Quick workout today, but felt good to at least do something

Hit the "prison gym" we have at the command I support as a defense contractor today.

5x5 military presses supersetted with curls with just the bar.  Hate to admit how long since I lifted, so anything was a good start back.

Getting back in the habit

Just a quick post at 2-3 minutes before midnight.  Trying to get back in the habit of working out 3-4 times a week and posting more often.  Aiming for one post a day to one of my blogs, and today is post #2, even if right at midnight.

Time for sleep!

"Rowing" Nowhere Fast

Updating the blog tonight to log today's workout and mention the latest rowing challenge on the Concept2 website.

I rowed for the first time in February today.  I'm up to 20 minute rows for one rowing workout, besides some technique and speed workouts.  I started fairly easily today but kept picking it up and realized I could average 1000m for 5 minutes with some hard but not extreme effort for most the second ten minutes.  When I got to 18 minutes, I knew 4K was in reach, and put in a bigger effort for the last minute.  The distance on the display passed 4000 meters with a few seconds to spare, so I let the machine coast down with a total of 4012 meters at 20 minutes and a few more meters as my "shell" coasted nowhere!

I logged my meters on the Concept2 website and then checked the Military Challenge, the February event on their page.  I am on the US Navy Veterans team, one of the Navy teams that rolls up for our total.  The overall U. S. Navy total is in second to the Army, who already has a pretty big lead.  They do have 40 more rowers, and our team has a higher average per rower, so there may be some hope in catching them.  If you are a Navy sailor or veteran and row, please consider joining our team!

Been active, but no workouts lately

Being honest and transparent. It's been a busy but also excuse-filled week.  Only one real workout even if it was a "two-fer" with both yoga and rowing.  While I've been active doing projects around the house since Friday, none could be considered very strenuous nor "aerobic".

But the great thing is there's always another chance in a new week to get back into a routine and get at least 4 workouts in.  Ready, set, go!

Today's workout and What a Difference A Day Makes

Just a quick post with today's workout and a note about my back hurting in different areas but better today.

Finished up the month long Virtual Challenge on the Concept 2 rower website with a 3770 meter row in 20 minutes.  Then hustled to yoga class which was good-Grace does a good job mixing static poses like plank and side plank with some flow and some holding poses long enough for us older participants to get some stretch.  Plus the consistent yoga classes for over a year now seem to have helped my focus and "monkey mind".

OK, on to my back pains, which might help others that deal with similar stuff.  Sunday I had a sharp pain in my upper middle back, which was helped by some foam roller work.  Then yesterday my lower right side of my back hurt.  I did some weed pulling in the back yard, and made sure to squat deeply instead of bend at the waist.  Plus I varied sitting and standing at work today, then the yoga class.  Everything feels pretty good right now.

To bed soon-rest is an important part of fitness too.

Quick post-yesterday's workout and plan for this week

Just a quick update before getting ready for work.

I got a short row in unexpectedly-only 555 meters but something, and then did some light yardwork for about half an hour.  Not much of a workout, but staying active.  Every little bit helps, especially as I was pretty tight yesterday and back had a "pinch".  Some foam roller time helped that out too.

Plan to row, stretch and probably lift today, aim for the yoga class Tuesday and the MRT class Thursday.  Looks like I need to put in a long aerobic day-mix of rowing and bike-sometime else.

Have a great week!

Pretty good week of workouts but no classes

Just a quick post since I haven't posted many of this week's workouts.

Mainly rowing and walking, with a bit of lifting.  Missed all the classes on base I normally take (yoga, relaxation/muscle release) but got most my planned workouts in.  I also was active and on my feet extra yesterday and today.

So I'll count this as a "4 workout week" even if 1 wasn't a true workout.

Reset the counter, tomorrow starts a new week!  What's your goal?

Twinge was a mild injury, but still after it

OK just a quick post to keep the blog going, and progress toward my writing goal for 2017.

The twinge lifting a few days ago, plus sitting a bit too much at work (stupid-as they provide stand-up desks!) resulted in sore legs and very very tight hip flexors.  Probably rowing lots after not rowing for years also is contributing, so other than a short row yesterday, I'm taking off until Sunday on the rower.

Yesterday I did the base yoga class with Grace-she's an awesome instructor and sequences the classes from vigorous flow to almost Yin Yoga.  Even the more vigorous classes are far from power or "hot" yoga, which is good for me right now.  Yesterday's class was more a Yin type class-the second half was all sitting or lying on our mats and the half pigeon poses were held for a long time, then we went to vinyasana.  No snoring-that almost happened today!  Afterwards I got the rower (the other one is still OOC.  Boo) and was going to do an easy 5 minutes.  Well, I was keeping a nice low pace of 22-24 strokes a minute, but piling up the meters.  1000 meters was doable, so at 4 minutes I put in a hard 30 seconds and got the goal distance over 1000.  Easing off I finished with 1005 meters which I logged for the Concept 2 Virtual Challenge.  I'm on the U.S. Navy team, and my entry put us a few meters ahead of the Royal Navy team, but they surged ahead today.

Today I did Grace's lunchtime class.  While a bit harder, it wasn't a tough class, and I heard her talking with another student that she programmed an easy week and will ramp it up some next week.  The way my shoulder feels, I have mixed feelings about missing most the classes next week!

Today's Workout and a twinge-uh oh

Ok, a quick post to keep blogging momentum before bed.  Rest is important too, you know!

Hit the gym after work and got a 5 minute row in as a warm-up on the only working Concept 2 rower.  The older one (I think) has been out of order for two weeks now, so I'm going to ask what the hold-up is as it's impacted workouts twice already.  Considering the rower I used has 4.5M meters rowed on it, these get a good bit of use, so having two operational would be nice.

I then stretched a bit, including broom handle shoulder flexibility work and squats.  I'm tight in my hip flexors and need yoga class tomorrow!

Off to the squat rack for 5x5 squats at 75 pounds.  Fortunately the only guy using it was finishing up-he was working with 245 or so, so working in would not have worked.  During set two my inner hamstrings "twinged" but I got through the sets.  They are sore tonight-so I'm wondering how they will feel tomorrow.

I also had bench presses today, so over to the bench for 60 pound BPs.  Instead of 5x5 I did 1x5 and 2x10 to get through the workout as it was getting late.  I'm just working back up the poundages, so deviation from strict 5x5 works for me at these weights.

Time to hydrate and rest, and see how these legs feel tomorrow.

Sometimes the hardest day is a rest day

After three workouts the first three days of 2017, plus a lot of walking around on New Year's Eve day (probably four miles plus normal walking around in day-to-day activities) today was a rest day.  I haven't been working out more than 2 days or so a week lately.  Getting back into working out over the past two weeks have re-awakened the good feelings being active cause.  So resting today and not notching another lifting session, yoga class or meters rowed was tough.

Plus the minor soreness and tightness that are held at bay due to daily workouts started showing back up.  I'll see how tomorrow's workout goes, and then recovery over the next few days whether they are workout or rest days.  I may program light/easy days every day instead of full rest days, although I need to have a month or more consistency before truly determining that and what an "easy" day has to look like to not over-train.  I've done that before when I was getting 8 or so workouts or activities like walking 9 holes of golf per week and giving platelets every two weeks.  That run down, never fully bounced back feeling is no good.

Just like savasana is the hardest yoga pose, true rest days are pretty hard too.  Gotta love the body remembering what is was like to really workout and wanting to get back there, but in due time!

Today's workout and not so good diet

Hit the base gym this morning, after a stop at my new favorite Mom and Pop donut shop.  Cool sidebar-there were three old vets at the small breakfast bar they have there.  Two were wearing WW II ballcaps, and one a Viet Nam cap, although he was only 5 years younger (as in late 80s!).  So if they survived 5 wars including one being in a German POW camp and the other being at Anzio and the Battle of the Bulge and eat donuts in their 80s/90s, I've got that going for me!

Rowed 500M as a warmup with some stretches and push-ups, then the next 5x5 workout.  Big crowd around benches, so I substituted 25x2 dumbbell presses instead of traditional bench press.  Then did another 1000M row instead of a "pull" exercise.  One thing I realize tonight is how non-ambidextrous I am-all this rowing in the past week has my left bicep really sore while my right (dominant) arm is basically ok.  So the rowing as an addition to my normal workout activities will probably be a good balancing aspect.

That's it for tonight.  Yoga class tomorrow, needed after lots of walking Saturday and workouts yesterday and today.

One Day, One Workout into 2017

Happy New Year's!

Yes, I went to the gym already this year-No, I'm not one of those New Year's Resolution is the only reason I'm here workout folks!

I have been enjoying life since Thanksgiving, getting some workouts in, but also knowing I had a run of Thanksgiving, company National Training Camp/Gala and then Christmas and New Year's all happening in about 7 weeks.  So I purposefully dropped a little weight in October and early November and started ramping back up the workouts a few weeks ago as I hit my "Target and No More Weight" in the 187 range.  My "walking around" weight when not lifting heavily is about 182, so five pounds on the scale and the "mirror test" told me it was time to get back after it.  Plus I have noticed my raw strength and aerobic endurance are worse than they have been in years.

So I'm doing a modified Stronglifts 5x5 plan (less frequency), yoga and have started rowing.  The yoga instructor is also a personal training at the gym on the base where I work, and she gave me some technique tips.  I've done a couple of easy rows focusing on technique but also getting some work in.  BTW rowing uses your abs much more than you would think-I'm guessing for the recovery and forward slide portion.  I'll focus on them during my short rowing warm-up before lifting tomorrow AM.

Here's to your fitness and health in 2017!

Daily workout (actually workouts) for the past two days

Yesterday my lifts were good and all are close to, at, or above where they were before I got sick a few weeks ago.  It was a Stronglifts 5x5 day, so after my usual warm-up here's what the work sets were:

Squats 5x5 150 pounds-back up to last working set before getting sick
BP 5x5 85 pounds-going up as 80 was the weight I lifted before sick
Deadlift 185x5-still have a little way to go to get back up to 205, but not rushing deadlift due to bad back spasm in October.

Today instead of a full rest day I did "active rest" and spun a quality spinning class bike for just over 20 minutes.  I also did my usual warm-up with some extra stretching/yoga and foam rolling to support lifting heavier weights this week.

Hope you had a good workout too!

Recent daily workouts and rest days

It's been a little while since I posted as either the WiFi I was on Thursday or the Adsense dashboard gave me some malware.  It's cleaned off that computer now.

I've had some pretty good workouts since getting back into the gym after my cold.  The daily workout is still based on the Stronglifts 5x5 program as I build back up.  I have been squatting pretty well and did 145 pounds 5x5 Saturday with 80 pound presses (as high as I've gotten this cycle) and 100 pound barbell rows.  Bench is also at 80 and ready to go up maybe by 10 pounds and deadlifts are at 185.  I pulled 205 too early, reset and got back up to an easy 205 5 rep set right before getting sick.

Yesterday was a rest day as is today.  Tomorrow I get 150 5x5 in squats again (back to the highest this cycle) bench either 85 or 90 and deadlift 195.  Should be a good workout.  Some sites critique Stronglifts 5x5 since 5 work sets of constantly increasing weight may quickly become over-work and cause an early "miss" and recommend warming up, then 1 work set at about 60%, then one at 80% and then the final 3x5 at full, five pound increasing weight since you are squatting three times a week on SL 5x5.  Since I've only gotten close to "missing" on the squats once on SL 5x5 before getting interrupted, I'll keep that in mind as the poundage gets up around body weight.  I am noticing recovery takes longer each year now.  I guess that's because I'm a more mature, wiser (OK older!) lifter.

My and other workouts of the day

I recently began posting my daily workouts.  But I realized other than creating a virtual log, I wasn't benefiting anyone but me unless they were also doing Stronglifts 5x5 or a similar workout.   This Sunday a friend at church asked me if I was still doing any personal training.  His current workout plan doesn't seem to be working for him, or possibly it's working but he's gaining muscle faster than he's losing fat.  That has been a common source of discouragement over the years-both in the Navy's "Chub Club" and other weight loss situations.  Remember 1 pound of fat is much "blobbier" than one pound of muslce, and many of us also build muscle faster than we lose fat!

So here's my "workout" of the day and some suggestions based on very generic goals:

Today for me:  More rest.  While my energy level is still good as I get over the cold, some joints are showing some wear and tear, so I'll lift again tomorrow while resting today.

Aerobic workout:  20 minute or so interval workout

3 minute warm-up on aerobic exercise of choice
start at 1-2 below normal workout level for 1 minute
Increase 1 level per minute for four minutes (Minutes 4-7) then drop to original level
Repeat for minutes 8-11 and 12-15.
Starting minute 16 at original level jump 2 levels minutes 17, then 18.  Cool down minute 19.

Done in 20 minutes.  This is based loosely on the old "Body for Life" interval workout

Overall fitness weights program (not powerlifting based)

Warm-up

Squats 3x8 50% of max
Bench press 3x8 50% of max
Seated Rows 3.8 50% of max
Hanging leg raises (both to stretch and for abs) 3x5-10

All of these workouts are like my Stronglifts 5x5 program and should get you out of the gym in less than 45 minutes.  If you are working out longer than that you need to have a distinct goal that requires that amount of time (like a long running or bicycling event) and good dietary and rest support.  We tend to two extremes in my mind-not training at all or over training.  Fitness is build more in frequency and repetition (consistently stressing our lungs and muscles 4-6 times a week) than in long endurance events.  I found when training for half marathons and long bike rides once the muscles and joints got used to 1-2 hour efforts it then became more a matter of hydration and fuel.  But each of us is different, so personal coaching and experience is important!