12-31-17 (Sunday) HY: Body Weight BOOM, Workout B + OCR Dead Hang, Day 31 + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-31-17 (Sunday) HY: Body Weight BOOM, Workout B + OCR Dead Hang, Day 31 + TCF + Ab EMS.

Today I went with the second routine in the BW BOOM program.  The 4 moves were: Burpees, 1 1/4 Split Lunges, Supine Scissor Kicks, Oblique Static Plank.  Again, these moves were deceptively difficult.  But I tried to do the same thing I did on Friday: Focus on the target muscles, Perfect Form, Full Range of Motion.  Again, it took a lot longer than anticipated, almost 40 minutes.  The Lunge move is easy, but the slower reps really activate the muscles a lot quicker and bring a lasting burn sooner than even weighted lunges.  I was sweating by the second round.  Great all around routine.

I hit my secondary goal of straight 60's.  My main goal was to hit a 90 second initial hang, but that didn't workout because of a pain in my forearm, possibly due to overwork with all the tennis.  But I'll get that goal later, after the tournament.  Today, I got the Penta-Split: 60-60-60-60-60-60 Seconds, for a total of SIX MINUTES! Until today I was afraid to go upside down, but thanks to this challenge, I have confidence in my grip strength. Benefits from this challenge are very evident in my tennis game and weightlifting. Definitely continuing this long term.

I also closed out my workout with a beauty of a Flow Series.  I little erratic with those recently, but I'm going to try to be more consistent with it.  Then totally closed out the year with my Ab EMS.  Final Ab work of the year.

In the end, I burned over 650kcals.  So it was a good workout.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! Best wishes in 2018!!!

12-29-17 (Friday) HY: Body Weight BOOM, Workout A + OCR Dead Hang, Day 29 + Ab EMS.

12-29-17 (Friday) HY: Body Weight BOOM, Workout A + OCR Dead Hang, Day 29 + Ab EMS.

Today, I'm just trying to stay safe and maintain a level of activity that will carry me until the tournament.  So, I'm just going with body weight routines.  Today's routine I got sometime ago, and did for a bit when I wasn't in a good condition.  So it is going to help me maintain my fitness for a few days.

The routine is pretty straight forward.  A circuit of four moves done in five sets.  The moves are: High-Low Plank Drill, Contra-Lateral Toe Touch, Scorpians, and 1 1/4 Squats.  The moves are deceptively difficult.  It took a good 30-35 minutes to get through the 5 sets.  One reason is because I was really trying to keep perfect form and have full range of motion.  I was also not trying to rip through the reps, but I was focusing on activating the target muscles for each move.  I didn't want to just mindlessly get through the moves.  I was surprisingly breathing heavily from the beginning of the third set.  I was very satisfied with the time under tension for each move.  Surprisingly, again, Scorpions were probably the most taxing move.  I still can't get my leg over to touch my hand.  But I'm working on it.

I wasn't worried about the workout affecting my grip strength, so I was able to warm up my body and arms.  I was very happy with my performance today.  I think yesterday's "easy" day with the Hepta-Split really helped my forearms recover.  Today was the best day ever for the hang. I felt strong and stable. Got a Hexa-Split: 60-60-60-40-40-40-40 Seconds, for a 5:40 total. I had intended to do the same thing as yesterday, but right off, I felt good. I could have gone longer, for sure, but I started to feel the pain in my right forearm, so I tapped out. I can’t believe there are only two days left of the challenge. Thank you all for the support!

I got in an Ab EMS session before bed.  Nice way to end the day.

In the end, I burned just over 450kcals.  But the big thing was the run in my dead hang.  I'm really happy about that.

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12-30-17 (Saturday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 30 + Ab EMS.

Today was an off day from a regular workout, but I still had to do the Dead Hang, so here it it.  Totally crushed it today with a Penta-Split: 60-60-60-60-60-50 Seconds. Grips are excellent! Unfortunately, I discovered that the Lever Pull-Up takes away some of the forearm tension. I got a second wind after minute 3, and was able to hammer out the rest of the time with much shorter breaks.

Finished the day out with my Ab EMS.  Hardening and sculpting my abs takes no vacation!

12-28-17 (Thursday) HY: Tennis + Ab EMS + OCR Dead Hang, Day 28.

12-28-17 (Thursday) HY: Tennis + Ab EMS + OCR Dead Hang, Day 28.

Well, today was a busy day.  Not a lot of time for relaxing or being lazy, except for getting up at a nice late hour(8:30am).  But once the day got started, it didn't stop until the evening.  I was able to do that work task in the morning, then it was shopping with my girls.  I wanted something very specific, but couldn't find it, so I came away empty handed.  By the time we got home, I had to start getting ready for tennis.  Today was the last session with my Thursday club.

Today was the ideal situation for me at the Thursday club.  Only 4 of us came at the earlier hour so we were able to warm up together and start match play quicker.  The warm up was exactly what I needed to get used to the faster surface.  I was mis-timing balls all throughout the warm up.  The funny thing is that the style of play during warm up as compared to match play is very different.  During warm up, they hit hard and without reserve.  But during match play, they lob and bloop most of the time.  Timing is always an issue at this club, but today, I was zoned in and I was hitting out without reserve.  Everyone was commenting about how I was not missing any shots.  In the first match, it was basically true.  I was so on.  90%+ of the points we lost were due to my partners misses or the opponents good shots.  I really didn't have any unforced errors in that first set.  My serve was on as well.  I was especially happy with my backhand service return.  I wasn't trying too much, I was getting the ball back into play and then trusting my ground strokes.  It was a good first set which we won 6-3.  We switched partners for the second set.  I also cooled off just a little bit.  I netted a few balls, but my serve was still on.  So far, I had been able to win all my service games pretty handily.  In the first set, I hit a lot of service winners, but it was in the second set that my serve really came alive.  I hit two BOOMING aces to the ad court with my flat serve, then another two aces with my wide out serve to the deuce court.  The best thing is that my mechanics were good, so no pain in my shoulder.  I was also very crisp at net.  My volley's were tight, but I was still a bit off on the put away volley, but second chance balls were gone.  A couple time, I hit my opponents, but I quickly apologized.  We ended up taking the set, 6-3.  By this time, another member had come, so we switched partners again and started a third set.  My first service game was a blast.  But my second service game, I guess I just got a little conservative and it got to Deuce, and... I double faulted.  I was very disappointed.  I really wanted to have a perfect night for my service games.  But we still took the match, 6-4.  So I was perfect with matches, so I was happy.  This was a good boost for my up coming tournament so I hope I can keep the focus and intensity up.  Truth be told, I was considering not going to play today because I was still really tired from yesterday.  I was feeling really sleepy even on the way to the gym.  But I knew that this was going to be my last chance to play before the tournament so I pushed myself to go.  And I am happy that I did.

I did my Ab EMS, and Dead Hang just before going to bed to give myself as much recovery time after tennis.  Super surprised that I got in a Hepta-Split: 30-30-40-40-60-30-60-40 seconds, for a total of 5:30. The initial hangs were short, but they were like warm ups, because the 60’s were pretty easy. A lot less stress pain than yesterday. Oh, and yes, I’m THE HULK!!!

In the end, I burned a good 1100+kcals.  It was a great practice and a great high note to end my tournament tune up on.  Now, I just have to stay healthy, focused and loose.  Game on in 5 days!

12-27-17 (Wednesday) HY: Ab EMS + Tennis + OCR Dead Hang, Day 27.

12-27-17 (Wednesday) HY: Ab EMS + Tennis + OCR Dead Hang, Day 27.

Today didn't start out as I was hoping.  I was supposed to do some work for school, but because someone didn't fulfill their duty, I was forced to waste a day and push the work to tomorrow.  My son came back from Tokyo yesterday and we were planning to play tennis for a couple of hours from 5pm to 7pm, then I had my regular tennis club from 7pm to 9pm.  Yep, that is a lot of tennis.  That wouldn't be so bad, but it was close to freezing temperatures outside so I was getting ready with a lot of layers.  Also, I knew I wouldn't be in the mood to do anything, so in the early afternoon, I got my Ab EMS done.  I was going to do the Dead Hang also, but I got caught up in helping my wife with some house chores and before I knew it, it was time to go.

My son and I don't usually play matches, so we just started off as usual.  An extra long warm up, followed by simple stroke practice through regular rallies.  But I wanted to do a little practice in singles point play, so I asked if I could serve some points.  My son capitulated.  So, I started serving, point after point.  I hadn't intended to play a match, but we were both sort of keeping score, and before I knew it, I had served and won enough points to have won two games straight.  Then my son asked if he could serve.  I really wanted to practice receiving a fast serve, so I said, "Sure".  We started acknowledging out match, so we actively started keeping score.  My son, also easily won two games.  So I started serving again while keeping score.  I lost my first service game but won the second.  Game count was 3-3. Then when my son served his first game, and I had a break point, but I couldn't convert, and I had another break point in the second game, but I ended up losing both games.  My son was now up 3-5.  I got the serve back and pretty handily won the game.  Time was short, so I told him that I wanted a chance to break his serve, so I gave up my second game and let him either serve out the set, or we tie.  I jumped to Love-40 and then he hit a good serve to go 15-40.  But I finally was able to close out the game, breaking him.  Game count 5-5.  Then we had to go to our respective next sessions, me to my club and my son to his friend.  We played standard rules, and about three games had multiple deuces and ads, so the game actually went pretty long.  That 5-5 set was close to an hour long.  It was a lot of fun, and I was actually very surprised that I was able to keep up with my son.  I thanked him for taking it easy on me, but he said that he was playing at 100%.  I'll take it!  It was a great practice for the up coming tournament.

The Club was extremely sparse at the beginning.  There were only four of us at the beginning and I was already warmed up, but I did warm up drills with a partner for close to half an hour until some other members finally arrived.  There were only 11 members total that came, so we had a lot of practice chances with a lot of rotations.  Menu for the practice session was as usual, starting with Stroke/Volley.  Since we got a late start, we did that for a long time, then switched to Point Simulation.  We did that to the end.  This was the last club session of the year so we all said our end of the year greetings and closed out the club activities for 2017.  These last three months as a member of this club has boosted my skills and more importantly my confidence in my game, so I am really thankful for this club.  I look forward to seeing what will happen with my skills in the coming year.  I really want more consistency and stability with my strokes.

I was exhausted when I got home.  I haven't played that much tennis in a long time and my body was feeling it.  But I had to get in my Dead Hang for the day.  My right forearm, from the beginning of the tennis at 5pm was already feeling a sore pain, and after all that tennis, it was tired and very sore.  I didn't want to hurt it or strain it, so I decided to do a lot of 30 second intervals, and lose the weights.  I could feel the strain pain right from the beginning of the first hang.  But it was actually getting a bit easier as the intervals progressed.  I ended up with 30x7 seconds, 50 seconds, then 30x2 seconds. for a total of 5:20.  The pain was very present during every hang.  I want to push, but not at the risk of the tournament, so I'm placing the tournament prep as priority over logging a long initial hang.  But after the tournament is finished, I will continue to do the Dead Hang, not as a challenge, but as a move to keep strengthening my grip strength, then, I will go for that 2 minute mark.

In the end, I burned 2417kcals.  That is almost a pound's worth of calories.  I was VERY happy with the big burn today. 

12-26-17 (Tuesday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 26 + T25 - Alpha: Ab Intervals + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-26-17 (Tuesday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 26 + T25 - Alpha: Ab Intervals + TCF + Ab EMS.

Another "relaxing" day.  Didn't really do anything all morning.  I was planning to go shopping to use a coupon I have for the local electronics store in the early afternoon with my wife, but I apparently lost the coupon book.  We looked for it everywhere, but it was nowhere to be found.  That pretty much put me in a bad mood.  But we went shopping anyway and got stuff we needed for the holiday.  One bright note, my son came home today from Tokyo!  But before he arrived, I got in my workout.

As usual, I started off with the Dead Hang.  Today was nothing to write home about, but pretty standard day.  I went back to a Hexa-Split: 70-52-43-40-40-35-30 Seconds.  As you can see, I hit failure long before I wanted to on a couple hangs and got a weird number.  On the 52, my grip just gave out as I was going for a 60.  Then I compensated on the next hang, the 43.  I was about to give out at 33, but barely hung on for 35, and that allowed a normal 30 on the last hang.  Right forearm was still extra sore, but for some reason, my right hand was more sweaty and slipped off the pad more.  It's always something.  But I got through it, that's all that matters right now.  I challenged my son to hang when he got home.  He arrogantly said, "I can hang all day."  He tried twice, and on both hangs, he got 29 seconds.  In the first 10 seconds, "This is easy!"  By 20 seconds, "Ahh, AHHHH!!!"  Will these young guns never learn. LOL!

I didn't want to do another resistance, or a hard cardio today.  I was thinking to do Yoga, but as I was looking through my library, my eyes fell on a routine I hadn't done in a long time, and it just hit me to do that one.  So, I went for it.  It was brutal.  I had to modify several times, and on a few of the "Heels up" moves, I had to tap down.  But I didn't stop due to fatigue.  However, there were a few times that I couldn't understand Shaun T's explanation while my face was close to the floor, so I stopped to see what he was doing, then rewind the video and start again.  One time I can remember when  did that was on the Back moves.  I wasn't sure of the verbal cues, so I stopped to make sure what was going on.  Really good and ab burning workout.

I was able to do a clean and smooth series of Flows.  I haven't done a Flow for a few days, so it was nice to get them in today.  Even though I did Abs for my workout, I still got in my Ab EMS in the evening before bed.

In the end, I burned only 400+kcals.  But my shoulders were really feeling it today, especially after those Plank to Down Dog progressions.  That was really tough!  It is one week before my tennis tournament so I am going into intensive tennis match preparations for my workouts.  I'm going to do everything in moderation for injury prevention.  So from tomorrow, non-tennis days will be a little less taxing.  Exercise to maintain, not build.

12-25-17 (Monday) HY: OCR Dead Hang + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 3 + Ab EMS.

12-25-17 (Monday) HY: OCR Dead Hang + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 3 + Ab EMS.

Merry Xmas!  Today was a very unusual Xmas season.  For the first thing, for reasons beyond my control, we weren't able to set up our Xmas tree until Xmas Eve, last night.  We usually set it up on the first weekend of December, so it was odd with no tree in December.  Second, my son isn't able to come home from college until after Xmas so he's not here, and my daughter had plans with friends from the morning, so she was gone.  Third, Everyone didn't really have anything we "wanted" so there were literally no "unknown" presents to be opened.  There was one present that my wife wanted, but that is an annual traditional present.  She knew about it.  There was one gift that I was working on, a calendar with Family Pictures that was a surprise.  But that was it.  We are planning to celebrate Xmas when my son gets home, though.  So getting a workout in on Xmas is no problem at all.  In fact, I was able to get it in early.

I started off with the Dead Hang.  I guess I was still not totally recovered from last night, because my initial hang was back down to 70 seconds.  But I was able to keep the Penta-Split: 70-60-58-40-42-30 seconds, for 5:00.  The first two hangs brought me to failure but I was able to gracefully release the bar.  On the third hang, I wanted to get to at least 60 seconds, but my grip was giving out, and I eventually just slipped off just before that mark.  The final three hangs were tough, and I could have gone to 40 again on the last hang, but opted against it.  My right forearm was still feeling the pain from the night before.  I am not counting this in the time, but during my resistance routine, I did four sets of Pull-Ups and I was curious about their time, so I timed each set, and I did an additional 110 seconds (25-30-20-35 seconds) on the bar.  My forearms were on fire by my last set of Pull-Ups.  Also holding the heavy weights for long periods of time was just brutal.

The final circuit in the Burn Phase is focusing on Shoulders and Legs.  Plus, I did some extra stuff, too.  I still kept the extra 9kgs for the regular Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups, but not the 1-Arm Pull-ups.  I needed the assist bands for that.  But I upped my weight on the heavier moves, but I wanted to get full range of motion on the moves with lighter weights so I kept them as is.  The first few reps were easy, but by the end, I pretty much hit failure.  My grip was just strong enough to keep holding the dumbbells for all the moves.  There was no need to break because of grip weakness.  There was one move that I did the minimum 10 reps because my overall strength failed.  That was move 7. Squat with Double Overhead Press.  I was going deep in the squat, and pressing the weight up burned me out.  I barely got in that 10th rep.  But after a quick shake out, I got the last to reps to finish out the 12 rep total, and I combined that with the Break Down set of 3 reps.  But kept the combo move with the Squat, not just the Press.  After all the regular moves, I added one move for my Calves.  I did a Weighted Speed Calf Raise with 12kgs, 40 reps on each leg.  I couldn't have gone one more rep on my right leg, but surprisingly, I had a little strength remaining on my left leg.  But I stuck with the 40 reps.  Then I closed out the workout with the 5x Switch Grip Pull-Ups, 3 reps on each grip, and yes, with the 9kgs in toe.  But I was again very happy with my 1-Arm Pull-Ups.  Here is a little Time Lapse to show you what it looked like:

My forearms, shoulders, Legs are feeling it now.  I wondering how it will be tomorrow? 

I got in a good session of Ab EMS also later in the day.  Keeping those abs hard.

In the end, I burned a good 860+kcals.  This was my Xmas workout.  Good to the last drop of sweat! 

Merry Xmas, Everyone!  And Happy Holidays!

12-24-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

12-24-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

It was surprisingly not too cold today.  So I didn't need to wear a ton of layers.  But it was forecast to rain.  I was a little wary of it, but we went with it.  The main leaders of the club were not there, so the practice was a little disorganized, but we got through everything as usual and did a little bit of a different drill.  After warming up, we did the usual, Stroke/Volley drill.  Then we did the Serve/Return drill.  Then we moved into Match play and Stroke Drills.  I was in the first match, but again, my partner was off, and we lost 1-4.  Yes, Sets are only  4 games in this setting.  I won my first service game, which was our only win.  Then I moved over to the drill court while the women who came played their match.  There, we did Point Simulations.  Today's simulation was much more serious but fun than last Wednesday.  Felt much better playing the points.   Then I went back to play a second match, and this time, I was playing a little better and we were able to win the match, 4-0.  By this time the rain was starting to fall, but not enough to get us off the court.  My serving was still consistent, and I was placing the ball better.  Still hit a double fault, though.  But I was able to hold it together in the rallies so I was happy.  Then, it was back to the drill court and we closed out the practice session with Volley Points.  Keeping the ball in the service court.  It was fun, but difficult to keep the ball in play for the beginners.  Great practice session.

In the evening, I could feel the sore point in my right forearm and was worried it would be an issue.  It was.  Right off my first hang, I could feel the muscle tense up and I could feel the pain coming on quickly.  Day 24, Done. Yes, I did 4:50 again because I didn’t get the new stamps yet. So, I’m glad I get to stick with the pack. I solved two problems: 1. My 4kg dumbbell kept slipping from between my legs so I wrapped it in a towel and hung it around my neck. 2. The original pads on the bar ripped off so I was using different grips. They were working, but started slipping around the bar, so I wrapped some grip tape I use for my tennis racket on the bar. It works great and made a huge difference. Had another Penta-Split: 30-60-60-60-50-30 seconds. I grabbed the bar badly on the initial hang and the skin on my fingers felt like it was ripping off. I learned from my mistake and killed it the rest of the way.  Except for that bad initial hang, I was very happy with today's hang.

I got my Ab work in just before going to bed.  I almost forgot to do it.

In the end, I burned a nice 1735kcals during tennis.  I good start to my winter vacation.  Got to keep it going during the holidays!  No rest for the Goal Oriented or the Fitness minded!

12-23-17 (Saturday) HY: OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

12-23-17 (Saturday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 23 + Ab EMS.

Tonight was just a couple of things to get done.  First of all, the Dead Hang.  No off days from it so I have to/want to keep it up.  Day 23, Done. Back to a Penta-Split: 80-50-50-30-30-50 Seconds. To prevent my hands from slipping, I used a towel stretched for no slippage.  Maybe you can see it in the picture below.  Worked like a charm but hurt my hands in a different way. Calluses building!  I was happy to get back to 80 seconds on the initial hang.  But I desperately want to get 90 seconds and then two minutes.  It was a good hang.  More hangs above 30 seconds than below.  Still working with the 9kgs between my legs, but having trouble with the dumbbell shifting position.  Also a problem with hands slipping.  I'm working on a solve.  Very happy I could raise my time back up on the final hang.

Ab EMS to end my day.  Happy to be able to get it in everyday.

No HRM, but I did break a good sweat.

12-22-17 (Friday) HY: OCR Dead Hang + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 2 + Ab EMS.

12-22-17 (Friday) HY: OCR Dead Hang + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 2 + Ab EMS.

Final day of the week and I come back to some good ol' resistance training.  But first, I wanted to get the Dead Hang done first, so I got to it.  I thought I would be able to do better than yesterday, but it was actually not that good.  For some reason, my pads were slipping a lot more than before.  So that kind of hurt my chances at fewer splits.  I ended up having an Octo-Split: 70-40-30-30-30-20-20-20-20 Seconds.  For a total of 4:40.  Having accidentally skipped 4:20, I was considering doing that today, but when it came right down to it, I couldn't bring myself to go backwards from yesterday.  I almost did 4:30 again, but that seemed stagnant as well.  Plus, with the split the way it was, I didn't want to waste a hang on just 10 seconds.  So I went with 4:40.  I was happy to break that 60 second barrier for the initial hang, and I think I could have gone longer except for the slippage from my pads.  I no longer have the "Pinching" problem.  Now, it is purely grip weakness that is holding me back. I thought the soreness in my right forearm would have a negative effect on my hangs, but it seems like it is not effecting me that much.  No direct extra pain in the hands.  I also found that doing a pull-up allows me to adjust my hands some, and I can change the angle of my hang on my hands so it is a bit of a relief and I can add 7-10 seconds going up then lowering in an eccentric move.  One thing that I am a bit worried about is that my thumb controlling muscles don't seem to be getting any work done.  The bulk of the strength training is on the 4 primary fingers.  I want to work with my thumb, too.

I moved right into the Burn Circuit.  I started off with the Chin-Ups with the extra 9kgs.  I could only do 8 reps.  The regular routine started off as expected.  I kept the same weights as before for the first three moves and everything was fine.  I got to the Switch Grip Pull-Ups and I matched the previous number of 10 reps with the 9kgs.  The next move, Sumo Squat with Overhead Triceps Extension was fine until the last two reps and then the burn set in.  Intense heat there.  Notation from the previous time was "DIED".  I almost got there, but I'm still alive.  The next two moves, I raised the weight to 14.5kgs.  And it may have been a bit too heavy, but only because I fried my grip earlier.  If I didn't do the Dead Hang, I think I could have gone the whole 12 reps without a break.  My grip just gave out with those heavy weights, so it was an 8-4 split.  I managed to squeak out 12x2 reps on the next move, though.  The third set of Pull-Ups was One-Arm Pull-Ups.  I had previously stood on my step ladder for support, but today, I just used my green resistance bands.  Then, I raised myself up till my elbows were at a 90 degree angle on my elbow.  My weight was not being supported by anything but the cord.
The left side was much more difficult.  I barely got the "L's", but I nailed it.  Oh, and on this one, no extra weight.  The rest of the routine was like before.  But my forearms got a huge workout today, and I can still feel the pump hours later.  The final pull-ups were Parallel-Grip, and I got only 8 reps, but 8 clean reps, full range of motion.  I know I'm going to feel this one in the coming week.

In the eveing, I was able to get my Ab EMS in.

In the end, I burned just over 760kcals.  I got an awesome Pump and Burn today, and I'm looking forward to my off day, but not from the OCR Dead Hang.

12-21-17 (Thursday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

12-21-17 (Thursday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

YES!!! A THIRD DAY OF TENNIS!!!  This rarely happens that I'm free on all the tennis days, but I actually started planning for this back in October.  At the end of October scheduled an extra night class in November and then took on off from December so I could have the end of the month free.  Now I'm reaping the benefits!

Tennis today was with the Old Boys Club.  It was a bit tough at first because students were also practicing they performances for a Xmas recital so we could only set up one court.  During the warm up, I was taken aback by the speed of the ball post-bounce.  The gym floor is so much faster than the other courts I play on.  So it took some getting used to.  To compensate, I was forced to use a more open stance.  There were 7 members there, so the other three were just watching at first.  I was chosen to play the first match.  Everything was firing in that match.  My serve was unreturnable.  I had confidence in my strokes and I was feeling good.  My partner and I took the match easily, 6-0.  I was also chosen to play in the second match.  Honestly, my partner was having an off night, and I couldn't carry the team.  We went down 0-3, then it was my serve.  I was still hot, and when my serve came back, it was easy enough to put it away.  We got back to 1-3.  Then we picked up our play and go back to 3-3.  They held serve to 3-4 and it was my serve again.  In this game, I hit my first double fault of the night.  My serve was still good, but I sort of lost control of it.  The biggest disappointment was the fact that I started, for some reason, to hit off my back foot.  And when that happens, the ball meets the net more readily, which is exactly what happened.  Then we both sort of sucked the big lemon and I lost my serve for the first time that evening.  We ended up losing the match 3-6.  It was very disappointing.  Right after the match ended, we started stroke practice, and I was able to get back some of the control and confidence in my strokes.  I was able to find a good contact point that allowed me to hit with more power and accuracy.  I have to learn to get out of those lapses in concentration faster.  But I had a good time in the match play.  I need more match experience, to feel the pressure and learn how to deal with it.

When I got home, I took a shower right away, then later that night, I did the OCR Dead Hang.  I made a big mistake.  For some reason I thought tonight was 4:30, but it was actually 4:20.  But I did 4:30.  Also, I thought that I wouldn't last long on the initial hang, and on all the subsequent hangs, so I wanted to up the intensity, so I added 4kgs to my load, for a total of 9kgs.  I actually did a lot better than I thought I would initially.  I ended up with a Septi-Split: 60-40-40-40-40-30-30-20 Seconds, for a total of 4:30.  I didn't think I would get 60 seconds initially, especially AFTER tennis and with the extra weight.  I also found that when I do Pull-Ups, I can adjust my hands a bit.  That move gives me an extra few seconds.  Also, I found my Dead Hang song.  The link is here, check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjlsmets--0

I put it on a loop and hang.  LOVE IT!!! You can see in the pic that I'm listening to the song with headphones.

It was a good hang with my jams!  And before bed, I got in a good session of Ab EMS.  Abs were feeling it.

In the end, I burned just over 900kcals.  Tennis was good, but there is still a lot of work to be done before January.

12-20-17 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

12-20-17 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

Today was Tennis day no. 2!  Indoor courts so I was able to let up on the layers, but it was still cold.  The drills today were the regular menu.  Warm up, Stroke/Volley, Serve/Return, Point Simulation, and plus one rare drill, Forehand/Backhand Feed.  During the warm-up, I had a hard time just seeing and timing the ball.  It was like the brain to body connection was a bit off and I wasn't able to read the ball to make good contact so I could place my shots.  But after about 8-10 minutes, I started to get the feel back.  Very good and beneficial warm up.  Just in time for the Stroke/Volley drills.  I had to really focus to keep the timing right, but the more I hit, the better I was feeling. My form was much more solid.  I was still a little off on the Volleys though.  I just can't seem to be consistent with rally volleys.  Those are volleys that are meant to keep the ball in play for practice purposes.  I keep hitting volleys that die and are point-ending shots.  Not very useful for drills.  But that is all an issue of control.  So it was good that I was able to get that in.  Then, the Forehand/Backhand Feed.  Basically, one member would feed balls and we would hit either stroke.  That really helps to focus on form.  I was able to really get in several good shots and feel my form on both strokes.  I wish we could do this drill every session.  I'm not really sure why we don't.  Today, my serve was on FIRE!!!  I was able to really spin the ball with power.  Also, my flat serve was ON!  I was able to ace all the people who were receiving.   It felt really good.  I really felt, again, the benefits of the Dead Hang with my serve.  It really helped with more strength to whip my racket at the last moment to generate spin and power.  I wanted to play a match, but they had the beginners play a match and learn strategy, so I went to Point Simulation drills.  Fun, but a lot of the other members just play, instead of actually "simulate" a game situation.  But either way, I do my best to put the pressure on and play the point.  My strokes kind of let me down though.  I was framing shots and mis-hitting balls all over the place.  But I did have a few good point-ending shots.  Overall, it was a good and productive session.

The Dead Hang came later that evening when I was feeling a bit tired, and my right arm especially was feeling a bit sore.  Today was a Hexa-split: 60-40-30-30-30-30-30 Seconds, for a total of 4:10.  I found the perfect Hang song.  So I put it on loop and just listen to it over and over until I'm done.  It is the Pitch Perfect 3 cast and The Voice Finalists singing a mashup of Freedom 90 and Cups.  AWESOME!!!  Here is the link I use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjlsmets--0&list=RDMMMjlsmets--0&index=1
I just love this song!

Before going to bed, I got in an Ab EMS session.  Good feel for those abs to harden up.

In the end, I burned over 1600kcals.  Good burn on a cold night.

12-19-17 (Tuesday) HY: TCF + Pickle-Ball + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

12-19-17 (Tuesday) HY: TCF + Pickle-Ball + OCR Dead Hang + Ab EMS.

Today was C-C-C-o-l-d.  The gym was colder, much like an ice box.  I got to the gym a little early and warmed up.  I also did a long Flow series.  It was a little disorienting doing the Flow in a wide open space.  None of my regular points of reference so I had to trust my motion and muscle memory.  I had a smooth and clean Flow.

We were both dressed for the cold, but even just moving was cold because our movement cause a breeze around our bodies of cold air.  We took a little longer to warm up, but it was well worth the effort.  I Started out ON FIRE!!!  My shot, angles, depth were spot on and played to perfection.  I leaped out to a 14-0 lead.  Then I cooled off a bit, but I was able to close out the game 15-4.  The second game was exactly like the first which I also took 15-4.  The third game was a little more competitive with more serve changes, but less points on serve.  I took that game 15-3.  Our final game, John was noticeably more aggressive.  He got his first lead at 2-3.  He kept the lead for a short time and I took it back and kept it from 6-5.  I ended up taking the game 15-8.  I was just firing on all cylinders.  John really had to work for most of his points.  I wasn't giving hardly and freebies.  It was a great way to close out the year, with a dominating sweep in harsh conditions.  Now, if I can translate this success to tennis, my tournament in January is going to be a piece of cake. LOL!

When I got home, my daughter was waiting for me.  She didn't go to school today because she was not feeling well.  So, when I got home, we played some games together.  It was a nice break for her from her homework.  When she went back to it, I got to my Dead Hang.  I had a Quad-split today: 60-60-30-30-60 seconds.  That is my official time, but I actually started the hang with my old Lifting Gloves.  I dug them out and put them on and tried on the bar with no padding.  It was okay at first, but the old leather was slippery and inside the gloves, the wrinkled and creased leather was cutting into my fingers where I was gripping the bar.  So I tapped out after about 20 seconds.  I took off the gloves reset, then went back to the new pads I used for the first time yesterday.  I was disappointed that I couldn't get more than a minute, but I was happy that I could do a minute twice in a row.  On my third hang, I tried no pads on the bare bar.  That was a disaster.  If felt okay at first, but about 10 seconds in, my hands started to sweat and it was all I could do to stay on the bar for 30 seconds.  The fourth hang, I tried the original pads, but that wasn't much better.  So, for the fifth and final hang, I went back to the new pads and I crushed the final minute. 

Later in the evening, I got in my Ab EMS. Both lower and upper abs.

In the end, I burned just over 800kcals.  This time, I'm sure the cold temperature in the gym had a huge influence on the calorie burn.  Playing that hard would have easily pushed me over 1000kcals.  Great fun today!  See you next year Pickle-Ball!!!

12-18-17 (Monday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 18 + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 1 + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-18-17 (Monday) HY: OCR Dead Hang, Day 18 + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Circuit 1 + TCF + Ab EMS.

Today is normally Pickle-Ball day, but due to schedule changes because of teachers on leave, we had to pick up the slack and take some extra classes.  So Pickle-Ball has been moved to tomorrow.  So, I knew that I wanted today to be resistance day but what program?  I decided to go with ChaLEAN Extreme.  I was wavering as to which program I should do.  Going back to P90X and going from the beginning was an option, but for now, with the holidays coming up and my son coming home next week, I won't have a lot of time, so I will end the year with Chalene and then start P90X early next year, once I've gone through the resistance routines with Chalene.  I know that Chalene does the slower reps that burnout the grip, so I decided to go with the Dead Hang first.

With the new grips and I actually remembered to stretch and warm up my forearms today... for the first time, I thought that I would crush 90 seconds, maybe even go to 2 minutes.  But huge let down, I still had a quad-split: 80-50-30-30-30(+29) seconds.  My total was supposed to be 3:50 today, but I mis-calculated and I stopped at 30 seconds on what was supposed to be the last hang.  But when I rechecked, I was 10 seconds off, so instead of just doing the final 10 seconds, I went for as long as I could and ended up missing one more 30 by one second.  I just couldn't hang on one more second.  So, I did a little overtime today, but that was only the beginning.

As you know, I do extra pull-ups when I do ChaLEAN Extreme.  But this time around, since I'm doing the OCR Dead Hang with 5kgs, I am keeping the 5kgs as I do the Pull-Ups as well.  As far as the weight is concerned for this routine, I pretty much kept the same weight for each move as I did the last run through this routine which was about 8 months ago, back in April.  I upped the weight on only three moves, Moves #6, #7, and #9.  The back of the shoulder moves, I did with 6.25kgs.  I have a huge range-of-motion issue with the back of the shoulders, so I stayed a little lighter, but pushed the RoM.  Really tough on slow reps.  A few anomalies, Move #3, I did on the Stands, and kept the raised leg raised until each rep was completed.  On Move #7, I have a "6" with an "str' below it.  What happened there was my forearms gave out at the 5th rep, and I barely made it through the 6th rep carrying the 19.5kgs in head hand.  So, for the second set of 6, I had to use straps to hold the dumbbells.  On the 9th and final move, I did the same move for the Burnout.  I did the Push-Ups as a separate move after the last set of Pull-ups.  I got in 34 reps in the allotted time.  For the extra sets of Pull-Ups, their rep count is on the very right of the columns.  I did all four sets with the 5kg Med Ball between my legs.  But I was surprised by what I was able to do.  I was able to keep pace with mhy  "last time" self and even surpass it... albeit a small jump in rep count.  I was happy.  On the last set of Pull-Ups, my grip just totally gave out.  Then I hammered out 34 Push-Ups during the time of the final Burnout, a new record for me.  I got a huge pump and burn today.

I finished off with a nice Flow series and then just before going to bed, I did my Am EMS.

In the end, I burned 737kcals.  I thought it would be higher, but I guess with the temperatures plummeting, and the slow reps, I should have known. :-)

12-17-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang Challenge, Day 17 + Ab EMS.

12-17-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang Challenge, Day 17 + Ab EMS.

Today was the regular tennis day.  It was really cold, but at least the sun was out.  Below you can see one of the two the regular courts we play on.  I was a little worried that we couldn't play today because it was raining most of the day yesterday, so I was happy that it cleared up.  We did two drills today, Stroke and Volley, and Serve and Return.  Then, we went into matches.  We paired up and got in some match play.  Something we don't do every time especially when there are a lot of people, but today, we were able to get matches in.  I got a good warm up and thanks to that, I was firing on all cylinders through the drills.  Confidence is building.  When it is cold, I am a slow starter until I warm up.  So I need to improve my warm up time so I don't fall behind in a match after a long wait.  I'm going to have to do that in my up coming tournament.  It was a bit warm in the sun but there was also a lot of wind that brought on the wind chill.  But it was a fun day.

I could feel a sore point in my right forearm after the tennis, and I knew it would hinder my Dead Hang, so I waited for as long as I could so my muscle could rest and recover.  I eventually got the hang in at 9pm.  I also used the different grips that helped a lot.  I was able to get back to a quad-split:  80-60-40-25-15 seconds.  It was my right arm that let me down today, but I'm glad I didn't get a Penta-Split like yesterday.  I don't want to do THAT again!

Before going to bed, I got in a good 40 minutes of Ab EMS.  Missed it yesterday, so I wanted to be sure to get it in today.

In the end, I burned just under 1700kcals.  I was a little surprised since it was cold.  But I guess I was doing a lot of moving around.  Great way to start off my week.

12-16-17 (Saturday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge, Day 12 + ORC Dead Hang Challenge, Day 16.

12-16-17 (Saturday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge, Day 12 + ORC Dead Hang Challenge, Day 16.

Same as last week, today is an off day but I had a couple challenges to complete so I went ahead and did them.

Today is the final day of the 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge.  The final day of the challenge, so I had to get it done even on my off day.  And I had to raise the intensity a bit were I could.  The final move was Cross Crunches/Bicycle Crunches, followed by the other 11 moves.  Check out the pic below to see all the move.  Day 11's Push-Ups, I did Plyo Push Ups.  For Day 10 I did Double Scissor Jacks, a Shaun T move where we jump and cross and uncross in the air and land feet apart.  That is pretty much all I could do as far as changing the move itself, but all the other moves, I just went as hard as possible with range of motion.  It was a great little routine.  Oh, and in the picture below, the order got a little mixed up.  The Day 11 spot should be inserted into the Day 5 spot, Burpees.  The pic is the advanced position of lowering my chest to the ground.

I ended up with the OCR Dead Hang Challenge.  My hands were a big problem tonight.  They were warm and as a result, a little pudgy.  There was a lot of pinching pain and I let myself down.  I did a Penta-Split: 60-30-30-30-30-30 seconds.  After the initial minute, I just couldn't hang for more than 30 seconds, the pain was too much.  I suddenly realized that I have better pads that I will use from tomorrow.

No HRM today, so just the moves.  But it was nice to complete the Challenge!

12-15-17 (Friday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas, Day 11 + OCR Dead Hang, Day 15 + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn it Off + TCF.

12-15-17 (Friday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas, Day 11 + OCR Dead Hang, Day 15 + ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn it Off + TCF.

This day did not go as planned at all.  I was planning to wake up, have a shake, do a morning workout, get to work, come home, do the Dead Hang, and relax.  First and Last things happened, but the middle was all messed up.  I woke up and was getting ready for my shake, as per my regular routine (Thanks to the flex-time schedule), when it struck me, I had to go into work to sub for a teacher who is on leave for medical reasons.  It was 8:15am and it takes an hour for me to get to work.  I, still in my pajamas, just changed my pants and put a pull-over sweater on and dashed out the door... with my shake.  I had my shake in the car.  I would have been starving otherwise.  Anyway, suffice it to say that everything worked out and everyone was happy.  But that sure was a shock to the system.

When I got home, the house was empty, so I was able to get right to my workout.  I only had about 2 hours to get the main workout done.  Again, I did the 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge to warm up.  Today's new move was just good ol' Push-Ups.  But this time, no leisurely pace, I did them BANG-BANG-BANG, one move right after another, no break, no slowing down.  All the eleven moves took just over 13 minutes.  About the same time as Cold Start, but I burned just about double the calories.

Since my arms and hand were fresh I went for the Dead Hang.  It was a good hang, but still a triple-split: 80-50-30-40 seconds.  I really want to get to at least 90 seconds on the initial hang with the 5kgs.  So, I might go for one more week with the 5kgs, and then blow it up on the last week.  We'll see.

My legs were already screaming that soft scream so I decided to go with a cardio routine that offered a little bit of a break between moves, unlike T25, so I went with Chalene's "Burn it Off".  Short, intense, and fun.  But what I forgot were the moves in this routine.  Several of the moves in Burn it Off are in the 12 Days of Fitmas.  Like the Plyo Lunge, Skaters, Side Plank, and Burpees.  That just burn my legs and glutes even more.  But it was a good routine.  I finished the workout with a good Flow series.

Later in the evening, I got in my Ab EMS.  Good to get those hardened abs stimulated.

In the end, I burned 758kcals.  That is way more than I had expected with the time I had, so I was very satisfied.  Nice way to finish off my workout week.  Happy Weekend, Everyone!

12-14-17 (Thursday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas, Day 10 + Insanity - Upper Body Weight Training + TCF + OCR Dead Hang Challenge, Day 14 + Ab EMS.

12-14-17 (Thursday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas, Day 10 + Insanity - Upper Body Weight Training + TCF + OCR Dead Hang Challenge, Day 14 + Ab EMS.

Today was a morning workout, starting with my shake.  I was sort of thinking of doing Cold Start to warm up, but then I figured to just go ahead and do the 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge as my warm up.  It worked like a charm!  Today's new move was Cross Jacks!  I did all the moves top to bottom and the Plyo Lunges is where it becomes real.  Followed by two minutes of Skaters, that's no joke!

I wanted to get a resistance workout in and wasn't sure what next routine was in P90X3.  And since my schedule sort of mess up my "Two resistance day a week" deal, I wanted to do something that would burn my upper body.  So, I finally decided on Insanity: Upper Body Weight Training.  I haven't done this routine in about six months, so I was happy to do it one more time this year.  I basically kept the same weight range as the last time, with a few minor changes in the middle set.  Last time, the first two sets were relatively light with only a slight increase in the second set, then a big increase in the third set.  This time, I evened out the increase so the 1st to 2nd, and 2nd to 3rd had almost the same increase.  You can see what I did on the Worksheet below.  I really like this routine because of the Cardio/Resistance combo.  I pushed it hard, and I got some good pump and burn.  But the next time I do this routine, and if I am at the same strength level, I have to go up in weight on the weighted moves.  The cardio really winded me, though.  Especially the Power Jumps, but by the time I got to the final circuit, I must have hit a second wind because the Ski Abs were no problem, even the last set.

I finished out the morning session with a good Flow series.  I felt good and smooth with my Flow.

There was still a little pain in my right forearm so I wanted it to get a few hours more of rest, so I left the Dead Hang for the evening.  When I got to it, I felt good, but I still had a triple split: 70-60-30-30 seconds.  My initial hang is getting longer, but I really want to hit at least 90 with the 5kgs.  One thing I forgot to mention last night is that I noticed that my tennis game was a lot more solid all around and I think it can be directly attributed to a stronger grip.  Volleys were crisp, strokes were powerful, and I just felt more stable with my racket handling.  Great benefits already making themselves apparent.

I also was able to get in an Ab EMS session before going to bed.  I had missed two days in a row and I really didn't want to make it three.

In the end, I burned 913kcals in the morning session and burned out my forearms in the evening.  All in all, a good day.

12-13-17 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang Day 13 + 12 Days of Fitmas Day 9 + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-13-17 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + OCR Dead Hang Day 13 + 12 Days of Fitmas Day 9 + TCF + Ab EMS.

Today was the first time in a couple weeks that the weather actually wasn't rainy so Tennis was on as scheduled in the scheduled venue.  The bad thing is that temperatures were hovering around freezing.  There is a reason why the pro tennis circuit ends its season in October.  It was absolutely freezing at the courts.  I prepared for the cold by wearing 4 layers on top and two thick layers on the bottom.  I also was planning to do the Dead Hang before tennis because my right forearm would be tired, but that didn't work out.  So I ended up doing the challenges at home after tennis.

I wore a knit hat, and I quickly started to sweat, but I couldn't take it off because my head would get too cold.  So, I ended up just keeping the hat on, but folding up the rim so I could keep the cold and warmth in balance.  But I kept on sweating.  I had to keep that in check so I wouldn't catch cold.  Despite the cold, my strokes were comfortable.  I was doing some great volley rallies, and my overall level of comfortableness on court was high.  I was moving well, and striking the ball well.   Unfortunately, there was no server drills tonight, but I'll need to get that in soon.  By the end of the session, it was getting too cold, so when we stopped, I kept moving.  The moment I stopped, I would start to get cold.  This type of practice is also conditioning for the January tournament.  I was wondering how I would play in the cold, and this gave me a good indication of that.  I need to keep getting used to playing in these conditions.

When I got home, I was cold, but I needed to get my challenges done, so I went through them as quickly as possible.  I started with the Dead Hang still in my tennis gear, and there was no pinching pain at all.  So all the pain was concentrated on my forearms.  Had a triple split again: 70-50-30-30 seconds for a total of 3 minutes.  It felt good to break one minute especially with my 5kgs. 

I went through the 12 Days of Fitness as well.  The new move today was Mountain Climbers.  After crushing them, we did all the other moves.  But I was tired, so my pace was way off my previous days.  I think I still crushed it, though.

I got in my Flow series, then took a shower.  After relaxing a while, I went for the Ab EMS.  I had missed two days because of my weird schedule, but I'm back today.  Getting those abs hard.

In the end, I burned just over 1600kcals.  That number kind of surprised me because of the cold.  I thought it would be much lower.

12-12-17 (Tuesday) HY: OCR Dead Hang Day 12 + 12 Days of Fitmas Day 8 + TCF.

12-12-17 (Tuesday) HY: OCR Dead Hang Day 12 + 12 Days of Fitmas Day 8 + TCF.

Well today was an extremely busy day.  I had to leave early and I was in class or meetings all day.  I didn't have time to breathe until almost 6pm.  But then I had a Christmas Party with one of my night classes I teach.  I had a lot to eat, but it was mostly white chicken meat and some beef with a ton of veggies.  I was quite full and the end of the evening, but I wasn't heavy.  When I got home after my hour drive, I was feeling good enough to get in a little supplemental workout of just the challenges and my Flow.

I started off with the Dead Hang because I wanted to try it fresh.  It was a lot better than yesterday.  I had a triple split: 80-30-30-30 Seconds.  There was no hand skin pinching issue for some reason.  I was able to grip the bar cleanly and lasted the longest yet with the 5kgs.

Then I moved to the 12 Days of Fitmas Day 8.  The new move today was Alternating Lunges.  But I upped the intensity and did Alternating Jumping Lunges.  I made the mistake before of starting from Day 1 then climbing to the latest day.  But I'm supposed to do it like the song and start with the newest day and count down.  It is a huge difference ending with those longer timed moves, especially the 3 minutes of Plyo Lunge and 2 minutes of Skaters.  Legs and glutes were screaming.

I finished out with a good Flow series.  Missed it a bit there, but I was able to keep it smooth and clean.

In the end, since I didn't use my HRM, no calorie count, but I took an hour to get through everything.  But I would guess I burned in the 300kcal range.

12-11-17 (Monday) HY: Pickle-Ball + 12 Day of Fitmas Day 7 + TCF + OCR Dead Hang Day 11.

12-11-17 (Monday) HY: Pickle-Ball + 12 Day of Fitmas  Day 7 + TCF + OCR Dead Hang Day 11.

Today, we had to play in the afternoon.  But it was actually good because the gym had a chance to warm up a little.  Today, we used new balls that I thought were a little softer and had more give, however, they were just the opposite.  They played a lot like tennis balls.  We had gotten the range of the old balls, so with these new balls, our range was so off.  Shots the would normally be "in" flew way out.  So, we had to adjust our individual play style to fit the new balls.  I was able to adjust a lot quicker.  In the first game, I won 15-1.  Only a few serve exchanges.  It was total domination.  The second game was a little more competitive.  A lot of good shots and hustle.  Once I jumped out to the lead, I pretty much held it the whole time.  I took the second game 15-11.  In the third game, I hit a slump and John jumped out to a quick lead and I was playing catch up the whole game.  But I did catch him at the last moment and got to 13-13.  I really wanted to close it out, but I just couldn't so I lost that game 13-15.  The final game was extremely close.  We were trading serve over and over again.  The lead also changed hands several times.  And again we got to 13-13.  Then 14-14.  I was able to edge out in front and then finally close it out. 16-14.  We had a great time.

I was thinking to do the Dead Hang at the gym, but the bar was ice cold so I decided not to.  Plus, I didn't have the 5kgs to weight myself down, so I just waited to do it at home.  But I did do the 12 Days of Fitmas at the gym.  The new move was Plank Jacks so I was able to knock them out along with the other six moves.  I had to slow my pace down a bit because my lower body was dead tired.  I finished up with a Flow series... in the coldness of the gym.

When I got home, in the evening, I did the Dead Hang.  Today was one of those “One-step-back” days. The problem was so much my grip strength as the skin on my hands getting that severe pinched feeling. Started right from the first seconds, then I realized that I still had my wedding ring on. But even after I removed it, I got pinched at other places on my hands. six splits today: 20-20-20-40-30-30. Forearms got a great pump.

In the end, I burned 1003kcals during the Pickle-Ball and 12 Day of Fitmas Challenge.  Dead Hang not included.  But it was an awesome day.

12-10-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + 12 Day Day 6 + OCR DHC Day 10 + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-10-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + 12 Day Day 6 + OCR DHC Day 10 + TCF + Ab EMS.

Tennis day!  Unfortunately, the clouds were looming large and we had to change venues to an indoor court.  It was freezing cold at the court because it was way in the sticks.  I guess it's not really an indoor court, rather a court with a roof and support walls, but it offers no protection against the cold.  There were a lot of people for such a cold day.  I was actually surprised at the turn out.  But everyone was moving to stay warm.  My strokes were still feeling solid and even though I had some trouble tracking the ball at first, once I locked on, I was hitting the ball well.  My serve also was working well.  I'm a little surprised because my toss used to be out in front, but now, my better serves are hit with a more overhead toss.  The kind of toss used for a kick serve.   So, overall, I was happy with my performance today.  The only thing I was not happy with is that the club couldn't get more than two hours on the covered court so we had to end early.  This was a blessing in disguise so I could do my challenges at home.

As soon as I got home, I started on the challenges.  The new move for today in the 12 Days of Fitmas challenge is 6 reps of Supermans (3 second hold).  This move combined with the weighted dead hang in the OCR challenge is GOLD!  Anyway, I crushed the 6 Days and went right to the Dead Hang.  It was 2:30 today, but with the addition of 5kgs, and my right hand a bit tired from tennis, I was thinking it was going to be tough... and it was.  I did a multi-split:  60-30-30-20-10.  I just couldn't hold on for that last 30 seconds and hand to tap out at 20.  Knocked off the last 10 with no problem.  But my right hand was noticeably tired, and my right forearm was more sore/painful than the previous days.  I really need that super grip strength.

In the evening, I finished off with my Flow series and the Ab EMS.  I can feel my abs hardening.  Hoping for some good results by the end of the month.

In the end, I burned just under 800kcals.  Again, the cold was a huge factor in the calorie burn.  But it was a good way to start my week.

12-09-17 (Saturday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Day 5 + OCR Dead Hang Day 9 + Ab EMS + TCF.

12-09-17 (Saturday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Day 5 + OCR Dead Hang Day 9 + Ab EMS + TCF.

Usually, Saturday is an off day, but since I'm all caught up in these challenges, it can't be a full off day.  I had to get my challenges done, SOOOO, I went through all my challenges and crushed them.

I did the Dead Hang first.  As I said yesterday, I wanted to up the ante and do something that would hopefully increase the improvement speed.  So this is it.  I am adding a 5kg med ball to the challenge.  I am going to use that ball for a week and see how it goes the day after without the ball, most likely next Saturday night.  My best straight time was 90 seconds one week into the challenge.  Now, I want to see how more stress will improve the training.  Day 9 is 2 minutes and 20 seconds.  I did it with three divisions: 60-40-30-10.  Those last 8 seconds in the 30 second block were torture!  The burn was majorly intense and painful.  I couldn't finish out with 40 seconds.  I had to tap out, then come back with a tiny 10 seconds which were no problem.

For the 12 Day of Fitmas, the Day 5 move is Burpees.  Thankfully NOT 5 miniutes, rather, only 5 reps.  We were given three options, Easy, Intermediate, and Advanced.  I added a fourth option, "Super Advanced"  The difference is that I did a Tuck Jump at the end, not just a high jump.  I crushed Day 5 and all the other four days.

I got my Ab EMS in and finished my day with my Flow series. 

In the end, it was just a filler for today, so no HRM.  But I was happy with especially the Dead Hang.

12-08-17 (Friday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Day 4 + OCR Dead Hang Day 8 + T25 - Alpha: Total Body Circuit + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-08-17 (Friday) HY: 12 Days of Fitmas Day 4 + OCR Dead Hang Day 8 + T25 - Alpha: Total Body Circuit + TCF + Ab EMS.

Had an early work day and an event at noon, so I was able to get home a little earlier than usual.  When I got home, I was all alone and free to get to my workout as quickly as I needed.  CONFESSION!!!  I have the Baskin Robbins app on my phone and my Birthday is in December, so I got a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream.  I was free today, so I went and redeemed the coupon.  I got a regular scoop of Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream.  It was delicious.  So when I got home, I wanted to work that baby off.

I was totally planning to do Cold Start so as I was getting ready, the idea of warming up with the 12 Days of Fitmas popped into my head.  So, to save time (I was under a little bit of a time crunch), I decided to try and warm up with the four moves in the 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge.  The four moves are Side Plank, Skaters, Lunge Jumps, and the new one High Knee Walk/Run for four minutes alternating every minute.  The middle two moves really warmed up my lower body and got my legs pumped.  It actually served as a pretty good warm up.  I was having some technical problems, so I did the Dead Hand also.  Today was 2 minutes and 10 seconds.  It was a good hang, and my record for long hang.  I did a single split: 90-40 seconds.  I was so happy that I decided to up the ante  from tomorrow.

I started Total Body Circuit with the goal of doing a straight 25, not rest.  As I started, I felt really good.  It was a going well with all the progressions.  I was thinking I was going to crush it when I hit the last progression in the regular routine.  The Push-Up progression ending with the Spider Push-Ups.  I was barely knocking those out when the time ended and the BURNOUT time came.  Unfortunately, I was burned out on Spider Push-Ups and the first move in the Burnout is the Shoulder Tap Push-Up.  I couldn't even get one done.  I had to tap out of it.  I was so very disappointed.  But I was able to finish the rest of the routine without taking a break, something I haven't done in a long time.

I finished out the routine with my time tested Flow Series.  I had some extra time, which is very rare, so I stretched out my inner thighs in my Butterfly Stretch.  I was able to get my knees to the floor, just barely.

In the end, I burned a good 650+kcals.  I was very happy to finish on a positive note and crush all my routines.

In the evening, I did my usual Ab EMS session.  Abs feel strong so I'm feeling okay about it.

12-07-17 (Thursday) HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge (12 DoFC) Day 3 + OCR Dead Hang Challenge (DHC) + TCF + P90X3 - Eccentric Upper + Ab EMS.

12-07-17 (Thursday) HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + 12 Days of Fitmas Challenge (12 DoFC) Day 3 + OCR Dead Hang Challenge (DHC) + TCF + P90X3 - Eccentric Upper + Ab EMS.

Quite an odd day today.  As you can see, the order of my workout is somewhat out of whack.  The reason is this; everything started out normally.  As I was getting ready to start my workout, I turned on my computer and got Cold Start running and I was following along.  Then a notification popped up on the monitor asking me if I wanted to update something.  Since I was moving, I couldn't see what it was really asking.  So, at the end of Cold Start, I just clicked "YES".  Then the process started.  I didn't think it would take too long, but then I realized that it was updating my whole OS, and it ended up taking almost half an hour.  During that time, I did the 3 moves (Side Plank, Skaters, and the new one, Plyo Lunges).  The new move, Plyo Lunges, really worked my glutes.  In the time, I got 40+ reps per side.  Good lower body work.  Balancing my upper body workout.  I got my Dead Hang in as well.  Went for 2 minutes today.  I tried to use towels to pad my hands, but it didn't work as I had envisioned it.  Even though the towels were on the existing padding, it was still too slippery, and I ended up ditching the towels after my first tap out.  My grip just gave out, especially on my right side, the side I thought was my stronger side.  But it turns out that I have more burn in the right forearm than the left.  Anyway, the split was as follows in seconds: 60-30-20-10.  Those last 5 seconds were the most brutal thus far.  The OS Update was still going on after all that so I decided to do my Flow series as well.  Everything was fine, but no computer.  I didn't have the time to mess around, so I just started the routine on my own.

Major changes from last time have to do with the Pull-Ups.  Last time I used a ladder to rest my feet on, but this time, I went with the green assistance band, and it was great.  Doing a workout in silence is not really fun at all.  I was able to remember all the moves, except move 3. Military Press.  I wasn't sure if that was on my back like a chest press, or something else.  So I just went with a Chest Press and I upped the weight to 14.5kgs.  Everything went as before, in straight sets that were reps of 10.  I was on move 10. Staggered Push-Ups when the upload finally finished.  So, I got the DVD running.  I did the Tony warm up at the beginning, then I jumped the DVD to the next move, move 11. Lateral/Anterior Raise.  On the worksheet, I changed the notation of some move reps.  On moves that were previously "10" and now "5-5", basically that means that it was a move where one leg/foot was in front of the other in a lunge stance.  I did 5 reps with the right leg forward, and then 5 reps with the left leg forward.  That worked out my lower body as well.  I was really feeling pumped after this workout.  I felt the 40% gains.  Huge pump and burn.  Felt good to start my day with an intense workout. 

In the evening, I got my Ab EMS in.  I was skeptical, but I'm slowly becoming a believer.

In the end, I burned 792kcals.  A little disappointed that I couldn't hit that 800 mark, but I know there are other more important things to consider. 

12-06-17 (Wednesday) HY: P90X3 - X3 Yoga + OCR Dead Hang Challenge + 12 Days of Fitness + TCF + Ab EMS.

12-06-17 (Wednesday) HY: P90X3 - X3 Yoga + OCR Dead Hang Challenge + 12 Days of Fitness + TCF + Ab EMS.

Well, since today and this week is somewhat back to a normal schedule, I was able to fit in a yoga routine.  But since I've got a lot of stuff going on, it had to be X3 Yoga.

To make a Not-so-long story shorter, today's yoga was a lot better than last time's session.  Half-Moon was way more stable, I didn't fall out of the Wrap, and I didn't tap out of any big moves.  My crow was still not as good as way before, but I am glad that there wasn't any hip flexor issues on any of the leg moves.  The room was cold so I didn't sweat that much.  But I was basically happy with my performance today.

I did the two challenges in succession so here are a couple shots of those activities.  I'm up to 1:50 minutes on the Dead Hang and Day 2 was two minutes of Skaters.  I needed only one split today,  1:10 and :40.  But the last five seconds were absolute torturous forearm burn.

Two minutes of skaters! I love the move when I do it with Chalene or Tony, but two straight minutes is a lot tougher than it sounds.  I closed out the routine with a good Flow series.  Then in the evening, an hour of Ab EMS.

In the end, I only burned 252 Kcals, but the unmeasured benefits are immeasurable!  Refreshing start for a long day.