26/05/2010 – Back to it

Well I have to say, last few days I’ve been feeling pretty fat, and while the scales don’t necessarily agree with me (82kg) I’m still a way heavier than at my lightest of 72kg. Admittedly I was looking pretty gaunt and had little muscle tone (I could barely do 1 pushup!).

Not to say I’m unfit, I can still do all the exercises I used to, I just don’t FEEL fit or trim any more. So, having voed a long time ago to never let myself become a fatty again, I must work hard to become trim again! I think a goal weight of about 77kg should be about right.

I kicked it off today with a workout that’s been on my mind for a while for some reason – an old one I borrowed off Erin Moss:

• clean and squat 6 reps left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps right
• rest 30 seconds
• swing 30 seconds
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps right
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and press 5 reps each arm
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps right
• rest 30 seconds
• turkish getup 1 left
• rest 30 seconds
• turkish getup 1 left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps right
• rest 30 seconds
• swings 30 seconds
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps left
• rest 30 seconds
• clean and squat 6 reps right
• rest 30 seconds
• swings 30 seconds

No idea how long it took (I wasn’t timing) but I felt ok afterwards. Will have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow…

14/01/2010

Despite having no interest at all in doing a workout, I forced myself into it anyway. It went like this:

• KB Clean + Press @ 20kg
• Dumbell plate flys @ 15lbs
• KB Pullover @ 20kg

• 5 – 10 – 20 – 10 – 5 reps

Whole workout done in one go with no rest. Took 15-20 minutes ish.

13/01/2010 – Conditioning

Damn I’d forgotten how brutal the humble kettlebell swing could be. I was totally wrecked after today’s workout:

• 12 minutes continuous kettlebell swings @ 20kg (6 minutes of hand-to-hand, 6 minutes of two-handed)
• Kettlebell clean + press ladders @ 20kg – 3 rungs x 5 ladders.

Yep, that’s it – more than enough at my current level of fitness. The clean + presses took around 10 minutes, so add about 2 minutes between the two parts and the total workout time was around 24 minutes.

07/01/2010

Just a short one today enjoying some tabata intervals.

• Kettlebell swings @ 20kg – 20s work, 10s rest x 8
• 1 min rest
• Kettlebell Clean + press @ 20kg – 20s work, 10s rest x 8 (alternating arms)
• 1 min rest
• Kettlebell Squats @ 20kg – 20s work, 10s rest x 8 (alternating arms)

Total workout time 14 min 35 secs.

06/01/2010

Funny what doing the same workout in a different order can do. The second half of this one was hard work.

Part A – repeat x 3 without rest

• 5x Pistol squats on right leg
• 5x Pistol squats on left leg
• 10x Right handed kettlebell swings @ 20kg
• 10x Left handed kettlebell swings @ 20kg
• 10x Pushups
• 20x Two handed kettlebell swings @ 20kg

90 second rest

Part B – repeat x 2 without rest

• 10x Kettlebell pullover @ 20kg
• 10x Dumbell flies @ 10lbs each
• 10x Close grip pushups
• 10x right handed kettlebell clean & press @ 20kg
• 10x left handed kettlebell clean & press @ 20kg

Workout time: 24 min 35 sec

Today’s diet:

• Bacon & eggs for breakfast
• Piece of cake for morning tea (yep, I suck… actually the cake sucked too)
• Salad for lunch
• Bacon + tomato pasta for dinner

The fact that I only had salad for lunch probably didn’t help the workout, but such is life.

1/1/2010 – Happy New Year!

Well 2009 didn’t go quite the way I had expected workout wise. I’ve had pretty much a 6 month break from workouts and I have to say I’ve enjoyed it hugely, but now I’m back to it.

A – repeat twice

• 10x Left handed Clean & Press @ 20kg kettlebell
• 10x Close grip pushups
• 10x Right handed Clean & Press @ 20kg kettlebell
• 10x Dumbell flies @ 20lbs each hand
• 10x Pullovers @ 20kg kettlebell

B – repeat thrice (three times)

• 20x two-handed swings @ 20kg kettlebell
• 10x regular pushups
• 10x left-handed swings @ 20kg kettlebell
• 5x pistol squats on the left
• 10x right-handed swings @ 20kg kettlebell
• 5x pistol squats on the right

Part A done in one continuous workout, then a 3 minute rest, then part B done in one continuous workout.

Tomorrow, a job me thinks.

Getup, fall down, getup, fall down….

Yes that’s right, TWO workouts in a row!!

Repeat for 5 sets:

• 10 squats w/ kettlebell @ 44lbs (real squats, to the ground)
• 6 turkish getups (3 each arm) @ 44lbs
• 5 dumbell flies @ 20lbs
• 5 kettlebell clean/press @ 44lbs (5 each arm)

Pretty happy with that workout. The getups were torture, especially with the flies and presses in there. Think I might have to have a rest tomorrow, after two hard full-body workouts.

Punishment

Just finished an impromptu workout. I’d just finished helping Megan with some cooking, had nothing better to do, so I thought ‘Hey, why not do a workout?’.

So here it is, repeated for 4 sets:

• 25 right-handed KB swings @ 44lbs
• 25 left-handed KB swings @ 44lbs
• 5 right-handed clean/presses @ 44lbs
• 5 left-handed clean/presses @ 44lbs
• 5 over-head weighted right pistol squats @ 15lbs
• 5 over-head weighted left pistol squats @ 15lbs

Yep, that’s a 15lbs dumbell in the right hand, pressed over head for the duration of a one-legged squat. I have massive respect for anyone that can do 5 or more of those in one go without stopping in between, that s**t is haaard!

Actually counting up, that was 280 reps. Should have done 1 more exercise for a 300 workout! Anyway, the whole thing lasted about 4o minutes and was one of the most mentally challenging workouts to date, mostly because those pistol squats were seriously hard. I guess I kind of punished myself a little bit for slacking off for so long and making excuses. No more of that sissy crap!

No, this workout isn’t part of my Gumdo training routine, although I did borrow the pistol squats from it. That will start next week I think.

Anyway, if anyone wants to destroy themselves I recommend giving this workout a try. Stay fit and work hard!

Back again!

Yep, I’m back. Didn’t fall under a bus or anything like that!

Honestly, I’ve just been enjoying not doing any workouts. It’s always nice to have a good break from spending hours a week in a cold garage. I’ve also been pretty time-poor lately between work, Gumdo and a personal business venture I’m trying to get off the ground.

I guess that’s a bit of a cop out, I made myself a promise a long time ago that I’d always make time for my fitness, but I have been! I’ve been going out at lunch every day for the last few weeks to practice my Gumdo patterns for 20-30 minutes, so the fitness is still there, I just haven’t been doing any strength training lately.

Speaking of Gumdo, dad and I had our first class 2 weeks ago which went pretty well. I think we tried to do a bit too much in an hour, and the students probably walked a away a bit overwhelmed, but they all came back (all 3 of them) last week, along with another 3 newbies, for more. Last week we worked out a shorter class format which worked a lot better, and I have to admit I got a real buzz from the class. I’m really starting to look forward to starting my own class!

Back on the fitness topic, I think it’s time I got back in to a solid routine. Rather than just doing some weights to bulk up or look better or anything like that, I’m going to put together a training plan that is Gumdo specific. My plan at this point is to have three stages: strength, endurance and finally speed. They will go in that order. To begin with, I’m thinking 2 weeks each would be a good trial period. If the plan works well, then I will look at 4 to 6 weeks for each phase.

I’m still writing out a list of exercises and activities to include though, so I won’t post the specific plan just yet…

Also today I’ll try to get a post up about meditation, as I promised it to Rob a few weeks ago. Sorry Rob, I haven’t forgotten honest!

Hope everyone is doing well!

3/6/09 – No workout :(

I have to say, I’m shocked. My last workout was Saturday and I’m still sore, which is a bit alarming considering it’s now Wednesday!! I suspect that maybe my restricted eating as stopping me from recovering as fast as I otherwise would. Today I’m going to eat a fair bit more (cookie jar here I come!) in an effort to get those mucsles rebuilding a bit quicker, and tomorrow it will be back to normal.

In other news, last night I started learning a new pattern in Gumdo which is quite exciting. The pattern itself is MUCH more fun than the one before it, so I’m looking forward to learning more of it!

In yet more news, tonight is the first lesson of Gumdo for dad’s school, which I’ll be helping out with for a while until I’m feeling confident enough to start my own class. Annoyingly we don’t have quite enough Gumdo specific wooden swords – only 4 when we need 6. I was hoping both dad and my proper swords would have arrived in time but sadly not! So dad is going to pick up some bokken’s today which are used by Japanese arts. Only real difference is they’re a bit heavier and thicker, so shouldn’t be too big an issue…