Last Strength Training Session

Today I did the following:

• 20, 25, and 35 reps of push-ups with feet elevated18" 
• 20, 20, and 30 reps bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 15 20 and 25 reps of overhead dumbbell press with 20lb weights instead of lateral dumbbell raises, I alternate between these 
• 40, 60, and 100 reps of sit-ups 

This is my last strength training session before the race.  I did not push myself further than my last couple sessions, as I don't want to over exert myself before the event in a couple days.

Back In The Game

Feeling like I have slacked off in my training, I attacked my strength training workout with greater intensity.  I pushed harder than I have recently, and it felt good to surpass my previous workout level.  This is helping mentally too, which is important as race day approaches.  I need to have the right attitude as I run the race, to keep me moving when my body wants to stop.

I also weighed myself today. 172lbs and 8% body fat.  I'm happy with my current progress, as I only weighed 160lbs when I started training.  I don't want to stay at this weight at all, so I'm going to keep up the training after the race.

Today I did the following:

• 20, 25, and 30 reps of push-ups with feet elevated18" 
• 20, 20, and 30 reps bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 15 20 and 25 reps of lateral dumbbell raises with 20lb weights instead of overhead dumbbell press, I alternate between these 
• 40, 60, and 100 reps of sit-ups

Back to Strength Training

While I can't do much with these ankles, I can get back into building up some muscle.  Although I am working as a day laborer tomorrow, I think I'm strong enough to workout tonight.  I'm gauging this by how I have recently felt the day after working out.

Today I did the following:

• 25, 25, and 30 reps of push-ups
• 20, 20, and 25 reps bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 15 15 and 20 overhead dumbbell press instead of lateral dumbbell raises, I alternate between these 
• 30, 40, and 50 reps of sit-ups

Upper Body Weight Training Session

The soreness in my left big toe is starting to feel better, after my chiropractor visit on Monday.  I'm glad this foot pain is starting to go away, because I was starting to get nervous.  I don't want any long-term injuries, or short-term taking me out of the race.

I noticed a Soloflex add on my blog today, provided through Google AdSense.  I remember seeing the commercials for them on TV as a kid.  Apparently, you don't buy a new one, but you can new straps.  I guess so many people had them collecting dust in their garages and basements that they decided it was cheaper to refurbish them.  The price on one of these isn't that bad if you go off of CraigsList, and I'm starting to think of one of these instead of a Bowflex gym.  I don't really know if the Soloflex is a legitimate exercise machine, or if the rubber bands are going to hold up as long as their claimed lifetime.  I would like to talk to someone who owned one, but I don't know enough people in the appropriate age bracket.  I'm sure I could find some answers online, but it's not worth looking into until I have a place large enough for a home gym.

I'm going to do a big run tomorrow, to see if I should actually be entering this race.  I'm going to do 8 miles at Skegg's Point, where I ran the other day.  I decided to skip doing lunges, as I don't want to have tired legs tomorrow.  Today is just an upper body workout.

Today I did the following:

• 25 push-ups on the ground x3
• 15, 20, and 25 rep bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 15 20 and 25 overhead dumbbell press instead of lateral dumbbell raises, I alternate between these 
• 25, 35, and 50 reps of sit-ups 

Weights and Chiro

Today was the day for my chiropractor appointment.  I have mentioned before that I was having some problems with my left leg, and my brother noticed that my left foot was turning out when he was running behind me yesterday.  I also had pain on the large knuckle of my big toe from my foot being angled inward, the outside of my left knee had pain when bent with weight on it, and my pelvis was clicking/popping along my back on the left side during sit-ups.  This all pointed towards a problem with my pelvis or possibly lower back, causing me to not stand straight.  My chiropractor confirmed this and fixed me right up.  He did a pelvis alignment, my back between the shoulder blades, and a couple places in my neck.  

What really mad it worth the cost was the tendon and muscle work he did.  I should of got his notes from where he worked on, so I could explain it better.  There were a couple issues, the left knee and my usual problem with the my upper right quadriceps tendons.  My left knee pain was from my left hip not rotating correctly, because of the misaligned pelvis.  So, some sports therapy was done on both, but I was concerned because that caused a popping in my left knee where the pain had been.  The doctor thought this might be from tendons moving differently after the adjustment and exercises.  After a day or so, the popping should stop as everything stretches out and settles.
The second issue is with my right side.  As a teenager, I ripped the bone off my pelvis, where the tendons for the quadriceps attach.  I was playing soccer and hyper-extended my knee kicking the ball.  Rather than having a torn tendon, the bone was  pulled off where it attached.  Instead of screws and staples, surgery was avoided by letting the bone grow out to the fragment that the tendon was attached to.  Once it had healed halfway, I reinjured it again.  This means my body mechanics are slightly screwed up at the pelvis, because of this.  Not only is my motion screwed up by how the tendons attach, but there is a build up of scar tissue preventing the tendons from moving across each other properly.  We do several painful exercises to break up the scar tissue, so the tendons can move and be loosened up enough to allow the hip/pelvis proper movement.  I will be sure to take notes on my next visit, so I can be more descriptive in these exercises.

Now, back to the training.  Sunday was supposed to be a day of weights, but my brother and I went on a big run instead.  Today, I was sure to do my strength training before my appointment, because nothing is more frustrating than paying $55 for the a doctors visit and then immediately screwing up what was done.  I didn't do anything special, just my normal routine.

Today I did the following:

• 25 push-ups on the ground x3
• 20, 20, and 25 rep bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 10, 15, and 25 rep lunges with 20lb weights in each hand, and one foot on a chair behind me
• 15 20 and 20 lateral dumbbell raises instead of overhead dumbbell press, I alternate between these 
• 30, 40, and 50 reps of sit-ups 

Day Laborer

I spent the day as a day laborer, so that was my workout.  I'm going to count it as a strength training session.  I had to remove rotten wood borders of a concrete driveway, bend over an ivy bead and trim it, dig holes in insanely hard and rocky dirt, and then plant several potted plants.  I'm sure my back is going to be sore tomorrow, so I had plenty of potassium when I got home.  It doesn't sound like much work, but it was six hours of bending over and working my back that made it tough.  By the time I got to the digging, I was already beat.  I know if I did this everyday, it wouldn't be as difficult from being used to doing it.  I don't want to be used to it, because I never want to do this again.  It's hot, dirty, sweaty work, and you are screwed if you run out of water. Even if it were my own home, I would want to pay somebody to do it for me.

New Strength Training Approach

So far, I have trying something a friend used to do in college with the bicep curls.  Do as many as you can rapidly, until you are tired.  Doing this with the only weights I currently have, 20lb dumbbells, takes forever, and it's not going to help me bulk up.  It would be a better toning exercise after gaining more mass.  After completing three sets I had done hundreds of curls.  I decided to start doing slow extensions and exploding on retraction.  The slow extension helps tire the muscle out faster, so I am only able to do 25 on my right/dominant arm and 20 on my left.  Not only is this faster to do, but it should be better for building strength faster.

I also know that I shouldn't be doing the same workout each time, so I'm going to start making changes for each one.  Last time, I did lateral dumbbell raises for my shoulders, and I did the overhead dumbbell press this time.  Next time, I will go back to the previous exercise for my shoulders.

I also did push-ups on the floor, and then did them on an 18" coffee table.

The lack of a crunch or sit-up exercise was not intentional.  I meant to do it after lifting weights, but I simply forgot because I was so tired.

When doing my lunges with dumbbells, I noticed a popping on the left side of my knee.  No pain, just an annoying half pop, half click.  I think this is related to my left hip not moving right, which happens while doing sit-ups.  I need to get into see the chiropractor, as it is now obvious that my pelvis needs an adjustment.  I try to prolong the time between visits, because I no longer have health insurance and don't make very much money.  I don't want to end up with an injury, so I need to stop being so cheap.

Today I did the following:

• 25 push-ups on the ground, and 25 with my feet elevated 18"
• 20, 20, and 25 rep bicep curls with 20lb weights, at a slow pace
• 10, 15, and 25 rep lunges with 20lb weights in each hand, and one foot on a chair behind me
• 15 20 and 20 overhead dumbbell press instead of lateral dumbbell raises from the last workout

Breakfast To Go and Weights

Kashi cereal, vanilla yogurt, and a banana on the counter at work Saturday morning.  I have been eating a banana every morning because potassium helps sore muscles.  I haven't been sore lately, either from getting stronger or these daily bananas are doing the trick.  Just because you aren't home, doesn't mean you can't eat well. I threw this together while standing behind the counter.  I see people eating crappy processed food all the time, and they say it's because they don't have time to eat right.  With barely any effort, you can bring healthy fast food along with you anywhere.

After my shift, I did my usual weight training.  It is getting too easy, so I need to change things up.  I have an old weight set somewhere in my mother's garage, so I will dig that out sometime this week.

I did notice that my left hip is clicking along my back, when doing sit-ups.  I do have issues with my pelvis popping out of alignment, so I will need to see my chiropractor to have them adjusted.  Usually it is on my right side, due to a childhood soccer injury.  A tendon ripped the bone off where it attached, so now there is a bone spur where the pelvis grew out to the bone fragment.  This has resulted in a change in my bio-mechanics, which occasionally requires chiropractic adjustment of the pelvis. 

Running and Weights

I felt pretty good today, after finally hitting the 3-mile mark yesterday.  No soreness to report.  Today I did a shorter run than yesterday for cardio, followed by a strength training workout.  Two miles are what is easy, so I went ahead and did that without being too tired.  I then did my normal workout with weights, without much difficulty either.  I would like to be able to do cardio every day, but I don't know if running everyday is a good idea for the joints.  Perhaps I should look into biking or swimming on my non-running days.  My only concern is that I'm going to be too tired for tomorrow.  We will see.

Stepping Up The Strength Training

Feeling a bit stronger while doing my sit-ups, I decided to push until I got tired.  I ended up doing 125 sit-ups, instead of just 100.  This made me think that maybe I should ramp up all of my exercises too.  I am learning the line between overdoing it and pushing it every time do a good hard workout.  I have also noticed each exercise gets easier after warming up the muscles with low reps.  I may just start doing a warm up set and then try pushing higher reps for the other two sets.  I still have to do more research on weight training, but it is also important to pay attention to what works for me while exercising.

Today I did the following:

• 125 sit-ups
• 50 push-ups with my feet elevated 18"
• 30, 40, and 55 rep curls with 20lb weights, at a fast pace
• 10, 15, and 25 rep lunges with 20lb weights in each hand, and one foot on a chair behind me
• 10, 15, and 25 reps of lateral dumbbell raises for my shoulders

Back to School Shopping

I went ahead and did my weight training routine today, which went pretty well.  I am feeling a bit stronger, so it wasn't as difficult as last time.  I need to start thinking on where to go from my current workout, once this becomes even easier.  I'll have to do some serious research on free weight training, so not to waste my time and maximize my workout.

I decided to use the rest of the day to take care of another problem.  I don't like the tread of my Vibram Five Finger KSO Trek shoes for running on concrete, so I checked out the Bikila running model today at the Redwood Trading Post.  These shoes fit a little differently than the other VFFs, as there is no ankle strap pushing your feet forward into the separated toes.  This was a problem for me, because all except for my big toe do not fill out the toes. The next size down, 43 EU, fits my foot perfectly, with one exception.  I need a couple more millimeters in the big toe.  Since you can't break in these shoes and hope that it will stretch, I decided not to take a chance on getting the smaller size.  The slight pinch I feel on the big toe will turn into terrible discomfort after just a short run.  The larger size does feel a bit loose, so the clerk suggested wearing Injinji socks.  The socks did help with the fit, and will surely help with having stinky running shoes.  These socks weren't cheap at $15, but I only bought the one pair.  The tread of these shoes is different too, it has additional layers of material under your feet, to provide more cushion when striking.  There is also some light arch support added, instead of the leather arch on the KSO Trek model.  I'm hoping the different tread will help how my feet feel after a couple miles.  I'm not going to run in them just yet, as I'm not to sure about the fit.  The store said I could wear them around the house for 7-days, so I'll test them out at home.

The other change today was deciding to monetize my site, as these shoes don't pay for themselves.  Currently there are Google AdSense adds below the first post on a page.  Hopefully, they will be relevant adds, and someone finds them as useful as any encouragement or information in this blog.

First Day of Strength Training

Just running every other day isn't going to cut it for the Tough Mudder. So, I decided to start doing some strength training before work today.  My impromptu routine is listed below.  I will change the exercises as I do more research and progress in my training.  It was enough to break a sweat and elevate my heart rate, so I'm going to call it a cardio workout as well.

1. 100 full sit-ups
2. 50 push-ups with feet elevated 18"
3. 3 sets of bicep curls at 25, 35, and 45 reps with 18lb dumbbells 
4. 3 sets of shoulder at 10, 15, and 25 reps with 18lb dumbbells 
5. 3 sets of lunges with stabilizing leg elevated on chair and 18lbs dumbbells in each hand at 10, 15, and 25 reps