What Was Your Work Out Today?
Replies
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Fantastic news, Ann!2
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Upper Body - Hypertrophy
Incline Bench Press 4x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Machine Reverse Fly 3x10
Machine Lat Raise 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x10, 20, 30sec1 -
Good news from the neurosurgeon today: The aftermath of the brain bleed has healed enough that I can do whatever activities/intensities I wish, . . . In fact, he encouraged me to go back to normal activity. Skull fracture still isn't healed, and will take a while, but that's not as dangerous (as long as I don't whack my head again 😬).
All of this felt OK. We'll see if I feel overtired or otherwise negative tomorrow or not before deciding what to do next.
I'm glad for this great report @AnnPT77.1 -
Today's workout: 25 min on the treadmill: 5 min @ 5 mph; 15 min @ 3.0 mph and 5% incline; 5 min @ 3.5 mph. Then 10 min. of squats with weights, lunges, stretches. Ten min. walk with the dog.2
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Thank you, @mtaratoot, @nossmf, @discustank5: The encouragement helps!
@mtaratoot, while I hope (and suspect) I'll bounce back faster than I would've in the olden days of being obese and entirely unconditioned, I'm sure you can understand that this feels frustratingly slow from the inside nonetheless. There is gradual, observable improvement, though, and I'm grateful for that. As far as the cat goes, he's a sweet boy and an utter charmer. Since I stayed at his house for almost 2 weeks after leaving the hospital, he already helped me recover by being affectionate and amusing.
Yesterday's workouts settled in OK, just a little bit of waked-up muscle stuff from not having rowed in over a month.
Between that and the HR averaging/peaking about 10bpm above a similar pace row this time last year that was nearly twice as long . . . dang, de-training happens fast. 
Nothing to do but start from here, though, eh?
I'm still keeping it somewhat moderate, so close to repeat of yesterday, just a bit shorter row, and a higher damper setting on the bike. Row was 2k on, 2' off, 2k on, 3' CD = 26' end to end, and 4747m averaging 2:35.4 including CD; HR average 146bpm, peak 158. Bike was 90W average, 10,131m, average HR 134bpm, peak 145.
Onward!
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Lower Body
Squat 4x10
BB Hip Thrust 4x10
Leg Press <<superset> Leg Press Calf Raise 4x10, 15, 20, 25
Seated Leg Curl 4x10
Cable Crunch 4x10, 15, 20, 25
Quite possibly my last day lifting for 2024, my shoulder and knee are demanding some time off, and if I take this next week off that only leaves the week of Christmas, where I'm pretty sure my wife would object to me leaving the house on my vacation to go to the gym and leave her alone.2 -
Lower Body
my last day lifting for 2024, my shoulder and knee are demanding some time off, and if I take this next week off that only leaves the week of Christmas, where I'm pretty sure my wife would object to me leaving the house on my vacation to go to the gym and leave her alone.
I overdid it in the gym today, so rest if you need to. But maybe your wife could accompany you to the gym once or twice during your time off work? You could impress her with your lifts.
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Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.2
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DiscusTank5 wrote: »Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?0 -
Another day of roughly half machine row, half stationary bike, same breakdown as yesterday. Feeling a little fatigued, so backed off intensity of each a little. Row was around 24' at 2:38.1 pace including the CD, not counting the extra rowing in the "off" portion, HR avg/peak at 139/150 bpm . Bike was 28' averaging 80W, HRs 124/129.
Tomorrow's a scheduled rest day, but I'm a tiny bit over a day ahead today on challenge meters, so still on schedule.
Still mulling how to break down next week. I want to do 6 days, have a little bit of challenge, but not get overtired while still healing. The half row/half bike was a good way to put a little rowing in the mix a few days this week, I think, but I recover better if I alternate. Rowing ends up more intense, though. 🤷 Think it over tomorrow.
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DiscusTank5 wrote: »Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
I think from working out my arms two days in a row, the classic gym no-no. Today I've taken one short walk with my dog and I may take another this afternoon, but that's it on the exercise front.2 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
I think from working out my arms two days in a row, the classic gym no-no. Today I've taken one short walk with my dog and I may take another this afternoon, but that's it on the exercise front.
@DiscusTank5: Gotcha, that makes sense. I asked because there are some semi-common things people may do when rowing that can possibly create relatively more shoulder stress. No sense in me yammering here about that if it's not relevant. :flowerforyou:0 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
I think from working out my arms two days in a row, the classic gym no-no. Today I've taken one short walk with my dog and I may take another this afternoon, but that's it on the exercise front.
@DiscusTank5: Gotcha, that makes sense. I asked because there are some semi-common things people may do when rowing that can possibly create relatively more shoulder stress. No sense in me yammering here about that if it's not relevant. :flowerforyou:
No, better go ahead and tell me. I still need to make a video of myself on the rower for you to critique.0 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »Rowing machine for 15 min total, in 5 min. increments with sit-ups and push-ups in between. My right shoulder is twinging now, darn it! Also 20 min. of walking and some stretches.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
I think from working out my arms two days in a row, the classic gym no-no. Today I've taken one short walk with my dog and I may take another this afternoon, but that's it on the exercise front.
@DiscusTank5: Gotcha, that makes sense. I asked because there are some semi-common things people may do when rowing that can possibly create relatively more shoulder stress. No sense in me yammering here about that if it's not relevant. :flowerforyou:
No, better go ahead and tell me. I still need to make a video of myself on the rower for you to critique.
Without saying it applies to you, because I have zero idea about that, some common improvements that could affect the shoulder may be:
* engaging the lats firmly throughout the drive and bringing the shoulder blades closer together at the finish, rather than letting the shoulders come up toward the ears;
* keeping a good connection at the shoulder even when reaching outward as far as compatible with that, rather than over-extending so far that the musculature isn't really protecting the joint;
* keeping spine straight and torso almost a slab all through the drive with the swing coming from the hip joint, rather than rounding or articulating the spine in some way, (upper spine more relevant to shoulders);
* letting the elbows relax outward in the arms phase of the drive, rather than keeping the forearms tracking against the body (which is sometimes jokingly referred to as T-rex or squirrel arms since the hands tend to end up curled over in front of the body when it's translated to sculling oars, instead of heading toward the ribs at one's side - keep in mind that the hands don't move in a straight line in two-oars rowing, but instead kind of trace semi-circles in front of the body);
* keeping wrists flat and straight all the way through the stroke, rather than cocking them up, down, or to the side (this is a little lower probability of affecting the shoulder, but can be in the mix).
Yeah, that's minutiae.
And you're probably fine.
If you'd like to share a video with me, I'll take a look, but I have no magic. If you don't want to post here, private video on YouTube would work. We're not MFP "friends", but if you send me an add I'll accept and you could then DM me a link. Honestly, I think if you video yourself, then compare to something like the Concept 2 beginner video, or one of Dark Horse Rowing's beginner instruction videos on YouTube, or similar, you may see things about your own rowing to work on.
IME there are almost infinitely many technical aspects, from major to quite obscure. Keep in mind, too, that I'm biased. There are things that can maybe safely increase pace on the machine that on-water people won't do because they would almost instantly turn rowing into swimming. We on-water people don't want those things in our muscle memory. 2 -
A couple dives in the aquarium. Neither was particularly long or difficult. Both dives in the Open Sea (Pelagic) exhibit. First was a siphon dive - sucking up waste. We took about 45 minutes and cleaned debris up from the med-pool on the way out. I found a couple shark teeth and a bat ray tooth on that dive, but they all fell out of the cuff of my glove before I got back to the surface. Second dive was kind of a bonus because we had so many divers. We were able to capture a small bat ray that needed some medical attention. I was about to give up when we just couldn't find it, but then we saw it and I was able to get it in a net and hand it up to surface support people to put in another tank where it could be medicated. On the way out I found one of the shark teeth I had found before. I wish I had found that bat ray tooth; it was huge. I think it probably fell out while we were removing debris from the med pool, and it probably got thrown out with the shells.
Of course as we were getting done, the aquarists tossed a bunch more clams into the med pool to feed the bat rays and a bunch of shrimp and squid into the main exhibit that we had just finished siphoning.
They may add more Sunday shifts because they are being big draws. Part may be that as we get to the end of the year, some folks need to make up for missed dives. One of the people on my Monday team needed to make up some dives (National Guard calls him away sometimes), and it was me who requested adding a few Sundays just for him. I promised to come so we'd have enough. Today's shift was totally full. I considered dropping off because I didn't need to add any more dives and didn't want to take away the opportunity for someone else to come.
I'm beat though.
At least the water was warmer than it was on Monday when it was 46 degrees F. Today it was closer to 48 or 49 degrees, and the exhibit I was in is usually a bit warmer than that.3 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »DiscusTank5 wrote: »
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
some common improvements that could affect the shoulder may be:
* engaging the lats firmly throughout the drive and bringing the shoulder blades closer together at the finish, rather than letting the shoulders come up toward the ears;
* keeping a good connection at the shoulder even when reaching outward as far as compatible with that, rather than over-extending so far that the musculature isn't really protecting the joint;
* keeping spine straight and torso almost a slab all through the drive with the swing coming from the hip joint, rather than rounding or articulating the spine in some way, (upper spine more relevant to shoulders);
* letting the elbows relax outward in the arms phase of the drive, rather than keeping the forearms tracking against the body (which is sometimes jokingly referred to as T-rex or squirrel arms since the hands tend to end up curled over in front of the body when it's translated to sculling oars, instead of heading toward the ribs at one's side - keep in mind that the hands don't move in a straight line in two-oars rowing, but instead kind of trace semi-circles in front of the body);
* keeping wrists flat and straight all the way through the stroke, rather than cocking them up, down, or to the side (this is a little lower probability of affecting the shoulder, but can be in the mix).
There are things that can maybe safely increase pace on the machine that on-water people won't do because they would almost instantly turn rowing into swimming. We on-water people don't want those things in our muscle memory.
That's all really good info and I am 100% sure I could make improvements in my machine rowing. This week I'm a) giving finals and b) getting a colonoscopy, so the rowing vid will have to wait until Christmas break. Sometimes after rowing I start to feel it in my lower back, not pain exactly but it makes me think I'm not doing something right.0 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »
That's all really good info and I am 100% sure I could make improvements in my machine rowing. This week I'm a) giving finals and b) getting a colonoscopy, so the rowing vid will have to wait until Christmas break. Sometimes after rowing I start to feel it in my lower back, not pain exactly but it makes me think I'm not doing something right.
@DiscusTank5, is the twinging from the rowing, the push-ups, the combination, or prior injury . . . any idea?
some common improvements that could affect the shoulder may be:
* engaging the lats firmly throughout the drive and bringing the shoulder blades closer together at the finish, rather than letting the shoulders come up toward the ears;
* keeping a good connection at the shoulder even when reaching outward as far as compatible with that, rather than over-extending so far that the musculature isn't really protecting the joint;
* keeping spine straight and torso almost a slab all through the drive with the swing coming from the hip joint, rather than rounding or articulating the spine in some way, (upper spine more relevant to shoulders);
* letting the elbows relax outward in the arms phase of the drive, rather than keeping the forearms tracking against the body (which is sometimes jokingly referred to as T-rex or squirrel arms since the hands tend to end up curled over in front of the body when it's translated to sculling oars, instead of heading toward the ribs at one's side - keep in mind that the hands don't move in a straight line in two-oars rowing, but instead kind of trace semi-circles in front of the body);
* keeping wrists flat and straight all the way through the stroke, rather than cocking them up, down, or to the side (this is a little lower probability of affecting the shoulder, but can be in the mix).
There are things that can maybe safely increase pace on the machine that on-water people won't do because they would almost instantly turn rowing into swimming. We on-water people don't want those things in our muscle memory.
The most common trigger of back pain that can be reduced by technique change is the one about moving the torso as a whole, with a swing forward/back from the hip joint, rather than curving/bending the back. A metaphor some people like - if you've ever seen one of these - is that kind of plastic toy bird that sits on the edge of a glass, and once you start it moving, it dips its beak in the glass's water, then bobs back up hinge-fashion. Our hip joint is that hinge.
I know you know this basic stroke sequence, but the above fits in this context: Our drive starts with the knees bent, shins vertical or nearly vertical, upper body leaning forward from the hip joint with the torso/spine straight (no slumping!), arms outstretched, looking forward toward the imagined horizon.
First, nothing about the upper body or arms changes. If the heels are up off the foot stretcher, the heels come down first so we're pushing through the whole foot. The strong legs push that wedge-shaped upper body with its outstretched arms away from the monitor, bringing the handle along at the same speed the seat is moving.
When the knees are almost flat - not locked - the second part of the drive is swinging the body open using primarily the glutes/hamstrings. This "swing" movement is still primarily from the hip joint, not from bending the spine/back. It uses the big muscles, not those smaller erector spinae and friends.
When the swing has gone nearly as far as it can with the back properly erect - a body angle that will differ individually - then the arms pull through last, perhaps with a bit of acceleration. Part of what determines the right personal body angle is how well the abs support keeping the back straight: The "no slumping" rule still applies.
Different people use different percentage estimates, but the concept tends to be similar: Power is mostly legs (well over half), somewhat less back (some of which is the lats stabilizing and transferring power from legs to handle), arms maybe even less than that.
If you think of the stroke as starting with the body metaphorically coiled up, and the legs-body-arms sequence of the drive as the uncoiling, the recovery is coiling the body up again to load up power: First arms extend at about the same speed as they came into the body on the drive, leading the body swing forward from the hip joint again, then the knees relax and let the flywheel (on a Concept 2 it's flywheel, water or whatever on other machines) plus the slight slant of the seat-track allow the body to come back up for the next drive without pulling on the foot-straps. (The right recovery is more important to on-water rowers than machine-only rowers.)
On both drive and recovery, each of the legs-body-arms-arms-body-legs phases overlaps just a teensy bit with the phase before and after, just enough to creates smooth motion rather than punctuated robot-style jerky motion.
I italicized some of the pieces that have to do with using the back in ways that - we hope - will minimize back strain. Obviously, people can have pre-existing spinal issues causing problems, but without that in the picture, avoiding back strain is IMO and IMU mainly about not slumping, rounding or otherwise bending the length of the spine.
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Ran today for 45 min about 3 miles on treadmill at 4.7 2 incline. I usually had been doing treadmill at 12 incline 3mph for 25min then stairmaster 20 min on 6-7 trying not to use handrails at times. A year ago I ruptured my patella tendon had surgery and I haven’t ran in about 12 years. So to be able to run again felt amazing and my knee did great! Burned more calories this way too. Used to be a talented athlete when younger so since I have been working out more I feel so much better.3
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None...slept through my alarm, guess I needed sleep more than I needed to hit the treadmill during my week off from lifting.3
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Great news, Anne!
Saturday
Caving. We attempted to survey the cave discovery, and did a light spot of digging at the end.
The surveying wasn't completely successful. Some readings gave a negative distance. I think my calibration of the device wasn't accurate enough. (Calibration takes 24 readings with specific orientations of the device. You need to do it away from metal. My first two attempts got matrix not positive semi definite errors; the next attempt got a NaN result; the next got 2% error. The UI told me I should aim for less than 1%, but I ignored it.)
Sunday
Caving; digging. We attached the spoils tray to rope so had quite a slick system between the digger and the spoil man.
Monday
Climbing. Went hard, it was fun. My biggest success was a V4 flash.3 -
Thanks, @drmwc!
After yesterday's rest day, my first full rowing machine workout since the skull fracture diversion went pretty well. It was about 55 minutes end to end, keeping the pace moderate, though not as mild intensity as those earlier stationary bike rides. This was about 70% Z3, HR average/peak at 132bpm/143bpm. Format was 1k, 3 x 2k, 1k, 500m, with 2' of easy rowing (and a slug from my water bottle) between all but the final 1k & 500m. Total 9535 imaginary meters. Average pace on the meters pieces was a slow 2:44.4. 
Plan is to do a moderate stationary bike workout tomorrow, then see how I feel Wednesday morning before deciding what's next. Hoping I can get right into alternating row/bike days, as long as I keep it moderate. Still having some fatigue/headaches, but workouts aren't making symptoms worse . . . if anything, slightly better.
While my HR is still higher than it ought to be (IMO!) for the workout intensity I'm doing, my resting HR has been down in my normal range the last couple of days, after being noticeably up much of the past few weeks. Tempting to think the mild intensity increase has helped with that, but I dunno really. Makes me feel better psychologically, though.
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I hope your plan for alternate biking and rowing works out well, @AnnPT77.
Today's exercise: 50 min stationary bike, @ 10-11 mph pace (I was finishing PD James' Unnatural Causes and that slowed me down a tad bit). Then calisthenics with a 6 lb medicine ball, floor exercises, lunges, stretching for 15 min. Walking outside for 25 min.2 -
6-7 am: Strength/Mobility/Flexibility
Squat
Fold
Up/Down
Handstand
Hang
3-5x10-30s
2-3 pm: Strength
Press H
4x123x24k (24L24R)
Snatch L
20x5/5x16k (100L100R)
Chins - 2x5 (10)
Wheel - 1x10
Carry - 2x30-60x32k
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Treadmill - 1 hr, 3.0 mph, 12% incline
Was tempted to skip the gym entirely during my self-imposed week away from lifting, but I ultimately decided to get in as much cardio as I can before Christmas to help offset the million cookies I intend to eat during the holiday week, lol.2 -
Thank you, @DiscusTank5 . . . I hope so, too.
As planned, stationary bike. Since just bike, back to 18k + 3' CD, for a total of 19,084 pseudo-meters. I kept it medium-moderate subjectively, ended up 70% Z3 over the 53' duration, HR average/peak at 127/133bpm, and 81W average. It'll have to do.
@Nossmf, good to see you're pursuing seasonal life balance: Cardio'n'cookies. 3 -
20 min elliptical; 5 min Helix Trainer; 15 min calisthenics (free weights; battle ropes. sit-ups; lunges); 25 min walking.2
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@nossmf, I'm betting most of the other gym goers would be OK with it, as long as you brought enough cookies to share
So, I talked myself into the rowing machine option today, but went about it even more moderately. Same format as Monday, average splits a couple seconds faster, average/peak HR a couple of beats lower. That's good, or random, not sure which.
Even though average HR is fairly close and percent Z3 similar, the rowing is just more fatiguing to me currently than cycling. Not sure to what extent that's relative deconditioning right now or just more/fewer muscle groups affected. That sort of subjective experience is part of what makes me feel like treating "cardio" as all one thing, or giving advice for weight loss like "only do Z2 and below for cardio" is missing some useful nuance.
Back to stationary bike tomorrow for sure, then we'll see if I'm up for rowing again on Friday, since energy level has been gradually declining over the week so far. If I only take my one remaining planned rest day, I need 4 more workouts of the type I've been doing, in order to finish the Holiday Challenge, but have 5 more workout days to do it in. I'm at 162,506m out of the targeted 200k, but over is OK, too. For sure, it's more challenging than usual this year. 3
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