A Short Stack That Didn't Involve Pancakes

Marcy Home Gym MKM-81030

          Last Christmas, I received a gift card for Dick’s Sporting Goods from my Uncle and Aunt, and since then, I’ve been checking the store’s website for any good deals. I first eyed a packable down jacket which was the exact amount on the gift card, but having so many jackets already, I didn’t order it.

          Lately, due to my age, I’ve been feeling that my free weights (barbells and dumbbells) are no longer safe if I were to try lifting the maximum weight I was capable of. So I checked out any weight machines on sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods and my first choice wasn’t available but my second choice pretty much included what I needed for a full body workout. Prior to this I had one machine left which I bought about 5 years ago for safety purposes but only had one function – the bench press, and it occupied a lot of space for just one function. It was called the Valor Fitness BF-47 Independent Bench Press. I had to disassemble this machine and left all the steel parts in the trash bin for the recyclers to go through and sell.

Valor Fitness BF-47 Independent bench press

          The machine I found at Dick’s Sporting Goods was the Marcy 100 lb. Single Stack Home Gym MKM-81030. The price was affordable after the $50 reduction from the gift card. I ordered it online and opted for delivery to the room of my choice which included one flight of stairs, plus assembly by a technician. The machine had too many parts for me to assemble myself and I didn’t care to use my brain too much to figure out which part, screw, or pulley goes where. When I finally clicked on the checkout button, to my utter surprise, the cost of delivery and assembly was more than the machine itself! Well, I figured this was going to be my last major purchase before I get laid off from work and I might as well buy it while I was still earning a paycheck. Besides, I figured this was the last weight machine I’m ever going to buy and should last me into my old(er) age.

          So the delivery was scheduled and it actually arrived a couple of hours early (I was given a four hour window from noon to 4 p.m. but it was delivered by 11 a.m.). Next, I had to call the store to schedule the assembly. After a couple of calls, we were able to schedule it, however on the day the technician was supposed to show up, he ran into some delays and we had to reschedule for another day. That day came and the technician called me and said he had finished his previous assignment early and that he can come in early to assemble the machine. Unfortunately, I was in a training class at work at that time and I gave him my ETA for when I can get home. He arrived a few minutes after I got home and proceeded to unpack the machine and laid out all the parts on the floor. I left him to it, not wanting to interfere with things I didn’t know about.

Set up and assembly by technician

           It took him about 4 hours to finish which was longer than he expected because the pulley system was complicated. If I even tried to assemble the machine myself, I probably would have given up and called an expert anyway.

          The technician left and I tried out a few functions of the machine. Everything seemed to be in working order except the top weight on the weight stack was hanging about 5 inches from the rest of them. I didn’t pay too much attention to it thinking it was probably the way it should be.

          A couple of days later, I did a full body workout and tried to lift the maximum weight for every exercise. It was then while doing the latissimus pull down and I inserted the pin on the weight stack 2^nd to the last plate when I discovered that the middle bar where the pin was inserted didn’t go all the way down to the last 2 plates. If it were pancakes, it was a short stack. I looked the machine over and everything seemed to be okay other than one of the cables appeared to be about 5 inches short, the same distance the mentioned earlier about the top weight on the weight stack. Hmm, was this a factory defect, or did they pack the wrong size cable? It would have to wait until the next day because it was after hours for the company that manufactured the home gym.

Short cable for the weight stack?

          The next day, I called the toll free number for Impex Fitness, which manufactures a lot of exercise machines for different companies (the label may say Marcy or Gold's but it's made by Impex) and explained the situation, then asked the representative if this was a known issue with the machine. She said it wasn’t and asked me to email her a picture of the machine from the side. I had already previously taken pictures and sent them to her. A few minutes later, she sent me 3 pictures showing that the technician had assembled the machine incorrectly. I compared the pictures to the machine itself and it showed that one of the pulley attachments was facing backward instead of forward. I analyzed the set up to see if I can make the adjustment myself but decided I didn’t have the proper tools.

Pulley assembly should have been facing forward

          I called the company who assembled the machine and a couple of days later, the technician came by. It didn’t take him 10 minutes to make the adjustment and while he was still there, I tested the machine. Sure enough the weight plate that was hanging 5 inches was now flush against the rest of the weight plates. I was able to insert the pin on the weight stack all the way to the last plate. Not that I’ll be able to lift the whole thing, mind you.

          Next, I downloaded an exercise chart specifically for the machine from the internet (I was surprised that none came with the machine). So far the exercises I’ve been doing on the machine have been: chest press (straight and inclined), chest flies, lat pull down, biceps curls, seated military press (this one wasn’t on the chart so I made it up by sitting on the floor and using the low pulley, triceps push downs, upright rows, and leg extensions. There are a couple of other exercises available for the legs and hips but they require a strap to be attached to the ankle, which I don’t care to bother with.

Marcy Home Gym Exercise Chart

          So now I’m operating on a full stack. I have a whole bunch of weight plates for barbells which I will no longer be using. Would anybody care to buy them from me? I could use the money since I’m going to be unemployed soon.

My First Workout With The Asus Transformer

I’ve been trying to find reasons not to buy a tablet PC. After all, I can only think of one reason to get one and that is to read the news while working out on the stationary bike and treadmill, which I’ve blogged about before. So far I’ve managed to make do with my trusty old netbook, so why buy another device which would be used in a similar way?

Well, Tigerdirect.com has been tempting me for weeks with their post holiday specials. First they offered a refurbished Asus Tranformer 101 for $319 (regular price for a new one is $399). Then they slashed it down further to $299 and that finally broke my resolve. I absolutely had to have one!

 Wait a minute, so I wanted to buy this tablet PC so I can read the news while working out, because I didn’t want to continue my daily subscription to the local newspaper, because they increased their prices, right? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of saving money since the price of the tablet PC is roughly 3 year’s worth of newspapers? Especially that I’m able to do the same thing on the netbook? I’m debating myself here regarding a want or a need and the want side won. Blame Steve Jobs for that because he came up with the Ipad.

Well UPS delivered the device last week and since I had a few days off, it gave me the opportunity to try to figure out how it works. After tinkering with it for several days, I still don’t fully get it. What can it do that a laptop or netbook can’t? I think I was able to adjust most of the settings to my liking and needs. Things like learning to open a link in a new browser tab, synching my contact list and my bookmarks, and downloading apps similar to the ones I use in my laptop.

After all that, I was finally able to test it out on the treadmill, twice already in fact.  Here are some findings.  While hill walking on the treadmill, I was able to read the digital edition of the local paper quite easily. The problem was the page didn’t fit in the whole screen so I had to swipe from left to right and back often. While turning a page, sometimes I would press the back button by mistake instead of the forward button(that was the only way to turn the newspaper page – you couldn’t swipe to the next page). When I scroll up or down, the page sometimes doesn’t go in a straight line because of my movements on the treadmill. Compare that to the netbook where I only press the up or down arrow button. I don’t think reading anything would work with either tablet or netbook if I run on the treadmill (which I could do with a real newspaper although it took some effort to turn a page). Wait, I think I just found one advantage and that it’s easier to turn a page. On the recumbent bike, the tablet and netbook worked similarly other than instead of looking up to the netbook screen, I can now look down on the tablet thereby lessening the discomfort on my neck. I still have to try the tablet on the spinning bike.

So, is this refurbished tablet a keeper? I can’t say I don’t like it. The learning curve is small if you already use laptops and smartphones. Oh well, because of the store policy, I can’t return it anyway unless it’s damaged and it would just be replaced with another refurbished one. So I get to keep it by default. Just as well I guess. After all I have to keep up with the technological times while I can still somewhat afford it. Ai, ai, ai, my poor credit card L.

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What Is Your First Thought When You Wake Up In The Morning?

OR

?

A lot of our patients wake up in the morning, or for that matter, in the middle of the night, and the first thing on their minds is getting one kind of medication or other. More likely than not it’s an anxiety pill or a painkiller that they ask for. That got me thinking. What do you feel you need to have or do  when you wake up? A co-worker said coffee, which is a normal response. I used to feel the same way but nowadays when I wake up, the first thing on my mind is working out. That’s probably an abnormal response to the general public but to me working out is a daily habit that I have to tackle before anything else. Because of my night shift schedule, on my nights off, I have to luxury of not having to wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. to get a workout in before going to work. I usually start working out between 8 and 9 a.m. and the duration can last up to two hours depending on whether I lift weights after some sort of aerobic exercise. I just feel that working out gives me relief and release. Wouldn’t be an Ativan or a Xanax work faster? Hmm, seems like my patients have the right idea there. After all it takes me longer to have my fix while those meds I mentioned take effect within half an hour.

At least I look forward to working out after I wake up. Those patients need those meds because they are already dreading the day ahead of them. If those of you who are not regular exercisers happen to read this, can you tell me what it is you need to do when you wake up in the morning? Please exclude bathroom use because that’s too obvious.

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Recent Workouts in the Month of February 2011

          This one is a few days late being posted since I blogged for five days in a row last week, which was more than I’ve ever done before. After that flurry, I needed a break.

          Here are some thoughts about recent workouts on the stationary bike and the treadmill. How about running out of newspaper before finishing a stationary bike workout? Well that happened to me one time and I had to go back to the front page and reread some articles until I completed the workout.

          I did my longest workout on the spinning bike last week: 10 minutes warm up + 5 sets of 3/2/2 stand up intervals with 1 minute recoveries + 10 minutes cool down for a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes. It helps to break down the workout in segments to keep from being bored.

          Another recent workout consisted of 15 minutes each on the spinning bike, recumbent bike, elliptical machine, back to the spinning bike and the recumbent bike for a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes. It would have been too hard mentally to do it that long using just one machine.

I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been running more often on the treadmill and a couple of days back, I exceeded my usual hour with an extra 10 minutes thus making it the longest I’ve run on my treadmill. Let me tell you this: Even jogging slowly on the treadmill feels better afterwards compared to cycling. Damn running is like cocaine!

          When I do weight training, I usually take my good old time to recover between sets. However when I’m pressed for time I do a blitz workout wherein I considerably decrease my recovery time. Even though I can do lesser reps on subsequent sets, it still gives me a better pump. I usually lift twice a week. My workouts are very basic: chest, upper back, biceps, shoulders, triceps, and abs. On days I really get lazy, I just do several sets of the clean and jerk which hits several muscle groups at once.

So I did this 4 minute run/1 minute walk workout last Saturday morning (2/19/11) before it started raining and was able to go for an hour and 15 minutes. A couple of hours post run, while tiptoeing over a puddle of water, I tweaked my bad right ankle tendon. It doesn’t take much to aggravate that darn tendon nowadays specially when at a weakened state after only an hour and 15 minutes of running. An that’s the reason why I did a 2 hour walk on the treadmill on Monday morning (2/21/11) instead of running. I haven’t done a walk since, well, I don’t remember, maybe last October or November and that was probably for an hour while carrying 15 pounds of weights in a backpack. If I can get it up to about 3 hours and my if ankles hold up, I just might attempt to finish a half marathon in the next few months.

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Pre and Post 2010 Thanksgiving Dinner Workouts

Click me and see me trot

While a lot of people started their Thanksgiving Day doing 5 or 10K Turkey Trots in different venues, I, being a wimpy turkey trying to avoid the colder than usual temperature, opted out and did my own trot on the treadmill instead. Not that I wasn’t about to go out and run on the streets, but the late newspaper delivery (9:00 a.m.!!!) sealed my decision to make a run to nowhere, at the same time saving time and reading the newspaper. An hour plus an extra five minutes for the extra spoonful that I may eat during Thanksgiving dinner (unfortunately I lost control and ate more spoonfuls than I needed). What I noticed was that when I increased the pace towards the end of the run, I bounced lesser and was actually able to read the paper better. If only I could run that smoothly all the time.

After visiting a couple of stores on Black Friday (I’ll touch on that in another post), my day after Thanksgiving workout consisted of Spinning. No, I didn’t go to a gym and sign up for a class. However, I downloaded a free Spinning video and tried that workout for the first time. With the warm up and cool down, it was supposed to last an hour but the actual pedaling itself lasted only 50 minutes, but a tough 50 minutes it was. I added another 10 minutes to round it up to an hour. There was a lot of hill climbing and jumps in between seated pedaling using variable tension adjustments. It was a darn good workout leaving my calves slightly sore afterwards. It helped burn up a bit of my cousin’s good cooking from dinner the previous night.

It’s cold enough running outside at 9:00 A.M. so why would I want to wake up at 5:00 to run at 7:00? After all, I wimped out and ran on the treadmill on Thanksgiving morning. Well, after procrastinating the last few weeks whether to join the AREC winter group, I finally did on Saturday morning, without even knowing how far they were planning on running.  It was so darn cold that my face felt numb and to add to the discomfort, I forgot to bring my gloves, but I showed up and introduced myself to Gisele who organized it. She gave me a printout of the directions. The shorter run was supposed to be 7 miles and the longer, 13 miles. I haven’t run 7 miles much less 13 miles in months. My longest run was 6.75 miles earlier in the week and that was a run/walk. We started out and I found myself running alone because I couldn’t find someone with the same pace. After climbing the hill at the 4 mile mark, I saw Rosie and Tina, whom I ran 16 miles with last year, and joined them. We ran together for about 3 miles and I want to thank them for letting me pace with them because I didn’t want to run alone. That’s the reason why I woke up early to run there in the first place, so I can run with others. It turned out the shorter run was actually 8 miles instead of 7, which was not a problem for me on this particular day because running with Rosie and Tina helped a lot. My solo runs in recent months have taken a lot of effort to finish, even the ones which I run for 4 minutes and walk for 1 minute. Having company on Saturday morning plus not trying to push the pace made for a more comfortable run even with the extra mile or so. My ankles weren’t even hurting as much afterwards. If that’s the case, I may even return next week! Just remind me to bring my gloves and maybe even a ski mask.

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Workouts in the Past Week (before the accident)

I ran in an unfamiliar part of a street (Long Beach Boulevard) last Tuesday afternoon. I usually head north up to Market Street then turn around. This time I went farther until I reached the intersection of the 91 Freeway. I was always hesitant to run in that area because it didn’t have a good reputation for safety, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as bad as what you read in the newspapers sometimes. Of course it could be because you only read about it when something bad happens. Other than kids coming out of school on their way home, hardly anything impeded the run. Both my ankles were hurting afterwards but it was interesting to explore another part of my neighborhood.

After my ankles hurt badly from Tuesday’s run, I opted for the recumbent stationary bike on Wednesday and the elliptical machine on Thursday. For the first time ever, I completed an hour on the elliptical. No use beating my head against the wall and hurting myself further while running when I can do something else to heal first.

Then on Friday morning, I did an hour and forty minute walk and oh, my shoulders sure hurt! Say that again? Shoulders?!  Not only that, but my lower back was hurting the next day too. Please allow me to explain. This walk consisted of carrying a backpack loaded with 15 pounds of weights (from my barbell/dumbbell collection). After about half an hour, my right calf started to tighten up so I thought I might have to turn around and head back home, but it worked itself out, so I was able to continue with my goal to walk for an hour and a half, plus an additional 10 minutes. Not used to carrying that type of load made my shoulders and back hurt, but I didn’t even feel any aerobic satisfaction from that workout.

I wasn’t planning on running Saturday morning specially after the backpack with weights walk the day before and because of the forecast of rain, but after my body warmed up from going to Home Depot and Fresh and Easy market, and nary a drop of water from the sky in my part of town, I went out and ran anyway. The short and sweet 45 minute slow run felt so much better than the longer walk the previous day. And then the accident happened … (A Trip To The Emergency Room or How I Almost Lost My Fingers).

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My New Spinning Bike

Oh no! Not another exercise machine! In the quest for another endorphin producing activity as a substitute to running, another workout device appeared in my living room last week. I’ve always wanted to get a spinning bike even before I wanted a treadmill and elliptical machine. More than a decade ago, I used an old bike mounted on what used to be called a turbo trainer, but I had since disposed of that.  Until this year, the prices of spinning bikes were not within the range of my meager income and strict budget, with the cheapest one at $600. That was even down from over $1000 maybe just 5 years ago. In the past year, with the popularity of spinning classes in gyms, the imitators have finally caught up and started manufacturing cheaper spinning bikes for home use. When the lowest price Proform brand bike went down to $299 a couple of months ago, it piqued my interest in buying one but couldn’t at that time because I had to send some money to my mom in the Philippines for her birthday. After that, I started shopping around. The Sports Authority store had it on sale for $299 last week, but with the sales tax and shipping charges, that would have brought the price close to $400. Meanwhile on Amazon.com, the base price was the same but without the extra charges, so I ordered one last Monday and it arrived on Friday morning. Amazon.com was able to get the product to me pretty fast because it was available at their Los Angeles distribution warehouse. Normally, with free shipping, it would have taken a couple of weeks.

So I was helping the delivery guy carry the 112 pound box up the stairs and to keep it steady, I had the left side of my face supporting the box while I lifted with my arms.  Well, when he pulled from above and I pushed from below, the box scratched my right temple drawing blood and bent my eyeglass frame. So now you can call me Scarface and I can also say that the machine cost me money and blood. All that was missing was spilled guts.

Exercise machines should be made this way: mostly preassembled at the factory so it’s easier to put together the rest at home. All I needed to do was attach the front and back base, pedals, handlebars, seat post, and seat to the main frame and flywheel. After that, it was just a matter of making adjustments to fit me. Even out of the box this machine is so darn heavy. My back still felt tired, though fortunately not strained, three days after helping the delivery guy and moving the machine around.

So what did I do to the old upright stationary bike? I considered offering it for free to any neighbor who might be interested or selling it. But since I had stripped it down to the bare necessities, I didn’t think anyone would want it. I moved it to the garage instead and wrapped it in plastic. What I couldn’t do with the old bike was stand ups on the pedals because the handlebars were too high and it felt unbalanced. Now I can do stand ups on the spinning bike. I was able to transfer the old magazine/book holder from the old bike to the new one by replacing the plastic ties that secure it to the handlebars. I have a bunch of plastic ties that I bought years ago from the 99 cent store (the kind the cops use for disposable handcuffs).

                On Sunday, while my friends were running the Long Beach Marathon or half, I was at home trying out my new spinning bike. After warming up and getting a feel for it, I started doing one minute stand ups, which increased the intensity and subsequent calorie burn of the workout. I did a few stand ups and recoveries until I reached one hour. This machine really makes me sweat! I’ve never gotten my tops of my socks wet while riding a bike until now. The next day, I was planning on running but my right calf was still slightly sore from Saturday’s run, so I mounted the spinning bike again. During the one hour workout, I was able to do several repeats of 2 minute stand ups. I’m already loving my new spinning bike! The workouts are exhausting. Spilled sweat, yes, but no spilled guts… yet.

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Burn Those Potluck Calories!

Did someone say sauna? As the heat peaked at about 1:30 on Monday afternoon with 100 degree plus, heat stroke inducing, temperatures outside and no cooling breeze, but a cooler 96 degrees indoors, I stayed in for a treadmill run. An artificial wind was created by pointing an electric fan against the front of the treadmill. Away I go as slowly as I can, trudging along while reading the newspaper, taking care not to splash my perspiration on it as much as possible. Helping along was an out-of-fashion tennis headband to keep the stinging sweat off my eyes. Upon completion of an hour, an additional 25 minutes of recovery walking was tacked on to burn off the excess calories consumed during a surprise potluck birthday party at work for 2 colleagues. The fare consisted of the usual greasy and fattening pizza, hot wings, meatballs, chips with extra hot homemade salsa, two different kinds of cakes, cheese cake, and bread pudding. The one hour and twenty five minute workout was a first step in taking care of those calories. A newly acquired book/magazine holder for the treadmill/stationary bike/elliptical machine was put into good use. A good, sweaty, calorie burning workout on a sweltering day. Summer at fall is here. It’s good to run again!

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Working Out In A Dizzy Tizzy

Due to the sudden return of my dizziness problems in the past week and the heat finally scorching Southern California, I have been conservative with my outdoor workouts especially after my terrible run/walk last Saturday. I already mentioned the 1 ½ hour stationary bike ride last Sunday. This was followed by an hour run on the treadmill on Monday which a surprise by itself because I usually don’t have the patience and concentration to last that long on the machine. The very slow pace which allowed me to read the newspaper, helped pass the time and still gave me a good workout. On Tuesday, it was back to the stationary bike in the form of the recumbent this time. It was so hot that I trained the electric fan towards me and cranked it up to the highest level. That workout lasted an hour and twenty minutes which consisted of intervals. This brings us to Wednesday which is normally not a running day for me but I was feeling pretty good and despite the high heat at 1 P.M. I ventured outside with hopes of completing at least 30 minutes. I could feel a slight breeze in the beginning which was definitely better than the dead air indoors. When I approached 30 minutes, I extended my goal to 40. Having to do some detours to avoid street constructions in my neighborhood (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at work), I hit 50 minutes by the time I reached home. How hot was it? Well I lost 3 ½ pounds of sweat in just 50 minutes or very slow running and had to rehydrate quickly. I hope to show up at AREC marathon training on Saturday feeling better than last weekend. Know what? Very slow running or jogging has not been a problem for me. At least I can still do it and taste the sweet nectar of endorphins J. 

At the start of the month, my job offered a website (Healthyroads.com) where employees can track their fitness and health goals, and after putting off signing up for several weeks, I finally joined a few days ago. Just for signing up they gave away an exercise kit which included elastic bands and a walking kit which included a pedometer. Upon logging 12 workouts, they will also send you a water bottle as a reward. Since I already reached that level, I was expecting three items in the mail, which arrived today. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them because I was asleep when the mailman tried to deliver. Maybe when they redeliver tomorrow… By the way, they also have reward for reaching 36 and 72 workouts: a towel for the first and a t-shirt for the next. Since I work out every day, getting the free stuff would not be a problem. It’s just too bad that they stop giving rewards after 72 workouts :P

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A Decent Pace?

Two Saturdays ago I felt some shame because I couldn’t give my weekend running partner Cyndi a decent pace despite the flat terrain we ran in. It was at that time that my dizzy spells started and being unsure of its cause, I gave a conservative effort. Before today’s run, I informed Cyndi of my problems and a caveat that I may have to take it really easy. Despite that, she still agreed to run with me and I’m so appreciative of that. After my solo run last Thursday and knowing more about my condition, I figured I might be able to give a better effort than what I could muster two Saturdays ago. I woke up dizzy as has been usual the past week but it was time to “buck up” and run with my best effort. Cyndi told me before we started today that I should just run my pace no matter what it is and see how it feels and she will match it. And that’s how we started.

 Since we didn’t run together last weekend because she was occupied, we caught up with the happenings of the past two weeks. This is why I like running with other people. It makes the time and distance pass. Cyndi is faster than me so when we run together, that would be considered her easy day while it would be my tempo effort day. For people who read this blog who are not runners, tempo effort means you are running comfortably hard (even though for me, it gets uncomfortable at times).
Running the usual AREC (A Running Experience Club) 8 mile course, we climbed up 6^th Street hill at the halfway mark and what do we see but a Siamese cat crossing the street at the apex. We stopped a moment while Cyndi consumed an energy gel and I tried to catch my breath because we went up that hill at a pretty good clip, and the cat approached us. I was surprised that it didn’t run away and allowed me to pet him/her. Could it have been the pheromones emanating through my sweat, or just my animal magnetism ( LOL!)? Talk about attracting the wrong kind of creature. I told the cat that I’ll be back for him in about an hour to take him home with me. I didn’t of course, but I miss having cats at home. What I don’t miss is the tracked litter all over the place. Up to now those tiny things still come up out of nowhere. Last week a runner gets killed by a crashing plane, and yesterday another runner was assaulted by a kangaroo, and with some stroke of luck, all I encountered was a mild mannered cat. Thank God! 

Anyhow, we left the cat behind and trekked back to where we started from while trying to keep the pace that we attacked the hill with. We must have done pretty well because our overall time for 8.37 miles was 1 hour 18 minutes and 6 seconds or 9:20 average pace per mile. Two weeks prior, we did a 9:36 pace on a flat course. So today, I hope I was able to give my weekend training partner a decent workout compared to two weeks ago. Thanks again for running with me, buddy!

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My First Extended Elliptical Workout

Warning! The following blog post is for information purposes only and may bore you to sleep. If you have insomnia, now may be a good time to read it.

       I first used my new elliptical trainer last Friday morning but only did 30 minutes on it while using the stationary bike for the second half of my workout. On Monday afternoon, after taking my morning sleep coming off the night shift I decided it was time to take the elliptical machine past the half hour mark. First I set the machine to one of the pre-programmed workouts which consisted of 2 minutes easy tension, then 2 minutes medium, then another two minutes of slightly harder tension on the pedals. I set a preliminary goal of 40 minutes and when I hit that mark went for another 10 then another 10. So I was able to double my time on the elliptical using those ladder intervals. All the while I was watching the documentary movie “No Impact Man” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280011/.

      Compared to last Friday, the machines’ squeaks and groans were significantly lesser so I hope it stays that way if I use it regularly. If I were to rate that workout, I would give it a grade of Fair because even though I was breathing hard at times, the highest pulse rate I hit was only 130 beats per minute. I may have do use a more challenging pre-programmed workout. Maybe find one where the harder intervals lasts longer than the recovery intervals. What I like about the machine is that it is the closest that simulates running compared to the other machines I have.

      I don’t know if I’ll ever go over an hour on the machine so I’m pretty satisfied with what I accomplished last Monday thanks to No Impact Man. Excuse me! Is that you I hear snoring???

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My Home Gym Is Complete

      After many years of accumulating exercise equipment at home, I can unequivocally say that my home gym is complete, even though it is missing weight stack machines. What I have is an array of aerobic specific equipment comprised of a treadmill, rowing machine, stairstepper, upright stationary bike, recumbent stationary bike, and the latest addition, an elliptical trainer. Those plus a couple of hundred pounds of free weights in the form of dumbbells and barbells, complete the home gym. I must not forget to mention the chin up/pull up bar attached to a door frame. The pursuit of fitness is not really a pursuit for me but rather a daily habit that needs to be completed. Since I have been unable to run every day for the last four years, I need the variety of workout machines to keep me engaged.

      In addition, what gym would be complete without a weighing scale? A few months ago when I thought the springs of my mechanical, round-dial type bathroom scale had worn out, I finally succumbed to technology and bought an electronic scale that measured weight, body fat percentage, and hydration level. How exactly that happens is hard to explain but has something to do with electrical impedance in which a very small amount of electrical current passes through your body while standing on the scale and your fat percentage and hydration levels are measured. Sounds like a good concept but which I find inaccurate. Case in point: pre-run, it indicates that my hydration level is 63.5%, then post-run when I’ve lost three pounds of fluids, the hydration level goes up about 1%. How can you lose fluids and gain hydration level? Another example: before running, my body fat percentage is show as 12.5%, and after running, 11.5%. Certainly I only lost fluid weight and not fat. I hope at least the weight measurement is accurate.

      So there you go, I have equipment for cardiovascular fitness and endurance, plus free weights for muscular strength and endurance. Flexibility is the only missing link to attain overall fitness. Two out of three ain’t bad.

      I know, I know… ain’t is not proper English.

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Trying Out The New Elliptical Machine

     I tested the new elliptical machine on Friday morning and for the first few minutes I could hardly believe how whisper quiet it was. My recumbent bike made more noise than the elliptical. However after about 15 minutes of continuous use, it started groaning, squeaking, and creaking but the noises would mysteriously disappear before another strange sound came up. The good thing is that the noise disappears eventually but replaced with another kind of noise. I hope it’s just the machine settling and redistributing its lubricants.

     I’ve only used an elliptical machine once before a few years ago when I walked past a gym and asked the owner if I can try it. He had me sign a waiver in case I got injured while using the machine. Now that I have one, I’m finding out how unnatural it is to move your arms and legs at the same time with the handlebars and the pedals. It was easier to just use the fixed handlebar. Another thing I found out is that it is difficult to read a newspaper while using the machine because of the up and down motion. Due to my poor balance I’m afraid to let go of the handlebar for fear of falling off. If I have to work out harder I’d have give up reading while on the machine. However, since the machine is quiet, it’s more feasible to watch TV or a movie without having to raise the volume too much.

     At the time of my first use, I still hadn’t figured out how to increase the tension of the pedals and it wasn’t until hours later when I read the instructions did I learn how to do that and the programmed workouts. The instructions itself wasn’t a very easy read because it was printed in China and you had to interpret in proper English what it was really saying. I’m sure some of your electronic items have instructions like that too. The machine has a manual setting, 12 pre-programmed workouts, and I think 2 user programmable workouts. It has the usual heart rate monitor, speed, distance, time, calories burned, plus two things I didn’t expect: a body mass index (BMI) calculator and body fat percentage calculator.

     Other than the squeaks, creaks, and groans of the machine which I hope is a part of the break-in process, I like all the functions that it has which appear to be similar to high end machines. And it mimics the running motion better than the stairmaster or stationary bike. If it gives me the same endorphin high that running does, so much the better. I tried out the new elliptical machine and lived to tell about it, so for now, two thumbs up!

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My New Toy/Torture Device

My new elliptical trainer was delivered on March 11^th   (Yipee!!!). Actually it was supposed to arrive March 10^th but I didn’t hear the delivery person knocking because I was asleep in the daytime after coming off the night shift from the asylum. So I had to wait the next day for redelivery. Oh well, just another delayed gratification.

After waiting all morning and part of the afternoon, the UPS guy finally knocked on my door and asked if I can help him lift the box up one flight of stairs and I said yes. I was surprised to see how bulky the box was and it weighed about 120 pounds. Initially, he wanted us to just lift the box but I convinced him to use the dolly and I had him pulling upwards while I pushed from below.

 The first thing I looked for upon opening the box was the instruction manual to find the customer service number.  I just wanted to pay someone else to assemble it just like my treadmill but it appeared that they didn’t have that service. Customer service was closed for the day when I called and was not available till the next day. After reading the assembly instructions, I decided to attempt doing it myself. I remembered how the guy who assembled my treadmill organized himself and I did the same. First, I sorted out the nuts, bolts, screws, and washers. Then I laid out the parts of the elliptical trainer on the floor. From that point on, it was just identifying which parts connected where and with what screw/bolt/nut/washer. After about a couple of hours, I had the machine assembled and saved myself some money by not hiring someone else to do it J. I had underestimated my mechanical ability again. At the end, I found an extra nut : it was me. This nut will be attached to the elliptical trainer tomorrow for a trial workout.

Oh I forgot, the machine can be plugged into an electric outlet but I couldn’t find where the cord connects to the machine initially. I thought it was on the display console which would have been logical, but it wasn’t there. After searching high and low around the machine, I stuck the plug into a hole at the  front of the machine and I was surprised that it fit. But I still wasn’t sure until I plugged the other end in the electric outlet and that’s when the machine came alive. Assembly finally completed!

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Space… The Final Frontier

Upon receiving my federal income tax refund on February 26^th, I earnestly embarked on a journey for the search for Spock. Oops, wrong journey. Let me regroup and rephrase: I searched the internet for a good deal on elliptical trainers (not the ellipses of heavenly bodies). The one I found with the features I wanted was on Overstock.com with a shipping price of $2.99. I searched Amazon.com for the same product and it was $20.00 lesser plus free shipping and no sales tax. I waited a couple of days for the government check to clear and by the time I checked Amazon again, the price of the elliptical trainer had gone up $20.00 more, with 5 left in stock. The initial price of the machine must have been that good that people were buying them quickly. Another economic theory in action: when the demand is high, the price goes high. I put in my order anyway and sent an email to customer service to see if they would roll back the price by $20.00. It was no go, but I think I still got a good deal with the free shipping and no sales tax. Why I didn’t consider looking at Amazon when I bought my treadmill last summer, I don’t know. I just stuck with Walmart after seeing the treadmill features and price I wanted.

Meanwhile, in my tiny corner of the cosmos, I’m concerned about space or lack thereof in my gym/living room. I’ve been trying to visualize how I can rearrange the rest of the exercise equipment so I can fit in the elliptical machine once it’s delivered and assembled. The only way I can make it work is to move aside the folding machines when not in use and pull them back out whenever I want to use them. That means the stairstepper and the rowing machine because the upright and recumbent bikes don’t fold, and even though the treadmill folds also, it’s too heavy to move around. Oh my, half of the living room will be a maze of cranks, levers, cylinders, gears, belts, and pedals. If I had a wife, she’d probably put me in the garage and leave the exercise equipment alone. Good thing I live by myself.

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Salvaging My Old Stationary Bike

I’ve had this upright stationary bike so many years and ever since I assembled it, the tension adjustment never really worked well and you can hear a clicking noise when you pedal. It has 8 levels of tension and even at its tightest it still feels relatively easy and not adequate to do stand up pedaling. That’s the reason why I haven’t been using it very often and opting for the recumbent bike instead.

I decided that the next time I had a few days off, I was going to try to find the problem and fix it. Already suspecting it had something to do with the cable, that’s where I looked first. Manipulating the top part of the cable near the adjustment knob didn’t solve the problem so I went farther down. This entailed disassembling the housing of the pedals. I encountered another problem when I tried to remove them because the screws were either too tight or already stripped. For some of the screws that I couldn’t remove, I ended up using brute force to break and peel the plastic housing apart. So I was now into the heart of the whole system, found the source of the cable, twisted a couple of nuts this way and that, but to no avail. All I could do was tighten the cable in a way not it was meant to be assembled. But it worked! Having broken the plastic housing, I just threw them away and the bike actually looks better without them. It looks more like a spinning bike now except that the handlebars are higher. Nevertheless the tension adjustment is tighter now, the clicking sound has disappeared, it's the quietest machine I have at home, and I got a better workout afterwards. With a series of what ifs (what if I do this, what if I try doing it that way), I managed to salvage an old bike and spared myself the expense of getting a replacement. I still want an elliptical machine though…

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A Weighty Issue

Another discussion about weight came up at work. One woman said that you should only weigh yourself once a month. I countered that you should weigh yourself every day so that if you happened to veer away too much from your target weight range, you can make it up by doing more activities or adjusting your food intake. Her contention was that women’s weights vary due to their menstrual cycle and they could possibly weigh more on certain days during that cycle. I said that daily weighing regardless of the time of the month gives you more control over weight gain, loss, or maintenance, and that menstrual bloating shouldn’t be used as an excuse for excess weight. How much weight does a woman gain when they’re menstruating anyway? Besides, I found out that menstruation also increases the metabolism slightly so it can counteract the bloat in the long run. Well, as you know, I’m not a woman so I can’t really speak for that. In any case, it has been found out that people who weigh themselves every day manage their weight better than those who don’t.

By the way, the woman whom I was having this discussion with has been exercising consistently for the past couple of months and in spite of that, she appears to have gained weight. I was tempted to be impolite and ask her how that weighing once a month is working for her. Not only that, I couldn’t help but hear that she lost 8 pounds in her first week of working out, but has gained about 15 pounds since then. In fact I was surprised to see how much bigger she is now compared to before she started working out. That goes to show that exercising alone is not enough to lose or maintain ideal weight, you have to adjust your food intake too. One thing I can admire about this woman is that she has continued to exercise consistently. This I gather from my other co-workers.

Ever notice how overweight people offer the best solutions to problems regarding diet and exercise? Except that they have difficulty applying the solutions on themselves. If talking about it were an aerobic activity, they surely would have lost a lot of pounds already.

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Mysteries of Running

Ever have one of those days when you are running and your feet feel as heavy as bricks? Well, last Thursday was one of those days for me as I plodded through a 52 minute run that felt like the last 6 miles of a marathon, but without the cramps. Then all of a sudden, two days later, on Saturday morning, I felt so good and I don’t know why. After doing the 4 minute run/1 minute walk intervals with Sonja for about 4 miles (Sonja was doing 8 miles), I tried to catch up with Cyndi and Linda who were running non-stop for 12 miles, by intercepting them at a certain cross street. We ran together for about a mile but I began feeling a little frisky and started picking up the pace on my own. I still did the 4:1 intervals but a little bit differently. Instead of running and walking, I picked up the pace for 4 minutes and slowly jogged for 1 minute while I ran back to Cyndi and Linda. I was able to keep this up for the last 7 miles of the 12 mile run except for about 3 minutes it took to cover the distance on Bayshore Avenue from Ocean Boulevard to Second Street, where running single file is the norm. By running hard for 4 minutes and jogging back, I was able to complete 12 miles despite cutting the course to catch up with the two ladies. I could feel my right ankle tendon protesting at times but the pain was tolerable and didn’t get worse. Thank goodness for that!

Running, like life, can feel different from day to day, or as Forrest Gump said “Life (substitute "running" here) is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get”. I wish I could feel the way I did on Saturday all the time where the pace was hard but still felt controlled. Of course that’s not always possible because we all have bad days and good days. Savor the good days and get through the bad days, because even the bad ones feel so much better after you finish.

Postscript: The reason why I felt the need to run a little harder last Saturday was to burn off the excess calories I consumed during the two days I was showing my former classmate around town, as documented in my previous blog post: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2010/01/unblogged-weekend.html

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A Tangled Mess, etc.

Well I finally did it. I finally replaced the bedroom TV that I referred to in this post: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2009/05/shake-rumble-and-jolt.html . I found a refurbished 19 inch TV advertised on Tigerdirect.com which I considered a good deal (no sales tax and free shipping), ordered it, and got it in the mail last week. Then I went to the Salvation Army website to schedule a donation pickup for Monday afternoon. I was given a window of 3:30 to 6:30 P.M. and they showed up at about 4 P.M. They promptly hauled away the 43 inch console TV, a digital tuner, and the manuals for both which I had saved through the years. Thank you so much for offering this service, Salvation Army. I appreciate your pickup more than the tax deduction I might get for donating to charity. I now have a more manageable and appropriate sized TV in the bedroom which is more unlikely to kill me in case of an earthquake.

I removed the rest of the contents of the TV stand, tightened the screws, dusted it (it is surprising to see how much dust collects between nooks and crannies over time), then moved it to the living room with the intention of transferring the TV there sitting on a lower stand to the higher stand. Prior to leaving work earlier the same day, I asked my co-worker if he could help me with that process because I didn’t think I could lift the TV by myself. However with some maneuvering, positioning and finding something to grip on the TV, I managed to lift it by myself from the lower position to the higher one, but with some difficulty because the wires that were connected to the DVD player, stereo amplifier, karaoke machine, Nintendo WII and laptop computer, became taut and needed some tugging before I was able to successfully transfer the TV. Transfer accomplished, but it left me with a tangled mess of wires, some of which got disconnected. I had to figure out which wire went where after moving all of the equipment to the higher TV stand.

While I was emptying the TV stand of DVD’s and CD’s earlier in the bedroom, I found my old music cassette tapes which I purchased in the 80’s. I have maybe less than a hundred, but what was I to do with them? I posted the query on my Facebook wall and some suggestions were: sell it on Ebay or keep them as collector’s items. Of course there’s the option of converting them to digital format (mp3), but that is a laborious process which I don’t have the patience of doing. So as of now, I’m undecided on what to do.

Well, the wires are still a tangled mess but all the connections appear to be in their proper places and everything was working well when I checked them. The next day, I vacuumed whatever dust I scattered all over the place in lieu of lifting weights. I figured dust can’t wait but weight training can be put off for another day.

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Waffling: Out or In?

On the day after a rainstorm, do I venture outdoors in the bitter cold? Or do I stay in the relative warmth of my living room and run like a hamster on the treadmill? Using the treadmill presents some problems because my heavy stride and the sound of the motor create a lot of noise which sometimes bothers the neighbors. If outdoors, do I run non-stop, or do I do the run/walk intervals and for how long? Despite the bright sun, it was still very chilly outside.

Having stepped outside in my running shorts earlier to take out the trash and feeling the chill, I felt I needed more protection. I dug out my very old Sporthill running pants and put them on over my shorts. Still, I could not make up my mind. Run outside or run indoors? I ventured outside once again, this time bent on hitting the road for the day’s run. Alas! Even before I could take a few dozen steps I felt my ankles aching. Back indoors I went, deciding finally to use the treadmill with its more forgiving cushioned deck. Off with the running pants and the jacket, up on the treadmill for 50 minutes in 78 degree temperature instead of the low 50’s outside. Correction: the temperature outside on Tuesday morning was in the 40's at 8 A.M.

For all the waffling I did, I should have had maple syrup to go with it.

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