Back on a break

So I pulled a muscle in my back while playing hockey on Monday and will not be doing any workouts again until it is healed. This is a different muscle and pain than what I have had in the past with my back so no worries of return to those days. I just need to wait a bit for it to heal before I do my workouts again.

Hit by a Car

I did the workout again on Wednesday and got through all 3 circuits but had a bit of a problem with the run. I dropped my rest time to :45 and tried that. After 5 intervals my phone rebooted and that is what I use as a timer so I had to wait a minute for it to restart. I was feeling like I had been hit by a car at that point and was breathing heavy and short and almost just gave it up and went inside. I eventually was able to get it going again and finished up with not too much trouble but those first 5 were a bitch for some reason. We will see how it goes tomorrow. I am on business travel and will be working out alone in the fitness center at the hotel here so that should be fun. I checked the fitness center out today and they have a pull up bar so I am good. Will let you know how that goes.

Relax

I guess I skipped out on blogging last week. I did the same workout 3 days last week and made it through all three circuits. I slowed down to concentrate heavily on form and ended up with a great workout all three days and was sore the following day to prove it. I feel pretty strong on the interval sprints and will drop down the rest to :45 seconds this week. This morning I was just feeling really tight and so we did the X-Stretch video from P90X which is about an hour of stretching and it felt really good. I will go back to the other workout either tomorrow or Wednesday but we should work the stretching and/or yoga in there on Saturday's or something because it is certainly helpful.

Pain in the neck

Started the same workout this morning but only did 2 circuits because I jacked something up in my neck. I actually originally did it on Sunday while doing the workout but it was feeling better today until midway through my second circuit. I was doing my pull ups when I noticed it and it hurt pretty good so I bailed after 2. I have hockey tomorrow so will try again Saturday and pay real close attention to form and see if I can figure out what the deal is. I also dropped my rest time on the intervals to :50 today with no real issues, not bad when you drop :05 at a time.

Got all three sets in

Well I made it through all three sets this morning, barely, and did the rest as before. The running was brutal after the workout the legs had already had but it felt real good. The 5 second drop in the rest time has been no problem, might try another 5 next week or possibly the week after.

I also read an interesting article in the NY Times about the effect of muscle work on the brain, it is worth reading. Maybe the most interesting thing is that the effects could be induced with drugs without even performing any exercises. I think I will stick to the workouts myself.

Changed it up today

We changed up our workout this morning and it kicked my ass. I originally intended to do 3 circuits of the following but only did 2 in 14:40. I will try to get the third one in as well on Wednesday, we shall see. My shoulders and calves are pretty sore today.

• 10 jump squats
• 10 dips
• 10 burpees with a push up
• 1 minute plank
• 10 pull ups ( I only did 9 and 8 today though)
• 20 steam engines
• 10 Romanian deadlifts on each leg
• 10 pike press push ups

We followed this up with 3 sets of the following circuit doing each exercise to failure each times.

• long arm crunch
• heels to the heavens
• in & outs
• Russian twists

I then finished up with an interval high intensity run/walk combination with 1 minute on :55 off for 10 rounds. This was a 5 second drop in my rest time and I felt pretty good. My legs are pretty sore but the shorter time did not bother me. I will try to keep dropping the rest over time to get it down to at least :30.

We have been doing the same body weight circuit workout for the last couple weeks with one slight adaptation, I added in 10 pull ups at the end. In case you forgot what it was the circuit was:

• 20 body weight squats
• 10 push ups
• 20 walking lunges
• 10 dumbbell rows (each arm)
• 1 minute plank
• 30 jumping jacks
• 10 pull ups (or max with good form if you can't complete 10)

We start with a 5 minute warm up and then perform 3 iterations of this circuit for time. I completed it yesterday in 14:20 although I only did 7 pull ups each time not 10. This has been followed up with 3 rounds to failure of the following 3 exercises.

• Crunch on the stability ball (I added weight to this by holding a dumbbell)
• Back extension on the stability ball
• Oblique core twists with straight legs

I then finished up with an interval high intensity run/walk combination with 1 minute on 1 minute off for 10 rounds. My wife does not do the running but does yoga once or twice a week. We have been doing this 3 times a week and I have been playing hockey 1 or 2 times as well.


I am looking to modify the circuit and core circuit for this week somewhat but will probably leave push ups and pull ups in there no matter what. I am also going to start dropping 5 seconds off the rest on the interval runs this week so it will be 1 minute sprint followed by 55 second rest for 10 rounds. We will see how this goes for a week or 2 and then drop another 5. My goal would be to drop to a 30 second rest eventually. This is a good cardio workout for hockey which is usually a short 1 minute shift all out followed by a brief recovery on the bench.