Monday, May 23, 2011

Monday, May 23

2 months to go until the Tough Mudder. I actually have been kind of slacking in the workout department this past weekend. My brother was in Chicago for work this past weekend. So I didn't go to MBar this past Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Boo me. I did go to the first Old Style practice of the year. It was nice to get out and play some ultimate. This past weekend was also a bit more consumption of alcohol than expected. I went out for drinks with Oros and Noodles on Friday night. Saturday night I threw a surprise party for Jennie's 5 year anniversary of her donating her kidney to her father, so I had some drinks Saturday night too. That coupled with the lack of sleep and the poor eating habits this past weekend made me a little lethargic this Monday morning. Needless to say I did want to go to Mbar. I dragged my butt out of bed though and went. Here's what we did today:

Alternating btwn renegade rows and see-saw military presses. Reps of 20-15-10-5 for each exercise. I used 12K's for the see-saw military press and 16K's for the renegade rows.

Then alternated between Turkish get-ups and windmill lunges. 3 sets of 5 reps for each side for each exercise. I used a 12K for the Turkish get-up and a 16K for the windmill lunges.

I'm trying to move up in weight so it took me awhile. I also tried the monkey bars again. Feel a little uncomfortable in my right shoulder after going about halfway twice. I feel like I need to step it up all around. I need to step up the intensity level at MBar and more running. I'm starting to get a little nervous for the ToughMudder. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Friday, May 20, 2011

Been awhile. Where's the chatter?

So it's been awhile since I've done my workout update. I'm just going to list the days that I wen to MBar. I actually can't remember all the workouts. Blah.

Friday May 6: MBar
Sat and Sun, May 7-8: No working out due to Steve's BP. Great time was had by all.
Monday May 9: MBar
Tuesday May 10: Ran 5 miles
Wednesday May 11: MBar
Thursday May 12: No working out. Work go in the way. Stupid work.
Friday May 13: MBar
Saturday May 14: Played Dick and Jane
Sunday May 15: Played Goalty
Monday May 16: MBar
Tuesday May 17: MBar
Wednesday May 18: MBar
Thursday May 19: MBar and Goalty Pickup

That brings us to today, Friday, May 20. My plan is to, surprise, surprise, go to MBar. Today's workout, which I did 2 weeks ago, is going to be brutal, if I make it to MBar. It's 100 reps of Clean, Squat, Press. Last time I did it, I did it with 2 16K Kettlebells. It took me over 30 minutes. Hopefully I can beat that time today. Off to get my car's oil changed. I'm going to try to do a better job of updating this thing.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Time for some yoga P-lott

I think it's time you did some yoga P-lott. We have a good Eischens yoga DVD which I've found to really help rehabilitate hurt joints. It most def helps my knees and lower back. I need to get it to you sometime to try. Here's what I've been doing since my last update.

Tuesday, May 3
Went to MBar in the morning.


Wednesday, May 4
Went to MBar in the morning and biked for an hour with Jennie and Aaron through Maple Bluff, which basically means hill workout.


Thursday, May 5
Went to MBar in the morning. I'm going to try to make it to goalty pick-up if the rain holds off.


No yoga this week. Also, this weekend will also probably be a no workout weekend with Steve's BP on the plate. I think a weekend off might be a good idea anyways. Jennie points out that I don't want to burn myself out. I need to keep doing hill stuff. I hate hills.

easy week...

Due to my inability to raise my shoulders over my head, the clicking in my knees, and the mucous running out of my nose, this week has basically been a throwaway.

I basically played frisbee and rball and called it good. Anytime I tried to do pushups or run my shoulder or knee would act up.

I think maybe I came out of the gate too strong and need to dial it back a notch. Will start anew on Monday.

This weekend, I will only be working on my tolerance and my liver at Steve's bachelor party.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Weekend of drinking equals bad workout weekend

Man P-lott, you're making me feel lazy. I need to step it up so I'm not holding us up during the TM. I'm still a little worried about the monkey bar obstacle. I think I have a mental block with that one. I need to get over it. I also think I tend to give up really easily. I need to work on pushing myself beyond what I think I can actually do. I usually surprise myself. So here's what I've done since my last post:

Friday, April 29
Went to MBar in the morning. We did a 4 exercises for 6 minutes of each exercise. Each set was 15 sec of work followed by 15 sec of rest. The exercises were push ups, pull ups, Hindu jump squats, and jungle gym xt leg curls. Then I did a 5 mile run with Jennie in the afternoon at about a 9 min/mile pace.

Saturday, April 30
Goalty for 2.5 hours

Sunday, May 1
I took it easy today. I was hungover and still really sore from Friday. Went out and threw with some of the Masters players and we played hotbox for like 30 minutes.

Monday, May 2
I did MBar in the morning. I did 6X4 clean and press with a 20K kettebell for each arm. Followed that up with doing back dome for 15 seconds followed by a sit-up exercise. I did a prison type workout from 10 reps of the sit-ups to 1 rep, alternating with back dome between. Then I did 3 sets of 10 power wheel roll-outs and 15 sitting axe chops with a med ball for each side. Then did a 3 mile run in 25 min 53 sec later that afternoon.

This weekend is Steve's BP, so I am planning on Saturday being my rest day. Alternatively, I also might be really hung over Sunday so maybe I'll workout out at the Aloft hotel on Saturday and make Sunday my rest day. We'll see how I feel this weekend. I like the idea of doing 2 a days at least 2 or 3 times a week. I'm also going to start going to MBar before goalty. I might be tired for goalty, but the goal is to rock the TM, not goalty. I actually have been enjoying working out and pushing myself. I find that at the beginning of a run or a bike ride I hate it. Then in the middle and toward the end I want to rock it. Like I said above though, I need to work on pushing myself. In the end I am my worst enemy at performing at a high rate.

On a separate note, I would like to try to get together with the Madison TM peeps and try to plan some kind of obstacle course for us to do. An extended trail run would be cool. Not this Sunday, but maybe next Sunday. Here's to being one ToughMudder.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Bad Shoulders and Super Legs...

All in all, this was a successful weekend of working out...

Goaltimate was relocated to an elementary school. Before entering the field of battle, I decided to challenge myself and and see if I could conquer the monkey bars at the playground. With a bit of a nervous sweat covering my brow, I heroicly stepped up, held my feet off the ground and dominated those Monkey Bars like it was 1990 again. Just for good measure, I did it again after goaltimate. And again. And again. Next time I bring the grease. I am gaining confidence that I may actually stay dry for that obstacle. Boo yah!

On Saturday, I played goaltimate for 3 hrs which kicked my ass. Then did my TM workout from the other day later in the afternoon before heading out for some celebratory birthday drinks with IO.

Sunday, however, I woke up with my left shoulder stiff and sore. Normally, I would say my pain free range of motion is about 90%, but the pain is minimal and, with effort, I can successfully go through the full range of motion. On Sunday, I would say my pain free range of motion was somewhere around 75% and I could only get through roughly 85% unassisted but 100% with the help of a door fram or something. Not good. I popped some anti-inflammatories that I had left over from when my shoulder was real messed up. And, today its better. Sore. but manageable. Looks like I will have to spend extra care easing into upper body workouts.

Because of the shoulder thing, I concentrated on lower body Sunday. I borrowed the "Super Legs" workout that Jordan Bingham used during Thrill Show conditioning practices. Great leg workout. I think I will incorporate it into my M/W conditioning days.

Here is what I did (there are some variations that I will incorporate later)...
20 squats
20 lunges (10 on each side)
20 scissor kicks
10 jump squats

The entire set should be done in less than 2 minutes and I did three sets. Some of the variations are Burpees, skater squats, even pushups if your legs are sore. If I am at home, sometimes I add in a wall sit.

I also add in some core work as well - planks, situps, etc.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ask, and you shall receive...

The Raja wants to hear what others have been doing...

Being, poor, I have had to kludge together my own workout programs without a gym or equipment or someone telling me what to do...

yesterday I chose 5 exercises from the TM website. I did each for one minute with 15ish seconds in between. Then, I repeated that 3 times (easing my way into it - normally will do 5 times I think). The exercises I did were:
1) TM pushup -- this is where after every push-up you rotate one arm into the air so your arms are in a straight line. The website said to do them with dumbelss. I don't have any so I did them without. And, it was tough. Got around 20-25 pushups in each 60secs.
2) Scissors kick -- this is where you go down into a lunge position and kick up and switch legs. And, continue doing this for 60secs.
3) Planks -- fairly self explanatory
4) quick feet -- go into a pushup position and then bring your knees to your chest in succession like running.
5) side planks -- basically planks but on your sides. 60secs for each side.

All in all, I was able to do everything fine. The push-ups and scissors kicks were definitely the most brutal with the side planks being the least. The quick feet was more taxing on my lungs than my legs, though they were still sore from the scissors kicks.

I am pretty sore today. But, the good, i just kicked my ass, kind of sore. I look forward to doing more. I think I may be a bit too deliberate with my movements and not

I am still waiting on my shoes to arrive in the mail so I can do some proper running. And, with the weather, it's been tough to get out and bike like I want to. But, I still hit up the gym and do some cardio in the mornings. I also have some weights coming my way. So, I will be able to add a bit more resistance to my workouts.

My biggest concern is energy levels. I have tired legs right now. And, I don't think I eat enough yet to keep up with my workouts. It's only been a few days. I will figure this out.

I like working out.

April 28, 2011

As Jennie would say, "Tough Mudder". Yesterday I went to MBar in the morning. It was a prison workout. This is where you start doing 10 reps of an exercise all the way down to 1 rep, subtracting a rep between each set. You also alternate btwn exercises. The two exercise we did were a pull-up and a push-up. I had to use the BXT bands for assistance on the pull-ups. I did Hindu push-ups (I'm not calling them Hindu push-ups because I did them, they are actually called that), eventually needing assistance from the bands. Afterwards the trainer was like, "Oh look, we have extra time, why don't you do 4 sets of of sprinting 15 yards down and back 10 times (that's 300 yards of sprinting) and 3 sets of 25 power wheel rollouts". So I did it, and I was proud to finish the whole workout. I gotta say that 3 months ago when Jennie convinced me to go to MBar I wouldn't have thought I could finish that workout, so I am getting better. Later that day I went on a 27 mile bike ride with Jennie and Boy Aaron. As usual I was pulling up the rear, but I was proud to finish the bike ride. 3 months ago, no chance.

This morning I went to MBar at 6:30 am. We did a killer warm up where you paired with a person. While one person jump roped the other person bear crawled. You would bear crawls 5 lengths to 4 lengths to 3 lengths all the way down to 1 length. Killer warm up. I'm not sure if the new trainer thought this one all the way through. Then we did the workout (wtf). The workout was going through a circuit of 4 exercises 5 times. For each exercise you would work for 40 sec followed by 20 sec of rest. We did sit-outs, box push, jump rope, and battling ropes. Then I had to book it to UWP to teach lab.

So I feel good about my working out. One thing I need to start incorporating is some cardio and hill stuff. After doing the run and the bike ride, I realize MBar isn't very good at improving the cardio. Jennie made a great suggestion of running before and/or after MBar. That is most def going to happen. I also might start going to MBar before goalty on Saturday. While not great for my goalty game (which isn't vert good to begin with) it'll be godd for the TM. I also need to work on getting enough sleep and staying hydrated. I tend not to drink very much water. I need to step up the water intake.

That's all for now. Other people should post. I want to hear what others are doing. Don't be a joker.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Workout Update

I feel your pain P-lott about getting up early to workout. It's supposed to be better for you though. Sounds like Monday was a mega workout day. I'll give a brief overview over what I've done the past couple of days:

Friday April 22: Monkey Bar Workout. It was a 15 sec on w/ 15 rest for 10 minutes. One 10 minute set were double kettlebell snatches. I did the 1st four sets with 16K's. Went down to 12 K's for the last 6 sets. The second 10 minute set was alternating between kettlebell swings (12K in each hand) and swats (12K in each hand). I got about 3/4 of the way across the monkey bars. Realized you just gotta go.

This workout killed my legs and just made me generally very tired.

Saturday April 23: Played goalty for about 2 hours. I wanted to do something after, but my legs were shot.

Sunday April 24: Super hung over. Went for a 4 mile run with Jennie. Did it in about 38 minutes. Not bad for my legs being shot and hung over.

Monday April 25: Monkey Bar workout. It was called the gauntlet. Here's what went down. 20 DB Cleans with a 55 lb DBall. 100 Jump Rope(JR) forward. 20 kettlebell press with 16K in each hand. 100 JR backward. 10 Pistol to Russian Lunge on Each leg. 100 JR forward. 20 Body Rows. 100 JR backward. 100 yard powerwheel crawl. Then did an hour of yoga.

Legs feel better today. Thinking about going for a run on the treadmill or doing the stairmaster for 30 minutes followed by some bodyweight exercises. I most def need to incorporate rest more into my routine. I think yoga will be good for that. I also need to start doing some hill and stair workouts. I hate hills and stairs. It doesn't help that Madison Craft Beer week starts this coming weekend. Also, Steve's BP is the weekend of May 7. Time to step up this mess. As Jennie keeps reminding me when I don't want to workout, "Toughmudder!!!". True dat Jennie, true dat.

When I wake up in the morning, and the alarm gives out a warning...

I woke my short, lazy, fat ass out of bed and made it to the gym circa 6:45 to start my Tough Mudder training....

I started out on the manliest of machines, the Elliptical. My motivation was quite low. I wanted to quit pretty much as soon as I started. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was tired. I was sweating more than the fat man next to me. But, did I quit? Hell No! Why? No, not because I thought of the pain and the suffering that would be TM. No, I kept going because Saved by the Bell came on the tv. I was in heaven. No sound. But none needed as I have seen every episode on more than one occasion and can more or less understand the dialogue sans sound. Before i knew it two episodes of Saved by the Bell was over as well as my workout. Done and done.

I finished up the day biking out to Fitchburg to play some frisbee. Maybe overdid it a bit on the way out there as my legs were a bit tired for frisbee. Oh well. There is no crying in Tough Mudder.

All in all not a bad start. I am a bit tired today. And sore. But that is from the joker who laid out into my ribs and knee. And, no, I did not hit him upside the head with the frisbee...

It's all right 'cause I'm saved by the
It's all right 'cause I'm saved by the
It's all right 'cause I'm saved by the bell!