Plugging away

Sep29
by Duf on September 29, 2014 at 5:38 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

tumblr_msf1ggIyQt1rkxks9o1_400[1]So I am on week two of my revised fitness program.  I think Cindy cutting down on meal portion sizes has already started to help.  I dropped a pound and a half last week without thinking about it.  On Sunday I did another track 5K at an 8:55 average pace, slow compared to what I’d like to do but faster than I have maintained in quite awhile and substantially faster than the 5K I just ran one week prior.

Today I super-setted bench pressing with pull ups.  Throwing the pull ups in there definitely knocks down my bench press endurance.  I again went no higher than 185 pounds with my reps. However overall it felt like a more effective total body workout than just all push.

On my last rep of my last set of incline bench press I came dangerously close to not being able to re-rack the weight.  My muscles seized and my field of vision shrunk as I channeled whatever energy I had left into getting the bar up to the hooks to avoid an embarrassing and awkward fail.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

18 pull ups

Barbell bench press 135lbs x 10

12 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 8

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 6

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 6

10 pull ups

Incline barbell bench press 135lbs x 10

10 pull ups (had to drop off and regrip for reps 9&10)

Incline barbell bench press 155lbs x 8

4 minutes A2G hold

 

 

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Ray’s Way Sandwich

Sep26
by Duf on September 26, 2014 at 7:40 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Ray's Way

barbell-rollout[1]Today I did a hybrid workout.  I combined three rounds of Ray’s Way with core exercises, doing a different core movement in between my RW movements.  One of those core movements was L-sit holds.  I was very disappointed in my ability to still perform the movement, I could only hold it for a couple seconds compared to my 15-20 second hold I have on tape in my YouTube library.  It just reenforced in my head I need to get back to more calisthenics basics.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

18 pull ups

20 hanging knee raises

15 dips

Floor L-seat hold

20 push ups

Hanging L-seat hold

10 pull ups

10 ab wheel roll outs

15 dips

2 dragon flags (bad hand grip)

20 push ups

20 hanging knee raises

15 dips

Hanging L-seat hold

20 push ups

10 ab wheel roll outs

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Little adds up to a lot

Sep24
by Duf on September 24, 2014 at 5:38 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

indexSo when I am in the middle of a cardio session that is difficult I find myself very easily perturbed.  Today as I was doing the treadmill portion of my lunchtime brick this was once again the case.   When I started there was somebody on the treadmill behind me that squealed something awful. (the treadmill not the person)  Now of course it is not the runners fault that the treadmill made this noise however there were at least 25 other empty treadmills available, I’m sure more than a few didn’t squeal.  Luckily it just became background noise eventually.

Unfortunately there was another, much more annoying gym patron there on another treadmill to my right.  They way most treadmills are designed the front of the belt is covered by a plastic lead edge that keeps feet away from the motors and other internal parts of the machine.  Once in awhile if you are not paying attention you could hit that front plastic part with your foot if you were running too far forward on the belt.

Well evidently this man either lacked the physical coordination to keep himself centered on the running surface or he just liked being an annoying asshole.  Every 5 or 6 seconds you would hear four or five bangs as he hit the plastic with his sneaker.   This went on for at least 10 minutes until he thankfully stepped off his treadmill.  It was incredibly annoying and continued despite my shooting him some stinkeye across the gym floor.  Idiot.

My brick went relatively well although my return to the gym this week after a two week layoff meant I was carrying some additional muscle soreness into today’s session.

Today’s Workout

18 pull ups

Run/Bike brick – 20 minute run @ 1% incline – 2.17 miles covered – 10 minute bike @ level 6 difficulty – 2.71 miles covered

10 pull ups

 

 

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Less bulk

Sep23
by Duf on September 23, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

Ankle-stretch.Rotary-calf[1]So as part of my quest to be more lean and mean I need to make a few changes. First is in what I am consuming.  When I was on my own, my diet was pretty bare bones.  Since I generally don’t like to cook I usually made simple meals with some sort of fish protein and a side of vegetables. If I loaded up on the plate it would be something like broccoli which you really can’t eat too much of.

Well since Cindy came into my life I have been treated to her fantastic cooking.  She prepares meals and deserts that far exceed in quality anything I would make for myself. (except my chocolate birthday cake)  The problem is it results in me downing significantly more calories than I used to.  So step one is me being more mindful of how much of her great food I am consuming.  I already am looking to make some simple changes that could easily save me 500-1000 calories a week that I won’t miss.

The other change is my fitness plan.  For most of 2014 my focus has been power lifting movements like squat, deadlift and most recently bench press.  I have gotten away from punishing circuit training which manages to push your endurance and strength limits.  The lack of that push and the calories those type of workouts consume has surely helped to mire me at my current weight.

The simple cure is to do what I used to do, more circuits, more reps, and more bodyweight driven exercise.  When you are moving against your own mass it seems the natural flow is for that mass to go down over time.

As part of my new direction I hope to keep a supersetting/circuit element to every work out I do.  Although today was primarily a leg/lower body day, in between every lower body exercise I was throwing a set of pull ups and push ups.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

8 high pull ups

Arcs squat machine 140lbs x 10

10 pull ups

20 push ups

Arcs squat machine 180lbs x 10

10 pull ups

20 push ups

Arcs squat machine 220lbs x 5

8 pull ups

20 push ups

Leg extension with 1 sec pause at top 100lbs x 10

8 pull ups

20 push ups

Leg extension with 1 sec pause at top 120lbs x 10

8 pull ups

20 push ups

Kneeling leg curl 120lbs x 12

8 pull ups

20 push ups

Rotary calf machine 110lbs x 12

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Struggle

Sep22
by Duf on September 22, 2014 at 5:53 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities, Old Age

10689722_10153223377277841_5845860001798606967_nSo I am back from our nearly two week Western Road trip.  My picture posing move of the trip was the elbow planche which I did in various scenic locations.  I had hoped to do a lot more pull ups for my 1000 pull up challenge but only managed to throw in 10 while we were on the Barr Trail.

Exercise-wise I did no other weight/resistance training during the trip.  Our only tangible exercise was walking around and the two hikes we did.  One was two miles up Barr Trail which eventually leads to the 14,000 ft+ Pike’s Peak summit.

The other was in Durango, hiking up the side of Smelter Mountain.  That climb got progressively more steep and dangerous as we neared the top.  I was disappointed when we failed to reach  the summit after the wash we were ascending met up with a pure vertical corner of rock that was approximately 30-40 feet high.  If my life depended on it I could have probably made the final climb but with absolutely no safety gear and my unwillingness to put Cindy at risk we decided to slowly make our way back down.  Both hikes were made more difficult because of the elevation.  Both Cindy and I were sucking wind much faster than we expected.10575425_10153214159622841_9215090680271831406_o

This past weekend I tried to get my body back in the swing of things by running 5K on Saturday and biking 13 miles on Sunday.  I didn’t feel particularly good doing either.

I already knew I was going to struggle going to the gym.  My strength seems to drop off rapidly, even after a relatively short couple week break.  I decided to superset between reps of 185 pounds on the bench press and pull ups.  I just could not believe how poor my endurance was.

It’s like I have no lactic acid tolerance, my recovery between exercises is terrible when supersetting or doing a circuit.  Of course I have been complaining about this for quite awhile and for the same amount of time I have suggested that getting my weight back down between 175 and 180 pounds would probably help.

Cindy and others have told me that my current weight of 185ish pounds looks better on me.  That may be the case but I personally feel better weighing less.  Call it my inner anorexic talking but the bottom line is 10 pounds less I was doing things with body weight training and endurance conditioning that I can’t remotely consider doing at the moment.  I need to stop talking about making that number drop and do more to make it happen.

Not being able to do what I could before makes me feel mentally weak.  I don’t enjoy that sensation.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

18 pull ups

Barbell bench press 135lbs x 10

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 8

10 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 6

8 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

8 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

8 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

8 pull ups

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

8 pull ups

 

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