What Was Your Work Out Today?

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.

Crazy traffic in town today so I couldn't make it to the gym. So I just did a 45 minute incline treadmill walk. It all counts.

A nice 20 min bake ride 🚲🌴

And. 30 min workout.✅
https://youtu.be/XDq3iJPiuAw

A few core exercises as part of shoulder rehab (don't think only your shoulder get weak when not using your arm for several months). And a 5km run with walking intervals. Walking intervals are getting shorter and running longer. Yay.

Disrupted program this week, so did the 'bare bones' of Tuesday and Thursday:

• Muscular activation and prehab
• Front Squat- 5 sets of 6
• Deadlift - 5 sets of 3
• Bench Press - 5 sets- 10, 10, 8, 7, 7
• Strict chin ups- 5 sets- 4, 4, 4, 3, 3
• Bird Dogs- 3 sets, 11 seconds each side
  
  The lower body stuff is coming along nicely. Upper body has been effected more by the crash diet I have been doing the last couple of months. Hopefully things will improve.