: 8
Seated row: 49
Chest press: 42
Shoulder press: 30
Reverse pec fly: 28
The one where you have one knee on a bench, the other leg out, you lean forward and lift the weight from the floor: 18
Lat pulldown: 56
Abs: 10 (I really do need to ramp that one up. I used to do 17.5/20)
Squat: 30
Leg press: 88
Calf raise: 43

Last 3 are only done if I don’t x-train.

Oddity: My right arm is stronger than my left - except the tricep. My left can do 12, my right only 8.

I would like to do 1200 cals in 1 hour on the cross-trainer. That’s 20 calories a minute to burn. I can manage just over 18. That difference - a tic-tac is 2 cals - eludes me.

In the last 2 weeks I’ve done over 100km on the cross-trainer and I’ve lost the grand total of 2lb. The weight went up. So as my food intake is way better than it was, it must be muscle.  Be nice if it showed itself :)

Did not want to go gym. Didn’t feel like it at all and I had lots of other things I could do instead. But a habit needs building so off I trundled. Within 5 minutes of getting on the cross-trainer I knew it would be a breeze and after the 60 minutes and 1100 calories (how accurate are those things?) I felt damn good. So good that I bumped all the weights up to the next step be that 1kg or 7kg. I think that I may have developed a muscle….