Shannon’s BodyBlog

So I was at the cable station doing rope pressdowns when a guy gets set up to do low rows.

I’m counting out my 20 reps when I see his stack of plates go up and down.  I realized, he’s pulling on the whole stack of plates.  I was like, "Damn, I can’t believe he’s doing the whole stack of plates."

He stops before I get a chance to look at what he’s doing.

We’re both resting and soon it’s time for him to start up again.

While standing, he puts one foot on the foot rest, and then the other foot on the foot rest….all while his ass never touching the bench.

He uses his legs and the weight of his body to pull back on the stack and then rests his butt on the bench and starts to:

Row

row

row that f*cking boat,

gently down the f*cking stream,

merrily merrily merrily merrily

life is but a f*cking dream.

Just like when you were a kid and you sit feet to feet with your friend and pull back and forth while singing that song (sans the F-word).
I just rolled my eyes and continued with my next set.

Another guy gets on the other low row bench and gets set up to do the rows.

I look to see what he’s doing and he does the same damn amount of weight in the same manner of style.

What a couple of nincompoops.

They both looked like this guy:

Now where is a know-it-all when you need him?

I just did cardio in my granny nightgown decorated with little ruffles and tiny pink roses.

Cardio:  500

At the beginning of the video, pay attention to the man to the left of the screen doing leg extensions.  And then, click to 5:40 at the end of the video.  What do you notice?

What I really wanted to write about was doing ground squats and was looking for a video that demonstrates it the way Janthony told me to do them.  The guys in the videos I found are NOT doing them the way I wanted ya’ll to see.

But basically, hold the heaviest DB’s you can manage (I do 45’s), and you squat until the DB’s touch the ground.  I do 3 sets of 10 supersetted with lying leg curls.  It’s a great exercise to do AND it’s great for your cardiovascular health.  I am ALWAYS out of breath before I’m out of strength.  Try them.

Cardio:  500

There is a new show on the National Geographic channel called, Alone in the Wild.

It’s an experiment to see if advernture man, Ed, can survive 3 months in the wildnerness of the Yukon Territory in Canada.

He is not a survivalist and has no experience in this.  It may turn out that he gives up altogether and not complete living up there for the 3 months.

I saw the first episode where they drop him off into the middle of nowhere.  There are no camera men with him either, or producers camped out nearby in swank tents.

He ate some fish, found a few berries and slept in an enclosed hammock.

That was enough to break the man by day TWO.

He starts crying into the camera (Blair Witch Project style) complaining he can’t think straight and that he only slept for four hours the night before.

I asked my husband, “Did he say it’s Day 2?”

He confirmed that that is what the man said.

I said, “He’s complaining about only getting 4 hours of sleep?  He must not have kids.”

And then I kept thinking about the men and women on this site who train for shows and the kinds of diets they have.  I don’t think he’d survive that lifestyle either.

Weight Training:  Legs

OK, you might think, "Yeahhh, RIGHT", when I tell you that from here on out, I’m not going to let anyone interrupt my workouts ANYMORE!  I’ve had a couple of stories already where I’ve written about one old man (the Tiva wearing know-it-all) telling me how to do my workout and I’ve written about another guy the other day who was talking to me while I was in the middle of counting my reps.

Neither one of these guys suffered the consequences for their lack of manners and good gym sense.

Well, the next guy who lacks good judgement in the common courtesy department is going to get an earful from me.

I don’t know if I can channel my inner Janthony-Hermtheworm and call a guy ‘Mother F*cker’, simply because I would think of them saying it to someone and bust out laughing.   Laughing would destroy my credibility as someone not to f*ck around with during her workouts.

Now, yesterday, I saw the Tiva guy at the gym and I was DREADING him being there.  There was good reason for it as I was soon to find out.
I was at the F*CKING CABLE STATION.  Sound familiar so far??????

I was doing low rows and he was at the opposite side doing lat pulldowns.

I got up after completing my set to start the straight arm pulldowns (superset).

He says, "You don’t raise the weight for each set?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Why not?  How are you going to get deep into the muscle?"

I said (and why the F*CK to I entertain these people??), "I pick a weight that I can get through with the last two reps being difficult to do while still keeping good form."

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever."

WHATEVER?  F*ck YOU.  He was getting me piping hot steamed.

Leave me ALONE!

So I go back to do low rows again and he starts his next set of lat pulldowns.  I swear to God, I don’t know what got into him, maybe it was like a dog pissing on someone as a way of showing how displeased he is with that person, but he spread his legs really wide and proceeded to do his lat pulldowns like this guy:

Which made me even angrier because he’s telling ME what to do and then HE goes and does something completely WRONG???

GRRRRRRRR!!

I’m sure you’re sick of me writing about these people.  This is the last time because I won’t let someone allow me to write a blog post the next time.

Cardio:  500

The PM’s I receive from men complimenting me about how hot I am, or whatever, are few and far between.  I make it a policy to ignore them, but every once in a blue moon, I receive PM’s like this in which it is my policy to post it on my blog along with their profile name:

From:  Robshady

You have got a beautiful body and face. The only thing missing from all those pics of your tight ass is my face. I’m sorry I totally apologize for the last comment but if you are cool with that I could arrange it. You can come visit me in Germany and ….. Wish you were my stay at home Mom.

He’d want to stick his face in his own mom’s ass?

Let me just say that the only thing missing from HIS ass is my size 9 shoe.

Cardio:  500

Weight Training:  Bi’s, back, abs

Scene:  Cable station

Character:  Bob

I’m at the part of the cable station where I’m getting set to do rope pressdowns when an older gentleman sits at the cable row section right next to me and gets set up to do low rows.

Bob:  I saw you do those things, um, where you uhhhh you know push up with your hands.  On that thing over there uhhhh the Smith?

Me:  Oh, the bench press on the Smith machine?

Bob:  Yeah yeah.  I was very impressed at the weight you did.  Very good for a girl.

Me:  Thanks.

I begin my set of 20 pressdowns, counting in my head, 1-2-3

Bob:  How often do you workout?

Me:  Up to 6 days a week.

4-5-6-7

Bob:  Whoooaaa.  Be careful there.  You’re going to hurt yourself working out that often.

Me:  Well, I don’t work the same body part each day, I do a split routine.

uhhh…6-7-sh*t where was I - 7? - 8? - ah hell

Bob:  I only workout once a week and boy I have to be careful that I don’t over do it.

Me: Hmm.

9-10

Bob:  You know why I’m still talking to you.  I want to make sure you have focus on what you’re doing.  And I see that you’re form is good, so you’ve got pretty good focus.

Me:  I have 3 kids, so I have practice in focusing on something while I’m being interrupted.

11-12-13-14

Bob:  How many kids do you have?

Me:  3

16-17

Bob:  What are they’re ages.

Me:  6, 7 and 9

Ahh fuuuuck.  Where was I?  15?  16

Bob:  Wow, I didn’t think you were old enough to have 3 kids.  Do you cook dinner too?

Me:  Yes.

damn -18-19-20

Bob:  Boy, you have a busy day with 3 kids, cooking and working out.

Just then a man who was sitting next to us on a bench during this entire conversation takes a couple of steps toward me and asked if I was finished.

I told him I only did my first set, but he could work in with me.

So he did his thing and left.

A.  I was on only one section of 3 different unused sections of the cable station where he could’ve done rope pressdowns.

B.   He put the pin back into the 20 lb plate, instead of the 30 lb plate.

Couldn’t he see I was Ronnie F*cking Coleman?  Yeah buddy!

Bob:  Well I better get started on my own workout here.

Me (in my head):  Please do that for f*ck’s sake.

Bob:  What is your name?

Me: Shannon

Bob:  My name is Bob.  I wanted to get your name so I’d know it if I run into you again.

Me:  Only if what’s standing in between us is a brick wall.

(I didn’t really say that)

Weight training doesn’t just help you look good and be healthy.

Weight training can get you through the practical tasks of your day a whole lot easier.

For instance, when I have to carry grocery bags into the house, I can hang almost every bag onto both of my arms, carry them through the garage, into the basement, up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Doing that saves me time and the effort of making numerous trips up and down.

Another thing I can do is carry two loads of laundry upstairs.  I pile one basket on top of the other and get them to where they need to go in one fell swoop.

Now, only if the clothes made it from the basket to the drawers, well I’m working on that still.

Another thing I can do is when the kids get out of line, my legs are strong enough to kick them square in the ass and send them to the moon.

LOL, I’m just kidding.  I can only send them to the roof of the house.

Weight Training:  Chest, shoulders, tris, calves

Cardio:  400

Ahhh, it felt good to get to the gym last night.  If I go without it for more than 2 days, then I’m guaranteed to be sore in that virgin-weight-lifter-crippled-in-pain sort of way.

Plus, the kids were off the wall, so I had to get out, otherwise mama would’ve had a melt down…….

So, I’m at the gym and it is chock filled with big guys.  Some of the regular crowd I see during the day and others I’ve never seen before.

Amazingly enough, no one was on the Smith Machine…probably because I didn’t need it.  Murphy’s Law 101.

I’m at the cable station doing curls when a guy came to the section and gets set up to do curls as well.  He adjusts the pin and does his first lift.

Now, the guy is in decent condition, but not big.  So, when I see how much weight he put on for himself, I think, "Ha, I’ll bet he only gets to about 4 reps max."

Yep, he gets to 3 and struggles for that 4th rep.

He’s not yelping out like a certain someone who happened to be there last night.  But, he sounds like he’s working hard.

Anyway, I finish up and sit at the lat pulldown section of the same station and start doing my behind the head pulldowns which is still right next to the guy.

As I finish my set, I’m looking at who is on the floor, looking at the TV, staring at the plates to see if I should lift more or leave it.  My mind was wandering.  And then I hear:

"Is my breathing bothering you?"

I snapped out of my trance and said, "Huh?  No, I didn’t even really notice it."

"Oh, my breathing is sooo loud, I thought maybe it was bothering you."

"Hey, whatever gets you through the set."

"I was getting embarrassed here with how loud my breathing was."

"Believe me, I’ve heard worse."

WTF, LMAO.  I just rolled my eyes and wondered why he would be self concious about breathing heavy.

Amazingly enough, Mr. Hoohoo wasn’t barking like a seal last night.  So odd.