Andrew’s (Spring85sigma) BodyBlog

I’m just writing the BodyBlog because I was out getting a much needed break from family responsibilities. Although the purpose for my outting was related to my workouts. LOL I went running shoe shopping. But also got to just sit and relax for a moment and enjoyed a SKIM Cafe Mocha, NO Whipped Cream. at Barnes and Noble. 

Today I did my planche push-up training. My strength has rapidly returned. This will be the last week that I will use the 15 second increments for holding the tuck planche. I will, however, move a little slower and move to 18 second increments for six reps. I think perhaps I added a little too much time too soon. Once I’m up to 30 seconds, I will only do 4 holds of the position until I’m able to hold the position for one full minute.

I’m also excited because I purchased a new pair of running shoes. I had ran the New Balance Shoes into the ground, plus discerned a distinct lack of support in this particular shoe. I purchased some Nike Shox and cannot wait to try them out on tomorrow.

I am feeling motivated and back on course. Once again, I have to thank all of my BodySpace friends for their encouragement and their supportive feedback. I hope that I can be as good a cyber friend!

Here is what I did today:

Had a great workout today. I did planche training two days in a row and it went well. The strength is returning. The times for the runs are starting to come down again. I did a 26:12 for the 3 miles which is not the 22 something I had gotten down to, but I will take it. Everyone enjoy your weekends!

Here is what I did today:

Today I resumed workouts. It turned out to be a very "split" workout, however. My grandmother was getting her DTV upgraded. LOL! Grandma has the flat screen TV on the wall and now DVR. 91 is cool. Someone needed to be with her when the technician showed up. Luckily, we had a great technician. Unfortunately, he had a bad DVR box! He had to meet another technician to replace it. This meant I had to stay with Grandma most of the day until the box issue was resolved. I did my leg workout, sprints, agility drills, pseudo and tiger push-ups at her house.

I then had to attend a meeting for work. After getting home from work, I finally got to do my planche training, which went well considering I did all of my push-ups before I did the training. I also ran two miles, just getting it done before sunset! The run was decent. The times are starting to come down again. I managed to run 16:12, which is good considering how I’d been feeling. Overall, I’m satisfied to have gotten everything done.

I did EAT bad tonight (first meal of the day since I don’t eat until the workout is done). LOL! ….I had a big 7-11 super spicy dog, with relish, onions, mustard, their gunky cheese, and chili! It was magnificent. I washed it down with a BL (Bud Light Lime Beer). I don’t get to do that very often, so it was enjoyable.

Here is what I did today:

I had a long but good day today. Grandma had her quarterly appointment with the kidney doctor. She has been blessed thus far to avoid needing dialysis. Her blood work is good and she continues on Procrit. After the appointment, I took her shopping and riding around. I also cleaned up for her around the house once we arrived home.

I was determined, however, not to miss another scheduled workout and ended up starting my workout at about 5:00 pm. It turned out, once I got started, to be a great workout. I was able to burn the chest with all kinds of push-ups. I also notice that my strength is rapidly returning as far as my planche push-up training is concerned. I am going to do 15 second Tuck planches again next week and see if I can bump myself back up to 20 seconds. My 2 mile run, although not nearly my fastest, felt good and comfortable. I am almost ready to start working on getting the time back down to around 14 minutes. Overall, it was a satisfying workout.

No workout on tomorrow. I will resume on Thursday.

Here is what I did today:

I had a great first workout for the week. I worked arms and shoulders and ran 3 miles. I also did the first 50 of my 100 push-ups for the day. I feel like I’m starting to get back on track and the motivation is coming back.

I’d like to thank everyone for their positive feedback on my progress pics. I AM a bit critical of myself because I know what I can do better. I missed a lot of workouts during the past month and haven’t paid the most attention to my diet. So, I am grateful that there appears to be some "progress" in spite of this. I will continue to challenge my chest and arms in ways to make them grow.

Here is what I did today:

Today, I "officially" started my 10th six-week exercise cycle. I had been going along without having anything written down. Furthermore, I’ve missed more workouts in the past two weeks than I have in an entire year. I wrote down the workout, making subtle changes. You can see what I’ve done in on my BodyPage under "workouts." Additionally, I restarted my planche training today and it went really well. I was able to hold the tuck planches 15 seconds with arms in a good position six times. This indicates that I’ve probably regained some of the strength I lost through not training. I also increased my pseudo push-ups to 2 sets of 55 and upped my tiger push-ups to 1 set of 20.

Although, my chest is improving, I am getting impatient! LOL! I see some slight change in size and the fat is slowly leaving. However, I feel that I need to get higher weight dumbells in order to challenge my chest more. I’ve decided that I need to get 50 pounders. I know this is a big leap from 30s, but I’m up to doing 30 reps of some exercises with them. I need to get back down into the 10 rep range in order to build some muscle. If anyone knows of a good vendor to purchases these dumbells, please let me know. Right now, I’m not finding the two for under $100.00.

I took a few progress pics. I’m still not as "clean" as I should be. I’ve cleaned up the diet, but missed an awful lot of workouts. As with last month’s pics, they are NOT horrible, just not as good as they could be (the chest is still not satisfactory for me). I’m working on getting the diet and workouts back on track. I’ve been taking MEGA T Green T for the past week to see if that will jack up my metabolism and assist me with burning the fat from around the pecs. It has helped some, but I still believe the best combination for me is to get the diet and workouts in sync.

Everybody, let’s have a great week!

Here is what I did today:

For those who may be interested, if nothing more than for a template to organize your workouts, I am attaching my workout cycle 10. It is similar to Workout Cycle 9 with subtle differences. These differences are explained under "My Workout" on my BodySpace page. Furthermore, Cycle 11 will have to be changed significantly in some areas. I know I will have to cough up the $100.00 for 50 pound dumbells. I am doing 30 reps of exercises with 30 pound dumbells. I need to increase strength and get those reps heavier and lower. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

To download the attached file, simply click on the link below. This will open another page. Right click on the name of the file (top line) and select "save target as" and designate where on your computer you want to save the document (e.g. desktop or "my documents"). If you are having trouble downloading the file let me know.

SIX-Week Workout-Cycle 10.doc

I completed planche training, chest training (push-ups), and my ab superset. I upped the intensity by increasing reps and reducing the time between sets. I’m going to try to push myself more, especially on the planche training. I did the six 15 second tuck-planche holds, but know I have to get these up to a minute before I can attempt a modified tuck-planche push-up. I have work to do. I realize also that I am going to have to invest in 50 pound dumbbells, so I can get the reps on my exercises back down and gain more strength. I’m getting motivated again to go after my goals.

Here is what I did today:

The one thing I learned from yesterday’s disappointing planche push-up training is that this training involves some different muscles than I work during my arm and shoulder workout. I assumed that the arm exercises and the push-ups would keep me strong enough for the planche training. This is NOT the case! My shoulders are actually SORE today in places that they have not been in a while. So, while the strength doesn’t necessarily diminish as rapidly if I miss an arm, chest, or other workout, I can’t afford to miss another week or more of planche training.

Today, we had tornado watches and torrential rain for most of the morning. I was hoping to complete my workout earlier and then try to run between the worst of the rain. It finally began to clear around 12:30 pm and by about 1:00 it was gorgeous. It was, however, very soggy. I completed a tough, but good arm and shoulder workout, and was able to run on the roads, which meant a slightly longer run (3.2 miles as opposed to 3.0 using parts of my backyard as part of the trail).

Thanks to Luke and Jazzy Jersey for their encouraging comments! It may take me longer than expected to master planche push-ups, but I will do it. I love this site because one never knows who is reading your page and/or bodyblog and is there to provide that needed inspiration. I hope I’ve done the same for others.

PLANCHE TRAINING TOMORROW!

Here is what I did today: