Resilience

week OF 10/15/2018 training

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Training Goals: 6 Pounds Of Muscle in 12 Months ( 10/01/2019); Eliminate Lower Back Pain; Stairs – ???

Current weight in Morning: ???; Only going to weigh on Monday each week;

Forgot to do it this week. Last Friday I weighed though and was 151 on an empty stomach

Arm Circumference: 14” left, 14.25” right

So last Friday after I got home from _____ I did a full on impressive plyometric workout, tons of explosive movements. I was watching the Michael Vazquez and Heba Ali videos while working out. Did explosive pushups, fancy pushups, airplane pushups; Jumps over the ottoman about 3 sets of 10, side jump over the ottoman 1 set of 10, jumped the length of our longest ottoman x2, scapular pullups2 x 10, chin-ups 2×10, 1 set focused on biceps, 1 set on lats, some weird shoulder exercise I saw Heba doing, Jump over Ottoman with 10 lbs x 5; probably more stuff I can’t remember.

10/15/2018 Monday

11:45 – Stairs 46.5 floors, 42.5 stairs took 24:27:30, took the first 8.5 up pretty slow, 2:49:12 because I wanted to pace myself and I was pretty stiff from Fridays Plyo-stuff

12:40 – Seated Scapular Dips x 75, feet on floor full ROM

Side Delt Raise Purple Band x 47, total failure on 48, pause at top of movement, some fast some slow, just mixing it up trying to get to failure faster

12:48 – Lunch: jalapeno cheddar braut, seaweed salad

7:00 – Finally leaving work. L

10/16/2018 Tuesday

Had my Body comp measured this morning at 9, 15.9% body fat with calipers, 17.6 with Omron, BI 23.3; 5’8” 153 lbs on Dr type scale; BP 148/78, pulse 66bpm, Chest 38.25, waist 30.5, hips 38, Thigh 21.5, calf 1.25, upper arm 12 (relaxed)

10:30 Neck Mobility, Shoulder Mobility, hip mobility

11:15 – Rear Delt Squeeze against chair x 75, tried to dig deep, succeeded on some

11:30 – Bird Dogs x 10/side, held at top for 8 seconds; I don’t feel this one working my back at all. My left elbow is suddenly hurting me again too. I did some research on Supermans before deciding on this which is why there is a 5 min gap in my training just now . I personally think the superman helps me more than hurts.

Superman x 20, I don’t do a very big range of motion and I focus on lifting my legs higher than I do my arms. My arms could go higher but I limit their ROM. I need to check my bold, I’m freaking starving. Blood Sugar 104, guess I’m good to go.

Take BCAA

Pushups x 30, wide grip, don’t want to overstress elbow. A little winded, I feel like I could fall asleep right now. I have been really struggling getting up in the mornings, even after 8+ hours of sleep I feel like I need more. Wow, suddenly my chest is feeling pumped!

1 min rest

Knee Pushups x 40, wide grip, full ROM at top – focused on training for explosive pushups I’ll do later in the week I hope. Left shoulder feeling a little tender all of a sudden.

Bent over Hurdler Lunge x 13, losing balance on right leg forward, I really am fatigued.

Glute Flex x 20, I’m trying to dig deep, but it feels like I am going through the motions.

Chair dips x 50, short ROM, feet on floor, got kinda close to failure. Needed to have on a video I think. That’s just week sauce though, I used to be able to dig deeper than anything by sheer will, no music, not visuals, nothing.

Horizontal Purple Band triceps extensions x 33, failure, almost failed on 29 but dug down for more!

Maybe it’s a matter of feeling what the body will allow you to max on and focusing on those body parts/exercises. Maybe today is just an isolations day

Just tried some biceps with bands and my left elbow is saying Oh Hell No.

Toe Touches x 50, very rounded back, flex glutes before standing, arch back slightly and bring arms behind glutes for emphasis

Standing Donkey Kicks x 20/side

Chair Dips x 75, feet elevated, failure

Side Plank Dips x 5/side

My back just feels effed up today. Probably a combo of the stairs yesterday and all the effing sitting from last week and yesterday..

Lunch – sautéed cabbage and carrots with braut

10/17/2018 Wednesday

9:00 – Up/down dog x 12 as a warm up

Kneeling Pushups x 20, great form, I am roasting, need to take off my base layer I guess

Back is sooo stiff.

9:20 – Flat Footed Squat x 2 min

Stretch Flexors

The last couple of days I have been so crazy sleepy. I can barely stay awake right now. The puppy slept in my daughter’s room for most of the night and I slept hard. I was asleep before 10, and slept until about 7:10. I was falling asleep at red lights on my way home from work yesterday. I have a Dr appointment to get my labs done today.

10:22 – Pushups x 30, exaggerated ROM at top, kinda fast reps, medium hands and elbow position

12:20 – Hurdler Lunge x 25/side, felt really good. I remained upright this time (no bending at the hips) and had my trailing foot very far back, I focused on keeping my glutes flexed, moving torso forward more than dropping down, and rocking back onto my heal when returning to start position.

Pushups x 20, same as above but faster reps

I’m watching some motivational crossfit vids before doing my next exercise, and it is just hammering home the importance of environment. I want to push till I puke like these guys, but I have to be someplace else to do it. I can’t push like that in my cube. This is trueism across all facets of life. Change your environment to change your reality.

10/18/2018 Thursday

It looks (and feels) like I broke my left middle finger last night. I wasn’t quite sure when I went to bed last night, but it seems pretty likely now. I have it taped to my ring finger for now. It seems like the break is right in the joint, so I don’t know if I should go to the doctor or not. My concern is permanent loss of full mobility because of the location. IDK, we’ll see.

2:45 – Stairs x 6 floors

working my ass off as usual, need to get my Journal entries done. I spent the morning researching the break in my finger until a was satisfied that it probably isn’t a broken joint and that I don’t need an x-ray. More freaking Business License requests dropped in on me, no rest for the weary.

The backpacking trip is next week, so I need to be prepared. I’ll do another push on the tower stairs tomorrow, I think I’ll shoot for 53 floors.

10/19/2018 Friday

9:35 – Seated Hamstring stretch x 30 sec/side

Iso-Chest Squeeze x 30 sec, elbows together below nipples, as intense as I possibly could, almost got to cramp

Not sure what all I’m going to be able to do to keep building muscle. Seems like I keep having freak injury setbacks every time I start really making progress. Last year the sepersaed shoulder, then the unbelievable bak pain, the year before that was the left rotator cuff…geez! I have been neglecting my flexibility so this is a good opportuntiy to get back in that habit.

12:10 – Hurlder Lunge x 25/side, limited ROM (wearing jeans, can only bend so far). Need to keep toes pointed forward in order to keep focus on Glute Maximus, also rocking back/pushing through front heel and consciously flexing the glute helps. May try putting 2×4 under toes next time.

Squats x 20, butt to chair, drive through heels fast reps.

Biceps Flex x 50; intense squeeze, no cramping though

Triceps Flex x 60 seconds; good squeeze, almost cramped a couple of times after 40sec of really focusing

Biceps Flex x 30 sec; Hard to keep the intensity but changing arm position helps.

Triceps Flex x 30 seconds; Getting close, good intensity, it helps to flex back muscles while doing triceps

I’m lamenting not knowing how I will worout, how could I forget my Flexing experiment? This brokwn finger is probably a blessing in disguise because I was starting to stray back toward the more traditional training.

4:15 – Donkey Kickbacks, Standing x 25/side

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Training for Week of 10/08/2018

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Training Goals: 6 Pounds Of Muscle in 12 Months ( 10/01/2019); Eliminate Lower Back Pain; Stairs – ???

Current weight in Morning: ???; Only going to weigh on Monday each week;

Forgot to do it this week, work is sucking big time.

Arm Circumference: 14” left, 14.25” right

10/09/2018 Tuesday

9:40 – Seated Biceps Curl Purple Band x 25; slower pace, great form, good intensity, didn’t use the handles, held the bands themselves with them running along outside (pinky side) of hand, really great pump, challenging at the end.

10:20 – Went to workout facility

Experimented with the twisting lat pulldown, 70 lbs x 6/per side – just to see, someone was with a trainer using it too

Roman chair back extensions x 5 warmup, x15; legs bent

Vertical Leaps onto tallest platform x 3

Preacher curl 15 lbs x 25, perfect form, slow up on reps 20-25 and super slow down; reached definite failure

Gymnast Abs x 8

Stairs 8.5 floors x 2 for time, 1st set 1:43:34, every other step, 2nd set 2:21:14 every step, +2 floors to get back to my cell; 10:30 total time

20 minute rest

Seated Biceps Curl Purple Band x 25, regular speed, good form, great intensity, definite failure

Time for a shot of BCAA

12:00 – Bent over Hurdler Lunge x 25/side, focus on central Glute Maximus

Seated Biceps Curl black band x 8, couldn’t do full RIOM on most reps, but got as close as I could and failed on rep 8, had to really dig deep to get as much ROM as I did.

Air Squats x 20, great form, feet shoulder width, butt to heels, didn’t allow knees to flair out (tried to minimize abductor involvement),

12:20 – Lunch Time! Pastured hamburger patty, raw (uugh) broccoli, purple cabbage, purple onion, bone broth.

10/10/2018

I didn’t get to sleep until midnight last night, full on family drama. I’ll accept 50% of the responsibilty, but I honestly think that may be a little high. Oh well, all is fine now. I’m really lousy at passing the sack test. I need to be more disciplined, but I’m working on it.

8:45 – Chair Dips x 60, tiny range of motion again. Usually I do these with my arms locked against my body, but I moved them away from my body for the last 15 or so.

Knee Pushups x 20, elbows close, really felt the burn in my triceps. Forearms started to get that numb feeling like the blood was cut off

It is now 10:43 and my Triceps feel pumped big time. I did some triceps flex a few minutes ago, but they already felt swole before I did them. My biceps feel really pumped from yesterday too. No Lactic acid soreness though. Also my glute maximus feel fairly tight at the very top just below my back. That’s a good thing, I haven’t been having any success targeting that area. I wonder which of the glute exercises yesterday contributed to this the most?

12:00 – Pushups x 42, med elbow, exagerated top of ROM (really working intercostals, prepping for plyopushups), almost fail, maybe had 45 reps in me, but I’m in my cube breathing like a bear after a chase. I got to 42 by just reminding myself that I don’t care if people hear me, doing anything worried about what other people think is a crappy way to live.

Horizontal Triceps Extensions Black Bands x 15, did purple first for 8 reps to warm up, maybe should have tried to et 18 reps but I was getting full range of motion

1 min rest

Pushups x 25, wide grip, not fail but super challenging, form started to get sloppy, shoulders felt like they might give

Horizontal Triceps Extensions x 20, Black band for 1st 10 then purple for 2nd, definite failure, I can barely type my hands are shaking so bad. I can definitley be proud of this 12:00 round.

1 min rest

Superman x 15, last 5 legs only

Up Dog Pushups x 71, wide grip, try not to allow back or glutes to assist at all, total failure on #72

Now for some BCAA!

10/11/2018 Thursday

Arms feel good and pumped! Feel some lactic acid build up in my chest. I feel like I want to work both of these areas again, they don’t feel like they can’t handle it, but I also know at my age recovery takes longer and I don’t want to be in an overtrained state and get no results.

10:45 – Bent Over Hurdler Lunge x 25/side

I’m really not to focused on my training today because I really need to take tomorrow off and the deadline is looming. Everything over the last two days has not been working smoothly, so I am really staying in my chair too much trying to finish. I think maybe I’ll watch a Michael Vazquez video for some inspiration.

10:55 – seated Scapular Dips x 75, feet elevated, strict form until # 70, near failure. The video helped

Seated Bows x 15, son’t want to frag my back before tomorrow morning.

Stiff Leg Deadlifts x 50, very good form. The approach is to move my hips back as far as possible focusing on keeping my shoulders in the same plane going up and down, like they are on a smith machine. Don’t lean forward, don’t let my shoulders go out beyond my toes. Don’t let me shoulders mover forward and back.

I was about to do shoudlers with one of the bands, but then remembered that I want to experiment with taking in protien before my workouts to see if it really does help build muscle more than taking it after workouts. Since it is “Tailgate Party” day at work, they will be feeding us and it is going to start soon so I don’t want to take any protien powder right now.

12:55 Hmmm, I didn’t think that through. I wasn’t thinking that whenever the company feeds us I eat about 3 days worth of food. Now I’m too stuffed to workout. My bak is really starting to ache again too. It is, no doubt in my mind, because I have been marathon sitting trying to meet this stupid f*ing deadline. Too much work!

1:55 – Side Delt Raises Purple Band x 47, total and complete falure on rep 48, really tried to get it too. Held it for seconds trying to power through

Power Walk 2 laps around the floor

2:22 – Rear Elbow Squeeze x 50

Seated Air Shrugs x 50

Have an Interview tomorrow with a different company

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Week of 9/24/2018 Training

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9/24/2018

8:45 – Triceps Flex x 30, not very intense, did hold for a few seconds at the end of each rep trying to get a little deeper; placed hands on chair behind glutes to make it easier to focus on the squeeze

Air Squats x 10, feet hip width apart, felt good, great form

I am so sleepy and tired right now. I think it may have to do with this place, it’s just depressing being here. I did help some guys repair a friends ceiling on Saturday

11:00 – Stairs x 27.5 floors (3 sets of 8.5), skipped every other one, sweating worse than I was last week when I did 5 sets; didn’t time first set because I was hand delivering something to the 7th floor, and spent about 8-9 minutes chatting before starting back up. The remaining two sets of stairs were 1:58 and 2:01

On my way to the tower I went into the gym and did some box jumps. I did the 2nd lowest x 3, the 2nd tallest x 2, and the tallest x 1. Felt it in my back on that last one, but it’s all good. I can jump again. I think the windshield wiper exercise and stretch is making a difference. Maybe it’s the superman; maybe it’s both.

12:30 – superman 3 x 20 sec/side, push heal against bottom of desk, raise arm as high as possible

Windshield wipers x 20, very bent lags (doing them in my cube), these aren’t even a challenge anymore, right lat under shoulder blade (along ribs near middle of back) kept cramping when going to left side.

Side Delt raises Purple band x 58; total failure on 58; reps 25 on I did as fast as I could

12:55 – Windshield Wipers x 20, straight leg, a bit challenging but coulda done 25 I’m sure. I was in the tax library with the door shut and didn’t want to risk getting busted.

1:00 – Lunch, bone broth with cauli-rice and brisket and hot sauce

2:15 – Wall Jumps Sideways x 2; Sprints x 2, not sure about distance or time, I think it’s about 40 yards. Back is feeling good so I wanted to see if I could actually sprint. It’s been a long time since my back would let me

Lying Chair position Flat Back (for abs) x 20 seconds;

Windshield Wiper Stretch 90 degree legs x 30 seconds per side

9/25/2018

9:10 – Abductor Stretch x 30 sec/side

Seated Toe touch opposite sides x 25, sat up straight each time

Hip Flexor Stretch x 30 sec, twisting torso

10:25 – Bird Dogs X 10/side SUPERSET W/ Supermans x 10

10:30 – In the Gym

Windshield wipers x 30, stretch x 30 Sec/side

Pull ups x 0, gave it hell though,

explosive pushups 3 x 6

hanging pull up bar transitions(?), moving back and forth between the two different pullup bars, (think American Ninja)

seated cable row x 30, 60 lbs

fingertip hangs (didn’t time myself, just till it hurt too bad to take)

jumps on 2nd tallest x 5

11:40 – Rear Delt Press into back of chair x 50, good squeeze

Side Delt Raise Black Band x 17, total failure on 18, held as long as I could without injury

11:45 – Biceps curl Purple band x 40, crazy burn, sweating hard, close to fail, low blood sugar I think

3:40 – Wall Hurdles x 16, twisted my ankle.

Biceps curl Purple band x 50, crazy burn, sweating hard, close to fail; back is starting to flair up.

9/26/2018 Wednesday

8:45 – Knee Pushups x 61, hands close (shoulder width), great form and focus, total failure on 62, couldn’t even come back up an inch. Almost hat failure at 55 and again at 60 but I took a couple of deep breaths and dug deeeep.

Ankle still hurt, did not like getting down to the floor for my pushups.

9:05 – Supermans x 25, tried not to raise torso too much to avoid possible compression, #14-20 were legs only. This definitely works glutes more.

Seated Wall Posture arm raises (to improve posture, not sure what to call these) x 20, need to remember to keep lower back pressed against the wall

Stiff Leg Dead Lifts x 30

9:20 – Standing back extensions x 25

3:30 – stairs x 10 floors

9/27/2018 Thursday

Started out with the best of intentions to watch a motivational video and then start the prison cube workout early. It is now 9:55, the boss is bitching because the company I’m calling to get answers about taxes on invoices wouldn’t answer their phones at the end of the day yesterday, so I went home after being at work for 9 hours. Apparently I am undependable and she’ll just have to do everything herself. The best part is, one of my coworkers is such a basket case that my boss can’t give her any random shit to do for the audit because it won’t get done and she gets stressed to the point of tears. So my coworker is in good standing with the boss because she hasn’t failed the boss on any audit tasks given to her.

9:55 – Scapular Pushups x 25, harder than I thought it would be, really started to burn front delts, probably could done 10 more

Boss just walked by and saw me stretching my front delts … it’s tough being a disappointment.

11:40 – Side Delt Raise Purple Band x 20, I thought I heard the boss coming. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, days like today it matters. Why be consistent, right? Nothing like being at the whim of someone else’s moods. I’m taking a half day today and taking tomorrow off. Later!!

Every Single Second Matters, Pay attention to them. They grow and multiply, and in them you are either moving forward or sliding backward.

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Fitness Update

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9/21/2018

11:25 – Pushups x 50, medium elbows; compete failure at top of last rep, couldn’t go back to floor, body shaking like I have hypothermia

SUPERSET w/Side Delt Raises Black Band x 17, failure

Now BCAA and lunch – cauliflower and brisket in bone broth

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Training Week of 9/17/2018

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9/17/2018

8:25 – Delt Raise with Purple bands x 50; this was to failure, the burn was almost unbearable. I didn’t grip the handle because I didn’t want to stress my elbow, I just wrapped the ends around my hands, I also used the full length rather than shorten it to make it harder.

10:30 – Neck Mobility and Hip Mobility drills

3:15 Toe Touches x 10

That’s it today, work is just crushing and the deadline is screaming toward me like a runaway freight train.

9/18/2018 Tuesday

8:30 – Triceps Flex x 30 seconds

10:25 – Iso-Biceps Desk Curl x 25, tried to lift desk while seated, really try to move it; back didn’t love this move, reclined in my chair some and braced elbows into iliac crest;

10:35 – Neck and Hip Mobility

10:45 – went and laid on the wall by the pond for about 20 minutes to readjust my alignment, then I did some windshield-wiper inspired twisting stretches – about 30 seconds per side x 2/side and it really seems to have helped the stiffness in my back.

12:05 – – Iso-Biceps Desk Curl x 30 sec, really went for failure which is hard to do with isometrics, you just pretty much start pushing less and less rather than failing to push

Biceps Flex Pulse x 25

Delt side Raise Purple Bands x 52, reached failure, insane burn

Walking Lunges x 5/side w/superset of

standing Leg curl x 50, not quite failure but close, muscles were shaking

2:15 – Delt Raise Purple Band x 25, have my ear buds in and the wire was in the way, my coworker keeps interrupting me too. Serious burn at 25, will have to dig deep to push past that.

2:27 – Delt Raise Purple Band x 30, not failure but damn that burns!

9/19/2018 Wednesday

Damn, so tired! Did I mention Suki is now 13 weeks old (only!)? She was up at 4 and would not go back to bed. The sleep deprivation is definitely catching up. I overslept this morning, and my back is pretty stiff, not too sore though.

9:55 – Seated Back Stretch x 40 sec; basically just leaning forward with feet flat on the floor and touching the floor with my hands.

10:15 – Windshield Wipers x 5 bent leg, x 10 straight leg, x 10 bent leg; warmed up with standing torso twists x 25

Windshield wiper stretch to left side x 60 sec, to right side x 30 sec

Did some weird rounded back stretch on my knees and then lifted my arms straight out in front to work the mid/lower back

Back feels pretty good.

10:30 – hip flexor and quad stretching; Wall Jumps x 5/side

Wall Hurdles x 3/side

Standing High Knee Jumps x 10

I must start rebuilding my explosive power. I am so exhausted, and my legs feel like lead. It’s like I have no bounce left.

11:35 – Neck & Hip Mobility drills; these take 4.5-5 min in total

Shoulder Mobility drills

Side Delt Raise Purple Band x 60, did fast reps (watching a Michael Vazquez video) focusing on explosiveness

Seated Curl Purple Band x 50; fast reps, chair at highest level; Did feel it some in my left elbow. I’m wearing my old Sports elbow brace. Need to find my new one and start wearing it.

How long does it take for a 51 year old to recover from workouts? From walking the stairs? The thing is, It seems like I’ve been doing more work on my arms than anything and they seem ready for more. My hamstrings feel fine even after yesterday. Is it because I can recover from ultra-light high rep training faster than heavier training even though it seems the intensity level is the same (like going to failure on delts and hams)? If so, how to I translate that into legs? And will it benefit me for explosive power or backpacking?

– “specializing in health, fitness and wellness for men over 50” –

So far I see a recurring theme : more recovery time after hard workouts and more sleep. It does appear that stress affects recovery times as well. Of course it would, cortisol is catabolic. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.

Aha, Fast muscle fibers are designed for explosive movements Generally, these muscles require more time to recover between workouts, and The slower muscle fibers are designed for endurance activities and they take less time to recover. That kind of answers my question about high rep vs heavy/explosive training.

Also more intensity will require longer recovery. Most of the time we are at medium intensity, probably more because of a mental thing than anything else. The less intense your workouts, the less recovery time those muscles need. And of course, the more intense, the more recovery needed. Not talking about cardio intensity though.

Age: General guideline: 20 yrs old – tend towards 2 days; 50+ – tend towards a week for a muscle group to fully recover.

9/20/2018 Thursday

10:00 – triceps Flex x 50, really trying to get them to cramp

10:15 – Seated Bicep Curl Black Band x 25, alternating; couldn’t do both arms at the same time, back was aching when I tried.

10:25(ish)-10:50 – Stairs x 44.5 stories (floors) (5 sets 8.5 floors, +2more); laps 1,2,5 I skipped a step; 3, 4 took every step; lap 1 – 2:04, lap 2 – 2:06; 3 – 2:20; lap 4 – 2:21; lap 5 – 2:19; all times are rounded up to nearest second

11:07 – Side Delt Raise Black Band x 32, total failure, failed doing 32; prob coulda failed on 33 if I was more mentally disciplined and dug deeper;

I am wearing my good Mueller elbow brace and my new ankle support, both definitely help.

11:15 – Chair dips x 65, actually more like pulses, very short range of motion; started getting fatigued, as soon as my elbows started to burn I stopped. I don’t want to slow my elbow recovery from whatever it is that ails it.

11:17 – Chair dips x 40, what the hell why not. This time had shoulders up in the shrug position

9/21/2018 Friday

This morning before getting out of bed I did a short windshield wiper stretch, about 30 sec/side. Might have helped some, hard to tell. Maybe cumulatively it will.

8:35 – Supermans x 30; first 5 were legs only, 2nd 5 were torso only, final 25 were full body

Superset w/ updog pushups x 50, 1st 40 were medium (45 degree), last 10 were wide; I think doing the supermans first helped. I am wearing my elbow brace (left elbow), right elbow started to burn, left was ok.

3 min rest

Pushups x 30, really good form, elbow ok, elbows close to body; when I stopped I wished I had gone to fail because I was so close.

10:00 – Supermans x 30, 20 legs only, 10 torso only

Superset w/ windshield wipers x 30; felt really good, legs straight. Follow up with stretching, 60 sec to left and 30 to right

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr