Saturday, April 28, 2007

Did my upper-body workout last night. Felt pretty good. I was able to crank out 8 sets of pulling exercises. Did 5 sets (3 chin, two pull-up) weighted with a 25 lb. plate for 4 reps (chins) and 3 reps (pull-ups). 2 sets of towel-grip chins (3 reps), 1 set unweighted chins (6 for warm-up). I try to focus more on perfect form that cranking reps at this point. None of these sets were to failure.

Supersetted with each set of pull/chin was 2 sets shoulder press, 2 sets push ups, 2 sets 25lb. weighted dips, a set of leg raises, and set of bench press with 155 lb. for 6 reps.

My left elbow is a little sore this morning, seems to be a recurring theme after these workouts, gonna rest it another couple days until its pain free and ready to go.

I can close the Captains of Crush "Trainer" gripper all the way except for the last mm. I think I'm going to do singles and doubles with this gripper and probably some negatives. Just gotta fight the urge to squeeze it everytime I walk by it.

Anyway, its nice outside, I'm gonna go walk around, maybe a little disc golf. I may go for a short jog today, I think I'll save the heavy leg work out for tomorrow (some squats and deadlifts).

Yarrr!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Today is going to be the Upper-Body Workout. My CoC "Trainer" level gripper arrived in the mail today, haven't been home to see if I can shut it yet. Hopefully I can at least shut it once, definately not gonna rush the hand training though. If you overdue that, good luck training anything else involving the upper body. So:

Alternating sets of chins, pull-ups, and towel grip chins. Gonna due 2 sets of each for 6 total sets. I will try and super set each set with 2 sets bench press, 2 sets shoulder press, and 2 sets of dips. If I can find a decent weighted dip belt at the gym, I'll try a couple of 25 plate chins for a little extra added strength work.

I'm going to stay off the legs today as I'm still a bit sore from that long ass run the other day.

The "Door-Gym" detachable pull-up bar has been shipped as well. I am really stoked about that arriving, then the overtraining will really begin (despite my efforts to resist the urge...)

I've devised a breakfast combo that is pretty nice. Bowl of oatmeal, cooked in Silk milk, with walnuts and honey or bananas followed afterward by a cup of coffee (black sizzyrup style, midnight, the darkness, etc...). It seems that this creates a slow release caffeine delivery system via the fat present in Silk milk/walnuts and the soluble fiber in the oatmeal which is gelling things up in the stomach all slowing down digestion to a creep. I don't get the jolt from coffee that I do when drinking it after most any other food or by itself, its seems to be a smoother dose delivery over a longer period of time. Either that, or I'm just placeboing all this up in my head and this all has no scientific validity (a possibility). Regardless, same end effect for me, try it tweakers.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

LAX

Not too sore yet this morning. A little pain in the left knee and the same morning soreness in my elbow as the last few days. Today is for resting, completely ....

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

So I went for a run over to the lady's house. And it was a damn run... I'm estimating 5-6 miles with some serious hillage. I may be paying for this tomorrow.

chau

Roadwork today ... Let em' work, Let em' live

Very minor elbow soreness when I woke up this morning. It is now gone this afternoon. I plan to do a longer roadwork session after I get off work, with some pushups, chins/pull-ups on tree branches and maybe dips if I see anything resembling some parallel bars (all in low reps, nothing close to my actually upper body workout). I find a nice chill longer run/roadwork to be money after a 10 hour work day (especially after sitting for 90% of that time) ...... relaxing, time to zone out even more than I do all day everyday.

Thank god summer time is finally getting here, everything just works better in hotter temps(including the very delicate swamp ecosystem in my ass area).

Been sipping on some home-made iced coffee. Whole foods 365 brand Pacific Rim Blend. About the cheapest I've ever seen for some organic coffee, and it taste damn good too.

spare chaaaaaangge

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Yesterday I did the Day 1 workout (upper-body).

Today I'm doing 4 sets of pistols with each leg, going for a walk, and tossing a frisbee around. Maybe I'll add some frog jumps in with the pistols for a little explosive boost.

I've noticed a little bit of elbow soreness that is fading throughout the day. I'm may take an extra rest day from any pull up activity as apparently elbow tendonitis is a major concern when doing hardcore pull up training. I'm really going to make an effort to take this training slow no matter how bad I want to do it everyday. I also have a nagging jammed thumb on my right hand that seems to have been flared up a little from yesterdays workout. Oh well, it won't be easy, but few worthwhile things are apparently.

peace

Monday, April 23, 2007

Start It UP

Hi all, this is going to be my training log. Its mostly for me, but if anyone becomes interested, thats great.

Anyhow, I've been into physical fitness ever since I start running xc and track and wrestling back in high school. I recently decided that it was time to make a few goals in my training mainly for motivation purposes and also because over the last couple years, I've mostly just been freestyling what I do and doing whatever I feel like with few concrete goals (fitness-wise that is).

So, current longterm goals:

1 - One-Arm Chin. Apparently this is no easy feat. I can currently do around 17-19 dead hang (no arm at bottom) chin ups, so I have a base to work with here. Its gonna take some work fo sho though.

2 - Build up my cardiovascular endurance. This has taken a hit so to speak from long breaks in any type of running and various airborne carcinogens. At my peak in high school I ran in the 17 min 5-k range and 10:30 3200m range. Although I haven't tested myself recently, I know this is somewhat far away at the moment. I don't really have a set goal in regards to my cardio endurance, but just want to keep jogging and doing roadwork to keep the boom box in my chest bumpin right. I'm more focused on the strength and flexibility goals right now.

3 - Improve my flexbility (weak-spots being shoulders, hips, hamstrings)

4 - Close a #1 CoC hand gripper.

Anyhow, here is my current training plan:

A TYPICAL WEEK (consists of 3 main kinds of training):

1 - Upper Body Workout - two sets each of two handed pull-ups, chins, and pull-ups (reps 4-6 per set depending upon which one I'm doing). Generally alternate which exercise each set, rest at least 3 minutes between sets. I generally superset swiss-ball-pushups, dips, and shoulder press sets with each chin/pull set, doing a different one each time. Shoulder press is 4-6 reps/set. Swiss-ball-pushups and dips are most like 10 reps all done in a very controlled motion to work on keeping muscle tension in my core muscles throughout the movement. Finish up the workout with forward and reverse wrist curls and rolling a weight attach to a rope up with a stick to build up my grip and hand strength ("Trainer" CoC gripper is on the way in the mail, this will be a good supplement for grip training). Quick two-mile run (16:00 or less). I plan to work on my two-handed chinning until I get to where I need to really start adding weight to keep the reps low. I hope to then progress towards some one-arm chinning/pulling training from there.

2 - Lower Body Workout - Pistols (aka One-legged Squats) or Squats or Deadlifts for 3-4 sets of 4-5 reps.

3 - Longer Jog = (3-5 miles)

I will tend to take at least 1 day of rest between repeating any given workout. I take more if I feel like my body needs it. I also like to throw in other activities like disc golf, yoga, basketball, walking, or whatever throughout the week (sometimes on a rest day). I have a tendency to really get overzealous when I'm into something, so warding off overtraining will be a real test, especially in regards to the chinning/pull-up activites.

I try to remember to stretch everyday with just some basic old man at the gym stretches along with a few select yoga poses (downward dog, cat back, tree, etc.)

****Important note: I do like to throw in different exercises from time to time just for a change or pace so I don't get bored to the same things everytime****


As far as Nutrition goes:

I generally eat 5-7 smaller meals/snacks throughout the day.

The staples of my diet include eggs, oatmeal, tuna, vegetables (usually stir-fried), soy milk, whole-grain cereals, Fuji apples, baked potatoes (and sweet potatoes), lean meats whatever my roomate cooks, and Wendy's chili (often paired with a baked potato from there if I'm lazy and don't cook something to bring for my lunch at work). I generally cook almost everything with olive oil (by the jug from Sam's Club).

I generally have an apple or banana and a can of tuna 2 times each day at work. Pretty sick snack for most people that sit near me to smell each morning.

The only supplements I take are a multi-vitamin, omega-3 fish oil pills, and a whey protein shake for post-workout recovery.

I drink coffee and tea (green, oolong, and occasionally black) once or twice daily, normally sans cream/sugar .... yeah, i'm addicted, it beats feeling tired as shit at work though and at least has some anti-oxidants goin.

I do drink beer, red wine, and liquor occasionally cause hell, you can't be business all the time, right son!?

And of course I don't follow this life/death style, because I got enough stuff to worry about without needing to fret over every morsel I consume, I do try to keep at it though.

Anyhow, enough rambling, I will try and update this when I remember.

take it easy