So many things to see

Nov18
by Duf on November 18, 2014 at 6:27 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Injuries

25-Most-Stupid-Gym-Fails-6[1]Today the gym was very full, probably the fullest I have ever seen the Wellness Center since joining. My theory was the snowbirds that migrate for the holidays are now arriving in mass. There were a LOT of faces in there that I have not seen before and it seemed like the majority of them had no idea what they were doing.  I saw so much bad form and plain silliness that I found my own workout time being cut into from watching the spectacle around me.

There was one man however that stood above all others in entertainment value.  He was short with glasses.  I would describe his build as average and would estimate his age in the neighborhood of 60.   His Adidas sport short sleeve shirt was neatly tucked into his color coordinated shorts.

His workout weapon of choice were 10 pound dumbbells.  What he did with them could best be described as “pulsate”.  He would do short, spastic movements with the dumbbells in various odd angles and positions.  The most bizarre looking one of all was when he had his upper arms pinned to the sides of his chest.  He then leaned backwards and held the 10 pounders in such a way that they were about chin height.  He then fluttered the dumbbells inward and outward, he sort of looked like a middle aged, small,  T-rex flailing it’s baby arms.  I can say without hesitation that despite 25 years + of observing weird things at the gym and watching countless, funny people at the gym videos, I have NEVER seen anyone do anything like this.  Cool.

I began my scaled back poundage workouts today in an attempt to reduce hardcore straining.  I kept all my sets at the same lower resistance level but concentrated on getting more reps with shorter, defined rest periods.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

50 push ups

Squat machine 140lbs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Unilateral leg extension with strict 30 second rest period & one sec pause at top – 50lbs (each leg) x 10 reps x 3 sets

Kneeling leg curl with strict 30 second rest period – 50lbs (each leg) x 10 reps x 3 sets

Rotary calf extension with strict 30 second rest period – 100lbs x 10reps x 3 sets

40 push ups

 

 

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23 + 3, strain = pain

Nov17
by Duf on November 17, 2014 at 6:37 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

1000pullupsOn Saturday I finally got back onto the 1000 pull ups on video bandwagon.  I started off trying to max out my single set reps.  I chalked up my hands and bar and managed to squeeze out 23 pull up reps which I am pretty sure is my best effort in 2014.  I was happy about this.  I was not happy when I ripped open three blisters on the second set.  While chalk has always helped me when going for max rep sets it also has the nasty side effect of causing blisters very quickly.  I had to cut back on my total reps once the blisters opened.  I did a total of 64 reps to get me to an even 500 on tape.

The blisters affected my workout today as well, I only did pushing movements.  Pull ups are off the near term workout menu.  When I was doing a few of my heavy dumbbell chest reps I was pushing hard and really straining to get the weights to the locked out position.  I could feel the strain throughout my entire body, including sensitive areas I have been struggling with for the last 6 months.  Of course once I felt that my set was done.

I need to find the line I can approach without crossing over to doing more harm than good.

I pre-fatigued my chest work with a set of 50 push ups at the start of the session.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

50 push ups

Dumbbell chest press – 50lbs x 10, 65lbs x 8, 80lbs x 5

Pec deck machine – 130lbs x 10, 175lbs x 10, 205lbs x 6

Incline dumbbell chest press – 60lbs x 10, 70lbs x 8

 

 

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Many mongerers

Nov12
by Duf on November 12, 2014 at 6:48 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

parking-tight+space[1]Although overall I am happy with my switch to the Wellness Center there are definitely some cons to working out there. These are becoming more glaring as snowbird season is now here.  Since the gym is located right by downtown Naples traffic is becoming more and more of an issue.  The streets are increasingly clogged with stiff necked, 10 mph under the speed limit driving, no depth perceiving old folks that can make the 4 mile drive pretty aggravating.

The parking situation in the garage can get annoying as well, to be more specific the people waiting for parking.  When I park, which is on the exiting side of the garage, I grab the first spot I see, regardless of how far out it is.  Well there has been a consistent increase in parking space mongering the last several weeks. Mongering is the behavior of waiting for a vehicle to pull out and blocking all vehicles behind you in the process.

Today I couldn’t believe it when an old fart waited for me to walk 50 yards to see if I was going to step into one of the vehicles in front of him so he could grab the spot.  As I walked past him I just shook my head in disdain as I looked at the 5 cars he was blocking behind him.  The scary thing is we aren’t even into the worst part of season yet.

My brick today once again substituted rowing for running.  I covered more distance this time than my last 20 minute session by a little over 100 meters so that is cool.  Although the total body workout with rowing feels far more beneficial than running, I still sweat more pounding away on the treadmill.  That being said I am becoming more and more of a rowing fan.  No impact, easier with some of my other “issues”, while working the upper and lower body at the same time.

Today’s Workout

Training brick

20 minutes Concept 2 Rower – 2579 meters covered

10 minutes recumbent bike level 8 – 2.70 miles covered

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Pulsating head bangers

Nov10
by Duf on November 10, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

fitstation[1]So one thing the Wellness Center does not have is good pull up equipment.  The choices are a lame power tower or moving the smith machine bar to it’s highest setting which is still way too low for good form pull ups.  Well today I saw someone utilizing the power tower for a new movement that I have named PHB’s (pulsating head bangers).

The power tower has neutral grips inside the conventional pronated grip bars in the tower.  They are relatively close together, maybe 8-12 inches apart.  Well there was a man on the tower doing “pull ups” however the front of his body was facing away from the tower, placing his head squarely under the neutral grips.  He then began his reps which consisted of banging his head on the nuetral grips, pulsating downward no more than 6 inches and bouncing upward again for another cranium impact.  I’m not sure if he intended to have an artificial head stop in his reps or if he just didn’t realize the benefits of turning the other, obstacle free way.  Regardless I don’t think he accomplished much besides a mild headache.

I did my first upper body pressing work in at least two weeks after injuring my shoulder doing decline bench.  I was nervous as I did my first few bench press reps.  I could feel the affected area through the range of motion but no outright pain so I continued.  I kept the weight light, not going above my 185 pound body weight. Hopefully there won’t be any repercussions other than normal soreness this week.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

21 pull ups

Barbell bench press 135lbs x 10

1o pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 8

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

Horizontal dumbbell pull over – 60lbs x 10, 70lbs x 8

A2G hold 4 minutes

 

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Friday flags

Nov07
by Duf on November 7, 2014 at 6:58 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

bruce-lee-dragon-flags[1]Today was just a mix of mostly core work.  I did 3 sets of dragon flags as part of the workout.  On my first set I only did 3 because my upper body was slipping on the damn plastic flooring that covers the Wellness Center.  On my next two sets I used a rubber mat which eliminated the sliding.  There is so much torque spread across your body while doing dragon flags that even a little slipping can screw things up.

My right shoulder is still injured although I was able to hold a 60 second wall handstand without any pain.  It’s when I ask the joint to move through range of motion while carrying a load that causes problems.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

20 hanging knee raises

3 dragon flags

45 second extended side plank (both sides)

20 p-bar  knee raises

5 dragon flags

60 second wall handstand

20 dowel rotations

20 hanging knee raises

5 dragon flags

unilateral standing 50 lb side raises

20 second full extension plank

 

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