Dufisthenics

Over the weekend I upped my running distance and did most of it on open roads instead of round and round the local 400 meter track.  The varied scenery and cool temperatures in the lower 60’s helped me cover 5.5 miles without feeling totally miserable.  It feels good to be slowly making my weekly “long run” a little longer.

I am really starting to tire of the Wellness Center, especially now that we are in the absolute belly of snowbird season.  The drive to the gym which is located in downtown Naples has gotten increasingly miserable for the last month.  Quite often the reward for the shitty commute is an equally if not more frustrating turtle-like parking experience where seniors that are overwhelmed with pulling into and out of a parking garage can easily add 5 minutes to the trip.  Lately my trips to the gym are stress creators instead of stress relievers due to dealing with just getting there and in the door.

The Wellness Center has it’s good points like a large open floor plan, a better gender mix, more equipment (although 75% of it I don’t use), it’s clean and I don’t need to worry about somebody blasting rave dance music throughout the gym.  The place also has really nice showers and locker rooms as well as a small lap pool that I never use.

On the down side, even though it has a better gender mix it also is very old person populated which can be funny at times and annoying at other times.  As I mentioned before the place has a lot of equipment but I wouldn’t say it has a lot of useful equipment.  They have large sections of the gym floor dedicated to useless stuff like air cylinder resistance or odd cardio machines that I literally have never seen anybody use for as long as I have been a member.

Despite there being many, many more people at the Wellness Center there is much less atmosphere than I am accustomed to.  Very few people talk to each other, not that I am one to strike up a conversation with many strangers but I always have had a core group of maybe 10 people I talk to at gyms I have belonged to, my inner circle here is basically zero.  The one guy I followed here from my old gym is rarely there at the same time as I am anymore.

But really the huge, looming negative is the commute plain and simple.  Despite my leaving work earlier and getting back later my time at the gym feels like it has been cut into significantly.  There is no doubt my workouts overall have lost intensity since joining the Wellness Center.  Maybe my getting pissed off at various things about Royal Fitness helped provide additional aggression that fed my workouts.

I’m not flip flopping quite yet but returning to Royal Fitness, something I would have never thought was within the realm of possibility when I stepped away is now definitely back on the table of consideration.

The workout today was  chest and back.  My bench press power/endurance is still WAY down from where I had gotten it up to just prior to switching gyms last year but at least I am getting the reps in.  The highlight of the workout was full stacking (260 pounds)two reps on the “vertical traction” machine which sort of simulates a ring pull up where your arms are able to be pulled down directly next to your side.

Today’s Workout

Barbell bench press – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 6, 185lbs x 5, 185lbs x 5, 185lbs x 5, 135lbs x 12

Hanging knee raises x 20 – 4 sets

25 push ups

Hammer Strength low seated row (hands supinated) – 160lbs x 10, 180lbs x 6, 200lbs x 5

Vertical traction (overhead side pull down) – 180 lbs x 8, 200lbs x 6, 260lbs x 2