I want to make note of the fact that I am not in the shape I should be or could be. I am probably ahead of the curve, but I am weak and losing my flexibility. I am starting at ground zero like many people my age who suddenly realize their bodies aren’t keeping up with their minds; people who discover they can’t do something that has never been a challenge for them before. We mentally feel just like we did when we were 30 or 35, and now that the kids are starting to live lives more independent of the parents we find we have time to take on some activities we miss. As soon as we try though, our bodies tell us that our mind is out of touch with our physical autonomy.

9/10/2018 Monday

8:40 – Stairs – 2 stories x 3

11:40 – Neck Mobility, Waist mobility

Shoulder Circles – 2 sets x 20, front and back alternating sets

Updog / Downdog x 10

Note: my back is really stiff and sore right at the tailbone

12:10 – Rear Delt Flex against prison chair back x 30

Man I just have no gas in the tank.

12:25 – Seated Scapular Dips x 50 with feat elevated

Lunch – Bone Broth with ground sausage, purple onion, purple basil, red cabbage, and Dragon Cayenne pepper

9/11/2018

9:30 – Iso-chest squeeze x 60 seconds; elbows together low, good focus

Air squats x 20; feet hip width, toes straight forward, really focused on not letting my abductors take over but making my outer quad, adductors, and gluteus maximus do the work; after rep 10 I was butt to heels

11:20 – Iso-delt raise against chair arms x 30 seconds; good focus

12:00 – Triceps Flex x 30; held squeeze between each rep, almost got my left triceps to cramp (that is the goal)

Bicep Flex x 30; the goal is to squeeze as hard as possible

Lying Superman x 10; first time, not very good at it but it felt pretty good when I was done. Read one article that said legs shouldn’t come up too high or it will hyperextend your back which isn’t good. Need more research.

Triceps Flex x 30

12:30 Lunch – bone broth with some rice and cabbage& onion, and a little smoked ground sausage. I made this for my daughter’s lunch which is why it had rice , but she said it’s too weird to eat at school

12:45 – Iso-delt raise x 50; pushed really hard on every rep, trying to break the arms of the chair

2:05 – Stretch Hip Flexors – standing, wide stance, flex adductor of front leg during stretch, 10 bend and straighten then 30 sec hold

Hamstring Stretch – standing Toe touch, feet closer than hip width.

2:45 – Twisting Vertical Knee raises x 10 – not exactly, it was more of a twisting with knees raised (made a video)

Iso-delt raise x 25 (made a video)

9/12/2018 Wednesday

8:25 – Triceps flex x 30 sec, 2 sets; still can’t flex it to the point of feeling like it might cramp like I can my biceps. Not sure if it’s a weak mind/muscle connection or if it’s the way the triceps are designed. the On second set I grabbed the edges of my chair just behind my butt and arched my back, seemed to give me a deeper contraction.

I have been avoiding doing pushups this week because of my elbow situation (Annular Ligament?), but I am missing them. They are intense and work my muscles hard. I am starving right now, and I’m sleep deprived because of our puppy combined with it being hell week at work. So it is hard to motivate myself to do anything. At least with pushups it’s just one simple move, doesn’t require a ton of focus to make the muscles work hard.

10:30 – Air squats x 10, butt to floor

Iso-delt raise x 35 sec, gave it everything I had – really dug deep

10:35 – Superset

Reverse Lunges 2 sets x 10, continuous;

10 Air Squats all the way down, feet slightly wider than hips, knees forward (don’t flair out to the sides). This really worked my adductors too.

9/13/2018

8:45 – Windshield wipers x 30 – probably could have done 50, these were far easier than they used to be prior to starting my sports massage therapy. Bent knees, tried to focus on keeping my lower back flat; still have limited range of motion going to the left side (right hip) but far more mobility than before. At around 15 my right hip joint popped slightly and my ROM increased a bit.

Triceps Flex x 25, getting deeper flex, getting closer to the cramping feeling

Seated Scapular Dips x 50; feet on floor

9:45 – Iso-delt raises x 50, max intensity

10:45 – Stairs – Oh Yeah Baby! 36 floors (8.5 floors x 4, +2 to get back to my desk), for 10 of those floors I didn’t straighten my knees, I kept them bent to work the glutes more. Really pushed, 1st time up was 1 min 59 sec, next two were 2min 35sec & 2min 30 sec, final set was 2min 40sec.

Triceps Flex x 50, really good squeezes

I am curious to see what just flexing will do to my musculature over the next 3 weeks. I’m neglecting my biceps right now because bending them that much seems to irritate my elbow problem, so just like I’m not doing pushups I am hoping that total rest will get it rehabbed soon.

12:00 – Air Squats x 10, butt to heel, back feels looser after this morning

I forgot to not that last night when I came back to bed from taking out the puppy I sat cross legged with my pillows in my lap and laid down that way for I guess 20 minutes. I wonder if that helped loosen me up for my hip to pop this morning? I think I’ll do that stretch again tonight.

12:05 – Stiff Leg Air Deadlift (no weight) x 50, kept pretty deep arch in my back, trying to keep my back flat kind of hurt. It got difficult, lower back started weakening. For reps 30-40 I rounded my back toe-touch style and that felt the best of the three options. May just do that from now on, don’t know.

2:30 – Toe touches x 10; I found that if I start out with a straight back and then round about ½ way down it is the most pain free.

3:40 – Glute Flex with Posterior Pelvic Tilt x 20; a slight bend in the knees helps shift the focus away from the abductors and more into the glutes

9/14/2018

8:25 – Seated Scapular Dips x 50, almost to failure; hand placement was right behind hip joint ( a little further behind my body than normal) and I could really feel it in my rear delts;

Note: The plan was to not do any leg work today because I was so much more aggressive with them than usual yesterday. They feel fine though, no soreness or fatigue at all.

Went to lunch (on the company) at Norma’s Cafe: Chicken fried steak, green beans, steamed broccoli, turnip greens (which were surprisingly good).

Been arbitrarily flexing my triceps when I walk. Went down to the pond around 2:15 just to walk in hopes of trying to digest some lunch. While down there I did about 10-12 wall vaults, and about 3-4 jump ups on the wall.