Tag: overtraining

R8D49&50 – Aches and Pains

Since I am not working to a schedule and therefore not working in a week of “rest week” workouts I am constantly guessing at my overtraining status. I am sure that I am far from overtrained, but the nagging aches and pains that I get after about 3 weeks of constant working seems to indicate otherwise. This past few days I have been sore, achy, getting constant pains and feeling a little lethargic. I know it’s not my diet, since that basically never changes, but still I feel like I am out of energy. I took what would be considered a rest week a couple of weeks ago, since I took 3 out of 4 days off and did an easy 6k run the other day so I shouldn’t really be feeling this way. I am, however, on day 51 of my 90 days and as I indicated in a recent post that could be the reason. I am too far from either shore to see where I am going or where I have been and I may be psychologically losing my way.

Here’s my cure.

It’s now November 14. I have to take vacation on December 17th and that vacation time will include trips, and Christmas. It’s going to be hectic with the baby and there is a possibility that my workouts may suffer. In order to survive that couple of weeks I need to put in a month of solid work. It’s not even about meeting a weight goal for this year, I am pretty happy with where I am for now. It is more about avoiding the itchy feet I get when I can’t work out during the holidays. So basically I have a 5 week window that will take me to day 84 of this round. I guess that means my time off will coincide with my new plan, whatever that is. And by whatever that is, I mean P90X2 which should have arrived around then. If not, I will need a filler until I get the package. Whatever the deal is, whatever the timing is, I need a plan for the last part of December which will probably include Operation Osmin outdoor “world is your gym” type stuff.

So I need to buckle down and focus on the 5 weeks upcoming to get me out of this funk. I will have around 25-30 workouts to do in total during that time, 5 of which would be bootcamp classes. So I am looking at 20 workouts which isn’t much if you think about it.

I started this post this morning during breakfast and now since it’s dinner time I feel much better. Enough so that I can think about putting together the workout for the kids tonight. I guess my morning aches and pains are not a good indicator of my status… Either that or writing about them is therapeutic!

Days 49 & 50 were pretty simple, if not easy.

49 – RKC Art Of Strength Providence DVD
50 – O-lift practice – Deadlift, chin up,  Strict press, Squat. 5×5 of each.

(I secretly love that my cure for overtraining is to plan more training…)

R8D14-17 – Flirting With Overtraining and The Kenpo Apology

I’m feeling the wear and tear right now, but I know that in time there will be days I can’t help but miss. That’s why if I can work out I do, so that when I can’t I don’t have to feel guilty about it. My elbows are torn up from low plank work at gym on Friday, my back hurts from, well, everything and my but still aches from last Wednesday and then Kenpo yesterday.

Wait, what?

Yes, I said Kenpo. I have had a love / hate relationship with Kenpo over the years (and yes, it’s been years since I first met Tony in the summer of 2008) and for many reasons I think it was just a bit of frustration that the cardio wasn’t what I needed. It’s not that the workout isn’t entertaining or complex enough to be engaging, it’s just that once you have been through the program, you start to wish there was a cardio portion to the proceedings and the first 2 workouts to get the axe to make room are Yoga and Kenpo.

As a matter of fact, I love the Kenpo workout. In a word, it’s fun! It’s nice to be able to pretend violence or imagine yourself at an elevated skill level doing kicks that feel like they are head height even though you are struggling to make hip level. It’s an entertaining, fast paced and reasonably skill based workout that gets a bad rap by seasoned users for all the wrong reasons. I hope in P90X2 that there is something just as intricate and skilled to replace it however it seems as though we may be disappointed. I suppose I made my own point there, that there are other places to get your cardio workout, but Kenpo will be sadly missed and so I am sorry about all the mean things I said.

So what was it that I did the last few days? Well, it started on Thursday when I was actually pretty wiped out after a very intense Wednesday bootcamp class. Nicole and I took a long walk around the neighbourhood with the baby to pick out some tiles for her next craft project. It was a welcome active rest and did a lot to work through the pain in my legs.
Friday which was supposed to be an off day turned into an Insane Abs workout with 2 of my girls at gym. I had pared it down a little and probably shouldn’t have bothered since they got through it without much problem. I found the workout not too hard, and I didn’t even get much pain until 24 hours later when my hip flexors started screaming every time I moved. I found that it was a lot of shoulder work from the plank positions and a lot of hip flexor (which they need) but not a lot of actual core strength. I think I need to develop a better upper and lower ab workout for them.
Saturday I opted for a hybrid workout that would round out my bodyparts for the week so I planned the following, assuming I would be able to do something else afterwards:

5x
5 chin ups
10 ring dips
15 push ups

Since my ring dips started to fade quickly I adapted round 2:

5x
5 ring dips
10 chin ups
15 push ups

This exhausted me which led me to conclude I was on the verge of overtraining. However, in review I noted the following totals:

Chin ups: 75
Ring Dips: 75
Push Ups: 150

Which isn’t too bad for a 20 minute workout.

Sunday I knew I had to do something that would not push me over the edge of the overtraining cliff but would enable me to take Monday off while I coached gymnastics. It had to be cardio, but with my legs and back a little sore I shyed away from Shaun T and opted for Kenpo, and as noted above, I am  happy I did.

I feel much better today, and I also think it’s time for an RKC workout!