Return to Ruggedness Session XXXIII - 42014 - 50314

SESSION XXIII – 42014 – 50314

This may be the session that changes everything!! I started running more regularly – well better than once in a great while. I’m still blaming the weather when it doesn’t cooperate, but when it does I take advantage of it, when I can. Got to get feet on the dirt, and keep working my legs. I started going to Temple to train legs, on equipment only they have. I started adding tofu to my beans. No negative results yet. Measuring day was more of a surprise than a relief – the numbers are going where I want them to. Maybe it’s the change of season. I started taking protein and creatine again, but not daily.

Gain more strength, drop more weight, shed more centimeters, build more endurance. Age is not an excuse!!

42014 – [Sunday #306] -  wake 193 – E! dropped an early one. No exercises, no breakfast ACV & tea, ate my salad at work.

Pull ups today, new rule – don’t settle for 1 set, go 2 – 3 small sets of 3-4 reps. Get stronger!!

42114 – [Monday #307] –Wake 193 - @ mile run/jog – strong the whole way. Random chores, going to dead lift & leg press before spin. That’s the plan. Only day off, maybe take one this week.

Did some deadlifting – failed at 315, but tried. Leg presses 8 plates. Some EZ bar curls. Spin was great!!! Strong exercise day.

42214 – [Tuesday #308] – Wake 188 – Massive drop, but this is actually a correction/recovery. Dynamic tai Chi & Yoga 3 sun sals, leg stretch, tea, beans w/ shrooms, red pepper, pepper jack cheese. I got some kind of rush after eating. Started sweating, nose running – toxins flowing out of the body… FELT FABULOUS!! Maybe some pushups @ the gig. TGX later today, no ankle wts today.

Gig – reverse pushups 20+22

Another strong day. Good TGX, coached mostly.

42314 – [Wednesday #309] – Wake 188 – Not much energy, slight headache, vivid dreams. Did some work, started leg swinging & movement from the mat. Grilled cheese, tom, romaine & peppers, no “Dinner” last night, last meal was post aqua, possible cause of headache – ACV @ wake up.

Gig – reverse pushups 10+15+10

Don’t feel like I’m getting stronger, but have to remind myself… it’s a long road back.

42414 – [Thursday #310] – wake 189.5 – even w/ no dinner wt gain? Huh! AM work – arm & leg swings, run, jacks 7 burpees, got o reclaim the burps, full scale. Off to work, bean soup & lentils bkft.

Keep on my toes. Intervals to the train station, running across streets cuts off 1-2 minutes, ha-ha. Up the El steps fairly easy.

Gig – pushups (rev) 15+10 (pumpers & boxing) finished with 10? More maybe. Medium/strong day. YGX was energetic – burp-ups getting stronger. No chest pain, breath good.

Funny how the entries have changed. A hundred years from now I’ll be writing, “still alive” ha ha.

42514 – [Friday #311] – wake 189.5 AM exercises including some pushups on the iron gym (IG). Boxing, upper body motion.

Work – rev pushups 20+10

Temple power leg press –

Full range about 600 lbs. 2 sets

½ about 800lbs.  2 sets

Static Hold – about 1000 lbs 40-50 seconds 2x

Seated calf raises & holds

Shin flex 80 lbs… 3 sets

Chest Press/hold (Smith) 110 lbs + bar hold about 25-30 seconds.

42614 – [Saturday #312] – Wake  191.5 – slight headache & stuffy. After Happy hour & leg work… Super tired and in bed in the 9s. Wake up movement. Mental health day. Records purge. Home chores, pushups in b/w on iron gym (IG) – 10 close neutral, 15 (wide, outer handles/back) + 4 x 20 more….

42714 – [Sunday #313] – wake 193 – Run/jog/walk intervals 2.5 miles. No time recorded, no calorie count. Protein & creatine shake & short nap after… what will today bring?? Home work. Love doing the wide pushups on the IG. 3 x 30 and a set of 20 late in the eve.

100 Jax – first in a long time

30 lb shrugs 2 sets so far. 

42814 – [Monday #314] – wake 191 – Immediate IG pushups 20 slow & low wide prone. 35 quick then 40 (first time since the injury doing that many).  2.5 mile run, whole 2 + ½ mile of intervals. (Jog/walk stretch about 50 mins.)

Top Notch day!

Good legs work! Romanian deadlifts low wt reps (grip strength): Leg press, calf work and holds (Inverted). Barbell press practice, bar only 20 reps + reverse press. Incline db press 35lbs. 3 sets 8-10-12. Strong spin class & coconut H2O from save-a-lot Yeah!!

42914 – [Tuesday #315] – Wake 188.5 27/51 – Measuring Day. 6 Sun salutations. (I really should do this more often)

Top … 99 … last 97  YAY

Mid…93 … same (=36.6 inches, that’s pretty thick.)

Bot….97 … same

Under 98 … 100 last time, that’s about an inch and I can feel the difference. WOW!

Top/solar plexus	99 cm	97 cm	+2cm	Looking good
Middle/hips	93 cm	93 cm	0	Steady nxt tells
Bottom/naval	97 cm	97 cm	0	Steady hopeful
Under/waste	98 cm	100 cm	-2	Rite direction

 

This chart may not mean anything to anyone but me, it nonetheless shows how much
thickness I added to my torso from the first time I measured in June of 2011. I want
everything except the solar plexus area to be in the 85 (or less) to 89 cm range. This is an
every 45 day measurement... just enough to keep me honest and alert me of any radical
changes.

Gig – 20+20+15 reverse push ups.

TGX was awesome, great finale!!

43014 – [Wednesday #316] – Goodbye April – 188.5: Legs sore, body sore. Movement this AM, typical Wednesday recovery stuff.

Start 20 wide pushups + 20 rev pushups (gig) +20+10, Curls w/ 10 lb dbs.

Put the workout in WORK> do what I can in the back. steps things up. Did more @ work inc. shadow box, squats, db curls, Zero @ Aqua today… Rain… torrential.

MAY 2014

April 2014 weight chart, back on the roller coaster again. Not many
steady moments.

50114 –  [Thursday #317] – Wake 191  +2.5 lbs. I think this is the weekly correction. Eat sweat work… 2 easy rounds. Should get back to this, this month in prep for zurich. Beans lentils, tofu, squash, cheese bkft… dropped a early one. Ate “dinner” last night. No X at the gig. YGX was good – did some 40 lb incline db presses before class & a few dips.

50214 – [Friday #318] – wake 191 36/47 [snooze] – woke with the urge to do crunches, turned into mat work out and knee lifts, leg work from the mat.

Intervals from hope to the train station – run hirst st, ½ CC to walnut, ½ block from end of fence up the steps. It was good today, little by little.

Gig- 10 reverse pushups.  Tandem curls 10 lb, 20+ (3 rounds tot.)

Temple legs: Leg press, calf raise (+ indies), shin flex 90 lbs (wrong sneaks) leg X, smith press, hold, shrug hold.

50314 – [Saturday #319] – WAKE 191 E: woke well, 3 minutes before alarm. I am on auto wake now.  EZ – ex- pushups, some curls, intervals to the El. 7 mins, so 1-2 mins off the walk. Lazy day at the gig. Got some pull ups done. Shadow boxing.

End of session #23

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