Never-ending Quest to be Leaner, Stronger and Faster.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Just checking in Gregg. Sounds like you might need a little shakeup with the trainer. You are paying him, right? Glad to see you're still plugging away with the running. I also kept my partying to a low rumble this past holiday weekend. It was good to not feel like a wreck on Tuesday morning.

[BamaDave]

Gregg, do trainers push you a lot farther than you can go by yourself? I've never used one, but I have always suspected that I would do more if I had someone standing over my shoulder!

[GG300]

Jim I agree. I had a great workout today with him and I think I will e mail him and tell him that we need to keep going on the kicking my ass route instead of being my buddy.

Dave when I first started working with him he pushed me much farther than I ever though I could go. Before I started working with him 4 years ago I would have someone spot me for a 3 x 145# bench attempt. Unfortunately with some of his personal problems and business problems that have cropped up over the last year we often end up talking through his problems. As I value the guy as a friend I have no problem doing this but I would be more than happy to do that over beers. Um I mean protein shakes.

[GG300]

Wednesday September 10, Upper Body Session with Trainer

Super Sets with 2 minute rest

Low Cable Handlebar Rows 12@130# 12@145# 12@145#
Assisted Inside Grip Pullups 12@70# 8@70# 8@75#

Cable Flys 12@110# 12@110# 12@110#
DB Incline Bench 10@55# 10@55# 10@55#

Military Press 12@75# 12@75# 12@80
Cable Pull Throughs 12@35# 12@40# 12@45#

CG Bench 12@105# 12@115# 12@115#
OVH Tri Extensions 12@90# 12@100# 12@110#

Individual Cable Curls 12@80# 12@90# 12@100#

This was a great workout. It was like my trainer read my log from last week and knew he needed to kick it into gear. The super setting of everything kept the heart rate up and he kept the rest breaks down. All in all it is exactly what I expect from him. I will drop him a line to tell him that these are more along the lines of what I am looking for. He could even throw in some circuit stuff to help me out with the weight loss goals.

[GG300]

Thursday September 11, 4:15 AM 56 Degrees

30 Run/Walk 2.06 miles

I haven't done much running as of late and I could feel it. The good part is that my left heel seems to be just fine again. Hopefully that annoying pain is gone for good.

[GG300]

Friday September 12, 5:30 AM Upper Body Workout

Super Sets no rest between lifts 2 minutes after SS.

Bench Press 3 x 12 @ 145#
DB Incline Flys 3 x 12 @ 25#

WG Lat Pulls 12 @ 125# 12 @ 125# 8 @125#
ST Arm Push Downs 8 @ 62.5# 10 @ 50# 8 @ 50#

Standing Shoulder Cable Press 3 x 12 @ 60#
Cable Front Raise 3 x 12 @ 45#

Nothing special just switched up to super sets after getting a good workout doing them Wednesday. I need to draw up a standard program so I am hitting a better cross section of lifts. And since my running has been less than stellar I might as well throw some lower body work back into the mix as it will help with the weight loss and can't hurt my running any.

This I my first week back to weighing in and even with the killer partying last weekend I still dropped 1 pound. That is 22.5# more to go for the year and another 19.5# after that for my final goal

[GG300]

Saturday September 13, 6:20 AM Cardio and Misc Lifting

18 Minute Hillclimb intervals on the Dreadmill at 3.8 mph

Super Sets with 90 seconds rest

Crunch with Triple Press on Slant Board 2 x 10 @ 14#
Crunch with Alternating Twist 1 x 16 @ 14# 1 x 10 @ 14#
Overhead Triceps Extension 4 x 12 @ 95#

DB Cross Body Alternating Curls/ Drop Sets 2 x 10 @ 30, 25 ,20.
Full Crunches on Flat Bench 2 x 20 @ BW

There was a steady rain this morning so instead of running I took the workout to the gym. I had intended to get in 30 minutes on the treadmill but forgot how absolutely freaking boring they are. So decided to just get in some cardio, arm and ab work. Worked up a good sweat and called it a morning. Hopefully it will be dry Sunday so I can get in a decent run.

[GG300]

Monday September 15 5:30 AM Upper Body Workout

Super Sets with 2 minutes rest

Bench Press 2 x 12 @ 150# 1 x 9 @ 150#
Freemotion Cable Flys 2 x 12 @ 60# 1 x 8 @ 60#

Military Press 3 x 12 @ 80#
Freemotion Cable Front Raise 3 x 12 @ 25#

Straight Sets with 1 minute rest

Low Cable Wide Grip Rows 3 x 12 @ 130#

Single Arm Freemotion Cable Rows 1 x 12 @ 80# 2 x 12 @ 90#

1/4 mile cool down walk

Lifts went well today, bumped up the bench by 5# but fell short by 3 reps on the last set. Other than that I tossed in some old lifts that I hadn't done in a while since the DB area was a little crowded today. That is a rarity usually it's the other way around. It's nice to see more women using the free weights, for both their sake and mine.

[GG300]

Tuesday September 16, 5:30 AM Core Workout

Straight Sets with 1 minute rest

Swiss Ball Crunches 3 x 25 @ BW

Low to High Cable Woodchoppers 3 x 15 @ 45# each side

Kneeling Cable Crunches 3 x 15 @ 180#

Swiss Ball Planks 3 x 60sec @ BW

1/4 mile cool down walk

I woke up this morning with a sinus infection and nasty sore throat. Couldn't muster up the drive to get my run in. Instead I went to the gym and got in some core work and a light steam. Hiopefully I can get my run in tonight.

[GG300]

Wednesday September 17, 5:00 AM Upper Body Workout

Straight Sets with 2 minutes rest

Bench Press 12@135# 6@185# 4@200# 3@210# 2@245#

Incline Cable Chest Press 12@50# 12@65# 12@70#

DB Standing Shoulder Press 3 x 12 @ 35#

Single Arm Cable Extensions 3 x 12 @ 30# to each side

Individual Arm Cable Curls 2 x 12 @ 90# 1 x 12 @ 100#

Wide Grip Assisted Pullups 8@75# 8@75# 10@75#

Considering that this sinus infection only permitted me to have 3 hours of sleep last night I was fine with a light workout. I made sure my trainer knew how tired I was so he would keep it simple. I did get in some decent lifts but didn't press for super sets or short rest. Hopefully it gets much better by Thursday morning as I have to get out and run and not being able to breathe could be a slight setback.

[GG300]

Friday September 18, Day 4 of this Sinus Infection.

Well my running definetly could have done without this setback. I haven't run in over a week and my first 5K of the year is September 28. Fortunately there will be a ton of people in this run so I shoukld be able to stay above the last 25% of the pack. Great I get to run with the overweight housewives again. Oh well it could be worse. I have moved my last run to December 13 and I will finish it without any walks NO MATTER WHAT.

On a positive note I still almost hit goal weight loss for the week even though I only made a few workouts. I was off by .2# losing 1.3#. I will catch up next week. I also feel like I will be able to hit the road and the gym this weekend for some catch up work.

[GG300]

Today was the start of my new log book. This is the fifth one since I started them. While I ended the fourth log I couldn't help but notice that it like my recent workouts was full of gaps. Missed lifting sessions, aborted runs and lackluster workouts seemed to be the base of what has become an incresingly unfocused fitness effort on my part. While some would say at least you are still getting out there and doing something, I look at it as a total breakdown. So I will be looking to this new log as a fresh chance to refocus my energy and to meet my goals. To do this I am going to simplify my efforts. I am dumping the running for now and focusing on weight loss. I will still get out early AM every other day but instead of working on endurance I will be doing hill sprints or some other type of HIIT. I will also add some cycling intervals in on lifting days to speed things along as well. But most of all I need to get a handle on my diet or all this work will do nothing more than put my body in a holding pattern which I have been in too long.

Lifting Sessions

Workout A/ Monday

Inverted Grip Assisted Pullups
Medium Grip Low Cable Rows
DB Bench Press
Peck Deck
Military Press
Cable High Pulls

Workout B/ Wednesday
Upper Body Session with Trainer

Workout C/ Friday

Deadlifts
Bulgarian Split Squats
DB Incline Bench
Cable Press
Wide Grip Lat Pulls
Bent Over BB Rows

Running Intervals Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday followed by Ab Workouts

And that should keep me going. I will switch up the rep shcemes every 2 weeks and the exercises every 6 weeks to keep things fresh.

If all goes well I should have the weight off in early 2009 and I can set my sights on some new running goals. Who knows maybe I will even do another Half Marathon in 2010 to celebrate me being a Half Century old.

[GG300]

Monday September 22, 5:30 AM Workout A Upper Body

Straight Sets with 1 minute rest breaks

Inverted Grip Assisted Pullups 3 x 12 @ 70#

Medium Grip Low Cable Rows 3 x 12 @ 130#

DB Flat Bench 3 x 10 @ 60#

Pec Deck 3 x 12 @ 150#

Military Press 3 x 12 @ 85#

Cable High Pulls 3 x 12 @ 90#

The lifting went well even though I was a little tired after staying up late to catch the Packers get their asses kicked.

[GG300]

Tuesday September 23, 5:15 AM Track Intervals and Core Work

1/4 mile warm up walk followed by 4 repeats of running the straights and walking the turns on a 1/4 mile track, finished with a 1/4 mile cool down walk. Total distance 1.5 miles, Total time 20:57.

Core Work

Swiss Ball Planks 3 x 60 Seconds

Standing Cable Crunches 3 x 15 @ 175#

Oblique Crunches on Hyper Bench 3 x 12 @ 25# each side

The running is still hampered by the congestion in my chest. Most of it cleared after the 4th run. I will stick with this set up for this week and try to increase a 1/4 mile per week for the next 4 weeks to the interval portion. The core work went fine and I will just keep mixing this up with each workout to insure that I hit all the angles.

[GG300]

Wednesday September 24, 5:00 AM Upper Body Training Session with Trainer

Straight Sets with varied rest

Incline Bench Press 12@95# 8@125# 2 x 8 @ 130#

DB Shoulder Press 3 x 12 @ 35#

Cable Crosses 12@60 12@65# 12@70#

Lying DB Pullovers 12@55# 2 x 12 @ 60#

Assisted Dips 3 x 12 @ 60#

Cross Body Cable Curls 12@80# 2 x 12 @ 100# 12@110#

Good solid workout, a little heavy on the isolation stuff but that is just my trainer going back to his BB background. I still worked up a good sweat and I am sure I will feel it in the AM. Speaking of feeling it, I spent 1.5 hours of Tuesday afternoon in the dentist chair getting a tooth refilled, prepped for a permanent crown and having a temp crown installed. Since it was late in the day I was already in bed before the freeze came out but I was expecting the worst for this am considering how much jamming around they were doing to my jaw. Amazingly I woke relatively free of pain. It is a little stiff but I have had worse just from a cleaning. I guess I got lucky on that one. Two weeks and I can go back for my permanent crown. Gold baby.

[GG300]

Thursday September 25, 5:15 AM Stationary Cycling Intervals and Core Work
Cardio Work

12 Minutes of Cycling Interval consisting of 6 repeats of 30 second sprint115 rpm/ 1 minute rest 80 rpm with 1:30 warm up and cool down. #4 of 12 Setting

Eliptical Work 5 minutes at 5.5 mph setting 6 of 15

Core Work

Full Crunches on Bench 3 x 15 @ 25#

Super Set

Side Plank Cable Rows 3 x 12 @ 70# each Side
Standing Ab Cable Press 3 x 12 @ 70# each side

What a crap day. I woke with the left heel pain returning so bad that I am not actually walking on it but using it as a plant foot. So I switched up the cardio to get some work in and while the cycling went well the heel still hurt on the down stroke of the eliptical so I shortened that work. Then I went into the core work and I started cramping up after the first set of the crunches. After that I was in the super sets and I got so light headed that I had to increase the rest breaks, plus the cramps never really subsided. It sucks getting old and if it isn't that I have no excuse for todays performance. Ugh

[GG300]

Friday September 26, 5:30 AM Upper Body Session and Intervals

Straight Sets with 1 minute rest

DB Incline Bench 3 x 12 @ 55#

Freemotion Cable Cross 3 x 12 @ 60#

Wide Grip Lat Pull 3 x 12 @ 125#

DB Bent Over Rows 3 x 12 @ 40#

Standing Arnolds 3 x 12 @ 30#

Standing Plate Raise 3 x 12 @ 35#

Stationary Cycle Intervals 1.5 minute warm up/cool down and 6 repeats of 1 minute of 70+ rpm/ 30 seconds of 120+ rpm.

I switched off of the scheduled Workout C and any leg work as my heel is still killing me. I still was able to do all the upper body work and get in some intervals as well. The intervals went better today so tomorrow I will try to up it to 8 intervals. Considering that I can hardly walk on my left foot I will most likely skip my Komen 5K this Sunday unless I wake up pain free. I'll keep icing it and stay on the ibuproffen but they don't seem to be doing much. If it doesn't start to feel better by next week I'll go in and have it checked out.