What Was Your Work Out Today?

Incline Bench Press 4x12
Machine Fly 3x12
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10
Machine Lateral Raise 4x12
Machine Curl <superset> Machine Pushdown 3x10
Perloff Press 3x15sec

No restrictions today in choice of exercise nor in weights used. Back felt great!

Physio: upper back and shoulder, no biceps yet after snipped biceps tendon
Then a 5km run/walk a bit later to finally get a bit fitter again.

Never cared for Good Mornings myself, I do include RDL's in my second leg workout each week.

For the BB rows, are you using overhand (palms facing you) or underhand? I prefer underhand, as I find it easier to keep a grip, it's easier on my shoulders, and I can actually go heavier. Motion brings the bar to the bottom of my rib cage, so a shorter motion, compared to overhand to bottom of my sternum.

Checking in. I was taking it easy through the beginning of the week with just some of the usual every day short elliptical workouts. Swimming on Wednesday, 25m lanes, and I tried to add just a bit of intensity doing 10x100 on a regular interval. Still getting plenty of rest but pushing the swim pace a bit. Some other laps too but the interval set was the focus.

A bit later in the day, a muscle on the back right side of my neck became very unhappy. Maybe I stretched it too vigorously after tiring it during the swim, or something. There was a similar strain over 30 years ago, not from swimming and with no problem since, but I don't even remember if it was in the same place. I'm really not sure what happened, but this is the second time in a couple weeks that I've strained that muscle after swimming. It was still really sore yesterday but later in the evening I got out for an easy 20 minute bike ride. The neck is still stiff today but getting less painful so I tried another bike ride, a bit over 35 minutes.

The next few times swimming it will be short, easy, and I'll be very careful afterward!

Just a short yoga workout and walk yesterday as had a crazy day at work and got caught up doing a task that had been weighing on my shoulders. But it's all done now!

Today I made it to the gym, did a bit of everything - leg press, abduction/adduction, chest press, various dumbbell exercises, clams w/band, bridge w/weight, barbell squats, and a few others I can't remember. Will try and get either some yoga or pilates in later as well.

Traveling to an out of state wedding, but I was able to get a run in this morning. Ran 4.5 hilly miles at a relaxed pace.

About 9.2k coached row. The collegiate guys were on the taper before Canadian Henley (next week), so not as intense a workout structure . . . but still challenging for our quad of 60+ y/o rowers. Couple of 10' pieces, then some race starts (half (half-slide stroke), half, 3/4, full, 10 high (strokes per minute), settle (into stroke length/race cadences spm), though we didn't do the full high/settle each time). Then a series of 500m pieces, some with the full race start, some with a rolling start from a paddle (low intensity rowing).

I was blessed today: I've always bowed the quad in coached rows, because no one else is willing. It's stressful for various reasons, and doesn't leave me much mental bandwidth to focus on technique. As we figured out boatings, I mentioned my dream would be to row engine room in the quad, but I didn't see how that could happen . . . then one of the guys (who'd never bowed the quad before, even in quieter rows) offered to do it. Post-row, I joked to his wife that he'd been the man of my dreams this morning. He did great, though I don't think he fully knew what he was in for!

After that, I spent a couple of hours with fellow club members working at the boathouse. In my case, it was about an even time split between shoveling limestone fines then wheelbarrowing it into the boathouse, vs. carrying things (mostly boats) out of the house to make room to spread limestone under the racks, then moving the stuff back in again when it was spread/leveled/wet down. That was a decent workout in itself. (We're spreading the limestone fines on the dirt floor to create a better surface, now that the drainage is improved. Small shoestring club, <50 people, volunteer run, low bank balance, so we do any projects we can ourselves.)

Good to see you checking in, @MikePfirrman. Seems to me that 2:16 for pieces like that in blistering heat like you're having is a good accomplishment for anyone. The fast HR drop is a great thing, for sure. Wishing you continuing good healing post-surgery!

Today was horse riding day. Bought my other half with me to jog in front as the horse goes better that way (don't ask me why, guess he just likes runners?!). We had a couple of silly races at different paces, overall really good fun.

My hips were quite sore so I went for a walk this afternoon and then did some yin yoga focusing on opening my hips up (my hips are crazy unflexible sadly, when I change my gym routine in a few weeks I should really add in some extra hip exercises).

My work schedule is going to interfere with my fitness schedule for the next couple months. We've lost three people in the last couple months, and one more is going through chemo and is hit or miss whether he feels up to actually working any given day, so we're crazy short on bodies. Good news is we have four new hires going through / just starting training, so by October we'll be back up to full staff. But first we have to get there, both in terms of training the new peeps as well as staffing the day-to-day work.

That's where my work schedule comes in. I pulled shift for over a decade before getting promoted to day staff as the lead trainer. So for the next two months, I'm back to pulling shift. This has the double benefit of relieving manpower shortage, as well as allowing me to accelerate training the new peeps with OTJ (on-the-job) training. That's how it helps.

How it hurts is my gym time. Day shifts (like today/tomorrow) I have to report to work by 6am, no gym time before work, and I hate working out after a full work day. I'll be able to lift before swing shifts and the first mid, but following graveyard shifts is not an ideal time to exercise, combating fatigue and whatnot.

I've determined I can hit the gym 5 times every 10 days (compared to my preferred 5 days per week), which isn't bad, but still mildly annoying. I'm a creature of habit, and have really enjoyed the last three years of regular schedule afforded by my day staff position (not to mention sleeping every night, which my wife prefers also, as she never sleeps well when I'm working a graveyard shift).

@nossmf it is what it is, I know what you mean about being a creature of habit, I hate any unexpected changes especially when they interfere with the things that keep me sane! But at least you know this is short term and you should be back to normal in a couple of months!

The regular deal, this time rowing bow in the double with one of the guys, the usual just under 7k. Steady state, individual technique work. Three of us out, our double and a guy in a single.

When I drove to the club, I was thinking I'd made the wrong weather call - rain isn't all that pleasant when it's cooler, as it was today (mid-60s F); it had been supposed to stop. Miraculously, right before we launched, it did stop, and didn't start again until a light rain started about the time we pulled into the dock to carry the boat up and put it away.