April 27 - a rare gym appearance

We've been enjoying our garage WODs so much lately that we haven't been to the gym very often. We've stopped by there to walk/run when the weather has been bad, but we haven't been on the gym main floor much.

Today we decided to take advantage of it though. Wonder Dad is still nursing a calf strain and I've got a soccer game tomorrow, so we didn't want to run. So off to the gym we went!

Today's workout looked like this:

Leg Extensions:
I did 6 sets of 10 reps at the following weights:
108#, 144#, 168#, 192#, 216#, 240#

Pulley Rows:
I did 3 sets of 10 reps at the following weights:
105#, 120#, 135#

Standing Leg Curls:
I did 2 sets of 10 reps at 45# (each)

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press:
I did 3 sets as follows:
30# (10 reps), 50# (7 reps), 50# (4+2 reps)

Seated Shoulder Press:
I did 2 sets of 10 reps at 25# (each)

And that, as they say, was that.

It was a good workout. We both felt pushed physically. And we hit the muscles in a different way than our WODs have been hitting them. I'm already sore - especially in my chest and shoulders. Hopefully it won't be too bad for tomorrow's soccer game. It's the last one of the season.

A Date Kept

You have probably guessed it by now, but I am not a big fan of running on the treadmill. If you haven't guessed that little fact, well, forget I said anything.

Seriously, there is just something about it. I don't seem to be able to find a comfortable gait.

But there are some days when the best option to meet my fitness goals is to keep my date with the treadmill. Today is one such day.

The new shoes (Brooks Pure Flow) are still keeping my feet happier than they have ever been on the treadmill. And maybe my problem today stems from the heavy deadlifts we did yesterday. I really don't know.

But whatever the case, I found it hard to get into a rhythm on the treadmill today. In order to break it up, I decided to run intervals. My overall distance worked out to be a touch shorter than usual (about 1.75 miles), but I was able to push some much higher tempos, even if for only a few minutes at a time. I am hoping it will help for my next road run.

Tomorrow we are back to our crossfit workouts and I will plunge back into the plank a day challenge.

Jan 12 - Run & Done

Saturdays are usually a run day. But today is rainy and nasty; just not the kind of day that calls to you to strap on your sneakers and hit the road.

Despite that though, we need to get in our cardio. So after the boy finished his judo class, we headed to the gym to find a pair of treadmills with our names on them.

20 minutes (& 1.75 miles) later, we called it quits and took off to tackle our ever growing to-do list.

I managed my plank of the day along the way as well. 1 minute & 15 seconds. While this is another personal best, I made the mistake of doing it too soon after eating and was quite miserable for the duration of those 75 seconds. Tomorrow is a rest day for the planks. I think I am ready for some recovery time where that is concerned.

A Pretty Good Day

I was replaying the day, trying to get a feel for my efforts so far.

This week has been trying at best, especially where work is concerned. And to be honest, I am tired. Tired to the point where I didn't feel much like exercise of any sort.

But despite my reticence, today has actually gone pretty well.

First off, I managed 65 seconds for my daily plank - that's a new personal record! I hope I can keep on improving. My whole body was shaking throughout the whole hold.

Secondly, Wonder Boy had a belt test at judo tonight and he did simply fantastic! He's been the top ranked student in the kids class for more than a year now. He has grown and matured so much in the nearly 6 years he's been studying judo. To see the confident leader of the class that he has become makes my heart swell with pride!

And finally, after judo, we had to make the choice on whether to head straight home or to buckle down and get to the gym and hit the treadmill. We both really wanted to go home and get some rest. But we both knew we would regret it if we did that.

So in the end, we trudged to the gym. We got on our treadmills and did our 20 minutes.

There is a moral victory just in stepping on the treadmill. But thankfully, it doesn't end with just a moral victory. My new shoes felt GREAT on the treadmill! I started slow to get a feel for them, but the longer I ran, the better they felt! Instead of walk/run intervals like I normally do on the treadmill, I was able to to build from start to finish. And when my time was done, I felt the best I have felt all day.

So despite the weary week, today turned out to be a pretty good one on the fitness front for us all.

Jan 6 - gym time

Today we decided to do a traditional gym workout. Monday is typically a crossfit day and sometimes we like to work in a regular workout to gauge how our efforts are affecting our overall strength, so today seemed to be a good opportunity to get that done since tomorrow will certainly be a crossfit day.

Today we did the following:
* leg extensions - 1 warm up set and 2 heavy sets
* squats - 1 warm up set and 2 heavy sets
* cable rows - 1 warm up set and 2 heavy sets
* standing leg curls - 2 heavy sets
* incline dumbbell bench press - 1 warm up set and 2 heavy sets
* seated shoulder press - 2 heavy sets
* donkey calf raises - 2 heavy sets

Not a super long workout, but it still took us about 50 minutes. I am pleased to report that we haven't seen any drop off in strength since switching primarily to our crossfit workouts. In fact, we improved on every single exercise today. It feels good to know that we didn't lose ground by changing up out workout routine.

And as a bonus, we stopped by the local running shoe store before going to the gym. They had an awesome sale on some shoes that are to be replaced by a newer model. We each got a new pair. They are supposed to be better suited to treadmill running. I can hardly wait to try them out tomorrow.