When the Log rolls over...

[GinnyLou]

I hope you feel better and it's good that you are listening to your body.

[beach_plums]

Thanks Ginger. I'm glad I waited.

I have a bit of catching up to do since I was sick...
Food for Friday:
Bagel with buttery flavored spread (stomach was still feeling funny, so I went with bland here, but quickly got over that. Bland just doesn't taste good)
Soy yogurt with 1 tablespoon sunflowerseeds
Pho
Apple with peanutbutter
antipasta plate and Pasquinis--one of the best local pizza/pasta places. Too bad I'm trying to cut down on carbs! But the antipasta was good anyway. Three meats, cheeses, asparagus, eggplant, and artichoke hearts. Yum!

Food for Saturday:
lunabar
leftover antipasta plate. There's still enough for days!
sausage and peppers
almonds and an orange
huge salad, steak, and a plain baked potato
1 Beer.

I was feeling pretty good yesterday, so I went to a HOT!! Yoga class in the morning. I'm so glad I went. It got out all of my lingering stiffness from laying around the house for days.

Today I went to the gym for 7A.
Squats: 3 sets of 8 @ 95lbs-I took the extra 5lbs off that I added last time just to check my form. There have been a lot of posts on weight vs. form. Form looked pretty good, so I'll put the extra back on for 8A
Pushups 3 sets of 8 T-pushup style.
1 point rows: 3 sets of 8 with 25 lb dumbells. I'll go up in weight next time.
step ups: 3 sets of 8 with 40 total pounds
prone jackknives: 1 set of 13 in pike position, 1 set of 15 regular, 1 set of 5 regular, and then the remaining 7 regular. That pike position is killer!

Afterwards, I shot some baskets with my boyfriend. He hurt his shoulder last time we worked out, so, he only did squats and situps before hitting the court.
That brings me to a question...my boyfriend hurt his shoulder doing bicep curls. It happened in the up position, with a loud pop. It seems to be getting better, but any ideas what might have caused this or what it was that got strained?

Anyway, tomorrow brings the start of another workweek and more morning HIIT with the dog. Tuesday is 7B. I'm almost done with stage 1.

[beach_plums]

I forgot to mention... yesterday at the gym, the strong-as-all-heck gal that does chinups like no body's business was there. I overheard her lifting partner and her talking over the number of sets to do. He was consistantly low-balling her and she'd fire back with a higher number. Re-enforced her as my gym idol.

Anyway, yesterday's food
2 eggs, 1 piece of bacon, 2 slices of whole wheat toast
leftover steak
luna bar
post workout shake
chicken sandwich with big salad
stirfry made with chicken, cabbage, carrots, celery, edamame, and peanut sauce--yum!

[beach_plums]

Ok, so this probably isn't the place for this, but since I have to track my food, I just want to put it on record that anyone living in the Denver area who doesn't shop at the Vitamin Cottage is doing themselves and a local grocer a huge disservice. Their produce is always delicious, and, as I discovered today, their meats are really reasonably priced! Oh, and everything is organic. Who would have thought that organic ground buffalo would be cheaper at a specialty shop than non-organic ground beef at the regular grocery store? Needless to say, I won't be going to the regular grocery store anymore.

[beach_plums]

Today, I walked about 1 mile in the morning. And then about .5 mile this afternoon with a huge staircase/bridge that used to wind me when I climbed it. I didn't feel winded at all today, so that's a good thing.

Food:
oatmeal with blueberries and whey
soy yogurt
leftover peanut chicken stirfry
apple with peanutbutter
2 ground buffalo burritos with homemade salsa
1/4 cup blended raspberries, whey, and white chocolate chips
1 Harp

Somehow my calories are pretty low today. I'll have to work on it tomorrow, especially since it's a lifting day.

[beach_plums]

Yesterday's workout: 7B.
Dead Lift 3 sets of 8@80lbs
Dumb Bell Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 8 with 20lb each hand
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown: 1 set 8 @ 62.5, 2 sets 8@75
Lunge: 3 sets 8 with 17.5lb each hand (up from 15s)
Swiss Ball Crunch: 3 sets 15 overhead with 10lbs.

Yesterday's food:
oatmeal with blueberries and whey and almonds
soy yogurt and 10 almonds
leftover peanut chicken stirfry
orange
leftover buffalo burrito with homemade salsa
blended raspberry treat
powerbar
post workout shake
3/4 cup French onion soup with no cheese
1 glass red wine.

[_CQ]

Hi, about the bonus workouts - I hate to have to say this, but you probably won't miss much by not doing the bonus workouts, IMO. I was bored with it, though it was all over in less than 20 minutes. I don't do well with a AMRAP directive (my mind panics and think, omg, will this ever end? Is this forever?), and I'm slightly shamed to say I gave up quickly with the bonus workout A. With bonus workout B, I found it easier to think, okay, this time, I will do at least 40 reps, but as you see from my log, I just stopped at 40 or so reps. And with lunges/squats I didn't do well at all. So in short, unless I had been in serious lack of a confidence boost, I would have skipped it, but I have this Asian thing about strictly following directions . And congrats, your almost finished with Stage 1, and your numbers look great!

[beach_plums]

I've noticed that a lot of people have skipped the AMRAP bonus workouts. And, you're probably right, I won't be missing much. And, while I definitely don’t have any great need to follow instructions, my confidence is pretty high, I have to say that, once I’m curious about something, there’s no stopping me. I totally fall into the curiosity killed the cat category. That said, maybe I’ll try to squeeze the bonus into one day, skipping the stepups and lunges--I really don't like those and they seem to be sticking around in some form, so I'll get enough in the next stage...

[beach_plums]

So, I've decided not to include all of my food here in this log. I'm entering it in fitday, so instead of recording it twice, I'm just linking to my fitday journal from now on. It just seems easier. And I'm all for easy. The only problem is going to be my weekends. I have a hard time getting to the computer to log all of that.

[beach_plums]

Today I will be doing my last stage 1 a workout! I'm very excited about that and am excited to start stage 2 next week. I'm not taking a week off before stage 2 because half way through it, I've got a friend coming out for 4 days of snowboarding--I'm pretty sure that my legs are not going to let me go to the gym any of those days or the one directly following. So, I call that my week-ish off.

[beach_plums]

Last night I did my last stage 1 A workout. Tomorrow should be last B! I'm very excited to move onto the next stage.

Here's how last night went:
Squats: 3 sets of 8-1 @ 95. 2@100
Pushups: 3 sets of 8-the T-style
One Point Row-3 sets of 8 with 27.5lbs each hand
Stepups: 3 sets of 8 with 20lbs each hand
Prone Jackknife: 3 sets of 15

I tried to do the squat with the press last night just to get a feel for it. I think I'll start with just the oly. bar. It wasn't terribly odd feeling, but not totally natural either.

This morning I went to a HOT yoga class. It felt great.

[beach_plums]

Today I finished stage 1. Tuesday I'll start up on stage 2, taking a week off half way through. I've decided not to do the special workouts, I'm eager to move on to the next stage.

Here's how b8 went:
Deadlifts: 3 sets of 8 @ 85lbs--up 5 from last time.
dumb bell shoulder presses: 3 sets of 8 @ 40 lbs
wide grip lat pulldowns: 3 sets of 8 @ 75 lbs
lunges: 3 sets of 8 @ 17.5 lbs each hand--up from 15
swiss ball crunches: 3 sets of 15 overhead with 10lbs--next time we see these, I'll add more weight.

Afterwards, I shot some baskets with my bf. I was overshooting everything.

I slipped up pretty badly Saturday food-wise. But, I'm back on track today.

I bought new snowboarding pants because the ones I got last year are way too big now. That feels really good. I actually got men's size small--the last pair were lady's large, so that's a pretty big jump. Visibility was less than good today, but hopefully I will get to test out the new pants next weekend.

[beach_plums]

It's been a very emotional day for me, but I'm ending it on a good note. I started Stage 2 today, and WOW! I'm not sure that I'll be able to get down the stairs in the morning or lift anything for that matter.

Stage 2 A:
Front Squat/Push Press: 2 sets of 10 @ 45lbs using the oly bar. These are a little odd feeling, and I'm not sure that I got up on my toes. I'm pretty sure that my heels came up though.
Step Ups: 2 sets of 10 with body weight only. I used the highest step today (it's slightly higher than the bench). When I started stage 1, I wasn't able to use this step without cheating. Today I did it. I did notice that my left leg is stronger when it comes to the step ups. The same is not true of lunges...
One Point Rows: 2 sets of 10 with the 27.5 lb dumbbells. I've been doing these all through stage 1, so nothing new here.
Static Lunge: 2 sets of 10 with 15lb dumbbell held at my chest. Right leg is stronger than left on these. In fact, my left leg is pretty bad at it. I lost balance a few times.
Pushups: 2 sets of 10, regular. I usually do the T pushups, but after those push presses, my arms were not having it. That's something to work up to again.
Plank: 60 seconds for the first, 45 for the second. I did a third for 2o seconds to make up for the rest of the second. Ouch!
Cable Horizontal Wood Chop: 2 sets of I don't know! I used the 2 setting on the cable station. I have no idea what that means.

[beach_plums]

Wow! Stage 2 B kicked my butt!
deadlift from box-I did these with the 80lb barbell. Since it wasn't at the 45lb plate height, I just stood on the ground. I would have rather used the squat rack with 85 lbs, but the squat team was there (4 really large guys who squat for hours on end and somehow take up both racks--one for squats, one for deads. Both bars totally loaded down with all the weights they can fit). Anyway 2 sets of 10 @ 80lbs.
BSS: 1 set 10 with 10lb each hand, 1 set 10 with 12.5 each. Next time I think I'll start with the 15s.
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 1 set 10 @ 75 lbs, 1 set 10 @ 87.5 lbs. I wish the gym I go to had those magnet weights to add on here. I think I could do more, but the next step up is 100lbs, and I'm not sure I can handle quite that much yet. Maybe I'll try it and see how many I can get done before jumping back down to the lower weight again.
Reverse Lunge: 2 sets of 10 with 10 lbs each hand. I'm going to go up to the 15s next time here too. I was afraid that it would make my knee hurt, so I went a little lighter. Knee seems fine, so I'll try more next time.
Dumbell prone cuban snatch: 1 set of 10 with 8lbs, 1 set of 10 with 5 lbs. These felt kind of funny. I don't know if it's because it's a new movement for me, or if I was doing them not quite right, or if it's because I have shoulder problems. I'll give it another go next time though. Hopefully it's just because it's a new movement and I can see some improvement before moving onto stage 3.
swiss ball crunch-2 sets of 10 overhead with 10 lbs. Next time, more weight.
reverse crunch: 1 set of 10 on the floor, 1 set of 10 with the swiss ball between my legs. Might try on incline next time.
laterla flexion: 2 sets 10 on the ball
Prone Cobra: 1 for 75 seconds, 1 for 60 seconds

HIIT on the bike afterwards. UGH! but in a good I think I might puke kind of way.

[beach_plums]

Today I did Stage 2 A:
Front Squat: 1 set 10 @ 45lbs, 1 set of 10 @ 50--almost didn't get the last one up.
Step Ups: 2 sets 10 @ bw-I think next time I'll add some weight. The step I'm using is above my knees, but I feel ready for more.
One Point Row: 2 sets 10 @ 27.5lbs each hand.
Static Lunge: 2 sets 10 @ 15lbs each hand, may try heavier dumbell held at chest next time
Pushups: 2 sets 10--after the front squat push press, these kill me!
Plank: 2 for 60 seconds each.

I didn't do the wood chops today. I completely ran out of energy and wanted to be able to get the planks done. I might try to do a variation of these tomorrow to make up for it. Or, I'll add it on to B on Wednesday.

[beach_plums]

Stage2 B2:
deadlift from box-2 sets of 10 @ 85lbs.
BSS: 2 sets 10 with 15lb each hand
Underhand grip lat pulldown: 1 set of 10: 5 @ 100lbs, 5 @ 87.5lbs, 1 set of 8: 3 @ 100, 5 @ 87.5lbs. My arms could not take the last 2 of the second set.
Reverse Lunge: 2 sets of 10 with 15 lbs each hand.
Dumbell prone cuban snatch: 2 sets of 10 with 5 lbs. I did these on a swiss ball instead of the incline bench. I liked it much better this way.
swiss ball crunch-2 sets of 10 overhead with 15 lbs My shoulder was popping towards the end of the last set. I'm not sure that it's strong enough to hold the 15 overhead. I may go back down to the 10 or at least the 12.5
reverse crunch: 1 set of 10 on the floor, 1 set of 10 on incline.
laterla flexion: 2 sets 10 on the floor
Prone Cobra: 2 for 60 seconds

[bigDman]

Nice work keep it up. Workouts are looking pretty good