Monday

Four Goals for Today

Three hours of shoveling on Saturday and three hours of hiking on Sunday had me a little tired, which gave us a good chance to push through fatigue.

This Workout had Four Goals behind it:
1) Test the four 220's again before increasing the distance.
2) Keep pushing the pullups, increased resistance @ 5 reps.
3) Return to the Clean & Press, but at 40# and four circuits.
4) Add another new ab exercise - the 'leg raise/toe touch' - to an ab circuit.

So:
Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph (8 min mile pace)
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -140#
Dumbbell Clean and Press x 5R/5L @ 40#
Plank x 60 secs

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -140#
Dumbbell Clean and Press x 5R/5L @ 40#
Leg Raise/Toe Touches x 10

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -140#
Dumbbell Clean and Press x 5R/5L @ 40#
Swiss Ball Crunches x 30

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -140#
Dumbbell Clean and Press x 5R/5L @ 40#
Side Planks x L 30 secs /R 30 secs

Not as winded as I expected when we finished, but I am definitely feeling the new ab exercises.

Friday

Shock

Old & new exercises to shock our systems.
24 sets. It worked.

Regular Burpees x 10
Pullup bar hang x 20+ seconds
Thruster x 10 @ 45# bar
(squat into overhead press)
Prone Pullups x 5
(feet on floor, planked, pull up to squat rack bar)
(also called body row or reverse pushup)
Side planks x 20 sec each side
Swiss ball crunch x 25

Burpees x 10
Pullup bar hang x 20+ seconds
Thruster x 10 @ 45# bar
Prone Pullups x 5
Side planks x 20 sec each side
Swiss ball crunch x 25

Burpees x 10
Pullup bar hang x 20+ seconds
Thruster x 10 @ 45# bar
Prone Pullups x 5
Side planks x 20 sec each side
Swiss ball crunch x 25

Burpees x 10
Pullup bar hang x 20+ seconds
Thruster x 10 @ 45# bar
Prone Pullups x 5
Side planks x 20 sec each side
Swiss ball crunch x 25

This circuit pulled together a lot of things I wanted to work on.
- We got non-running conditioning from the burpees and showed improvement on the exercise.
- The thruster gave us a second multi-joint, full body exercise and worked on Crossfit improvement.
- We worked on getting to a real pullup by including the hang and prone pullups.
- We attacked our abs in a new way with side planks.

It was different and exhausting - just what we like.

Prone pullup, body row, reverse pushup, or whatever, it's tough.

Monday

I Hate Planks

I've been quite motivated to work hard recently, so Monday I decided on a test for this motivation: the plank.

I hate planks, with a passion. It's a hard enough exercise, being on elbows and toes & waiting for the stomach cramp, but being perfectly still, even for sixty seconds, drives me crazy.

Our lively circuits have allowed me to keep the plank in the background. I'll slip in thirty seconds or a minute here or there and generally avoid thinking about it.

Today, I would not hide from the plank.

Four circuits of low-rep power exercises with a minute of plank each time. It would be the first time of more than two successful full-minute planks in a workout.

So, The Plank Plan, with less than a minute rest between each set:

Plank x 60 seconds
Deadlift x 5 @ 175#
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -160#
Machine Dips x 5 @ -90#

Plank x 60 seconds
Deadlift x 5 @ 175#
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -160#
Machine Dips x 5 @ -90#

Plank x 60 seconds
Deadlift x 5 @ 175#
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -160#
Machine Dips x 5 @ -90#

Plank x 60 seconds
Deadlift x 5 @ 175#
Machine Pullups x 5 @ -160#
Machine Dips x 5 @ -90#

The last 15 seconds of the last plank involved a death mask and an obscenity-laden internal monologue, but I did make it. So now I have no excuses in the future. (I'll probably use music for distraction to pull it off again).

Friday

Increasing Marginal Utility

For Thursday I combined a couple of exercises I wanted to do with the Crossfit concept of decreasing reps for each repeated circuit. I was worried it wouldn't be enough. It turned out to be an excellent workout - right at the edge, where we like to be.

With as little rest as possible between sets:

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph (1 minute sprint)
Sumo Dead Lift High-Pull x 20 @ 45# (the plate)
Feet-up Pushups x 20 (feet on small Swiss Ball - similar to incline bench)
Swiss Ball Crunches x 20

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Sumo Dead Lift High-Pull x 15 @ 45#
Feet-up Pushups x 15
Swiss Ball Crunches x 15

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Sumo Dead Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 45#
Feet-up Pushups x 10
Swiss Ball Crunches x 10

Treadmill - 220 yds @ 7.5 mph
Sumo Dead Lift High-Pull x 5 @ 45#
Feet-up Pushups x 5
Swiss Ball Crunches x 5


When I rolled off the swiss ball at the end, I was done in.
The last 5 were harder than the first 20. So I think it worked.

Rich said, "That may be the best one we've done."
Considering all the different ones we've tried, that's saying a lot.

Tuesday

The Cindy

I crib a lot of workout ideas from Crossfit. The workouts are generally more than we can do, yet, but they are a great guide.

They do benchmark workout in which you have a time limit to do as many circuits as you can, or do max reps or do max weight. They are modified for ability level.

Monday we did a modified "Cindy" - their workouts have names.
It was, intense. We'll do again later in the spring.

In twenty minutes we did as many circuits as possible of:

Machine Pullups x 5 (-170)
Pushups (Hand-Release) x 10
Air Squats x 15

We made nine circuits and then time, mercifully, expired.
We almost did too.

45 pullups, 90 pushups, and 135 squats in 20 minutes.
That'll do.



For the record:
My weight 'officially' hit 270, which means 90 pounds lost.

But the fat loss is even more substantial. My new smaller pants (bought in the regular clothes section!) are starting to get loose and I spent Saturday in a new pair of much smaller jeans.

Sunday

My Guacamole

2 Avocados
1 Lime
1 Roma Tomato
1 Small Onion
1/8 tsp Chili Powder

1) Chop the avocados coarsely
2) Squeeze the juice of half a lime over them
3) Chop the tomato, add it in
4) Chop the onion, use only about 1/4 of a cup, add it in
5) Add the chili powder
6) Stir it together, squeeze the other half of the lime over it and mash it a bit.

Excellent with bacon!

Saturday

Hurt

Saturday Eating

Coffee with a shot of cream

Four eggs omelette.
- Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese
- Salsa

Salmon
Creamed Spinach
Tomatoes/Onions/Jalapenos
Boiled Eggs

Ersatz Egg Foo Yung
Shrimp
Onions
Jalapenos
Eggs
Scrambled together on a griddle

Coffee

Yogurt with Almond & Walnuts and a dash of Maple Syrup

Friday

Tabata Thursday

The plan today was to step up the intensity.
Rest assured we did.

The Tabata Protocol is basically 20 seconds of sprint followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 repetitions. This often translates into four minutes of hell. And then a two minute break.

We did four exercises by the protocol, (although admittedly the rests often stretched to 15 or 20 seconds, so we could survive).

Elliptical Machine
20 seconds @ 85+ RPM and 10 seconds @ >55 RPM x 8 sets
Getting much easier, but also first.

Controlled Burpees
5 repetitions and 10 seconds rest x 8 sets
Squat, hands on floor, step back each leg to high plank, hand release push up, step up with each leg into squat, stand. In pain and breathless.

Dumbbell Clean & Press
5 repetitions @ 30# and 10 seconds rest x 8 sets
At this point just trying to make it to the end.

Swiss Ball Crunches (Myotatic Crunch)
10 repetitions and 10 seconds rest x 8 sets
Stomach cramps on the outside.

This was a great workout for us.
Right at the edge of what we could do in half an hour.

Tuesday

A Good Sore

Working through a couple of injuries and recovering from Thursday. Our lightest workout, intensity-wise, in a while, but we worked chest, abs, & legs from different directions. It's a good sore.

Feet-up Pushups x 20
Plank x 60 seconds
Medicine Ball Thruster Throws x 10 @ 18#

Dips x 5 @ -100
Swiss Ball Crunch x 25
Lunges x 5/5

Pullups x 5 @ -130
Machine Twists x 25/25 @ 30#
Backwards Lunges x 5/5

Cable Crossover Flies x 20 @ 40#
Seated Knee-ups x 10
Air Squats x 20

This would have been a killer a year ago. Monday it felt like cheating.
We'll call that progress. Thursday, "it's on".

Thursday

Over the Line

We try to get right up next to 'the line' when we work out.
That line where you get too woozy and can't think straight or pick your arms up correctly. Or sometimes even walk. I unintentionally crossed that line today.

Rich sent me this link: http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/how-fit-are-you-draft

Which basically says that you are reasonably fit if you can do a plank for 60 seconds and can do 25 pushups. We know we can do those. (Also 5 pullups - not happening at our weight, but we could use the machine).

Of course, they called for two minute rests and slowly advancing in each. That wasn't happening. And we wanted to run.

So (with almost no breaks):
Treadmill: Ran 220 yards @ 7.5 mph
Pushups x 25
Plank x 60 seconds
(so right there, we've achieved our goal, but...)
Machine Pullups x 10 @ -180

Treadmill: Ran 220 yards @ 7.5 mph
Pushups x 25
Plank x 60 seconds (I cramped & had to stop & restart)
Machine Pullups x 10 @ -180

Treadmill: Ran 220 yards @ 7.5 mph
Pushups x 22 (my arms quit)
Plank x 30 seconds (I cramped)
Machine Pullups x 10 @ -180

Treadmill: Ran 220 yards @ 7.5 mph

It was at this point that I (think) I said, "I think I'm done."
"Yeah, me too."

Written down it doesn't sound like much. Rest assured it sent me over 'the line'.
Took about twenty minutes before I felt like driving home. We'll come back to this one.

Twenty Sets of Ten

Monday was about doing full-body exercises I haven't done regularly and pushing through muscle exhaustion.

Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 75#
(deadlift into upright row)
Thruster x 10 @ 65# (3 @75#)
(squat into military press)
Swiss Ball Crunch x 10
Machine Dips x 10 @ -130

Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 65#
Thruster x 10 @ 65#
Swiss Ball Crunch x 10
Machine Dips x 10 @ -130

Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 65#
Thruster x 10 @ 65#
Swiss Ball Crunch x 10
Machine Dips x 10 @ -130

Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 65#
Thruster x 10 @ 65#
Swiss Ball Crunch x 10
Machine Dips x 10 @ -130

Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull x 10 @ 65#
Thruster x 10 @ 65#
Swiss Ball Crunch x 10
Machine Dips x 10 @ -130

I was out of it by the last circuit.
Took me three tries to finish the dips.


Sumo Dead-Lift High-Pull


Thruster