Bill Cammack

Technically, this is gym day #10, but it’s actually #9, because I just posted on that day, so I haven’t been to the gym since day #8 which was the 13th, 4 days ago.

in 165.2
out 165.6 (water)

Yes, I already took Brian’s advice and I’m not concerned with my actual weight at this point. I’m still going to mark it down for archival purposes.

I still had zero motivation after four days out of the gym, but I felt like going today to see what would happen. It was too cold to go to the real gym, so I went to the bogus gym and got what I paid for.

Of course, there were a bunch of people there, so I ended up waiting around for a couple of the machines, and it was impossible to find a couple of sets of dumbbells I wanted to use, because there’s only one or at the most TWO sets of each, and people take them with them to the ends of #&$*(#& creation to do sets and then don’t bring them back to the racks. :/

I had decided that the only thing I was really interested in today was working towards getting my dips/pull-ups back in order on the weight-assist machine, but without using the weights. The problem with this particular machine in the bogus gym is that there’s no function to change the width of the dip bars. Since I’m a slimmer person, that means that as I’m doing dips, my arms aren’t where they’re supposed to be, at my sides. Instead, my arms are kind of out to the sides as if I’m about to draw two guns in a western movie. :/

Obviously, this means that I’m using more sets of muscles than I’m supposed to, and I’m not getting to isolate my triceps & chest properly during the dips.

The wide-grip pull-ups weren’t that bad, but the close-grip COMPLETELY SUCKS, AND is also too wide for my frame, so I end up holding my arms like a referee right after someone kicks a good field goal. :/

1. Super-Sets (no weight assist) dips 10, wgpu 5, dips 7, cgpu 4, dips 5. I was aiming at 10 of each. Eventually, I’ll be up to that and then I can start doing dips with added weight instead of having the machine subtract the weight, but that won’t be on this bogus machine, because there’s no way I’ll be able to support extra plates with the wide placement of the bars.
2. Super-Sets (40 lb weight assist) dips 10, wgpu 10, dips 8+2 (rest), cgpu 6+4 (rest), dips 10. The other thing that’s stupid about this dumb machine is that the numbers on the weights don’t take counterbalancing the weight of the apparatus into account. This means that if you pull the pin from the weights, the platform goes down immediately. The only way to stop that from happening is to put the pin in several plates below “zero”. It would have been SMARTER for them to make the machine calibrated so that you could get a good idea how much weight you’re actually offsetting.
3. Flies 100, 70, 40. This is the same dumb machine that doesn’t allow you to do flies with your elbows, but insists that you have your hands and forearms involved in the exercise. Unfortunately, the weights don’t match up to the weights on the same machine in the real gym, so it was just guesswork and messing around. Also, the only reason I was *DOING* flies is that someone wanted to use the weight-assist machine, so I was actually just killing time and doing some minor chest work in the process.
4. Shrugs (two dumbbells) 65×10, 90×6, 90×4 (grip issues), 50×10. It’s always good to do shrugs. I went with the 65s to warm up, then could NOT find two 85s or ANY 80s :/ So I went with 90 lb dumbbells for the heavy section. I knew it was heavier than I wanted to go, but…… So… By the second set with those, I was losing grip on the right side, so I went for a light set to close it out.
5. Super-Sets (60 lb weight assist) dips 10, wgpu 10, dips 10, cgpu 10, dips 10.
6. Shrugs (two dumbbells) 65×7

Overall, it was a better workout, but it wasn’t. :) It was more fun, but I got less done. I’m going to end up going to the real gym more, just because I like hanging out there. I definitely would have stayed twice as long. Also, with the wide-grip machine I had no choice but to use, I really couldn’t press the way I wanted/needed to, so it ended up being partially a chore, even though I got a good idea where I stand as far as starting a workout with dips.