Monday, May 28, 2018

5-18-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball.

5-18-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball.

PICKLE-BALL DAY!!!

I really wanted to make it a "Three-Sweep", but right from the warm-up, it didn't feel like it did last week.  Today, I just didn't feel "ON" like I did last week.  My strokes weren't going in like they were last week.  I was missing the lines and my serves on the "odd" side were missing and missing badly.  I just didn't feel like anything was "clicking" today.  But that being said, I still took three out of four games.  But the last three game scores were what was really odd.  In the first game, I had a big lead then stopped scoring points while John slowly but surely chipped away at my lead.  But I finally broke through and closed out the game. 15-11.  The second game, I fell behind almost right out of the box.  The score was 5-13, then I mounted an incredible comeback to take the game 15-13.  In the third game, I was feeling pretty confident.  I jumped out to a 7-0 lead, then I lost it and fell behind, 7-10, then I came back for a 13-10 lead, then I lost it and ended up losing that game, 13-15.  In the final game, we were pretty close the whole game. Neither one of us got more than a 3 point lead and the lead changed hands several times.  We were stuck at 12-12 for a few exchanges, then finally, John nudged ahead, 12-13.  Then a few exchanges later, I closed out the game by a score of 15-13.  What was odd is that it seemed like 13 was the cursed number for today's match.  In the last three games, the one to get to 13 points first ended up losing the game. No matter how big the lead was.  Weird and interesting at the same time.  I didn't get my "Three-Sweep", but I hope that John is a little encouraged by the win.  If I sweep every time, playing might get a bit tedious.  But it was a good hard-fought match.

In the end, I burned 1109  kcal.  It was a good session.  I'm going to have to start off faster and maintain my level throughout these games.

5-17-18 (Thursday) HY: Body Beast - Build: Back and Bis + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.

5-17-18 (Thursday) HY: Body Beast - Build: Back and Bis + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.

Today was another morning workout.  But since it was Back and Bis, I was a little worried about the time, but everything worked out fine.  Again, I used the same worksheet and kept this weeks' color blue.

I raised some of my weight numbers, but there were still a lot of the same numbers as last week there.  But like with Chest and Tris, I wanted to push the Drop Sets and the final sets.  I kept the Giant Set numbers pretty much the same.  I was at my limit the last time, so I wanted to stick with those weights.  I did a little better on the Pull-Ups.  I was able to keep 10 reps for the first two sets, but then I burned out on the last one.  As for the biceps, I could only maintain my levels of weights for most of the moves instead of going up.  They got a pretty good burn at that.  Chin-Ups were terrible! One off, one off, two off.  Arms were like rubber.



In the end, I burned 813 kcals.  Some of those heavier weights really pushed me, like on the rows.

5-16-18 (Wednesday) Tennis.

5-16-18 (Wednesday) Tennis.

Today, was almost perfect conditions for playing outside.  On top of that, the practice was at the close courts today so I was happy for the short drive to the courts.  Just a couple of glitches: 1. the humidity, and 2. court lighting on one court.  The humidity was quite palpable and when there is a lot of humidity, there are a lot of bugs swarming around the lights.  Which means that there are a lot of bugs flying around us.  All of us were constantly flailing our arms and rackets around to keep the bugs away.   But at the beginning of the practice, I was able to warm up with a good consistent member and we were banging it out.  It was really fun.  Even though the humidity was high, the temperature was cool.  So bugs notwithstanding, it was good conditions.  We had two courts, but for some reason, one of the courts' lights were noticeably dimmer than the other.  That made it all the more difficult to see the ball when on that court.  But the positive takeaway is that it forced us to focus a lot harder than if the lights were brighter.  Overall, it was a good session.

In the end, I burned only 1409 kcals.  I think the temps are having an influence on the calorie burn.

5-15-18 (Tuesday) HY: Body Beast - Build: Chest and Tris + TCF.

5-15-18 (Tuesday) HY: Body Beast - Build: Chest and Tris + TCF.

Today, I begin the second round of the Build Phase of Body Beast.  I really didn't want to print out another worksheet, so I added the information to the old worksheet and then color-coded today's numbers in blue.  As you can see, on a lot of the moves, I didn't go up in weight, and when I did go up, it was only a max of 2.5kgs. and a minimum of 1kg.  I really wanted to go up in weight all around, but I was feeling a little off today, so I held back from doing too much.  I especially felt it on the first move.  My left forearm was fatiguing really quickly and became rather strained at the end of the first set.  But I did push it on the Drop Sets, and the final sets.  The biggest jump overall was in the Giant Set.  All the weight numbers went up, but the Push-Up reps stayed the same.  I was just burned out by the time I got to the Decline Push-Ups.  Triceps were feeling it on a few of the Chest moves.  For example, the Close Grip press, the first move in the Giant Set, as I was lowering the dumbbells for a more eccentric workout, my triceps were working hard.  So by the time I got to the Triceps section of the routine, they were already feeling it.  Again, I didn't feel the strength to do the Triceps Push-Ups on my toes, so I started off on my knees.  And that was brutal enough.  I got a good pump and burn from this routine.



In the end, I burned 691 kcals.  It was a good session, and I was feeling a little more like myself at the end.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

5-13-18 (Sunday) Tennis.

5-13-18 (Sunday) Tennis.

Today's tennis was supposed to be at the outdoor park, but since it was raining, we had to move it to the indoor facility.  Unfortunately, there was only one court available, so for three hours, 12 people were rotating on the drills.  Having only one court means that there was a little more waiting time between turns on the drill court, so my calorie burn was quite a bit lower than usual Sunday tennis sessions.  My strokes and volleys felt good.  My serve was okay, but there was one turn I had that had me serving to one of the best members if not THE best and arguably the most stable member of the club.  I was able to blow two booming serves past him and the people watching were awed.  It always feels great when I can take points from the elite members.

In the end, I burned only 1885 kcals.  I usually burn closer to 2500 kcals, but I feel fortunate to be able to play on a rainy day.

5-11-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball.

5-11-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball.

Today was the day that I look forward to all week.  I love playing tennis, but Pickle-Ball is game day, not just practice and drills.  We played four games, and to make a long story short, for the second time in a row, I was able to sweep all the games.  Today, though, during the warm-up, I was feeling pretty locked in with my strokes and with my footwork.  I started off hot and jumped to a big lead, but I seemed to gas out a bit trying to do some different drop shots and what not.  I ended up losing the big lead but finally closed it out, 15-11.  In the second game, I decided to just go all out and smash everything I could the paddle on.  I didn't let up, peddle to the metal type of stuff.  I took the game 15-5.  The next game, I just kept it going, but I decided to change my strategy a bit and go for the severe angles.  It was great because everything was just going in.  Once I got the lead, I just didn't give it up, 15-7.  In the final game, I think I was a bit gassed out and I was getting a bit sloppy.  I wanted to really finish with a bang though, so I pushed it and went all out.  Incredible shots from both ends of the court so it was knock-down-drag-out FUN!!!

In the end, I burned a good 828 kcals.  Got to love it!

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

5-10-18 (Thursday) Body Beast - Build: Shoulders

5-10-18 (Thursday) Body Beast - Build: Shoulders

I tried something different today and did my workout in the morning.  On top of that, I did my workout before having breakfast.  I've done that only a couple of times before, but for some reason, I decided to try it today.  I actually wasn't that hungry and I lasted the whole workout without feeling hungry, or faint, or even a loss of energy.  It just pumped through the routine.  Luckily, though, Build: Shoulders is a shorter workout with fewer rounds so that was good. 

The one worry I had about this routine is that I have had shoulder pain for the past several weeks.  Especially on my left shoulder.  One morning I woke up and the pain was just there.  It was like I slept on it wrong or something, and I've had pain in my shoulder ever since.  It isn't a chronic pain, but when I move my shoulder a certain way, it felt like I was pinching a nerve or something.  For that reason, I didn't want to go too heavy, so, as you can see, the weights I chose weren't as heavy as usual.  But the high rep sets gave me a good burn.  But for the Shrug moves, I went heavy.  I enjoyed working out in the morning, and I think I'll do it again next Thursday. 



In the end, I burned a very small 346 kcals.  One body part in relative isolation and for just over 45 minutes, I knew I couldn't expect too much, but this was a lot lower than I usually burn.

5-09-18 (Wednesday) Tennis.

5-09-18 (Wednesday) Tennis.

Today, tennis was at the indoor facility.  The menu was the regular menu.  I started off really on fire, stroking the ball very well, but as the evening progressed, I started to lose it.  Since we have a wide range of player ranges, when I played with the less experienced members, I had to ease up on my strokes.  And as I did that, I lost my edge.  So I will have to push it harder the next time to keep that edge.

In the end, I burned 1543 kcals.  It was a good night, and a got a good sweat on.

5-08-18 (Tuesday) Body Beast - Build: Back and Biceps.

5-08-18 (Tuesday) Body Beast - Build: Back and Biceps.

This is the one routine in the Build Phase that I know brings the pain.  In the past, I had to do what "John" on Segi's team did, and that was to use the Pull-Up assist.  But today, I didn't use it, and I got through it, on all the variations.  In the later sets, I did have to come off the bar to shake out my arms and back, but I did all the reps.  I was actually pretty happy with that.  I didn't go too heavy, but I think the weights I chose today were exactly what I needed to use.  I had to push hard on the heavy sets for sure.  I didn't have any problems with any move, but I was feeling the burn on all of them.  If I were nit-picking, I guess I did have a little problem with 1,1,2 Hammer Curls.  I was using pretty light weights, but I was having a tough time keeping grip with my left hand in the later sets, and especially the heavy sets.  The dumbbell kept wedging out of my full grip.  Another big Left/Right discrepancy. 



In the end, I burned 802 kcals.  It was a good, but brutal workout.  I hope I don't get too sore tomorrow.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

5-06-18 (Sunday) Tennis.

5-06-18 (Sunday) Tennis.

When I woke up on Friday morning my triceps were on fire.  What made it worse is that I woke up at 5 am because we had to drive close to 300km to another prefecture because my daughter was playing Field Hockey in a tournament there.  So, it was almost 4 hours there, then after the games, close to 4 hours back home for a day trip.  We were able to catch the last half of the first game and then the whole second game.  This was day-2 of the tournament.  My daughter had a good warm-up day yesterday, scoring 2 goals in two games.  Today, she went on a tear.  She totally dismantled the opposing team in the first game, tagging them for FOUR GOALS!!!  Then she scored 1 goal in the second game.  The opponent was their old nemesis that usually always beats them, and who is from the same prefecture.  But on this day, my daughter's team came out on top.  It was great to see my daughter actually do some scoring.  This is my first time to see it in an official game.  We did some sightseeing around the area and then headed home.  It was a good day, but I was exhausted.  Thankful for my Saturday rest day.  It may be my last one for a while if I want more than two resistance days.

I was still sore, especially my triceps on Saturday, and Sunday morning.  But I figured that if I played tennis, my muscles would loosen up with the movement.  Warming up was a bit painful, but I was right, getting the blood pumping eventually loosened me up, along with my Triceps.  The menu for the day was as usual, Stroke and Volley, then Serve and Return.  Then, we did set drills on one court while the other court ran matches.  The drills were good, but I think I need more match experience so I was looking forward to my turn playing a match.  In my first match, I was paired with a 70ish woman.  But she was a former Prefecture #1 player, so she is actually really good.  We played another really good player and someone close to my level.  To start the match, we went down 1-3, but miraculously came back to win three straight games to take the match.  I was really happy to notch the win.  Then it was back to drills while another match went on.  Once finished, I went back to play another match,  I had another older partner, probably in his early to mid-60's, but also pretty good.  But we were playing against the same intermediate guy from my first match, and one of the best members in the club.  To start, there were three breaks of serve and one hold, by the good guy, so we were down 1-3.  I was able to hold serve as well as the opponent, so it became 2-4.  Then the my partner had to leave, so he switched out with a guy in his 30's but not as good.  Anyway, we broke serve of the intermediate guy to get back on serve, and we had a chance to get back to a 4-4 tie, but my partner was also broken so we were down 3-5, with the best guy to serve next.  We had to break or the match was over.  And miracle of miracle, we were able to break to get to 4-5.  It was on my racket.  We would either tie with a hold or lose with a break.  My serve in the last game wasn't very good, so I was a little nervous, but I was able to keep it together and get the hold.  The match had to end in a 5-5 tie because of time.  But it was a great match.  I need more match experience to check my nerves.

In the end, I burned 2284 kcals.  It was a good day to burn it off.

Monday, May 7, 2018

5-03-18 (Thursday) HY: Body Beast - Chest and Tris + Fix Elbow Pain Protocol.

5-03-18 (Thursday) HY: Body Beast - Chest and Tris + Fix Elbow Pain Protocol.

Today is the beginning of a modified Body Beast Program.  The way I am modifying it is by doing the resistance routines when I don't have either Tennis or Pickle-Ball.  So, I may end up doing only two resistance workouts a week because I have tennis on Sunday and Wednesday, then Pickle-Ball on Friday.  I'm at work all day on Monday, so the resistance days will be Tuesday and Thursday.  Since Monday is sort of a forced rest day, I may start working out on Saturday nights, but we'll see how it goes.  But I think I will stay on the Build Phase for at least two months so I can cycle through all the routines at least 3-4 times, then I'll move onto the next phase.

Today was Chest and Tris.  I couldn't find my last worksheet, so I just went from feel.  I started off with weights a little lighter than what Segi was using, but didn't jump up in as large increments as Segi was doing.  Segi was jumping up, like 10 lbs. , but I was only jumping around 2-5 lbs.  I was pretty fried at the end of the Chest section, but I burned out really quickly on the Tris section.  So much so that I couldn't even do the Triceps Push-Ups on my toes.  All the sets I had to do on my knees.  It has been a while since I burned out my Tris like that.  I know I'm going to be sore for a few days from now.  But I really enjoyed this workout because I could really feel the pump and burn.  The constant pump was a good sensation.  I've missed the PUMP!




In the end, I burned 585 Kcals.  Not bad for the first go around.  Back to basics with Segi.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Catch-Up Workout Reports for the month of April

The Month of April to the first few workouts of May.  Okay, it happened, I got lax with my posting after coming back from the USA, and I never got back into it on a regular basis.  But since I am starting a new round of Body Beast, I wanted to catch up on all the workouts I didn't post over the last month.  So here is a list of all the workouts I did in the time period.  A few points, though, First of all, there were days that are not listed here, mainly Saturdays (with the exception of the 28th) and Mondays.  In April, I did the 6x Challenges EVERYDAY.  On the days that I didn't not list, I just simply didn't wear a HRM so not calorie total to report.  On the days that I did report, I WAS wearing an HRM so I had a calorie count to report.  So, just as a reminder, here are the Six Challenges I did everyday from April 1 to April 30.  There are only 5 visible challenges, but for the lower Push-Up challenge, I also did a 5-Grip Pull-Up Challenge.  So for every variation of Push-Up, I had a different
Pull-Up grip.  The five grips were Wide, Standard, Close, Chin-Up, and Parallel grip.




4-06-18 (Friday) 6x Challenges
4-08-18 (Sunday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-10-18 (Tuesday) P90X3 - Total Synergistics + 6x Challenges
               For some reason, I didn't write down what I did, but I basically used the same weights as did the last time I did this routine.  There may have been a few differences in weights, but nothing more that 1.25kgs to 2.5kgs. at the most.

4-11-18 (Wednesday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-12-18 (Thursday) 6-Pack Shortcuts - Upper Body + 6x Challenges
4-13-18 (Friday) Piyo - Buns + 6x Challenges
4-15-18 (Sunday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-17-18 (Tuesday) Insane Arm Building + 6x Challenges
4-18-18 (Wednesday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-19-18 (Thursday) P90X3 - Incinerator + 6x Challenges
              On this workout, I wrote down the information on the worksheet.  Everything was basically the same as before, but one exception.  I lowered the weight on one move, Move 15. Hail to the Chief. My Triceps were just fried and I had to go lighter.

4-20-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball + 6x Challenges
4-22-18 (Sunday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-24-18 (Tuesday) P90X3 - Eccentric Upper + 6x Challenges
              On this routine, I went down 2.5kgs on Move 3. Military Press but went up 2kgs on the last move, Move 19. Kneeling Preacher Curl.  Outside of that, everything was the same.  I know there were things I was going to report about this particular routine, but it is too long after now, and I really don't remember specific details about the routine.  This is why I want to get back into writing about my workouts, so I don't forget the details.

4-25-18 (Wednesday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-26-18 (Thursday) 6x Challenges
4-27-18 (Friday) Pickle-Ball + 6x Challenges
4-28-18 (Saturday) Tennis + 6x Challenges
4-29-18 (Sunday) Tennis Tournament + 6x Challenges
              The tournament was not bad.  My son and I teamed up again for the Men's Doubles.  In league play, we won our first two matches, but lost the third.  But that got us into the main draw.  We had to play catch-up in our first round match and we almost had it, but it just didn't come together.  We were both really disappointed because it was a pair that we really should have beaten.  In our last tournament, we were blown out of the water in the first round of the main draw, which, incidentally was our first time to make it into the main draw.  This time we won four games, so we are improving.  Next time, I hope to get a win in the first round.

Here are the totals for the month of April as I keep them straight from my HRM.



5-01-18 (Tuesday) Golf
              To end April with a tennis tournament was nice.  I didn't do anything on Monday the 30th because I was just too tired to do much of anything.  But I did finish off my 6x Challenges to keep my perfect challenge record for the 30 days.  May started off with Golf.  I was actually pretty satisfied with my play.  When I consider the fact that it has been almost a year since I played last, and it was raining during the last 9 holes, yes, satisfied.  Playing in the raid is tough, but it doesn't really seem like it would be.  But it is.  On the Final day of April, I wanted to do something big, but I was exhausted, so I could only manage doing the 6x Challenges.  But the final rep counts were huge!  So it took a while to get through everything, but I did it!  Then, after the golf, I wanted to start Body Beast on May 2, but again, I was just too exhausted and I took my tennis day off.  Very rare occurrence, for me to skip tennis.

In the end, after a day of gold, I burned 1894kcals.  I was hoping for a lot more, but it was a bit chilly so I kept my movement to a minimum.  But it was a fun day.  I don't know when my next chance to play will be, but I hope it is soon.

Now that the catch-up is done, I hope to start May with a good clean slate, and be regular with my workout reports.  I don't like playing catch up.