MikePfirrman Member

Did an hour long of what was supposed to be steady state work yesterday. 5K on the rower, then the rest on the treadmill @ 15% incline (just walking). HR was way too high for the pace on the rower, but that's to be expected after not using the rower much for SS recently. Just have to keep working. Got some new rowing…

I took off for a week or so because my son was home and I never get to see him. He also broke down in the middle of the desert (we live in Tucson and he's in San Diego -- six hour drive with most of it nothing). It was scary but ended up OK. He got a tow to a service shop after a trucker helped him out. But I drove 9 hours…

Tried a 2K timed test today. It's my inner club (indoor rowing club) monthly challenge. Inner clubs aren't as vital as the intra club challenges, so I'm not as worried about this one but would like to do it. 2Ks are mental to begin with. And this even more so for me because I'm not fit at present. I got 1K in sub 2:00 pace…

Hi Ann! Unstrapped is going fine. It took me like a month or two to get it back down again. I'm pretty happy to be able to pull 2:10 ish on unstapped rows right now. The first 2K I did was a 2:08 pace at 23 SPM. It has really helped get me back into more solid form. I'm still occasionally doing some funky stuff with my…

Did a lift this morning (my usual -- full body, compound movements -- tons of reps). Had a hard interval row at lunch. I've learned my rowing after lifting is pretty bad. This was no different. On Thursday, I did a 3 X 2K w/ 3 minute recovery at 2:11 pace. Today was 2:16. Just died after the first one. The rest was just…

Did 3 X 2K with 3 minutes recovery again today. Dropped almost 2 seconds off of last week's average. Slowly getting back into condition. Not coming back fast! Tonight is a lift at the new gym.

Finally starting to feel myself again. Did a 60 minute easy cardio session yesterday. Today, I did my normal AM Monday lift at home (150 reps X 3 body parts, compound moves) and then a hard cardio session at lunch (5 minutes X 5/1 minute recovery, as hard as sustainable -- 3 on Assault Bike, then 2 on LateralX). HR hit 92%…

Did 2K X 3 intervals on the rowing machine with 3 minutes rest. Got them in. Was shooting for four but 3 made me happy enough. 2:13 pace, 22 SPM, unstrapped. Did them unstrapped so I didn't go out too hard. Felt decent. Nowhere near the paces I was before the flu but I wasn't dying, so that's a step in the right direction!…

After doing my (abbreviated) hard interval workout on Monday, I felt kind of bad on Monday night. So, yesterday and today, I just did around an hour of really easy cardio. Feeling pretty good now. We're talking barely getting out of Warmup stage (or staying in it) -- for me, that's like around 80 to 115 HR. Beats doing…

Did lifting this AM and some harder interval work (what I could manage) on the rower this morning as well. Planned 4 X 2K. Didn't make it that far. Ended up doing 2 2Ks and around another 1K. I'll keep on plugging away until it feels doable again.

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…

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.

Finished my timed rowing piece. Terrible time, but I got the distances done. Felt good just to get a hard row in and not quit on it. Trying to come up with the motivation to do some lifting tonight.

Did an hour of Steady State yesterday -- 30 on the LateralX and then 30 (easier) on the Assault Bike. Just easing back into the routine, listening to the body. Told my rowing group this might be the first month I miss the monthly challenges in quite a while. A few of them are joking around, accusing me of getting the flu…

Tried to go back to my "normal" Monday today. 5 sets of 3 body part compound exercises -- 30 reps. Got to four and was happy with that. Then, it's harder interval day, so I did a 2K, rested 2 minutes and did another 1.5K. Goal was don't be stupid and don't die! I accomplished both! Finished with 30 minutes easy on the…

Hope you're feeling better. I had a huge one on my left shoulder blade years ago. It was the size of a softball. Though those are mostly benign, they still hurt and can cause complications. The cruddy part is I had that one taken off and grew another one around two years later that's the size of a golf ball on my lower…

Rowed around 6K out on the deck. Absolutely gorgeous day. Was easy paced, but my HR didn't act at all like it was. HR hit 172. HR should have been maxed out around 145 for the pace I was going, but that's what you get going on vacation and then getting the flu! Didn't feel as hard as the HR said it was. And I really…

Today was the first cardio in roughly 3 weeks. Had the ten days off for vacation and 12 more for the flu. Started easy -- 30 minutes on the treadmill at an easy pace @ 15% incline. Then just did a really easy 30 minutes on the Assault Bike. I have my energy back but a residual cough. Other than that, I feel fine finally.…

Got home from Europe a day late on Saturday (missed a connecting flight on Friday). I dodged being sick the entire cruise but managed to catch the common flu on the way home. I got the flu shot (and the Covid booster) but got cocky on the flight home and didn't wear my mask the entire time. I hate flying! I'll likely take…

You do not have to cut cardio to bulk. You just have to lift more and eat more. I'm 58. Honestly, I made a really strong effort this year to put on some more muscle and get more definition. I've seriously upped the reps that I do (only twice a week, full body workouts) and seriously increased my protein load. Now, I do 6…

Thank you. It's kind of my semi-retirement dream (I honestly don't know if I'll ever fully retire) to go to Europe and just ride the trains for a month and see all of it I can take in for a month. The only time I've been there was for my wife's Piriformis surgery years ago. We spent four days in Paris and 10 days in Bruges…

Went down the Mexico yesterday and got the tooth that was hurting last week adjusted. Dentist confirmed it was what I thought -- just rubbing too hard in one spot with the new crown. All good now. Did around 45 minutes of easier cardio today on the treadmill and Assault Bike. Lifted this morning. Will be gone a couple of…

Just around 45 minutes on the treadmill @ 15% incline. Pretty easy stuff.

If you use the Stairmaster, my strong recommendation would just be to work on using it at a pace where you're not leaning over, supporting yourself with your arms. I'd say 50% of the people I see in a gym are doing exactly this, and it's not only terrible for your posture, but it puts a lot of stress on your wrists and…

I'd just say be a bit cautious. When I was losing my weight, because I had been able to do a lot of pullups in my youth, I went hard at pullups at the gym, wanting to improve rapidly (like you). Problem was, I was 160 lbs in my youth and 250/255 at my largest and out of shape in my early 40s. I ended up doing a set of 6…

Good advice for lifting or anything. I took up indoor rowing (rowing machine) in my late 40s and hit all my personal bests in my early 50s. I used to obsess with times/performance. The fact, unfortunately, is that the most drop off in performance happens in your 50s and I'll be 58 this next month. I stopped beating myself…

As you know from your X-County days, cardio is all repetition and conditioning. I used to dread cardio, now I'm "one of those guys...". I used to make fun of cardio addicts. I also thought, wrongly, in high school that I had asthma, because I couldn't run longer distances. I just didn't know how and never tried. Speaking…

Was scheduled to do a hard session today. Had a bit of toothache, so I took it easy for a harder day. Did 99 second intervals (as high as my AD Pro goes for programmed work time) with 60 seconds recover X 8 sets. Did manage to get the HR up to around 88% of max by the last one. Normally, I'd do at least 12 of these but…

Just an easy hour of cardio today. 30 minutes of walking @ 15% incline on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the LateralX and then 15 on the Assault Bike. All under 75% of max HR and most of it between 60% and 70%.

Easy cardio work today. Had my Covid booster and flu shot yesterday late. Arm was sore and I've had past weird reactions, so just took it fairly easy. Put the rower out on the deck (only like 80 today) and rowed for 20 minutes. Then went inside and did around another 20 more on the Assault Bike -- super easy on the bike.…