Today’s Outdoor Workout (1/18/2010)

Since we had a beautiful 65 degree day here in NC, I decided to take advantage of it with an outdoor workout.  This was a tough one.  Coming on the heels of a tough indoor workout yesterday my body wasn’t very happy about this.  To make matters worse, my outdoor workouts are faster paced (with rest breaks kept down to 10-30 second between exercises….if that).  So they give me really good feed back on how good, or in this case poor, my aerobic conditioning is.

Exercise 1. Agility ladder,  Cycle 1- 3 Minutes/cycle 2- 2 minutes

Exercise 2. Sandbag Press, Cycle 1 – 2 minutes/Cycle 2 – 90 seconds

Exercise 3. Backward Tire Toss, Cycle 1 – 3 minutes/Cycle 2 – 3 minutes

 See minute mark 1:22

Exercise 4. Sprints with Cones, Cycle 1 – 90 seconds/Cycle 2 – 90 seconds

Exercise 5. Bear Crawl, Cycle 1 – 2 minutes/ Cycle 2 – NONE

I felt exhausted after this workout and my lower back was begging me not to do a third cycle.  In total I did about 20 minutes of exercise with 4 minutes rest between cycles.

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Colored Cards and Calorie Burning…

My New System…

I’ve embraced the simplicity of neon cards for recording all my workouts (not to mention the books I read for comps).  I am going to try to do a better job of keeping up with blog posts, but will still probably post twice a week or less.  Still better than I’ve been doing thus far.

So far those who are curious about my cards over the last several days…

Card 1 (09-14-2009)

Training Log 7/19/09: Conquering the Drive Way…

I decided to bring back my old training logs.  Why?  Well, I enjoy posting about my workouts on here and I like that fact that they keep me honest.

Sunday are always a fun workout for me.  Sundays = sprint training in my house.  Not just ordinary old sprint training but balls to the wall up a steep sloped driveway digging my heels into the pavement kind of training.  The driveway is about 40 yards and the cul-de-sac is another 30 or so yards.  Starting from the other side of the cul-de-sac I sprint across the flat pavement then up my driveway–over and over and over again.  All in all about 17 or so times.  There is no set number, just however many sprints I can fit within 20 minutes.  

Yesterday and Today…

The last two days have involved some fairly intense but simple exercise routines.  To be honest they are only intense because I allowed myself to get out of shape.  Yesterday I had the house all to myself, so I cranked up the Itunes and fit in an indoor workout for a change.

1. Heavy Bag Dead lift/Squat: 12, 10
2. Wide Grip Push-up: 20, 20
3. Alternating Bulgarian Dead lift: 12 each side, 11 each side
4. Diamond Push-up: 15, 15
5. Towel Pike: 10, 8.  These are simple, just watch the video.  All you do is replace the swiss ball with an old towel under the balls of your feet.                                                                                  
6. Alternating Push-up: 12, 10

Heavy Bag Exercises…

Anyone can punch one of these things, but where is the fun in that? Well, okay, that can be fun.  But isn’t it more fun to take something intended for one purpose and think up a dozen other good uses for it?  If you’re me, then the answer is an emphatic yes.

Allow me to introduce my heavy bag.  I picked it up from the local used sporting goods store for $35.  At 100 pounds that works out to 35 cents per pound.  Not a bad investment.  Here are three exercises that involve nothing more than you and a heavy bag of your choice.

Heavy Bag Squat.  Stand the heavy bag on its end, and squat down with the bag between your legs.  Wrap your arms around the bag- a standard bear hug will do.  I like to start on the balls of my feet and drive my heels into the ground as I propel my body and the bag upward.  Head position is up to you.  I like to bury my chin in the bag so I can keep it tight against my chest and hips.  In addition, this helps me keep my hips tucked in and my torso straight.

Day 21: Watch Out for Crap…Literally…

There are many good things about having an outdoor gym in your backyard.  There is the freedom, the 24/7 access, the no weird guys wearing spandex, and the ability to shower and get dressed at home.  However, there are also some drawbacks- especially if you are a dog owner.  I am referring specifically to the pile of poop that I accidentally flipped my giant tire into during my workout today.  To make matters worse I then happened to pick up the tire at the exact spot where the poop had mashed between the tire and the pavement.  Worst of all it was right toward the beginning of my routine.

So what did I do?  Did I stop my workout, go wash my hands, then come back to my workout?  Nope.

Day 17: Continued…

Well today turned out to be surprisingly pleasant, despite raining almost all day.  Toward the end of the day (around 4 p.m.) I started to despair that I wouldn’t be able to squeeze in an interval training session.  Consequently I figured I would make something out of the day by doing some grip strength training.  It went will with sets of 15, 12, 6, 3, and 1 (with holds of 1 second, 2 seconds, 6 seconds, 30 seconds, and 60 seconds respectively).  Between each of those sets I did some extensor training in sets of 15, 12, 6, and 3.

Wonder of wonders, around 5 p.m. the rain slowed down to a slow drizzle.  So I suited up for a good cold weather run.  Since it was still cold enough to see my breath and very damp outside I dressed up in full gear.  Full gear includes my cold weather hood (makes me look like a Muslim woman) and a hat over it.  The workout went surprisingly well considering how cold and damp it was.

Intervals

• 0:00-4:00: Warm-up Walk
• 4:00-5:00: Light jog
• 5:00-5:30: Sprint (Level 9)