MMMMMM Sugar

I read this blog post a few days ago and thought I would post it. There is not really anything in here that I did not already know I don't think but there are lots of links to source materials for further reading. I actually thought my wife might like this one as she has become pretty adamantly anti sugar over the last months since being introduced to the Paleo diet. I, on the other hand, struggle with the sugar thing. If you go back and have a look at some of my early posts you will probably see that when I was younger I used to drink much soda and other high sugar content drinks. I have cut them out almost entirely other than the occasional soda when I am out but I do still have issues with things like the kids Halloween candy lying around, I will eat all that shit and that is no joke. I really should start working on this one. It is tough though as some of this talks about it is like an addiction and I already have sort of an addictive personality.

Up and At 'Em

Got up at 0600 this morning, I actually was up on time today, and again had no idea what I was going to do. I had a look at my old crossfit gym's website (CrossfitSRT) and their workout looked fine so I ran with it. I started with 100 jumping jacks and 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles

I did some stretching before the workout. The workout was 7 rounds of the following for time:

• 3 deadlifts
• 60 jump rope singles
• 10 burpees

They actually had it prescribed as 20 double unders but I adjusted that to the 60 singles. I did the deadlifts with 168#. I should have probably done a bit more. That is over my body weight but I am thinking I should have gone with 188#. I completed the 7 rounds in 14:40. I was not in a giant hurry to finish but I worked pretty well straight through with about 10 seconds or so each round for proper setup on the deadlift. I took a bit longer than that to setup on the last two rounds but I did all the rest uninterupeted and without any breaks in between.

Monday Workout

I woke up this morning at 0600, well actually 0620, and headed down to work out. I had no real idea what the hell I was going to do but I knew both my ankles were felling sore so I did not want to do anything involving them too much. I decided to skip the jump ropes as warm up since I think that might be part of the ankle issue. I did 100 jumping jacks to start off followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles

I then did a little stretching and 5 rounds of:

• 10 burpees
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 Turkish get ups @ 20# (5 each arm)
• 10 hanging knee raise on dip station

You can check out the link to the video explanation of the Turkish get up for a good explanation. I was a bit off on form this morning and will probably work on that some next time. That exercise is great though and I need to include it more often. I started with a 35# kettlebell but it pretty quickly became too heavy and I didn't want to drop it on my head so I dropped the weight some. I did not time myself on this workout but worked straight through the 5 sets with no break.

Couple Workouts This Week So Far

I did the day 1 workout again this week on Tuesday evening. I started off with a warm-up of 200 jump rope singles followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles

I then did some stretching for a few minutes. I did three supersets as follows for the workout which is identical to before except I increased the back squat weight by 10#:

• 5 sets of 3
• back squat @ 128#
• box jumps (weight bench)
• 3 sets mixed reps
• kettlebell swings @ 35# 20 reps
• pull-ups 5 reps
• dips 8 reps
• 3 sets mixed reps
• farmers walk @ 45# each arm for 40 paces
• hanging knee raise 10 reps

I also did a workout yesterday evening that started with the same warm up as above and then was a 21-15-9 rep workout of:

• Clean @ 78#
• Bar facing burpees

A little bit of running

Day 3 I slacked a bit on the warm up, I did none. I did start off slow on the run though and was pretty tight for the first 1/4 mile. It is cold as shit out there too which doesn't help. It was 26 degrees when I took off from the house. I ran 2.43 miles in 32:49. Before you go all bat shit on me talking about how slow I was let me finish. At 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 I did the following:

• 20 walking lunges
• 20 tiger crawl
• 20 mountain climbers
• 10 burpees

As you can see I did not do the recommended 5 miles from the workout I told you I was basing this on. I will get there but not yet. I also did 10 rather than 20 burpees, I am a wuss and will punish myself tomorrow. I walked a little to cool down but no stretching. I felt generally pretty good during the run and I think I was doing a bit over 9:00 pace when actually running but it is hard to tell because the split times get all screwed up when you do the exercises in the middle.

Christmas Eve Workout

I did day 2 of the plan I posted yesterday, sort of. I started off with a warm-up of a 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles

I then did a bunch of stretching focusing on my back again as yesterday. I figured I might as well be safe and take the extra time. I then did the following workout:

• 3x
• 100 meter sprint
• 8 barbell rows @ 68#
• 8 push press @ 68#
• 2 minute rest
• 3x
• 100 meter sprint
• 8 barbell curls @ 58#
• 8 tricep extensions @ 48#
• 2 minute rest
• 3x
• 100 meter sprint
• 8 hang cleans @ 78#
• 8 slamballs @ 20#

I said yesterday that I had told everyone about my last race a month ago but after going back and looking at the blog it appears I had been lazier with the blog than the workouts. I was working out consistently until a month ago when my sister and I did a 10k relay together in 25 degree weather. As I mentioned I was sick for awhile and jacked my back up again but here I am going at it again. 

As you might notice I switched up the high pulls on the last set for slamballs. I am not a fan of high pulls after reading a few articles by PT's about how they measure shoulder impingement and that the move is much the same and how they would not suggest doing that move under much load. I also was not a big fan of the pairing of that with cleans. I would rather pair something that works a little different set of muscles, not sure I did real well with slamballs on that but I felt it was better than high pulls. You may also notice my weights are pretty low starting out this new workout, especially on squats yesterday. As I mentioned I am coming off a tweek in the back and a month break so I figured I will ease in a bit. Finally you might notice there was a finisher in the workout for both day 1 and day 2 that I skipped. I will work my way up to that but again I figure I will ease in. Wait until you see how much scaling I do on day 3.

Finally Worked Out Again

If you recall all that long time ago when I did that 10k relay with my sister I mentioned I had a chest cold. I was having a hell of a time breathing and was coughing like I still smoked or something. I could not shake that thing for the longest time and I tried some running a couple times but I really could not get any air once I started working out so I figured I would just give it a week or two. Well just as I was getting better we had a snow and ice storm here and I slipped and went feet up on the street in front of the house and hurt my back. I was out of commission for a bit longer with that and finally now felt like I could get back at it. I think it has been just about a month sincce I did any regular sort of workout.

I started off with a warm-up of 200 jump rope singles followed by 3 rounds:

• 10 push-ups
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 PVC arm circles

I then did a bunch of stretching focusing on my back. I figured I might as well be safe and take the extra time. I did three supersets as follows for the workout:

• 5 sets of 3
• back squat @ 118#
• box jumps (weight bench)
• 3 sets mixed reps
• kettlebell swings @ 35# 20 reps
• pull-ups 5 reps
• dips 8 reps
• 3 sets mixed reps
• farmers walk @ 45# each arm for 40 paces
• hanging knee raise 10 reps

I was certainly a bit out of it today after so long off but it felt good to get back at it. I am going to modify a Spartan beast workout plan I found a bit and work that for the next couple months I think. It is based on 4 days a week of work with day 1 being strength based, day 2 is anaerobic, day 3 is running, and day 4 is muscle endurance. Day 3 is supposed to be trail running and I will do some of that but I will also do road running and probably mix in some work wit a 50# pack as well. I have some thoughts on some other modifications as well but we will see. Mostly I just want to keep it interesting. I actually did not do all that was prescribed for today but it is pretty aggressive and seeing how I am coming off a month break I figure I will work up to the workouts over a couple weeks. The plan I am basing this on is here if you want to have a look.

Good to be back at it.