Gym Interruption

Disaster! We strong(ish) folks have found ourselves without a gym. The Marmot and I are members at the university gym where Mr Marmot is a grad student. We had known for months that the university would be closing the gym for the summer for renovations, but we were assured that the equipment would be moved to other spaces on campus for less-than-ideal but still available gym services. Not a day before the gym closed, we were informed that there are no "family plans" available for summer membership, so I wouldn't be able to attend. Just terrible!

The quick search for a replacement gym in our area has been depressing. Living in a large city, we are walking distance to a surprisingly large number of gyms, but none quite meet our needs. 4 gyms are cardio only, maybe with a cable machine or some dumb bells; two actually have a squat rack, but only one in a sea of weight machines (and each time we've walked past, the squat rack is occupied); and the last one was a full-on power gym where we were members for 2 years--4 squat racks! a whole area dedicated to dead lift! bumper plates galore!--but the gym was in a dingy basement with no air conditioning which gets swampy in the summer, and highly questionable air quality (visible mold, a door that opens to a parking garage with exhaust fumes billowing in). We were happy to move on to the university gym's cleanliness, but it looks like we might have to go back to dirty-but-great-equipment gym for the summer. At least I'll have my bumper plates to practice cleans!

One of the most frustrating things about changing gyms is changing equipment. We mostly lift with free weights, but there are a few "prehab" exercises that we do every time that were recommended by Mr Marmot's physical therapist that require a cable machine. Cable machines vary so wildly from machine to machine depending on maintenance--is the cable well oiled? Is the weight pulled up from a plastic-coated wire rope, or a thick inflexible rubber band? At the university gym, Mr Marmot can pull 200lbs in his cable row; yesterday, he could barely do 145lbs. It is frustrating to try to consistently mark progress when equipment can be so radically different.

In spite of the gym frustrations, we've gotten a few little workouts in. Below the jump are the last lower-body and upper-body days, including our first kettle bell lifts.

A quick note on kettle bells, now that we have gotten to use a proper weight (instead of our bocce ball experiment a few weeks ago): they are amazing! It was much more cardiovascularly difficult than I had anticipated, and as I was in my last 10 swings of each set I was definitely ready to be done. That said, once we left the gym I didn't feel noticeably sore or fatigued at all; I guess we're both just used to lifting a lot heavier than 20lbs. Still, it's a great exercise to add to the repertoire.

Lower body: May 10 (last day at university gym)

Warmups: 20 toe-touch squats; 20 spiderman lunges; 20 twisting knee-kicks per side


Pancho, Back Squat:
45lbs x 5
115lbs x 5
105lbs x 5
105lbs x 5


Marmot: squat --> minor hip pain.
3 sets of 20 lunges.


Pancho, Front Squat:
45lbs x 8
45lbs x 8
45lbs x 8


Marmot: 
25lb plate lunge x 30
35lb plate lunge x 30
45lb plate lunge x 20


Pancho, Deadlift:
135lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
135lbs x 5


Marmot, Deadlift:
135lbs x 5
225lbs x 5
245lbs x 2
245lbs x 1 (held up)
255lbs x 0 (grip failure)
225lbs x 0 (grip failure)


Marmot, hang 35seconds, 3 sets

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Upper body day, May 11 (free week-long pass at one of the "has one squat rack" gyms)


Pull ups:
Pancho: 3 (close grip, fatter bar than at old gym)
Marmot: 18 (closer grip)
Pancho: 3
Marmot: 10
Pancho: 2 (grip fail)


Dumb bell bench:
Pancho: 25lbs x 15
Marmot: 55lbs x 15
Pancho: 30lbs x 12
Marmot: 55lbs x 15
Pancho: 30lbs x 10
Marmot: 60lbs x 8


Standing press:
Pancho: 40lbs x 5 (held 10sec last rep)
Marmot: 60lbs x 12
Pancho: 40lbs x 5 (held 10 sec)
Marmot: 60lbs x 10
Pancho: 40lbs x 3 (shoulder clicking, stopped early)
Marmot: 45lb olympic bar x 7


Kettlebell Swing:
Pancho: 15lbs x 50
Marmot: 20lbs x 50
Pancho: 20lbs x 50
Marmot: 35lb x 50
Pancho: 20lb x 50
Marmot: 35lbs x 25
Marmot: 35lbs x 30


Seated row + 30 sec plank as rest between sets
Pancho: 55lb x 15
Marmot: 145lb x 10
Pancho: 55lb x 15
Marmot: 145lb x 8
Pancho: 70lbs x 10
Marmot: 145lbs x 5