Doldrums

Mixed bag today: some plyo and some upper body....

Warmed up with a five minute row.

Plyos:
Picked seven plyo exercises* and did each for 30 seconds (30 per side for things that did each leg separately or went in both directions). Repeat, for a total of 11:30 min of fairly continuous hopping/squatting.

Upper:
3 sets of 10 bench dips, feet on the ball
3 sets of 3 supported chin-ups**, feet on the ball (hands on the barbell in the squat rack)
3 sets of 12 ball transfer crunches

* Jump squats, swing kicks, split squats, circle run, leapfrog squats (very wide leg jump squats), run-stance switch jumps, twist jump combo. Look here for more.

**Wow, my chin-ups have gone to shit. Must focus!

Then, backpack hike with some playtime in the park where I did some more push-uppy and pull-uppy things on the rope climber to keep warm. You should see Tim whiz around on that thing, even with his boots and mittens. He's going to be insane on the climbers this summer.

Also, feeling unmotivated by the basement (though less so after today's workout). Toying with the idea of joining a gym. This may just be the February blahs.

Sixty dips

Okay, they were bench dips in sets of 10, but the point is, playgrounds are great places to add a little something-something to your average run.

Josey, if you can find a way to make your lunch runs wind past an urban playground, you can rev up your run with dips on a bench, chins on the monkey bars, or push-ups at the bottom of the slide. I also discovered swing planks. Seriously - try doing a plank with your hands or elbows on a swing. Angle to the ground doesn't seem like much, but these are hard.

And my kid? He can pull himself up into a standing position on the big kid swings without aid. The big kid swings are higher than his belly button.

Yin and Yang

Well, actually, I yanged yesterday; today was the yin: 90 minutes of hot Yin yoga. Awesome. Going again on Tuesday.

Yesterday, I hit the gym while Overunder did swimming lessons with the Little Guy.

1000 m row (my new warm-up regime)

Squats - 125 x 5 sets of 5
(superset with single-leg BW calf raises - 10/leg x 4 sets)

Deadlifts - 95 x 8; 115 x 5 sets of 5
(superset with) Dips - 3, 2, 2, 2, 1

One-legged balancing on bosu ball - transferring an 8 lb db from hand to hand, and bouncing! (2 x each leg)

The Mile - 7:30 min. Had a fair amount of gas left in the tank.

Before the cottage

Doing a little catch up posting. Manage to sneak out to the gym before heading to my Dad's cottage. It had been weeks since I'd done weights, so I was pleased to find I'm still strong. :-)

Squats:
95 x 8
115 x 6
135 x 5
145 x 3
Superset with chin-ups:
4, 3, 3

Deadlifts:
145 x 5, 5, 5

Presses:
55 x 6
62 x 4 + a pp, 1 + 3 pp

Dips:
2, 2, 2
Superset with inclined sit-ups (three sets of 12)

Push-ups: 2 x 8

A better day

Dear Sportheque Daycare,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I was going to rendez-vous with Annie this morning, but there was a class in the aerobics room, so I did this instead:

4 rounds:
10 thrusters, 52 lb
3 pull-ups, slow eccentric motion only*
3 dips**
15 incline sit-ups (with oblique twists)

Finisher: 15 45lb thrusters

Run 400 m @9.5 mph x 3 (90 sec rest between)

* Hanging my 135 lbs from my wee little hands for 15-20 seconds over and over again was little too ambitious. My grip gave out before my lats/arms, and my reps ended up being 3; 2+1 chin-up; 1; 2 with a neutral grip.

** Dips after the thrusters were also overly-ambitious. My reps look like this: 3, 3, 2 + 8 bench dips, 1+3 assisted dips (45 lb offset).

I'd also like to note that my BUTT is really sore from those split squats yesterday. I'm glad to know that I do have a butt-sculpting move in my arsenal.

Smokey chipotle

I just don't know what the real story is today. Is it the guy who marched across the gym after my first set of big-plate squats to tell me "Tu es tres fort. Bravo!" ? Or adding a whole extra chin-up to EACH of my three sets? Or the fact that I can suddenly do dips? (Inspired by Josey, I decided to attempt unassisted dips for the first time. Josey should've come along sooner!)

I'll tell it as it happened, and let you decide. ;-)

Squats - 135 x 5, 5, 4 (wearing runners: very squishy and unstable! Chucks are official gym equipment now); 95 x 10, 45 x 20
Chins - 3, 3, 3
Presses - 62 x 2, 2, 1 +2 push press
Box jumps - 16", 5 sets of 10
Dips - 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1; with 45 lb offset - 3, 2
Hip raises (shoulders on bench) - 25 lb x 12, 12, 12
Incline sit-ups - 15, 15
Side planks - 40 count per side

And I still had time for a shower before picking up Tim. Who wanted to stay and play.

not guac nor salsa

but dips nevertheless! (it's a wonder there is no mexican food in africa - there should be, the ingredients are much the same. maybe this is an opportunity...)

anyway, workout. after a warm up of 800m ladders (7, 9.5,10.5,11.5 kms) i did:

dips: 1,1,1 (YAY! - guess this eccentric thing is working)
push-ups: 15
db push-up row combo: 10 x 2 (2.5kg weights, single arm - obviously - both arms btw each push-up). first few from toes, rest from knees
push-ups: 15 (knees)
bench dips: 15 x 3
db presses: 5k x 10, 10

winded down with an easy run listening to joel plaskett, until i thought of my little sis running her first marathon today (with a sinister IT band) and me not there to cheer her on. I couldn't breathe through the sobs. ahhhh, the tribulations of being a big sister.

Grrr! Arrgh!

Heavy and hard on the hands.

Squats: 135 x 5, 5, 5
Hang cleans: 75 x 5, 70 x 6, 65 x 6 (adjusting for form)
Deadlifts: 135 x 5, 5, 5 (yah big plates!)
Chin-ups: 2, 2 (and that was it for my grip)
Dips (offset by either 15 or 45 lb, but 10 lbs less than last time): 5, 4, 3
Incline sit-ups: 20, 20, 15

Back to weights, too

No running for me, either. I actually planned on a TGU circuit like Josey's, but after the squats I was too strapped for time. Next time.

This time:

600 m rowing warm-up, as usual

Squats - 125 lb x 5, 5, 5; 95 x 10 (time for the Big Plates!)

Seated calf raises - 90 lb plus my weight on the seat x 8, 8, 8 (something to do between squat sets)

3 rounds:
6, 5, 4 assisted dips (25 lb offset, ie: 110 lbs)
20 inclined sit-ups
15 back extensions

And finally:
Eccentric-only chin-ups x 3