ZCUT #9

My general goal in life (I don't really do 'goals', can you tell?) is to try to be better about working out even if I don't have a whole big chunk of time to devote to it. Especially in weeks, like, this one, where I have kaboodles of fun things planned during my after-work hours. Yesterday it was a (really, kind of boring) play, today it's a work 'networking event' (read: sponsored happy hour!!), Friday will be the river cruise... in my life, there's never a dearth of opportunities to skip a workout. And usually I'm pretty good about not giving in too often or too many times in a row. But there's always room for improvement.

With that in mind, yesterday, when I knew I would be leaving work and going directly to the theater for this play, I tried to get up early for a workout. Unfortunately, I vastly underestimated how long it would take to put on some appropriate clothes, have a snack, and set up my workout station. By the time I had all that done, I only had about 15 minutes before I needed to start getting ready for work. 15 minutes wasn't nearly enough time to do what I had planned, and it was still too stiff from sleep to attempt to jump about (worried about pulling cold muscles). I ended up doing my usual plank/pushup/squat/lunge/etc warmup and a 10 minute dynamic stretching routine. Better than nothing?

So then today when I learned there was a Gold's literally a block from our happy hour bar, I knew I had to put in the effort to do something more. Yes, I will miss half an hour of drinking, but it won't kill me (probably). Will people judge me? Maybe. We're pretty serious about our happy hours 'round these parts. But that won't kill me either (...probably).

Pre

Energy Level [1-5]: 4

Sore Areas: None.

Yesterday: I stretched some...?

Environment: Indoors, at a foreign gym.

Workout
Warmup: dynamic 5:00 [squats, lunges, pushups, etc]
Equipment: None!
Work Time: 20:00

ZCUT #9 : Time challenge: Jump Squat + Side Kick, V-Ups, Jump Lunge + Kick, Diagonal Plank Tuck Jumps, 'Surfer' Burpees [2 rounds] -- 14:45

Cardio "Bonus":
5:00 - 6.0 MPH - .5 mi

Post
Energy Level [1-5]: 1
Stretch Time: 10:00
Total in-Gym Time: 45:00

Day After
Sore Level [1-5]: 2
Sore Areas: Quads

Comments
Dear baby Jesus that was depressing. I can't even... it was bad. It was this gym! I can't be the only one that has trouble working out in unfamiliar locations, and this was a gym I'd never set foot in before. Pretty much doomed from the start. First I had to ask where the locker room was (a nondescript, unlablled door right next to an identical door that said 'staff only'), when i was standing about 3 feet away from it. Then there wasn't anywhere comfortable to set up shop. Now, I don't need much space to do my thing. Enough space for a plank, ideally nothing overhead I can jump and hit my head on, maybe enough floor space for a mat if I'm feeling frisky. But even so, there was nowhere for me to go. At my gym, there's a pretty clearly defined space for people to do non-traditional working out. It's away from the lifting machines and the racks, near-ish to the dumbbells but clearly separately stacked with mats and BOSU balls and steps and what have you. In this gym, that space up a few stairs, weirdly lording above the rest of the gym, and of course was 'reserved' for 'personal training only' between 5 and 8 PM. Which, if I'd have to guess, is probably one of the busiest times of the day. The rest of the 'open space' in this gym were really hallways between the machines. There was a sort of open central atrium space, but it still felt more like a fat hallway than somewhere someone could grab a box and hop around. I ended up in some space between a tricep push-down machine and one of those cable machines where you can set the arms anywhere from way over head to next to the ground. I definitely had to move once or twice because people wanted to get around me or use the machines nearby and I didn't want to lunge kick them in the face. UNCOMFORTABLE. And then of course the ZCUT for today was killer. Truth: I took at 30 second break between rounds 1 and 2 and stopped the timer. Originally once I was finished with that I was going to do a quick Jillian Michaels routine, but I didn't have any more jumping in me. So instead I headed over to a treadmill (an incline one, since they only had like 4 normal ones. And I picked a treadmill because there was a SINGLE, occupied, stair stepper, there were two rowing machines randomly in the middle of the floor, occupied by a pair of blonds that had been there longer than I'd been at the gym, leisurely pulling and gossiping away, and to get to the few stationary bikes I would have had to impose on the sanctity of the trainers-only loft and scoot past the other bikers, on their stationary bikes, which were single spaced in an area that reminded me of a balcony), with the intention of knocking out a 15 minute interval workout. Naturally, about 2 minutes in my calves cramped and I couldn't run any more. I tried to quickly stretch it out, but my legs were having none of that. So I gave up after half a mile and used the rest of my time to stretch. At that point I had had enough and was just ready for a g-d beer, so I hightailed it out of there and found my coworkers. Hopefully, I never find need to go back to that place again...