Today Definitely hitting a good pace here both for food prep and workout, just in time for it to no doubt be upended on Wednesday. Very very sleepy this afternoon however... Last night I went to bed early (for me) but it took me a really long time to fall asleep so I don't think I quite got all of my required rest given we got up early to workout.
Workout Jump rope continues to improve. I still have my occasional trip up and I can't get through more than ~200 or so without a break but my hope is that with technique no longer holding me back I can make strides towards being able to do more in succession. Perhaps not so surprisingly my feet are the ones that ache now, but I presume that is just the muscle weakness showing. The basics:
Lunges: per the usual these are quite a strain so my presumption is they are doing some good. Certainly don't look forward to them though.
Rowing: I actually ended up adding an additional resistance band to the heaviest one as well added quite a few more reps before maxing out. Feel nice and clean but this is one of the only exercises that I seem capable of well exceeding the set/reps on the sheet.
Standing Ovation: another one I really like. The sets/max reps are perfect and I can feel quite a good burn all the way through the last set
Tricep Dip: This is another one where I can knock out a few more than prescribed. Not many more, if I remember correctly it was probably 6 more at the end.
Forward Shoulder Raise: on the other end of the spectrum, these continue to be tough, even with the lightest resistance band. I think I strained my neck doing them as it ached most of the day, but still a difficult exercise that I actually enjoy.
Leg-ups: I know Kim posted this question so I will be curious to see if it is answered at some point but we had been doing a butt lift with the leg up. Its hard to tell in the PDF pic if that is correct or not, but today I just did the leg up portions without the butt up and I felt it, not in my abs as I did with the lift, but on the tops of my quads. So, a little confused as to what the proper form is here as it appears that this is an ab workout, not a leg one. Or if the muscles are compensating somehow... Anyone have insight on this one?
Today Reaping the benefits of all that cooking... had some salsa on eggs and toast this morning. The roasted garlic cloves seem to have permeated the mix overnight and the heat relaxed a bit to result in a seriously tasty, easily portioned and ready veggie compliment. Kim and I remarked that because of the taste of the salsa we didn't even notice the lack of salt.
Granted, the batch I made is far too large given that I underestimated how hot the jalapenos would be and diced up two and had to add a lot more tomatoes than usual in order to quell the heat. Normally it wouldn't be an issue for guacamole and the like, but for whatever reason the Scoville meter was through the roof! And I really like hot food. Anyway, it seemed to mellow overnight and that rich garlic roast flavor should make for a great mix for the quinoa, side or topper for meals moving forward during the coming week.
Our fridge is as full as its been in ages:
Oh, and I was remiss yesterday in thanking everyone for the support, feedback and encouragement during the last few days of jumprope and shin splinty woes. So thanks Pucksters and other PCPers (ex and otherwise)!
Workout I am simply not a morning person so getting up and at em' (or up and Atom if you are Radioactive Man) is a real struggle. I am the sort, if it wasn't for Kim being so annoyed at me, that would hit the snooze button a dozen times before getting up. But the impetus to get the day started and not have a ridiculously skewed meals schedule (as Noelinator mentioned) outweighed the usual lethargy for once. In order (for once):
Jumprope: got a chance to test out the new jumprope... only it didn't stretch out yet and is retained its crumpled packing and kept on rekinking mid-swing which was annoying. So I used Kim's new jumprope. Bliss! Well, that is an exaggeration... the first ~200 were terrible actually. Not a lot of energy. But when I finally hit my stride things looked pretty good (relatively speaking since I'm sure all the fat jiggling only would look good chiaroscuro... emphasis on the scuro). As is par, the last ~200 or so were pretty broken up and the ache comes on. But its a shadow of what it was previously. I can feel it most when its over, but on Alexander's advice I had purchased an proper wrap around ice pack and numbed the pain away (after some stretching and massaging). I'm definitely behind on the jumprope at this point and probably not getting the full cardio benefit that I should be, but am glad that I seem to have isolated the issue(s). Here's hoping that means I can better keep up as the jump count will no doubt continue to rise...
Squat: definitely difficult as usual but I like this better than the lunges. Probably because it feels more balanced and I can get deeper. Not quite as burny as the lunges though, so it probably just means that I need the lunges.
Incline pull ups: man o man, these are hard. Was able to do them much better than last time, but they are seriously difficult. Didn't feel it quite so much in the shoulders this time though which is hopefully a good sign.
Pushups: ever since the switch to the "girly" knee method I am actually feeling these more through the end of the exercise and can keep my form far better. Its weird because the burn comes on very late (latter half of set 3 and most of set 4) and quite suddenly. The first two and a half sets I can pound out without much difficulty.
Curls: still liking these... going super slow so there is more significant burn towards the end.
DaVinci: much better this time and more full range of motion. Still sticking with the lighter resistance band and plenty o' muscle Scovilles in the last set but definitely a marked improvement over the last time.
Situps: again, slow on the uptake here, as I only recently noticed on the sheets that these are more like crunches than full situps. So I modified my form to fix that. Last set and a half were a real struggle and just as I was going to try and push out a couple final ones in the last set my lower back tweaked and reminded me why I had dialed back the reps here. Huge burn so its was entirely a mental thing to try and do the extras but I'll need to listen a little better next time...
Now for a little lunch and a bike ride with my special lady!
Today Quite busy... Kim and I decided to do a boatload of cooking and try to get a lot prepped for the coming week or so. Roasted some garlic cloves, grilled 6 chicken breasts, made a massive salsa repository, steamed rice, grilled some tuna, made a gigantic batch of quinoa, grilled more zucchini, tried roasting a poblano pepper and on and on... The kitchen was a disaster, but the fridge looks ready for the apocalypse.
Kim managed to shatter, that's right, shatter a jump rope today. She's that hardcore. So we had to run out and get a new one. I also picked up an ice pack with a velcro satchel so I can ice my leg if it bothers me again.
Workout Hellz yeah. So I videotaped myself jumping and had my brother (the ex-PCPer) review it and he also solicited advice from someone that graduated in his group (incredible before/after by the way, check it out: http://thepeakconditionproject-jasonb.blogspot.com/). The long and short is that I was jumping far too high and that I should definitely be wearing shoes the whole time. Also, I looked up some links to information about dealing with shin splints and there are a number of exercises and massages I can do to help stave it off and also alleviate the pain once they set in. This is not to say it was all roses, but the improvement was colossal considering the last few days collapse. Was able to get to 500 fairly clean before the leg started aching. Then I broke it up in 50 increments to be safe...
Lunges: don't love these, but I can really really feel them
Rowing: might need to up the resistance. Hard, but nowhere near as difficult as some of the other exercies
Standing Ovation: really laid into these, flexing at the end and it seemed to work.
Triceps Dip: I haven't found these super difficult just yet
Forward shoulder raise: Quite hard. Have to use the lightest resistance band on these and its still very difficult.
Leg-Ups: good burn towards the end
Jump rope: as mentioned, much improved, thankfully. Still achy towards the end and I had to break them up into increments of 50 for the last 150 but much much better. Will have to see how tomorrow goes. Fingers crossed!
Today I was afraid that perhaps I had bought too much food at my beginning of week 2 grocery run, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case. In fact I am likely to need to run out again this evening as I'm out of eggs. Still, aside from the colossal size of the meals and lingering questions about some of the ingredients, they haven't been bad at all. I have this weird muscle memory when cooking though... to always reach for the oil and salt. While I haven't been craving either (perhaps I am ingesting enough of my own sweat to satisfy my salt needs), the impulse is there... wanting to move my arm up to grab them.
Still loving the breakfasts!
Workout
Anyone keeping track knows that I am struggling with the jump rope... This morning I ended up having to do 300, then the muscle exercises, and then the last 350, breaking up that last 350 into increments of 100, 100, 100 and then 50. Details at the end.
Squats: feeling good... nice burn towards the end and I actually feel like I'm getting the form pretty decent
Incline Pullups: same as yesterday, these are a little awkward, partially given the clearance at the end of the table. Quite difficult though, both to maintain plank all the way through, and to do 5-6 reps. As with yesterday, I am feeling this primarily in my shoulders though... not my back.
Pushups: saw Bruce's email in the thread about doing these on your knees and the photo suddenly made sense on the sheet. Little wonder I had been struggling with the last set since I was on my toes all the way through. From the knees, "girly" style and I can get deeper and go through the full recommended reps and still get significant burn at the end. Thanks Bruce!
Thumbs Up Curl: did these nice and slow up and down... very slight degradation in form on the last 3 reps on the last set. Good burn again.
DaVinci: I think these should be called Vetruvians... if the reference is correct it also sounds more like a creature from Star Trek. Went with a much lighter resistance band this time and got a more full range of motion while still getting a good workout.
Sit ups: I always hated sit ups. But these have been feeling good lately. Second to last set is when I start to really feel it and the last set is quite difficult but I can "feel" it all the way through.
Jump ropes: the antagonist of this play... As mentioned above I had to stop after 300, stretch and proceed to the muscle exercises before picking up the remaining 350. I had my shoes on this time around to see if that might help, jumping again on the carpet, but the pain in my right leg was no different than before. I rolled out from my calves to my ankles on the sides and on the back, as well as stretched on the stairs again. Then walked around a little to keep it loose before trying the next set. I ended up having to repeat this again in the last set after each 100 jumps as the pain would build back up again. Perhaps not shockingly this means that the jump rope exercises took over an hour to complete all told. Possibly worst of all, I don't think I am getting the cardiac benefit of doing them all at once since I had to break the routine up so much. I'm not sure its shin splints any more but it does run the length of the shin. I took a photo of my leg to highlight where the pain is coming from... The calves themselves are not where the pain is, more toward the bottom and back of the leg, below the calf but above the ankle. Very weird:
Suuuuuure Patrick... sure... I'll keep that in mind when jumping rope.
Today Digging my breakfast routine so far but I'm going to need to get more creative there to keep it interesting. Fingers crossed for a dissertation on avocados, the mystery fruit, from Patrick tomorrow (or in a few hours for most PCPers). If we get the "green" light on that, so to speak, I'm thinking that guacamole, salsa, grilled chicken strips and whole wheat tortillas might be in my future. Yum! Planning to look up mustard recipes over the weekend as well to see if I can make my own and have a light spread for the bread carbs. Also, forgot to pick up eggplant when I was at the store but it feels like a nice "meaty" vegetable with a lot of flavor that is awesome grilled or made into a nice baba ganoush. Which is perfect because I think "Ganoush!" is the sound I make when I exhale on a particularly difficult set...
Workout Jump rope travails continue to plague. Roadhouse quotes aside, my right shin is so painful it feels like its going to snap and I've ended up limping around for half the day. Probably doesn't help that I worked out last night and switched to a morning routine today so I didn't have quite as long of a recovery period. So that continues to be a struggle, but most of the other workouts, while difficult, haven't been too too bad:
Lunges: These are hard, especially with the extra set. I have a tendency to get wobbly towards the end and I have to consciously be thinking about the form each time (which is hard to do as my mind naturally is nomadic)
Rowing: again, my form wasn't great. I may have placed the anchor too high before reading Patrick's recommendation that you should have a slight uphill motion on the draw inward. Mine was pretty parallel to the floor.
Standing Ovation: again, pretty sure I must be doing something wrong as these seemed pretty easy. Some shoulder and tricep burn towards the end but not nearly as difficult as the other exercises. Not sure if its a form issue or if I need a greater resistance band...
Tricep dips: interestingly not too bad. Definite burn towards the end, but felt clean and right, if that makes sense, whereas for some of the exercises I'm pretty sure my body is telling me that something is amiss...
Forward shoulder raise: not great. I don't know if this is related to having done the previous standing ovation wrong (too much shoulder), but it felt burnt out almost all the way through. In fact I ended up switching to a lower resistance band just to make it through. Let me know if that is a no no.
Leg ups: ab workouts are always hard for me. This was definitely one of the cleaner sets though. Still, when my mind wanders I know my form slips and that's dangerous given the back history.
Jump ropes: these were pretty disastrous. Not a clean set in there. Probably tripped up 3-12 times per set. Actually much worse than yesterday both in form and pain. Many a loud expletive and I almost threw the rope across the room. Hopefully the deeply religious neighbors were out as I had the house open since its a little cooler today. I am definitely exhausted very quickly by these, sweating and heavy breathing by 200-300 count. I've been doing them inside on carpet (tried briefly skipping on the mat on the carpet but it kept scooting too much). I had been doing it without shoes as I'm indoors but going to do tomorrow's sets with shoes to see if that helps. So many questions/potential problems with how I am doing these... If I try to do the sets jumping with both feet together I can only do half as many before I am totally winded. So I've been alternating between skipping with the left foot leading for 100, then the right foot leading for the next 100 and so forth. Its possible that I am leaning too heavily for the launches on my right leg and don't realize it and as a result its doing all the work and getting worn out. I'm trying to stay positive about these and maybe it was partially due to the smaller refraction period between working out late yesterday and early today that has aggravated things, but the jump rope continuous to be a major struggle. I feel like I am behind the curve that I see coming, both in terms of what how many I can do comfortably before becoming exhausted and the basic form without tripping numerous times. I'm doing them all, I just suck at them...
I've been using the black one (25 lbs) for almost all of the sets. For most of them it appears to be more than ample (possibly too much for the forward shoulder raise as noted above). It does say in the product description,
"Unlike regular exercise bands, the unique metal clipping system allows users to adjust resistance levels from 7 to 60 lbs and match the workout intensity to their own level of fitness."
but I haven't figured out how to do that just yet (only just discovered it).
