Tag: Shoulders

R9D67 – Bootcamp 3.4.2 – Weights And Stability

This evenings workout was a pleasant surprise, it was very shoulder intense but it was enjoyed by everybody which is rare. Even I was a big fan of it I just wish we had kettlebells instead to do the workout because it would make the clean and press section and snatches so much easier. So saying that, if you have a kettlebell and want an hour long torture session, go ahead!

D8 3.4.2 Weights

1 Arm x2
10 Press
10 Curls
10 Front Raise
10 Side Raise
10 High Pull

1 Arm 1 Leg x2
10 Press
10 Curls
10 Front Raise
10 Side Raise
10 High Pull

1 Arm x2
10 Clean
10 Swings
10 Clean and Press
10 Swings
10 Snatch
10 Swings

Stability Ball / Block 1 Arm x2
10 SB Press
10 SB Lockout Rollback
10 SB Curls
10 SB Laying Curls

Stability Ball / Plyo
30s SB Plank Hold – Plank Hold
10 Plank Circles Each Way – 10 Shoulder Touch Each
10 SB Pushups – 10 Pushups
10 SB Pushup Boing – 10 Clapping Pushups
30s Decline SB Plank – 30s 1 Foot Plank Hold
10 SB Decline Pushup – 10 Plyo Pushups
10 SB Decline clapping pushups

Bonus Round

10 Turkish Get Ups Each side (skipped)

 

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 tennis elbow 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 3 – Day 1 to Day 6 (Light Of My Life)

Day 1 P90X – Chest and Back.

It has been so long since I have done a P90X workout that I really genuinely enjoyed listening to Tony and the gang. Of course, being day 1 I am keen, full of energy, able to keep up with the kids and taking it all in stride. I am ignoring the menace that awaits me tomorrow and the following day and just enjoying doing the work. I stuck with the workout as instructed and even agreed that I would do the ARX workout instead of skipping ahead and doing things in my own time. It is actually a relief to submit to someone else since all I have done for the past few days is plan and work around the new female in my life. I was able to slip away for an hour during an afternoon nap and that reminded me just what a great system this P90X and Insanity workout system is. Not only that, I have been building a deck and my soreness is more of a reminder that I need to stick with the program just to survive my new life!

Day 2 Insanity - Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I didn’t feel too bad after yesterday, my chest is a little tight but knowing that today was cardio I thought I was relatively safe. Of course I was forgetting that part of the Insanity workout involves more than a few minutes of plank and pushups and that my fate was already sealed. Once Shaun T went into the level 1 and ski abs I immediately regretted yesterday and my shortsightedness but realized that at least this was the worst I was going to feel. At least that is what I told myself at the time. By the end of the workout, as short as it was, I was face down in a pool of sweat and the floor of my gym once again looked like a slaughterhouse. I had forgotted just how hard the warmup was, and although I accurately remembered how long the workout was, I had obviously blocked out the memory of exactly how difficult it was. Needless to say I was spent both physically and emotionally and just thankful that today there was no abs.

Day 3 P90X – Shoulders and Arms

I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Although the lack of sleep due to the baby hasn’t really affected me so far I was still physically a wreck. I hurt all over, I couldn’t stand up straight and my calves were on fire all day. I went into the workout relieved that I didn’t have to do any more pull ups and that for me today is a favourite session. I soon found out that in fact my weights are significanltly down and the soreness in my chest prevented me from effectively doing my shoulders. Regardless, I soldiered on knowing I wouldn’t have to coach or go to work for the coming weeks and that I could in fact rest almost on demand.

Day 4 Insanity – Cardio and Resistance

I thought the last time around that I had done a few of the Insanity workouts. In fact, my memory sucks and I found out that in fact I have only done a couple of them. It was therefore a horrific shock that I didn’t know this workout ahead of time. I managed to do most of it, however the power jumps are killing me. I have to admit that I just love the Insanity workouts, the intensity is amazing, the time is short and I sweat bullets knowing that my heartrate is sky high. Not knowing what was coming however made me nervous and as such I think I will do better next time. I was drenched again and I swear I lose 5lbs each workout!

Day 5 Rest

Day 6 One on One with Tony Horton – Fountain of Youth Yoga

I had made a deal with myself that I would incorporate Yoga back into my schedule and rather than do the 90 minute P90X version I managed to get my hands on a copy of FOY Yoga. The thought of being alone with Tony in his basement made me queasy however he was personable, likeable and altogether different. The workout was great, just what I was looking for, a short but varied Yoga workout that I can fit into my schedule. Of course I couldn’t actually do much of it, partly due to my soreness from the past few days of deck work, baby holding and walking and my new Round 3 and partly due to the fact that I gave up Yoga so long ago any flexibility I had is long gone. I have the workout on my Patriot Box Office Media Player so I had Tony on the big screen upstairs while my daughter slept in her pack and play baby holding cell. If you don’t have one of these things yet, get yourself one, it is amazing. Full HD and the ability to play almost any media type.

So that is me all caught up. My daughter is 8 days old, my new workout is 6 days old and I feel like I am 70. Ah, just like the good old days.

Round 2, Day 36 – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and Home Bench

invisible-bench-press

I am really happy with this workout now that I have substituted some of the weaker exercises with more bench work. When I bench I feel like I am really working. I have a hard time getting out of the gym rat mindset that unless you are throwing massive amounts of weights around then you really aren’t working. At least this way I get to stress my body, feed my desire to push 45lb plates around and still get a great varied workout.

The bench has been my partner for so many years. From being frustrated at my inability to push 2 plates right through to my bloodvessel busting 395lb singles we have come a long way together. My new partner is the chin up bar. Around a year ago I decided that my lifelong inability to do chin ups was finally going to be a thing of the past. I remember vividly not being able to do more than one chin up, and for a person who (yes I admit) thinks of themselves as pretty strong it was a real disappointment. After all, what kind of person can shoulder press and bench press well over their bodyweight and yet can’t do chin ups. It was an embarrassing secret. I committed to doing more pulldowns and to doing jump releases which are basically jumping up to full chin up and lowering yourself slowly. After much work I found that I was up to around 10 or so, something which I have to admit I always thought would be impossible. My introduction to P90X came shortly after that and since then my chin ups are where they probably should be, although not at Tony’s level, I can certainly hang with the other guys in the videos.

Maybe this is a hangover from the goal setting spiel from yesterday I am not sure. Either way, I find the bench to be a warm reminder of my many many years in the gym and the pull up bar as my hope for the future. I am missing the gym less and less but every so often it’s nice to reminisce with some heavy straight and close grip bench.

Round 2, Phase 2. Day “29”. The Next 3 Weeks

I am posting this again only because I had a hard time finding it the other day. Today is day 1 of Phase 2 which means technically it would fall on day 29. I am currently on day 26 having skipped the rest days and probably employed some horrible math.

Day 1: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Day 3: Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4: Pure Cardio with or without Cardio Abs
Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6: Cardio Power and Resistance
Day 7: Cardio Recovery

I will most likely kill Cardio Recovery in order to ensure that the 2 days coaching are my days off. In light of Tony’s rant that I posted yesterday I am going to stop being “a bitch” and taking that additional day off. It’s time to man up, Tony style!

Today saw the return to Chest Shoulders and Triceps and that also meant a return to using the bench in the gym. Some of the tricep stuff that Tony does is what we in the weightlifting community would refer to as “finishing” moves. In other words, they don’t do much but give you a pump but really aren’t useful in any muscle building way. Any tricep extension that you are only using 10lbs for isn’t worth anything. Not even the time to hit next on the remote. You see, the triceps are a vastly underutilized and underestimated muscle group and in order to get any kind of response from them they need to be worked very hard. Dips and close grip bench are terrific exercises for triceps. Overhead extensions, not so much. If you really want to see your bench press (or in P90X terms, your push ups) improve, blast your triceps with heavy weights for a few weeks, you will be amazed at the results. Of course, this would require you knowing just how powerful your triceps are… Let me just say that in gym terms, you should be able to do about 75% or more of your heaviest bench in a close grip bench grip. If you rely on push ups as your benchmark, you should be able to do 75% of your max regular push ups in military and at the very least 50% in diamond. If not, it could be that your triceps are lagging and need heavy work. Doing anything with a 10 or 15lb dumbell just won’t cut it I am afraid.

That being said, the workout is good, if you substitute enough tricep work to make it worthwhile you will definitely be sore the days following.

Round 2. Days 9 – 11. Weekends are for working. Buying My Insanity.

I am finding this P90X thing harder the second time around. Not only, as I am repeatedly saying, that I am in worse shape than I was but also because I am skipping bits and pieces and therefore not quite getting the work I once was. It’s fine to say that I want to skip the cool down or the warm ups because I never did warmups in the gym before I worked out and besides it cuts 15 minutes off my workout, however, it means that I am missing 15 minutes of working out, no matter how easy that 15 minutes is. So I am finding that I am not improving at the rate I was the first time around. I am also finding that the one day between coaching where I have places to be during the evening is leading me to skip that day… This means I am ending up with 3 days off and 4 days on. Not conducive to massive results. So, tomorrow is Lent, the poor man’s New Years Resolution day (and by poor man I mean Catholic) and I am committing to 3 things:

1. I will work out 5 days a week, skipping only the 2 days that we coach.
2. I will absolutely not eat anything after 7pm.
3. I will stay off wheat completely again.

I am also committing to changing the P90X routines so that I can keep myself engaged and I will tell you why. This past Saturday morning I drove to Square One shopping centre and met a nice Indian lady in the Petro Canada parking lot. She gave me a package that will change my world, just as P90X did. For a while now I have been following FitBomb as I am sure many of you have. We were undertaking our first P90X journey at the same time but unlike me, his transition from P90X back into life went much better than mine did. In fact, the epic failure of G90X as I had called it forced me to look to other P90X grads to see what they had done once the dream was over. What I found was that the thirst for at home, gym free, cost free workout methods really catches you by surprise and you start to realize that maybe spending $70 a month on  a gym membership is not necessary. Having been enthralled by the relative ease of doing the workout at home, I realized that maybe transitioning back to the gym was not the answer, but in fact that P90X had finally liberated me from that jail. I was finally able to do a workout that challenged me, got me fit and healthy and that I was able to do on my schedule. The logical conclusion was that rather than look back, I should look forward to another challenge. Just as others before me, I decided that the next logical step after Tony was Shaun T. I remember looking at the BeachBody site and thinking that Tony represented the epoch of their system. That if you were fit and wanted to challenge yourself, that P90X was your ticket to the big time. What I had not realized was that Shaun T was busy doing for cardio workouts what Tony had done for weights. Only with more professionalism and less douchy-ness. I then began to make the connection that FitBomb made and realized that a combination of the excellent weight training of Tony and the Insane cardio of Shaun T may in fact be the perfect workout system.

I checked Kijiji and 2 days later was handing over $60 to a nice Indian lady at a gas station on a cold morning in Mississauga.

Rather than try Shaun T at this time, I realized that I would have to be at least 20lbs lighter if I was going to try some of the stuff I had read about. However, the lure of the shiny box was too much and halfway through Kenpo (which I now no longer find fun, but rather boring) decided that I would put the Plyometric Insanity disc in and see what the big deal was. Ten minutes later my heart rate was at around 160 bpm and I thought my heart was going to explode. Shaun T’s warmup had reduced me to a quivering mess and as I lay on the floor soaking in my humility I realized that indeed I was looking at the future.

You see, the problem with P90X as I see it is the cardio workouts. They are not terrifically difficult and you will probably find that even if you like one of them, you will probably not find the others to your liking. So you will need to replace at least 2 days a week, if not 3 with something else. For myself, I don’t mind the Plyo but the Kenpo and the Yoga are not my cup of tea. I would rather do the yoga (albeit a stripped down version) on rest day and replace it with a cardio workout that pushes me during the workout schedule.

So my plan, once I am past phase 1, is to replace Kenpo and Yoga with Shaun T. I haven’t found out which workouts to put in their place but with 13 DVDs I am sure I will find something.

Finally, I am scared to work out again… and I like it.

Round 2, Day 3 – Damn Doms

Shoulders and Arms – February 3 2010

If you love ab workouts you are unstable.

But my arms still hurt from day 1! I remember clearly the feeling of week 1 last time around, it has all come back with startling clarity since I woke up this morning and rolled into my bottle of advil.

The major stumbling block of Round 2 is going to be Gymnastics Coaching. I was able to do it last time but once Round 1 was done and we started coaching again at the end of the summer the time demands seemed to overwhelm me. Maybe it was because I was trying to get to the gym instead of loitering in the basement. This time I am sure I will do better, but with late nights at work now mandatory I think my evenings are going to be both long and painful. Great.

After Plyo yesterday I am a little gelatinous. Not just in the way that I can see my outer layers jiggle in the mirror in the basement but rather my legs feel like I have been de-boned. I can only say that re-reading the entries from week one last time around are of little comfort to how I feel. I just need to get through tonight then tomorrow I can rest at coaching.

Post workout – I hate Ab Ripper. Regardless of how many times I say it, I can’t begin to explain how much I hate that 10 minutes of my life. I have never been fond of Abdominal workouts but this is just pure unadulterated hell on a stick for me.

Round 1, Day 3

The latin translation is below:

Pain
Agony
Left intolerable ripping
Right intolerable ripping
Crucifixion
Unbearable discomfort
Realization that abs are for idiots

G-Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms

Here is the plan for today, shoulders and arms G90X styleeee!

Shoulders and Arms
First Circuit:
Alternating Shoulder Presses
Straight Bar Bicep Curls
Tricep Cable Pushdowns
Second Circuit:
Deep Swimmer’s Presses
Full Supination Concentration Curls
Feet Up Bench Dips
Third Circuit:
Upright Rows – Straight Bar
Static Arm Curls  – Straight Bar
Overhead Dumbell Tricep Extension
Fourth Circuit:
Standing Front and Side Shoulder Fly
Seated Concentration Curls
Tricep Extension and Close Grip Bench Finish
Bonus Circuit:
Hero Flys (Shoulder Fly to Y Position)
Straight Bar Curls with French Curl Finish
Free Dips on Dip Station

I will fill in the weights and other details including the obligatory whining about how sore my arms are going to be later…

Day 73 – The Flooring Aftermath

Chest, Shoulders and Arms.

So P90X took a back seat to the flooring. I knew it would have to so I was prepared. Besides, the flooring installation was the kind of thing that is the reason that I was doing P90X in the first place. The ability to work like a normal person, to work through days of back breaking floorboard installation and the constant stand-up-kneel-down that is required to get that particular job done.

The bottom line is that I made it through. I said before I started that Yoga was going to do my floors and I was right. I was amazed at how many times Yoga sprang into mind as I worked the floors. All those lunges, the savasanas, the balance and strength poses all came into play. Most of all though, the constant level changes was what helped me out. My ability to get up from the floor quickly and to get down into position quickly saved me countless hours during the install. Towards the end of the first day I came to a pretty amazing revelation, that I would not have been able to do this floor at the pace I did if I had been working out my old way. Sure I would have been fit, but not anywhere near as flexible as I needed to be. In fact, I can almost guarantee that if I had tried to do the floor before P90X came along that I would have been in bed on day 2 unable to move due to my tight hamstring and ITB pulling my back out. That in itself is a huge deal. The fact that I was able to do 5 days of install and come back to work without feeling much soreness or pain is virtually unbelievable. I guess it is true what these P90X grads say, that you do get in the best shape of your life and that you are able to do things you wouldn’t have been able to do 10 or even 20 years ago. Honestly, the last time I would have been able to do something like that would have been when I put the floor in the basement and even then I remember my back went out, it took me weeks to finish and I was a mess for ages afterwards. Previous to that I would have to go back to the late 90s before I started having back problems and that was 10 years ago.

Today I did day 73, I was a little off my numbers from the last time I did that particular workout but I felt great. I made it through Ab Ripper with very little problems and I was amazed at how little strength I had lost. Then again, I did spend a huge amount of time on my triceps and arms and shoulders during the flooring. I don’t think my pullups will be the same, in fact I think that is the one thing that will have suffered the most through all this. No matter, it doesn’t take long to get back into the swing.

There are 2 things I now have to work on, sorry, make that 3.

1. Adjust the P90X program to get me back into the gym

2. Borrow some of the P90X moves to adapt for Gym coaching which starts tomorrow!!!

3. Finish the Nutritionist course and send in my exam.

 

Photos of the floor to come, just so you can see how I did 😉

Day 64 – Straight Numbers and Stupid Carrots

Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

You would think that just keeping the right day on the right numbered post would be easy wouldn’t you? The truth is that for the most part I write these posts the following evening before I work out that night so keeping the right date on the right day isn’t necessarily something I can just look at the schedule and confirm. Especially since I am skipping updating the weekends since a day of cardio and a day of stretching after 2 months isn’t the most interesting thing to read or write about. So I was off by a day, which means that when I noticed today, my Day 60 post celebrating 2/3 of the program is now listed as being Day 59. Not the end of the world…

nocarrotI planted carrots quite some time ago. It did not say on the package that they were shy, uncooperative or stubborn so I have to assume it is something about their environment that they don’t like. Since my Romaine Lettuce are crowding each other out now I suspect that at some point this week the carrots that should be will turn into the mulch for some transplanted Roamaines. It is almost the end of summer, I am almost finished P90X and the organic garden that I planted to assist in the fulfilment of my new healthy diet to date has provided exactly zero. Next year, if there is a next year for this grow your own malarkey, I will plant early, put the boxes close to the window and let the spring sun start the process early. I will also not waste my time with carrots or leeks. Stupid vegetables.

The chest, shoulders and triceps workout is one of my favourites, I think it is because I somehow feel that my triceps get left behind with all the pullups. As my rear delts begin to bulge, my triceps feel like they are shrinking away. This is factually not correct but since I used to do quite a lot of work on my tri’s I find that I miss it. Today fed the tricep monster that still lives inside my arms and he was happy! This workout also gives me the opportunity to work some shoulder presses which I also miss due to the fact that my last real goal at the gym was to get my military press over my bodyweight again. I had met that goal and was happy with my shoulder strength regardless of the significant pain I had to endure. This may sound insane to some of you but it’s really difficult to let go of something you are good at and comfortable with. This workout gives me access to that feeling of accomplishment without the unnecessarily heavy weights. However, I do have to admit that some of the movements in the workout I have replaced with barbell moves for triceps. This is primarily due to the issues I have had with my shoulder and elbow pain however it is also due to the fact that I just can’t help myself when it comes to isolating muscles properly.