Still here for now

Warm-up - 1000m/5 min row

Four rounds:
10 hang-clean-press (45 lb)
15/leg rear foot elevated split squats
40 v-sit ball tosses (3 kg ball)

Um, that is all...

(Hm, I've never used weight with the Bulgarian squat, but I think I may start. I quite enjoy these ones.)

* * *

Further to Daddy-O's comment, I'm considering migrating back to Pregnant Pause for the time-being, so I can blather about the effects of living with a parasite while trying to not get (too) fat and lazy. I started over there the first time at 14 weeks pg -- that is about now. I may have to change the URL though -- I'm not so fit as I once was... Funny how pregnancy leads to a child, who eats up all that time you used to spend running/jumping/lifting/etc.

Circuit Tuesday

For once I was more in the mood to move quickly than lift heavy. So I did this circuit:

Five rounds:
2:20 min hard row (about 500m)
30 alternating squat kicks
15 hang cleans (45 lbs)
20 alternating oblique crunches on the ball
= 28:30 min

I've got about a week or two more before hang cleans will be impeded by my burgeoning belly. I have high hopes that I have a few more months of crunches....

Had to skip Monday's workout to do a DIVA of Distinction interview. :-) But Tim insisted on going to the park post-nap. To keep myself warm in the -10 weather, I did 4 x 10 (per leg) raised-leg split squats and 4 x 10 bench push-ups.

A simple circuit

First three exercises using the 45# barbell. Last one with a 20# dumbbell, being careful not to hit the ceiling.

Five rounds, no resting:
10 jump squats
15 hang cleans
15 good mornings
8/arm single-arm presses

Bookended with some easy rowing for warm-up and cool-down.

In retrospect, it would've made sense to combine the hang cleans and good mornings and just done full cleans. Next time.

Frisbee on Sunday was fun, and I didn't die. Daddy-o, you were right, it's more my style of game! Have a few hotspots after not having run for a month - mainly the muscles radiating up from my ankles: I can barely walk. Emma, how did your ankle hold up in your game?

Yoga tonight!

Where's winter?

No sign of the white stuff yet. It doesn't feel much like Christmas, so decided to use the last nursery school day until the new year for an outdoor workout rather than shopping. I may regret this next week when the deadline is a little closer.

Four rounds:
8 push-ups (hands slightly elevated)
200 skips
10/leg bulgarian squats (split with back leg raised)
400 m run

= not for time. (No breaks though.) We've lost both watches, and the iPod recently went through the dishwasher. So, no timing mechanism available.

After a terrible sleep last night, I hated this workout.

Now, off to Guelph for the weekend!

Another rowing circuit

I think the title describes what my winter will look like, workout-wise. Luckily, aside from the rowing part, the possibilities are (almost) endlessly variable.

Today, four rounds of:

500 m row (average 2:08 min)
10 thrusters (45#)
10 sort-of-goblet squats (35#)

(I think with goblets you're meant to hold the dumbbell at your chest? I let my arms hang so the weight was between my knees - necessitated by the fact that I was using weights on a stick rather than an actual dumbbell. Likely reminiscent of the gym in Dar).

Finished with a set of 10 45# presses and an easy 2000 m row (< 10 min).

I didn't time the circuit (lost the g-damn watch again!), but worked through it all as quickly as possible (not counting the finishers). Rested about 20-30 seconds at the end of each round.

Yesterday, I opted for an hour of kid-free Christmas shopping rather than a workout, but had squeezed in a Sunday 5K (24:55 min) to make up for it.

We've also been playing a lot of Boing-Boing -- a game consisting of holding Tim under the arms and "bouncing" him from floor to ceiling (or off various pieces of furniture) seven or eight times while walking through the house before finally throwing him on the couch and collapsing there with him. That's gotta count for something, right?

In the deep, dark dungeon

Warmed up with 500 m row and Ken's bb routine (45 lb, 10 x dl, hang clean, sumo dl high-pull, squats, OH squat with a broom, presses).

Four rounds for time (ie: as quickly as possible with minimal breaks):
500 m row (2:07-8 min)
12 bench dips (feet up on the ball)
10/leg pistol squats (alternating legs after 5)

= er, around 22 minutes? I had some timer trouble. I'll have to do this again with a better system, as that number seems a bit high.

Cool down with an easy 500 m row.

My pistol squats are not yet free-standing. I use a band around a pole for balance, rather than holding the pole itself, to eliminate the possibility of hoisting my weight with something other than my leg. (A band broke on me today. That was fun.) Still, the effect of being able to keep myself upright even though I'm prone to falling back is a bit like using a smith machine for squats, right? I will keep working on form and strength until I can do these free-standing.

This was an intense little circuit that left both my arms and legs a little rubbery. To make it an outdoor workout, you could substitute two minutes of skipping or running.

Push, pull, squat, run

Hi. I've gone to the gym a few times and haven't posted. Early mornings are killing me, so to spare the mental anguish, I've designed my workouts based on this template: push, pull, squat (in a circuit), then run sort-of-but-not-too intensely.

For example, yesterday's workout looked like this:

3 rounds:
50 squats (45 lbs)
6 horizontal chins (couldn't really finish the last set)
10 push-ups

1 set: 10 squats (95 lbs), 6 jumping chins, 10 push-ups

Run - 2 kms@ 12 kmph (5 min kms)

Or a few days ago:

10/leg bench step-ups (50 lbs)
10 bench dips
8 close-grip lat pulls (85 lbs)

Tempo run - 3 kms starting at 10 kmph up to 14 kmph and back down again.

Yoga: x2 weekly!

Instead of sleeping in

Up late the night before... at YOGA CLASS.

Four rounds of:

20 Turkish get-ups (8 lb db)
10 20" box jumps
20 walking lunges, first 10 overhead (12 lb bar)

20:25 min.

Probably should've done sets of 20 box jumps. But then I may have fallen over during the lunges.

Finished with a bit of knees-to-elbows practice (2 sets of 5; still getting my knees to about my shoulders); some one-legged bosu balancing practice.

Then, off to swimming with Tim, which enabled me to practice an exercise I call the "Car-less Mom Walk". Similar to the Farmer's Walk, but with this one you've got a 30 lb kid strapped to your back while you pull a 20 lb carseat in a sled 1000 m. It's a single set, unless you interject a squat here and there (to put the carseat back onto the sled). If you're lucky, you get to do the "pull the kid in the wagon three times around the block" finisher.

Back Atter

Monday luch.

For time, row for 500 m (1:51) then three rounds of:
50LB db swings x 20
65lb Overhead Lunges x 20
30 push ups (these became 20 push ups after the first round).
Row 500 m.

I skipped clocking the last row... time was 30:05

Then a 1000 m row, 5:51. Sort of exhausting.

The Quick and Dirty

It was so warm and cozy inside the house; so cold and uninviting outside. But I lugged the barbell out to the porch... And it got warm real quick.

Warm-up 400 m.

Five rounds of:
10 jump squats (45 lb)
10 hang clean & press (45 lb)
400 m run
= 23 min

(No rest between sets except pause for set-up; however, I rested a full minute between rounds. Because I'm resting for two now.)

Cool-down 400 m.

After stretching, 2 chin-ups, just to stay in the game. :-)

Last five presses of the 5th set were push presses. Ran the 400 m in 1:50 consistently, except for the last set, during which I knocked 5 seconds off. (To make up for the push presses?)

This circuit got hard. Grunting and grimacing hard. Particularly the presses.