MONDAY: bitter sweet ease back into workout/training mode with mornin' sprintz

Ran to ma Rock Creek workout field and ma hill for some burpees and sprints:

• 10 burpees
• Up the hill as fast as you can (approx 50m)

Only got 5x before my sneakers were soggy, soaked all the way through from the morning dew. Poop. I don't know how well I could have done 10 of these anyway after the weekend partyin' -- was GASSED at the end of these sprints after the 2nd or 3rd round. That's all the bitter. The sweet is that with the grass so wet, the sprints were extra challenging... more challenging=more fun.

Finished up with some sit ups and shit on the bench and ran back up the hill toward the hood... was going to do a full core session, but then again, was gonna do 10+ of those sprinterval mini circuits too and that didn't happen. Just lost that lovin' feeling after my shoes were so sogged I guess. Will make up for it with a good strength session in the gym later.

good idea for decent (and quick) full-body home DB workout

With 40lb DBs:

• 10 thrusters, 9 pull ups, 8 thrusters, 7 pull ups, 6 thrusters, 5 pull ups, 4 thrusters, 3 pull ups, 2 thrusters, 1 pull up

(Only not matching numbers and ticking down b/c I can't do 10, 9, 8, 7... pull ups back to back like that... when I can, this workout should be 10/10, 9/9, 8/8, etc.)

• Semi-upright rows (double) or one-arm DB rows

• Shrugs-high rep OR cleans, but cleans are sketchy with my DBs (like snatches)

• Swings for lower back and posterior legs (glutes/hams) - one arm at a time (or deadlifts if feeling less explosive -- i would do high rep here)
  

• Some sorta push up exercise but that's too easy, unless super sets with floor DB presses or flyes.
  
  
• Any core drill -- wheel rollouts, v-ups, leg lifts, crunches, RTs, chinnies, planks, wall sits, etc.
  

IF you wanna isolate arms, add reg DB movements for bis and tris. If you wanna add to legs, lunges or bulgarian split squats.

work out circuit combos to repeat at least 3 times if not 4 or 5 to get adequate reppage on all movements.

Thursday: They'rrrrre back (calf spasms) + all around crap workout/bear mauling

Was tired as hell today and feeling rundown as soon as I hit gym, but went for it...

1a. Warmed up with lots of stretching, 15 quick burpees, samson stretches and SQUATS: 3 x 5 x 205 (plus warm up sets -- bar, 135, 185)

1b. Dumbbell Bear -- FAILED!!!

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes perform the following:

• 5 Dumbbell Deadlifts
• 5 Dumbbell Hang Cleans
• 5 Dumbbell Thrusters
  

Loading should equal 45% of body weight.

Tried this as rxed (35lb DBs) and couldn't keep the press portion of the thrusters going after 5 sets -- that 5th set of thrusters was pure agony. This could have been b/c of shoulder work on Monday but no excuses -- was hard.

Continued with 20s and while the deadlift was a worthless joke, the cleans were impossible to even do at that light weight (too ridic, was really just curling em), and the presses were light as a feather, the squat portion of the thrusters started getting to me this time and after another 5 sets (10 total) I could not go on... Could have been b/c I started squatting but I don't know. I think that would have been good warm up. I think I just wasn't ready for it today.

Will try again with 25s to complete tomorrow. If sore tomorrow, then Sunday or Monday. This should be doable. Longer term goal of completing as rxed by end of summer (or at least end of September).

2. ATTEMPT at running -- calf spasms back
I went for it on the treadmill and my calf started twitching like it was gonna go. somehow calmed it down and kept going but then a few min later started twitching again and wasnt gonna tempt fate. SUCKS! I will try as a test to run after a lift session with no leg stuff, but I think it might be more full body fatigue so GPPs and lifting could make difference anyway. SAFE thing from now on is to run at beginning or as own workout. Don't cap a workout with a quick mile or two, use that as a warm up to get blood moving.

Weigh in at 171.. weird. I had felt like I gained weight today. Been eating like a horse.

Thursday: They

ooohhh something new!

My plan for today was to get in some sort of lift session (starting with squats) but also work in some serious fat burn. I was thinking originally of just making my warm up a pretty fast-paced GPP and then maybe throwing in a bunch of snatches and swings to get the heart pounding post-squat, but then I checked my brother's log and the glory of the Dumbbell Bear was bestoeth unto me.

Think this is just what I was looking for for today ... must inquire if it's a heart pumper or just a muscle fatiguer. I would rather be huffing and puffing and than just noodley and sore.

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes perform the following:

• 5 Dumbbell Deadlifts
• 5 Dumbbell Hang Cleans
• 5 Dumbbell Thrusters
  

Loading should equal 45% of bodyweight. (35-40lb DBs for me)

The quicker you do full set, the more time for rest before next minute.

Also do this one from Crossfit at one point soon:

Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:

• 95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
• 95 pound Hang Powercleans, 7 reps
• 95 pound Sumo Deadlift High-pull, 10 reps

http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/004770.html

Rock Creek Park Hill Sprint Workout

Rock Creek Park Hill Sprint Workout

Warm up:

• Run from apt to park (about .5 mi at least I would estimate)
• Some quick body weight joints -- hanging row-style pull ups on slanted horizontal bar x10; 2 sets of ring pull ups x 7, 6 -- and some stretchin'

Hill Sprint circuit:

• Sprint up grassy hill approx 50 m
• 10 push ups
• (jog/walk back)

Repeat 10 times.

Minor core finisher:

• 10 back n' forth leg raises over stump thing on that one bench apparatus
• 3 flags
• 10 leg lifts (rollin up)
• 10 back n' forth leg raises over stump thing on that one bench apparatus

Run part of way home (up main hill from park and then the length of the bridge)

Summer at the Y = Daycare Suckfest

kids all over the damn place playing dodge ball and stuff in the gym. Which means, no medicine ball wall workouts, no mid-day casual 1-on-1 hoops or shooting around, no GPP workouts that include pull ups... all in all, HUGE pain in the ass. Unless those little fuckers want to let me play dodge ball with them. I would love to bean little kids.

Monday: SUICIDE SQUATS (strengthy session)

Suicide squat = squatting too low with too much weight and nearly eatin' it.

Stretched some, yumped around and warmed up with:

• 15 double med ball incline (feet on bench) push ups
• 25 mountain climbers
• samson stretch
• 10 double med ball incline push ups

1. Squats: 6 x 2(ish) x 215, but more of sloppy ad hoc work session... did some light OHS (95), eased up to work weight incrementally, but by the time I got there 215lb was feeling way heavy. My focus was getting low and I was breaking parallel and getting my butt down pretty well at heavy weights for me, but once I hit/broke parallel at 215, it was HEAVY. Work set looked like this: 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, FAIL (going for 2 -- on second rep failed pushing up and had to dump the bar forward over my head... scary... and I was lucky that I just happened to have those extra support beams on the rack -- I usually don't have 'em there.)

I should be 5 x 5in' 215. But then again, if i was a little less strict on form, it might have felt lighter.

2. Overhead Press: 95 x 9, 105 x 5, 110 x 3, 110 x 4, 110 x 3

3. Some delt DB raises (3 wussy super sets): Rear sitting on exercise ball 20 x 10 / side 15 x 5, Rear sitting on exercise ball 25 x 10 / side 15 x 5, Rear sitting on exercise ball 25 x 10 / side 10 x 10 with holds n' some twistin' at the top..

4. Core training session:

• Barbell punch press -- 5/side x 50 on bar
• Weighted side bends -- 10/side x 45lb
  
• 10 bird dogs
• 10 v-ups
• 10 back extensions

Repeat 3 times.

Finisher: Plank Hold for at least 90 seconds, maybe 2 min...

Weigh in: 172.5 (what up!)

Friday: Little bit of back, little bit of... who f'n knows

Warm up: Run 1 mile
(was test to see if my calf would spasm -- stretched okay, no spaz.... 8 min mile bc just a test but shoulda run faster. on a good note, i felt like i could have run for days)

1. Backiotomy 1 -- 3 rounds:

• pull ups x 5
• barbell rows x 4 x 135
• one-arm DB rows x 4/side x 65

(EVERYTHING was hard. No idea why. I could barely do those damn barbell rows and i've been killing that weight at 5x5 and was ripping 155 last time i did the exercise.... very strange. sometimes ya got it, sometimes ya don't i guess)

2. Backiotomy 2 -- 3 rounds:

• DB lat raises x 12 x 50
• DB Akbars x 12 x 80

3. Some light preacher curls (65) and a few light DB curls (25) -- focused on clenching/flexing muscle...

4. Tabata decline sit ups -- holy shit. By the last 2 or 3 sets I flat couldn't do em. Was flailing my arms to get up (more momentum than muscle)... first set was cranking at like 15 or whatever fits neatly in 20 sec, 2nd set was a little worse, 3rd was a little worse but still prob in the 8 range... at set 4 it started to get HARD to get up. Fun tho!

5. Finisher -- 2 rounds:

• Dips x 10
• DB Swing x 5/side x 50
  

weigh in: 174

aside: there was a dude maybe 5'10" or 5'11", 190lb who was squattin' (and LOW) over 400lb... inspiration!

Summer of No Fun: At least I will be fit!

Just realized I am flat fucking broke. This means the only things I can afford to do are 1. go to the pool, and 2. go to the gym. The reduction in drinking alone will contribute to some decent weight loss, and as long as I can scrape up enough money to eat healthy, the extra gym/workout time when I ain't got nothing else to do should catapult me to my next level of fitness.

Silver linings I guess.... even though being broke will suck and everything else in my life will suffer at least I will *maybe* start to finally get a little shredded. Who knows. If I do though maybe I can find some old rich cougar to be my sugar mommy.

Fingers crossed for NO injuries... as is, still dealing with a sore shoulder that won't go away and the calf spasm issue (which hopefully my vitamin D load will cure).

Thursday: Crawling back into it with a LIGHT one

After 2 days of spring break-level partying followed by 5 days of being sick as a dog, I still feel kind of sick but had to get into the gym. More that 1 whole week off is too much for me to take.

Was a little coughy/weezy/sniffly in the gym through the warm up so stayed in the weight room instead of hitting a GPP or sprinting it out but it was still no fun. Sweat was pretty intense anyway... still can't stop sweating...

Stretched a little, then....

Warm up -- 2 rounds of:

• 5 pull ups
• 10 burpees
• 15 air squats
• Samson stretch 10-15 sec/side

(would have liked to do 3 rounds but this was getting tiresome already)

* Wanted to start with squats but some turdface jumped on my rack right as I finished me warm up!!!! So alternatively, threw some 25s on a bar and just did sets of 10 for form as part of this little diddy:

Odd concoction (all with 95lb) -- 3x:

• Squat x 10 -- power clean and press to position, behind the head press after set
• Sumo Deadlift High Pull x 5
  

Obviously went super low on squats, was thinking there could be way to make this more of a combo by working in more presses... maybe should have done overhead squats

Did some weighted side bends in between (45lb)

Finished with 10 min on the eliptacal at a fairly solid resistance/random (haven't used that piece of crap in months it feels like)

ugh... looking at in writing, I am ashamed. Ran me down tho in my weakened state.

Good news: weighed in at 175.

Bad news: I felt flabby and weak -- I would rather weigh in at 182 and feel hard and strong than 170 and feel soft and weak 100% of the time.

Wednesday: Complete Conditioning; a little chest, core, awms

Started off with some stretching, knee tucks, squats and then jumped into warm-up/round 1 (GPP)

1. GPP Workout #1 (Ross E):

• Burpees x 30 sec
• Jumping Jacks x 30 sec
• High Knee Dumbbell Press (5lb) x 30 sec
• Shadow Box x 30 sec

Repeat 5x. No rest between rounds. Max reps in time allowed for each (running in place on High Knees) and for Shadow Boxing throw several combinations. (Was next to heavy bag so smacked that around a little in a couple of the shadow box drills.)

2. Incline Bench Press: 95 x 10, 115 x 6, 135 x 4, 135 x 4, 115 x 5 -- I continue to be weak and feeble on the bench...

3. Medicine Ball Madness:

• 15 under handed overhead high launches behind
• 15 chest pass-presses high point "wall ball"
• 10 twist "chopper" two-handed throws from each side
• 10 one-handed punch/press throws from each side
• 10 twist "chopper" two-handed throws from each side (again)

4. Super set/"simple pair" Core drill:

• 10 Russian Twists (25lb)
• 10 Weighted Decline Sit-ups (25lb)
• Repeat 3x

5. Tricep pull/push downs (alternating grips): 120 x 12, 140 x 10, 140 x 8, 150 x 5, 150 x 5

Other stuff in weight room: a few sets of DB curls to fail with 40 pounders (3 or 4 sets getting to 7 or 8 to start and then only 4 I think); one quick, small set of pull ups and one of dips (only got like 8 and broke on dips -- prob bc of were i did em in workout or something b/c i'm touchin 20 on these)

6. Quick 1 or 2 mile run -- ATTEMPT -- My calf spasmed out on me AGAIN about .25 mi. in. SUCKS!!!

7. Quick core session finisher:

• 10 side V-crunches/side
• 10 V-ups
• 10 leg raises/lifts
• high-speed, high-rep chinnies (actually ony got to 15 or 16 prob before fail)

Tuesday Nuthin... blech

Monday + Plan for Week -- Start the week with concentrated pre-beach lift...

NOTE on the weekly plan:

More traditional lifting day today with something of a focus on back and shoulders (of course started with my squats tho!)... will curl my DBs at home here and there all week and ONE day this week I will really hammer on my triceps. Besides that tho, this week will focused on intensity and core -- GPPs, Intervals, Lots of Medicine Ball Junk, DB Swings, maybe Snatches, Push Ups and other basic stuff thrown in ... but the focus will be heart pumping extreme exertion as much as possible. Also (pre-beach) will try to be pretty strict about diet. Goal of dropping 5-6 pounds by Friday (not water weight, and not temporary -- summer time now, and with all the fun in the sun to come, I should be able to keep pounds I lose off for the next few months with not a ton of effort).

Workout________________

Warm up -- stretches, knee tucks, air squats, 10 GI Janes, 5 Body Blasters, go

1. Squats: 3 x 3 x 245* -- ARGH... goal was 4 x 3 but that was pretty ambitious. I am going to give myself that 3rd set but I am a little ambivalent -- I was not really breaking parallel on any of them but I wasn't even close (didn't get quite low enough at all) on that 3rd set. Warm up sets were good -- especially the 5 repper I did at 225. Only problem was sunburn (!!!!) -- had to use the pad. (Note -- start working in some barbell/in-place lunges.)

2. DB Presses: 35 x 14, 45 x 8, 50 x 6, 35 x 7 ("Arnolds")

3. "Simple Pair" (??) Row+Bench -- 3x:

• One-arm DB row x 8/side (55lb)
• One-arm DB bench press x 8/side (40lb)

4. DB Lat Raises: 3 x 15 x 40

5. DB Shrugs: 3 x 10 x 100

OTHER STUFF:

• A couple of sets of lateral DB raises and some rear delt raises and pulls
• Finished with a bunch of back extensions and twists (on extension thing) with 10lb med ball
  
• Was doing pull ups and some knee tucks throughout workout (in between other sets) in sets of 5

Great sweat, heart was pumpin on the squats, satisfied with the lift but not with the workout per se. Squats were heavy enough where last set at 245 felt like I was squattin for my life so that was intense, but the rest lacked adequate intensity.

Weigh in: 176

Thurs -- Sunday... break time gone awry

Thursday I has dr appt that went wayyy too long and plans after work -- forced (yet strategic) break b/c couldn't make it to gym.

Friday I had baseball game and another busy work day that kept me from gym... not strategic anymore.

Saturday -- Hess Fest '09 bay party so couldn't do nothing but worked out at home in the morning for a while to get the sweat going and the heart pumping .... Used 40lb DBs and did some squats, presses, curls and rows ... also did a bunch of push ups and some pull ups. Weak, but better than nothing.

Nothing much beyond this -- did a little kayaking at the bay and horsin' around so wasn't totally sluggish or anything but def am ready to get back to the gym. Scratch the lift itch and get your squats and stuff in, but then focus on intervals, core and heart-pound-heavy weighted exercises for rest of week (swings, snatches, medicine ball stuff, etc).

Wednesday: Interval Training

At upstairs track at Y (I think prob about a 50m track). Stretched and warmed up with some jump squats and a few sprint laps.

Ben's "B.S.S. Circuit" (Burpee, Swing, Sprint)

• 10 Burpees
• 10 Med Ball Slams
• SPRINT
• 15 DB Swings
• SPRINT
• 10 Knee Jumps
• 10 Grasshoppers
• SPRINT
  

REPEAT 5x. FAIL: Only got 4 rounds of this done b/c was DYING. And it took me like 25 gd minutes. This shit was REAL... it was the DB swings that made it killer -- right in the middle of the circuit like that. If it was only 10 swings and maybe even another exercise in there on top like jumping jacks or something that would have made whole thing easier -- it was reps 11-15 that were real hard. Heart was pounding and workout was strong so that was good, but definitely try this again and aim for the full 5 circuits.

NOTE RE: TRACK: Make sure you have an empty track. It's a PAIN trying to sprint it with other people on it -- need to time where they are when you start. I just went for a lap on one of sprints and just jogged it out b/c of that and realized my folly so gave it a good extra sprint to make up for it BUT most sprints would have been better with more space to myself.

Finished with some wall ball and wall medicine ball throws (one-arm punch/press "passes," two-handed twist throws...)...

Weigh in: 178

Tuesday: Strength

After a few days off for moving madness, back at it. Need the HIIT but I think I need the lift more (especially mentally). Also running on pretty much no sleep and feelin' a little funky so the weight's might be less fatiguing.

Warm up: Stretching, some Jump Squats, 5 GI Janes, 10 180-degree Burpees and into the workout.

1. Squats: 5 x 5 x 210 (incorporated some in-place lunges into my warm up sets -- think it helped stretch, which was good b/c came up to hard on one of bar sets and popped my left knee but then it felt better by the time I got to my work weight)

2. Dips: 3 x F (19, 11, 9)

3. Sumo Deadlift High Pulls 3 x 10 x 80lb (wanted 15 reps but that was a lot in beginning, although felt I could have gotten it in 3rd set... I did not warm up at all here, maybe that was problem)

4. Some core training -- 3 round of:

• cable crunch/ab pull downs (100 x 20, 130 x 15, 130 x 15)
  
• weighted decline sit ups (two 25lb DBs) x 15
  
• DB side bends (60lb) x 5/side

Did 2 quick sets of standing DB twists and left with too much energy, which might be okay -- needed the gas anyway so was good to get an energizing workout in today. Sweat was POURING by the time I was mid-way into my squat sets but I felt good and strong. Ass-kicker was the sit-ups (although it would have been the SDLHPs if I had manned up and done the 15 reps).

Weigh in: 176