9-30-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Stretch + TCF.

9-30-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Stretch + TCF.

Today was a good day in that I was able to get a full workout in in plenty of time before sunset.  Part of the reason is that I was feeling good, and I didn't dawdle around when I got home.  I got home, I went straight to my preparation and got to the workout right away.  Hope it works this smoothly every week. HA!

One thing that helped is that Build: Shoulders is a shorter routine than the other two-body-part routines.  But even though the focus is shoulders, because my triceps are still sore, I could feel them getting a good workout as well.  On the first Single Set, the negative part of the press coming down with the weights, I was never so aware of my triceps.  I was able to keep the same weights as last time about a week and a half ago.  I felt better about those weights.  The next Super Set has a burner first move and a builder on the second move.  OMG!!! My shoulders were just burning with that lateral raise.  3kgs isn't much, but with 15 reps, it hit me right where it burns.  The Upright Rows also hit a new area on my shoulders, and even some back.  Maybe my form is off a bit...  The Giant Set has a strength first move then two burner moves.  Lighter weights does not mean easier.  It means MORE BURN!!!  I watched my form very carefully.  The next Super Set killed my traps.  I have to be careful because the moves are deceptively simple, but they really hit the traps.  In the final Super Set, the Sagi Six-Way is the ultimate BURNER move.  Again, light weights does NOT mean it's easy.  This is probably the most intense move of the routine, especially the second set with the heavier weight.  I just about hit failure every time and that last two reps, trying to get the weights above my head is brutal.  The Ab move was a good warm up for the next stage of my workout.

Decided to go with Ab Burner one more time to finish out the week.  But I decided to really flex the abs on each move.  OUCH!!! My Oblique muscles were thoroughly burned out.  I was/am feeling the burn still.  I also went with 10kgs on the weighted crunch circuit and that was almost too much.  I lagged behind Chalene's pace but I got all the reps in.  Good Burn!

As suspected, my knee felt laterally soft, so I decided not to do my regular routine.  Instead I did several moves to stretch out my hip flexors, like the yoga pigeon, and several hamstring moves.  I got into the stretch and just relaxed into it.  I also did the hurdlers stretch. for the hip flexor. Whew! The Flow was on!

In the end, I burned a modest 650+kcals, but my shoulders got it good.  As well as my abs.  Nice way to finish my week.  Happy Weekend!

9-29-16 HY: Combat 45 - Power Kata + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Splits + TCF.

9-29-16 HY: Combat 45 - Power Kata + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Splits + TCF.

I usually would have done a resistance workout on a Thursday, but my schedule is a little different this semester so I was trying to figure out how to fit in a resistance workout in the morning.  I was going over several different plans in my head.  Then this morning, I hit on a plan, "I don't have to do resistance today, I can do cardio today and then do resistance tomorrow when I won't be a pressed for time during my workout."  So, that is what I did.  After a shake for breakfast, I got to my cardio workout.

Love this workout!  I think this is my favorite of the program so far.  I haven't done the LIVE ones yet, but I don't think they'll dethrone Power Kata.  The tracks and circuits are great.  I was really winded today, and it was awesome to do that Flying Knee move again.  My favorite move of the whole program.  The combinations are great and they don't task my knee as much as Combat 60 does.  I had a lot of fun, and I sweat a ton.  I needed a lot of time after it was all done to wipe down my area.

I really wanted to get in some Abs today because, unlike the other routines, there is not focused ab work at the end of this routine, and I was feeling it.  So, I decided to go ahead and do Ab Burner again.  I did well, and I used heavier weights on the weighted crunch circuit.  That last weighted Russian Twist brought on the burn like nobody's business.

Like yesterday, I did the splits and Flow after work in the evening.  This time, during the last round of splits, my right knee felt extremely soft, especially on the Straddle Splits so I cut the time by about 30 seconds.  I'm actually quite worried by that feeling because I haven't felt my knee that soft before.  I'll have to test it tomorrow and see how far I can push it if at all.  If I can't push it, then I'll have to adjust the moves to accommodate.   Flow was great.

In the end of the morning session, I torched 803kcals.  A lot for my cardio workout.

9-28-16 HY: P90X2 - Recovery and Mobility + Splits + TCF.

9-28-16 HY: P90X2 - Recovery and Mobility + Splits + TCF.

Back to a mid-week recovery day, and boy did I need this one today. 

Everything went well in the morning.  Had a shake and got to the routine.  Smooth, but my triceps and chest were pretty sore from Tuesday's workout so when I tried to do a push up between up-dog and down-dog... OUCH!!!! That was some major pain.  I was able to get up, but the pain was real.  I was really happy I had the time to double the time on the Foam Rolling sequence because I really needed to roll out.  During the second round, I was feeling a lot better all around.

I did the Splits and TCF in the evening after work so I was able to get a double stretch day in.  The splits were great, got really low and pushed hard.  Flow was great as well.

In the end, I burned about 250+kcals during the morning routine.  Great recovery, especially since I was quite sore.

9-27-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Chest/Tris + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Splits + TCF.

9-27-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Chest/Tris + ChaLEAN Extreme - Ab Burner + Splits + TCF.

Got home a little late from work so I got a late start on today workout.  So I tried to pick up the pace and it was not pretty...

I started my second round of the Build Phase today.  Because of my trip to the US, it has been exactly one month since I did this routine last.  So I was hoping I could raise the bar over what I did a month ago.  The first Single set, started fine, but because I wanted to save time, I didn't do the Drop Set.  I actually did a Double Set in that I did 2 sets of 8 at the heavy weight.  I started to struggle on the last couple of reps of the second set, but I thought I could take it.  The next Super Set, The Flies were fine, but the Press was brutal.  In the Drop Set, I went back to 22kgs as the heavy weight and 19.5kgs for the drop weight and I couldn't get the left dumbbell all the way up on the final rep in both sets.  True failure hit me hard.  I was literally about an inch away from the top and couldn't close it out both times.  Harbinger of what was to come.  The Giant Set started off fine.  The light 15's were rough but I got through them.  The mid-12's were brutal, and I totally failed on the first two moves at 17kgs.  Again, on the very last rep.  I barely pumped out the 8 Decline Push Ups.  I thought moving to the Triceps moves would be better... IT WASN'T!!!  The Single Set, again, started off fine, but I could feel already that the 10's were heavy.  I had to flare my elbows a bit at the end to get the weights up. The medium weight, I had to put the weights down at 7reps, shake out, then finish off the 5reps.  I tried to go up to 13.25kgs, but couldn't even get the weights up so I went down to 12kgs, still couldn't get the weights up.  So I went back down to 10kgs.  Had to flare and cheat to get to 8reps.  Then Dropped to 8.75kgs for the final Drop Set.  Triceps were BARKING!!!  The next Super Set was total KILLER. I had to go down on all the sets.  I forgot to write it down, but the Drop Set went down to 8.75kgs and 7.5kgs.  I could barely get my arm extended then couldn't hold it out and just let it fall.  The Triceps Push Ups were the BIGGEST FAIL EVER for me.  I couldn't even go half way down.  I tried, but plopped to the floor.  So, on my knees, I only went down one third of the way.  Any further and I couldn't get up.  Barely going down 4 inches.  What a shame!  Same for the final Super Set, I could only go down about one third on the dips and my arms were shaking like wet cold poodles.  It was all I could do to get back up again.  The ray of light was the In and Outs,  I hammered out a personal best 55reps in 60 seconds.  In the hours following this routine, I could barely hold my arms or push with my arms.  Tris were totally FRIED!!!

I went straight into Abs and the routine was good.  It's been a while, but I pumped it out.  I still wanted to do the Extreme Core Circuit, but for variety, I did this one.  Everything was fine, but with fried Triceps, I couldn't extend my arms for the Russian Twist move with the weight, and I was so shaky on the Wrap Around move in one are Plank.  Fried fried fried!!!  But I got a good ab burn.

Splits were great, I hit a new low on the right side splits.  I'm almost there. and the Straddle Splits also got back to my Lowest point.  The Left side splits are still a work in progress, but they are getting there.  Flow was on point.

In the end, I torched 1049kcals.  Oh man, this totally burned out my Triceps.  That is something I haven't experienced in a very LONG time.

9-26-16 Tennis.

9-26-16 Tennis.

Monday is usually cardio day, but due to scheduling at my university, Monday has become Tennis Day!  But there will probably be changes in this as well in the coming months.  But I'll try to keep it as consistent as possible.

My first day of tennis since the last time I played tennis close to 6 weeks ago when I played with my son in the beginning of August.  Since then, I played close to 30 hours of Pickleball during the two weeks I was in the USA.  I was a little nervous to see how the Pickleball affected my tennis game.  Short answer, it messed it up BIG TIME!!!  Mainly, three things:  Timing, Form and Footwork.  My goodness, I felt like a fish out of water during the first 15 minutes or so.  I couldn't keep anything in the court, and I didn't feel comfortable moving, and I couldn't find the sweet spot or ideal contact point for the ball.  I would either jam myself or have to lunge for the ball at the last second.  My backhand was a disaster, way more than my forehand.  With bad form, miscued timing, and early or late contact on the ball, I just lost all power in the stroke and I really felt it.  Just starting off, I was miss-hitting the ball and it would really jar my shoulder on my forehand and my elbow on my backhand.  Then positioning myself to set up for the ball, I was like a bumbling idiot.  HOWEVER, after that initial mess and junk, I started to get the feel back.  My the 30 minute point, I was starting to feel more comfortable, and sort of making good contact with the ball.  There were some outside factors that influenced my play negatively in addition to what I have already stated.  First, the gym was like a sauna.  Just hot and humid.  Sweat started pouring right from the get-go.  Second, my legs were just just aching from yesterday's Leg Day with Sagi.  I wasn't getting a good jump on short shots and lateral movement was brutally difficult.  But, despite all that mess and difficulty, we did have a few stellar rallies that made the whole experience worth the effort.  Overall, I really enjoyed taking that first step to get my tennis form back.

In the end, I torched 1000+kcals.  Yes, it was less than what I burned during Pickleball, but the satisfaction of successfully placing a kill shot, or whipping a backhand passing shot cross-court just skimming over the net on a dead run, PRICELESS!!!  Looking forward to next week.

When I got home, I was fully intending to do Splits and Flow, but an intense soreness set in and my knees started to throb, so I decided to take a break today and rest up and go for it tomorrow.

9-23-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Back & Biceps + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit.

9-23-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Back & Biceps + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit.

Well, today was my first day back of official work.  No classes yet, but meeting with other teachers getting plans and schedules ready, etc.  Busy, but got a lot done quickly.  I got home a lot later than I wanted to so I was put into a bit of a time crunch.  Back to the game.  But I got the main routines in, I'll take my off day for the stretch today and so I'll have the end part of the workout tomorrow.

Final day of my come back week.  That is come back from vacation in case I failed to say why this is my come back week.  A lot of blips in today's routine.  First Single Set was no problem.  But I was really focusing on my form and really tried to copy Segi and I could feel my lower back really working it, but not straining so as to hurt it.  Odd feeling, but it let me know that my form was correct.  But still didn't use really heavy heavy weights just to be safe.  In the next Super Set, I kept the former weight and the first two Pull Up sets, I hammered out straight.  But the last set, I couldn't go all the way,  So I split the 10reps 7-3.  Total failure.  It was all I could do not to jerk hang down.  In the Giant Set, I upped the weight of several sets.  I was happy I could do that.  It also helped on time since I didn't need to change plates. My back was so burned out I went down on the Reverse Flies. Set four is a Single Set of Chin Ups. I did 12-8-6 straight previously, but today, I had to come off the bar a few time mid-set. So it was 8/4 - 5/2/1 - 3/2/1.  The "/" denotes me coming off the bar.  So burned out, I was.  The next Single Set focused on Biceps, and I went up in weight on only the medium set.  The burn was ON!!!  The next Single Set was the Combo Set, the 1, 1, 2 Hammer Curls.  My oh my, the Burn was on again, but this time, not only in my biceps, but also in my forearms.  Specifically the muscle that is connected to my index fingers.  I guess having to stabilize the dumbbell in the hammer position is putting a lot of resistance on that particular muscle.  Major burn.  By the final biceps set, my biceps were on FIRE!!! Oh man, were they burning.  On the Drop set, I had to use a little body English to get the weights up.  But I was able to limit it so I didn't use too much momentum.  The final set, the move is seemingly easy, but man, does it really burn the back.  It was a killer.  Great pump and burn on the upper body.

My abs have been sore pretty much all week.  The soreness was just starting to dissipate So I figured I was ready to do an ab routine.  I didn't want to go too intense, which is why I went with Extreme Core Circuit again.  Plus I really like this routine.  But I decided to really concentrate on form and keeping my elbows open and hinging at the core.  OH MY GOODNESS!!! Another extremely intense burn hit me like a mack truck!  I had to back off some in the middle.  I never realized how different the affect is when my elbows are open verses closed.  HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!  But it was a great workout on the core.  I needed every stretch Chalene gave us.

That was it for the time, so I ended my workout,  So...

In the end, I torched a surprising 969kcals.  Great way for me to end my weed.  I'm so ready for my off day.  Happy Weekend!!!

9-25-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Legs + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

9-25-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Legs + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

Pretty regular Sunday, went out in the early afternoon to do some errands with my wife. Ate out at a Chinese restaurant which was delicious.  Made sure I ordered lots of veges along with the other staples.  When I got home, I had to rest some before I got to my workout.

Legs is the routine I have been most worried about because for some reason, my legs have been feeling sore or fatigued since I came back to Japan.  I have been consciously avoiding doing Legs... Until today.  There was no more avoiding it, it was time to get it done.  And frankly, it wasn't that bad, but there were times when I thought I wasn't going to make it.  As far as weights go, I, for the most part kept the same weight as the previous time.  The only weight I changed was to go up one notch on the second to last move of the routine, Seated Calf Raises. I went up 2.5kgs on both sets over last time.  There were a few rep changes in the final Giant set as well, but everything was pretty much the same.  The first set was fine.  Legs felt strong and ready. The next Super Set took a lot out of me.  Those were long sets doing double sets hitting both legs in one round.  I really started to feel the burn during that Super Set.  After the Super Set, I could feel my hamstrings and glutes starting to cramp.  The muscles just sort of started to involuntarily started to contract.  I quickly stretched them out and hurried to get to the next Giant Set.  This is the Killer Set for sure.  The Bulgarian Squat just totally burned out my legs.  I had to really battle and stretch to prevent cramping.  The Straight Leg Dead Lift started hitting on my back so I kept telling myself to watch my form.  During the last heavy set, I sort of used a little momentum to get up, but I made sure to keep my front leg straight.  The final Giant Set just burned out my calves on the first move.  My rep count was a lot lower than the last time, too.  I don't understand how I could have done that many reps in 30 seconds.  Guess I'll have to work up to that.  I had to write the info for the final Giant Set below because there was no room on the line.

I went right into the core workout.  Yes, this is the third time in a row that I've done this one, but for some reason, I really like it, and I just want to do it again and again.  SERIOUSLY!!!  I have raised the weight in hand, though.  Today, I had my 2kg hand weights and I was in pain.  Serious burn there.  Form was good, ball position also good.  That combo equals the BURN!  It felt good.

Splits and Flow were as good as can be expected.  Kept pushing lower on the splits and the smoothness and cleanlyness of the Flow was beautiful to behold.

In the end, I torched over 1100kcals.  Good way to start the week.  I'm really curious how sore I'm going to be tomorrow.  My biceps were still pretty sore today, so I'm thinking I'll be more sore on Tuesday than tomorrow.  We'll see.

9-22-16 HY: Combat HIIT 1 Power + Splits + TCF.

9-22-16 HY: Combat HIIT 1 Power + Splits + TCF.

Got to bed late last night because I was trying to help my son with his computer via FaceTime.  It did not go well.  My son is, to put it mildly, technologically impaired, so some things I was telling him to try were just going way over his head and my brain had, for all intents and purposes, shut down so I was not in the best of moods.  So, that led to me getting up really late and I ended up pushing my schedule back about 90 minutes.  So my morning workout became a mid-afternoon workout and so on and so forth.  On top of all that, I woke up with some pretty sore Shoulders and Traps.  I also had a good ache/burn in my abs. YES!!!  Good way to start off the day.  Anyway, suffice it to say I got my workout done and done.

HIIT 1 Power is a good routine, but with my sore shoulders, the strength part of this routine was brutal.  Therefore, I reduced the weight by a little bit and pushed through it.  The Tracks in this routine are good, but the two tracks that KILL ME are the Strength track and the Plyo/Burpee track.  Despite the soreness, I got through the Shoulder Presses and got a good pump.  Really burned out my shoulders combined with yesterday.  The Burpee Track is always brutal.  I do the 8rep round with no problems.  The 12rep round required some extended break time, but the "2 sets of 8" round, I usually take a break between sets of 8, but today, I didn't want to take a break, I wanted to go straight through.  I also wanted to do all three levels. Level 1 is a single jump squat after the burpee. Level 2 is two Jump Squats after the Burpee, and Level three is a High Knee Power Jump after the Burpee.  After that last rep, I was dead.  But I accomplished my goal and went straight through all 16 reps with no break.  There might of been a little modification on the double jump squat with depth, but I caught a second wind and nailed out those Burpee Power Jumps.  The final Track is calm, but extremely brutal in the I am in plank most of the time.  I also added some reps to be even.  Each move I did two sets of 8.  I needed to take a "Shake out my shoulders" break after each of the four sets, and the final set of Spider push ups was my death nell.  HA!  But that extra little pump and the end.  Got through!

Definitely no abs today.  I should be okay for tomorrow to do some abs. So I went right into the Splits and I KILLED IT!!! I am so excited that I am as low as I am now on my Straddle Splits.  Side splits are still there, but since my Hammys are still a bit sore, I didn't want to pull anything as to injure myself. So I pushed as much as I could.  The Flow was on point as good as can be expected.

In the end, I torched a solid 1014kcals.  One more day and my come back week will be just a memory.

9-21-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

9-21-16 HY: Body Beast - Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

Short week this week so no mid-week recovery.  I'm going straight through to Friday.  Another morning shake and morning workout.  I will be sad when this schedule ends... NEXT WEEK!!!  Because next week is back to reality and work.  I'm still not sure what my schedule will be like this coming week, so I will need to see what happens so I can figure out a workout schedule.  I don't even know when my tennis day can be if it will happen at all.  It all depends on class schedules.  I should know by October, though.  Back to today.  Today is resistance, but the last resistance I did on Monday brought on a little light headedness and nausea mid-workout so I was a little nervous about today's workout.  But since it is only upper body, specifically shoulders, my worries were quickly dashed.

Went for Shoulders today and I was a bit nervous because, frankly, it has been a while since I really worked my shoulders.  The weights I had noted were from February.  So it has been over 6 months since I was on a regular resistance program.  Plus, this being day 3 of my come back, I notched it down a bit.  Check out the worksheet below to see how much I went down.  The numbers after the "/ " are the weights I did today.  Only three moves saw no reduction in weights.  I have a little tweak in my right shoulder from sleeping in a weird position so that was causing a little apprehension as well.  But once I got into the workout, it was just me and the weights and Segi.  I really burned out my shoulders today.  I almost hit failure on every heavy set.  The only move I significantly modified was in the second Super Set, the "Dumbbell Scap Trap".  Since I don't have a bench, I initially tried it on a Swiss Ball, but I was too low to get any resistance on the weights, so I ended up having to do the raises standing with a hinged at the waist. Hitting those Traps are hard, but I think I did a pretty good job.  Really felt a great shoulder pump afterwards.  I am considering getting another set of dumbbells, and EZ bar and a bench.  Sort of a long term project I have is to set up a small gym in my son's room, or what will be formerly known as my son's room.  Just need the green light from my wife.

There was only one focused ab move today, so I felt the need for more abs, so I got out one of my favorite "go to" routines.  I only used 1kg hand weights today but I really tried to target my core and the burn was ON!  Great routine!

Splits, again, it that same low as yesterday, but today, there was a little kink in my hip flexors so no lower push.  Just hit that point, held it for about 50 seconds, then came out of it.  Hamstrings are still really sore, so the side splits are a work in progress.  The Flow was as usual, clean and smooth. 

In the end, I torched around 850+kcals.  Pretty much what I expected with the focus on upper body.  I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

9-20-16 HY: Combat 60 - Extreme Cardio Fighter + Splits + TCF.

9-20-16 HY: Combat 60 - Extreme Cardio Fighter + Splits + TCF.

I woke up sore in all the good places.  Yesterday's Total Body workout was really total body.  Upper body and lower body needed a good amount of stretching out.

Day 2 of my come back.  Today is cardio day so I decided to go back to Combat and start where I left off which is week 6.  It was a little intimidating to start with Combat 60, but there was no wimping out today.  The one thing I did differently to modify a little bit during my return was to not use any hand weights.  Not much to say, but I killed it.  There was no cardio circuit that I didn't feel good about.  Notice I said "Cardio Circuit".  That final strength and ab section was as usual, extremely brutal.  I was able to do the first set with the team, but that was on my knees. I needed to take a little extra break between sets, and then between the push ups and the abs, but I nailed it.  I was thinking to do some abs also, but I was focusing on the core during the knee up moves and kicks, and I burned it up on the last circuit so I figured I was okay with abs so I went straight to splits.

Big news, I hit a new low today and I feel, REALLY FEEL that I'll get my straddle splits within the next couple of months.  It was like a totally smashed through a plateau and sank even lower.  I was ready to push to the end, but there was still just a little too much pain at the lowest point, but there was no kink in my hip flexors so I pushed lower.  I got lower than 5 inches so I felt really good.  The side splits still have more to go, and since, especially, my hamstrings felt really sore, I didn't push to much on the side splits.  I'll do it more later.  The Flow was also very smooth and clean.

In the end, I torched a nice 1060+kcals.  I cut almost an hour off my workout time so I was happy I could get some extra time to do other things.

9-19-16 HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + Body Beast - Beast: Total Body + Splits + TCF.

9-19-16 HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + Body Beast - Beast: Total Body + Splits + TCF.

Starting back up with my workouts after my two week trip to the USA.  Going to the US was fine, I was able to exercise by playing Pickle-Ball on my first full day there.  It was a bit weird and I was a bit tired, but once I started playing, the Adrenalin started pumping and was into it.  But jet lag coming back to Japan is always worse, and this year, it was very different from past years.  It was quite normal in the past, waking up at 3am or 4am, feeling really sleepy in the middle of the day.  That usually lasted for at least 4-5 days before my body started returning to normal.  This time, I was actually able to sleep through the night, almost, for the first two days, then stay up most of the day.  The first day, however, I did take a long nap from 6pm to almost 9pm.  But I was able to go back to sleep and sleep through.  The weirdest thing is that I was feeling light headed and dizzy when I moved quickly.  So I would have to turn my head very slowly.  This persisted from Wednesday to Sunday, the 18th.  I wanted to start my workout schedule on Sunday, but I was still feeling that light headedness, so I opted for holding off one more day.  This is the longest break I've taken from working out for several years, and I can't even remember the last 1+ day break I've taken.  I was worried about a lot of things, a diminishing of strength and flexibility, to name a couple right off, but my biggest worry was if my dizziness would stay away.  With a sudden rush of blood, I didn't know quite how my body would react.  I was soon to find out.

So, here we go!  I wanted to do a routine that would evenly hit all my muscle groups to start off my week, and I knew I wanted it to be a resistance routine, so I decided on Body Beast's Beast Total Body.  Not too many sets per muscle group, but enough to wake it up.  As the warm up started, I looked at the time and it was just over a 1 minute warm up. Yes, just ONE MINUTE!  So, I stopped the video and did P90X3's Cold Start to get a good stretch and warm up in before pushing my body.  I'm glad I did that because I think I might have injured something had I not. The first move was 15 reps of Pull Ups.  I was already thinking, "No way! I can't do 15 reps now!".  But to my surprise, I was able to do them all in one set.  The second set was definitely tougher, but still all in one.  The rest of the first circuit set was relatively easy.  I was feeling pretty good.  The second Circuit Set is where the fatigue started in.  I was still thinking to take it easy so I only did 17kgs.  That started the blood really pumping, and then the Bent-Over Rows.  Segi does them with two hand, but I did them one side at a time.  Not sure why I did it that way, but I think it was because I didn't want to pressure my back on the Bent-Over part of the move.  I was really winded after the Rows, and I started to get light headed.  So I had to take a breather in the middle of the Circuit.  I was able to hammer out the last two moves.  But I was really out of breath.  I didn't go up in weight on anything, in fact, I went down by 2.5kgs on the Rows.  That seemed to help some, and I wasn't as winded or light headed.  The third Circuit Set was killer.  I was thinking I could do 10kgs or even 12kgs on the first move, 1,1,2 Military Presses, but the guys on the video were only using 10lbs and 15lbs, so I figured I had better go with their weight.  So I used 7.5kgs.  It started off fine, but I started to die really quick.  I had to take a break at 10reps, then finish it out.  The second set, I went down 1kg and was able to just barely do 15 reps at once.  The Post Delt Raise was also a burner with only 4, but I ventured up to 5kgs for the second set and killed it.  The last two moves were good, and I was able to go up a little in weight for the second round.  The final Circuit Set really burned me out.  I ended up having to stick with 8.75kgs for the first move in the second set.  The same with the Second move, Triceps Extension Kickbacks.  Calf Raises-Weight on Shoulders, I had to cheat, and I let the weights hang.  Still got a good burn on the calves, though.  The last move took me right up to failure.  I was somewhat light headed for most of the routine after the second Circuit Set so I was taking between break all over the place, but I kept mid-set breaks to a minimum.  I felt really pumped after this routine which felt really good after such a long break.  Could have done without the light headedness though.  Here it the worksheet.

I was initially thinking to do an ab routine after the resistance routine, but my abs were already burning from the moves in Total Body, so I figured I had done enough ab work for the day, so I moved right to the Splits.  I was really wondering how much I had lost, but to my surprise, again, I hadn't really lost anything.  It even felt better than it does after one off day.  I hit my mark and passed it.  I came really close to a new low.  But on my Kosaks, I was really feeling that inner thigh stretch.  Felt a good pain there.  Side splits were about the same as I had left them, but I got to a new low on he Straddle Splits.  I added time to them, until I couldn't take the pain.  The Flow was as good as ever, no slips or misses.

In the end, over all, I had a good workout, but I was in need of several short and medium breaks because of my light-headedness, so the workout itself went long, just under 3 hours.  I also torched just under 1500kcals.  I'd say that was as good a start as any.  Hopefully I can do better tomorrow. Less light headedness.

8 PICKLE-BALL Days, 1 P90X routine, 2 Splits + TCF. For September 1 - September 11, 2016.

8 PICKLE-BALL Days, 1 P90X routine, 2 Splits + TCF. For September 1 - September 11, 2016.

I have been MIA this past couple weeks because I have been in the US on a business trip and for my exercise, I've been playing a lot of Pickle-Ball.  Almost everyday the second week starting on the 4th of September which was a Sunday, I played everyday except Wednesday because that is the day my sister came to town and I picked her up and we went out to a lot places and didn't get home until late. But I picked up again on Thursday, and this time I got my sister into it and we played for a relatively short time, but there were only 4 people so we played the entire time with no breaks. Friday also, we played a lot and and I burned a lot of calories.  On Saturday, which is normally my off day, no Pickle-Ball, but we did do a lot of yoga.  That is the reason why my sister came to visit while I am in town, to do yoga with me.  We call it "SY16" which stands for "Sibling Yoga 2016".  This year, is actually the third year for us to do this event.  I will post pics of it later.  But we were doing a lot of stretch poses, balance poses, strength poses, and it really brought on a good sweat.

Then on Sunday, which was our last day in town together, we played Pickle-Ball in the morning for over three hours and then went shopping.  I had a lot of stuff to get to bring back to Japan so we were out a long time.  For dinner, I had Pho for the first time at a Vietnamese Restaurant. It was nice.  I liked the Vietnamese sandwich (I forget the name, something like "Beng In" or something like that) though a little more.  Then when we got back, I was packing all my bags and weighing them.  So that was a good amount of lifting just under 50 pound bags.

Since I was essentially doing the same thing everyday, when it came to writing about it, I figured I'd be writing the same thing everyday.  Plus, I wasn't really liking the idea of writing the entries on my iPad so after the first few times, I figured I'd just put the whole week into one post at the end.

I left the US on Monday morning.  My flight from Chicago was delayed over an hour so when I arrived in Tokyo, it was impossible for me to make my connecting flight, so the airline put me up for the night with two meals.  Sweet deal!  When I got home, I was dead, but happy to see my wife and daughter.  I've been home for a couple days now and the Jet Lag has been pretty odd.  Nothing like I've experienced in the past.  Usually, I'd be waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep.  This time, for the past couple of nights, I have gone to bed around 9pm and pretty much slept through the night.  I did wake up a couple of time to do some "business" but I was able to get right back to sleep.  One big difference is the fact that I have been a bit dizzy all day.  That is different. If I move my head too fast, I feel sick and start to lose my balance. For that reason, I have not been able to workout since coming home.  I'm going to take it easy through Saturday and then hopefully start back up my regular workouts on Sunday.

So I'll just give the totals for the full time I worked out and played Pickle-Ball in the US.  my first workout was on September 1, Thursday, and I played Pickle-Ball for a total of 8 times before leaving on September 12.  I only did one regular workout on on the 2nd, which was P90X's Core Synergistics + Splits + TCF.  Then, I did Splits and TCF one other day after Pickle-Ball. That was on Friday, September 9.

Total Time for 9 Workouts was 27 hours and 2 minutes.
Total Calories Torched was 13,411kcals.

I had brought my workout shoes and routines to do for my workouts, but those plans changed drastically with the Pickle-Ball Fad sweeping my family.  I loved playing Pickle-Ball, but I'm anxious to get back to my regular workouts.  I'm scheduled to be started on Week 6 of Combat, but I may not go back to that.  I may go back to my regular hybrid which alternates Resistance and Cardio.  So I may use the Combat for the cardio portion of my hybrid until I'm through the whole 9 week schedule.  It is under consideration at the moment.

One more off day, then it's back to the grind.  Unless this dizzyness persists. Here's hoping. Have a great weekend!

9-04-16 HY: Pickleball + Splits + TCF.

9-04-16 HY: Pickleball + Splits + TCF.

Today was an odd day. We were planning to NOT play Pickleball today. My parents and I were planning to go out to eat in the evening. That would have been our first "eating out together" since I came back. But, to make a long story short, our lines got crossed, and we ended up eating at home which gave us time for some Pickleball!

I started off again, as Cut-Throat. As before, I was running around like crazy. We all shout and howl in delight as awesome shots are made and attempted. We were only planning to play for an hour, but at the end of the fourth 2-on-1 game, another member of the club came. A guy several years younger than I, so we ended up playing close to 90 minutes.  We split up into two teams, my mom and I vs. the young whipper snappers.  Well, to make a long story shout, us oldies showed them young whipper snappers a thing or two about Pickleball! But the games were actually quite competitive. Serve changing hands several times with no score.  We had a great time! I was so sweaty, I couldn't just go into ,y splits right then, so I showered, and then did the Splits and Flow before I went to bed.

Splits were good. A lot less painful from soreness or muscle strain today. But enough pain from the stretch.  Good push session today.  Flow was also good, as normal.

In the end, after the Pickleball, I torched 1400+kcals.  Can't wait for tomorrow, Labor Day, because we're having a Pickleball party.

9-02-16 HY: P90X - Core Synergistics + Splits + TCF.

9-02-16 HY: P90X - Core Synergistics + Splits + TCF.

So sad! No Pickleball today. So I decided to go Old School and do some good P90X body weight resistance training.

I was afraid I might have lost some strength, and actually, I was still feeling the affects of that last Body Beast workout I did on Sunday, but I was happy to discover that I was still able to pump out the push ups and keep up with Tony and crew.  I kind of gassed out at 11 reps on the "Jail House" or was it "Cell Block" push ups. I usually am able to do a few more but just couldn't do it today.  I don't have any weights here, so I did all the weighted moves without them. Instead, I focused on keeping the flex throughout the move. The "Lunge-hands above the head" and back move was good, but the "Lunge-Elbows Back-Kick Back-Straighten Up-Curl-Press-Down-Reverse Curl" move was extremely brutal. When I do that move with weights I'm focusing on form with weights. But today, I had to focus on putting tension in every muscle I wanted to hit.  I was really exhausted after that move like never before. It was hard keeping up with Tony on that "Locomotives/Standing Crunch" move because I got a little dizzy turning my head from side to side.  I was planning to do an ab routine, but my core was already quite tired and burned out after this routine, so I decided not to do one.

Ah, the splits. This is the longest break from them I've taken since I started this Splits Journey almost two years ago with Dr. Cheng in Tai Cheng. The initial leg swings, especially on my left were very painful, so I had to back off a lot. Everything else went normally in the preliminary ballistic moves.  Needless to say, I was pretty tight, but to my surprise and delight, after the first round, I was back, or close to getting back to my low point. My frame of reference is gone because I don't have my lines or my smooth floor I can slide on, but it felt good and painful. I was worried I might have lost a lot of openness in my legs and hip flexes, but it seems that everything is fine. Flow was also fine. Being in a unfamiliar surroundings is always a challenge, but I nailed all my Flows, cleanly and smoothly.

In the end, I torch 1100+kcals.  I was happy to get back to a regular workout to finish off my busy week.

9-01-16 Pickleball + Jojjing.

9-01-16 Pickleball  + Jogging.

Jet lag hit me like a load of bricks today.  It hit me pretty hard yesterday too, but since yesterday was a rest day, when I got sleepy, I took a long nap. Today, I had to start work so no nap. I really had to fight to stay awake. I was shouting and slapping my face on the drive home. Yeah, that was a bit tenuous, but thankfully, I made it back safely.

Today wasn't a normal Pickleball day, but my mom called around and was able to find a friend to play with us. So, we ended up plating "Cut-Throat" aka "2-on-1". At the outset, I wasn't feeling particularly energetic, and in the first few minutes, I didn't think I would last the whole hour, but once we got into it and some really good points were played and the adrenaline started flowing, I was pumped and ready to get into it.  You might think it wasn't very competitive, me against a couple of senior citizens, but this was more me learning and getting a better feel for the game than actual competition. So I held back on killing the ball and focused on just getting everything back with good accuracy and control. Plus, they are actually pretty good, so they really pushed me. Their experience really came through on a lot of points.  We ended up playing six games. The first three were all pretty one sided. But from the third game, I was still energetic, but I was feeling gassed and a lot of unforced errors started creeping in. The score of that third game was really close.  I had to fight my way back from like an eight point deficit. I found just enough energy to tie-and-pass when I was 11-13 down.  Those close games are a lot more fun than the blow outs.  We all had a great time.

By the end of the hour, I had burned just under 800kcals. I really wanted to top 1000, so I ran along side my dad as he rode his bike. My dad had a stroke over ten years ago so riding his bike is something he does to stay active.  He rides for about half an hour, and goes for about a mile and a half at a good pace for his condition. So today a jogged along.  I normally hate jogging, but this was just some quality time with my dad.

In the end, I torched over 1150kcals. I love burning calories this way!

Now, I'm sure you have noticed that I have not done the splits of Flow for about four days. The reason for that is that I seem to have had a slight left lower glute pull. Putting weight on my left side has been rather painful since the long flight.  The seats were extremely uncomfortable and lacked sufficient cushion. At one point mid-flight, I tried to adjust my butt in the seat and a pain shot into my left glute. That is when I knew I had to get up and stretch.  I normally don't get up too much, but it seems that I will have to change that and get up to stretch more often during long flights.

8-31-16 Pickleball.

8-31-16 Pickleball.

 Today I scheduled as a rest day because I knew I would be jetlagged and I wouldn't be able to think very much today so yeah today is my rest day.   When I say rest day I mean resting from work not working out because today I did a very fun and new and rigorous workout.   Today's workout came in the form of a new sport that is a sweeping the nation called Pickleball.  Basically, if I were to describe it in one phrase, I would say Pickleball is a hybrid of tennis/paddleball/table tennis.  The big characteristics are that the racket is like an greatly oversized ping pong paddle with no rubber, and the ball is basically a whiffle ball.  Not a big bounce, and not a lot of spin can be put on the ball. The lines are a lot like badminton. The rules regarding the lines is like any game with lines, but there are a couple rules that handcuffed me several times.  But overall, I had a lot of fun and burned a bunch of calories.  I played about 10 sets with and against several different teams. I lost some and won some.

In the end, after almost three and a half hours of play, I torch 1535kcals. Hugely fun way to burn calories.

Here are a few shots of my session:

8-30-16 Powerwalking, part 2

8-30-16 Powerwalking, part 2

 Today upon waking up I felt a little bit more ready for the trip since I had to leave early as I said in yesterday's entry.   Today was the big day today I was flying from Tokyo all the way to my home airport of the South Bend.   In today's journey I would be walking through three airports Narita international airport in Tokyo Chicago O'Hare and then the South Bend regional airport and I definitely laughed a lot more today I am walking up and down terminals walking around looking for food and throughout all that walking I try to keep the pace I tried the powerwalking the extended stride the more powerful pushoff on the back foot and I really wanted to keep  pushing my pace as fast as I could I'm need to get my heart rate up.   I really wish I had my heart rate monitor on but dumb unfortunately I had packed it away and my heart rate are my am my pedometer was dead and I forgot to change the battery so I didn't bring it.   But by my estimates I definitely walked more than twice as much as I did yesterday and I did a lot more extra walking since I had a lot more waiting time.   So to keep the sweating down I would walk up and down my terminal from the beginning, all the way to the end and back a couple times.   By my estimates walking from the top of the terminal all the way to the end and back is probably around 800m to 1km in distance.  So in total I think I walked over 10 km today.   Oh and just so you know only the first time I walked on the moving sidewalks the rest of the times I went around on the normal carpet.

 On the plane I couldn't really walk around or do pace walking so instead of that I got up a couple times to stretch to do some yoga moves nothing too big but a few poses like a triangle of forward bend and things all these stretches that I've done on different programs that I would loosen my body up on the plane because the flight was extremely long and the seats were very uncomfortable.

 But I made it to my destination and I'm very happy about that but I was very tired and sleepy because I stayed up and watched a few movies on the plane.   So I'm hoping that I  can get over my jet lag quickly and I can start doing regular workouts on every day from tomorrow hopefully.

8-29-16 Powerwalking.

8-29-16 Power Walking.

 Today was a world wind day.   I was scheduled to leave for the United States tomorrow but because of a typhoon I decided to go today.   There was a chance that the typhoon would delay my flight and I might miss connecting flights if I left tomorrow so leaving today was the best option to be safe.   I was thinking I could do a quick workout before I left but as things got busy I found that there was no way I  would be able to do a workout of any kind.   But as it turns out walking through airports carrying bags trying to get to terminals and walking through terminal is two gates that was a lot of walking today.

 So instead of doing a regular work out I was forced to do powerwalking.  I've heard the term powerwalking before but  what I consider to be powerwalking might be a little different from what the general definition is.   For me powerwalking basically is walking as fast as you can but with a longer stride and with a more powerful pushoff from the back foot to hear propelling yourself forward a lot faster.   Today I had to walk through two airports and I found that my gate was basically at the end of the terminal so I had to walk fast and I had to walk long to get to my gate and since I had a long waiting time I decided just to go walking up and down the terminal.   You know I walked about an hour and I would estimate close to 5 km.   I was a little worried about all the walking today because I don't like to sweat when I can't take a shower right away.   I did sweat but I bought a little tool that would help alleviate some of the discomfort and that helped a lot.  It helped me feel a lot better and I'm sure it helped my neighbors with regards to what could have been an unpleasant aroma.   I also did a lot of just sitting around and waiting and actually that might have been something that made me even more tired than the walking

 It was a good day and it was a very busy day having to change my schedule like that I wasn't mentally prepared but eventually I had to come to grips with my decision to go early.  It was a good day except for the fact that I wasn't able to say goodbye to my daughter face-to-face because she had left for school before I woke up.