Workout round up

Where does the time go? Here is an abbreviated version of my week (and then some) of fitness activities. Here's the deal:
Wednesday 19 May: Walks X 2, 20 min each Thursday 20 May: Walks X 3, 20-25 min each Friday 21 May: Walks, 15 and 30 min; Eoin Finn Magically Hips Yoga, 57 min Saturday 22 May: Walks X 2, 25 min each Sunday 23 May: Walk 25 min Monday 24 May: Walks X 2, 35 and 25 min; LHT/Wicked Awesome Barbell Workout; Mowed Lawn Tuesday 25 May: Swim Sprints; Walks, 20 and 35 min Wednesday 26 May: Walks X 3, 20, 20, 25 min Thursday 27 May: Walks X 2, 25 and 30 min; Ashtanga Yoga at the University, 55 min

Well, there you have it. Not too many details, but you get the idea. I took it a bit easy this week as I wasn't feeling 100%. Until next time.

Back on track

I have been very remiss in posting these, so for the sake of brevity and catching up, I'll get right to it.

Sunday 9 May

• LHT/Wicked Awesome Dumbbell Workout: 
• 10 X push ups
• One arm (right) neutral grip dead lift, biceps curl up to standing overhead press, Turkish getup, standing overhead press and biceps curl down to one arm deadlift down; repeat on left side
• Two arm deadlift up, lunge left/right, split squat left/right, two leg squat, two arm biceps curl to standing overhead press, biceps curl down, neutral grip deadlift down
• Repeated this X 6, first 2 with 2 X 20 lbs dumbbells and the last 4 with 25 lbs dumbbells; TULs between about 1:48 to 2:00
• Walk, 1 hr 35 min (with > 60 min walking) to the pet store (via Starbucks!) with the whole family on a nice sunny day!

Monday 10 May

• Walks X 2, 20 min each
• Swim sprints; 250 yd warm up in 4:40, 6 X 25 yds in ~ 16-18 s with about 60 s rest between each, 250 yd cool down in 5:14
  
  
  

Spring is here! (For now, at least)

Here's the view from my front window about one week ago.

And here's the view on my walk this morning.

Needless to say the weather has had a hard time making up its mind lately, but it looks like spring is actually here to  stay. I have a fair bit to post about, but for now will just stick to an update on my workouts, post back tweak. I modified my exercise routines and took it easy when my back was stiff/sore and changed my LHT workout to one with dumbbells instead of a barbell. I also took a pass at sprinting on land and instead did a swim sprint workout and skipped my HIIT/Bodyweight workout (lots of jumping around in it). Other than that, and having a couple of extra easy days, all was as normal and now my back is, well, back (to normal). And with no ibuprofen or other meds.

Here's the deal.

Saturday 1 May

• made some vitamin D on the deck
• Walk about 1 hr 40 min to the lake (above, different day) and back

Sunday 2 May

• Walk ~ 30 min
• PM Yoga ~ 25 min

Monday 3 May

• Walk 20 min

Tuesday 4 May

• Yoga, 45 min, Rodney Yee's Energy Balance
• Walk, 25 min
• PM Yoga, freestyle ~ 25 min

Wednesday 5 May

• Walk, 20 min
• Swim, 1,000 m, 21:14 (much better than the last 2 weeks), 150 yd cool down
• Walk, 30 min

Thursday 6 May

• Walk, 20 min
• LHT/Wicked Awesome Dumbbell Workout
• One arm (right) neutral grip dead lift, biceps curl up to standing overhead press, Turkish getup, standing overhead press and biceps curl down to one arm deadlift down; repeat on left side
• Two arm deadlift up, lunge left/right, split squat left/right, two leg squat, two arm biceps curl to standing overhead press, biceps curl down, neutral grip deadlift down
• Repeated this X 10, first 2 with 2 X 20 lbs dumbbells and the last 8 wit 25 lbs dumbbells; TULs between about 1:30 to 1:50; need to keep really slow but a great workout; may need some heavier dumbbells!

Friday 7 May

• Walk, 25 min
• Swim, 1,000 m 21:10 (ish - watch FAIL stopping the timer) plus 50 yd cool down
• Walk, 25 min

Saturday 8 May

• Walks, 45 min, 20 min

That'll have to do for now...at least I am one less week behind. Soon I hope to turn to more posts about what I am up to or thinking about besides my workouts. 

Work outs of the Week (and a bit)

I have been remiss in posting for a while. The end of the academic term is always busy and this one is no exception. The SO, kids and I are participating in our first MS Walk tomorrow morning at 9:00 am; 10 km and hopefully no rain or snow, or at least not too much of it.

Here's the workout deal for the past little while.

Thursday 15 April

• Walks X 2, 20 and 30 minutes, respectively 

Friday 16 April

• Sprinting: 
• walk ~ 10 min warm up; 6 X ~ 40-50 m @~50% with about 20 s between each; 6 X ~ 50 m @~ 75-80% with about 60 s between each (some of these ended in "tag" with Finlay); walk ~ 10 min cool down (nice, warm and sunny, ~ 18 C) 
• Walk ~ 25 min 

Saturday 17 April

• Walks X 2, 15 and ~ 35 min, respectively 

Sunday 18 April

• HIIT/Bodyweight: 
• 60 s each of: Jumping jacks (X 57), Burpees (X 15), Plank, Triceps dips (X 41), Prisoner squats (X 36), Wall sit, Side plank (left side), Lunge jumps (X 78), Side plank (right side), Wall sit (no push ups this time b/c of stiff lower back and tweaked right wrist) 
• Walks X 2, ~20 min each 

Monday 19 April

• Walks X 3, 20 min (kids to school), 50 min (from department around Hawerlak Park and back) and 40 minutes (very warm and sunny 20 C+) 

Tuesday 20 April

• Walks X 2, ~ 20 min each 
• Swim, 1,000m, 25:10 (slow!) 

Wednesday 21 April

• LHT/HIT/SS: 
• Bent over rows X 6, TUL = 1:23, 70 lb barbell 
• Standing overhead press, X 3.25, TUL = 1:07, 75 lb barbell 
• Deadlifts, X 4.5, TUL = 1:05, 110 lb barbell 
• Bench press, X 3, TUL = 43 s, 100 lb barbell 
• Squats, X 11, TUL = 1:43, 80 lb barbell 
• Walk ~ 20 min 

Thursday 22 April

• Walk ~ 35 min 

Friday 23 April

• Yoga - Eoin Finn Daily Dose of Bliss, 42 min 
• Walks X 2. 25-30 and 35+ minutes 

In virtually all cases, unless I am at work, all of my walks are with my small furry partners, Libby and Finlay, pictured at the top of this post. Finlay is hidden under the comforter behind Libby.

Time keeps flying

Once again the week passed by in a blur. Lots happening at work and at home. I visited the kids' school twice, once to talk about my work (that seemed to go well) and once with the SO to see informational/fundraising presentations by Daughter #1's grade (very well done I must say!). Things are ramping up a bit at work with talk and poster preparations for a local conference this coming Friday and then an international conference the following week. This on top of the usual manuscript editing, lecture preparation and lecturing, midterm administration etc. All in all, running on all cylinders. At least everything seems to be going more or less as planned.

On the exercise side of things, the workouts have been pretty good, even great. The only slight hiccup this past week is that my knees are giving me a bit of a twinge here and there. Nothing major, just letting me know that they are there and that I should pay attention to them. I am not certain what is causing this but I have played around with wearing my orthotics and, for the most part as I have been doing for a while, going without them. I don't notice any difference in the knee department but I do feel like the orthotics seem to overstretch my plantar fascia.

One thing I am thinking of trying this week is to replace my LHT/TUL/SS workout using weights with a bodyweight workout, in case the weighted squats and/or deadlifts are aggravating my knees. Richard over at Free the Animal recently posted about changing up his LHT routine and the positive results that he felt. Reading this and with my knees talking to me, I figure I should give it a whirl. Not to mention that I have been on the weights for a while now, and with reducing my LHT workouts to once a week I miss the bodyweight workouts that I used to do in addition to the LHT weight workouts. I came up with a couple of bodyweight/HIIT type workouts that take between 10-15 minutes of actual exercising and will work just about every muscle group and, if history holds, will leave me out of breath and wishing I was on the weights! I'll post again to update with what specifically I use for the workout; I plan to do this tomorrow morning.

In the midnight hour (and the rest of the week, too)

Given the time I am finishing this post and the subject of the photo above, I figured the title of the post was fitting. Not to mention, I haven't been away on purpose at this time of night very often lately.

I can't believe that here it is Saturday again. The week was filled with the usual things like taking the kids to school and to their activities and the normal work stuff (lectures, manuscript editing/writing etc.). We also had a prospective graduate student visit the lab so there were meetings and meals out to chat and for her to get to know what we are all about. On Friday, I participated in a "work/life balance forum" for the graduate students in the department. I didn't feel particularly "balanced", but my wife and I seem to make it work most times, so I guess I had something to offer.

Speaking of balance, I did manage to maintain a good diet and keep up the exercise in spite of the busier than normal week. When going out to dinner I chose the grilled tuna salad for dinner and for lunch the next day wings with sweet potato fries. The fries were "lightly breaded" with something (likely a grain product) but on balance there was a higher sweet potato content than whatever the breading was made from. Tonight there were some wings and sweet potato fries again (habit? rut? you be the judge) and then some dry ribs. There was no breading on these fries (different restaurant) but there was something that may have been corn meal on the dry ribs. I need to ask about these things before ordering, but again, there was way more rib than the light coating, whatever it was made of.

There were also some fitness activities of many varieties this past week.

Here's the (long) deal:

Sunday:

• About a 30 minute walk at a brisk pace with the dogs.

Monday:

• LHT/TUL/SS;
• Bent over rows - X 13, TUL = 1:30, 60 lb barbell
• Standing overhead press - X 7.5, TUL = 1:09, 60 lb barbell (need to keep slow)
• Deadlifts - X 13, TUL = 2:31, 70 lb barbell (stopped when form broke down)
• Bench press - X 8, TUL = 56 s, 90 lb barbell
• Squats - X 10, TUL = 1:15, 80 lb barbell
• Curls - X 6.5, TUL = 59 s, 2 X 25 lb dumbbells

• I also went for a walk with the dogs in the morning (~ 40 min) and at night (~ 20 min brisk).

Second half of the week and weekend round up

Thursday the SO and I walked the kids and dogs to school. Later on I channelled some of daughter #1's sprinting fever and took Finaly and Libby along with the SO to the park at the kids' school for some outdoor sprinting in the snow, the first sprinting outside since last fall. .It was a great day, bright, sunny and right about +4 C.

Here's the deal:

• walk to the park ~ 10 minutes for warm up; stretch
• 6-7 X ~15s/~ 60 m @ 50% with about 20-30s rest between each
• 6 X ~12s/~60 m @ 85% with about 60 s rest between the first 3 and then less between the last 3
• walk home from the park ~ 10 minutes for cool down

Later on we walked to and from the school again to retrieve the kids.

On Friday, we (the SO and I) walked the kids to school and went for a bit more of a walk afterward (~ 25 minutes) and then I made it to the University and had a very good 1,000 m swim.

Here the swimming deal:

• 250 yds freestyle
• 250 kick (mostly all flutter kick, but some whip kick)
• 350 yds pull
• 250 yds free (a length or two of breast mixed in here)

It was pretty fair considering I am only swimming about once a week, down from the 2-3 times I used to swim.

Saturday I took it easy and just went for a walk with the SO of about 25 minutes before the pub night fundraiser - I had more confirmation that I am not young any more, and after that little excursion, I think it is just as well!

On Sunday the dogs and I took our kids and our friends kids (who slept over) sledding at the park. Here's a shot of our very own future skeleton racer, daughter #2, literally "heading down" the hill.

Later on that afternoon I cut my rest between lifting workouts from 7 to 6 days and did my LHT/SS (Lift Heavy Things/Super Slow) workout, with a couple of twists. Instead of only doing the "Big 5" a la Body By Science, I added 2 more exercises to make it a "Big 7".

Here's the LHT/SS deal:

• bent over row - TUL 1:06, 13 reps, 70 lb barbell
• standing overhead press - TUL 56 s, 7.5 reps, 70 lb barbell
• dead lift - TUL 2:00, 12 reps, 70 lb barbell
• bench press - TUL 1:26, 12 reps, 70 lb barbell
• squats - TUL 1:35, 14 reps, 70 lb barbell
• curls - (a) TUL 27 s, 2.5 reps, 70 lb barbell (b) TUL 1:43, 12.5 reps, 2 X 20 lb dumbbells
• pull ups - TUL ~ 20 s, 2.5 reps

I need to keep my form, but did a better job at it this time. I also need to start my watch before the barbell is on my shoulders for squats! For this workout I defined "failure" as when my form seriously broke down. This may not be "true" failure, but I think I will still get benefits while keeping myself safe and injury free by maintaining good form. Tomorrow, maybe I'll do some yoga in the morning.

Here's a couple of shots of my tasty brunch; a red onion, blue cheese and Hungarian salami omelette. This with a French press of my Greg Danks Burundi coffee and 18% cream was just about as close as you could get to a perfect brunch meal.

Oh, and here's a shot of Finlay watching the Canada-USA Olympic hockey game. His interest reflects the way the game went for Team Canada.

Family Day LHT/TUL workout through to Hump Day

For the Family Day Holiday I did a LHT/TUL Body By Science Big 5 for Free Weights workout. I am still tweaking things here and there, but this is coming along, and I think that lifting heacy only once a week (with some yoga, sprinting, swimming and walking) seems to be working for me.

Here's the deal:

Bent over row - 16 reps; TUL = 2:03; 60 lb barbell

Standing overhead press - 9.5 reps; TUL = 1:21; 60 lb barbell

Deadlift - 14 reps; TUL = 2:02; 90 lb barbell

Bench press - 6 reps; TUL = 48 s; 100 lb barbell

Squats - 17 reps; TUL = 1:50; 70 lb barbell

I still need to watch my form (back) on the deadlifts and maybe up the weight a bit on squats and the overhead press. The one issue with the squats is that I could really use a rack to get the bar heavy enough and into position more easily that just man handling it up the way I am doing now.

Later on Family Day the SO and I went for a nice, brisk 35 minute walk together with the dogs; I did the usual putzing with the dogs to get the "job" done before we all went to sleep. Tuesday I went for another walk with the dogs after taking the kids to school (about 35 minutes again) followed by the evening stroll.

This morning I got up early after a solid 7 hour(ish) sleep, and did a 53 minute Eoin Finn Yoga practice ("Strong, Free and Happy") before walking the kids to school with the dogs and SO and getting to work.

I got to sneak a peak at daughter #1's track meet at the University, but missed seeing her team win their heat (but I did see one of the boys' teams from her school win their heat). I'll try to channel their enthusiasm when I do my own sprint workout tomorrow, possibly on the same track!

Where did the weekend go?

I never did make it to the pool on Friday, and instead just did a few pull ups (5 to be exact, slowly in 42 s) and then went for a short walk with the dogs at night. Saturday I did a 50 minute Eoin Finn yoga practice ("Strong, Free and Happy" practice from the Power Yoga for Happiness DVD) and then took a lovely brisk 30 minute walk with the SO.

On Sunday the dogs and I went for a very long walk, about 55 minutes, that was nice and relaxing.

Back to the reality of the work week, there was no relaxation, as it was my LHT day and the third time I did the Body By Science Big 5 for Free Weights workout. (Although, as a side note, I did get a good 8+ hours sleep last night as part of my continuing resolution to get more, good rest.)

Here's the deal:

• Bent over row - X 11, TUL = 1:40 (70 lb barbell)
• Standing overhead press - X 5 (+0.5), TUL = 1:12 (70 lb barbell)
• Deadlift - X 4, TUL = 57 s (90 lb barbell)
• Bench press - X 7, TUL = 1:09 (90 lb barbell)
• Squats - X 7, TUL = ~ 60 s (90 lb barbell)

I really should have read my notes from last week, because I would have seen that then I used 70 lbs for deadlifts; it was plenty then and would have been plenty today, too. I will drop the weight down to 70 lbs for deadlifts next week so that I can move slowly through the reps but with good form. I also think I should drop the bent over rows back to 60 lbs (and maybe the standing overhead press too) so get a few more reps and a little more TUL with good form. I know that I worked though, because by the time I reached squats, I didn't put the bar behind my head because it was a struggle enough just to get it to chest height, so I did the squats with this modification and didn't risk muscling the bar behind my head just to get it stuck there after completing my set.

Once this was done (early this morning before 7:00, easy to do since it takes less than 15 minutes), the SO and I readied the troops, took the kids to school and then went for a nice 25 minute-ish walk. Nice!

Work was an array of editing/meeting, meeting, seminar, meeting. Busy, but productive and enjoyable. I'll take the dogs for a stroll later in hopes of them, and us, settling in for an early and restful sleep. Here's a sweet omelette I made this weekend...mmm...eggs, cheese and ham!

Heavy lifting

The weekend was relaxing on the exercise front. I did a few chin ups (5 reps then 2, 2, 3, 2 - fail; 3 more later for fun!) on the new chin up bar on Saturday while I was doing some minor renos so that it would install properly. The dogs and I went for almost an hour-long walk yesterday and another 35 minute plus walk this morning.

This morning I did my second TUL- Body By Science free weight workout. I think I am getting the hang of this now. I read further in the book and came upon the "Big 5 for Free Weights" work out.

Here's the deal:

• 60 s jumping jacks to warm up
• stretching
• bent over row - X 11 or 12, TUL = 1:50, 70 lb barbell
• standing overhead barbell press - X 6, TUL = 1:18, 70 lb barbell
• deadlift - X 13, TUL = 2:22, 70 lb barbell
• bench press - X 5, TUL = ??? (forgot to write it in my book - crap!), 90 lb barbell
• squats - X 10, TUL = 1:42, 90 lb barbell

I am plus or minus a rep for all exercises as I find it hard to count, breathe, and keep my form under the heavy load. I didn't realize until just now that I forgot to record my TUL for bench press! I started lifting at 6:16 am and ended at 6:29 am. Given this and the number of reps that I did for bench (only 5) I estimate that my TUL for this was about 1:00 give or take (about 10 seconds per rep, 5 s up and 5 s down, nice and slow). Apparently keeping track of reps and TUL is just as challenging as the workout! I would put my total TUL at about 8-9 minutes, taking just enough time to get the bar and weights adjusted for the next exercise. This workout was much better than last Monday. It was slower, more controlled, with more appropriately challenging weight and definitely lead to shaking of muscles and fatigue. I'll need more weight on the deadlifts next week to get the TUL under 2 minutes. And to keep track of reps and TUL for everything!

I think I'll do my sprinting tomorrow at the University's indoor track. I am unclear whether I'll use my orthotics in my running shoes or not. I used them the once this year but not the last two times. I like the feel not using them during the workout as I feel more connected with the track, but I wonder if my slight left heel pain is from sprinting without them. I think it is a trade off between some (now small) amount of pain and strengthening my arches, because while using the orthotics "protects" my arches and plantar fascia, they also don't likely help to strengthen them. Perhaps I'll use them tomorrow and see if the intermittent heel pain goes or stays.