Beyond the Limits

[RacerBill]

Thanks, Rob.

Roland - I've got a little road trip, driving east to New York and PA to visit various friends and relatives. Maybe I'll take a day to go up to Vermont and see my sister there, too. I'm planning to meet up with Alan (Colonel) when I'm in the Rochester NY area. Then I'm headed down to Pennsylvania to see my grandmother. I'd hoped to gain a personal audience with the great and mighty Mahler, too; as it turns out, he's out of the state the entire time I'll be there. Coincidence? Hmmm...

If you feel like hopping in your cool convertible and heading to the Northeast, let me know and maybe we can cross paths.

[SpacecityPaula]

Roadtrips are always fun. I haven't done one in my latest car yet. I'm overdue.

[James Newman]

Road trips are a lot of fun. I once took a road trip with a few friends that was entirely guided by questions and answers obtained from a Magic 8 ball. Talk about an experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I hope you have a good time Bill. We'll look forward to hearing more about it later on. In the meantime, keep on, keeping on........

Newman

[RacerBill]

June 30, 2007

Free day, AKA "Mess around at the gym the day before vacation"

I did the usual mobility and core routine. Left side plank once again 1'30", right side is up to 1'10".

Did some lifts I hadn't done in quite a while, nothing impressive, weight-wise

front squats 5 x 95, 1 x 135 Felt a little weird with the weight on my shoulder, although this has never bugged me before. I think it's just that I hadn't done them for a while.

Lat pulls, 3 x 200 (can't keep those up), 10 x 180. Made me feel a bit better after I couldn't do the pullup last time.

DB incline press.

I tried some deadlifts since DL form has given me some problems (as I'm *sure* you noticed in my introduction post #1, right? ). Did several with 135 pounds. It felt good! No pull or tightness at all in the lower back, kept my back arched with hips above my knees. I think the shoulders still need to be pulled back and down a bit more than they were, but overall everything felt a LOT better than any DL I've ever done before.

Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning. Time to go bake some Soylent Green bars for the trip.

[lance02]

Have fun on vacation.

[RacerBill]

Thanks, Lance! I'm having fun so far.

[RacerBill]

So here I am in the lovely Finger Lakes region of western New York hanging out with some friends. But we have that Challenge going on, so I managed to get a workout in.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

I drove down to the YMCA in Hornell, New York. I guess I will never complain about my regular Y again. I got changed, and found the weight room. OMG. This was a dungeon. No windows, and a bunch of broken down old equipment, the flooring was either missing or broken away in some spots and hadn't been vacuumed in I don't know how long. One side of the pulley system was non-functional, and the other side had been jimmy-rigged so someone can add some small weights to it. One of the mirrors had been broken and left that way. Ah, well. This just makes it into a little adventure.

I went to the cardio room to do my usual warmup and core. Another windowless room, but this one had flickering fluorescent lights. Got my mobility and core done as quickly as possible since the weight room was actually more pleasant.

Front squats, 2 x 5 x 95 lbs, 3 x 5 x 145 lbs. The rack was so narrow and close to the wall I had to put the bar on my shoulders, step back and THEN put my elbows up.

Deadlifts, 5 x 5 x 135 lbs. Form is still improving. They felt good.

Dumbell lateral deadlifts, 3 x 10 x 25 lbs.

DB incline press, 3 x 10 x 25 lbs (each hand)

Lat pull (I just had to try this ancient machine - you had to add weight plates yourself) 3 x 10 x 95 but it was creaky enough that friction added some resistance, too!

They had a pullup rack bolted to the wall, and I did some neutral grip pullups with a jump start.

A guy came in while I was doing the pullups, seemed surprised to find someone else in the weight room. Before I could introduce myself he popped in his ipod earbuds and parked it at the bench press. That was the only place I could have done the step ups I was thinking about.

I'll try and get some more workouts in soon. We'll see how many other gyms with atmosphere I'll find...

[kingkop182]

Originally Posted by RacerBill

We'll see how many other gyms with atmosphere I'll find...

Good to see you are still keeping up with the workouts on the road

[lance02]

Nice workout -- considering the conditions. Sometimes you don't know how good you have it till you visit someplace else.

[SpacecityPaula]

Gyms with Atmosphere - My Travels through the NE.

*LOL* That should be your title!

[RacerBill]

Ha! Great idea, Paula!

Time to get this thing up to date! I actually returned to Hornell on Thursday, July 5 for a quick morning workout before I went to the antique mall down the street to get some insulators I didn't buy the first time I was there after my workout on Tuesday (long story). Then I drove up to Clifton Springs, where I met Alan (Colonel) for lunch and had a great time.

So... I'm trying to remember that workout after all this time. I know I did the usual mobility and core work, then some weights, I think deadlifts and lunges. Maybe some chin-ups and a few negatives after my arms gave out. Lateral raises and... um... DB lunge-stance rows? Geez, it's all so foggy now.

Saturday I was in Nunda and hiked up and down the side of a hill with a bunch of friends.

That was the extent of my organized exercise during vacation. I spent the second week visiting family and reliving some childhood memories -- including Abbott's ice cream (frozen custard, actually) which anyone from Rochester will tell you is the best stuff in town. Then went to PA to see relatives and had beers with Bill2380. At one point I couldn't take my aunt's cooking any more and went to Waffle House.

Anyway, I'm back home now and it's time to get back on track!

[lance02]

Welcome back! Sounds like a good getaway. Mmmm -- custard. It's big here in Wisconsin (the dairy state, you know).

[RacerBill]

Thanks, Lance. Frozen custard is wonderful and evil at the same time!

[RacerBill]

Once more it's time to pull this log out of page three purgatory.

Did NOT feel like going to the gym this morning. My motivation this week has been lagging tremendously. I need to drag my ass out of vacation mode, kicking and screaming. Today it was more GPP stuff. I think I managed to hit all the major muscle groups, perhaps with the exception of vertical push since I shouldn't do overhead work. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Mobility and core as usual. I can tell it's been a while since I did this. Side planks are getting shorter, so I need to work on those some more.

A1 - DB incline press: 20+20 x 15 x 2
A2 - Supine hip ext w/ leg curl, on ball: bw x 15 x 2

B1 - Front squat, 95 x 5, 95 x 10, 95 x 3 (right knee wasn't quite right)
B2 - Lunge stance one arm DB rows, 20 x 15 x 2
I would have done this superset first but some guy was busy doing (what else?) bicep curls in the squat rack.

Lat pulls, supine grip, 160 x 10
Lat pulls, pronated grip, 160 x 8

Finished with some static stretches.

[lance02]

Nice use of the squat rack, huh???

[RacerBill]

Breaking news: RACERBILL SIGHTED IN LOCAL GYM. Astonished regulars rubbed their eyes in disbelief!

Yeah, I dragged my sorry tail out of bed this morning and went and worked out.

I still am waiting on the next installment of my program, so I figured I've taken a long enough break that going back to a few sessions of break-in wouldn't be a bad idea. Since it wasn't crowded, I decided to do workout B since that uses the cable stack more and it's tough to get on it when everyone thinks cable flyes are cool.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Warmup with mobility and core training.

A1) Seated row w/ V handle: 110 x 15, 110 x 15

A2) Split squat: 15+15 x 15, 15+15 x 15

B1) Standing cable press: 30 x 15, 30 x 15
Changed from kneeling stance. I staggered my feet but wasn't quite in lunge stance.

B2) Supine hip ext w/ leg curl, on ball: 15, 15

C1) Lunge stance pulldown: 50 x 15, 50 x 15

C2) Scapular plane lat raise: 10 x 15, 10 x 15

I wasn't able to remember the weights I'd used by the end of break-in and found I had pretty much taken everything down a notch today. Considering I'd taken so much time off, I think that's probably pretty good.

[Lost Dog]

welcome back to the gym!