What Was Your Work Out Today?

90 minute martial art class.

I walked ~all the way~ to the post office and back to get my mail. A whopping 2.5 miles. Normally this wouldn't be worth mention, but thaings ain't been normal around here lately.

The sad thing was it actually was a little farther than I should have walked. I started feeling some discomfort just as I was leaving the post office, and I was definitely limping and hobbling a bit by the time I got close to home. I took a shortcut across a field that eliminates about a quarter mile of sidewalk on the way home just to shorten up the walk. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a lot less muddy than I expected. I usually only use that shortcut in the dry season - June or July through September or October.

Saturday: PT session: lots of core work (planks & plank variations), shoulder press, chest press. Felt hard, to be expected coming off a month of illness.

Today: I was thinking I'd go in and do some cardio but I have a lot to do at home, and Sundays are usually rest days for me so I'll probably just do my chores and be nice to myself.

Good cardio and upper body workout this morning.

Stretched

32 minutes on the spin bike, heart rate avg/max:136/161
26 minutes walking on the treadmill, heart rate avg/max:134/147

55 minutes lifting weights

Superset: Barbell bench press, Prone grip lat pulldowns, Barbell overhead press
Chest: 10@135, 8@165, 6@185, 3@205, drop set: 3@205, 4@185, 6@165, 10@135
Back: 10@100, 8@120, 8@140, 6@160, drop set: 4@180, 6@150, 6@130, 8@110
Shoulders: 10@65, 8@85, 6@95, 6@105, drop set: 4@115, 4@95, 6@75, 8@55

Superset: Cable triceps press-downs, Crunches, Seated leg raises, Dumbbell Curls, Weighted side bends
Triceps: 10@50, 8@70, drop set: 5@90, 6@70, 10@50
Crunches: 10, 10, 10
Leg Raises: 6, 6, 6
Biceps: 10@25, 8@30, drop set: 6@40, 6@35, 6@30
Side bends, each side: 10@40lbs, 10@40lbs 10@40lbs

Stretched

I added some intervals to the treadmill walking, as it was getting too easy and my heart rate wasn't staying up. First glimpse that I am heading in the right direction to get back to running.

Saturday
Elliptical hills - 5km
Full-Body Weights: Landmine squat, press, row; TRX flies, reverse flies, curls, extends

Monday
Leg Day: Hack squat, walking DB lunges, hip thrust, leg extend, leg curl, calf extend, hanging knee-ups

Another boring report of the same old thing: Stationary bike, 1 hour at 102W, 3' CD at 83W; overall, 25,003 simulated meters at 15.5 fake mph, HR average 128 (71% HRmax), peak 144 (80%), mostly Z3 but remainder below.

Osteopath has sent the referral to my PT of choice, so I should hear from them soon to schedule. Shoulder's feeling better with some rest, just mildly glitchy. Maybe try machine rowing again next week if it continues this way or better.

Good workout this morning. Cranking up the intensity on the cardio, feels good to push.

Stretched

32 minutes on the spin bike, heart rate avg/max:140/161
27 minutes on the treadmill, heart rate avg/max: 140/153

57 minutes lifting weights

Barbell box squats: 12@bar, 10@75, 8@105, 6@135, Drop set: 4@155, 4@125, 6@85, 8@bar
Crunches: 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25
Narrow stance leg-press: 12@210, 10@300, 8@390, 6@470, 6@470, Drop set: 6@470, 6@390, 8@300, 8@210
Landmine twists: 10@65, 10@75, 8@85, 6@95, Drop set: 6@95, 6@75, 8@55

Stretched

Back day in the weight room...

Inverted pullups 3x15
Cable row 5x5
Pulldown 4x10
T-bar row 4x10
Face pull 3x10
High cable curl 3x15

Abs
Suitcase DB carry 3x30sec

Elliptical interval setting, 47 minutes today, a bit over 3 miles.

Still stationary biking. Feeling kind of burned out tonight, set off thinking to stay around 75-80W, ended up at 91W on the 60' piece, 76W on the 3' CD. Average HR 119, peak 133 (about 74% HRmax).

Tried a couple of sets of dumbbell bench press, one stupid light and one very light. Just one exercise, so I can isolate effect. Didn't hurt, but felt somehow off, so we'll see how my shoulder feels tomorrow. Dang it.

Good workout this morning, upper-body, core and cardio

Stretched

32 minutes on the spin bike, heart rate avg/max: 143/166
27 minutes on the treadmill, heart rate avg/max: 141/155

46 minutes lifting weights

Superset: Incline dumbbell press, Seated cable row, Seated overhead dumbbell press
Chest: 15@35, 10@50, 8@60, 8@60, Drop set: 8@60, 8@45, 8@35
Back: 15@100, 10@130, 8@150, 8@150, Drop set: 8@150, 8@130, 8@100
Shoulders: 15@20, 10@25, 8@30, 8@30, Drop set: 8@30, 8@25, 8@20

Superset: Rope triceps press-downs, Crunches, Dumbbell curls, Weighted side-bends
Triceps: 10@40, 10@40, 10@40
Crunches: 25, 25, 25
Biceps: 10@25, 10@25, 10@25
Side-bends, each side: 10@30, 10@30, 10@30

Stretched

Been dealing with a painful elbow for several weeks, part of why I took the last 3 weeks of 2022 off from the gym. It helped, but when I resumed lifting with the new year, my elbow was still there complaining, just not as loudly. Did some research, all signs point to my having developed a case of tennis elbow, caused by repetitive weightlifting and exacerbated by all day spent typing on a computer. The suggested recovery includes taking up to 3 months away from whatever caused the issue in the first place. Since I can't get away from computers at work, guess I'll be bypassing the weight room until spring. Looks like I'm going to be spending a lot of time on cardio for the next 12 weeks or so.

Elliptical - 5km hills

@BigMech and @nossmf, thanks for the bench press tips! I'll look out for those details next time I do them.

Mostly, my problem is the current rotator cuff irritation, caused by something else entirely (not sure what), that I'm waiting for physical therapy for. I've never had a problem with bench press before. (I've been lifting for around 20 years, though off and on, and to my discredit only seasonally in recent years. Past physical therapist told me not to do lateral raises - for a nerve impingement that manifested during pullovers, oddly enough - but other than that, I don't normally have problems with anything.) I tend to start light every restart, and once I get to a reasonable weight tend to increase reps/sets before weight, because I'm not as injury resilient at 67 as I used to be.

So, today I did a similar experiment with 3 rounds of light resistance supersetted DB flys (modified), tricep kickbacks, and shrugs. My osteopath had given me some boundaries pre physical therapy, which included the fly modifications (not down past the plane of my body so I didn't even go close), and he suggested the shrugs (though I usually like those anyway because they feel good for my chest/shoulder/neck surgery/radiation scar tissue).

The flys weren't painful, but still felt weird/iffy, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. The kickbacks and shrugs were totally pain free. I'm told not to do overhead press for now, which is a bummer: I need that kind of motion for lifting boats, so I like to do those in Winter.

Also, repeated the recent usual 60' + 3' CD stationary bike, at 94W and 81W average respectively. I'm wanting to let the intensity drop a little, but not by force, if ya know what I mean. @BigMech, I have that fan on my shopping list!

Shoulder's not as bad as it was a week ago, so I'll probably try machine rowing again a little next week (osteopath approved). Doing it recently, the drive (loaded phase) was fine, but something about the turnaround into the recovery (so no resistance on it at the time) was causing twinges. Weird.

nossmf wrote: »

Been dealing with a painful elbow for several weeks, part of why I took the last 3 weeks of 2022 off from the gym. It helped, but when I resumed lifting with the new year, my elbow was still there complaining, just not as loudly. Did some research, all signs point to my having developed a case of tennis elbow, caused by repetitive weightlifting and exacerbated by all day spent typing on a computer. The suggested recovery includes taking up to 3 months away from whatever caused the issue in the first place. Since I can't get away from computers at work, guess I'll be bypassing the weight room until spring. Looks like I'm going to be spending a lot of time on cardio for the next 12 weeks or so.

Elliptical - 5km hills

Likely because my weird golf swing, I get that bad during golf season. There are these rubber stick things that work fantastic for reducing pain. You twist them and they work the nerves/muscles leading to your forearm and it really helps your elbow pain. It's called a Theraband Flex Bar. All kinds of videos on it on YouTube. There are different moves for Tennis or Golf Elbow, but I can tell you, super effective and can get you out of pain pretty quickly.

I've been working out, just not posting as much. Sunday was an hour of steady state cardio (so was Tuesday and yesterday). Monday did an AM lift, followed by four 2K intervals (brave for me right now!). Didn't feel too, too miserable and got through it.

I've blocked this website (and several other distracting websites) during my work day on my work computer. It seems to be working as I'm kicking *kitten* at work, but that's why I'm not posting as much.

nossmf wrote: »

Been dealing with a painful elbow for several weeks, part of why I took the last 3 weeks of 2022 off from the gym. It helped, but when I resumed lifting with the new year, my elbow was still there complaining, just not as loudly. Did some research, all signs point to my having developed a case of tennis elbow, caused by repetitive weightlifting and exacerbated by all day spent typing on a computer. The suggested recovery includes taking up to 3 months away from whatever caused the issue in the first place. Since I can't get away from computers at work, guess I'll be bypassing the weight room until spring. Looks like I'm going to be spending a lot of time on cardio for the next 12 weeks or so.

Elliptical - 5km hills

I had a bout of elbow soreness a few years ago. I stopped doing bent over barbell rows, they seemed to irritate it the most. I also got a good set of neoprene elbow sleeves and wore them when doing any weighted work with my arms. The elbow sleeves made a huge difference for me, I'm still using them and haven't had any elbow issues since then. I've got the Rehband 5mm elbow support sleeves, ordered them from amazon.

When I started using the sleeves, I used lighter weight on anything that irritated my elbows, and was able to continue doing most of my workout. I also switched to prone grip on cable rows and lat pulldowns, which I find easier on the elbows. I found that Dumbbell rows hit the back just as well as the barbell rows.