Slack in the Back

This past week of working out has been hit or miss, mostly miss because of my sacroiliac, which is pissing me off.  I want to get back into the gym, so I can strengthen that area and reduce injury.  So slow and easy is the way to do it.

Yesterday's workout was not what I drew, since I forgot my kettlebell at home.  ooops... Instead I performed staggered grip pulldowns (one had palm facing me and one facing away), supersetted with plate front raises.  After about 5-6 sets (lost count), I then moved on to pushups and planks.  After which I did 30 minutes of cardio, alternating between 2 pieces of cardio equipment(tread hiker and step mill) every 5 minutes, which made the 30 minutes fly by, but was also pretty tough.

Can I go off on a rant here.  When you are occupying an area performing an exercise, why the friggen hell do idiots decide to invade what little space you allotted yourself, to perform their exercise?  Let me give you an example:

To perform the planks/pushups, I went to a corner of the gym, grabbed a mat to put down on the rug so I don't get rugburns on my elbows, and proceeded to perform my pushups/planks.  After 2 sets, these 2 "romantically involved" fugly women came over, grabbed an exercise ball and placed it 8 inches from the location where I was performing pushups.  I tend to mind my own business in the gym, UNTIL, some asshat™ steals a machine, or takes over an area, at that point I get very frustrated and usually start to swear under my breath so they can hear me.  Never mind that I also work at this gym, I couldn't give 2 shakes of a rats ass, you're interrupting MY time and that is precious.  So, after my grumblings of "WTF?", they did not move.  I had to ASK them to kindly MOVE THEIR FRIGGEN WORKOUT so I could have room, because after every set of their "exercise ball assisted crunches", they moved the balls closer to me.  Mind you, they started at about 8 inches away.  If you are not sure about gym etiquette, LEARN IT, and give people room to workout, you are NOT more important than anyone else, and don't even get me started on the mega asshats™ who talk on their cell phone while occupying a machine or doing cardio, who the crap do you think you are and really, are you that important?  If you answered yes to that, GTF out of my gym.

ok, got that off my chest.  I feel better.

I am in the process of redo'ing my "bag o' tricks", since I am down to 3 cards, 2 of which are leg exercises.  I am going to be revamping that bag this week, so this weeks workouts are going to be random things.

WoD 2010/02/16:
Lower back
kettlebells (if I can remember them while at lunch)

Up and AT'em

Long delay an no posts.  I haven't worked out for almost a week, or should I say weak.  My sacroiliac is feeling a bit better and I will see Dr. Cracky once again today.  I took it easy over the weekend, just relaxed that area of my body, and stretched it out.

Nothing bit new to post today, except that fact that I am looking forward to getting back into the gym and getting back on track to be in fighting shape.

WoD 2010/02/15:

• Kettlebell swings
• Pushups
• Planks

Though, that all depends on how my  sacroiliac is doing by days end, and today's workout could change to a easy lifting with cardio.  I swear, sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day is NOT helping this matter any, my body wasn't meant to sit all day long.

Feel the Pain

Last night was crappy, the weather was COLD, with a capital BRRRR, it's friggen cold, and rainy/sleety.  I went to see Dr. Cracky and he cracked my back, which made it feel a bit better, and he advised taking a day off the gym, so I did.

I woke up this AM and my sacroilliac is causing me incredible amounts of pain this AM, I had to have my beautiful wife tie my shoes because I could not bend over.  As I dropped her off at work, I swung by Dr. Cracky's office and he was closed due to the snow, hopefully he will open this afternoon because sitting, standing, and moving are hard to do.

I would love to get this fixed so I can get back in the gym.

WoD 2010/02/10:

• 1 hour spin class
• abs/stretching

Today's WoD is weather permitting of course.

Pot Calling the Kettle...bell

Greeting Fit Fans,  Yesterdays workout was pretty decent, though I think I either over worked my lower back, or mucked up my sacroiliac...again.  With that thinking, I have decided to rethink my workout philosophy.  Granted, I will still draw from a bag, as that is doing me good, but I am going to rethink what goes into the bag, so I don't end up working the same muscle group multiple days in a row.  And it's a good time to do this, since the bag has only 1 more workout left in it (3-4 cards), after today's workout.

Moving  forward, I am going to work out 3-4 days a week, every other day, and the other days do cardio exclusively, starting today.

And without further ado,

WoD 2010/02/09:

• Kettlebell work
• Side Planks

Since I will be doing a kettlebell workout, today's workout should be a very intense 30-40 minutes (if I can make it that long), of doing nothing but kettlebell exercises (1 and 2 arm swings, cleans, deadlifts, windmills, etc), and then doing the planks in between the kettlebell sets.

A Clean way to start

Sorry for the late update, forgot to draw the cards this AM, hence the afternoon update.

This weekend was pretty good, took the day off the gym on Sunday, instead shoveled snow and painted.  w00t.  With Monday comes a brand new workout day, consisting of lifting and cardio, as usual.

WoD 2010/02/08:

• Barbell Cleans
• Plate Front Raises
• 1 Arm Dumbbell Chest Press
• Lat Pulldowns
• --30 minutes of cardio.  going to try the step mill today.  wish me luck. 

Yes I know, alot of lats and shoulders have been in this bag.  I will say that next go-around, I will be putting different things in there as well to challenge me physically.

fit and furious

Today was a good day, great day actually, snow falling and a hard workout with  very few people in the gym.  Feeling pretty exhausted right now, but in a good way.  considering taking Sunday off completely to let my body recoup.

WoD 2010/02/06:

• Close grip bench press
• Dips
• Push ups
• 1 hour spin class

Very hard spin class, and everyone loved it and gave it their all.

Snow fo show

Yesterday's workout was pretty tough, step overs pretty much kicked my ass.  However, I was holding my planks for a solid 70 seconds, which is pretty cool, as I want to get up to about 2 minutes per plank.

Today, I decided to take the day off from the gym, to let my body recover.  Since I teach a spin class tomorrow at 10am, I am going to try to get in their early and lift.  If so, will draw cards tomorrow, and post the WoD

Mixing it up

Last nights spin was tough, I repeated the same profile as last week, first and last 15 minutes were 1 minute climb intervals, and the middle 15ish minutes was a hill climb increasing the resistance every minute and standing every other minute, very tough.

As the bag of workouts gets fewer and fewer cards in it, I realized when I first made this that I should not have put so many of the same exercise in there, ie. Squats for reps and Squats for weight.  After pulled today's pick I had 2 more leg workouts, sumo deadlifts for weight and reps.  After talking with my wife, I realized that when I redo the bag, I am going to put in just 1 exercise, ie Squats, and then flip a coin as to whether I am going to perform those with alot of weight or for many reps.   I may also just perform the bag for reps on the next go around to help try and build my muscle endurance, either way, the exercise bag will bet receiving an overhaul.

Now on to the WoD.

WoD 2010/02/04:
Close Grip lat pulldowns for reps
Bench step overs
T Bar Row for Reps
Front Planks

As always, I am going to superset what I can (depending on the crowd), and get this done in about 1 hour.  I am also considering doing not a set number of sets, but until the time limit of 1 hour is reached, pushing myself for minimal rest and intense workouts.

I am loving the new style of workout that I'm performing and this will give me a way to measure my improvement since the goal is to improve in real world strength and endurance, not just the body builder "brick" physique.

Road to recovery

After last nights Dr. Cracky (chiropractor) visit, my sacroiliac was feeling somewhat better, and I didn't want to chance mucking it up, so I opted to not perform the cleans.  Instead, I completed 6+ sets of chest and biceps, supersetting, and then 5 sets of upright rows.  All the sets felt really good, and I also did 15 minutes of cardio, as my legs were spent, which means tonites spin class will be entirely fun. *eye roll*.

WoD 2010/02/03:

• 1 hour spin class

Lifting is sacred

Yesterdays workout was tough, the double dose of legs, ugg, I was able to knock out only 20 minutes of cardio before my legs were screaming "We are through".

Though afterwards, my sacred silly-sac (aka. Sacroiliac) is really sore, and it was hard for me to get to a standing position last night after eating dinner, so excessive sitting will make it really stiff, which means work today I should be up and around quite often, at least until my chiropractor opens ups, which won't be soon enough.

I still plan on hitting the gym today and I drew another 4 cards out of the deck.  I also had to redraw because 2 of the 4 were LEG exercises again.  damn.

WoD 2010/02/02:

• Dumbbell chest press for reps
• Hammer curls for reps
• Barbell cleans
• Smith machine upright rows

pretty decent mix of upper body, considering now that my workout bag is about half empty, the workouts are going to be getting more bizarre, but hopefully this regime will still work for me.

Once I empty the bag, I will revisit what goes into the bag and maybe make some adjustments before the next round.

Getting a leg up on the competition

The workout on saturday kicked my arse, and made my butt muscles sore.  HOLY cow that was a good workout.  Though, I need to pace myself since my wife told me I pretty much finished the workout in about 30 minutes.  Good?  bad?  felt good and I'm still feeling it today.

Sunday's workout was light cardio and some stretching and abs, nothing too intense, unless you count shoveling 14" of snow intense.

As for today, sorry for the late update, many busy things this morning.  So, after Saturday's success, I decided to draw 4 cards today, and potentially keep up the 4 cards a day plus cardio work.  Let's see how it works.

WoD 2010/02/01:

• Squats for reps (shooting for 15-20 reps)
• Tricep pushdowns for reps
• Alternating cable fly
• Rope Rows

Just like all previous workouts, this will be supersetting followed by up to 30 minutes of cardio.