What Was Your Work Out Today?

dralicephd

Yesterday was my strength training routine, which is currently only upper body due to a muscle pull in my quad in November. I had the thought, "Am I ready to start adding some lower body stuff?" Got my answer from the elliptical today: Nope. Not ready.

I did 45 min. at a relatively slow pace, with about 33 min. in HR Zone 3, the rest in Zone 2. It felt good, but when I was done I definitely felt a little "jelly legged" in the quads. I think that's my quads telling me that, at this point in time, the elliptical is enough strength training in the legs for me. I'll get there eventually. Slow and steady....

MikePfirrman

@AnnPT77 - I'm in adjustment mode 24/7, seven days a week . It's one thing I'm proud of. I'm not as stubborn or as stupid as I used to be.

Today was the prime example of that. I had a rigid workout planned -- four sets of shoulders, legs, chest in the AM, 8 X 500m sprints on the rower at lunch and then 4 more weight sets in the PM (I work from home and I work in 50 minute work blocks, so doing supersets on my breaks works out well for me).

I did four supersets in the AM, did my rowing warmup and only had four sprints in me. Started out too fast with little rest and just died. My legs were done. So I just finished up with a 2K easy unstrapped cool down. And I might not even do the other four sets this afternoon.

I'm trying to stick to my schedule this year -- 6 cardio workouts a week plus two (maybe build up to three) weight sessions per week. But if I'm tired or don't have much left in me, I'm also being kind to myself and allowing myself to cut it short.

AnnPT77

33' yoga/stretch foam roll before breakfast.

6729m machine rowing, 3 x (2k on 2' off/CD) as usual. Decided to push a little harder midway through 2nd 2k, ended up with 2k pieces at 2:33.7/21spm, 2:30.8/20spm, 2:25.0/21spm. Still sub-max, ended kind of high moderate?, 5:15 at Z4 in the last piece, 19:40 Z3 (over half the workout), remainder below. Peak at 155bpm. Mostly focusing on relaxing unneeded muscles, heels down first, keep the arms cables while the legs work (no elbow bend).

17' core exercises.

Haven't decided whether to double up strength & core tomorrow to end the week with 3 of each, or skip core and just do the rescheduled strength, after having so little workout time Wednesday.

Kind of struggling - an annual recurring event! - with the Winter workout routine. I just keep telling myself "this is not a choice, this is a thing I do", but that's marginally effective. There's another Concept 2 Challenge on in January, and I'm signed up, but it's a wonky format for me, so not very motivating. I may slack off in February for a while, to whack myself over the head with the reminder that I quickly feel crummy if I don't do workouts - cardio especially.

@dralicephd, I hear what you're saying. I've learned that there's only so much, and certain kinds, of additional leg stress I can fit into a schedule that's focused on rowing with a dash of cycling, for me as an aging woman with fairly trashed knees already.

Rowing/cycling is enough to keep the relevant muscle groups in reasonable condition (according to my needs/preferences, which are definitely sub-elite). I try to do some things in Winter that give a bit of work to lower posterior chain (deadlift, leg curl to bridge on exercise ball, some kettlebell things sometimes . . . .), since those muscle groups are a relatively underutilized in row/cycle. I don't usually try to add anything quad focused, because it screws up recovery more than it helps my aims, unless I'm super careful.

There's some adequate-ish balance of challenge, recovery, injury avoidance, fun, muscle-group balance, etc., in there somewhere, given the time I'm willing to put in . . . I keep looking for it. 😉

@MikePfirrman: Yes, the so-seductive fly and die, a machine rowing classic. Feels good, for a while. 😆 At least it was 'only' a workout, not a race piece? 😉

My first coach put a lot of emphasis on personalized target splits for everything. (Advice I admit I now largely ignore, since I'm noodling at easy paces more than training these days.) I think that, as a collegiate coach, that that split-focused, testing-focused approach was helpful on the psychological side with the younger rowers, as well as for framing training. They weren't easy splits (except on intentionally easy base paces), but at least it tended to avoid fly & die (discouraging in that age group) . . . or clearly let the rower know that's what they'd done when going out harder than recommended.

So seductive, going out hard. Good plan, to back it off when it's not going as one would wish. 👍

Djproulx

AnnPT77 wrote: »

So seductive, going out hard. Good plan, to back it off when it's not going as one would wish. 👍

Truth!

Djproulx

First week of winter warrior challenge done. Completed fairly short outdoor walks or runs each day. 20 miles total. Not a daunting effort, mostly just gaining the discipline to get out there even when cold, dark or rainy.

Gym session this am. Lots of stability and balance work while moving weights. Also continuing basic TGU's (very light weight) since my trainer is driving home the point that posture is key, especially as weight increases. Cold here today, 15 degrees, so will head out later for a few miles of run/walk on a snowy trail.

JDMac82

100 Fwd Jump Rope
15 Pull-ups
15 Dbell Snatch
50 Knee Tucks
30 Hand Release Push-ups
40 Leg Raises

12/8/4
Shrugs
Dbell Mil Press
Front
Monkey Row
Wide Grip Rear Delt
Iso Landmine Press
Rev Grip Press
Lateral Raises
Dbell Rear Delt
Rope to Face
Upright Row
Mil Press

Colt 45
Situps/ Rev Crunches/ Jack Knifes/ Choppers Hi & Low/ Obliques/ Flutter/ Crunches

988 total reps

dralicephd

Rest day, so no workout to report today (unless you count cleaning and taking down Christmas decorations).

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I try to do some things in Winter that give a bit of work to lower posterior chain (deadlift, leg curl to bridge on exercise ball, some kettlebell things sometimes . . . .), since those muscle groups are a relatively underutilized in row/cycle. I don't usually try to add anything quad focused, because it screws up recovery more than it helps my aims, unless I'm super careful.

This is where my thoughts were going also. I've been thinking about trying (gently!) some hamstring/glut stuff and see if I can get some lower body training in without putting too much stress on the quads. I will just have to see how it goes.

AnnPT77

Little over half an hour of yoga/stretch/foam roll before breakfast.

Evening, with only brief breaks between:

5792m stationary bike.
34' dumbbell supersets.
5872m stationary bike.
16' core exercises.

Thus ending the week with all the planned workouts fit in, despite Weird Wednesday.

Both bike pieces moderate, mid Z3 & below . . . not much time for HR drift in pieces that short. 😆

Regular rest day tomorrow, might do the morning yoga etc.

Djproulx

We had a group of ten trail runners doing loops around a local reservoir this morning. It was raining lightly during the run. Terrain was mostly packed snow, but there were also some icy spots, so trail shoes and spikes were standard wear.

I planned on running a single loop, but got talked into doing 2 loops for 6.8 miles. Two women in the group were planning to cover a full 26.2 over the snow. I said "No Thanks" to their generous offer.

JDMac82

100 Jumping Jaxs
50 Jack Knifes
50 Knee Tucks
50 Crunches

12/8/4
Landmine Curls
Iso Landmine Press
Rope Exts back to Stack
Hammer Curls
Crushers
Preacher Curls
Seated Rope Curls (low pulley)
Kickbacks
Dbell Curls
Overhead Dbell Ext
KBell Curls
KBell Exts

Colt 45
Situps/ Flutter/ Obliques/ Hi Choppers/ Hip Lifts/ Leg Tucks/ Twists/ Low Choppers/

988 Total Reps

dralicephd

~10 min. on elliptical to warm up then I mixed up the strength training today (again, my routine is minimal to prevent repeating injuries). We'll see how this works for me.

incline pushups (increased reps)
dumbbell rows (increased reps)
bridges on a ball
crunches with a ball

I just want to say that I'm so happy with my current ability to consistently do any sort of pushups. There was a time that even the physical therapist gave up on my ability to do those. Apparently, I just needed 3 months of elliptical workouts to get the joint stabilized enough to do them. Exercise! It works!

swimmom_1

244 minutes on my Elliptical for 17.1 miles.

MikePfirrman

Lots of yard work today so only an easy hour on the rower.

drmwc

I spent the weekend caving in Wales. It was good fun. There was a lot of climbing, and a 80m squeeze which felt longer. A bit of the squeeze was along a small stream. The trick, if you feel stuck, seems to be to exhale and relax, then you can slither a bit further. I was good at the climbing bits. (A couple of people needed ropes for one of the harder ones, I opted to go without which seemed fine.)

Both trips were to Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, were there was a rescue last year. The guy has a broken leg, and the nearest exit was through the 80m squeeze. There is no way you get a stretcher down there, so the rescuers has to go the long way around. The rescue took 300 volunteers nearly 60 hours (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b1954908.html).

makinlifehappen

Push 2

DB flat bench
5 sets in total
12 reps +2 drops, 3 sets
2 more sets with 30 reps each

Machine fly ascending and descending. Seat up all the way and leaned back to partially mimic decline.
3 sets, 10 reps, go up, failure, repeat X3
On the descent to failure X3

Partial DB fly, small incline SS with wide arm push up.
3 sets. 20/failure

Partial DB side lateral.
3 sets + 3 drops increasing weight each drop.
30 reps initial, failure each drop.

Bus driver SS with front raises and front press.
3 sets 20/20/20

Rope extension, partial bottom, partial top, full ROM.
4 sets all movements 30 reps.

Close grip bench.
3 sets.
20 reps + 2 drops each set.

Djproulx

Day 10 of WW challenge was cold and lunch time was short, so only a mile walk outside.

I did resume indoor cycling workouts in the pain cave. Started with a combo of high cadence work and sweet spot intervals. 20 minutes of warmup power outputs, then cadence work of 4 x (2min @110rpms/2min ez spin) then 5 min endurance pace, then Sweet Spot power of 2 x(5min @ 200watts/3min 126watts) then more endurance pace and cool down. 68 minutes total.

dralicephd

I'm a bit sore from the added strength training I did yesterday, so I went slow with cardio today. I did about 30-35 minutes, keeping it in HR Zone 2 the whole time.

MikePfirrman

Did an hour on the rower yesterday. My Achilles was hurting after Sunday so I tried something different. If you haven't used a rowing machine, this won't sound easy to understand, but I have a tendency to overextend/reach at the catch. You can start working into bad habits on the rower without knowing it. So, wanting to work on that, I found a tip where they said to wrap a bungee cord around the rail of the rower so that you can't let your knees past your ankles (your knees/lower legs should be at a 90 degree angle at the catch, no further). Also did some "pick drills" -- breaking down the leg drive, body swing and arm pull into separate parts.

Rate suffered (around 2:40 for the hour) but the bonus was HR stayed in the 120s the entire time (around 60% to 65% max HR), which is right where I like it, ideally, when I do a steady state piece.

Also, no achilles pain today or yesterday and I felt a lot more refreshed after the workout than tired.

matt9712

Leg day! Crushed it and paying for it now haha

BarryTone99

Started doing push-ups at the office every M-W-F at 9:00 and 3:00.
The goal is to do as many as you can in 60 seconds...Then get back to work.
It gets the blood pumping and is not very "office-disruptive"