Nice workout, I will probably borrow that one. Hopefully the goal posts at the local track can hold up my rings. I haven't been doing pull-ups at all, and I miss them.
Speaking of which, I finished Omnivore tonight. One of the reasons I chose it was the perceived lack of associated reading it would spawn, but damn if I don't want to go re-read all my Hemingway now. Oh well, starting Zebras tomorrow if I don't dig into a practice exam.
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My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
If the first 32 pages of Zebras is any indication, this is going to be a very dense but good read. After Omnivore, I'm putting together a lot of connections between industrialized food, "stressful" lifestyles, and obesity. It just sucks how much endocrinology is involved, but then, after the mystique surrounding mushrooms in the last book, I'm just nodding and smiling through a lot of the conditionals and maybes and could-bes.
__________________ No Magic Pill (the log)
My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
Notes:
--Round #3 for this mesocycle. More improvements from last time, though I did blow off the medicine ball slam finisher. I was just dragging today at the end.
--Moved up 5lbs on the opening C&P set and had some trouble in the last set with the press, but I, um, managed to, um, get it up, um, yeah...
--Snatches were no problem; in fact, I probably should've gone up 5lbs on the last set or two, especially after I pulled so hard on one of my second-set reps that my left leg kicked out in front of me a little, and it wouldn't've taken much to put me on my ass right then. Yay for all that shoulder stability work I've been doing. I had to stop and get the giggles out of me before finishing.
--This was the first time I've tried to incorporate full pistol squats into this lower-body superset (before, they've just come at the end as play-around finishers of sorts). Those are a bear, but they're also much improved, and the looks I get are entertaining at the very least
--I'm not sure where the upper-body strength came from today, but compared to five weeks ago (the last time I did this particular routine), I got one more pull-up and seven more push-ups; compared to the last time I did this upper-body superset, one more pull-up and five more push-ups. I guess backing off a little more on the back-off week helped.
--My Julie-prescribed stretching isn't having any effect on my TFL issues, so she's asked if I have video capabilities and wants to try an experiment. I said okay on the conditions that no animals be harmed in the making of the film(s) and that I get at least 50% of any revenues generated.
--I'm now 120 pages into Zebras. In a word, awesome, if a little dense (I'm having to re-read occasionally to make sure I have all the endocrinology components and effects matched up correctly). Combined with Omnivore, I'm only become more convinced that Western civilization is not headed for a cliff--we're already over it, and the ground is coming up fast. Have a glorious day
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My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
I knew exercise science would kill me. Two more practice exams to take after brushing up on the weak spots. Mind you, I haven't touched any of this stuff in a few weeks, so we'll see what happens when I'm more in the right mindframe.
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My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
Rope skip (various footwork), 2 x max effort, 90RI
Notes:
--Pulled this one from WotW #23. Not bad, though there were a few mini-sets done throughout. I know the rope skips were supposed to be double-unders, but I haven't gotten quite that far in my coordination (just starting to get really good at single-leg footwork), so I toned those down. All in all, a good little GPP routine.
--This is where I'd usually rant about the newest brotard trainer or bean-pole blonde doling out "advice" overheard today, but I won't. I'm attempting to focus my qi a little more.
--As noted above, and as so elloquently summarized by Aoife, science sucks for liberal arts majors. However, since I basically took the practice exam stone cold, a little more physiology and a quicker follow-up practice exam should help out.
--I've all but decided to re-read Zebras when I finish before moving on to other stuff, this time with the intent of taking notes as I read. I should've done that from the outset, but I like just reading first to get the gist of something, then going back and nitpicking. I have at least a half-dozen comments, questions, and/or related readings come to mind every time I pick up this book, especially in light of Omnivore, so hopefully I'll be able to pick Alan's canoodle next time I see him.
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--This is where I'd usually rant about the newest brotard trainer or bean-pole blonde doling out "advice" overheard today, but I won't.
Well then I'll do it in my log tonight. The conversation I overheard started with doing "endurance training and cardio" to increase max bench press, and ended with herpes.
Science is definitely hard. I used to laugh at RedWifey in college, with her math major and a computer science minor. I never set foot in either the math or science building, let alone took any of those courses. I had tested out in high school, got my college credit and did my no-homework degree, a.k.a. Business.
So you did fine for being one of us non-sciency people.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Well then I'll do it in my log tonight. The conversation I overheard started with doing "endurance training and cardio" to increase max bench press, and ended with herpes.
Science is definitely hard. I used to laugh at RedWifey in college, with her math major and a computer science minor. I never set foot in either the math or science building, let alone took any of those courses. I had tested out in high school, got my college credit and did my no-homework degree, a.k.a. Business.
So you did fine for being one of us non-sciency people.
Thanks, but I don't think the certification people care if I'm un-sciency or not--a score is a score unless it's "go ugly early" night.
Same here as I tested out of all math-based problem solving and so took Deductive Logic to fulfill the rest of that gen-ed requirement. Oddly, I later took statistics when I thought I wanted to be a business major. Hated every minute of it, but at least I ended up with a yes-homework degree, albeit a fun homework degree (readin,' writin,' no 'rithmetic).
An ex sent me a cartoon the other day that fits the brotard trainer perfectly:
The blonde was adamant about doing ABZ every workout (4-5 times per week), but cardio is boring, which is okay because as long as you eat lots of refined carbs in the morning, you can keep cardio to once a week. Fuck me dead with a red-hot poker covered in fire ants. Seriously, it messed with my burpees (completely unrelated to vurps, though sometimes a precursor).
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(4 x Tabata rope skip) x 3, 60RI
+
120RI
+
2min footwork rope skip x 3, 60RI
10 double-unders
Notes:
--I've been a lazy sot all day. Slept late, played Wii for a few hours, took the dogs to the dog park for an hour or so (and probably sold another pair of Vibrams), skipped my morning coffee, and until supper probably had about 1000 calories. Needless to say, the above is the best I could come up with as a substitute for interval training today (which also meant doing this out on the deck rather than taking the truck somewhere).
--Tabata = 20sec "on," 10sec "off." In this case, I did double-leg hops at about 80% ("on") and 50% ("off") intensity, respectively; four iterations made up two minutes. I did that three times with a one-minute rest interval. This absolutely killed my calves, to the point where my "off" times probably looked like I was jumping with cement blocks on my feet.
--Footwork involved various combinations of single-leg hops for two minutes at a time. This was much easier on my legs, but my shoulders had a tough time making it through the last two rounds.
--These were my first successful successive double-unders ever, though by that I mean that I'd do a double-under, a single recovery skip, another double-under, and so on. I might need to start looking into a better rope if I continue to improve my technique at this rate.
--Both warm-up and cool-down was exclusively qigong. I probably won't use it as a warm-up again--it's just not preparatory enough--but I've used it as a cool-down before, and it's the best recovery I've experienced.
--I yet again neglected any direct core work today. Not sure why it's been absent this week, but I'll get back on that wagon next week.
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You've been making improvement on performance but I haven't seen any mention of aesthetics. You know that lifting and intervals are fine and all but in the end it's about the swole.
With the work you're putting in I'm assuming you're seeing some good results, unless you're eating like a pregnant chick.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
I did give it a one-line mention back when I was boo-hooing about a recent "why am I doing this" episode. Otherwise, I didn't take "before" pictures, nor am I actively tracking my weight (semi-weekly weigh-ins have me hovering in the 211-213lb range). However, I think my body composition has improved based solely on three things: (1) my athletic performances have improved, (2) I eat cleanly but don't track numbers, and (3) 1 + 2 = better body composition, I'm assuming.
Some days, like yesterday, I'm lucky to hit 2000 calories for whatever reason (usually sloth). Other days, I blow through 3000 without even thinking about it. I figure as long as I'm eating as cleanly as possible (Haagen-Daas counts--have you seen their ingredient lists?), I'll let my training and my body decide what and when to eat. That whole low-grain thing is working out okay: some days are bad, others are good. I don't worry about numbers when I go out to eat; I just make sure to not go overboard (except the BBQ sandwich at Mac's--that sucker is literally four or five inches tall).
Besides, as I'm sure Roland could attest, I could end up with jugglecat's body and still think I was a fat bastard, no matter what the mirror might say otherwise. Just part of being a FFB
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Ah, very good then. I just wanted to make sure that when it came to body composition you're still wandering aimlessly on the road to eternal frustration. Sounds like you're right on track.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Notes:
--Ending push press and all DB bench loads increased over last time. The finisher swings were rough, not that they hurt so much as I was just drained, but at least I got them in, occasionally iffy form notwithstanding.
--I was surprised that my plyo push-up reps didn't drop given the heavier push loads I used earlier, but hey, whatever.
--The first two lower-body supersets were painful, but for some reason, the last two were solid. Go figure.
__________________ No Magic Pill (the log)
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Rope skip (footwork), 5 x 30sec, 30RI
Alternating single-leg squat, 3 (right) and 2 (left)
Notes:
--I took the superset from WotW #26 for my Warrior Challenge workout. Pretty straightforward. I'm really glad I only took the 12kg KB to the gym--the 18kg would've been less than humorous.
--Rope skipping and single-leg squats were just for shits and giggles while waiting on the girl to finish. I did notice that there's a funny bone-esque pain on the ball of my right foot between the third and fourth toes, which explains why my left calf has felt more fatigued after other rope skipping work--it's doing more work than the right side. This pain has been around for a few weeks, ever since I started wearing my Vibrams more, but it usually goes away in a day or two, and even if I'm in a little pain going to my workout, it usually goes away within a few minutes of starting activity. Obviously, neither one was the case today, and I guess my left side has been compensating during double-leg stuff. I'll keep a watch on it; I sure don't want to ditch the Vibrams for my workouts.
--RedLefty will be happy to know that I discovered my gym's version of Opera Man today. He was lying on a mat in the aerobics studio opposite of where I was setup, doing all manner of ABZ, which I don't think should've counted because he was a grown-up version of the fat black kid in Hook, so his arms, legs, and head were really the only things that moved while the rest of his body never really did anything. I was reminded of a turtle on its back. Oh yeah, the singing: iPod plugged in, going into falsetto during his, um, rest intervals. Here, I was reminded of the voiceover for Soul Glo in Coming to America. I say no more.
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My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
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