Mon 18/2 - Nightly Workout Mk2 3: #1

It’s amazing how much one thing can effect you.  I’m having yet more problems with my new computer.  When I last rung then up, they said it would be tested Monday (today), then I would get an email informing me, and it would be sent back by next day delivery.  But now it’s Monday, and no email.  I tried ringing them, got put on hold then it seems they cut the connection or something (nothing wrong my side but the call acted as though it was picked up but no-one was there), and by then the customer services had closed.  So, 9AM tomorrow morning I’m ringing them up and complaining.  I’m really not happy.  The computer is all I’ve been thinking about lately (I’ve been wanting it for ages, and it was a lot of money), and because of that other things have been getting fairly slack (for example, school work and diet).  God damn.

I really didn’t feel like working out tonight, but I knew I should.  I rolled a 1, first time I’ve ever rolled a 1!
Ladder pushups to 5
Ladder squats to 7
4 sets
Ladders work like so: Do 1 rep, then rest for the time it takes to do 1 rep (I normally just say 1 second).  Then, do 2 reps, resting for 2 reps (2 seconds).  Keep going up until you reach your desired target.

In this workout, I had a total of 4(1+2+3+4+5)=60 pushups and 4(1+2+3+4+5+6+7)=112 squats.  I didn’t time it, but by the last set, I was finding it quite hard to do the last few pushups, and the squats were relatively hard (although no way near as much as the pushups).  I didn’t take any extra rest, but the routine already had 172 seconds of rest built in, so I shouldn’t really have needed any.

Until tomorrow!

Sun 17/2 - Nightly Workout Mk2 2: #5

I got a new one today, a number 5. This is a core workout.

• 20 lying knee tucks
• 20 chinnies
• 10 lying hip swings
• 2 supermans (hold for 30s)
• 4 sets

Well, I didn’t enjoy this one. The knee tucks followed by chinnies thrashed my core, but that wasn’t the problem. The next two exercises were. Lying hip swings I’ve never been a fan of: you lie on your back, life your legs to 90° (perpendicular to the floor), then rotate your body from side to side so that your legs are parallel to the floor, without touching the floor. It isn’t too bad, I’m just not a fan of it. Next, supermans. Urgh. Having to hold in the superman position for 30 seconds isn’t easy. My main problem is the breathing part: normally I feel like holding my breath, although that’s obviously not good, but when I try to breathe it’s hard because I’m lying on my lungs. Also, note to self: don’t drink before performing supermans. The water seems to try to come back up, not a nice feeling.

I think the main reason for me not enjoying it was the LHSs being slow (as it’s hard to go fast without losing control or touching the floor), and the supermans not getting along with my lungs. After the rapid knee tucks and chinnies, where I could feel my abs working, neither of the other two I felt much. It wasn’t too bad though. I think I just need to practise more, as it’s the first time I’ve properly done LHSs or supermans in a long time.

Until tomorrow!

Sun 17/2 - A Not-So-Good Training Session

Todays workout… didn’t go very well.  Mainly because half of it I physically couldn’t do.

Before I went out I had planned to do this workout:

• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 10 knee-tuck jumps
• 10 pushups
• 10 lunges
• 10 jumping jacks
• Repeat until failure

But, put simply, I didn’t beacuse I couldn’t.

I went out and warmed up with the jump rope.  My plan was minimum 100 bounce-steps followed by minimum 100 alternate-foot-steps.  The bounce-steps I did in 2 or 3 sections/catches, and totalled 118.  However, the alternate-foot-steps didn’t go well.  Unlike last time, where I had got 40+, this time it was done in groups of 10, 20 and 30, as I just kept catching the rope.  I totalled 111.  It was here that I noticed I was tired; a few yawns escaped.  It’s strange: I haven’t done anything all day, and got over 8 hours sleep last night, waking up naturally, yet I was tired.  Not a good sign.

After that I wanted to test my pullup/chinup ability.  I started playing with the bands, seeing how much I could manage.  I found some which I thought would be OK, but after I started the planned workout I couldn’t finish the 10 chinups.  Adding more bands would be annoying and awkward, as I’m not a fan of bands plus it’s hard to wrap them all around my feet/foot.  So, I decided to do 2 sets of 10 for both pullups and chinups, followed by 1 set of 3 reps for each (with half as many bands, so it was more strength-based).  Then, I decided to cut the x-ups out of the circuit.

I then attempted the circuit.  And then I remembered how much I suck at knee-tuck jumps.  I just can’t do them.  Jumping has never been my strong point (in fact, one of my weakest by far), and having to jump, then try and tuck my knees up, I just can’t do.  I can’t get high enough. :(  Well, I fought through for 3 sets, before my legs really could jump no longer.

I decided to call that the end of the workout.  I finished off by doing a two-arm pullup-position dead hang for time.  I managed 30 seconds.  It really didn’t help that because the bar I used isn’t fixed it slowly, slowly rotates, which makes gripping it, and trying not to fall off, harder.

Next post will be tonight’s nightly workout.

Sun 17/2 - A Not-So-Good Training Session

• 118 bounce-steps with jump rope
• 111 alternate-foot-steps with jump rope

• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 10 assisted pullups
• 10 assisted chinups
• 3 assisted pullups (less assistance)
• 3 assisted chinups (less assistance)

• 10 knee-tuck jumps
• 10 pushups
• 10 lunges (5 per leg, swapping each lunge)
• 10 jumping jacks
• Repeated 3 times

• Two-hand pullup-position dead hang: 30 seconds

Sat 16/2 - Nightly Workout Mk2 1: #3

And here it is, the start of the new nightly workouts. I rolled a 3:

• 5 Diamond Pushups
• 5 Partial One-Legged Squats (Per Leg)
• 6 Sets

Tonight’s workout is slightly more strength-based than before, as it includes diamond pushups and pistols, both of which I’m not good at. However, I’m going to do them fairly fast, without much rest, so to gain conditioning benefits from it.

For those unfamiliar with the moves, the diamond pushup is like a normal pushup except your hands are together under our body, your thumbs and forefingers making a diamond shape. These are much harder than normal pushups and require much more tricep strength and balance. One-legged squats, or pistols, are like normal squats except you use (surprise, surprise), only one leg, whilst holding the other out in front of you, parallel to the ground. These require much more strength, flexibility and balance than normal squats. The one-legged squats I’m not great at, due to lack of strength, balance and flexibility, but I can go down fairly far - I’m going to go as far down as possible before coming up. I can get my knees to have an under 90° bend, which isn’t too bad, and my right I can go pretty far down indeed.

I decided not to time this one as, to be honest, it’s not all about how fast you can do it but how well you do it. Doing deeper squats, and more controlled ones, take more time. I don’t want to get myself into rushing and not getting as many benefits out as I hope to. However, some of my nightly workouts will be timed, and be about speed, so don’t worry.

By the end I didn’t feel too bad actually, although I wanted to keep it fairly short but with difficult exercises. For all of them I tried to go as low as possible, which was quite difficult. What I found was during the actual reps it was hard to do, as my body found it hard to go further, but afterwards I wasn’t very fatigued, which was actually a nice change. As I had guessed, balance was my main problem with the pistols, but as with all things that comes with practise. A couple times I found myself losing balance, especially near the bottom, but I managed to get balanced each time before I fell over, trying as hard as possible not to put my other foot down or use my hands to touch something. As for the diamond pushups, the hardest part was pushing up from low positions. I could go so far down and push up, but go 1/2″ lower and it was very hard to push back up. Again, it will come with practise. The very last rep of the diamonds I actual lost balance and fell onto my side.

Until tomorrow!

Sat 16/2 - Sledgehammering Time!

I decided to do some sledgehammering today, as I had said yesterday.  When I sledgehammered last, I used an old pick-up truck we had.  However, when I went back to it this time it was completely trashed.  From what I heard, some of the guys with tractors had decided to have a bit of fun with it. Doesn’t matter though.  The problem was, it was now all twisted and buckled and generally fucked up.  I could still hit it, although the main bare parts were the solid metal chassis, which was, to say the least, hard.  That wasn’t the main problem though - the main problem was that there were jagged bits of rusted metal in most directions, meaning I didn’t want to go all out incase I slipped (or the hammer slipped, which is highly likely), and I went crashing into some rusty metal.  I warmed up with a brief run, some stretches and some jumping jacks, then I did about 200 swings, half left handed half right handed, from various directions (vertical, diagonal, horizontal etc).

What I really want to do sometime is hang a tree trunk up and treat it like a heavy bag, but instead of punching it use weapons on it.  In many ways, much like the Romans etc did (or so the movies say ;)).  I could use anything as weapons really: the sledgehammer as a warhamer, an axe as a waraxe, a long metal pole as a pike/spear, a shorter metal pipe as a sword etc.  The possibilities literally are endless.  However, this whole setup wouldn’t be easy.  I mean, I’d have to get a tree trunk, and then I’d have to find a way to hang it up.  If I remember correctly, in Gladiator the movie they had hung up tree trunks, but I can’t find any pictures for ideas.  Probably some kind of wooden frame with chains.  As for the tree trunk, I could buy one or try and find an old one.  I went into a cops we have, which is full of old trees and stuff, and did find a fell tree.  It was, however, fairly rotten.

Anyone have Gladiator the movie and mind sending me some pics?  Or anyone have any general ideas for what I should do?  Comment!

After the pick-up I decided to attack the aforementioned fell tree.  It was horizontal, about waist height.  Although the first inch or so was fairly rotten, underneath was solid!  Not as solid as the pick-up frame though.  The sledgehammer I was using had a flat head on one side and an axe on the other.  I tried both, in different places.

First, 100 strikes with the axe-head, 10 per arm then swapping over.  The axe head cut through pretty easily, although it still was fairly hard work.

Next I tried 100 strikes with the flat head, again 10 per arm then swapping.  This was MUCH harder.  I got through the inch of rot before hitting the solid wood beneath, and every strike felt as though it went all the way through my body!

I finished with another 100 strikes with the axe head (10 per arm then swap), in the same place as last time.  My target is to cut completely through the trunk.  Should take some time, my guess is it’s over 2 feet wide.  Fun though!

There is one thing I don’t like about sledgehammering, and it’s really annoying.  Put simply, my hands and fingers get tired much much faster than any other part of my body.  After the 500 swings, by fingers really hurt due to having to hold onto the hammer and absorb the impacts, yet my arms and every other part of my body still felt fine.

Is this due to lack of grip strength, and will this go the more I practise?  I hope so.

And that’s all for now.  New nightly workout tonight!

Sat 16/2 - Sledgehammering Time!

• 200 sledgehammer swings, 100 per arm, on pick-up (metal)
• 300 sledgehammer swings, 150 per arm, on fell tree trunk

Fri 15/2 - Nightly Workout 14: #5

As I said in my previous post today, I rolled a 5. That is:

• 8 Crunches (hold at top for 3 seconds)
• 8 V-Ups
• 10 Sets

I forgot to time it, although I did it non-stop (with no rest). By the end my core was hurting a bit and I had a very slight sweat, but nothing more. However, my neck was hurting again. I think I know why - each rep (all 160 of them) made me bend my neck fairly far forward, without being able to bend backwards. It’s nothing much though, it’ll go soon.

Well, there we have it. The first 2 weeks of daily workout over, and it has really worked for motivation. I’m now half looking forward to working out, to challenging myself, especially with pushups, heavy bag work and rope work. Tonight I’m probably going to plan some stuff to do tomorrow. I’m thinking sledgehammering.

And with that I say goodbye to that set of nightly workouts, and hello to a new one! More tomorrow.

Fri 15/2 - General update

I have a few new things to tell you about, so thought I’d do a general update post rather than combine it with my workout posts.

Firstly, today I planned my new nightly workouts. Tonight will be my last night of the current system. For those who are interested, I rolled a 5, but that post will come later. As for the new workout list, I’m not going to post them up until tomorrow. I’ll tell you that it contains 2 core days, 3 strength/conditioning days and one random day, like last time. I’m not including any noisy jumping exercises however, so no burps or burpees. I think my new routines are pretty good though.

This bit is completely off-topic, but I rung up Aria about my new PC this morning. As some of you may know, I ordered some components for my new PC, but the motherboard didn’t work and I had to return it. And, so far it’s been 2 weeks and nothing. Last night I found out they’d only just found it in their warehouse. I rung up today to complain, but they said it was in the testing department, and would be tested today (as far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been), or Monday. If found faulty, a new one would be sent by next day delivery, meaning I SHOULD have it all my Tuesday. At last!

Also today I made a new computer desk. I’ve been meaning to make one for ages, so I could have my PC on one and do written work (e.g. school work) on another. It took me a few hours to make, and isn’t very accurate (some things off my 1/2″ or so), but it works fine and doesn’t make much difference. It was cheap, so I’m happy. And it’s strong, and the top is nice, so I don’t mind if it’s not perfect.
Piccy: http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj23/JGibbins92/P1020762.jpg

Expect my workout post within a couple hours.

Thu 14/2 - Nightly Workout 13: #3

I rolled a 3:

• 8 Pushups
• 16 Squats
• 10 Sets

I thrashed my last time of 7 minutes 27 seconds - This time I got 6 minutes 56 seconds. I think what really helped is that I was angry, angry that the company who I had ordered my PC from, and returned part to (because it wa faulty) hadn’t bothered doing anything about the refund, and so far it’s cost me about an extra £30 because of phone calls and postage. So, I’m not happy. Tomorrow I’m ringing them and complaining. Another thing that helped me was overhearing some girls at my school talking about this really hot guy (supposedly), and how much they all loved him. Sounded good.

Anyway, the workout went fairly well. At the beginning I had the knee pain again, but it went making the squat much easier. The pushups weren’t too bad really, only struggling on the last set, and out of those only the last one was a real push. The rest was pretty easy. Broke a fairly good sweat. Good stuff!

I’m thinking about doing one tomorrow, and make that the final one, meaning I’ll have done it 2 weeks straight. After that, I’ll change the exercises up a bit.

Wed 13/2 - Nightly Workout 12: #2

Chinnies time! I’m still amazed I haven’t rolled a 1 yet.

• 500 chinnies

I also decided to add some supermans to the end, just to do some back work as well. I added on:

• 5 supermans (hold at top for 3 seconds)
• 3 sets

My current record for 500 chinnies was 4 minutes 30 seconds. I wanted to do well, so off went the TV, I didn’t put on any music and I locked my door. But, it didn’t go well. Simply because I think I lost count!

I cracked out the first 200 without needing any rest, so I simply carried on. I’m pretty sure I got to 300, although it may have been 250. Damn it, the amazement at not needing rest surprised me enough I had lost count! After a very quick rest, I did another 200, meaning I’m pretty sure I’d finished the 500. I looked at the time, but it was 3 minutes 45 seconds! I took a quick breather, unsure whether I had finished or not, and decided to crack out another 100 just to make certain. I did the extra 100 in a time of 4 minutes 35 seconds. However, taking in mind I only have about 5 seconds of rest overall, my guess is that that was over 500, possibly 550 or 600. Taking in mind the last 100 took 45 seconds (done whilst not fresh), 500 in theory would take 3 minutes 45 seconds. Which was my original time.

So yeah, I think I did 120% of my best in 100% of the time. Or, 100% of the routine in under 85% of the time. Not bad eh? I’m happy! Surprisingly, although I was sweating just as much as normal (if not more), I wasn’t aching much during or after, which is great as it suggests my body is used to the increased workload, which is definitely good.

The supermans didn’t take long at all actually. I probably should’ve done more though. One thing I wasn’t sure about, though, was whether I should touch the floor between reps or not. I’m off the RossTraining forums to ask now!

EDIT: Just found supermans should be done for long holds and low reps. For example, five sets of supermans with 10 second static holds at as high as you can. That’s what I’ll do next time!

Wed 13/2 - School Cross Country!

Although not specifically a workout, or one I had planned to do, today was school cross country, and everyone had to do either the full one (effectively 9 people per year) or the “fun run” (or their normal games options).  I’ve never been a good runner at all, and haven’t started “training” for it yet, but I felt like a change from football so I did the fun run.  Quite a few other people decided to do the fun run instead of normal games too, I would guess 30-40 in total.

Last year, we all had to do a fairly long one - I’m not sure exactly how long, but my guess is about 2 miles, and everyone in the year of about 80-100 had to do it.  And, I came 3 from last, only ahead of an overweight kid (more than I was) and one who can’t run (he just can’t, no physical reason, he just… can’t).  This fun run was only about a mile I guess, bit still more than I was used to.

I started strong - I half sprinted, half ran, and after 1/2 hundred metres I managed to get in the lead.  By about a foot, after which time I slowed down and was slowly overtaken by the more fit people (such as those who actively did sport in school and played for sports teams).  I probably ran constantly for about 1/4 mile, before walking for a bit.  This pretty much went on for the whole thing, running as much as I could then walking to catch my breathe back, running again when I was about to be overtaken to avoid the inevitable. :p

I ended up finishing about 8-10 from last (didn’t count exactly).  Unlike I had thought, they all seemed to be trying, probably not as hard as they could (no-one was), but a fair bit.  I was actually pretty pleased with this result, as the last ones seemed to be a long way behind me (one of whom was the one I beat last year (the other I beat didn’t bother doing it)).

Next year I hope I can do a lot better.  Hopefully top half of the pack.  That would really make me feel pretty damn good!