Back on the trail

The damage to MUM's trail from IKE is pretty extensive, but it seems like the crew here has done a fairly good job making it passable. I just finished a run and did the hill five times. Wow, five times. Ok, not so impressive is five times except if you recognize that I was dodging bulldozers to do it. Now you're impressed, I know!

new 500m record... sub 2 minutes kids!

• 10 minutes elliptical
• 500 meters in 1:59.7
• 500 meters in 2:21.1
• bench press (no weight, 15 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 15 reps, 12 reps; 30 lbs on bar, 8 reps, 6 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 12 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 15 reps?)
  
• leg press (no weight, 2 positions, 15 reps; 90 lbs on sled, 2 positions, 2 sets of 15 reps)
  
• incline bench press (no weight, 2 sets of 15?)
  
• decline bench press (10 lbs on, 2 sets of 15?)
  
• lat raises (7.5 lbs, side and front, 2-3 sets? of 15?)
  
• plie squats (3 sets of 15 with 60lbs)
• curls with a z bar (2 sets of 15 with 30 lbs)
  

I ran and it hurt

Ran around the block and have absolutely no cardio stamina today and my right knee hurts. Ouwie!

Visiting the MUH Gym aka 18-18-8

Today I worked out at MUH because it was close to where I was. No cardio. Bad me. Just some upper body stuff. The three digit "code" is the number of reps I did for most exercises. Just goofing around.

• bench press (no weight, 18 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 18 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 18 reps; 30 lbs on bar, 8 reps)
  
• flys on back (10 lbs, 18 reps; 12 lbs, 18 reps; 15 lbs, 8 or more reps)
  
• side and front lat raises (10 lbs, 2 sets of 18 reps; 12 lbs, 8 reps)
  
• lat pull downs with bicep pull downs (50 lbs, 18 reps; 60 lbs, 18 reps; 80 lbs, 8 reps)
  
• tricep pull downs (50 lbs, 18 reps; 60 lbs, 18 reps; 80 lbs, 8 reps)
• ab stuff

My lats/back feels sore...

weak workout

i am using lowercase to emphasize how weak i felt at the gym.
here's what i did:

• 2000 m in 9:25
• squats (no weight, 15 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 15 reps; 40 lbs on bar, 15 reps; 60 lbs on bar, 10 reps, 40 lbs on bar, 15 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 15 reps)
  
• plate loaded leg press (180 lbs on, 3 sets of 15)
  
• Romanian deadlifts (60 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• adductor (60 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
• HOME!
  

I really don't like the MUM gym....

if I had LOTS of money or even a little, I'd give it to MUM for the gym. Maybe a bequest when I pass?

I suppose there are good aspects to the gym: no wait; no overmuscled guys "supersetting"; no annoying music; no airconditioning (wait, is that a good thing?).

Here's what I did at... you guessed it... the MUM gym:

• 8 minutes on elliptical
• squats (no weight, 15 reps; 50 lbs on bar, 2 sets of 15)
• leg extension (60 lbs, 2 sets of 15 reps)
• squats (50 lbs on bar, 2 sets of 15)
• Romanian deadlifts (no weight on bar, 2 sets of 15)
• 5 minutes on elliptical

Maybe I'm just bitter today because I did a wimptastic workout. Boo!
Oh well, I'll make up for it next week.

Powered by Pop'Ems!

Still without power, but that's ok, because I have my handy dandy office, which has power, and well, Lolita doesn't really miss power at the house as long as she has her food, water, and my undivided attention.

So, today I went to Urban Radioactive, and this is what I did:

• 10 minutes on elliptical
• 2000m on rowing machine in 9:10 at wimp level 5
• bench press (no weight, 15 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 3 sets of 15)
  
• leg press (90 lbs, 3 sets of 15 with different foot positions)
  
• flys on my back (10 lbs, 15 reps; 12.5 lbs, 15 reps; 15 lbs, 15 reps)
  
• abductor (50 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• adductor (50 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• lat pull downs (55 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• front raises, side raises (5 lbs 15 reps; 10 lbs, 15 reps)
  
• seated db curls (actually, raises led into this) (10 lbs, 15 reps; 15 lbs, 15 reps)

Overall, it felt like a good workout. I still notice weakness in my left shoulder, and there's a weird spot in my right arm - near my elbow - and I really think it started when I fired someone's Glock. Is there such a thing as a firearm injury that doesn't involve being penetrated by a bullet?

Running, running, running

I ran today.

Not much of a workout

Went to UA, and did the following:

• 15 minutes on elliptical ... wattage 150 or so
• bench press (no weight, 15 reps; 10 lbs, 15 reps; 20 lbs, 15 reps; 30 lbs, 4 reps and then 6 reps?; 20 lbs, ? reps; 10 lbs, 12 reps) ... I have the reps confused here, but you get the point... up in weight and down in weight...
  
• standing Romanian deadlifts (50 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• overhead press (10 lbs, 15 reps; 15 lbs, 2 sets of 15)
  
• hack squats (no weight, 3 sets of 15)
  
• seated cable rows (55, 15 reps;70, 15 reps; 85, 6 reps)

Sorry to be so boring, but I'm not feeling particular inspired to write much. And the workout was pretty boring, so...

My idea of fun is not necessarily yours

Just returned from the gym to find that my dog had a wee bit of an accident on the kitchen floor; well, it's not wee. I don't think she's feeling very well. Poor doggy.

So, today I didn't do many things at the gym but I feel as though I exerted myself, which is a good thing. It's about 2pm and I teach tonight, so I thought I wouldn't try to do too much:

• 8 minutes on elliptical
• 2000 meters in 9:44 at level 10 ... just a warmup really. I was rowing at a slow 10 minute pace until the last 200m.
  
• leg press (2 45lb plates, 3 sets of 20; 4 45 lb plates, 2 sets of 20; 6 45 lb plates, 1 set of 20; 4 45 lb plates, 2 sets of 20; 6 45 lb plates, 3 sets of 20) .. lots of weight, oh my poor glutes... but it felt good. This is the sort of stuff I LOVE. I'll feel it later, and tomorrow, and perhaps the day after...
  

Ok, need to clean up after my poor, sick doggy.

2:03.7 and Powered By Apple Pie

So, first, I have to say that I did a PR for the 500 meters this evening: 2:03.7, which isn't quite the two minutes I had in mind, but it's good enough for now. Basically, I warmed up by doing intervals: first 500 was in about 2:21, second 500 in 2:16, then 2:03.7, followed by two more 500 meter sprints at about 2:16 or so. Not bad. I decided to do some upper body stuff. Here's the routine:

• bench press
• overhead press
• side and front lat raises
• incline bench
• decline flys
  
• behind the head tricep thingies
  
• seated curls
• standing curls

Honestly, at the moment I feel too lazy to put the weights and reps in. Instead, I am finishing my "slice" of pie. I had only had two pieces today, but they add up to the half a pie bought yesterday. BAD ME! Great athletes cannot be powered by pie. Guess I need some Guiness too.

Wimpy Setting Rowing Workout

So today I went down to UA; to say that I looked forward to it all day would be ...well, honest.

Here's my routine from today:

• 4300 meters in 20 minutes at 5 (maybe 6) with a 2:10 for 500 meters to start
• buncha ab stuff
  
• loaded plate leg pres (90 lbs, 2 sets of 15; 180 lbs, 2 sets of 15)
• leg press (90 lbs, 2 sets of 15; 180 lbs, 2 sets of 15)
• back to the rowing machine.... I was exhausted because of the leg stuff, but decided to give it a go... was doing great ... less than 2 minutes for a 500 m distance... at 300 meters and then I just gave up. Basically, this tells me that I CAN do 500 meters in 2 minutes. NOTE: Mike confirmed to me that it's not a fair contest if I'm trying to best someone who is 210 lbs and built like a NFL linebacker, but I'm still gonna do it.
  

an itty bitty workout

• 4100 meters in 20 minutes on the rowing machine; I'm convinced that there's a technique to it that I need to master
• bench press (no weight, 18 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 18 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 15 reps; 30 lbs on bar, 12 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 9 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 12 reps)
  

I row, I lift, I cook, I clean, I'm amazing

So, after a long day I headed to UA mainly because I wanted to take some time off my rowing, and I did. I also did a fair amount of leg stuff. Here's the routine:

• 10 minutes of rowing
• abductor (60 lbs, 2 sets of 15, 1 set of 12)
  
• adductor (60 lbs, 2 sets of 15, 1 set of 12)
• plie squats (60 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• squats (no weight, 15 reps; 50 lbs on bar, 2 sets of 12)
  
• Romanian deadlifts (40 lbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• leg extensions (70 lbs, 15 reps; 80 lbs, 15 reps; 85 lbs, 15 reps)
• ab work
  

I feel like I am missing an exercise or two. I didn't describe some ab work I did and some stretching type things.

Ok, so let me talk about my rowing. I average 2:21 over 10 minutes, which is seven seconds better than the 2:28 average over 10 minutes yesterday. That's a good improvement, but I know I can do better. At the end of the 10 minutes, I was rowing at a 40m/s pace. That's equivalent to what a little buddy of mine did over 500m. I was really in a rhythm and I didn't feel like 40m/s was terribly taxing. In other words, I BET I can do that for 1:41 seconds and match my little buddy's pace. Of course, he's probably better now than he was when he recorded that time. Also, there's the fact that I don't know what sort of machine he uses and whether he has the tension up to 10 (as I do).

Well, lots to do so I'll end this post now. Decent workout; I probably should have done more cardio. Oh well.

Row, row, row your stationary boat...

So, here I am in my study trying to recall the many challenging exercises I did while at Urban Active this afternoon. Where are you right now? Grab another "potatoe" chip and enjoy that convention currently on at least four major networks. ;)

Anyway, here's what I did with a margin of error of plus or minus 10 lbs and 5 reps:

• 5 minutes on elliptical because someone was on the rowing machine and the "free" machine was broke
• 10 minutes rowing faster and more consistently than big slow friends of mine
  
• incline bench (no weight, 3 sets of 18)
  
• hack squat (no weight, 3 sets of 15)
  
• decline bench (no weight, 18 reps; 10 lbs on bar, 15 reps; 20 lbs on bar, 12 reps)
  
• incline flys (10 lb dbs, 3 sets of 15)
  
• lat raises (10 lb dbs, 2 sets of side and front raises, 12-15 reps)
  
• lat pulldowns (40 lbs, 15 reps; 55 lbs, 15 reps; 70 lbs, 12 reps)
  
• incline curls (15 lb dbs, 2 sets of 12?)
• standing hammer curls (15 lb dbs, 15 reps)
  
• seated curls (15 lb db, 15 reps)
  
• tricep pulldowns (25 lbs, 18 reps; 30 lbs, 15 reps; 35 lbs, 12 reps)

Yep, that about does it, I think. Mere mortals can't keep up with me, I know. The workout felt ok. I could have kept going. I wanted to do more leg stuff, but I think I may have done something to my ankle when I did those calf exercises using the leg press machine the other day. When I got out of bed this morning, my right ankle buckled just a bit. Can't have a buckling ankle.

Overall, pretty decent workout. It doesn't stress me out too much, so perhaps I'm not doing enough. I'm keeping the weights relatively low just because I don't need to build muscle. Also, my left shoulder still doesn't feel right; I bet I really damaged it months ago. Perhaps I need "surgimification" to use a word a friend of mine might make-up - you know who you are.

Have a good night!

I have concrete blocks for running shoes

That's the only explanation for why it felt so difficult to run today. I did my big block. I really felt tight in my hammies before starting. Did I stretch? Not really. Sorry, Patrick aka Running Guru wherever you are.

Then as I was running I felt sore in my right calf muscle. Must be those crazy calf exercises I did the other day.

Then I started to feel my hands swell. It's hard to explain; I think it's a sign of dehydration. They start feeling bubbly. It's not pleasant.

But at least I ran. What did you do???