Gym was good!

As the title might give away, the gym was good today! I left a bit later than i wanted (10.20AM instead of 10AM). When i just got at the gym the security gates (where you scan your membership thing) was broken and i couldn't get through and i looked retarded lol. I had to wait a bit till it was fixed, so my warm up started a little bit after 10.30. There were more people than i had hoped, but the overall vibe was a bit better. There were two girls that i had seen before that always work-out together, and there were two other girls that came in later while i was warming up. There were a lot of friends there it seemed, and a lot of them were jacked gym bros, but most of them started leaving at around 10.45. There was also this scrawny kid that started accumulating some muscle mass in his arms and he was doing all his work-outs so sloppily. I wish one of the bros would've gone to him and told him how to do it properly :( No hate to him of course, but it hurts to see when someone does something wrong. But no one seemed to pay attention to him which kind of eased me into (wow, no one gives a shit about anyone in here) (nice). 

There were also a lot of old people, and later on they all congregated together at the seating area and started singing happy birthday and drinking coffee together. If i didn't have my music i would've probably left lol. They were very loud. Thank god my headphones are noise cancelling headphones.

Also, after i climbed up the stairs i got greeted by the cutest pomeranian dog. It happily hopped to me and it was wearing this tiny little coat. It was ADORABLE. Apparently, in one of the group class rooms, they were giving a presentation and some middle aged mom had brought her dog. I petted it and she was like "oh, it is being a bit naughty today". I couldn't have thought about a better way to start my day tbh lol.

I managed to do everything i wanted to do at the gym today:

• Warm-up (20 minutes)
• Hip adductors 3x15 (25kg)
• Leg press 4x15 (30>40>40>50)
• Romanian Dumbbell Deadlift 3x10 (8kg)
• Cable kick backs 3x12 (5kg)
• Leg extension 4x15 (2x10kg 2x12.5kg)
• Stretch

Warm-up was a bit daunting today. I think i did higher levels (i always forget to pay attention to it). There was a small (supposedly) gay man next to me who came in shortly after i went on the elliptical, and he went to the one next to me. At one point i wanted to do a level lower but i kept it on the same level that i had it at, so he was good motivation. He started out going pretty hard, but at one point we were in sync lol. I think he noticed it too. When i went on the stair stepper afterwards i started to feel this weird sensation in my stomach. I can't really describe it. I first thought i was going to pass out or something and i had to stop but i kept going (that might've been dumb). In the end i did it tho. At one point i kept changing the level between 5 and 6 because 5 was too easy but 6 became a bit too hard at the end. So i kept switching it up lol. But i did it in the end! Usually when i'm done with my warmups i sit against the wall and i drink water. I wait for my heartrate to go a bit down and i try to catch my breath. A lot of people say to not do hardcore cardio before your sets, but i like it because it gives me adrenaline, and it makes me push harder during work-outs. My legs also never feel tired after cardio, but i have ADHD so that might affect it too, so this might not be for everyone.

I had to do hip adductors today instead of abductors, since there was an old man on the abductor machine. Currently i am using 25kg but i think i might have to dial it down to 20. Usually my first set goes fine, but the sets after that i start to struggle. I did a warmup set with 20. So maybe i have to do 25 two times, and then after that do 20, so i can make sure to hit all my reps properly. I don't know why it is like that. I tried to do 30kg for shit and giggles and i barely could hit one rep. So getting strong enough to hit 30kg is a goal of mine right now.

After that i went to the leg press and i warmed up with 30kg. I then did two sets with 40kg. And i ended with doing 3 super sets of 6 reps with 50kg. Hopefully at the end of the month i can warm up with 40, do two sets with 50, and end with 60kg super sets!

After that i did the Romanian Dumbbell Deadlift and this was difficult for me. The loud group of old people were sitting right behind where the mirrors are, so it was a bit difficult to concentrate, but i tried to not look around and only pay attention to myself. There was a pretty big dude together with me in the weight area, but i tried to not pay attention to him. He made me a bit nervous cause he kept loading weights on his barbell and i was like "🥺i will never be that strong". The RDDLs didn't go as well as i had hoped. I did stand in front of the mirror for better posture, but i still sometimes felt it in my back. I only did the reps with 8kg. My first reps were 12 and my other two reps were 10. I couldn't do more, idk why. 

Then i finally got to do the cable kick backs. Apparently there are at least three machines there where you can do them so that is swheet. I did mine in the weight area, where there was more space. I had to wait a bit (like 10-15 minutes) for someone to help me, which was kind of annoying, but once it was explained it was easy. However, when i started doing them i didnt feel them in my glutes (like when i tried it at home at the doorpost). I hate how i practice stuff at home and it goes well, but then i go to the gym and i can't do it anymore. It is so, so frustrating. Also the cable kickbacks are a little bit harder than expected. I will practice it again at home tho and then hopefully i will be able to perform them in the gym properly on Friday.

I also realized there were two different leg extension machines, ones where you have to load the plates yourself and the ones where you stick the thingie in the weights. The guy who showed me how to do them put me on the loaded plates one, but it is at least good to know there are more, cause the one with the plates is usually taken by some gym bro. The guy who explained to me how to do it, didn't really explain much, so that was a bummer. He's an intern there and he was just like "you sit down, adjust the seat, load a plate, you are good to go" and i was like "uhhh that is it? i don't have to like brace any muscles?" and he looked at me like i was retarded. So i will have to look up the proper technique for that. I did google real quick if my feet had to point forward or up to the ceiling (the answer is up to the ceiling) cause he didn't explain that.

I also wanted to do my lat pulldowns today but i forgot about them tbh and i also didn't write them down, so i walked home and when i was home i got my two packages (a dress i ordered and hair dye cause im gonna bleach my hair), and i made my smoothie and it was perfect! I put just enough of every ingredient and it tasted soooo good. And then i started writing this while drinking my protein smoothie. Next up i will have to stretch and then i can finally start my work day.

So yeah, all in all, i would say that for Wednesday's leaving home around 10.30 would be good. I think the only problem is that both those friend groups seemed to want to go on the cardio machines that i was working out on, and the one friend group started working out at the exact same time as me, and the other one came in a little bit after that. So maybe 11 would be a better time? There was basically no one at the gym at around 11.29PM and around the time that i left some dumb fitness thot came in (which was around 12 i assume), so do want to be done at 12.