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.

Workout Notes - Spring 2013

       

          About three times a week, I do abdominal workouts usually consisting of sit ups, crunches, twists , or sit ups with a 15 pound weight which I hold against my chest. All of those without anchoring my ankles to anything. Occasionally, I also do leg lifts. With the weighted sit ups, I could normally do 30 to 32 reps. Then I discovered another variation of the weighted sit ups a couple of weeks ago. That time, I held the 15 pound weight against the back of my head then tried to raise my upper body off the mat. I managed half a crunch and a huge grunt, but no sit up. Wow, that was way harder than I thought! I couldn't help but laugh at myself when that happened. I then tried a 10 pound weight with similar results. Down to 5 pounds I went, and was finally able to lift my torso from the ground and managed to do it 16 times. Remember, this was without anchoring my ankles to anything so by the 14th repetition, I couldn't keep my feet on the floor due to the forced reps. I could feel my stomach muscles burning. So that was  surprising sit ups discovery - lesser weight but more resistance and lesser repetitions required. I think I may add that to my routine.
          One Saturday morning, I planned on driving to the bank to get some money from the ATM machine. It was not cold outside so I decided to do a 1 minute jog with 1 minute walk to the bank and back. Just to remind you, I haven't done a run in months because of the myopathy problems I have been having while taking generic Lipitor for my high cholesterol. When I was still running fairly well, that round trip would have taken about 25 to 26 minutes. That Saturday, it took 35. Well, my legs generally felt slightly but pleasantly sore after doing that jog/walk. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the pleasant soreness I had is however totally different from statin myopathy which feels more like a cutting pain. This time it affected my right thigh muscle as opposed to the left side a few months ago. To add to that, this run didn't even hit the pleasure areas of my brain and left me dissatisfied. Maybe the reason is because I don't do it as often as I want or can anymore. What was good though was that the afterburn of that brief workout kept my weight down the next day even after eaten a lot of red velvet cookies with white chocolate chunks.
          A couple of weeks after that 1 minute jog/1 minute walk workout, I went to have an oil change for my car and instead of waiting around while the mechanic did it, I walk/jogged around the area. I didn't keep track of how long the jogging and walking parts were but did it by feel. That way, I was jogging more than I was walking and the whole workout lasted 45 minutes.
          I did a rowing machine workout one morning while watching a Japanese documentary film called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Since the wind resistance machine makes a lot of noise, it helped that the movie had subtitles. You would think that after watching that movie, I would be craving for sushi. Well, I did not.
          And finally, my workouts before and after my colonoscopy. On the day of the procedure, I felt so weak from the clear liquid diet and the trips to the bathroom so I had no choice but take it easy on my 30 minute workout on the recumbent bike. My discharge instructions after the colonoscopy said no vigorous workouts for 24 hours after the procedure. So it was more of the same the next day on the recumbent bike. Two days later, I did a somewhat vigorous uphill walking workout on the treadmill for 45 minutes then a full body weight training workout using rubber tubing. Don't even say I don't follow doctor's orders.
          So there it is folks - dreary descriptions of what it takes to stay in shape: a little bit of this and that which even included some running.

A New Safe Bench Press Machine

Valor Fitness BF-47 Independent Bench Press

 Okay, so I've had this Marcy weight bench with a lat machine and preacher curl attachment for about 15 years, except that the lat machine post broke off from where it was welded into the bench about 8 years ago. Lately, with middle age and living alone, I've been feeling unsafe doing the bench press without a spotter. I couldn't maximize the repetitions anymore and besides, sometimes my palms hurt from the weights even when I'm wearing lifting gloves. In the middle of last year, I started looking for a safer way to do the bench press. One of the first things I did was switch from the suicide grip to the thumb around the bar grip. I also considered buying either a multi station machine or just a simple bench press machine to replace the free weights (barbell) I was using. A basic multistation machine would have been slightly cheaper but I wasn't confident I could assemble it. I would have had to hire someone to do it at much additional cost. So I surfed around the internet and found this Valor Fitness BF-47 Independent Bench Press machine at overstock.com, which appeared to fit my needs. However due to financial concerns which I already addressed in another blog, I couldn't buy it at the time, so I just bookmarked it and hoped that somewhere down the line when I've caught up with my bills, I would revisit the website and the machine would still be available. That time came a couple of weeks ago after I finally paid off last year's expenses and luckily the machine was still available but there were only three left. I ordered it right away and waited the few days until it was delivered.
          In the meantime, what to do with the old weight bench which was still in prime condition other than missing a lat machine? I asked my co-worker whom I know lifted weights if he already had a bench press bench (sorry, I couldn't find a better way to describe it). He said he did but it was already very rusty. I offered to give him mine after my new machine arrived.
          On the day that UPS was supposed to deliver the product, I disassembled the old bench, put the parts aside and sent a text message to my co-worker saying that the bench was available for pick up at his convenience. Then I waited for UPS and kept checking online to make sure they didn't bypass me. Well I'll be darned! When I checked at about 2 p.m. last Thursday, the UPS website said the package could not be delivered because there was nobody home. Heck, I even left a message at the gate for the UPS delivery guy so he can dial my security gate number. 15 minutes had passed since the exception was logged in the UPS system. I went downstairs to pick up the slip they usually leave and whadya know but I see the UPS truck driving down the next street. I walked toward the street hoping the truck had not driven too far away, and lo and behold, it was just at the corner! I waited for the driver to emerge from the apartment building then asked him if he was the one who left the notice slip. He looked at it and said it was him and that when he called, there was no answer. I asked, nay, implored if he could come back and deliver my package so that he or another driver would not have to come back the next day. I offered to help him carry the load since he mentioned it was 90 pounds. It was then that I suspected that he didn't really want to deliver it because it was too heavy. Of course, I didn't mention that to him lest he change his mind about going back. Luckily, he took me up on my offer of help. So he drove around, unloaded the cargo, mounted it on his dolly and rolled it up to the staircase where I helped him lift from the top while he pushed from the bottom. I thanked him again for coming back and dragged the heavy package into my living room.
          I proceeded to unpack the parts and laid them on the floor. After making sure that everything was there, I started assembling the bench. Wait a second! There wasn't much in the form of instructions, just a picture of where one part connected to another with what bolt, screw, and washer. No text instructions whatsoever. Oh my, it was going to take a while to figure out a two dimensional drawing into a three dimensional real product. In fact it took me about three hours to assemble that darn thing. The machine looked so simple in pictures and looked like the assembly was going to be simple. Well, no use dwelling on that now. At least I managed to do it by myself with only a wrench and a pair of pliers. I didn't try to use the machine that day because I had already done my weight training earlier, but boy, were my muscles sore the next day due to the disassembling of the old bench and assembling the new one.

          Two days later, I was ready to try the Valor Fitness BF-47 Independent Bench Press machine. Why is is it called independent? Because the left and right sides are isolated from each other. With a regular bench press with a barbell, both arms lift the total weight, but with this machine, each arm lifts independent of the other. Oh, one other advantage of the bench compared to a multistation machine is that I can still use the weight plates I already have. I normally lift 110 pounds on the barbell for 6 to 8 repetitions when I do the bench press. I know, I know, I'm a weakling! I mounted 50 pounds on each side of the new machine first to see how it felt. I positioned myself on the bench and pushed. All that came out was a grunt from me. Hmmm, this is going to be harder than I thought. I may even have to lessen the weights. I tried again and this time I managed a semblance of a full lift before lowering the weight for another repetition. I was able to complete all of four reps! How is it possible that I'm lifting lesser poundage and repetitions?! First of all, the arms of the machine where the weight plates are mounted on also weigh something. Second, it's harder to start a bench press from the chest area because the muscles are not pre-contracted (in my opinion). With a barbell bench press, you start from a straight arm position, lowering the weight to the chest, then lifting the weight upwards. The straight arm position is what I consider pre-contraction of the muscle. Not only that, sometime you can cheat by bouncing the weight off your chest. No such cheating can be done with the Valor Fitness machine. With that in mind, I started over and was able to do 6 reps on the first set and 4 reps each on the next three sets, with each one of those sets maximized without the benefit of a spotter. My first impression is that the machine worked as it was designed to do. It was success and liftoff on first lift! Boy, am I gonna be sore tomorrow.

Workout Notes Plus A Week of Running

I’ve had the Asus Transformer 101 Tablet PC for more than two months now but I haven’t used it while running on the treadmill (or on the road, ha!) until two weeks. On the first try, I started with a 10 minute walk then started jogging gingerly because I was still recovering from the thigh injury I suffered the previous week. I didn’t feel any thigh pain so I continued. Ever since I found an app for the local newspaper, it’s been so much easier to scroll the pages, so the initial run which lasted for 35 minutes turned out okay as far as reading and scrolling went. A second try a week later at a slight faster pace went well too. So how did it feel compared to a netbook? Well, other than the touchscreen scrolling as opposed to the arrow keys on the netbook, they worked out pretty much the same.

I rarely use the rowing machine more than 5 minutes at a time because I find it boring. So far, I haven’t found a way to read while rowing  so what I do is turn the TV on to the news and also turn on the captions. I usually do a circuit of rowing, spinning, and recumbent cycling. Somehow, last week I zoned out on the rowing machine and lasted for 15 minutes before hitting the other two machines. As far as the perceived effort went, I think repeats of 5 minutes each on the machines for 2 or three sets had better aerobic effect than 15 minutes straight on each. But that’s just me.

I don’t know what all the hullaballoo is about H.I.I.T. and Tabata. In the mid-70’s in college while taking my Physical Education degree, we already learned about circuit training which wasn’t even new by then. H.I.I.T. and Tabata are basically good old fashioned circuit training renamed.

 Ever since I started weight training in 1979, I’ve always used the suicide grip when doing the bench press because that was the way I was shown to do it. I didn’t even know it was called that until two weeks ago when I was searching for suggestions on how to do the bench press more safely without a spotter. The suggestion was not to use the suicide grip and since then I have wrapped my thumb around the bar. At first it was difficult to complete my usual number of repetitions because it felt awkward. After a few tries, I had to reposition the bar on my hands a certain way and it seems to work better.

If I were to believe my bioelectrical impedance weighing scale, I lost 1% body fat by sitting for 30 minutes while on the computer, but only lost half a percent after a half hour workout on the spinning bike. Nuts!

In other exercise news, after I did the unplanned run on Easter Sunday, I was able to do three more runs the week after. They were only very slow 45 minutes to an hour - twice on the treadmill and once on the road, but nonetheless, I’ll count them as runs. Based on my recent running history, that's plenty.

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