November 2010 – Page 3 – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

Round 4 Day 34 – Pure Cardio, Pure Hell

Yesterday I started using Fitday as I noted and was amazed at how little calories I ate. Most likely due to the fact I am eating Paleo which basically just means real food. I am staggered at how much fruit and vegetables it takes to reach even 2500Â calories, never mind 4000! So I knew I was undernourished (a little) and I think it messed with my head during my workout. Now I do have a bery sick wife and a sick baby at home so it is entirely possible that I am coming down with something however, I think I faked myself into thinking I was tired due to the fact I only managed 1500 calories before my workout. You would think, given my copious amounts of stored “energy” that I would be fine on the fuel front… apparently not so. And for those people who are claiming that I am on a high protein, low carb diet, check out my stats on Fit Day and tell me that 48% of calories from carbs is low carb…

Anyway, I am trying to eat more today before my workout to try and up my energy level but also to prevent having to scarf down 2500 calories late in the day. I am at almost 1100 and it is 1:30pm.

So I didn’t feel good at all yesterday during the workout. I didn’t skip it however, and I didn’t even duck out early, I gave it what I could and saw it through to the end. Thankfully I am doing such a varied mix of workouts right now because I don’t know if I could face another Insanity workout today. Instead, before I go to coaching I have to do a gym workout of chest and triceps regardless of the fact I am listed as having a day off. This is due to the fact that I inadvertently had to take off Saturday since we didn’t get back from dinner with friends at 6 like Nicole said but rather at around 11! I had taken Thursday off alsoÂ whichÂ left me short on workouts and long on laziness. So I think I will try to make it to Friday this week and take that as my rest day.

Which brings me to planning for my WOD tomorrow. Since I have back and biceps the following day I don’t want to go crazy with pullups so I think I will be looking for something more squat and jump or shoulders and abs…

I am also on the brink of bringing in the chin up bar from the deck and installing it in the garage. However, I know once I do this I will be restricted to doing my chin ups upstairs rather than out on the deck. I did consider not moving the bar at all and sticking with the outdoors all winter but I can’t see myself doing chin ups in sweats, a wooly hat and gloves! It’s just the timing I am worried about. That and maybe taking the plunge and doing the whole workout in the garage while the bar is in there. But I don’t have an insulated garage and it is often -10 or colder in there during the winter months. Hopefully we will get a mild winter and I will be able to withstand the cold. Ugh, I hate the thought of having my well established routine messed with…

Round 4 Day 33 – Shoulders and Traps (Gym)

I can’t really find a good sequence of shoulder stuff in P90X so I am going to stick with regular gym and Crossfit stuff. I made up a short workout for yesterday and may have given myself tennisÂ elbowÂ in the process.

4 Rounds for Time:

Alternating Shoulder Press (35lb DB)
Upright Rows (95lb barbell)
Clean and Press (35lb DB)
Shrugs (95lb barbell)

It didn’t last long and I should probably have added some flys on the end of the workout to round out the shoulders but by the time I was done I was pretty tired. I was pushed for time since my wife and baby were waiting for me to finish so although it was short I had to make sure it was tough. The hardest part was the clean and press with the dumbbells. Controlling dumbbells through a clean motion is difficult at the best of times but add tired aching forearms to the mix and you have a potential disaster. Today I feel like I have tennis elbow in my left arm from not warming up properly. We went straight out for a walk after to Starbucks with the baby so at least I got the warm down right!
Anyway, that was yesterday, today is Pure Cardio.

I have also started to use FitDay.com to track my stuff. All my workouts and eating etc will be available here:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Perfik

It’s OK, nobody is here… hehe.

Round 4 Day 32 – El Improvisario (FGB)

I don’t know if that is even a word but my improvising skills are getting better and better as I try to keep up with some of the signature Crossfit workouts. Today, as promised, was Fight Gone Bad but since I lack the basic necessary equipment I had to improvise.

The workout Rx (as prescribed) is like this:

You rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Box Jump: 20â€³ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat it all again. Three rounds total.

Wall ball is simple, just throw the ball at the 10ft target and catch. However, once you catch the ball, you have to go into a full squat at the bottom.
SDHP is also a simple move if you know the mechanics of a deadlift. Even if you don’t, as long as you keep your head up and back flat you should be OK with only 75lb.
Box jumps can be anywhere from 18″-24″ depending on Â your comfort level
Row – Since there are many people who don’t have rowers at Â home, you could sub outdoor sprints or treadmill running in a pinch. Since many of the WODs include sprints or short distance runs I don’t see the harm in this but your score would be off.

For me, working in my basement now that winter is closing in, this was going to be a challenge. I didn’t have the ball or the height to do wall ball and I have read that you can sub thrusters instead if you want. Not knowing this, I opted to use dumbbells and throw it as high as I could which in a 8 or 9ft ceiling basement isn’t far. I should probably have used more than a 20lb DB too but I can try that next time. For the SDHP I wanted to use the bar not only for the pull but also as a target to jump over for the box jumps so I put 25’s on the Olympic bar, rested the bar on 2 small boxes and had a decent set up. With my back history it was important that now I am moving back into Olympic lifts that I go easy so having the bar a little higher than it would normally be with bumpers was a bonus. The bar was only about 18″ off the floor so I had to make sure in my jumps I was clearing it by a decent margin. As you have figured out, my SDHP was done with 95lbs not 75.
I used 35lb dumbbells for the Push Press which left me 5lb short.
Instead of the row I had to run on the treadmill and since Â the treadmill we have doesn’t like me running on it the fastest I can go is around 5mph, after that I blow the fuse.

So there you have it. With the warm-up and the WOD it was about a half hour workout. 3 rounds of 5 minutes plus extras.
My counts were (I am sure) pitifully low but here you go:

DB throw – 30 – 40 – 40 (110)
SHDP (95lb) – 8 – 10 – 10 (28)
Jumps – 14 – 15 – 14 (43)
Push Press (35lbDB) – 20 – 15 – 16 (51)
Run Â ?

Without counting calories – 232

Round 4 Day 32 – What to do…

So I am feeling really tired. I know that everyone is going to say it’s the diet but truth be known my sleeping habits are awful. I usually don’t get to be until around 12 or 1 and am up at 530. I think that in the spirit of improving everything I need to look at my sleep and do something about it.

I also hurt my knee last night. I wasn’t doing anything, just noticed that at some point it started hurting. I have been lucky so far for someone so heavy that my knees have held up. Strong quads help but in the end I am sure my weight can’t be good for them.

I tried cold brewed coffee this week. It’s my latest bandwagon onto which I happily throw myself. From what they said, you just brew your coffee the same way you would with hot water but instead you use cold water and then let it sit for 12 hours, press and drink.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/27coff.html?ex=1340683200&en=0a9cf1fb9bdd34ea&ei=5124

Now, I have been in the coffee business before so I think I know a little about it and I had never heard of this. Colour me skeptical but I tried it anyway. I have never been able to drink coffee black, it is just too bitter and unpleasant but as I took a sip of the clear brown deliciousness I was shocked, yes, shocked to find that the taste was extremely pleasant. No bitterness, just a really nice nutty caramel taste. This shocked me not only because I was expecting the whoile thing to be bullshit but also because I had used Folgers crappy coffee not even the Time Hortons good stuff! Now some people will tell you to use 4:1 ratio of water to coffee but that is a crazy way to start and gives you more of a syrupy super-coffee. if you just follow your usual directions using your French Press then it will work out fine. You can increase the coffe by up to 50% if you wish before it starts to get too strong and require dilution to drink. Don’t forget though, this is an exercise in patience, the coffee should sit for about 12 hours before drinking.

http://www.cookography.com/2007/cold-brewed-coffee-using-a-french-press

I was also looking forward to doing “Fight Gone Bad” tonight however I can’t find a 20lb ball to throw against the house…

http://www.fitbomb.com/2010/09/fight-gone-bad.html

I also don’t have a rowing machine and the way my knee feels, well, you get the idea. I will have to find another way to work out tongiht.

Now, I have been in the coffee business before so I thought I knew a little about it and I had never heard of this. Colour me skeptical but I tried it anyway. I have never been able to drink coffee black, it is just too bitter and unpleasant but as I took a sip of the clear brown deliciousness I was shocked, yes, shocked to find that the taste was extremely pleasant. No bitterness, just a really nice nutty caramel taste. This shocked me not only because I was expecting the whole thing to be bullshit but also because I had used Folgers crappy coffee not even the Time Horton’s good stuff! Now some people will tell you to use 4:1 ratio of water to coffee but that is a crazy way to start and gives you more of a syrupy super-coffee. if you just follow your usual directions using your French Press then it will work out fine. You can increase the coffe by up to 50% if you wish before it starts to get too strong and require dilution to drink. Don’t forget though, this is an exercise in patience, the coffee should sit for about 12 hours before drinking.

I was also looking forward to doing “Fight Gone Bad” tonight however I can’t find a 20lb ball to throw against the house…

I also don’t have a rowing machine and the way my knee feels, well, you get the idea. I will have to find another way to work out tonight. By the way, if you have an extra Concept 2 rowing machine just laying around that you don’t want…

..more later..

Round 4 (Phase 2) Day 29 – Chest and Tri (No Shoulders)

facepalm2

I have made a subtle mistake in my schedule. There seems to be too much chest in this second part of the schedule. My goal was to take the shoulder work out of the Chest Triceps and Shoulders routine so that my gym days would not include all 3 body parts. However, I seem to have mixed up the order and got an additional chest workout in there. This 3 weeks are based on my old gym workouts, a 3 day split with no legs however due to the fact I am doing Crossfit workouts and Insanity cardio, legs just aren’t necessary. If you saw my quads you would agree 😉
So I have modified the schedule a little (and gone back and noted the change in the previous posts) and come up with this for the next 4 weeks. Note that I have changed from a 4 on 1 off to a 6 on 1 off which given the failure to stick to my schedule so far probably won’t matter.

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

30 Max Interval Plyo

31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

32 WOD with Pullups

33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

34 Pure Cardio

35 OFF

36 GYM Â Chest and Triceps

37 WOD with Pullups

38 GYM Back & Biceps

39 Pure Cardio

40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

41 WOD with Pullups

42 OFF

43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

44 Pure Cardio

45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

46 WOD with Pullups

47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X

48 Max Interval Plyo

49 OFF

50 FOY Yoga

51 Core Cardio and Balance

52 Core Synergistics

53 FOY Yoga

54 OFF

29 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
30 Max Interval Plyo
31 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
32 WOD with Pullups
33 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
34 Pure Cardio
35 OFF
36 GYM Â Chest and Triceps
37 WOD with Pullups
38 GYM Back & Biceps
39 Pure Cardio
40 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
41 WOD with Pullups
42 OFF
43 P90X Chest & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
44 Pure Cardio
45 P90X Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
46 WOD with Pullups
47 GYM Shoulders Traps and Ab Ripper X
48 Max Interval Plyo
49 OFF
50 FOY Yoga
51 Core Cardio and Balance
52 Core Synergistics
53 FOY Yoga
54 OFF

So for day 29 I did the Chest and Tricep portion of Chest Tri and Shoulders. It was about 30 minutes but was actually hard on me since you don’t get the rest of doing shoulders. It is basically a quick circuit of chest and triceps. Since I am doing dips instead of some of the stupid and frankly useless tricep moves Tony provides, my triceps get an awesome workout.

Following such a good day I was disappointed in my Insanity Plyo workout for day 30. For some reason I felt listless and tired. I didn’t make it through many of the sections and given that each one is only an minute that really sucked. Hopefully it was just a reflection of too few calories or not enough sleep.

Round 4 Days 26-28 (Rest Week) – Rest and Fit Test

So I figured I should take some time to unwind my body and change things up a bit. I was scheduled for a 4 day run of Core Synergistics and Core, Cardio and Balance however after a day of running and one installment of CC&B I figured I would make a change. So instead I did Stretch X, something that I was in dire need of since my whole body was starting to feel compressed and the Insanity Fit Test. This was my second attempt at the Fit Test, the first (prior to Round 3) made me quit so getting through this was going to be goal enough.

The Insanity Fit Test comprises of the following:

How the Fit Test works is you do 8 different exercises for a minute each doing as many reps as you can. Here are my first results with the Insanity Fit Test:

Switch Kicks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 125

Power Jacks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 45

Power Knees Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 84

Globe Jumps Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 8

Suicide Jumps Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 13

Push Up Jacks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 25

Low Plank Oblique Â Â 50

You do 8 different exercises for a minute each doing as many reps as you can. Here are my first results with the Insanity Fit Test:

Switch Kicks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 125

Power Jacks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 50

Power Knees Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 114 (on weak side)

Globe Jumps Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 14

Suicide Jumps Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11

Push Up Jacks Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 50

Low Plank Oblique Â Â 36

Since this was my first time I had nothing to compare to however since I have been doing the Crossfit workouts I have become much better at the “minute on/minute off” type of interval training. Given that I actually quit the last time I tried it, I have to figure I am pretty far along. I will try to do another run through next “rest week” approximately a month from now and see how that goes.

**Note, I did this again HERE for comparisons sake.