2 workouts for the price of 1 post

I didn't blog yesterday, but I did go to the gym. 5 miles in 47 minutes at 1% incline, my best time ever for that distance. I got there by doing a mile at 6.1, a mile at 6.2, 1.5 mi at 6.3, 1.25 mi at 6.5, and sprinting the last quarter mile from 7 to 8 mph. That also got me past the 5k mark in just under half an hour, which I think is the first time I've ever done that.

As for today, I finally made up my session to get trained on XpressLine, a circuit training set-up at my gym. You can tell it works, because they dropped the "e" in "express" and jumped straight to the X. It consists of 8 machines with 10 exercises that work every muscle in your arms, legs, and chest. The lower-body workouts weren't bad, since my leg muscles are in decent shape. Not from running, mind you, just from holding my fat ass off the ground for the past quarter century. It was when I got to the biceps, triceps, and the rest of the arms and chest that I realized that the 15 push-ups a week I've been doing are not really getting my upper body in the condition I'd like it to be in. My arms are going to feel like dead weights tomorrow.

So here's the awkward part. This guy at the gym, who started college at Maryland, my alma mater, two years after I graduated, which makes me technically geriatric, was showing me how to use the machines. We chatted a little about the campus and the basketball team, who made it 4 or 5 rounds further than anyone thought they would by getting to the 2nd round in March Madness. But for the most part, we were just quiet while I did the machine and he counted reps. It's weird to have someone standing in front of you, watching you while you're working on these machines. There's no place for me to look except directly at him, which gets really awkward and uncomfortable really fast. They need a better system. For example, having a cute girl standing there instead of a dude would have been a huge improvement.

My favorite advice when it comes to exercising is the one I think I've heard the most, from lots of different people. "Don't forget to breathe." I've been alive for over 26 years, and I've forgotten plenty of things: paying rent, showing up for tests, your name, and the outcome of that volleyball match in "Saved by the Bell" when the tall guy the gang brought in as a ringer hurt his foot, to name a few. Not once have I ever forgotten to breathe, no matter what I was doing.