What Was Your Work Out Today?

@nossmf -- Different gym but same experience ("who ARE all these people?" kept going through my mind). My gym closed at 2 today, so that was an additional factor.

Cardio- I got in a 30 min treadmill run at 5.2 with one sprint of 6.3 mph. Incline walking for 10 min at 4-5%, then a 3.2 mph pace at 1% for another 10 min.

Strength /calisthenics - 25 min with 2 sets biceps curls and lat raises, foam rolling in between, three sets walking lunges and various stretches.

Lower body #1

Leg day

Goblet squats: 3x12

Deadlift: 3x8

Leg extension: 3x12

Dumbbell straight leg deadlift: 3x12

Machine crunch: 2x12

Treadmill (incline): 10 min.

Cardio: 44 minutes stationary bike, almost 10 miles, with 2 minutes on the Helix to warm up. Every mile I try to peddle standing for 10-15 seconds, and when I do I'm starting to see muscle separation just above my knees. Who knew you could make new gains at 49 yo???

Then strength: 2 sets skullcrushers, 2 sets 60 sec planks, 2 sets bird dogs, 1 set walking lunges, 1 set heel lifted squats.

Today's workout is going to be a leg day.

Leg press 3x10

Hamstring curls 3x10

Glute kick backs 3x10

Calf raises 3x30

Abductor/Adductor 3x20

Quad extensions 3x10 (then to failure)

Stationary bike cool down

Stretching and foam rolling

Leg Day (new routine)

Squat 4x10
BB RDL 3x10
Hack Squat 3x10
Machine Hip Thrust 3x10
Seated Calf Raises 2x10, 2x20
Leg Extensions 2x12
Seated Leg Curl 2x12
Cable Side Crunches 2x10 «superset» Side Plank 2x30s

I've been doing leg day on Saturday for months now, almost a year actually, with the day after spent in leisure around the house. Doing it today on a Wednesday, followed by a full day of work, is odd to say the least. Will have to make it a point to walk around the office more between meetings, prevent my legs from stiffening up.

Climbing, 2.5 hours.

I started really badly. There was a V3 slab that took 45 minutes, but I eventually got it. (The crux was a reverse flag letting me reach a small crimp.) After that, it was a pretty good session with a couple of v4s.

Treadmill - 1 hr, 3.0 mph, 12% incline

will be Lower body #2 today

I haven't reported in a while.

M 5/26, W 5/28, F 5/30: Rowed the usual near-7k, in the quad each time, engine room twice, bow once. Varied intensities, mostly split between zone 2 and 3.

Th 5/29: Hour of stationary bike, 60' + 3' CD, 107W average, supposedly 16.6 miles at 15.8 mph. About a quarter of the time zone 4, over half zone 3, remainder below.

This was the last week of evening open rowing until July, but I'll be assisting the learn-to-row coach 4 evenings a week in June, with probably some rowing myself, and lots of boat carrying and other support work.

Full body:

Incline dumbbell bench press: 3x10

Dumbbell squat to overhead press: 3x8

Dumbbell straight leg deadlift: 2x14

Bulgarian split squat: 2x14

Dumbbell row: 3x10

Crunch: 3x30

Rowed 3 seat in the quad, the usual distance, slightly under 7k. On the longer leg of the circuit, we did a series of power 10s: alternating 10 strokes with whatever power we could bring, then about 10 strokes moderate. I don't remember how many repeat intervals there were. Overall, it was mostly zone 2/3, but some peaks in zone 4 during the power intervals.

Day 3 of my run weekend. 8 miles planned for this morning.

So here's a discussion question for you regulars (I know I could post this on the debate club thread, but here I am): I heard an instagrammar / fitness trainer type say if you are using the gym for therapy, you probably should go to real therapy. People had varying opinions on that in the comments. Fine.

His test was this: if you hate rest days because you "need" the gym for more than just the physical benefits, that's a signal for the aforementioned therapy session with a trained psychologist.

So is it ever okay for the gym to be "therapy"? It gives so much more than just physical endurance or bigger muscles. Acknowledging that it serves other needs seems appropriate, but maybe I'm in denial. :)

It's okay to go to the gym for any reason a person wants to go to the gym, as long as the context is overall reasonably mentally healthy or positive, IMO.

Being physically active, gym or otherwise, has been documented (in at least some people) as improving mood, releasing systemic stress, and just generally improving happiness. Those are "therapeutic" mental health benefits.

That said, and thinking I'm agreeing with Nossmf in this: I do think that if someone truly hates rest days, and starts to skip needful rest days or other forms of recovery, they at least have a toe on a slippery slope to obsession or compulsion. That's maybe a sign that they should be considering other interventions on the mental health side . . . maybe therapy, maybe something else short of that, maybe even just a good hard think about their overall life balance, but something.

But I still don't think they need to skip going to the gym, in most cases, just add some other intervention to seek better life balance. Maybe if it fits the definition of exercise bulimia, or some other truly extreme situation, they might need to skip for a while as part of a therapeutic intervention, I dunno - not my wheelhouse.