9-29-17 (Friday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Circuit Training + TCF.
Today was a rush workout. I was in a major MAJOR time crunch. By the time I got home from work, I only had about 40 minutes before sunset. I usually don't like taking my Friday workout up to the line like this, but since I knew that the workout itself was only about 20 minutes, and under 30 minutes with the warm-up and cool down, I went for it.
Today ends the Intermediate Phase of YAYOG (You Are Your Own Gym). The routine pattern is four moves done in succession for six sets. The moves are: Star Jumpers, Half Dive Bomber Push-Ups (But again, I did FULL Dive Bombers), Oblique V-Ups (3 sets on each side), and Hip Up Bridges (I used Push-Up Stands). I crushed the first four sets! Absolutely went all out. The last two sets... I SPANKED to next week. When there are only two sets to the end, the adrenaline start pumping and you want to push even harder. But once that last rep was done, I collapsed to the floor, totally spent. I sweat like crazy, and I had to scramble between moves to set up and wipe the sweat from my eyes. In the last three sets, I had to close my eyes during the last 10 seconds of each move to keep the sweat from going in. I was glad that there was an ab move, or I would have felt like I was missing something in my workout.
I had just enough time after catching my breath to do a good regular Flow series.
In the end, I burned just under 500kcals. I was happy to get it done in time to welcome the Sabbath! Happy Weekend, everyone!
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
9-28-17 (Thursday) HY: ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Intervals + Extreme Core Circuit + Arm Shaper - Diamond Push-Ups + Lower Back Stretch + TCF.
9-28-17 (Thursday) HY: ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Intervals + Extreme Core Circuit + Arm Shaper - Diamond Push-Ups + Lower Back Stretch + TCF.
Since I didn't have my night class today, I was thinking to go and play tennis. But I got home later than expected and if I did go, I would have had less than an hour to play. Plus, I really did feel like fighting traffic so I decided not to go. So, I had to figure out what routine I would use in my workout today. The above is what resulted.
I hadn't done this style of routine (Cardio/Resistance combo) since I hurt my back so I was again a little wary of how it would effect it. As I started the routine, everything seemed fine and the first round of Cardio/Resistance when well. But as the routine continued, it because clear that my cardio endurance and muscle endurance had much to be desired. I had to catch my breath on several of the transitions so I had to back up a bit and restart. Especially on the Thigh Toner moves. Getting that little band on is tough deal at times. I was using 5kgs all the way up to the Triceps Kickbacks. On the quick transition to Overhead Triceps extensions, I switched to 4kgs. I was able to get all the way to the slow reps, but the burn was way too intense and I had to take a break. But only one. I almost took one finishing the move out, but I gutted it out. There were a lot of "Skaters" reps and "Bowler Lunges" that required me to stay low and bend over. My lower back got a good workout to the point of the ache, which is why I didn't do a Lower Back Strengthening routine. I had enough in this routine. It was a great workout!
I moved directly into Abs still using the 1kg hand weights. I tried to keep my head in alignment with my spine today and that made a huge difference. I got a good burn in my abs, but I'll be moving up a step next time to Extreme Abs.
For the Arm Shaper, I went with the Diamond Push Ups. I hadn't done them in a while so I wanted to see how many I could do. Not sure if it was a record, but I did 35 reps straight. Then I did an extra set of 15 reps to get to a round 50.
My lower back was feeling a bit achy so I quickly went to the Lower Back Stretch and MAN did it ever hit the spot. Really loosened up my back. I had two classes today in which I couldn't sit in my baby seat so it was in need of something to help it loosen up. Then the Flow series rocked it even more.
In the end, I torched a nice 879kcals. It was a good sweaty workout. Glad to get it done, today.
Since I didn't have my night class today, I was thinking to go and play tennis. But I got home later than expected and if I did go, I would have had less than an hour to play. Plus, I really did feel like fighting traffic so I decided not to go. So, I had to figure out what routine I would use in my workout today. The above is what resulted.
I hadn't done this style of routine (Cardio/Resistance combo) since I hurt my back so I was again a little wary of how it would effect it. As I started the routine, everything seemed fine and the first round of Cardio/Resistance when well. But as the routine continued, it because clear that my cardio endurance and muscle endurance had much to be desired. I had to catch my breath on several of the transitions so I had to back up a bit and restart. Especially on the Thigh Toner moves. Getting that little band on is tough deal at times. I was using 5kgs all the way up to the Triceps Kickbacks. On the quick transition to Overhead Triceps extensions, I switched to 4kgs. I was able to get all the way to the slow reps, but the burn was way too intense and I had to take a break. But only one. I almost took one finishing the move out, but I gutted it out. There were a lot of "Skaters" reps and "Bowler Lunges" that required me to stay low and bend over. My lower back got a good workout to the point of the ache, which is why I didn't do a Lower Back Strengthening routine. I had enough in this routine. It was a great workout!
I moved directly into Abs still using the 1kg hand weights. I tried to keep my head in alignment with my spine today and that made a huge difference. I got a good burn in my abs, but I'll be moving up a step next time to Extreme Abs.
For the Arm Shaper, I went with the Diamond Push Ups. I hadn't done them in a while so I wanted to see how many I could do. Not sure if it was a record, but I did 35 reps straight. Then I did an extra set of 15 reps to get to a round 50.
My lower back was feeling a bit achy so I quickly went to the Lower Back Stretch and MAN did it ever hit the spot. Really loosened up my back. I had two classes today in which I couldn't sit in my baby seat so it was in need of something to help it loosen up. Then the Flow series rocked it even more.
In the end, I torched a nice 879kcals. It was a good sweaty workout. Glad to get it done, today.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
9-27-17 (Wednesday) HY: P90X3 - X3 Yoga + TCF.
9-27-17 (Wednesday) HY: P90X3 - X3 Yoga + TCF.
Really took it easy today, but I wanted to get something done when I got home. And I had already planned for this day to be a recovery day per my regular schedule. So, Yoga and my Flow series.
I was a little wary of how all that bending over and such would do to my back, but it actually felt really good, and I definitely felt a lot looser afterwards. I was worried about the Wrap move, but it was fine. No tweaking. All the moves pretty much worked out. But I had some balance problems again on the Half Moon pose. But the odd thing is that is was opposite problems. Usually I have issues on my right side but solid on my left. Today, it was reversed. I kept falling out on my left so I kept tapping my back toe to keep balance. Whereas I was pretty stable on my right side. One move I was very careful to modify was the almost last move, Plow. I really didn't want to put too much pressure on my lower back spine, so I took it easy.
The Flow series was good. No major hiccups or spills. Then afterwards, I got back to the Butterfly Stretch and more hamstring stretches.
In the end, I only burn around 250+ kcals. But it was well worth it.
Really took it easy today, but I wanted to get something done when I got home. And I had already planned for this day to be a recovery day per my regular schedule. So, Yoga and my Flow series.
I was a little wary of how all that bending over and such would do to my back, but it actually felt really good, and I definitely felt a lot looser afterwards. I was worried about the Wrap move, but it was fine. No tweaking. All the moves pretty much worked out. But I had some balance problems again on the Half Moon pose. But the odd thing is that is was opposite problems. Usually I have issues on my right side but solid on my left. Today, it was reversed. I kept falling out on my left so I kept tapping my back toe to keep balance. Whereas I was pretty stable on my right side. One move I was very careful to modify was the almost last move, Plow. I really didn't want to put too much pressure on my lower back spine, so I took it easy.
The Flow series was good. No major hiccups or spills. Then afterwards, I got back to the Butterfly Stretch and more hamstring stretches.
In the end, I only burn around 250+ kcals. But it was well worth it.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
9-26-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Ladders + Arm Shaper + TCF.
9-26-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Ladders + Arm Shaper + TCF.
Today was an odd day. I got home a little later than expected because a meeting ran long. I'm usually wanting to relax when that happens, but today, I just wanted to get my workout started. So I got started.
Intermediate Ladders was up, so I was wondering how I would modify or intensify the routine. Well, the method came to me pretty quickly once the DVD started. Even though this is an "Intermediate" Phase routine, the rep ladder only went up to the peak of 4 reps. Nope! Not enough. So my first modification was to go up to 6 reps. The second modification, as before, was to plateau instead of peak. So the rep ladder went 1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1 two times. The two moves in the first circuit were Side Lunges and Single Leg Dead Lifts. Both moves are double moves so one reps meant one rep on each side, hence a "double" rep. I was feeling good, so I was able to go up and down the ladder twice without too much of a problem. But on the last descending part, lower back started to really ache. Staying upright on the Side Lunges and keeping my rising leg and upper body on the same plain really worked it out. Those 8 extra sets at the plateau of each ladder also added a lot more time to the routine.
The second two-move circuit was made up of Standard Push-Ups and Thumbs Up. Same style as the first circuit except that the rep count was doubled. As for modification, the DVD has the Push-Up rep count as 1-2-3-4 etc. and the Thumbs Up rep count at 2-4-6-8. But I pushed that up to 12 reps. Mark said, "For every 1 Push-Up, do 2 Thumbs Up." But I doubled the Push-Ups as well. So the actual rep count today was 2-4-6-8-10-12 etc. Last week, I did it as Mark said. The Double Push-Ups were BRUTAL!!! But I hit a second wind on the second ascending part. In the first ascending and descending, I couldn't do the Thumbs Up straight through on the highest set. I would stop every one or two reps to relieve the burn in my upper back and shoulders. But on the second climb, I was able to go straight through on all the sets. But I really had to gut out that last descending part for both moves. At the end of it, my upper back and Posterior Delts were ON FIRE and the had a MAJOR PUMP ON!!! And I was totally spent. I calculated the total number of Push-Ups and it ended up being 78 reps. I could have probably done that amount in two sets, 50-28, and not have be as painful, but this way, man was there a burn. But 78! After the cool down, for my Arm Shaper, I wanted to pump out 22 reps to hit 100 reps. So I got started. But when I hit 22, I just kept on going. I figured I'd stop at 35 reps, but 40 was right there so I kept going. I started slowing down around 33 reps, but I wanted that even 40 so I gutted the rest out. SO SPENT!! ARMS and SHOULDERS DYING!!! My lower back was also already throbbing, so I decided against doing the other Lower Back Strengthening routine. I think it was worked out enough today. I was thinking about doing the stretch, but I figured I'd just stretch later so, I finished the workout with my Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice round 690kcals. Nice number and an awesome Pump and Burn today.
Today was an odd day. I got home a little later than expected because a meeting ran long. I'm usually wanting to relax when that happens, but today, I just wanted to get my workout started. So I got started.
Intermediate Ladders was up, so I was wondering how I would modify or intensify the routine. Well, the method came to me pretty quickly once the DVD started. Even though this is an "Intermediate" Phase routine, the rep ladder only went up to the peak of 4 reps. Nope! Not enough. So my first modification was to go up to 6 reps. The second modification, as before, was to plateau instead of peak. So the rep ladder went 1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1 two times. The two moves in the first circuit were Side Lunges and Single Leg Dead Lifts. Both moves are double moves so one reps meant one rep on each side, hence a "double" rep. I was feeling good, so I was able to go up and down the ladder twice without too much of a problem. But on the last descending part, lower back started to really ache. Staying upright on the Side Lunges and keeping my rising leg and upper body on the same plain really worked it out. Those 8 extra sets at the plateau of each ladder also added a lot more time to the routine.
The second two-move circuit was made up of Standard Push-Ups and Thumbs Up. Same style as the first circuit except that the rep count was doubled. As for modification, the DVD has the Push-Up rep count as 1-2-3-4 etc. and the Thumbs Up rep count at 2-4-6-8. But I pushed that up to 12 reps. Mark said, "For every 1 Push-Up, do 2 Thumbs Up." But I doubled the Push-Ups as well. So the actual rep count today was 2-4-6-8-10-12 etc. Last week, I did it as Mark said. The Double Push-Ups were BRUTAL!!! But I hit a second wind on the second ascending part. In the first ascending and descending, I couldn't do the Thumbs Up straight through on the highest set. I would stop every one or two reps to relieve the burn in my upper back and shoulders. But on the second climb, I was able to go straight through on all the sets. But I really had to gut out that last descending part for both moves. At the end of it, my upper back and Posterior Delts were ON FIRE and the had a MAJOR PUMP ON!!! And I was totally spent. I calculated the total number of Push-Ups and it ended up being 78 reps. I could have probably done that amount in two sets, 50-28, and not have be as painful, but this way, man was there a burn. But 78! After the cool down, for my Arm Shaper, I wanted to pump out 22 reps to hit 100 reps. So I got started. But when I hit 22, I just kept on going. I figured I'd stop at 35 reps, but 40 was right there so I kept going. I started slowing down around 33 reps, but I wanted that even 40 so I gutted the rest out. SO SPENT!! ARMS and SHOULDERS DYING!!! My lower back was also already throbbing, so I decided against doing the other Lower Back Strengthening routine. I think it was worked out enough today. I was thinking about doing the stretch, but I figured I'd just stretch later so, I finished the workout with my Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice round 690kcals. Nice number and an awesome Pump and Burn today.
Monday, September 25, 2017
9-25-17 (Monday) HY: 10 Minute Trainer - Total Body + Lower Body + Abs + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + TCF.
9-25-17 (Monday) HY: 10 Minute Trainer - Total Body + Lower Body + Abs + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + TCF.
Vacation is over, so it's back to work. Today was my first day back and my first class of second semester. Nothing too hard. I always used to dislike the first week of a new semester because of the "Getting back into the saddle" feeling. But today, it was easy, like I never took a vacation. Nice! When I got home, I started my workout right away.
I was looking for something to spread out my YAYOG with, but I didn't want to do weights just yet. So, I figured that I hadn't done 10MT for a long time, so I went from the top with the first DVD. The first DVD had three routines on it, so I figured I'd bang out a quick 30 minutes and be done with it. I went with the heaviest band and it was extremely tough. I probably should have gone a little lighter, but I didn't want to take the time to reset the handles on a different band, so I stuck with it. There were some easy moves in Total Body, but the strength moves were a lot tougher than I remember. The Presses, the static curls, and others really got me a great pump and burn. Talk about burn, Lower Body totally fried out my legs. The burn was so intense on all the squat moves, and the two band moves at the end just crushed me. Major BURN! I was actually planning to give my abs a break today, but Abs was on the disk, so I went with it. I was doing fine, until that Three-Point Plank move. For a whole minute, seems easy and short, but it is neither easy, nor did it seem short. I felt like forever. In the last 30-seconds, I had to take a lot of breaks and stretch out my shoulders in Child's Pose. But I didn't get too much of a burn in my abs, but I was feeling it in my whole core. Great KILLER series of routines from Tony.
For my Arm Shaper, I went with Military Push-Ups. NEW RECORD!!! I went and pumped out 50 Straight. I was actually going for only 40 reps, but when I hit 40, I was still feeling good, so I kept on going. Then I hit a wall at 43, and the last 7 were extremely brutal. Slow reps, all of them. A huge struggle just to get them out.
I did only one round of the Lower Back Strengthening because with the 10MT Abs, my core was already feeling worn. I went through all the moves at 12 reps, and I used the 7.5kgs for the Good Mornings. Good round. The Flow series topped everything off nicely.
In the end, I torched a surprising 825kcals. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised because the workout was a lot more grueling than I had expected it would be.
Vacation is over, so it's back to work. Today was my first day back and my first class of second semester. Nothing too hard. I always used to dislike the first week of a new semester because of the "Getting back into the saddle" feeling. But today, it was easy, like I never took a vacation. Nice! When I got home, I started my workout right away.
I was looking for something to spread out my YAYOG with, but I didn't want to do weights just yet. So, I figured that I hadn't done 10MT for a long time, so I went from the top with the first DVD. The first DVD had three routines on it, so I figured I'd bang out a quick 30 minutes and be done with it. I went with the heaviest band and it was extremely tough. I probably should have gone a little lighter, but I didn't want to take the time to reset the handles on a different band, so I stuck with it. There were some easy moves in Total Body, but the strength moves were a lot tougher than I remember. The Presses, the static curls, and others really got me a great pump and burn. Talk about burn, Lower Body totally fried out my legs. The burn was so intense on all the squat moves, and the two band moves at the end just crushed me. Major BURN! I was actually planning to give my abs a break today, but Abs was on the disk, so I went with it. I was doing fine, until that Three-Point Plank move. For a whole minute, seems easy and short, but it is neither easy, nor did it seem short. I felt like forever. In the last 30-seconds, I had to take a lot of breaks and stretch out my shoulders in Child's Pose. But I didn't get too much of a burn in my abs, but I was feeling it in my whole core. Great KILLER series of routines from Tony.
For my Arm Shaper, I went with Military Push-Ups. NEW RECORD!!! I went and pumped out 50 Straight. I was actually going for only 40 reps, but when I hit 40, I was still feeling good, so I kept on going. Then I hit a wall at 43, and the last 7 were extremely brutal. Slow reps, all of them. A huge struggle just to get them out.
I did only one round of the Lower Back Strengthening because with the 10MT Abs, my core was already feeling worn. I went through all the moves at 12 reps, and I used the 7.5kgs for the Good Mornings. Good round. The Flow series topped everything off nicely.
In the end, I torched a surprising 825kcals. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised because the workout was a lot more grueling than I had expected it would be.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
9-24-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + YAYOG - Intermediate: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Strengthening (partial)/Stretch + TCF.
9-24-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + YAYOG - Intermediate: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Strengthening (partial)/Stretch + TCF.
A bit of an unusual schedule today. I woke up a little late because I got to bed late last night. My plan was to go and try out a new tennis club I was invited to join last month by some people we met at the tournament I played with my son. When I say "Club" I don't mean like a "Country Club". It is a group of people who love tennis and get together to play at public courts on certain days of the week. I have been wanting to go for a month, since the initial invitation, but the Monday after the tournament is when I re-injured my back so I haven't been up to playing until now. The meeting time was 10am. Not too early, but since I woke up late, I didn't get to leave my house until 11am. But that was sort of the plan as well, I didn't want to seem too pushy by showing up right on time or early. Then, I got lost looking for the courts and ended up having to ask for directions. I finally found the courts and headed in. Luckily, the people I had met remembered me and were happy to see me. Most of the other members were very kind and welcomed me warmly. I was a little reserved when it came to jumping in to the drill rotation. I purposefully wore shorts that didn't have pockets so I couldn't carry balls. So the length of my turn was relatively short. I didn't want to seem like the new guy is monopolizing the court. I'll balance my playing time with the other members when I get to know everyone better. I got a good sweat going despite my limited court time. I enjoyed talking to the people. It seemed like I was the first foreigner they had have met. But as soon as the novelty of having a foreign member wears off, I can relax a little. Regular play time is from 10am to 1pm, but unfortunately, the rain started to get stronger and we ended up cutting the session short by an hour. I only played for just under 40 minutes. But my purpose today was not to really play more than tasting the atmosphere of the club. There is one more session this week on Wednesday that I hope I can attend, so I'll see how that is. But I will most likely join officially from next month. So I'll have to start paying club dues and the like. I was hoping to have the tennis be my workout, but only 40 minutes of play burned around 250kcals. So, when I got home, I was already wet and warmed up, I decided to go right into a regular workout.
I'm starting the second round of YAYOG Intermediate Phase today. And since I was already into making my body active, I decided to keep the routine as is. And it worked out well, because it was a tough and sweaty task. Back to the four moves Tabata Style at 20 seconds on 20 seconds rest. The four moves were: Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, and Cross Mountain Climbers. I didn't modify anything in the moves themselves, but I did do the Pike Push-Ups on stands to increase my range of motion. Without stands, I could only do down about 6-inches without bumping my head on the floor. With stands, I could go down around 10 inches. But with the greater RoM, my rep count went down. I was in the 12-14 rep range throughout the 6 sets. As for the other moves, 15-18 reps for the Dynamic Squats, and 18-24 reps on the Cross Mountain Climbers. I wasn't counting reps on the Fast Swimmers. Rather, I was counting breaths. I was holding at about 8 deep breaths during the 20 seconds. This sequence is very similar to the Circuit Training routine. The difference is sort of in the rotation of the moves. Starts off with a lower body cardio move, then the upper body/shoulders, Full body, and then another Full body. But after 6 sets of Fast Swimmers, my lower back was feeling it. That is why I did only a partial Lower Back Strengthening workout. More later. Overall, another good workout.
I caught my breath some before getting into the Arm Shaper. Today, I went to Wide Hands on the Push-Ups. New record, I pumped out 60 reps. I was happy that I was able to keep pace until rep# 53. 54 and on, I was pushing as hard as I could. But I didn't stop.
Still using the 1kg hand weights, I wanted to try to keep my elbows open on this routine. It made a huge difference. And the burn made itself know early on in the second circuit. I also tried a little different form on the oblique moves. Instead of twisting over, I just bent over, and that seemed to activate more muscles that way.
The Partial Lower Back Strengthening, Basically I didn't do Superman, Low to High Plank, and T-V Back Extensions. I just did the Swiss Ball Back extensions and the Dead Lift. I did four sets of 12-14 of both moves, and that was plenty. My back was really aching with the Back Extensions. But I upped the weight a bit for the Dead Lifts. On Friday, I started using a 4kg Dumbbell. Today, I went with a 7.5kg Dumbbell. Big difference. Much slower Reps. Ache came back a lot today, as well. The Stretch and Flow Series felt very nice at the completion of this workout.
In the end, after all was said and done, I torched a big 1025 kcals. Nice to be back in the thousand range, but I know I won't stay there for a long time. But this coming week will be a challenge. I don't have any night classes, so I'm going to try and go to play tennis on Wednesday AND Thursday. And I'm going to try to fit Pickle-Ball somewhere in there as well. One day might end up being a double day, who knows. But as I get back to a regular schedule, things will order themselves out quickly.
WORKOUT and FAT BURNING QUESTION: I subscribe to several fitness newsletters from various sources and one said that working out on an empty stomach helps with burning fat a lot because since there is nothing in the stomach to burn for energy, the body looks for another source of energy. So it turns to the fat stores. So working out on an empty stomach is good. Has anyone heard that, or do you know if that is true or not?
A bit of an unusual schedule today. I woke up a little late because I got to bed late last night. My plan was to go and try out a new tennis club I was invited to join last month by some people we met at the tournament I played with my son. When I say "Club" I don't mean like a "Country Club". It is a group of people who love tennis and get together to play at public courts on certain days of the week. I have been wanting to go for a month, since the initial invitation, but the Monday after the tournament is when I re-injured my back so I haven't been up to playing until now. The meeting time was 10am. Not too early, but since I woke up late, I didn't get to leave my house until 11am. But that was sort of the plan as well, I didn't want to seem too pushy by showing up right on time or early. Then, I got lost looking for the courts and ended up having to ask for directions. I finally found the courts and headed in. Luckily, the people I had met remembered me and were happy to see me. Most of the other members were very kind and welcomed me warmly. I was a little reserved when it came to jumping in to the drill rotation. I purposefully wore shorts that didn't have pockets so I couldn't carry balls. So the length of my turn was relatively short. I didn't want to seem like the new guy is monopolizing the court. I'll balance my playing time with the other members when I get to know everyone better. I got a good sweat going despite my limited court time. I enjoyed talking to the people. It seemed like I was the first foreigner they had have met. But as soon as the novelty of having a foreign member wears off, I can relax a little. Regular play time is from 10am to 1pm, but unfortunately, the rain started to get stronger and we ended up cutting the session short by an hour. I only played for just under 40 minutes. But my purpose today was not to really play more than tasting the atmosphere of the club. There is one more session this week on Wednesday that I hope I can attend, so I'll see how that is. But I will most likely join officially from next month. So I'll have to start paying club dues and the like. I was hoping to have the tennis be my workout, but only 40 minutes of play burned around 250kcals. So, when I got home, I was already wet and warmed up, I decided to go right into a regular workout.
I'm starting the second round of YAYOG Intermediate Phase today. And since I was already into making my body active, I decided to keep the routine as is. And it worked out well, because it was a tough and sweaty task. Back to the four moves Tabata Style at 20 seconds on 20 seconds rest. The four moves were: Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, and Cross Mountain Climbers. I didn't modify anything in the moves themselves, but I did do the Pike Push-Ups on stands to increase my range of motion. Without stands, I could only do down about 6-inches without bumping my head on the floor. With stands, I could go down around 10 inches. But with the greater RoM, my rep count went down. I was in the 12-14 rep range throughout the 6 sets. As for the other moves, 15-18 reps for the Dynamic Squats, and 18-24 reps on the Cross Mountain Climbers. I wasn't counting reps on the Fast Swimmers. Rather, I was counting breaths. I was holding at about 8 deep breaths during the 20 seconds. This sequence is very similar to the Circuit Training routine. The difference is sort of in the rotation of the moves. Starts off with a lower body cardio move, then the upper body/shoulders, Full body, and then another Full body. But after 6 sets of Fast Swimmers, my lower back was feeling it. That is why I did only a partial Lower Back Strengthening workout. More later. Overall, another good workout.
I caught my breath some before getting into the Arm Shaper. Today, I went to Wide Hands on the Push-Ups. New record, I pumped out 60 reps. I was happy that I was able to keep pace until rep# 53. 54 and on, I was pushing as hard as I could. But I didn't stop.
Still using the 1kg hand weights, I wanted to try to keep my elbows open on this routine. It made a huge difference. And the burn made itself know early on in the second circuit. I also tried a little different form on the oblique moves. Instead of twisting over, I just bent over, and that seemed to activate more muscles that way.
The Partial Lower Back Strengthening, Basically I didn't do Superman, Low to High Plank, and T-V Back Extensions. I just did the Swiss Ball Back extensions and the Dead Lift. I did four sets of 12-14 of both moves, and that was plenty. My back was really aching with the Back Extensions. But I upped the weight a bit for the Dead Lifts. On Friday, I started using a 4kg Dumbbell. Today, I went with a 7.5kg Dumbbell. Big difference. Much slower Reps. Ache came back a lot today, as well. The Stretch and Flow Series felt very nice at the completion of this workout.
In the end, after all was said and done, I torched a big 1025 kcals. Nice to be back in the thousand range, but I know I won't stay there for a long time. But this coming week will be a challenge. I don't have any night classes, so I'm going to try and go to play tennis on Wednesday AND Thursday. And I'm going to try to fit Pickle-Ball somewhere in there as well. One day might end up being a double day, who knows. But as I get back to a regular schedule, things will order themselves out quickly.
WORKOUT and FAT BURNING QUESTION: I subscribe to several fitness newsletters from various sources and one said that working out on an empty stomach helps with burning fat a lot because since there is nothing in the stomach to burn for energy, the body looks for another source of energy. So it turns to the fat stores. So working out on an empty stomach is good. Has anyone heard that, or do you know if that is true or not?
9-22-17 (Friday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Circuit Training + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening/Stretching + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + TCF.
9-22-17 (Friday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Circuit Training + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening/Stretching + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + TCF.
I was planning to play tennis today with my wife, but it was raining so those plans were scrapped. I ended up relaxing in the morning with some Thursday Night Football: Rams vs. 49er's, then some WTA Toray Open Tennis. Finally I got to my workout.
This is the final routine of the Intermediate Phase of YAYOG. I am planning to do two rounds of it before moving on to the Advanced. Since this is the first round, I told myself I'd stick with the program do it by the book. So, this routine consisted of 6 sets of 4 moves: Star Jumpers, Half Dive Bombers, Side V-Ups, and Hip Raisers. Now, I said I would do it by the book, but "HALF Dive Bombers"??? No, I couldn't do that, so I did full Dive Bombers. That is the only modification I made to this routine. Adding two sets makes a huge difference. It is sort of like doing a double wring for a wet towel. You wring once to get most of the water out, then you release it and twist it a little more and rework your grip, then you wring it one more time to get as much water out that is left. That is what those two additional sets feel like. I was tired after the fourth set, but those last two sets just zap any remaining energy I had. As for reps, For the Star Jumps, I was in the 15-18 rep range. I pushed it hard at the end and got 18. Dive Bombers hung around the 12-14 rep range. I had to really push on the last couple sets. They were on the lower end of the range. Side V-Ups, on each set, only one side was done, so the six sets means three sets on each side. I was able to be around the 16-20 rep range. And for the Hip Raisers, I was around the 13-16 rep range. I'm not sure how much faster I can go, or how many more I can do in the allotted time of 20 seconds. I liked this combination of moves. A full body cardio, Upper Body Strength, Core, and Lower body. It went up and down systematically working the different areas of my body. I was tired, but I felt good at the end.
I needed a little time to shake out my arms. I was thinking that I didn't want to loose that pump in my shoulders that I got from the Dive Bombers, so I decided to do Pike Push-Ups today. I didn't have a straight number for this variation so I went with it. I got 30 reps straight. Then I did two sets of 10 just to round out the 50 rep goal. Shoulders were on FIRE!!!
I took a couple minutes to shake out my arms, then went right into the Lower Back work. I did all five moves in two sets. I was thinking to do three sets, but my back was starting to ache, so I stayed on two. I went right into my ab work. I wanted to keep that tension on in my core. Still only using the 1kg hand weight, I got a good burn in the second circuit. Really felt the flex pulling the core tight. The stretch at the end felt really good because I was really feeling my core tire out. Then the closer, my Flow series.
I'm sort of working out for a shorter time than before and controlling my food intake. And I'm starting to see and feel results.
In the end, I burned a modest 700+kcals. I finished with a lot of time to spare before sunset. Felt good to get that done and done. Happy weekend!
I was planning to play tennis today with my wife, but it was raining so those plans were scrapped. I ended up relaxing in the morning with some Thursday Night Football: Rams vs. 49er's, then some WTA Toray Open Tennis. Finally I got to my workout.
This is the final routine of the Intermediate Phase of YAYOG. I am planning to do two rounds of it before moving on to the Advanced. Since this is the first round, I told myself I'd stick with the program do it by the book. So, this routine consisted of 6 sets of 4 moves: Star Jumpers, Half Dive Bombers, Side V-Ups, and Hip Raisers. Now, I said I would do it by the book, but "HALF Dive Bombers"??? No, I couldn't do that, so I did full Dive Bombers. That is the only modification I made to this routine. Adding two sets makes a huge difference. It is sort of like doing a double wring for a wet towel. You wring once to get most of the water out, then you release it and twist it a little more and rework your grip, then you wring it one more time to get as much water out that is left. That is what those two additional sets feel like. I was tired after the fourth set, but those last two sets just zap any remaining energy I had. As for reps, For the Star Jumps, I was in the 15-18 rep range. I pushed it hard at the end and got 18. Dive Bombers hung around the 12-14 rep range. I had to really push on the last couple sets. They were on the lower end of the range. Side V-Ups, on each set, only one side was done, so the six sets means three sets on each side. I was able to be around the 16-20 rep range. And for the Hip Raisers, I was around the 13-16 rep range. I'm not sure how much faster I can go, or how many more I can do in the allotted time of 20 seconds. I liked this combination of moves. A full body cardio, Upper Body Strength, Core, and Lower body. It went up and down systematically working the different areas of my body. I was tired, but I felt good at the end.
I needed a little time to shake out my arms. I was thinking that I didn't want to loose that pump in my shoulders that I got from the Dive Bombers, so I decided to do Pike Push-Ups today. I didn't have a straight number for this variation so I went with it. I got 30 reps straight. Then I did two sets of 10 just to round out the 50 rep goal. Shoulders were on FIRE!!!
I took a couple minutes to shake out my arms, then went right into the Lower Back work. I did all five moves in two sets. I was thinking to do three sets, but my back was starting to ache, so I stayed on two. I went right into my ab work. I wanted to keep that tension on in my core. Still only using the 1kg hand weight, I got a good burn in the second circuit. Really felt the flex pulling the core tight. The stretch at the end felt really good because I was really feeling my core tire out. Then the closer, my Flow series.
I'm sort of working out for a shorter time than before and controlling my food intake. And I'm starting to see and feel results.
In the end, I burned a modest 700+kcals. I finished with a lot of time to spare before sunset. Felt good to get that done and done. Happy weekend!
Friday, September 22, 2017
9-21-17 (Thursday) HY: ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn It Off! + Extreme Core Circuit + Arm Shaper + TCF.
9-21-17 (Thursday) HY: ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn It Off! + Extreme Core Circuit + Arm Shaper + TCF.
Two days of true vacation left and today was like yesterday, watching some baseball in the morning, relaxing with some games, then getting to my workout in the early evening.
Since I did resistance yesterday, today was cardio, but I didn't want to do something that would require a lot of jumping, so I went with Chalene's Burn It Off! There is a minimal amount jumping, but the intensity can be pretty high. Also, it's been a while since I actually did this routine, so I was looking forward to seeing how I would work it out. The little jumping that was required with the Jumping Jack progression was a bit sketchy in that I did feel some adverse pressure on my lower back, but no pain. I tried to keep the pressure as low as possible by keeping my knees soft and flexing the support muscles in my lower back. I think I did a good job of protecting my back and still give it a little bit of a workout to test it. There were a series of moves which included the Jumping Jacks that really made my arches ache. The one legged lunge to basketball shot was one, and another was the football drills at the end. The Extreme Burpees were kept at Chalene's pace. The reason why I call them "Extreme" is because I add the Push-Up at the bottom. The jump knee tuck at the top was just a quick knee raise to get my feet off the ground. Overall, it was a good workout and I got a good sweat on.
I went back to standard Push-Ups and pumped out a quick 50 reps. I was a bit disappointed that I slowed way down again on the last 3-4 reps. But I guess I should be happy I'm hitting 50.
I moved right into Abs with Chalene. I didn't have time to do the lower back routine, so I focused on activating my whole core during the moves. I kept everything flexed and controlled. I definitely got a good burn in my abs, and worked my lower back as well.
I finished off with a good series of Flows. I was trying to see how quickly I could get my heart rate down with a flow. Relatively quickly, but not as fast as Corpse Pose.
In the end, today's workout was only an hour long, but I was able to burn a nice 574kcals. Heading to the weekend!
Two days of true vacation left and today was like yesterday, watching some baseball in the morning, relaxing with some games, then getting to my workout in the early evening.
Since I did resistance yesterday, today was cardio, but I didn't want to do something that would require a lot of jumping, so I went with Chalene's Burn It Off! There is a minimal amount jumping, but the intensity can be pretty high. Also, it's been a while since I actually did this routine, so I was looking forward to seeing how I would work it out. The little jumping that was required with the Jumping Jack progression was a bit sketchy in that I did feel some adverse pressure on my lower back, but no pain. I tried to keep the pressure as low as possible by keeping my knees soft and flexing the support muscles in my lower back. I think I did a good job of protecting my back and still give it a little bit of a workout to test it. There were a series of moves which included the Jumping Jacks that really made my arches ache. The one legged lunge to basketball shot was one, and another was the football drills at the end. The Extreme Burpees were kept at Chalene's pace. The reason why I call them "Extreme" is because I add the Push-Up at the bottom. The jump knee tuck at the top was just a quick knee raise to get my feet off the ground. Overall, it was a good workout and I got a good sweat on.
I went back to standard Push-Ups and pumped out a quick 50 reps. I was a bit disappointed that I slowed way down again on the last 3-4 reps. But I guess I should be happy I'm hitting 50.
I moved right into Abs with Chalene. I didn't have time to do the lower back routine, so I focused on activating my whole core during the moves. I kept everything flexed and controlled. I definitely got a good burn in my abs, and worked my lower back as well.
I finished off with a good series of Flows. I was trying to see how quickly I could get my heart rate down with a flow. Relatively quickly, but not as fast as Corpse Pose.
In the end, today's workout was only an hour long, but I was able to burn a nice 574kcals. Heading to the weekend!
Thursday, September 21, 2017
9-20-17 (Wednesday) HY: 6PSC - Upper Body Weights + Lower Back Strengthening + TCF.
9-20-17 (Wednesday) HY: 6PSC - Upper Body Weights + Lower Back Strengthening + TCF.
Today, or actually this morning was sort of a lazy period for me again. As my vacation winds down, I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that I have to go back to work on MONDAY!!! It was such a free vacation. The only dark mark was this back injury. But it gave me the ability to try some different things and slow down a bit. It sort of forced me to change my diet, and I think that this is the first vacation in years that I haven't gained weight. Anyway, this morning was just really relaxing. I was able to see my beloved Philadelphia Phillies come from behind to defeat the LA Dodgers. Then I got an email form a colleague. The subject line read "Tomorrow's Class". My heart immediately started to palpitate. I was thinking, "Tomorrow??? Did I miss the date? Is there class TODAY? Am I missing a class???" I rushed to check the calendar and luckily, my friend was wrong, there was no class tomorrow. But my heart was beating out of my chest! I tapped off a reply and since my heart rate had leaped 100bpm in a matter of seconds, calming down took a little more time. So I decided to just go with it and start my workout.
I wanted to do a little weight training today, but I didn't want to do a long routine. Or something that would motivate me to push harder and harder past what I could do or more importantly what I should do in my current condition. So, I went WAY back and dug out an old "6-Pack Shortcuts" upper body routine that I used to do years ago. The routine consists of 6 moves: Single-Arm Rows, Clapping Push-Ups, Standing Shoulder Presses, Alternating Biceps Curls, Triceps Extension, Traps Shrugs. The first 4 moves were 10 reps, and the last 2 moves were 20 reps. I did four rounds of that circuit. The first two rounds, I kept the same dumbbell weight (7.5kgs) for everything just to get a feel. Then for the third round, I went up to 10kgs for everything. Then the last round, I upped only the Rows to 12.5kgs. Everything else stayed at 10kgs. I did each rep slowly so I could really get a full tension and flex in the target muscle. Except for the Clapping Push-Ups. For those, I had to explode up to get enough height to clap, but slow after landing. This little routine with even the lighter weight really gave me a good pump. I got a little burn on the curls, but the biggest burn was from the Triceps Extension on the last two rounds. The 10kgs was probably right at my limit for muscle endurance training. Good little routine to start back into weights.
I went right into the Lower Back Strengthening with the same video I've been using. This time, I did two rounds of the moves. Slow and steady to get full extension and range of motion in my back. I also kept stretching out my hamstrings and inner thighs. Priming them for more stretching and flexibility training later.
Ended with a nice Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 700+kcals. Keeping it in that range is good for now. Workout times are also getting shorter, so that is also a positive thing.
Today, or actually this morning was sort of a lazy period for me again. As my vacation winds down, I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that I have to go back to work on MONDAY!!! It was such a free vacation. The only dark mark was this back injury. But it gave me the ability to try some different things and slow down a bit. It sort of forced me to change my diet, and I think that this is the first vacation in years that I haven't gained weight. Anyway, this morning was just really relaxing. I was able to see my beloved Philadelphia Phillies come from behind to defeat the LA Dodgers. Then I got an email form a colleague. The subject line read "Tomorrow's Class". My heart immediately started to palpitate. I was thinking, "Tomorrow??? Did I miss the date? Is there class TODAY? Am I missing a class???" I rushed to check the calendar and luckily, my friend was wrong, there was no class tomorrow. But my heart was beating out of my chest! I tapped off a reply and since my heart rate had leaped 100bpm in a matter of seconds, calming down took a little more time. So I decided to just go with it and start my workout.
I wanted to do a little weight training today, but I didn't want to do a long routine. Or something that would motivate me to push harder and harder past what I could do or more importantly what I should do in my current condition. So, I went WAY back and dug out an old "6-Pack Shortcuts" upper body routine that I used to do years ago. The routine consists of 6 moves: Single-Arm Rows, Clapping Push-Ups, Standing Shoulder Presses, Alternating Biceps Curls, Triceps Extension, Traps Shrugs. The first 4 moves were 10 reps, and the last 2 moves were 20 reps. I did four rounds of that circuit. The first two rounds, I kept the same dumbbell weight (7.5kgs) for everything just to get a feel. Then for the third round, I went up to 10kgs for everything. Then the last round, I upped only the Rows to 12.5kgs. Everything else stayed at 10kgs. I did each rep slowly so I could really get a full tension and flex in the target muscle. Except for the Clapping Push-Ups. For those, I had to explode up to get enough height to clap, but slow after landing. This little routine with even the lighter weight really gave me a good pump. I got a little burn on the curls, but the biggest burn was from the Triceps Extension on the last two rounds. The 10kgs was probably right at my limit for muscle endurance training. Good little routine to start back into weights.
I went right into the Lower Back Strengthening with the same video I've been using. This time, I did two rounds of the moves. Slow and steady to get full extension and range of motion in my back. I also kept stretching out my hamstrings and inner thighs. Priming them for more stretching and flexibility training later.
Ended with a nice Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 700+kcals. Keeping it in that range is good for now. Workout times are also getting shorter, so that is also a positive thing.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
9-19-17 (Tuesday) HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + Agility X + Arm Shaper + TCF.
9-19-17 (Tuesday) HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + Agility X + Arm Shaper + TCF.
I think I'll have to readjust my workout schedule while I'm doing YAYOG. The weekly routine has only three routines and without thinking, I already did two of them to start my week off. So next week, I'm going to spread them out a little better. But today, I wanted to test my back to see if I could do some of the higher impact moves. I'm nowhere near ready for Shaun T style moves, but Tony's maybe.
I did Cold Start to warm up with. I figured an extra warm up wouldn't hurt. As the 4-5 minute warm up in the main routine began, and I started with the high knees, I felt a little pressure in my back. It was sort of a compression type of pressure. I think probably what hurt my back initially was when I did the Jumping Lunges with the Dumbbell Press in the Upper Body Complex, to keep my upper body upright, I arched it a little too much preventing me from actually flexing the muscles around my spine and so that left me vulnerable. And I paid the price. The moves were easy enough, but there were a few moves that I did modify because I wanted to be cautious. Namely the Jumping Cross Lunges. There was the variation just before with the Skip, but I didn't take it up that one step. I also didn't go all out on the Jump Knee Tuck moves. I kept the highest impact moves low impact. Several times near the middle and end of the routine, I had to stop the DVD and rewind it to learn the more complicated moves. But I got a good sweat on and with all that leg work, I'm going to feel it tomorrow, I'm sure! At the end, there were some Push-Up moves that were tough. But the toughest move was definitely the last move in the routine, the Plank Walk with the Plyo-Line Push-Up. This was the only move that I couldn't do for the whole minute. I broke at 30-seconds. Then, I rewound the DVD and finished off the last 30-seconds to failure. Whew!!! That was tough!!! I am not feeling 100% comfortable with a medium intensity routine such as this, but if I go into it telling myself to modify the higher intensity moves and always keep the protection of my back in mind, I think I'll be okay until I'm back to 100%. I had a good time with this routine. The Cool Down had a nice stretch sequence, so I extended it and added some more hamstring stretches, and I also added the Butterfly stretch. I wasn't able to touch both knees to the floor with my shoes on, but later, with my shoes off, I could. I'll have to push a little harder when my shoes are on.
Arm Shaper Push-Up variation today is the Standard Push-Up. It has been too far back in my memory when I did 50 reps straight. The only time I can remember in over 5 years ago back in the US when I was visiting my family. Everyone was watching TV and for some reason I just plopped down and banged out 50 reps. My sister was impressed. Since then, I don't remember doing it. So today, I gave it a go, and I KILLED IT!!! I was keeping a strong pace all the way past 40 reps. suddenly, I hit a wall at 47 and I really struggled to get the last 3 reps. I wonder if it is a strength thing or a mental thing. Maybe if I set my goal for 60 reps, I'll bang out 50 reps like nothing. Huge pump and burn.
I could still feel the ab burn from the past two days, so I took today off from abs. I also took the day off from the Lower Back Strengthening and Stretching routines. I went right to the Flow series. Felt good to cool down with a Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 726kcals. It's getting better.
I think I'll have to readjust my workout schedule while I'm doing YAYOG. The weekly routine has only three routines and without thinking, I already did two of them to start my week off. So next week, I'm going to spread them out a little better. But today, I wanted to test my back to see if I could do some of the higher impact moves. I'm nowhere near ready for Shaun T style moves, but Tony's maybe.
I did Cold Start to warm up with. I figured an extra warm up wouldn't hurt. As the 4-5 minute warm up in the main routine began, and I started with the high knees, I felt a little pressure in my back. It was sort of a compression type of pressure. I think probably what hurt my back initially was when I did the Jumping Lunges with the Dumbbell Press in the Upper Body Complex, to keep my upper body upright, I arched it a little too much preventing me from actually flexing the muscles around my spine and so that left me vulnerable. And I paid the price. The moves were easy enough, but there were a few moves that I did modify because I wanted to be cautious. Namely the Jumping Cross Lunges. There was the variation just before with the Skip, but I didn't take it up that one step. I also didn't go all out on the Jump Knee Tuck moves. I kept the highest impact moves low impact. Several times near the middle and end of the routine, I had to stop the DVD and rewind it to learn the more complicated moves. But I got a good sweat on and with all that leg work, I'm going to feel it tomorrow, I'm sure! At the end, there were some Push-Up moves that were tough. But the toughest move was definitely the last move in the routine, the Plank Walk with the Plyo-Line Push-Up. This was the only move that I couldn't do for the whole minute. I broke at 30-seconds. Then, I rewound the DVD and finished off the last 30-seconds to failure. Whew!!! That was tough!!! I am not feeling 100% comfortable with a medium intensity routine such as this, but if I go into it telling myself to modify the higher intensity moves and always keep the protection of my back in mind, I think I'll be okay until I'm back to 100%. I had a good time with this routine. The Cool Down had a nice stretch sequence, so I extended it and added some more hamstring stretches, and I also added the Butterfly stretch. I wasn't able to touch both knees to the floor with my shoes on, but later, with my shoes off, I could. I'll have to push a little harder when my shoes are on.
Arm Shaper Push-Up variation today is the Standard Push-Up. It has been too far back in my memory when I did 50 reps straight. The only time I can remember in over 5 years ago back in the US when I was visiting my family. Everyone was watching TV and for some reason I just plopped down and banged out 50 reps. My sister was impressed. Since then, I don't remember doing it. So today, I gave it a go, and I KILLED IT!!! I was keeping a strong pace all the way past 40 reps. suddenly, I hit a wall at 47 and I really struggled to get the last 3 reps. I wonder if it is a strength thing or a mental thing. Maybe if I set my goal for 60 reps, I'll bang out 50 reps like nothing. Huge pump and burn.
I could still feel the ab burn from the past two days, so I took today off from abs. I also took the day off from the Lower Back Strengthening and Stretching routines. I went right to the Flow series. Felt good to cool down with a Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 726kcals. It's getting better.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
9-18-17 (Monday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Ladders + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Stretch + Prelim Splits Stretch + TCF.
9-18-17 (Monday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Ladders + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Stretch + Prelim Splits Stretch + TCF.
Today is a national holiday here in Japan. I believe that it is Labor Day in the USA, but here, it is Autumnal Equinox Day. So I had the day off. I was thinking to do something or go somewhere with my girls, but when I asked them about what to day, they both said they had plans, so I was alone. So I just stayed home and had a lazy day. I watched a movie, "The Hitman's Bodyguard" starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, and some TV. I watched the Falcons vs Packers game live as well. I lay down most of the day, to give my back and butt a break. But I wanted to get my workout done before my girls got home, so around early evening, I started to get ready and start. They came home as I was beginning.
I thought the Intermediate Ladders would go up to 6 reps, but it only went to 4 reps. Initially, I was thinking to add up to 6, but I'm glad I didn't. Maybe next time, but not today. The moves were a little different in this routine, but still a few old moves. The two-move circuits were: Side Lunges/One-Legged Romanian Deadlifts and Push-Ups/Thumbs Up. Both circuits were only up to four moves, but I did the non-peak count: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. Twice for each circuit. The once difference was on the Thumbs Up, that was twice the number of Push-Ups. So 1 rep of a Push-Up was followed by 2 reps of Thumbs Up and so on up to 4/8 reps and back down. The first circuit was fine, but I could feel the tightness in my inner thigh. It loosened up as the circuit went on, but I didn't like the tightness. The one-Legged Romanian Deadlifts were easy, just a little challenge keeping my balance. All was well. The second circuit was good, but that 2X Thumbs Up killed my upper back and shoulders. I needed a few one-breath breaks in the later stages, but it was okay. The burn was ON!
My arms were pretty fried from the push ups in the main routine, so I went with Wide Push-Ups today. I usually can to 50 reps straight, but since I was fried, I only made it to 35 reps, so I shook out my arms and pumped out one more set of 15 reps, just to get at least 40 reps.
The rest of the workout with the lower back strengthening, Ab work, and stretch pretty much went down like yesterday. The one thing I did differently was I added a long bouncy butterfly stretch to stretch out my inner thighs. I really didn't like that tight feeling earlier, so I added the Butterfly stretch. It took some time, but I was able to get both knees back on the ground. WHEW!!! Got to keep that flexibility.
In the end, I burned another modest 600+kcals. A little more than yesterday which was the plan. I would have been disappointed if I didn't hit at least 550kcals, so that number is fine. Let's see what happens on Circuit Training later in the week.
Today is a national holiday here in Japan. I believe that it is Labor Day in the USA, but here, it is Autumnal Equinox Day. So I had the day off. I was thinking to do something or go somewhere with my girls, but when I asked them about what to day, they both said they had plans, so I was alone. So I just stayed home and had a lazy day. I watched a movie, "The Hitman's Bodyguard" starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, and some TV. I watched the Falcons vs Packers game live as well. I lay down most of the day, to give my back and butt a break. But I wanted to get my workout done before my girls got home, so around early evening, I started to get ready and start. They came home as I was beginning.
I thought the Intermediate Ladders would go up to 6 reps, but it only went to 4 reps. Initially, I was thinking to add up to 6, but I'm glad I didn't. Maybe next time, but not today. The moves were a little different in this routine, but still a few old moves. The two-move circuits were: Side Lunges/One-Legged Romanian Deadlifts and Push-Ups/Thumbs Up. Both circuits were only up to four moves, but I did the non-peak count: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. Twice for each circuit. The once difference was on the Thumbs Up, that was twice the number of Push-Ups. So 1 rep of a Push-Up was followed by 2 reps of Thumbs Up and so on up to 4/8 reps and back down. The first circuit was fine, but I could feel the tightness in my inner thigh. It loosened up as the circuit went on, but I didn't like the tightness. The one-Legged Romanian Deadlifts were easy, just a little challenge keeping my balance. All was well. The second circuit was good, but that 2X Thumbs Up killed my upper back and shoulders. I needed a few one-breath breaks in the later stages, but it was okay. The burn was ON!
My arms were pretty fried from the push ups in the main routine, so I went with Wide Push-Ups today. I usually can to 50 reps straight, but since I was fried, I only made it to 35 reps, so I shook out my arms and pumped out one more set of 15 reps, just to get at least 40 reps.
The rest of the workout with the lower back strengthening, Ab work, and stretch pretty much went down like yesterday. The one thing I did differently was I added a long bouncy butterfly stretch to stretch out my inner thighs. I really didn't like that tight feeling earlier, so I added the Butterfly stretch. It took some time, but I was able to get both knees back on the ground. WHEW!!! Got to keep that flexibility.
In the end, I burned another modest 600+kcals. A little more than yesterday which was the plan. I would have been disappointed if I didn't hit at least 550kcals, so that number is fine. Let's see what happens on Circuit Training later in the week.
Monday, September 18, 2017
9-17-17 (Sunday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Stretch + TCF.
9-17-17 (Sunday) HY: YAYOG - Intermediate: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Lower Back Stretch + TCF.
Well, if you haven't noticed, I have reduced the number of workouts I do in a week. I usually do 6 a week, and the middle one is a yoga or recovery day. But due to my back injury, I am just slowly getting my back strong again as best I can with body-weight workouts and focused Lower Back exercises. So today, I stepped it up a bit by doing everything. I felt good, so I decided to really hit my core hard... but not that hard (a la Yoda).
I started the Intermediate Phase today in YAYOG. The pattern is still the same, but the moves are a little more intense. In this routine, the moves are ones I've done before, so no big surprises here. The four moves are: Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, and Cross Mountain Climbers. Exactly the same four moves as the Novice: Circuit Training moves. But the big difference was that we did 6 sets this time around instead of just four. It was a little different in that it was Timed Sets. I was thinking to push for some extra, but I thought that I should do one rotation as is before adding anything to it. And it was intense. There was no need for groaning this time, but there definitely was a good burn. The little 20-second break between each move played a huge part in taking something away from the intensity of the routine, but that is why this starts off the week. After a couple days off, this was good to start slowly. I'll be more ready to raise the intensity tomorrow.
For the Arm Shaper, I did Diamond Push-Ups. A variation I haven't done in a while. The last time I did them, I was able to tough my chest to my hands and pump out 30-40 reps easy. Today, I was only able to do 20 reps, and my chest was about three inches from my hands. But strength wasn't my problem, wrist flexibility was. My wrists hurt to much from that low angle, so I didn't want to push it too hard. I still felt I had something left, so I did 4 sets of 5 reps, for a total of 40 reps of Diamond Push-Ups. Triceps were PUMPED!!!
I did a lot of back work with the Fast Swimmers, so I did only the Back Extension moves today, before moving on to the stretch. Also, before the stretch, I did the next step in my Core work, Extreme Core Circuit. I was a little wary of the warm up at the beginning because of the lower back movements, so I didn't go to the extreme limits of my current range of motion. Also, I usually use 2kg dumbbells, but just to be safe, I didn't use them today. I still got a good burn in my abs so I was happy. Intensity level definitely went up. Then I finished off with the stretch routine. Then ended the workout with a good Flow Series.
In the end, I burned around 520kcals. I was actually expecting a bigger burn, but It was individual moves with a rest between. I expect the number to go up with the next routine. But the big win today was with my overall lower back flexibility. Up until last Thursday, I couldn't get past 90 degrees on a forward bend. I could barely touch my knees and ankles. But today, I was so happy I was able to touch the tops of my feet, the tongue of my shoes. That is a big win for me. I haven't done Splits in a long time, so I'm priming up to start that again.
One last thing, I got a tool to help with my lower back rehab. It is pictured below:
Walking and standing, turning and twisting is no problem for my back. The most pain comes when I stand up from a sitting position. It feels like the muscle is swollen and hinders me from standing up straight, so getting up, I look like an old guy all doubled over. But the first time I sat in this thing, with forces me to sit with perfect posture, I got right up and stood tall. ZERO PAIN!!! So now, I use it everywhere. I bring it up and down stairs. I used it in the car for the drive to the airport. No pain. The only down side is that it was way WAY over priced. I felt bad buying it, but I guess it is worth it if it helps my rehab.
Well, if you haven't noticed, I have reduced the number of workouts I do in a week. I usually do 6 a week, and the middle one is a yoga or recovery day. But due to my back injury, I am just slowly getting my back strong again as best I can with body-weight workouts and focused Lower Back exercises. So today, I stepped it up a bit by doing everything. I felt good, so I decided to really hit my core hard... but not that hard (a la Yoda).
I started the Intermediate Phase today in YAYOG. The pattern is still the same, but the moves are a little more intense. In this routine, the moves are ones I've done before, so no big surprises here. The four moves are: Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, and Cross Mountain Climbers. Exactly the same four moves as the Novice: Circuit Training moves. But the big difference was that we did 6 sets this time around instead of just four. It was a little different in that it was Timed Sets. I was thinking to push for some extra, but I thought that I should do one rotation as is before adding anything to it. And it was intense. There was no need for groaning this time, but there definitely was a good burn. The little 20-second break between each move played a huge part in taking something away from the intensity of the routine, but that is why this starts off the week. After a couple days off, this was good to start slowly. I'll be more ready to raise the intensity tomorrow.
For the Arm Shaper, I did Diamond Push-Ups. A variation I haven't done in a while. The last time I did them, I was able to tough my chest to my hands and pump out 30-40 reps easy. Today, I was only able to do 20 reps, and my chest was about three inches from my hands. But strength wasn't my problem, wrist flexibility was. My wrists hurt to much from that low angle, so I didn't want to push it too hard. I still felt I had something left, so I did 4 sets of 5 reps, for a total of 40 reps of Diamond Push-Ups. Triceps were PUMPED!!!
I did a lot of back work with the Fast Swimmers, so I did only the Back Extension moves today, before moving on to the stretch. Also, before the stretch, I did the next step in my Core work, Extreme Core Circuit. I was a little wary of the warm up at the beginning because of the lower back movements, so I didn't go to the extreme limits of my current range of motion. Also, I usually use 2kg dumbbells, but just to be safe, I didn't use them today. I still got a good burn in my abs so I was happy. Intensity level definitely went up. Then I finished off with the stretch routine. Then ended the workout with a good Flow Series.
In the end, I burned around 520kcals. I was actually expecting a bigger burn, but It was individual moves with a rest between. I expect the number to go up with the next routine. But the big win today was with my overall lower back flexibility. Up until last Thursday, I couldn't get past 90 degrees on a forward bend. I could barely touch my knees and ankles. But today, I was so happy I was able to touch the tops of my feet, the tongue of my shoes. That is a big win for me. I haven't done Splits in a long time, so I'm priming up to start that again.
One last thing, I got a tool to help with my lower back rehab. It is pictured below:
Walking and standing, turning and twisting is no problem for my back. The most pain comes when I stand up from a sitting position. It feels like the muscle is swollen and hinders me from standing up straight, so getting up, I look like an old guy all doubled over. But the first time I sat in this thing, with forces me to sit with perfect posture, I got right up and stood tall. ZERO PAIN!!! So now, I use it everywhere. I bring it up and down stairs. I used it in the car for the drive to the airport. No pain. The only down side is that it was way WAY over priced. I felt bad buying it, but I guess it is worth it if it helps my rehab.
9-14-17 (Thursday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Circuit Training + Lower Back Strengthening/Stretch.
9-14-17 (Thursday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Circuit Training + Lower Back Strengthening/Stretch.
Today, I sort of put myself into a time crunch because I was being lazy all day. I got started late and so I had to cut out some things, but I got the essentials in.
Today, ends the Novice Phase of YAYOG. Circuit Training is supposed to be the toughest of all the routines in the Phase. It was in that it has the longest sustained exercise, through four moves. It also showed evidence with the amount of calories I burned in less time. I'll get to that at the end. Of course, I added to the intensity of the routine by adding two rounds for a total of six rounds. That was a tough, but doable task. I definitely felt the burn on ALL the moves in the extra rounds. But the biggest burn came on the Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups). I had to let out a groan to failure to keep going. I was happy that I didn't stop once mid-set. I gutted out each move taking the burn. Oh, the four moves were Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, Cross Mountain Climbers.
I moved right into the Arm Shaper Push-Ups. Today, I did Standard Push-Ups. I wanted to pump out a strong set of 40 straight. But I did a strong set of 36 reps, and the last 4 reps were slow and pitiful, just about to failure on the last one. I shook out my arms and then pumped out a quick 10 reps to hit 50 reps.
I went right into the strengthening moves for my lower back and then the stretch routine. I really need to get my lower back stronger to support my lumbar spine. That is where my pain is emanating from. We'll see how this goes for a few weeks until I don't have the pain anymore.
In the end, I burned a modest 706kcal. The sustained movement really makes a difference in the calorie burn as opposed to taking quick breaks between moves or even every two moves.
Today, I sort of put myself into a time crunch because I was being lazy all day. I got started late and so I had to cut out some things, but I got the essentials in.
Today, ends the Novice Phase of YAYOG. Circuit Training is supposed to be the toughest of all the routines in the Phase. It was in that it has the longest sustained exercise, through four moves. It also showed evidence with the amount of calories I burned in less time. I'll get to that at the end. Of course, I added to the intensity of the routine by adding two rounds for a total of six rounds. That was a tough, but doable task. I definitely felt the burn on ALL the moves in the extra rounds. But the biggest burn came on the Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups). I had to let out a groan to failure to keep going. I was happy that I didn't stop once mid-set. I gutted out each move taking the burn. Oh, the four moves were Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, Cross Mountain Climbers.
I moved right into the Arm Shaper Push-Ups. Today, I did Standard Push-Ups. I wanted to pump out a strong set of 40 straight. But I did a strong set of 36 reps, and the last 4 reps were slow and pitiful, just about to failure on the last one. I shook out my arms and then pumped out a quick 10 reps to hit 50 reps.
I went right into the strengthening moves for my lower back and then the stretch routine. I really need to get my lower back stronger to support my lumbar spine. That is where my pain is emanating from. We'll see how this goes for a few weeks until I don't have the pain anymore.
In the end, I burned a modest 706kcal. The sustained movement really makes a difference in the calorie burn as opposed to taking quick breaks between moves or even every two moves.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
9-12-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Ladders + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Stretching + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.
9-12-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Ladders + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Stretching + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.
Today, I got back to a "normal-ish" routine. After the Pickle-Ball yesterday, my legs were feeling a bit sore, but I was excited to get back to a home routine. So, I sort of decided before hand that I would be increasing the ladder sets from four sets to six sets. Seemed fine at the time, but, to make a long story short, it was really tough. And a twenty minute routine ended up being forty minutes. I needed short breaks almost at the end of each of the longer sets. And like last time, I didn't peak at the sixth set, I doubled down. So my set rep count was:
1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1
And also like last time, I added the Push-Up to the Burpee. Last time, on the Back Lunges, my knee started to hurt a little bit, but today, I don't remember feeling any sort of pain in my knee. I was very glad about that. But the first circuit was really brutal. It did a good job of wearing me out.
The second circuit was a little different this time. Last time, I did the Pointer in a full Plank position, but I was already really tired, so I went with the way Mark taught it, starting on all fours and raising opposite limbs from there. But I did a little static hold which took more time. It also blasted my shoulders and glutes. Same with the Thumbs Up, Static hold at the top and pain to follow. It was a great routine, a lot longer than the previous time.
I moved right into the Push Ups for my arms. Today, I did two sets of 25 of Staggered Push-Ups. Like what Tony does in X3's The Challenge. One arm above my head and a bit to the outside and the other arm right next to my ribs. Got a good pump and definite burn during the last few reps of the second set.
I felt the need for ab work, so again, I went with good ol' Ripper 200. Still does a great job and I was able to protect my back.
I could feel my back already tired from the YAYOG work, so instead of doing the strengthening routine, I only did the lower back stretch.
And I finished up with a good series of Flows.
In the end, I burned a nice 600+kcals. Not the big burn from yesterday, but I sweat gallons.
Today, I got back to a "normal-ish" routine. After the Pickle-Ball yesterday, my legs were feeling a bit sore, but I was excited to get back to a home routine. So, I sort of decided before hand that I would be increasing the ladder sets from four sets to six sets. Seemed fine at the time, but, to make a long story short, it was really tough. And a twenty minute routine ended up being forty minutes. I needed short breaks almost at the end of each of the longer sets. And like last time, I didn't peak at the sixth set, I doubled down. So my set rep count was:
1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1
And also like last time, I added the Push-Up to the Burpee. Last time, on the Back Lunges, my knee started to hurt a little bit, but today, I don't remember feeling any sort of pain in my knee. I was very glad about that. But the first circuit was really brutal. It did a good job of wearing me out.
The second circuit was a little different this time. Last time, I did the Pointer in a full Plank position, but I was already really tired, so I went with the way Mark taught it, starting on all fours and raising opposite limbs from there. But I did a little static hold which took more time. It also blasted my shoulders and glutes. Same with the Thumbs Up, Static hold at the top and pain to follow. It was a great routine, a lot longer than the previous time.
I moved right into the Push Ups for my arms. Today, I did two sets of 25 of Staggered Push-Ups. Like what Tony does in X3's The Challenge. One arm above my head and a bit to the outside and the other arm right next to my ribs. Got a good pump and definite burn during the last few reps of the second set.
I felt the need for ab work, so again, I went with good ol' Ripper 200. Still does a great job and I was able to protect my back.
I could feel my back already tired from the YAYOG work, so instead of doing the strengthening routine, I only did the lower back stretch.
And I finished up with a good series of Flows.
In the end, I burned a nice 600+kcals. Not the big burn from yesterday, but I sweat gallons.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
9-11-17 (Monday) HY: Pickle-Ball + Foam Rolling.
9-11-17 (Monday) HY: Pickle-Ball + Foam Rolling.
Well, today was a treat!
I got permission to use the gym at the main campus of my school so I took my family to play Pickle-Ball for the first time. A quick run-through of the rules, and then we started to rally. Everyone has experience with tennis and other racket sports so they picked it up very quickly. So it was just a matter of getting used to the bounce of the ball and finding the range in the court. We just rallied around for about 30 minutes, my daughter and I on one side, and my wife and son on the other. Then we actually started to play but the kids wanted to team up so it was the Oldies vs. Young'uns. It was actually quite competitive for all the games we played. It was a lot of fun. My wife even said that she liked Pickle-Ball more than tennis because she had more time to judge the balls bounce so she could hit the ball better. The Young'uns took the first game, 11-7. But the Oldies took the second game 11-6. Our time was up, but we had to get in a tie-breaker, so we played a 5-point tie breaker which the Oldies took 5-3. It was such a fun time. I hope we get to do it again, soon!
In the end, I torched 1025kcals. It felt good to be active on court again. I haven't played Pickle-Ball in about a month or more. I also was VERY happy to to break one thousand kcals burned. It has been a while. Soon after, the soreness started to set in, so I foam rolled for a very long time.
Well, today was a treat!
I got permission to use the gym at the main campus of my school so I took my family to play Pickle-Ball for the first time. A quick run-through of the rules, and then we started to rally. Everyone has experience with tennis and other racket sports so they picked it up very quickly. So it was just a matter of getting used to the bounce of the ball and finding the range in the court. We just rallied around for about 30 minutes, my daughter and I on one side, and my wife and son on the other. Then we actually started to play but the kids wanted to team up so it was the Oldies vs. Young'uns. It was actually quite competitive for all the games we played. It was a lot of fun. My wife even said that she liked Pickle-Ball more than tennis because she had more time to judge the balls bounce so she could hit the ball better. The Young'uns took the first game, 11-7. But the Oldies took the second game 11-6. Our time was up, but we had to get in a tie-breaker, so we played a 5-point tie breaker which the Oldies took 5-3. It was such a fun time. I hope we get to do it again, soon!
In the end, I torched 1025kcals. It felt good to be active on court again. I haven't played Pickle-Ball in about a month or more. I also was VERY happy to to break one thousand kcals burned. It has been a while. Soon after, the soreness started to set in, so I foam rolled for a very long time.
9-10-17 (Sunday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening and Stretch + TCF.
9-10-17 (Sunday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Lower Back Strengthening and Stretch + TCF.
I am feeling better, but still, when standing up from a seated position, there is still a lot of pain for a time until the muscle calms down before I can stand up straight. So, I'm going to stick with the Novice Phase for one more week but add some specific back strengthening exercises.
Back to Timed sets, but I upped the intensity by adding two sets for a total of 6 sets per move instead of just 4 sets. Just as a reminder, the four moves are: Sumo Squats, Pointers, Mountain Climbers, and Swimmers. The two extra sets really raise the overall intensity of the routine. Since I tweaked my back pushing too hard last week on the Sumo Squats, I went for range of motion and perpetual motion. I established a steady pace. I started to feel a little pull in my back, but no pain. Legs were feeling it with those two extra sets. This time, I did the Pointers from Plank and not on all fours. Again, those two extra sets were brutal. For the whole routine, it was those two extra sets that set the tone. It made me want to push harder to get through.
For my Arm Shaper today, I went with Regular Arms. I was able to knock out 40 reps straight, but I did an extra 10 reps to get to 50 total.
I did some searching on the web for a good combination of strength moves and stretches for my lower back pain. I found two good routines, only about 10 minutes each, so I went through those videos. By the end of the strengthening video, I was feeling the soreness in my back, so I was ready for the stretch. It felt great!!
I ended with a good and balanced Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 527kcals. Almost double the first time I did Timed Sets. I felt very productive today. I decided that the treatment I was getting at the clinic wasn't going to help me anymore, so I will not go again. My wife has volunteered to massage my lower back once a day or more. Therapy got me far along enough so that I could be mobile. Now, I will take care of my own rehab.
I am feeling better, but still, when standing up from a seated position, there is still a lot of pain for a time until the muscle calms down before I can stand up straight. So, I'm going to stick with the Novice Phase for one more week but add some specific back strengthening exercises.
Back to Timed sets, but I upped the intensity by adding two sets for a total of 6 sets per move instead of just 4 sets. Just as a reminder, the four moves are: Sumo Squats, Pointers, Mountain Climbers, and Swimmers. The two extra sets really raise the overall intensity of the routine. Since I tweaked my back pushing too hard last week on the Sumo Squats, I went for range of motion and perpetual motion. I established a steady pace. I started to feel a little pull in my back, but no pain. Legs were feeling it with those two extra sets. This time, I did the Pointers from Plank and not on all fours. Again, those two extra sets were brutal. For the whole routine, it was those two extra sets that set the tone. It made me want to push harder to get through.
For my Arm Shaper today, I went with Regular Arms. I was able to knock out 40 reps straight, but I did an extra 10 reps to get to 50 total.
I did some searching on the web for a good combination of strength moves and stretches for my lower back pain. I found two good routines, only about 10 minutes each, so I went through those videos. By the end of the strengthening video, I was feeling the soreness in my back, so I was ready for the stretch. It felt great!!
I ended with a good and balanced Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 527kcals. Almost double the first time I did Timed Sets. I felt very productive today. I decided that the treatment I was getting at the clinic wasn't going to help me anymore, so I will not go again. My wife has volunteered to massage my lower back once a day or more. Therapy got me far along enough so that I could be mobile. Now, I will take care of my own rehab.
9-07-17 (Thursday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Ladders + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Arm Shaper + TCF. Foam Rolling.
9-07-17 (Thursday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Ladders + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Arm Shaper + TCF. Foam Rolling.
I upped the game a little more today. I added to the routine to make it a little longer and a little more intense. Ladders consists of two moves done in an increasing progression of reps. The program progression is 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2-1. But did it, 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. I didn't just go up and down, I went up, then down twice. It doesn't look like much on paper, but it is a lot tougher than it looks when you're actually doing it. The first two moves were: Back Lunges and Four Counts (Burpees). The program Burpees were done without a push-up. But I added the Push-Up for more intensity. The next pairing of moves was Pointers and Thumbs Up (Back Crunches). The Pointer move is when you are on all fours, then raise your right arm straight out in front of you, and your Left Leg goes straight back. Then switch. To intensify this move, instead of starting on all fours, I started in Plank Position, and raised my arms and legs from there. A lot tougher for sure. Thumbs Up is when you are on your stomach with your arms straight out from your sides like a cross, then you just raise your upper body off the ground and your legs off the ground. Hold it for two breaths, then lower it. Excellent for strengthening the lower back. So, I held the position a bit longer for more intensity. But I was careful not to push past and re-injure myself. This was a good and intense routine. The longest of the three, made longer with my modifications. Got a good sweat going and a nice little burn in the target muscles.
I wanted to start strengthening my core so I decided to do a little ab work. So of course I went to Tony. I did the reps slowly so as not to pull anything or hurt anything. Slow reps KILL!!!
For my Push-Ups, I went with Wide Arms and did 40 reps straight. Again, got a nice little pump.
I felt ready again to do my Flow series, so I went for it and everything was fine, so I did a full series. A few balance issues, but I was able to work them out by the end of the series.
Like yesterday, I foam rolled for almost two hours again after showering and everything.
In the end, I burned a nice little 610kcals. Almost double the burn of yesterday! I'm getting it back!
I upped the game a little more today. I added to the routine to make it a little longer and a little more intense. Ladders consists of two moves done in an increasing progression of reps. The program progression is 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2-1. But did it, 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. I didn't just go up and down, I went up, then down twice. It doesn't look like much on paper, but it is a lot tougher than it looks when you're actually doing it. The first two moves were: Back Lunges and Four Counts (Burpees). The program Burpees were done without a push-up. But I added the Push-Up for more intensity. The next pairing of moves was Pointers and Thumbs Up (Back Crunches). The Pointer move is when you are on all fours, then raise your right arm straight out in front of you, and your Left Leg goes straight back. Then switch. To intensify this move, instead of starting on all fours, I started in Plank Position, and raised my arms and legs from there. A lot tougher for sure. Thumbs Up is when you are on your stomach with your arms straight out from your sides like a cross, then you just raise your upper body off the ground and your legs off the ground. Hold it for two breaths, then lower it. Excellent for strengthening the lower back. So, I held the position a bit longer for more intensity. But I was careful not to push past and re-injure myself. This was a good and intense routine. The longest of the three, made longer with my modifications. Got a good sweat going and a nice little burn in the target muscles.
I wanted to start strengthening my core so I decided to do a little ab work. So of course I went to Tony. I did the reps slowly so as not to pull anything or hurt anything. Slow reps KILL!!!
For my Push-Ups, I went with Wide Arms and did 40 reps straight. Again, got a nice little pump.
I felt ready again to do my Flow series, so I went for it and everything was fine, so I did a full series. A few balance issues, but I was able to work them out by the end of the series.
Like yesterday, I foam rolled for almost two hours again after showering and everything.
In the end, I burned a nice little 610kcals. Almost double the burn of yesterday! I'm getting it back!
9-06-17 (Wednesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Circuit Training + Arm Shaper + Foam Rolling.
9-06-17 (Wednesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Circuit Training + Arm Shaper + Foam Rolling.
This is the second day of getting back into working out but I am feeling pretty good, but I chose today's routine on its time. In this program, there are three steps per phase: Timed Sets, Ladders, and Circuit training. Even though I was feeling good, I didn't want to over work my back, so I went with the next longest routine after Timed Sets, which was circuit training. But it is actual the third in the progression with regard to intensity. Circuit training in YAYOG is done by doing all four moves in four sets. The four moves are Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, Cross Mountain Climbers. Each move is done for 20 seconds and then there is a 10 second transition time to the next move. When all four moves are done, there is a 30 second break. We do a total of 4 sets. The moves weren't hard, but I started to really feel it at the end of the second set. The third set was tough and the sweat started to pour. The fourth set was very tough. I was feeling a pulling tension in my lower back, so, even though I wanted to, I decided to finish with that. I felt good, but still a little pain in my back.
I did Military Push-Ups today. I couldn't do straight 35 reps, I could only do 20 reps straight, so from there, I did 4 sets of 5 ending with a total of 40 reps. Arms were feeling a nice little pump.
Later on, after my shower and such, my back started to feel the soreness coming on, so I spent a good hour and a half to two hours foam rolling while watching some TV. Help a whole lot!
In the end of the first part, I burned a nice little 318kcals. That burn total is just a little more than yesterday, so I'm glad I'm upping my totals little by little.
This is the second day of getting back into working out but I am feeling pretty good, but I chose today's routine on its time. In this program, there are three steps per phase: Timed Sets, Ladders, and Circuit training. Even though I was feeling good, I didn't want to over work my back, so I went with the next longest routine after Timed Sets, which was circuit training. But it is actual the third in the progression with regard to intensity. Circuit training in YAYOG is done by doing all four moves in four sets. The four moves are Dynamic Squats, Military Presses (Pike Push-Ups), Fast Swimmers, Cross Mountain Climbers. Each move is done for 20 seconds and then there is a 10 second transition time to the next move. When all four moves are done, there is a 30 second break. We do a total of 4 sets. The moves weren't hard, but I started to really feel it at the end of the second set. The third set was tough and the sweat started to pour. The fourth set was very tough. I was feeling a pulling tension in my lower back, so, even though I wanted to, I decided to finish with that. I felt good, but still a little pain in my back.
I did Military Push-Ups today. I couldn't do straight 35 reps, I could only do 20 reps straight, so from there, I did 4 sets of 5 ending with a total of 40 reps. Arms were feeling a nice little pump.
Later on, after my shower and such, my back started to feel the soreness coming on, so I spent a good hour and a half to two hours foam rolling while watching some TV. Help a whole lot!
In the end of the first part, I burned a nice little 318kcals. That burn total is just a little more than yesterday, so I'm glad I'm upping my totals little by little.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
9-05-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Foam rolling + TCF.
9-05-17 (Tuesday) HY: YAYOG - Novice: Timed Sets + Arm Shaper + Foam rolling + TCF.
I took a week off because of a lower back injury that happened last Monday during a resistance workout I was doing after a few days off because of a weekend trip. I have been going to the clinic everyday for treatment since Tuesday. I have also been foam rolling everyday for 2+ hours everyday since the pain started on Monday. In the past, it has taken about a week or so to get back to the point where I can do a regular workout, but this time around, something is different. Each previous flare up of my back problem, there is a point in my activity that I could point to as being the motion that did my back in. This time, I don't know what I did. There wasn't an sudden on set of pain, it sort of just snuck up on me and just got worse in the hours following my initial noticing of the pain. Then, a week later, usually it was as I said, but this time, the muscle feels alright, but my lumbar spine still feel really gimpy. Before I started today's workout, I thought I had about 60% range of motion. But as I started the warm up, I realized that I had much less, more like only 40%. Before the injury, I could almost palm the floor in a forward bend, but today, I couldn't even get to 90 degrees before I started to feel the pain in my spine, not the muscles surrounding the spine, right in the center of the spine. The two compressed disks that are there seem to be getting worse, or another or more disks are compressing which is causing me to not be able to bend forward. So, I'm a little worried about this injury's prognosis. But I'll keep trying to strengthen my back like usual and see what happens. If I am unable to do a forward bend by the end of this month, I'll have to see a doctor, I suspect. Anyway, on to the workout.
Today was just a warm up workout to see what I can and can't do. I was considering doing PiYo today and then continue it until I am back to 100%, but I decided to go even less intense and start my recovery workouts with the program "You Are Your Own Gym" by Mark Lauren. I started with the first routine, the timed sets in the Novice stage. I was a little miffed at the thought of doing a novice routine, but I'm taking precautions, and if everything goes well, I told myself I could jump to the next level tomorrow. Well, during the warm up I realized how much worse my range of motion was and I was feeling the pain as my body moved forward. The routine consists of four moves done in a modified Tabata style. The time is 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off. The first move is a simple one, Sumo Squats with hands behind my head. Easy enough. The first to sets were fine. In the 20 seconds, I got 16 and 17 reps respectively. My pace was already relatively fast, but for the third set, I thought I would push it a bit and try to get 20 reps in 20 seconds. Things started off fine, then around the 12 second mark, I suddenly felt a pull in my lower back and a twinge of pain, so I stopped for a breath and finished out the last few seconds at a slower pace. I ended up with 18 reps. That scared me, so I decided not to "Push It" today and just take a relaxed pace with all the moves and all the sets. And with that, no more pain at all during the rest of the routine. The other three moves were Mountain Climbers, Swimmers, and Pointers (sort of like Bird Dog). The good thing I discovered today was that I don't have pain in the Plank position. I got a mild sweat on, but I could feel a little heat in my legs and back. In the cool down, I discovered that I don't have any pain twisting my back. The pain comes from bending forward.
I decided to continue the Arm Shaper, not with any extra routine, but just with the daily set of 35 push-ups. I upped the number to 35 from 20 about a week before my injury so I want to keep that number. I barely made it to 35. But I felt a little pump in my arms. Felt good!
I ended the workout with a shower and a shake for dinner. Then afterwards, I did the foam rolling. My back started to ache some, but the rolling felt good. I closed out the day with a short Flow series. A little sketchy on the balance, but got through it okay.
In the end, I toasted a modest 272kcals. Exactly like my regular warm ups. But I'm working to get back to my previous level and better. It is good to be back at it!
By the way, this is my calendar for August. Before the tennis tournament on the 20th, I was on a tear. It all kind of fell apart after that.
I took a week off because of a lower back injury that happened last Monday during a resistance workout I was doing after a few days off because of a weekend trip. I have been going to the clinic everyday for treatment since Tuesday. I have also been foam rolling everyday for 2+ hours everyday since the pain started on Monday. In the past, it has taken about a week or so to get back to the point where I can do a regular workout, but this time around, something is different. Each previous flare up of my back problem, there is a point in my activity that I could point to as being the motion that did my back in. This time, I don't know what I did. There wasn't an sudden on set of pain, it sort of just snuck up on me and just got worse in the hours following my initial noticing of the pain. Then, a week later, usually it was as I said, but this time, the muscle feels alright, but my lumbar spine still feel really gimpy. Before I started today's workout, I thought I had about 60% range of motion. But as I started the warm up, I realized that I had much less, more like only 40%. Before the injury, I could almost palm the floor in a forward bend, but today, I couldn't even get to 90 degrees before I started to feel the pain in my spine, not the muscles surrounding the spine, right in the center of the spine. The two compressed disks that are there seem to be getting worse, or another or more disks are compressing which is causing me to not be able to bend forward. So, I'm a little worried about this injury's prognosis. But I'll keep trying to strengthen my back like usual and see what happens. If I am unable to do a forward bend by the end of this month, I'll have to see a doctor, I suspect. Anyway, on to the workout.
Today was just a warm up workout to see what I can and can't do. I was considering doing PiYo today and then continue it until I am back to 100%, but I decided to go even less intense and start my recovery workouts with the program "You Are Your Own Gym" by Mark Lauren. I started with the first routine, the timed sets in the Novice stage. I was a little miffed at the thought of doing a novice routine, but I'm taking precautions, and if everything goes well, I told myself I could jump to the next level tomorrow. Well, during the warm up I realized how much worse my range of motion was and I was feeling the pain as my body moved forward. The routine consists of four moves done in a modified Tabata style. The time is 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off. The first move is a simple one, Sumo Squats with hands behind my head. Easy enough. The first to sets were fine. In the 20 seconds, I got 16 and 17 reps respectively. My pace was already relatively fast, but for the third set, I thought I would push it a bit and try to get 20 reps in 20 seconds. Things started off fine, then around the 12 second mark, I suddenly felt a pull in my lower back and a twinge of pain, so I stopped for a breath and finished out the last few seconds at a slower pace. I ended up with 18 reps. That scared me, so I decided not to "Push It" today and just take a relaxed pace with all the moves and all the sets. And with that, no more pain at all during the rest of the routine. The other three moves were Mountain Climbers, Swimmers, and Pointers (sort of like Bird Dog). The good thing I discovered today was that I don't have pain in the Plank position. I got a mild sweat on, but I could feel a little heat in my legs and back. In the cool down, I discovered that I don't have any pain twisting my back. The pain comes from bending forward.
I decided to continue the Arm Shaper, not with any extra routine, but just with the daily set of 35 push-ups. I upped the number to 35 from 20 about a week before my injury so I want to keep that number. I barely made it to 35. But I felt a little pump in my arms. Felt good!
I ended the workout with a shower and a shake for dinner. Then afterwards, I did the foam rolling. My back started to ache some, but the rolling felt good. I closed out the day with a short Flow series. A little sketchy on the balance, but got through it okay.
In the end, I toasted a modest 272kcals. Exactly like my regular warm ups. But I'm working to get back to my previous level and better. It is good to be back at it!
By the way, this is my calendar for August. Before the tennis tournament on the 20th, I was on a tear. It all kind of fell apart after that.
Friday, September 1, 2017
8-30-17 (Wednesday) Medicine Ball Tossing + Foam Rolling.
8-30-17 (Wednesday) Medicine Ball Tossing + Foam Rolling.
My lower back is still quite painful. I don't feel much change from yesterday. I went for a second round of treatment. This time, there was a noticeable difference following the treatment. For a time, I was able to stand and walk upright. But it didn't last too long. But the little improvement gave me hope. I spent most of the day on my back on the floor with my foam roller.
As I watched American Ninja Warrior, I felt the itch to do SOMETHING, so I decided to play with my 5kg Medicine Ball. Basically what I did was to, while lying on my foam roller, do a chest pass at the ceiling and catch the ball. I would also place the MB between my knees and do a kind of leg raise for my abs. I tried to do Bridges as well, but it was too painful and I could hardly get my butt off the ground. I also did one arm Floor Flies. Holding the ball in one hand with my arm stiff and straight towards the ceiling, lower the ball to one side, then raise it back up, then pass it to the other hand and the repeat. But the Chest passes were what really gave me a nice little pump in my arms. I did those moves over and over again during ANW. During the commercials, I would exclusively do chest passes. Non-stop for the whole commercial break. That is 150 seconds of pushing a 5kg Medicine Ball up to the ceiling and catching it again. The two times I actually counted the reps I got 77 tosses the first time, then 101 reps the second time. Good arm pump! I also got a pretty good sweat on. No HRM.
My lower back is still quite painful. I don't feel much change from yesterday. I went for a second round of treatment. This time, there was a noticeable difference following the treatment. For a time, I was able to stand and walk upright. But it didn't last too long. But the little improvement gave me hope. I spent most of the day on my back on the floor with my foam roller.
As I watched American Ninja Warrior, I felt the itch to do SOMETHING, so I decided to play with my 5kg Medicine Ball. Basically what I did was to, while lying on my foam roller, do a chest pass at the ceiling and catch the ball. I would also place the MB between my knees and do a kind of leg raise for my abs. I tried to do Bridges as well, but it was too painful and I could hardly get my butt off the ground. I also did one arm Floor Flies. Holding the ball in one hand with my arm stiff and straight towards the ceiling, lower the ball to one side, then raise it back up, then pass it to the other hand and the repeat. But the Chest passes were what really gave me a nice little pump in my arms. I did those moves over and over again during ANW. During the commercials, I would exclusively do chest passes. Non-stop for the whole commercial break. That is 150 seconds of pushing a 5kg Medicine Ball up to the ceiling and catching it again. The two times I actually counted the reps I got 77 tosses the first time, then 101 reps the second time. Good arm pump! I also got a pretty good sweat on. No HRM.
8-29-17 (Tuesday) No workout due to injury.
8-29-17 (Tuesday) No workout due to injury.
Unfortunately, I was incapacitated today because of the injury I sustained during my workout yesterday. As I mentioned in my Monday entry, right after the second round of Complex Upper, I felt a little tweak in my back. It wasn't that bad, so I continued and finished out the workout. The pain slowly became more and more pronounced until I couldn't stand straight up when standing up from a sitting position. I was able to get up from a lying position on my left side, but suffered great amounts of pain when trying to get up from the lying position on my right side.
I went to a Bone and Joint specialist for treatment in the morning, then spent most of the day lying down trying to stretch out my back. The pain is right in the center of my lower back, in the lumbar area.
I will be taking the rest of the week off to heal and recover.
Unfortunately, I was incapacitated today because of the injury I sustained during my workout yesterday. As I mentioned in my Monday entry, right after the second round of Complex Upper, I felt a little tweak in my back. It wasn't that bad, so I continued and finished out the workout. The pain slowly became more and more pronounced until I couldn't stand straight up when standing up from a sitting position. I was able to get up from a lying position on my left side, but suffered great amounts of pain when trying to get up from the lying position on my right side.
I went to a Bone and Joint specialist for treatment in the morning, then spent most of the day lying down trying to stretch out my back. The pain is right in the center of my lower back, in the lumbar area.
I will be taking the rest of the week off to heal and recover.
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