Further Up and Further In!

Missed my post yesterday, did an abbreviated legs & shoulders day. My gym buddy had to leave early, but he did get me under a barbell for some squats and tried some other new things on me. First time doing some of that so I also wanted to take it a little easy. My biggest surprise was having that much weight on my shoulders. Don't seem to be paying for it today though, hopefully that's a good sign.

Chest and triceps today. I did heavier weights but fewer exercises, plus my buddy ran me through an ab gauntlet that burned like crazy. I'll feel that in the morning...

Today starts a weeklong business trip, which means no gym routines, no weights, and lots of time sitting at a recruitment table or in the car. Plus I don't know what food options I'll be given, so it's probably going to be fast food or junk food for most of the week... plus the car snacks I packed myself lol...

However, I did start today with 10 DD with EC (405 / 396) and I did some bodyweight stuff in my first hotel room. I'm going to try to do a little bit each morning and evening while I'm away from home, plus I will be walking around some at each event I'll go to. Next week will be salads for lunch and extra cardio for me haha.

TODAY'S REPS

60 balance back kicks
60 kneeling back kicks
20 pushups w/ rotations
1:00 single leg hops
1:00 chest squeeze
2:00 chest expansions
2:00 march steps
40 leg raises
60 leg scissors
10 jump knee tucks
5 hours on my butt in the car
20 burpees
20 inverted table rows

Got a surprising amount of exercise done today. Did some reps before breakfast, the Monday workout and a few more reps after dinner, plus I walked about 2 miles total at a museum this afternoon.

TODAY'S REPS

40 pushups
30 inverted table rows
20 situps
30 jumping jacks
30 hop heel clicks
30 knee-to-elbows
30 side leg raises
30 side to side hops
30 high knees
18 burpees

30 minutes brisk walking on a treadmill, plus an active day of chores & stuff. Didn't want to kill it too much today, still pretty tired from last week, I imagine I'll be playing catchup on sleep for a while lol.

Did The Shield Level 1 this morning, hoping to get a cardio or abs workout in later.

2.5 miles on the treadmill
Iron Bar cooldown
3x full squat holds
3x frog stretches
10x scorpion stretches
10x double chest expansions
10x W shoulder stretches
10x good mornings

So after a bit of an absence, here's an update...

Just got a full health assessment from the gym at the university I work at. My travels and not so healthy eating habits have added a little bit of weight, and I got a clearer picture of areas I can work on. As of now, I am sitting at 194 lbs with 29% body fat. My strength was rated pretty good, heart rate and blood pressure were great, flexibility was pretty low. Basically, my goals now that I have this report are to up my cardio and get back to healthy eating habits. I'll go back to meal prep and planning, tracking macros, and overall improvement of my diet.

In other news, now that I'm home more I'm starting a new workout plan! Not from DareBee, but instead from one of the other sources I've been working from lately.

It's a bodyweight plan from Buff Dudes. It follows a progression of strength in various bodyweight exercises, but will hopefully push me past some limits and help with some growth. They have a full video log of their workouts for this plan on YouTube, which is super helpful in knowing exactly what to do (especially since I didn't buy the book haha).

I did their first workout yesterday, although it was an abbreviated format - I really started not feeling well during one of the exercises, I think I overexerted and may have even gotten overheated, but in any case I stopped in my tracks and went home. I will finish this workout tonight though, then give myself a couple days before tackling the next workout.

TOTAL REPS FROM YESTERDAY

5:00 low-speed bike (from the health test)
32 pushups (from the health test)
Squats 3x15
Inverted rows 4x10 (was also supposed to be 3x15, but I did 10 weight-assisted pullups then 3x10 inverted rows, this might have been too strenuous and the start of my problems...)
Pushups 3x15
Elevated pike pushups 2x15 (after the second set is when I started going downhill, I crashed hard last night and am still feeling sluggish today)

TODAY'S REPS (finishing that first workout)

Elevated pike pushups 1x15
Accordion crunches 3x15

Here's hoping I can get some energy back, I also hope that more consistency and jumping back in will get me back to where I was, then I can handle more workouts as the weeks go on. It says it's a 12-week plan, but I might have to spread some of the later weeks out a bit more since I can't commit to 5 days a week of working out for an extended period of time. We'll see what happens though.

Further up and further in!

Buff Dudes Bodyweight Plan - Phase 1 Day 2

So this plan is structured into 4 phases, with a cycle of workouts to repeat 3 times total. Today was another full body workout, and it went quite well for the most part. The only thing was the handstand holds - it felt super awkward and I'm probably not strong enough or balanced enough. I might try something different or just do a heavy barbell hold (I know, it goes against the whole bodyweight thing, but I gotta start somewhere...)

TODAY'S REPS

Burpees 4x10 (supposed to be 3x15 but after the other day I wanted to play it safe and not overdo all at once)
Supermans 3x15
Chest dips 4x10 (did a weight-assist machine on this and also skipped the 3x15 structure, actually my first time doing dips so I wanted to be safe again)
Handstand holds 3x10 seconds (see above comment)
Planks 0:50, 0:40, 0:40
Extra 10 minutes treadmill walking

TODAY'S WORKOUTS

Aurora Level 3 with EC
Ab Mod

YESTERDAY'S WORKOUT

Buff Dudes Phase 1 Day 3 (adjusted a few of the reps, hoping to build up to their level over time)

YESTERDAY'S REPS

Lateral squats 3x30
Weight assist pullups 3x10
One arm assisted pushups 3x24
Push back pushups 3x10
Crunches 3x15
10:00 brisk treadmill walking

Buff Dudes Bodyweight Plan Phase 1 Week 2 Day 1

TODAY'S REPS

0.25 mile warmup walk & stretching
Squats 3x15
Band-assisted inverted rows 4x10
Pushups 3x15
Pike pushups 4x10
Accordion crunches 3x15
10:00 brisk treadmill walking

Buff Dudes Phase 1 Week 2 Day 1

0.25 mile warmup walk
Basic burpees 3x12
Supermans 3x15
Weight-assisted chest dips 3x12
Handstand holds 3x0:12
Planks 3x0:40
10 minutes brisk treadmill walking (3.3 mph, 7.5 incline)

Buff Dudes Phase 1 Week 2 Day 3

Lateral squats 3x30
Negavtive pullups 3x8 (no weight assist machine today so I focused on slow controlled negatives to try to build up back strength)
Assisted one arm pushup 3x24
Push back push ups 3x12
Crunches 3x15

Buff Dudes Phase 1 Week 3 Day 2

0.25 mile warmup walk
Basic burpees 3x12
Supermans 3x15
Weight-assisted chest dips 3x12
Elevated pike pushups 3x12
Planks 3x0:40