What Was Your Work Out Today?

Stationary bike, 15k (took about 40') + 3' CD. I was trying to find an intensity that would stay Z2, and only oops-ed over into Z3 for 54" when I wasn't paying attention and picked up pace a little. Looks like mid-80s watts will work, very easy - averaged 85W on the 10k piece. This is also a small volume increase (50% heh) from my recent indoor workouts - when I even did them! Trying to stay on the easy side so I can keep it up.

Friday
Lifting. I did:
OHP, 3 sets of 5, 35 kgs.
Front squat, 45 kgs, 2 sets of 5.
High bar back squat, 1 set of 5, 70 kgs.
Weighted pull-up, +22.5 kgs.
Hang board, which I was poor at
Deadlift, 1 set of 5, 100 kgs.

Saturday
Climbing, 2.5 hours. A very good session.
This gym uses hold colours to indicate how hard the climb is. The second hardest are the blues, which are v4 to v6. I got two; it's the first time I have got any. I suspect they were both mis-graded.

I also got three wasps, which is the bucket below (v3 to v5).

Rowing machine again, same structure as Thursday's workout, 1k on + 2' off, 2 x (2k on + 2' off), 2k on + 3' CD. Main focus was watching the force curve, recognizing the signs of my recurring opportunities for improvement (or faults) and trying to improve them.

I had in mind sticking with the same under-140bpm HR, 19-20spm, mid-2:30s split as Thursday, but it didn't work out. Needed to drop SPM to 17-18 to keep mid-2:30s, but when SPM slipped up a little bit, HR went up (not surprisingly). Ended up flirting with the aerobic/threshold boundary on the last 2 pieces, mostly above 140bpm even though 17-18spm. 🙄

Most of the workout Z3, a little Z4; 8075m in 767 strokes, including row in/out and CD; 2:32.5 average split across the pieces.

I just did 10 minutes of high-intensity interval training and around 5 minutes of stretching. I know this is not much, but as long as I get sweaty and my muscles are moving, I'm good!

Good workout this morning.

Stretching

28 minutes on the spin bike
20 minutes walking on the treadmill
45 minutes lifting weights

Superset of Barbell Bench Press, Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns, Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
* Bench Press: 12@135, 10@165, 8@185, 5@200, drop set: 3@210, 6@165, 8@135
* Lat Pulldowns: 12@110, 10@130, 8@150, 6@170, drop set 4@190, 4@150, 8@110
* Overhead Press: 12 @ 25, 10@30, 8@35, 6@40, drop set 5@40, 6@30, 6@20

Superset of Cable Triceps Pushdowns, Crunches, Dumbbell Curls, Landmine Twists
* Triceps: 12@40, 10@50, drop set 8@60, 8@40
* Crunches: 20, 20, 20, 20
* Curls: 10@25, 10@30, drop set 8@35, 8@25
* Twists, 10, 10, 10, 10

Stretching

Finally back to a regular type of workout week. Did around 70 minutes of solid steady state cardio yesterday and my normal lift this AM, followed by some interval work on the rower and then the Assault Bike.

Rowing machine, same format, resulting in 7998m in 824 strokes; at 2:33.1 average pace (on the pieces) at average 20spm; all Z3 and below, peak HR at 79% raw HRmax, 70% HRreserve. Focus today: Keeping spine straight, breathing at the right times/in the right ways.

Back day in the weight room...

Pullups - 3 sets
BB Row 4x10
BB Shrug 3x10
Machine High Row 5x5
DB Side Bend 3x10
Side Planks 3x40sec
Preacher Curl 3x10,12,15

Stationary bike, 15k+3', intentionally all easy pace, trying for Z2 (got 50" Z3 😆, but overwhelmingly succeeded), 85W average on the 15k, peak HR 129 bpm (60% reserve, 72% max). Still sweat stupid much, even with the ceiling fan on, even at this slow pace, even with house temp in the 60s F, not even breathing hard 🙄.

I went climbing yesterday. I got to the gym late, so only had a 90 minute session. I was pretty bad, it was my worst attempt recently. Like djprooulx, I slept badly the night before which may have influenced it. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

I had left over energy afterward, so I did a short run.

At the aquarium on Monday, one of my teammates told me I looked SO MUCH BETTER than last month. That was just before I got sick, so I probably was already sick. Nobody on my team got it from me. I definitely am feeling better.

I have been an inactive member of my gym since they closed in 2020. I never go in the summer anyway, but I planned to return for November. My illness put the kibosh on that plan. I am going to go out there today to restart my full membership for December; maybe they'll even let me in a day early and I can get a swim or something. I'll go back inactive in April because of some travel, and then may join again for May and maybe June and then go back inactive until September. That's my plan anyway

I had developed a good routine before everything changed. It will be tough to rebuild that habit, but not as hard as if I still had to go to my office. I am looking forward to it being a regular part of my routine again. I might even hire a trainer for a refresh and maybe reboot to a new program.

Just did an hour of cardio today. 30 on the treadmill (walking at 15% incline, pretty slow pace) and then 30 on the Assault Bike. Skipped yesterday because the US Men's soccer game came on at lunch and I watched that instead.

Two weeks ago, when I was still recovering from being sick, we joined LA Fitness. Now we belong to two gyms. Have to get back to going this week. At the most I'll go to LA Fitness only like once a week or two times a week. Planet Fitness is the other. It's closer, so if I don't feel like driving far, I'll go there to lift. Still lifting one day a week at home, but I didn't like PF for lifting (at all) and my wife was looking to get back to Zumba classes.

Theoretically supposed to be a rowing machine day, but stationary bike instead. Discouraged from machine rowing by some combination of busy day, pre-existing kick-up of shoulder nerve impingement (I think - feels like), sore arm from bivalent Covid vax on Monday, and poor sleep last night. This week's schedule is a little annoying, so I may do more biking vs. rowing, or shift my usual rest day . . . we'll see. Just trying to stay semi-consistent for now.

The usual 15k+3' CD, easy/moderate pace on the 15k (about half each Z2/Z3, 90W average), 73W CD.

Back at rowing machine, 8177m per C2 including row in/out and CD, Garmin saw 804 strokes.

Still going for Z3 and below, and it was mostly Z3 (65%), but 2' slipped into first couple BPM of presumed Z4 . . . between HR drift and a little irrational enthusiasm for keeping the final 2k below 2:30 pace. 😆

Overall, 2:30.5 average over the 1k and 3x2k at 19spm.

Working on tech stuff, mostly alternating between shoulders down, firm lat connection with a little shoulder extension but solid rhomboids and straight spine, getting heels down first on the drive.

Got up early to stationary bike (before visiting dog show!), usual format, 90W on the 10k, 16,048m overall, kept HR 140bpm (78% max, just under 70% reserve) and below so mostly Z2, some Z3. Slogging along.

Forgot to turn on ceiling fan, so I'm drenched 😆