Day 33 - That's damn skippy...

Today
Relatively lazy day... mowed the lawn, weeded the garden and planted another patch of arugula. Had a great lunch meal of whole wheat and garlic fresh pasta with fresh tomatoes, onion, parsley and steamed shrimp. The shrimp taste slightly salty. I think that may be their natural flavor but I honestly had never noticed until now if that's the case.


We also swung by the Apple store and Kim got me an early birthday present of an iPod nano so I can listen to the radio or workout mix without disturbing her if she's not getting up early on a given morning. Keen to try making a playlist with a good skipping bpm to see if I can improve my pace and numbers.


Workout
I admitted to Kim today that I am starting to dread the exercises less. Actually, I have started looking forward to the skips, but there are the inevitable legs or abs workouts that are still brutal. But all in all, a less adversarial relationship with the exercises seems to be on the horizon... That mindset certainly helps the workouts fly by much more quickly too.

1. Jumprope: Seriously... finally hitting a stride here (although this is not the first time I've said that). Knocking them out in increasing larger sets. Still stuck in the 100 to 150 area for the majority of jumps but got a solid 247 in without tripping too.
2. Squat: These are possibly getting too easy. Not getting near the burn I was before even though I am going super deep (too deep?). Might have to start adding reps.
3. Creep: Likewise, still extremely difficult especially in the last set but not nearly as completely destructive as when we first did these only a week or so ago. Quite surprised at that, actually... considering I was flopping on the ground like a fish after them then...
4. Chest dip: I was admittedly a little wary on these since it felt like it would be too easy to slip the motion into the back accidentally. So I went shallower on these than when I first did them. Still difficult and I think I'm clenching my neck a bit.
5. Standing Ovation: Again, a bit wary here, but these were much stronger. Really enjoy these but feel like I could (should?) tack on more reps because even though I am slow in and out and pinching at the front, its not quite burning like it used to.
6. Forward Shoulder Raise: On the other hand...
7. Leg-up: Marked improvement from earlier. Still very difficult on the last two sets but at least I can complete them all with form now and without relying on cheating on the between set intervals.
8. V-sit: On the other hand... actually, this shows improvement too. Was able to complete a set and a half with good form before things went south. Although, not as precipitously as before...

So, I'm actually really feeling improvement not just in the jumps but in the exercises too. I anticipate that just as I'm on the cusp of mastering a given exercise it will whipped out of rotation.