thistlehart’s BodyBlog

Took a few days off from working out due to a minor injury and a nasty sinus infection. Finally made it back to the gym tonight and this is the workout I did:

Rowed (for a total of 9 intervals):

200m

400m

600m

800m

1000m

800m

600m

400m

200m

Tomorrow, wall ball shots and pull ups!

Today’s workout was a slightly modified version of the Cross Fit work out labeled ‘Lynne’. The official ‘Lynne’ workout is: 5 rounds of max reps of bodyweight bench press and pull ups.

Here’s what I did:

5 rounds of max reps of 45 lb bench press and Body/Ring rows.

After a few minutes rest I followed all that up with rowing on the rowing machine; rowed 1800 meters.

Right now my legs are super tight and tired, but I have a feeling that my arms are really going to gripe at me tomorrow.

I have a confession to make. I spent Halloween drinking WAY too much alcohol, and I did pay the price for it. Sunday morning could have been worse, hangover wise, but was still unpleasant. I know that the alcohol completely wrecked my diet, but I am gladly hopping back on the wagon and cleaning up my diet/nutrition. Diet/nutrition has always been my weakest part. Back to eating clean and drinking only water; lesson learned.

Took it somewhat easy at the gym today. Did the following:

Warm up:

10 air squats

6lb medicine ball overhead toss with workout buddy (15 reps)

6lb medicine ball, chest pass with workout buddy (15 reps)

Workout:

Press, 1 set 10 reps with 15 lb bar

Press (1 rep), Push Press (2 rep) & Push Jerk (3 reps)
–started with 15 lb bar then added 5 lb at beginning of each set. Finished with 55 lbs.

Mini Met Con (metabolic conditioning)

Row 1200 meters in approx. 12 - 15 minutes

Today was pretty rough for me, but I got through it and am oddly proud of myself. Here’s what I did:

400 m row

20 wall ball shots

20 kettlebell swings

800 m row

20 wall ball shots

20 kettlebell swings

400 m row

My time: 22 min 30 sec.

My legs are almost 100% jello! Gonna spend the weekend recovering then it’s back to the madness on Monday. Gotta love Cross Fit!

Worked on my deadlifting yesterday. My form is still not perfect, but it’s getting better.

Did about 6 warm up reps with 45lbs. Followed that with 3 reps with 65 lbs., 3 reps with 85 lbs.

That was followed by 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 rep at 130 lbs. with a 3-5 minute rest between sets.

Today’s workout is one that I borrowed from one of the Transformations of the Week spots on here. (Thank you Ellie Hart!)

Here’s what I did:

Incline Bench Press….4 sets, 10 reps, 45lbs.

Seated Row……3 sets, 12, 12, 10reps, 80lbs.

Leg Press……..4 sets, 15,15,12,12reps, 35lbs.

Tri Press Down…3 sets, 15 reps, 20lbs.

Standing Calf Raise…3 sets, 20 reps, bodywt.

I tried to do some barbell curls after the Tri-Press Down, but my arms were pretty much jello by that point so I only got I rep done of that.  All in all it was a good workout and I’m pretty proud of myself. Not bad for a couch-potato!
 

Well, sort of.  I was cheesed off enough that I was not about to let one exercise get the best of me two days in a row. So I did what any stubborn ass intelligent person would do. I scaled the exercises back to something much more reasonable and realistic (for me).

Here’s what I did:

3 sets each

Walking lunges– 30 feet (instead of 100 ft.)

Unweighted squats– 20  (instead of 50)

Unweighted back extensions– 15  (instead of 25)

Did all three sets with very little rest in between sets. By the end of it, I was definitely feeling the burn and was winded, but nothing like yesterday. It was so nice to get through a workout without being dizzy and nauseous! Thanks soooo much to everyone’s tips and suggestions.

I was so thrilled with my meager accomplishment that I went on to do some military presses and 2 sets (10 reps) of cable tricep extensions.

I may feel completely crippled tomorrow, but it will be worth it. 

Ever have one of those workouts that leave you feeling as strong as a wet noodle after just one exercise?  You’re all psyched up to tackle every exercise in the book, you’re strong and ready to set new personal bests….then on the very first exercise you end up sucking wind and teetering on the edge of puking your guts out.

That was me this morning. The plan was for me to do walking lunges, unweighted squats and back extensions(again, no weight). I was going to follow this up with some delt and lat work. That was the plan.

Instead, I started on the lunges. I went a relatively short 100 feet and thought I was going to die.  I was breathing hard, dizzy and nauseous. There’s nothing like the threat of puking your guts out to make you feel like the biggest weakling on the planet.

Anybody else out there have similar experiences? Am I doing something wrong? How did you get through/past it?

Well, I haven’t really noticed any visual progress but the weight scale did say that I’d lost 2 pounds since the last time I’d stepped on it. 2 pounds ain’t much, but I sure as hell am not turning it down! 

On the exercise front, I bicycled approx. 6 miles this weekend (a never before dreamed of distance), so I’m pretty pleased with myself. I also picked up a copy of the newest ‘Muscle & Fitness Hers’ this weekend and tried their 3 month abs torture workout.

Let me tell you, looks are definitely deceiving. Of the five “beginner”exercises listed, I’m lucky if I can do three of them… They are kicking my ass abs all over the place! I love every painful moment of it, because I can actually feel my core getting stronger.

Consistency and patience are the keys, so they say, to reaching my goals. I’m stubborn enough for the consistency but the patience thing is going to be the real challenge. Wish me luck on finding the mythical creature known as Patience!

The past few days I’ve not posted because, quite frankly, I’ve been in a funk. I’ve felt like I’ve been busting my a$$ with little to no effect. The needle on the weight scale has gone up and my pants are starting to feel tight again.   Very frustrating.

Then I read an article(on Women’s Health, I believe) that said something to the effect that in order to burn one pound of fat, you have to burn roughly 500 calories in your cardio workout. After going through my typical cardio workout, and checking the numbers, the answer to my problem was obvious. I’m not burning enough calories in my workout(even though I’m working up a really good sweat). 

So, now I’m going to rethink my strategy and maybe add more/different cardio moves. I don’t have access to a lot of equipment, and my knees prevent running or jogging…so it’s time to get creative. Any suggestions?