Return to Ruggedness Session XXII - 40614 - 41914

SESSION XXII – 40614 – 41914

Going into session XXIII find myself in need of inspiration, so I looked back at last year’s session XXII and pulled out some memories…

The following is from April 7, 2013:

Okay; so let me restate or possibly even refresh my goals: In three more years I’ll be retiring from this gig. I want to be the same weight when I leave that I was when I arrived (170 – 175). Of course I don’t want to wait three years to achieve this. I want my weight to be well established, my health to be immaculate and my body to be ripped, tight, strong and agile. I also want high endurance, nothing like iron man, but pretty close.

Perhaps I’ll add a link. Going over this again, I didn’t find too much to pull out. I can probably use last year’s strategies for this year. Looking back reveals a cycle I have yet to break out of, especially when it comes to running. I blame the changing seasons; I may no longer have that excuse if I find a warmer climate in which to live.

40614 – [Sunday #292] – Wake 190.5 – snooze. Get up and do some moving calisthenics, not much, not even yoga. I think we’re beginning a new session and new chapter. Started some pull ups at the gig. I think I can be more forceful with them. The shoulder’s improving.

Upper body work at home, boxing with 6.5s – all types of arm movements weighted.

40714 – [Monday #293] – wake 189: Up and arm swinging stuff, not really tai chi, but based on it. Yoga 3 sun salutations. Norman arm raise & twist easy then harder. It was tough. 27 – 30 minute walk to shop rite – I can do this from time to time. Cycling this eve and who knows what else will come.

40814 – [Tuesday #294] – wake 189. Morning calisthenics. Then pkwy run/walk intervals. It was weak, but two miles anyway. Headed to TGX – back to drinking N-O Xplode before sessions … trying to use up the last container. Must not drink tea!!!

Elixir alternative & juice again. Awesome GX – more coaching, leg work with ank weights, partially anyway. No bodies for Aqua.. opted out of squats. Chilled at home.

40914 – [Wednesday #295] – wake 188 – dynamic tai chi. 3 sun sals yoga – last 2 with twists, leg stretch. Gig: reverse pushups 3 x 15 so far. (4 more sets of 15, finished with 105 total). Nice, sore. Good aqua then leg press (cable machine). A little ruckus on the way to the train… just a couple of dogs barking. Juice for dinner.

41014 – [Thursday #296] – wake 188 E: Movement exercises but no yoga or sweat. I’ll be doing that at the Y this eve. Reverse pushups at the gig, sets of 10 (2 so far) should skip, but then again… I shouldn’t – backing off is better. Got 30 pushups.

Came strong at YGX – had to push it, bring it, work it b/c I was beginning to feel weak. I need to open up the esophagus for better breathing.

Low cal eats before bed.

41114 – [Friday #297] – wake 188 E. warm up yoga 4 sun sals, bitstrips is back so I was slow to start pushups.

Reverse pushups – 16 +20, regular 20

Decent day – drove to Cape may. Pizza nite & drinking rum.

41214 – [Saturday #298] – wake up Cape May, some wake up movement exercises, but mostly chillin.

41314 – [Sunday #299] – wake up Cape may day 2: Chilled, walk along the beach, heading home. May train this eve.

41414 – [Monday #300] – Wake 191 – off the weekend. Got things accomplished. Taxes, returned car, cleaned room, prep clothes, some body movement. Spin this eve.

Nice dead lift routine 225 – 245 – 275 romanian. 300 standard 1 rep and hold, 2 sets.  I think I can get 315 next week. I need to re-start squats.

41514 – [Tuesday #301] – wake 188.5: fastest recovery ever. Later took a weight, 190.5,  14.5/ 59 – haven’t seen these numbers since last summer.

Some home work, some arm swinging and such and bends, movement, mat presses… Then cardio sculpt @ Temple. Feeling strong. Left knee feeling sore. New leg work putting pressure on it?

The bod is sore from yesterday’s work. Very impressed with party weekend recovery. Let’s push the set-point back to 185, then lower.

41614 – [Wednesday #302] – Wake 187!!! Recovery continues. Questions – could this be due to turkey burgers and bread? Or fruit shakes? Or N-O Xplode? Or simply the body changing.

Up early, dynamic T’ai Chi – for lack of a better description. Yoga (3 sun sals), leg split stretch.

Gig – reverse pushups on bars – always tough the first day back 15+5 (tough!) + 15 + 15 low & deep.

Kind of disappointed with the performance today, but on the other hand I can use a break day after a day like Tuesday. Did some squats post-aqua, bar & 135. 185 bothered the left trap, (no pad, but that shouldn’t matter.)

41714 – [Thursday #303] – Wake 187… 2d day. Didn’t eat “dinner” – woke with a slight headache – did some movement, try to work legs similar to how I swing the arms… most work on that.

Beans, kale, et al for breakfast.. the ‘ritual’ of taking vitamins doesn’t seem as important to me lately. I’m planning to end this practice when I run out, but that will take a while..

Gig – pushups, reverse 3 x 10 – standing lag laterals too.  Pushups are tough tody – am I weaker or just awaiting the surge.

Today was a WEAK day – Got thru the class, but it was tough – that chest tightness. Check up not scheduled yet. Wonder if I’m “innervated’ (only to find out this is the wrong word.) elixir before bed – no dinner. [actually I should call this ‘no meal after 9 pm].

41814 – [Friday #304] – wake 188 – movement. Yoga 3 sun sals, not much work.

Gig – Reverse pushups 12+10+15!+15 –

Temple Friday – good to be pushin weight: leg press 500-ish full press 2 sets: 800-ish half press 2 sets. 1000 – ish static hold 2x just under a minute. Should use a watch.

Seated calf raises can stack 3 45lb plates

Shin Flex 65 then 2@75

Static chest hold (Smith) 225 

Forgot that “sick” was after me, that could be the cause of the chest tightness. It felt clogged up.

41914 – [Saturday #305] – Wake 190.5 – dropped 1 early. Eat sweat work out felt a lot better after this type of training. Took it slow. No chest pain, but the left knee… felt it and it held up.

Gig – matching pushups (rev) & squats 15 ea. + 10 full.

Cheat Day: Quesadillas @ broad st diner & Beer at Keanne’s birthday party. Iced tea & Mussels at North 3^rd.

End of Session 22

Return to Ruggedness session XX - 30914 - 32214

SESSION XX – 30914 – 32214: This session takes us into the spring and hopefully more outdoor training. I was talking about taking seven basic exercises and doing them as much as possible.

1. Squats – variations, but already doing them.

2. Pushups – started doing them again. Mostly at work.

3. Jumping Jacks

4. Burpees w/ and w/o pushups

5. Mt. Climbers

6. Leg lifts [butt raises]

7. Front kicks [? Subject to change].

Oh yeah… RUNNING!! Guess I won’t add that to this list. Something different as an ‘exercise.’

This is session twenty out of a possible 26. I’ll be glad to end this Year of boot camp just because I don’t think it was very successful. Actually if I thought about it I could come up with some success stories – changing my eating habits for one. I think I’ll be back to regular running again, maybe five miles plus – by the time the next Level starts, (June 18^th).

30914 [Sunday #264] – wake daylight savings time – 190.5. EZ exercise this morning, mostly stretching, but felt invigorated. Options for after work? Might be clear enough to run… MAKE IT A MUST! i must run this afternoon. (I don’t think I did.)

31014 [Monday #265] – wake 191.5 back to zero!! Gah! Must have been the weekend. AM workout, 1 round straight through. Burpees w/ pushup, [15] slow me down, but must be done.

Special Forces [home edition] squats, pushups, 10 – 5 (pushups on knees when necessary.) WOW! Felt good after, but tiring. Didn’t run yesterday… didn’t eat much after work. Stir fry veggies for breakfast.

Bored at the gig, put on ankle weights & started pushups. 40 so far. Doing 10 whenever I get bored. Pretty strong too. I can hear, or think I can hear, the shoulder rustling. Managed 62 pushups, highest set was 12 – cycling this eve. YMCA eat well prior. [haven’t been having pretzels as regularly as before].

After a pretty down day I powered up for spin class. Still pumped. 900 calories in the hour. 1418 @ 1:45 mins.

31114 [Tuesday #266] –  wake 191.5   38/47. I’ve been super pumped since yesterday after spin class. Sleep didn’t come easy. Hit the snooze – but up strong in 10 minutes. Pushups @ work 3 x 15 so far…. 60 done. +20…. 100 Day YAY!!!

31214 [Wednesday #267] – wake 189.5 E!

20 minutes easy training. @ work – pushups – 3 sets of 20 so far. Going for 200 today. 100 done @ 9:15… +20+20+ … (Looks like I only made 140.) The next level is 200, still.

31314 [Thursday #268] –  wake 4 hrs extra sleep  189.5 – odd b/c I went out & drank last night. Slight headache most of the day. Too much sleep or hangover/dehydrated. (Blue moons x 3) Headed to YGX … get some energy. YGX was pretty good. Leg work was strong.

31414 [Friday #269] – wake 188 - - - Day off. Ran 2 miles down the parkway. 30 minutes, 500 calories burned, 575 more in the next 30 minutes. Spent most of the day piddling around the house. There may have been some pushups.

31514 [Saturday #270] – Measuring Day wake 188… again, could this be the start of a steady drop? Woke 4AM did a fair workout, normal warm up – weight training – stretch.

March 15 2014 - I think I was horrified!! I am moving in the wrong direction. 

Measuring Day Numbers & Eval

Top – 97 … - 3cm. this is a significant loss

Mid – 93 … the same

Bottom – 97 … the same

Under – 100 … this freaked me out. It’s a gain of one cm, but it’s wider than the solar plexus and I feel like I’m shaped like cone, well more an hour glass, which isn’t as bad.

This is pretty much an hour glass – Chest is 103, shoulders 120 & butt is 106, so it looks good on paper. I should still be able to get the middle back to the [high] 80s… and the rest of the torso should follow. Should I be excited about the 188? No… get to 185, then get excited. Keep doing what you’re doing. I wonder what’s got the bottom expanding? Could there be any muscle development. This is the area under my belly fat and up over my butt? Maybe the upper glutes influence the measure? The body still looks pretty tight except for the lower belly fat. It must be destroyed!! But how?? Try running and good weather.

@ work pushups 22+20+12 = 64

And then there was drinking with Kev.

31614 [Sunday #271] –  wake 191 … not too surprised. No work out this AM… chores.

25 pushups @ work… maybe push for more… 75 so far (1o:15). Massage day… don’t forget. 100 pushups done before noon. Finished with a set of 26 (126 total) working to 1,000 a day. I thought this was the end of the session, but I have another week to go.

31714 [Monday #271] – wake 191 snow! – Kind of slow workout. Didn’t feel the need to push it. I did increase each phase by one minute. 13 x 3, so 39 minutes minimum. Came into work – 26 pushups to start, + 26 more by 0800. 26 more 4x26 by lunch… did some with morning work. More before I’m done/ Spin this eve – 26 more after lunch. 26 at the end.

Good energetic spin class. Recovery pretzel.

31814 [Tuesday #272] – wake 189.5 the drop came faster than expected this week (one day faster, but not as far) Good sign. Still no numbers. Morning training was mostly punching and moving with the gloves and ankle wts. On my arms. Kind of old school at this point. The stretch is important, straight 30 minutes instead of splitting it up. Got Temple GX this afternoon.

At work pushups – 2 x 27 so far (0830) +27+27 = 108

31914 [Wednesday #273] – wake 189.5   Alarm at 4am, but didn’t see the point in rising early. Chores & errands, no exercise thus far. Chill day, taught aqua.

32014 [Thursday #274] – 189.5 Got numbers – good sign… 32/49-ish? Slept in, ran two miles recorded calorie count & HR for 5 hours. YGX Later.  Compared calorie count from running and Group exercise.

Run	Time(mins)	Cals tot.	Cals per hr.	% of Total	Notes 10am-3pm
	30	545	1090	18.5%	Active jog/run
	60	1100	1100	37.5%	Post run/stretch
	90	1720	1146	39%	Recovery, chillin
	135	2572	1143	39%	Chillin
	155	2603	1007	34%	Chores & Stuff
	215	2764	770	26%
	240	2860	715	24%
	302	2935	583	20%

YGX	Time	Cals tot	c/p/h	% of total	Notes 4pm-9pm
	60	660	660	22.7%	Going to gym
	120	1631	816	28%	Active class time
	197	2520	768	26%	Going home
	220	2657	725	25%	Home chillin
	285	2852	600	20.5%	Dinner etc
	300	2905	581	20%	Relaxin

32114 [Friday #275] – WAKE 188 30/50 – dropped 1 pound, plus good numbers. Exercised twice yesterday and ate – what I thought was a lot. Weight drop just in time for the weekend. OY! Discipline. It’s a birthday party.

OK, up early – warm up. Special Forces (20 lbs.) & pushups 10 – 5 5 – 10, then stretches. 40 minutes total. @ work 30 pushups… cost a lot! 20 more than 2 x 30s….

32214 [Saturday #276] – wake 190: Up early, exercise, aerobic & weights. Good stuff. Leg work w/ ankle weights. Road trip to DC. Great party. Didn’t pig out or over drink.

END OF SESSION 20