new toy

[piranha]

since i now know that i am serious about lifting heavy, and the rack i got fits me so badly, i decided to take advantage of the black friday craziness to buy a power rack.



1000 lb capacity. that'll do me for a while, *snrk*. the holes are 1.5" apart on centre, so that'll make it pretty easy to put the bar pretty much where i need it.

it has a dip station (that'll be great for my main functional assistance exercise, dips, so i can learn to hoist myself out of the kayak properly), and a chin-/pull-up bar.

i didn't get the lat attachment, though i will miss it a little. it would make the whole assembly protrude too far into the living room. the paramour does some exercises for which it would be useful; if we have room after we move, we can buy it then if we need it. we will probably move within the year, but no idea yet where.

it'll be nice to work out with actual safeties in place. not that i need them quite yet, but i am getting closer, and it'll be reassuring, especially while i wobble on bench. i had looked up alternate safety procedures for dumping weights, and they're all dangerous to any cats that might be in the vicinity, which is a non-starter.

i also got resistance bands so i can do assisted dips and chin-/pull-ups. and an olympic dumbbell handle.

now i just gotta build a bench that fits me. that'll be relatively easy.

Comments

[pameladean]

Whoa. That is SERIOUS.

When R and I were doing strength training, we eventually had to shut the cats out of the room. They were endlessly fascinated with the exercises, and even a two-pound weight is really not good for cats.

P.

[ephemera]

That is a most impressive new toy ;)

(My ex used to shut our cat out of the room when he was lifting, more I think to avoid her deciding to jump on him when he was mid-lift than for any other reason, but - don't know if that is an option in your accomodations / with your cats.)

[piranha]

no, not an option (or i would have taken it).

bacchus jumps on me when i am doing core exercises, especially planks. a good test of my abdominal pressure is whether i lose all tightness at the sudden impact (he is a big cat). ;)

[piranha]

yeah, it IS serious. :D

if our living quarters allowed for it, i might have shut them out, yeah (though i'd still have gotten a rack, for my own safety). but it's too small, and the main room in which pretty much everything happens opens right to the outdoors, so the only way to shut them out is to herd them all outside and then block the cat door. that seems very unfair to me, especially when it's cold or rainy.

they are, of course, endlessly fascinated by anything new i do. bacchus has decided that when i do planks or pushups, he needs to give me more weight to handle by jumping on my back. persis breathes into my ear and occasionally licks it. eightball drags his butt and tail across my face. adversity is supposed to make me stronger, right?

[pameladean]

I am, very seriously, impressed.

And yeah, we were luck to have a door to close. A better place for the workouts would have been in the open-plan part of the house, but cats made that impossible. And they were not as, um, involved as yours are, though way too much involved for our comfort.

We call this behavior Feline Assistance. It is very difficult to do anything around here without it.

P.