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    #1

    Better log here than Dreamwidth

    I realized today that probably nobody at my Dreamwidth account actually gives a dang about my exercise program, or if they do, they're not going to be as interested in it as I am. Certainly they're not going to be all "!!!" about batches of raw numbers.

    So.

    I'd been doing the Gladiator Training Program since early August of 2018- full body workout, rest or cardio, upper body, lower body, rest or cardio, full body, rest or cardio- until I got sick the first week of January. When I picked up my weights again I'd fallen behind, and while I could do a decent number of reps with close to my old weight, I wasn't really thrilled with the available barbell options any more. After some consideration I figured I should try a different approach and started sticking some of the challenges together. I started with Wall-Sit Challenge and Gladiator Challenge, which I combined at the time with some of the weight workouts. Yesterday was day eight on each, and I realized that now that I had a decent basic barbell set and some extra plates, as long as I made sure to do every single day, I could probably make some actual headway with Ironborn.

    Yesterday's workouts:

    - Ironborn, day one: shoulders, chest and triceps. 14.5 pound (5 pound plate + 5 pound plate + 3.5 pound bar + 0.5 pound nut + 0.5 pound nut) weights for the shoulder presses, chest presses, and triceps extensions; 9 pound weights for the lateral raises because I know which of my muscles are okay with more weight and which will only scream and cry and refuse to cooperate.
    - Gladiator Challenge, day eight: one-armed plank, one minute, one go. Oh God my wrist. But I did it.
    - Wall Sit Challenge, day eight: twenty seconds of wall sit. Day eight is basically a rest day, I guess.
    - Ten Thousand Punches Challenge, day one. 160 punches. I did two sets, so.

    Today's workouts:


    Ironborn, day 2: back and biceps. 14.5 lb dumbbells for the curls, upright rows, and bent-over rows. 9 lb. barbells for the bent-over flys. 19.5 lb. dumbbells for the deadlifts and shrugs.
    Gladiator challenge, day 9: 3 sets of 14 lunges each, 20 sec. rest between sets.
    Ten Thousand Punches challenge, day 2: 180 punches. Divided them into 3 sets, so that's 180 punches plus fifteen pushups. NB: I have never yet succeeded at the pushups they do on TV and in the movies, where you start at full height, lower yourself so your sternum is an inch or so off the floor, then push back up again. Mine have usually started from lying on the floor and end with me resting on the floor for a second or less before the next pushup. Today was the first time I started a pushup set from full height and lowered myself down. This is a minor thing but to me it's fairly big. Also, for the record, I do the straight-legged pushups where my knees come off the ground with the rest of me, not the pushups where your knees are your legs' point of contact with the floor.
    Wall Sit challenge, day 9: 1 minute 20 seconds. Legs were shaking but I managed, plus there's the part where I was able to hold the phone up at arm's length the entire time so I could watch the timer on my mp3 player until I hit my target.

    (I should mention that when I do wall sits, or other isometrics, I load up Queen's "Hammer to Fall" and let it run until it reaches the appropriate amount of time. If I'm counting up rather than down, it beats a stopwatch or a timer.)
    Tags: None
    • 19 likes
    #2
    camwynya Welcome to the Hive I have to say you are looking awesome! Keep up the great work and look forward to your journey
    • 2 likes

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      #3
      BlackButler thank you!
      • 4 likes

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        #4
        Today:

        - Two-minute warmup (yesterday was the four minute warmup, but today I made the mistake of drinking Starbucks iced coffee about half an hour before my workout and was too impatient to put up with four minutes as a result)
        - Ironborn day 3: leg day. 14.5 lb barbells for the goblet squats, lunges, and side lunges. 20.5 lbs (added two three-pound plates per barbell) for the calf raises. I am going to have to up the weight on all of them next time; this day was too easy.
        - Gladiator challenge, day 10: sixty punches, four sets, 20 sec rest between sets. Which reminds me, I'm assuming this means four sets of sixty total punches each?
        - Completely separate from the gladiator challenge punches, Ten Thousand Punches day three. 200 punches total. Divided this into four sets. Did my best to make as little contact with the floor as possible on the pushups. Still had a brief partial rest but it was only my abdomen touching the mat, not my sternum, so that's a step up. Felt like I could have handled more punches but we're working up to that, I guess.
        - Wall Sit challenge day 10: one minute, thirty seconds. Could not actually manage it the first time and had to stop at about 1:15-1:20. I stopped for about ninety seconds and answered some work email (I lock myself in the server room at lunch to work out- my boss knows and is okay with this as long as it's just during lunch or after hours), and then gave it one more try. Made it to 1:30, which in Hammer to Fall terms is right before Freddie Mercury gets to the line 'rich or poor or famous'.

        I need to get some cleaning wipes because I ran out of them the other day and would prefer to at least make a token effort at cleaning off before applying deodorant and changing back into work clothes.
        • 8 likes

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          #5
          I love your wall sit timer method xD
          • 1 like

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            #6
            Thanks! I'm eventually going to have to find another song; Hammer to Fall is only 3:38 long.... either that or just leave the song on repeat for the last two days, which might actually be appropriate given that 0:20 is right as Freddie finishes the line 'here we stand / and here we fall'.

            I have some good instrumental workout music but when it comes to something as aaghaghaskjdgh as isometric exercises, it helps to have lyrics to distract myself with.
            • 3 likes

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              #7
              No warm up today. Probably should have, but I didn't think I'd need one for an ab-intensive day.

              Ironborn, day 4. Abs. Used a ten pound weight on the seated twists as I do not have adjustable dumbbells here at home. My arms regretted it more than my abs did. Had an extended pause between leg lifts and flutter kicks; the cat threw up and I had to go clean it up.

              Gladiator challenge, day 11: one arm plank, sixty seconds. Left arm this time. Not sure I'm positioning my feet correctly but will fix that next time. This is profoundly un-fun on carpeted floor.

              Ten Thousand Punches, day four. 100 punches. I did five pushups and then just threw 100 punches rather than breaking it up into sets, althpugh I periodically changed the direction I was facing and which foot I had forward.

              Will do the wall sit later. It's 1:40 today and I am not quite ready for that.
              • 4 likes

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                #8
                Did the 1:40 wall sit. No music, just the seond hand on the bathroom clock. It's harder w/o music.

                Did, however, use a variant of a technique I learned during a Team In Training bicycle practice session. The coach told me that if I was having a hard time climbing hills, even in a good gear, then I should spend five beats- five cycles of the pedals- pushing as hard as I could manage with one leg, and let the other just ride the pedal around. Then switch, and for five more beats let the other leg do all the work and the first one just ride the pedal. When the wall sit started to feel like more than I could handle I concentrated as much tension as possible on one thigh/one leg. I didn't straighten the other one or move it or change its angle, but with the first leg bearing more of the tension and weight, the second had a few seconds to relax. Then I switched the tension leg for a few seconds, and so on and so forth until I hit 1:40.

                hot shower after that.
                • 6 likes

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                  #9
                  I have flight school today and had to work out early because I'll be in no position to work out when I come home.

                  Basic elemnts of Classic Warmup that I could remember. I may have skipped one or two. Also no jumping cos I'm on the third floor of an old building with someone in the apt below me.

                  Gladiator Challenge day 12: 14 lunges, 4 sets.
                  Ironborn day 5: shoulders, chest and triceps. 10 lb weights for the Arnold presses and lateral raises, because I had them. Also used them under my hands for the push-ups, which left me with my eyebrows sweating. Had a single 25 lb barbell that I used for the triceps extensions. That one didn't feel like much effort, but tbh the ten pound lateral raises were the heaviest lat raises I've ever managed to do with acceptable form, so I'm counting this as an accomplishment day anyway.

                  I got Wall Sit day 12 in during the 'rest' period before the punches workout. 20 seconds is not a problem at this point.

                  Ten Thousand Punches day 5: 220 punches. After the Ironborn pushups I wasn't looking forward to more of these so I thought I should try to do my punches in as few sets as possible to avoid extra pushups. I got as far as 160 punches without stopping. So... yeah, two sets of punches, ten pushups total there, but I did my 220.
                  • 5 likes

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                    #10
                    Worked from home today. Only had access to a pair of 10 lb neoprene dumbbells; the 25 pounder from yesterday wouldn't have helped on its own.

                    Classic warmup, steps instead of jumps/hops

                    Gladiator challenge day 13: 80 punches, 3 sets

                    Ironborn, day 5: biceps and back. Farmer's walk felt a bit of a cheat with only 10 lbs per hand.

                    Ten thousand punches day 6: 240 punches. Did them in two sets.

                    wall sit, day 13: 1 minute 50 seconds.
                    • 7 likes

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                      #11
                      4 minute warm up.

                      Ironborn day 7. 19.5 lb weights on the squats, forward lunges, calf raises. As I remember what it was like when I tried Ironborn once before this, I opted for 10 lb weights for the reverse lunge step ups. Might be able to do 14.5 for those next time.

                      gladiator challenge day 14. One arm plank, 1 min 20 sec. Right arm. First attempt felt wrong so I ended it at 34 seconds. Second attempt was also my right arm, but I put both my feet close together on the exercise mat instead of on the floor to either side; also I fired up Hammer to Fall. That helped. I got all the way to "till one day they call your name" in one go.

                      ten thousand punches, day 7. Right shoulder was still a bit '?!' from the plank so I broke it into sets of 80, 80, 80, 40. Five pushups before each set, per the rules.

                      wall sit, day 14. Knees protested a bit so I eentched myself up just far enough to quell the complaints. Got to 1:06 the first time. Rested a bit, tried again. 1:02. Not sure what the issue is other than having done quad intensive work for Ironborn. Will attempt a 2 minute sit one more time later on.
                      • 6 likes

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                        #12
                        Oh god so much burning...

                        ... in other words I made it to two minutes of wall sit in one go whole waiting for the bus. I may not have had a perfect 90 degree angle in all the joints involved, but I was close, and any further down would have left my knees screaming in ways that would probably have signaled injury.

                        for the record, the two minute mark falls a few seconds into the guitar solo that starts after Freddie sings the words 'baby now your struggle's all in vain'.
                        • 6 likes

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                          #13
                          Classic warmup.

                          wall sit challenge day fifteen: 2 minutes ten seconds. Oh God the burning. Also, the guitar solo in HtF lasts about fifteen seconds so I was still hearing it when my time ended.

                          gladiator challenge day 15: 18 lunges, 3 sets.

                          ironborn day 8: planks. Quadriceps protested the up & down planks; also my mat slid slowly backwards the whole time. Arms and maintaining balance hardest part of side planks; could not originally balance after set 2 for more than 15 seconds. Rested 30 sec longer, did set 3. Rested 60 sec before set 4. Just barely made it through.

                          ten thousand punches, day 8: one hundred punches. Did this in one set.

                          I earned my 15 day badge today.

                          ach, my elbows.
                          • 7 likes

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                            #14
                            Congrats on the 15 day badge!
                            • 2 likes

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                              #15
                              Thanks!
                              • 2 likes

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