2-27-14

Thursday yoga. One hour. Instructor picked up the pace vs earlier sessions. Just when I was starting to feel like I was progressing, I realize we are only graduating from the lower grades. But progress is progress. It was a good workout.

2/26/2014

Swam for 45 minutes.  Basically breast and freestyle so no idea how many laps.

Tough week at work. So nice to make it to the gym.

2-25-14

Tuesday Yoga during lunch hour. Good news is that the upper body stuff we do in the first quarter or so (Planks, side planks, low planks, down dog, crow, etc), aren't as painful as they were in the beginning. Progress.

2-23-14

2 mile interval with Tate on a nice day after weeks of  cold and gray. Plus 30 minutes of yoga working mostly on achilles, hamstring and inner thigh stretches and balance poses. I'm going to get my heels on the floor during down dog sooner or later.

2/21/2014

Swim thang.  I'm not sure how far, for two reasons: first, I'm no longer certain if this pool is in yards or meters; second, I lost track.  I know it was an hour, I'm going to guess a 2:30 pace on average so roughly 2400 yards/meters.

I think it is the weekend.

2-20-14

Thursday Yoga. One hour session with the full range of movement and poses, but emphasis on balance and abs. I measure my progress by the fact that rather than wondering when the session was going to end, I sensed some disappointment when we began to wrap up. Tested my loosening shoulder by throwing snowballs to knock icicles off the gutters at home tonight. One throw six months ago would have put me out of action all night. Tonight, no fastballs, but no discomfort either. Yay.

Chip Knocks it out of the park, again!

2/20/2014

 weighted vests, that is right 2 of them

3 rounds

squat cleans, 89lbs, for 6 reps
box ups 4 per side
hanging knee raises with chain, 6 reps

3 rounds
farmers walk, 75lb dumbbells
push-up burpees to a jumping pull up, 4
hyper-extensions, 4
hanging knee raises with chain, 6 reps

4 rounds
dreadmill quarter mile jog
inverted bosu ball air squats, walk about a bit

3 rounds
standing cable crunches, 15 reps 150lbs
side crunches on the hyper-extension thing, 5 per side

Good read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24464774

2/19/2014

Swim thang.  2000 yards in 50 minutes.  That is roughly 2:20 per 100 yards.  I'm pretty happy with that progress. 

2-18-14

Tuesday Yoga. No heat in the yoga room. Not uncomfortable temp wise once we got going, but it did seem to make it harder to loosen up. Still a good routine that is slowly bringing me into balance and increasing flexibility. Instructor started playing music (today it was Traveler) during a short relaxation period at the end. This was probably the 5th time she did that. The other times I enjoyed the song. Today I was somewhere else when she called us back. That was nice.

@S: I agree with you. Narrow routines only fit narrow objectives. A multi-faceted approach certainly fits my objectives of being energetic and capable enough to enjoy my golden years. I like your plan, but  admit it is too much for me. A couple of yoga sessions and a combination strength/cardio event twice a week seems like a decent and do-able solution for me. Add to that some gardening/landscaping and shop projects and  I think I have a blend of active pursuits that could work for me.

2/18/2014

Started out with the fugly barbell and weighted vest on the field-house floor.  Did a 15 minute fun-with-weights style warm-up.

Grabbed a second weighted vest and a couple of 35lbs dumbbells for stairwell farmers walk.  I did that for 10 minutes.

3 rounds

inverted bosu ball squats, 8
box ups left and right sides, 4 per side
push-up burpees with a jumping pull up, 4
hyper-extensions, 5

Some punk stole my box in the middle of  my circuit so I had to very pronouncedly go get myself another with lots of exasperated sighing and glowering, can you say, "curmudgeon".

Over head squats with bar and chains, 3 sets of 8

@r.a.m sorry if I sounded like I was writing you a prescription or harshing on your mellow.  I think that yoga has a huge place in mens fitness particularly as we age.  This last time I re-started in the gym I started with 4-5 yoga sessions per week from 4-6 weeks.  And yes if the instructor and the class is up for it a vigorous flow is well worth the time.  In my limited experience most yoga practitioners are middle aged or older and women.  Those classes just never get to that level of intensity, or as you observed the karma in the room goes dark.  Rather, my point was to think about frequency, intensity, and duration and to optimize ones training for life and for favorite activities.  In truth I'm struggling a lot with that since I've resigned myself to give up on martial arts.  Why exactly is it that I'm flogging myself in the gym?

I think we have some real rubbish from both popular culture and our over dependence upon medical doctors that clouds our thinking about movement.  The whole bodybuilding workout schema is first driven by the use of supplements and second by extreme calorie consumption and third gets all micro-managey and fiddly about isolating muscles.  I have a friend who swears that 20 minutes of "aerobic" activity 3 times a week is optimal and this because some doctor in the 1970's told him so.   "Aerobic" vs "anaerobic" is another stupid notion that just clouds our thinking.  Once I shit-canned these notions I was able to really make some headway on getting fit.  We have a shared cousin-in-law who is between us in age and yet regularly competes in Iron Man events.  Those folks train each activity twice-per-week.  On one hand I have nothing but respect for their work capacity yet on the other I'm not convinced that many of them could translate that into any heavy lifting.  Hence, my own variation of 3 swims, 2 resistance days, and 1-2 days of yoga, trying to optimize a number of variables rather than maximize any single one.   Of course those are goals and I'm still probably closer to 2 swims, 2 resistance days and something on the weekend -- and yes naps in the evening after dinner.

2-16-14

Snow finally stopped for a few hours. Took the dogs for a hilly mile walk near home. Then thought I would dust off the x-country skis and take a spin around the lake. Hadn't used them for a few years and had a  time trying to get the boots and bindings to mate up. Once on the lake the skis were dropping about a foot into the snow, so I figured to break trail on the way out and glide back. But on the other side of the lake there was slush a few inches below the snow surface which terminally iced the skis so I trudged back as well. I'm sure the ice fishermen were enjoying the spectacle. On the plus side it was a workout. And, rather than get discouraged I'm not having a problem laughing at myself, along with my wife of course.

2-15-14

Saturday. Snowing for the fourth or fifth time this week. 5 new inches on the prior 12. Limits the preferred outdoor workout. Did the NYT 7 minute workout plus calves and arms plus 20 minutes on the treadmill, 4.5 mph at 5% incline. Capped it off with an hours worth of snow shoveling. Worn out.

I agree that a mix of workout activities is optimal The yoga routine that my instructor does is a flow based sequence with a higher strength component than I expected, although limited to bodyweight moves. Cardio is my second priority and I need to find a way to get more serious strength work in. I don't think I have the stamina to do 5 or 6 workouts a week. 3-4 seems optimal. Hoping that my energy follows the lengthening days as spring arrives. Don't want to admit how many  evening naps I have indulged in this winter.

2/13/2014

Swam a mile. Intervals alternated breast/ free, 200 yards and 200 yards breast/free, side/free, side/free, breast/free.  I'm a little perplexed that speed doesn't really seem to be increasing even as I increase distance with faster strokes.  That aside I do feel work capacity is increasing.

Thinking about rams observations about benefits from yoga.  It does some important stuff, working out knots and limited range of motion, enhances flexibility, improves balance.  And yet I think it is part of what a person has to do towards fitness.  I think both strength and muscular endurance is limited as is work capacity in doing just yoga.  The rule I've heard some coaches throw around is a one to one ratio of stretching/yoga to other resistance or work capacity activities.  For most of us 2 hours of daily exercise is hard, really hard, to fit in the schedule.  Two a days as we called them in high school football  are hard to schedule around family, work, a social life.  I take a clue from the Iron athletes.  They swim two, run two, and ride two and rest the seventh.  If we do work capacity 3, resistance 2, and yoga 2, we can keep it all in balance.  That can be 7 days with yoga on a rest day, or 5 days with yoga doubled up.  Still a manageable schedule, manageable in terms of intensity, still difficult to schedule.

2/12/2014

Fugly barbell, weighted vest and a Fieldhouse.

Just a variation on the theme:  supersetted movements on each line of a tennis court.  For example: dead-lift, bent over row, upright rows, push press, 4 on the base line, 5 on the service, 6 on net... and so on.  Or barbell burpees, 1 each, just a jumble of movements.

Ended in the weight room doing cable crunches and hyper-extensions, then finished with 75lb dumbbells and farmers walk around the room.

Chatted briefly with LK about her recovery from the broken wrist.  Serious break but so far a good recovery.

2-11-14

Yoga. I've been working on my balance moves but still crashed my Airplane. Slow progress. Best news is that I have pretty near full range of motion in my bursitis plagued right shoulder for the first time in years. Got rid of a knot in my back that defied massage. And can flex my knees enough to rest my butt on my calves. I still consider Down Dog to be a bad dog, but it is gaining my respect. Looking forward to integrating yoga into a running/hiking routine when the blasted weather finally breaks.

2/11/2014

Swimming.

55 minutes, 200 yard intervals, I lost track of how many, probably, 1800ish yards.

2-9-14

Sunday: 1 mile walk with all three dogs and a collected bag of their donations and 40 minutes of solo yoga working on general stretches and balance. Have to admit, winter is starting to wear on me.

2-8-14

Cold saturday with a foot of crusty snow making a woods hike tough on me but worse on Tate. So we settled for a 3 mile walk/jog on our hilly neighborhood streets. Felt good and lung cleansing. Nice supplement to weekday yoga.

2-6-13

Yoga for lunch today. Cold outside with a foot+ of crusty snow. Happy to have an inside workout. I've developed some kind of a catch in my left shoulder. Not good. I hope it is temporary. Doesn't stop me  but forces me to make adjustments when I'm supposed to  be immersed in a pose. On the positive side, I can finally kneel with my butt resting on the back of my calves. Been careful following getting the left meniscus scoped last year. I am definitely gaining flexibility as the yoga progresses. If only I could get my heels to the floor in down dog. Something to work toward.

2/5/2014

Got my swim thang on.

I struggled to keep count but I think I got 8x200 intervals.  A lot of distraction from work internal monologue stuff.  Sometimes I can shut that noise off and sometimes like today I struggled.

2-4-14

Tuesday: Yoga. Pretty aggressive 1 hour session. Twinge in my left shoulder. Bothersome in my nemesis down dog pose. Handled it all and felt good overall. Some improvement in the major balance poses. Still wobbly, but less bailing in the middle.

2/4/2014

20lb weighted vest

Stairwell farmers walk, 30lb dumbbells, probably went for 15 mintues

3 rounds
push up to a jumping pull-up, 3reps
45degree hyper-extensions, 3 reps

Squat cleans, 3 sets, of 6 reps

overhead squats, bar and chains, 3x6

cable crunches 150lbs, 16, 16, 16

kettle-bell swings 3x6

2/3/2013

Fugly barbell, weighted vest, Fieldhouse

Felling kinda puny after a cold this weekend, but, I got on the saddle and gave it what I had.  A reasonable showing.  The drill was similar to all these kinds of workouts.  The only difference was that SJ was with the workout group and as I was making a round on the track with the weight in back rack, he challenged me to do one arm overhead press and walk the straight length of the track.  So I did, and balanced it out on the other side.  Nice to have enough spunk to take it and give it right back.

2-1-14

Short but quick strength workout: Heel raises, squats, abwheel, pushups, curls. Then celebrate the passing of the polar vortex with a 3 mile interval run with Tate. The cold winter interferes with my cardio and I feel it on the runs. Still, it felt good to get out. Temp around 40F. Felt balmy.