Iron rails & iron weights

Thursday, May 29, 2008
11:01:00 PM EDT
It's all in the positioning

I sometimes wonder why I do such stupid things.  Like today.  After arriving at Ronkonkoma on the shuttle from Medford, the shuttle having been on time as usual, I decided to take the 7:04 express to Penn rather than the 6:56 Flatbush Avenue train.  Almost every time I take the 7:04 it turns out to be a big mistake.  Any doubts on this score were settled, thank you very much, when a large man plopped next to me at Deer Park.  He wasn't elephantine, not exactly, but was about 45 to 50 pounds over the tolerability level.  I prepared myself for a miserable trip into Penn, and cursed my decision not to take the Flatbush Avenue train.  When will I ever learn?  The only saving grace is that by positioning myself in a certain way, twisted to the left a bit, I was barely able to make enough room.  Barely.  Fortunately there were no delays into Penn, and I spent much of it reading (The Aspern Papers, by Henry James) so the time went by fairly quickly.  I waited quite a while for a 1 train to Houston Street, something on the order of six or seven minutes.  Too long for rush hour.

Getting home was a comparative breeze, with a fast transfer at 14th getting me to Penn just in time to catch the 5:22 to Ronkonkoma.  It was crowded, but I was able to find an aisle seat next to a not-too-large woman of about 50.  Thanks to Mr. James, not to mention the Russian dude who created Tetris, it was a speedy enough ride.  I got picked up in Ronkonkoma, so no shuttle tonight.


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This entry has 5 comments: (Add your own)

• #5 Comment from luchaaar27 
  5/31/08 12:56 AM | Permalink

  One mistake people make is doing any kind of DL for reps.  It's a full-body, multi-joint(compound) exercise.  DL's are to weight lifting what the butterfly is to swimming, and you don't see too many people going for distance(reps) in the butterfly.  
  
  I think you mentioned that you do squats in certain bar where you hold two handles and stand inside the bar.  I've done those and they kind of mimic the DL because the upper body is fully engaged.
• #4 Comment from r32r38Entry Author 
  5/30/08 3:54 PM | Permalink

  I usually do SLDL's, which are a variation on Romanian deadlifts, though for the last couple of weeks I've been lazy and haven't done them.  You are right, they are a very good whole-body exercise.
• #3 Comment from luchaaar27 
  5/30/08 2:54 AM | Permalink

  What do you think of the romanian deadlift?  
  
  I like it better than regular deadlifts.  RDL's pump up the entire body and add mass like regular deadlifts.
  
  I think some guys are worse on the cellphones, and even worse on the walkie-talkie style cell phones where you can hear the entire conversation.
• #2 Comment from r32r38Entry Author 
  5/30/08 12:10 AM | Permalink

  Women usually take up less room than men, but they can be more annoying in terms of chattering nonstop on their cell phones. Some women also carry huge oversized purses that end up infringing on my space as much as an elephantine SCA.  The ideal person to sit next to is a smaller man, by which I mean one who's under 160 pounds or so, but they aren't too common on the LIRR.
• #1 Comment from luchaaar27 
  5/29/08 11:37 PM | Permalink

  I always try to sit next to a girl on a train, plane or bus.  They sit with their legs closed and usually take up less space, and then you don't have to worry about people like the guy you had to sit with.
  
  No weights this week?