Friday 2 April 2010

Good Friday indeed

Gym Ninja thought she'd start typing today's blog before her workout, and then complete it afterwards. Saves time you see!

So, currently you are all with Gym Ninja prior to her planned gym session. Remember, she cannot attend the gym tomorrow for her usual Saturday Slaughter Session due to her final exams, so will have to work extra hard today instead.

Yes, that'd be 'at the gym on Good Friday'.

Do you think that is odd, or ok? Gym Ninja is actually looking forward to spending time at the gym without rushing or clock-watching. It is the first  day of a 2 week holiday from work and so GN is expecting that tiredness may hit, in the way it can do when you take a break from work. However, her mind is about to over-rule her body & tell it to get a move on!  Today's plan is cardio & upper body training. Exciting! Especially as Gym Ninja has a few new moves to try for her upper body...

OK...see you on the other side...

Okey dokey, Gym Ninja is back. Back from the gym, and my my, what a busy little place it is on a Good Friday.  Everyone and their dog was in today, which did surprise Gym Ninja somewhat as not all Bank Holidays pack the gym out. Ah, but wait. It's GOOD FRIDAY. People must be in making room for their impending Easter Eggs. That'll be it.

Today Gym Ninja was working upper body and then chucking in some cardio afterwards. Warming up on the X Trainer for 5 minutes, followed by some Dynamic warm up stretches and GN was now ready to start lifting.  Running the gauntlet of supine bodies on mats, Gym Ninja managed to locate a spare Swiss Ball and grabbed a dumbbell to start doing bent over dumbbell rows for her back. The instability of the ball meant that the core would engage more, making the exercise feel that little bit different to her body and hopefully getting better results.
Hmm, Gym Ninja had inadvertently colour-matched herself with the Swiss Ball today! The purple top was the exact same shade as the ball. How stupid did GN now feel? Why did she not pick the green Swiss Ball? Duh!

It is sometimes hard to focus on your own workout when being distracted by others at the gym. All it takes is for your eyes to wander as you watch your own form in the mirror and bam! Something catches your eye and that's it. Focus ruined. Today, Gym Ninja was sabotaged by a woman, walking on the treadmill, whilst overhead triceps pressing a 6kg dumbbell. Yep, AS SHE WALKED. Recipe for disaster? Yup! Did she fall off? Not that GN is aware of, but surely it's only a matter of time?  Talking of treadmills, 'Huggy' was in. Now Huggy is a woman who sets herself up on a slight incline on a treadmill at a brisk walking pace and then HUGS the trop of the treadmill whilst leaning backwards. So effectively, the brisk pace and the slight incline Huggy chose to help increase calorie burn, is now negated by the fact she is clinging onto the treadmill in a big bear-hug. Why not just get a Stannah Stair Lift and be done with it?

Whilst at the gym, Gym Ninja could not fail to notice the amount of 'Beefcake' that was training today. Big muscular men with well honed muscles that flexed as they trained. You gotta love the big muscular guys eh? Makes boring LSD cardio on the treadmill a tad more interesting...and this in turn made Gym Ninja compile her list of the male equivalent of the female Honeytrap moves that guys do, to catch the eyes of us women....thus follows the most popular ones:

Peacock Exercises.

1.  Posterior Delt Cable Peacock.
This is where the guys set up the high cables, cross them over and standing facing them, perform a posterior deltoid move. Standing in that position, arms outstretched in a cross style, shows off nicely all the muscularity of the arms and shoulders and makes for a rather enjoyable 'show' front or back.

2.  Pull Ups Peacock.
The KING of all Peacock moves (and you guys thought it would be the bench press us ladies love to watch the most eh?). To watch a guy pull his entire body up to a bar, his lats rippling and fanning out with effort, is quite a show indeed. It's rare to find a guy strong enough to do many of these, and the way the muscles ripple is just soooooooooooo impressive. Think of the lats fanning out as a gym-based equivalent of how the hood of a cobra fans out to make it look fierce. THEN you will understand why this is such an effective move. It's not about the chest guys...its the back EVERY time! Makes a guy look strong & powerful.

3. The Squat Peacock
The very fact a guy squats and trains his legs full stop is a turn on. It means you guys are telling us ladies that underneath those tracksuit bottoms are legs bigger than ours and not skinny pipe cleaner legs.  Men, you may have a rocking upper body but please DO train your legs too. We like legs!

4. Suns out Guns Out Peacock.
Effectively any arm exercise really. Gym Ninja thinks it's always a good sign when a guy has arms bigger than her waist. All in proportion of course, but muscular shapely arms  are mmmmm. And you guys know it!

So there you have it!  We ALL play the games at the gym.

After the workout Gym Ninja got her Maximuscle shaker filled with 200mls cold water ready to dispense the bag of choc mint Promax protein powder with a dash of Creatamax (creatine) mixed in, into it. Post-workout nutrition is SO important.

*shake shake shake shake shake* Went Gym Ninja with the Maximuscle shaker bottle, ensuring all the powder would be mixed without lumps.

*slurp*

Oh.

Gym Ninja had been struck down with Bimboitis. She'd just glugged a mouthful of water, having forgotten to pour in the powder before shaking it up!  Stupid Gym Ninja!

OK, so GN needs to go now as she has some last minute prep to do ready to prepare for tomorrow's practical FINAL exam. The exam isn't until the afternoon, however GN and her colleague are practicing in the morning to calm their nerves. Wish Gym Ninja luck...THIS IS IT!!!!!

Gym Ninja x