Chest and Back.
Week 2 here we go! Only 82 more days to go!
I awoke this morning feeling like someone had thrown up in my mouth for me. It was a truly disgusting feeling that I could easily have predicted had I thought about it. I was too busy bidding on Versace and David Beckham cologne to realize that in just a short few hours all the garbage food I put into my body would literally revolt on me. It was my own fault, nobody forced me to eat those wings or the meatballs. I need to work on my foresight because I dreaded the idea of having to work out this afternoon. Part 1 of my recovery was to do a quick couple of miles on the treadmill after which I really did feel better. Drank some juice, had a salad for lunch and the memories of spinach dip and nacho chips was fading fast. We went to Costco in the early afternoon and got rained on in the parking lot and then watched some TV until it was time to work out. Nicole requires naps during the day, so once she was napped out it was time to go.
Week 2 – Just do week 1 again apparently. I have included in my files a copy of the schedule for you to check out for yourselves. It’s over to the right in the links section. As you can see, weeks 1-3 are the same then you take a week off but I may do some short strength training in that week it depends on how I feel my progress is coming along.
Today was tough. After the workout was over I have to admit I felt like a bit of a failure. My strength seemed to leave me so soon, I felt like my Ab Rubber X workout was not up to par and I was not as tired as I was last week. However, once I looked at the sheets, I realized I had done more this time around. My chinups were better, my abs were almost 50% of the total workout which blew me away considering how crappy I felt. Speaking of Ab Ripper, I find that I am just too tired to do it at the end of the workout effectively. I may try to work it in at the start after warm up  instead. I am also finding that my affection for Crunchy Frog is diminishing. It is starting to hurt my back doing what are basically horizontal V-Snaps. Besides, I haven’ t ever really noticed frog abs so I am confused as to why we would be doing these! I find that the Fifer Scissors are fine, but doing the bicycles only 2 moves in to the session really taxes my hip flexors and I am at failure very quickly. There are 11 moves, all of which I cannot name off the top of my head and I can do at least a handful of most of them (that sounds like I really suck at abs doesn’t it?). I cannot, for the life of me, do any leg climbers. I am not sure who invented this ridiculous movement or what they were thinking, but I substitute V-Snaps instead since I hold the movement in the highest of contempt and refuse to even attempt to become proficient at it.
I had the same pain in my elbow doing pullups, mostly during bicep involved close grip motion. It doesn’t really hurt doing front grip like we do at gymnastics or doing hammer grip so I can’t really say it is hindering me. It is also in my left arm only which is not the bicep that I tore so it’s a bit of a mystery to me why so painful. As far as numbers of reps go I am almost able to keep up with Tony in the video except of course on the 25 chinups per set. Part of it is because I am using the door hanging chinup bar that I fell off the first time I put it up so I am a little nervous. I do weigh significantly less than I did back when I did that and I have fixed the door frame myself so it should be OK. It just looks a little flimsy. Maybe I should install a solid metal bar instead. However I am past 12 reps on the chinups for some sets, mostly even the second round I am doing 10 per set. That equates to a minimum of 60 unassisted chinups per session. Not bad considering I have never been able to do chinups until this year (until I really tried). They were never a part of my workout routine, mostly because being a young, egomaniacal gym rat you just don’t do bodyweight exercises, they are for girls and the kind of guy who shops at Lululemon, works out in spandex shorts and a cycling top and has a wardrobe full of Abercrombie and Aeropostal shirts. Anyhoo… after the workout I was conmpletely wiped. I lay on the floor of the gym for a good 10 minutes listening to the DVD intro music and wishing I was on the couch. I finally managed to get enough strength back into my arms to get up and head upstairs. Week 2 – Just like week 1 but more painful…