20120926 Lift Heavy Things

Today's workout began with nine minute Intu-Flow warmup routine from The Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I followed that with the following giant set warm up as I need to be particularly careful to get fully warmed up and loosened up before tackling any real work. I did two sets of five reps each. The brief warm up giant set came from Turbulence Training.

• Lying Hip Extensions
• Knee Push Ups
• Stability Ball Leg Curls

I then did two circuits of the following exercise which are from the Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things program. I rested for thirty to sixty seconds between exercises.

1. Knee Push Ups 25, 18
2. 2 Leg Assisted Pull Ups 20, 20
3. Assisted Squats 30, 35
4. Elevated Jack Knife 25, 25
5. Knee-Hand Plank & Side Planks 60-35L-35R, 60-35R-35L (seconds)

Total time on calisthenics was thirty-two and a half minutes. Two minutes longer than last time, but I did more reps or time on almost every exercise of the work sets. I'm a little disappointed with my push up performance. The goal is two sets of 50. I did increase reps on each set by 3 and 2 respectively.

I feel much better about my pull up performance as the goal here is two sets of twenty reps each. I did that, but I had to pause and shake out my arms a couple of times to get 20. Next time I want to get 20 uninterrupted reps. I didn't check my number of reps for the squats before I started. I thought 30 reps in the first set would beat last week, but it only tied last week. I did get 35 reps the second set. Major challenge with high rep body weight squats is cardiovascular conditioning. Te overall goal for squats is two sets of 50 reps.

On the elevated jack knives I got two sets of 25 reps which met the goal. However, as with the pull ups I had to pause and shake out my arms a couple of times. Next week 25 reps without a pause! I also did better on the planks increasing from 55-30-30 to 60-35-35. I completed my workout with a fifteen minute Prasara Yoga cool down routine. I increased the hold time in each pose from 30 to 35 seconds. The goal is 60 seconds per posture.

Rest Kayak Hike Run Yoga Walk

On Saturday 20120922 I was scheduled to run. I decided to make it a rest day instead. I hadn't slept well the previous two nights and really didn't feel up to a work out. I have to listen to my body. Then on Sunday 20130923 I had planned to run but the family decided on a day trip to Table Rock State Park for fishing, kayaking and hiking. I kayaked in a two seated kayak with Miles for about thirty minutes and two kilometers around Pinnacle Lake. Gabby and Isaiah also paddled along in a two seated kayak. Laura decided to sit out the kayaking.

After the kayaking we went on a two mile "easy" hike on the Carrick Creek nature trail. Only a total of 460 feet of elevation to climb but lots of up and down, up and down rather than a continuous ascent or descent. The hike took us about an hour and twenty minutes. Beautiful scenery along the creek with some pretty waterfalls and rapids.

Monday 20120924 I finally got my run in but not until after work. Actually I didn't run until I had picked up Isaiah from lacrosse condition and then took him to his class at Master Kim's World Class Tae Kwon Do. I did an IntuFlow warm up routine before we left the house. I did the FitSugar active running warm up in the parking lot at Master Kim's plus some extra leg swings and toe raises on the curb. Then off for C25K Week Three Day One.

miles/yards km/metres

Stage Distance Time Pace WU 384 metres 5:00 13:00 1 196 metres 1:30 7:38 1R 117 metres 1:30 12:44 2 401 metres 3:00 7:28 2R 247 metres 3:00 12:06 3 212 metres 1:30 7:03 3R 126 metres 1:30 11:50 4 397 metres 3:00 7:32 4R 245 metres 3:00 12:14 CD 365 metres 5:00 13:41 Total 1.95 km 18:00 9:14 inc WU/CD 2.70 km 28:00 10:22

Calories burned: 167

Calories burned (including warm up): 253

This was a shorter workout than Week Two Day Three by three minutes.The main difference was longer intervals which you can see above. I thought I was going much slower than the previous workout but looking back now I can see that I was only 5 seconds off my previous pace for the intervals, and adding in the WC/CD only 16 seconds off the prior pace. I finished up with a Prasara Yoga cool down routine.

Tuesday 20120925 was a recovery day. I did my normal Prasara Yoga recovery routine. I also went for a late evening eighteen minute 1.36KM walk. I'm trying to get my daily step count up to 10,000 but I'm struggling to do that on days when I'm not running or doing some activity like yard work or hiking. I spend too much time working at my computer.

20120921 IntuFlow Recovery Day

Today was a recovery day featuring IntuFlow joint mobility work. Tomorrow I will run Day One of Week Three of the Couch to Five Kilometer program.

By noon yesterday my legs felt DEAD! They got better as the afternoon went on. I got in over 11K steps for the day, too. Thanks to limiting the weight and reps on the kettlebell swings I did not cause another flare up of back pain either.

20120920 Sprints and Kettlebell Swings

Normal running warm up consisting of Intu-Flow and FitSugar active running warm up. I did the Intu-Flow at home then drove to a soccer field for the sprints. Once at the field I did the running specific warm up along with a few extra leg swings and calf raises.


Before getting into the real work I continued warming up with

Stride 50M ( 50% or less of top speed ) six times alternated with

Walking 50M to recover

Completely warmed up now with a light sweat and slightly elevated respiration and pulse. Time to work!

Sprint 50M ( 75% of top speed ) six times alternated with

Walking 150M to recover

Probably ran more like 65M each time. I started each interval with a 10M slow jog then turned up the speed for 50M and of course I couldn't stop dead after the 50M but had to slow down.

Then I did kettlebell swings. Remembering how I over did it before and missed ten days of workouts, I kept the weight at only 20lbs. I did some 5 warm up reps from points A and B, and then 5 swings. I did two work sets of 25 reps each. I was tempted to do a third set but decided not to push too much. Drove home and cooled down with some Prasara Yoga.

20120919 Prasara Yoga Recovery Day

My only formal exercise for today was a Prasara Yoga recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I'm still doing 30 seconds per pose as that's how it's demonstrated in the video. However, I need to work up to 60 seconds per pose. Which means I need to memorize the movements so I can do them at my pace without the video.

1. Trinity Squat
2. Trinity Squat on toes
3. Standing Arm Trigger
4. Clasped Hand Forward Fold
5. Shoulder Stretch
6. Cobra
7. Upward Facing Dog
8. More to come....

20120918 Couch to 5K Week Two Day Three

I didn't run until after work today. I began with an Intu-Flow warm up routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss along with an active warm up for running from FitSugar. I also did some toe raises on the steps and some extra leg swings to open up my hips. Total warm up time fourteen minutes. Then off for my C25K Week Two Day Three run.

Stage Distance Time Pace WU 408 metres 5:00 12:14 1 199 metres 1:30 7:31 1R 171 metres 2:00 11:38 2 218 metres 1:30 6:51 2R 151 metres 2:00 13:12 3 225 metres 1:30 6:38 3R 166 metres 2:00 12:01 4 214 metres 1:30 7:00 4R 163 metres 2:00 12:14 5 229 metres 1:30 6:31 5R 172 metres 2:00 11:35 6 216 metres 1:30 6:55 6R 162 metres 2:00 12:20 CD 363 metres 5:00 13:46 Total 2.29 km 21:00 9:09 inc WU/CD 3.06 km 31:00 10:06

Calories burned: 195

Calories burned (including warm up): 281

This was a good run. My left ankle was good to go in the very first interval. Perhaps it's better for me to run in the evening after I've been walking around all day. Every single interval was faster than last time. It's nice running in the dark and seeing the fire flies blinking in the distance but blinding bright car lights killing my night vision sucks.

I finished up with my normal Prasara Yoga cool down routine from the aforementioned BB4FL. I even had some improvement with the yoga particularly with rabbit and pigeon poses. Just got to keep working on it. Tomorrow is a Prasara recovery day.

20120917 Intu-Flow Recovery

After my workout yesterday I did nearly two hours of yard work. Today is a recovery day. Therefore, I did a twenty-three minute Intu-Flow recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I will also try to do enough walking to get to 10K steps.

20120915-20120916 Prasara Yoga and Lift Heavy Things

Yesterday I did a Prasara Yoga recovery routine. I followed that up with an hour and three quarters of yard work cutting the back yard with a gas powered but human propelled push lawn mower.

Today's workout began with an eight and a half minute Intu-Flow warmup routine from The Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I followed that with the following giant set warm up as I need to be particularly careful to get fully warmed up and loosened up before tackling any real work. I did two sets of five reps each. The brief warm up giant set came from Turbulence Training.

• Lying Hip Extensions
• Knee Push Ups
• Stability Ball Leg Curls

I then did two circuits of the following exercise which are from the Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things program. I rested for thirty to sixty seconds between exercises.

1. Knee Push Ups 22, 16
2. 2 Leg Assisted Pull Ups 17, 17
3. Assisted Squats 30, 30
4. Elevated Jack Knife 20, 17
5. Knee-Hand Plank & Side Planks 55-30R-30L, 50-30R-30L (seconds)

Total calisthenics workout time including warm up giant sets was thirty and a half minutes.  I improved at least a little bit on every exercise. The most disappointing exercise is planks. The limiting factor in that exercise is my right shoulder. After the push ups, pull ups and jack knives my right shoulder really feels beat up and weak. Got to work on that. I had hoped that the all in the Intu-Flow and Yoga would be helping with that. I must be patient. And as usual I finished with a fourteen minute  Prasara Yoga cool down routine.

20120914 Intu-Flow and C25K

Yesterday was a recovery day. I only did a 20+ minute Intu-Flow recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I also say way too much and didn't get up and walk around the parking lot like I try to do at least twice a day when at work. Therefore, I only got in 4033 steps.

Today was a running day. I warmed up with a brief Intu-Flow routine. I also did some running specific warm up moves from FitSugar and a few toe raises on the steps. I need to build up strength and flexibility in my lower legs, particularly my left ankle region.

Then I was off walking and running for Couch to Five K Week Two Day Two.

miles/yards km/metres

Stage Distance Time Pace WU 379 metres 5:00 13:10 1 198 metres 1:30 7:33 1R 157 metres 2:00 12:43 2 215 metres 1:30 6:57 2R 156 metres 2:00 12:48 3 206 metres 1:30 7:14 3R 150 metres 2:00 13:17 4 189 metres 1:30 7:53 4R 166 metres 2:00 11:59 5 230 metres 1:30 6:31 5R 173 metres 2:00 11:31 6 201 metres 1:30 7:26 6R 162 metres 2:00 12:19 CD 411 metres 5:00 12:09 Total 2.21 km 21:00 9:29 inc WU/CD 3.00 km 31:00 10:19

Calories burned: 193

Calories burned (including warm up): 280

My pace was very erratic in both the running and walking portions of the intervals. I guess that's to be expected after a ten or so day layoff as I talked about a couple of days ago. As usual my ankle loosened up on the second or third interval even after all the warming up I did. I felt very good when I finished. I cooled down with my normal Prasara Yoga routine. I'm slowly getting more flexible but it is a struggle!

Once I completed the yoga, I hung upside down on my inversion table for about three minutes. I really felt great head to toe once all that was done. I'm already at 7867 steps for the day, so I shouldn't have any problems getting in 10K+ steps for the day.

Resuming After Back Pain

After a ten day layoff caused by me being too vociferous with my first sprinting and kettlebell workout of my renewed commitment to exercise, today's workout began with an eight and a half minute Intu-Flow warmup routine from The Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I followed that with the following giant set warm up as I need to be particularly careful to get fully warmed up and loosened up before tackling any real work. I did two sets of five reps each. The brief warm up giant set came from Turbulence Training.

1. Lying Hip Extensions
2. Knee Push Ups
3. Stability Ball Leg Curls

I then did two circuits of the following exercise which are from the Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things program. I rested for thirty to sixty seconds between exercises.

1. Knee Push Ups 20, 15
2. 2 Leg Assisted Pull Ups 15, 15
3. Assisted Squats 25, 25
4. Elevated Jack Knife 15, 15
5. Knee-Hand Plank & Side Planks 50-30L-30R, 50-30R-30L

Total calisthenics workout time including the warm up was twenty-nine and a half minutes. As usual I finished with a thirteen minute ( Noom workout tracker rounded 12'58" down to 12 minutes!)  Prasara Yoga cool down routine.

Prasara Yoga Recovery 20120902

Not much to say about today's workout. Simple, short Prasara Yoga recovery routine. I'll probably take a walk later on this evening, too. Consistent workouts make me feel good both emotionally and physically.

Intu-Flow and C25K

Well, once again I missed posting yesterday Friday 20120831 but I did my assigned recovery workout. I did a nice twenty-four minute Intu-Flow recovery routine from the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. This helped me tremendously as my lower back was quite sore from the previous day's sprinting and kettlebell swings. This made me feel a lot better. Then I undid some of the benefits by sitting on hard metal bleachers with poor, slumping posture as I watched Eastside High School get crushed in football by Christ Church.

The workout for today was Week Two Day One of Couch to 5K. As usual I warmed up with Intu-Flow and FitSugar's active warm up for running. I knew the intervals today would be longer than those of week one, but I didn't check exactly how much longer. After a brisk five minute walking warm up, they were six repeats of ninety seconds running and two minutes walking. I didn't pace myself as well as I did in my last couple of runs. Once I was done, I finished up with a five minute cool down walk. That left me a little more than a block away from home so my cool down was really about seven minutes.

Stage Distance Time Pace WU 363 metres 5:00 13:44 1 215 metres 1:30 6:56 1R 150 metres 2:00 13:15 2 223 metres 1:30 6:42 2R 155 metres 2:00 12:50 3 214 metres 1:30 7:00 3R 154 metres 2:00 12:54 4 192 metres 1:30 7:48 4R 145 metres 2:00 13:46 5 217 metres 1:30 6:52 5R 157 metres 2:00 12:40 6 201 metres 1:30 7:27 6R 0 metres 0:00 --:-- CD 371 metres 5:00 13:27 Total 2.03 km 19:00 9:21 inc WU/CD 2.76 km 29:00 10:28

Calories burned: 176

Calories burned (including warm up): 261

Once I made it home I completed my cool down with a fourteen minute Prasara Yoga routine. My lower back is looser but still aching as is my left ankle and achilles tendon. I know the aches and pains will get better if I continue my careful warm ups and cool downs. I really need to make time to ice my ankle after running. Tomorrow is a Prasara Yoga day.