A New Direction for this BLOG!!

Welcome to "Pickleball in Kagoshima and Beyond"!  A new direction for this blog.

Last year, tragedy struck my family and I was unable to post anything much less function in the world for a very long time.  Combine that tragedy with what the whole world was experiencing with COVID-19, and it was just a terrible time for me and my family.  The grief, sadness, stress, and all those feelings had no outlet.  I had no way of dealing with them in a positive manner.  That is, except for Pickleball.  

Playing Pickleball and growing the sport of Pickleball in the city and prefecture of Kagoshima was the only thing outside of Christ, family, and work that kept me sane. I needed something to occupy my mind or I would fall into a dark place that was oftentimes very difficult to escape.  Pickleball literally saved my life.  Physically, I was in freefall during the lockdowns.  But somehow, the Pickleball community that I was able to start came together to find time and open locations to play and through it all, we never went more than 9 days without having a place to play Pickleball.

Because of all those different circumstances, I had ZERO motivation to do anything with resistance training or weight training.  So, it was pretty natural that I  transitioned from working out with weights and resistance training to mainly playing Pickleball and Tennis.  But one day, I hope to balance my sports training with weight training and do them both during each week.  Until then...

Let's talk Pickleball!

January 25, 2020 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Almost a month late!

The new year and the couple of months leading up to it were filled with a lot of bad experiences that I am not at liberty to talk about here.  But suffice it to say that I was very limited in my workout days and especially in December, I did literally no workouts at home.  The only thing I was able to do in the area of exercise was two Pickleball practices in December.

However, going through that experience of stopping all resistance workouts cold turkey had some adverse effects on my physical body and my mental state.  It was extremely weird to experience that.  After about two weeks of no resistance training, my body started to twitch.  Only a little at the beginning, but in the last week of December, it became more frequent.  I couldn't feel comfortable and I was always feeling restless.  So, the intention of not working out, I was to be of service and use my time to support and be with one who I thought needed my attention.  But I realized that in order for me to be my best and strongest to help others, I need to take care of myself.  So, from January 1, 2020, I started back with resistance workouts at home with BeachBody programs.

I started off with a great program, probably one of my all-time favorites, ChaLEAN Extreme.  On January 1, I started with Burn Circuit 1.  But my schedule was extremely erratic so I don't keep a regular calendar, rather I workout when I can.  I also stopped going to my tennis club from December, and I was planning to go back in January, but I wasn't able to.  I am tentatively planning to go back in February, but that seems unlikely.  Fingers crossed, though.

Anyway, I kept my record sheet digitally and saved them all so I could post them in one big shot.  So, here they are, all my record sheets for the ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit!

My progression week-by-week can be seen as the weight got heavier.  Compare week ones to week fours and you can see a little rise in weight.  I stress the word "little".

Today, I started the next Phase of ChaLEAN Extreme, which is the Push Circuit.  Heavier weights, with fewer reps.  For example, if you look at the Bicep Curl weight in week four of Burn Circuit 2.  On the final week, week four, I was curling 10kgs at 12-3 reps.  But for the Push Circuit, I started week one at 12 kgs at 8 reps.  I also added a small set of Pull-Ups for some added work and the desire to get my Pull-Up strength back up to where I can do at least 20 Pull-Ups in one set.

The big thing though was my move to push for spreading Pickleball in Kagoshima.  I'll write about that in my next post.

Until next post, I hope it is not another 3+ months.

October 1, As we enter the month of Halloween...

Here we go!

October is pretty much known for being the month of Halloween, and another "King of the Hill" Challenge is upon me and my Beachbody Coaches Group.  As a warm-up for the KotH Challenge, my coach sent out a "Spooky Routine" to all the members to do at least once before October started.  So I actually did this routine on Sunday, the 29th, but I held off on reporting it because it was so cool. Here is it:

I thought I could power through this in 25 minutes or so.  It ended up taking me close to an hour to get through the three rounds of this monster!  A couple adjustments and an additional move at the end brought it to that long.  Here's what I did:  I did all the timed moves as noted, but I ended up going overtime on most of them because I didn't want to stop at like 33 reps, so I kept going a few extra seconds to get to 35 or 40 reps on the fast moves like Mountain Climbers or Speed Skaters.  But on the bodyweight moves like Push-Ups, I did 20 instead of 15.  Instead of Walking Lunges (First Move), I did Alternating Jumping Lunges, 2 moves equaled 1 rep.  For the weighted moves, Curls and Rows, I did them as a Combo move instead of individually.  I used 10kgx2 for the first two rounds then went down to 7.5kgsx2 for the last round.  I was just fried.  Then, in the end, after the Plank move, I added 5 reps of Pull-Ups.  Just to start getting back into it.

Let me tell you, this little routine was a lot harder than I had initially thought.  But it was a good full-body workout.

I burned over 800kcals on this routine, so I was happy about that.  From October 1, today, I'm going to kick it into high gear and do something every day so I can keep my "Crown".

The US Trip and the resulting Workouts through September

     I left for the US on August 29.  It was a long trip but there was no outstanding incident.  Everything went smoothly and it was probably the fastest trip in the sense of security checks and immigration that I have ever experienced.  I didn't get asked more than one or two questions all the way through.  As for the trip, I was able to do all my scheduled work duties so that part was fine.  I wasn't even that effected by the jet lag that much which made me happy.

     I was hoping to play Pickleball every day in the evening, but in the end, I ended up only being able to play twice the whole trip.  The first time the weather was hot, but the second time, it was almost cold near the end of play.  I didn't bring my HRM but I only played doubles so I didn't really need it.  But it was still a good workout each time.  During the first day, I won all my matches.  The second was much the same, winning all my matches except one.  But the difference was that I played with a variety of players.  It was just fun all around both days.

     On the trip back, I got the news that a typhoon was heading to Tokyo and might cause some delay for my flight.  But eventually, it was reported that there were no delays of incoming flights to Narita.  Again, all the security checks were fast and problem-free.  The only little nervousness I had was waiting to see if the seat next to me would be open or not.  Fortunately, it was open, so I could stretch out a little more this time.   Since I got the ticket there was only one thing I was even remotely worried about, and that was the transit time between Narita and Haneda.  I knew I was going to cut it close, but if everything went as smoothly as it had been, I was going to make it.  But Mother Nature had other plans.  When I arrived at Narita (a few minutes earlier than scheduled),  I was hopeful that I would make it on time.  I went through customs, immigration, and security with no hitches got my bags and headed to the shipping counter.  On my way there, I noticed that the lines for the bus ticket counter were "snakingly" long.  That is when I got my first hint that something was not right.  I shipped my three large bags and head back to buy my bus ticket to Haneda.  Unfortunately, the line was even longer now.  I went out to the bus stop to see if I could just ride the bus and pay cash.  But there was a notice that stated that the bus service was not running.  Looking up and down the line, tons of people were just waiting and no buses or even taxis were running.  At this point, I still had over two hours to get to Haneda.  Well, it ended up that because of the typhoon, there was flooding all over the city and no transportation services were running at all in or around Narita, but planes were still arriving.  Totally, an estimated 17,000 were stranded at Narita that night.

That whole experience just totally screwed up my internal clock and even three weeks later, I'm still feeling the effects of the jet lag.

I didn't do any workout the first week back.  The next week, I just did a week of X3 Yoga.  Then I started doing some resistance last week along with the Yoga.  Below is my worksheet for the routine.

This routine offically completes my Hammer and Chisel run through.  From October I will start a normal workout schedule.  Here we go!

Ups and Downs during the past three months

Here I'm going to talk about some of the big ups and downs I experienced during the past three months.

1.  Pull-Up Strength.  I love doing Pull-Ups, but this is one move that if I stop doing then for an extended period of time, I will go down in strength... A LOT and QUICKLY.  During the two weeks of inactivity, I was literally doing no strength exercises.  Not because I couldn't, but I think I was mentally afraid of injuring myself again.  But as my ankle got stronger, my desire to workout again became stronger.  But after two weeks, I could barely do 8 reps.  But after a couple of day, I was able to get back to about 10 reps and that was one plateau.  About a month later, I got up to 15 reps and plateaued again.  Last week, I got back to 20 reps in a row.  I've done that three times since then.  I'm very happy.

2. Yoga.  My flexibility has gone to pot.  Again, like Pull-Ups, if I stop doing it, I lose it.  Two and a half years ago, I joined a tennis club.  Sundays and Wednesdays are now Tennis days.  Previously, at least one of those days was a yoga day, and one was either a stretch or a Foam Roller Day.  Now, I do nothing for flexibility.  And it shows.  When I did a Yoga routine after about two months, in the middle of July, I couldn't even get close to doing the Yoga Wrap.  My Shoulders were just too tight.  A couple of times since, I barely was able to touch my tippy tips of my fingers together, but no clasp or hook.  But I kept doing it and just today, August 28, for the first time in over... I don't know, a long time, I actually was able to hook my fingers for a quick moment on both sides.  So my flexibility is slowly coming back.  I am also making it a part of my routine to stretch my Hip Flexors and do Shoulder Opening Yoga stretches.

Another thing in Yoga is my Half-Moon pose and my Warrior 3 pose.   The first time I got back to a yoga routine in June, I was falling all over myself.  I couldn't hold the Half-Moon pose for longer than a few seconds.  I was very unstable and my legs would just poop out.  But since I started doing the Chisel and Hammer program, the routines also work the legs and I could feel my legs getting stronger.  After a few of the Chisel and Hammer routines, I did a yoga routine, and my Half-Moon was solid as a rock.  My Warrior 3 pose was also extremely stable.  I could even do it with my arms forward, not back.  I thought that playing tennis would be enough leg work for me since I did a lot of "getting low" to the ball, but it wasn't nearly enough.  Now, I know I have to do Leg-specific training moves to keep up my leg strength.

3. Over all Strength.  The old saying is right, "If you don't use it, you lose it."  I am proof of that.  Whenever I take any type of break from working out, strength workouts, for longer than a few days, I start to lose strength.  It has taken over three months, but I am back in the habit and on my way to reaching my fitness goals.

After a three month absence...

Well, after a three month absence from writing about my workouts, I'm back... sort of.  I'm about to leave on a business trip so I will be absent again for a few weeks before I get back to regular posts.  But I will give a brief overview of what I have been doing.

Probably the biggest reason for my absence is my ankle injury.  For about two weeks I didn't do anything, but then I started to do mostly upper body workouts.  But then I just got busy and ended up not writing.  That is something I regret because I have made a lot of good progress in different areas of my fitness.

Here is a basic workout week.

Sunday - Tennis
Monday - Off Day, or Stretching
Tuesday - Resistance Training
Wednesday - Tennis
Thursday - Yoga or Stretching
Friday - Resistance Training
Saturday - Off Day, or Stretching

That was how a basic week went.  Then, in July I got back into Pickle-Ball with a different friend who came back from the United States.  So, I was able to make Monday Pickle-Ball day.  But there were days when tennis got rained out so I would do a resistance workout instead.  On all resistance days, I would of course do Abs after the main routine, and the Tai Cheng Flow.  But the Tai Chen Flow sort of got phased out in and Shoulder Opening Yoga took its place.

As far as programs, when I started back after my injury, I went with Body Beast, trying several of the Build and Bulk routines in a circuit.  Then I started the Hammer and Chisel Program.  I have done all of the full routines except for one, Chisel Power, which is in the deluxe section.  I haven't do the shorter routines like the 15 minute Cardio or the 15 minute Leg routines.  But I did the 10 Minute Ab Chisel just the other day.  That is one that I will be doing again.  Most of the ab routines I did where from the ChaLEAN Extreme Program:  Ab Burner, Extreme Abs, Extreme Core Circuit, and I've Got Abs are the ones I used the most.  But I did to the Ab routine from Body Beast and P90X3 once or twice.

From now, I will post the worksheets I filled in for most of the routines I did the past three months.  The dates are all over the place, but you can get the gist of what I did.

May 30, Back to Back Upper Body days, hope I don't pay to much for this decision.

May 30, 2019, Thursday - Sagi's BOD Exclusive: Chest and Triceps + Core + Shoulder Care Modified + TCF.

I was planning to play tennis again today, but as a result of an unexpected turn of events, I ended up no being able to go and so I stayed home and went with another round of Sagi's Beachbody on Demand Exclusive workout.  This time, Chest and Triceps.  There is a Leg routine in there, but I'm staying away from heavy leg work for now to protect my knees and ankles.  I want to stay in shape for tennis and not risk straining any tendons or other muscle injuries.

May 29, New Upper Body workouts with Sagi on BOD.

May 29, 2019, Wednesday - Sagi's BOD Exclusive - Back and Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Abs + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

This is a new set of routines for me.  Since I started using the Beachbody on Demand, I have mostly done programs I already have.  With the exception of LIIFT4 and Shoulder Care Yoga, I have everything I've done.  This was another venture outside my known world.  These workouts are only on BOD so I was excited to give it a try.  As the video started, I was a little disappointed because I realized that Sagi was planning to use a machine in the routines.  So I was forced to rip up some sort of system to copy the movements.  I was actually pretty happy with the results of my ingenuity.  There was no worksheet so I didn't keep a written record of my weight and reps, but here are the moves.  Each set was done for three rounds with increasing weight and decreasing reps:

Super Set 1:
Close-Grip Chin-Ups: 10 - 10 - 10 (5-3-2)
Kneeling Lat Pull: 15 - 12- 10 Green Band

Single Set 2:
Squat with Cable Row: 15 - 12 - 10 Green Band
Plus Drop set, 8 Reps in four quick rounds.

Single Set 3:
One-Arm T-Bar Row: Right - 10 - 12 - 14.5
                               Left - 10 - 12 - 14.5
Drop set 6 reps and 2 rounds. 17 - 14.5

Force Set 4:
Military Press: 7 reps, 7 rounds - 12 kgs

Super Set Set 5:
Wide Grip Upright Row:  7.5 - 8.75 - 10
Lateral Raise with Cable: 10 Reps/Rnd, Black, and Blue bands

Set 6:
Posterior Delts Cable Fly: 15 - 12 - 10,
Black - Black/Blue - Black/Blue/Red

It was a cool workout with a bunch of fun new ways to use the resistance bands.  Something I plan on doing more of in the future.  Definitely a Body Beast style of routine.

I felt good, so I went back to Chalene's Extreme Abs.  I still had to tap out and was unable to finish the routine without breaks.  But I plan to work my way back to the point where I can do the whole routine without a break.  Crushed the Stretch and Flow.

In the end, I burned a good 723 kcals.  Pretty average burn for an upper body routine.

May 28, Trying out regular tennis.

May 28, 2019, Tuesday - Tennis.

Today, instead of playing on the wall, we got a court and did some real hitting over the net.  We were both looking forward to it because it has been almost two months for me since hitting on a court last, and several months for my wife.  The big "Fly in the Ointment" was the fact that my wife accidentally brought my spare racket instead of her own racket.  It wouldn't be such a problem, except for the fact that my racket it almost 60g heavier than my wife's racket.  And she felt the difference and it was causing her a little bit of pain just trying to swing the heavier racket.  So I had to try to keep my hits to her backhand because her two-handed backhand is much stronger than her one-handed forehand.  Much less risk of injury on her backhand side.

I couldn't hit out, but I could practice more footwork.  My wife made me run a lot, which really tested my ankle and knee.  Happy to report that my knee was virtually pain-free.  But there was a little stiffness in my ankle.  I think I'll need to use a stiffer supporter for my ankle for a while.  But I'm glad I got this practice in because I was forced to move laterally a lot.  I think I'm ready to go back to my tennis club from this coming Sunday and practice with them.  I'm excited.

In the end, I burned a good 804 kcals.  My legs were also still pretty sore from the Plyo Legs day the week before so my age is showing.  Normally the soreness would have been gone by day 3, but it is lingering.  Probably connected to the way I climb stairs with my bum knee.  It's a workout in itself.

May 26, 10-Minute Trainer routines

May 26, 2019, Sunday: P90X3 - Cold Start + 10-Minute Trainer: Total Body + Core Cardio + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

I'm not really sure why I went to 10-Minute Trainer today, but I think I wasn't feeling very motivated because of soreness and aches and pains in various locations of my body, you know, ankle, knee, back, shoulders, legs.  basically all over, but nothing too debilitating.

I needed to warm up so I went to a good one in Cold Start and then moved right to the routines.  The Total Body routine is good because I was able to do moves that helped me to stretch out even more.  A lot of quick squats and pop moves to get the lower body and then the curls and presses for the upper body.   It's a fun routine.  Then I moved quickly to the Core Cardio and this one got me.  I had to pause the video a few times to watch the move to learn it and to catch my breath.  I also had to rig a few different band configurations to enable me to get the full range of motion and not have the bands rub on nearby furniture.  It was a good focused core/ab routine, so I felt that was good for today.  I finished off with a good Shoulder Care stretch and then my regular Flow.  But I also started doing Triceps Dips in the shower so I started off with just 50 reps or so, but I'm going to increase that as the time goes on.

In the end, I burned a good 800 kcals.

May 24, Finishing off the week with some Wall Tennis +.

May 24, 2019, Friday - Wall Tennis + Walking + Pull-Ups.

I made it home a little early so I was able to get to the Wall early and claim the whole wall for my wife and I.  We were hitting for about 15 minutes when another guy came and was waiting.  Then the same guy from the previous times came and just walked in and asked if he could play on half.  My wife being the nice person she is said okay, and both guys came in and started hitting on the wall.  They asked for half and took two thirds.  I should say tried to take two thirds.  They just assumed that we would move, but at the wall, there are no reservations, it is first come first serve so we were totally within our rights to stay and keep the whole wall.  Anyway, we kept half and the other guy who came second was pushed to the edge by the guy who came third and set himself right in the middle of everyone.  He almost hit my wife a few times.  He was incredibly in the way, but he didn't care.  That led to a little non-verbal drama, but we focused on our tennis.

Today was a good day for tennis.  I was feeling some of that control coming back, and hitting at a good contact point.  Focusing on the ball and good form.  I was able to hit hard and maintain a good rally rhythm.  I didn't keep count of the strokes I hit, but it was a pretty good number.  No problems with my ankle or my knee.  I used the smaller supporter on my knee this time just to test it out and as I said, no problem and no pain.  After we finished, to cool down, we took a walk around the park.  I also stopped at a workout station to do a few sets of Pull-Ups to get in some of that work.  All in all, it was a good workout.

In the end, I burned a good 1107 kcals.  Glad to break passed a thousand for the first time since early in May.  And only the second time since the last time I went to regular tennis practice.

May 22, Another round of Wall Tennis.

May 22, 2019, Wednesday - Wall Tennis.

Today, I had no meetings after work, so I was able to get home a little earlier and go to the wall with my wife.  My legs were feeling very sore from yesterday.  I didn't feel too bad in the morning when I woke up, as the day wore on, the soreness hit.  Also, my right knee started to feel really painful.  Especially going up the stairs.  It hurt so much when I put weight on the higher leg to climb a step.  Walking straight on flat ground was painless, just stairs.  So I decided to try out the Wall again but I put on a knee supporter.

The same guy was there, so we had to again, share the wall with him.  The last time, it took about 30 minutes for me to get the feel back.  I felt like at the end I was hitting some good strokes and finding a good contact point.  My timing was also coming back.  However, today, I just didn't feel solid at all.  I didn't feel "uncomfortable" like I did last time in the beginning, but I just didn't "feel" it today.  My strokes felt mechanical and stiff.  But the one good thing is that I started to serve and my serves felt okay.  I did realize that when my toss was too much over my head and I didn't bend back for the kick serve, I was compensating with my shoulder and that that positioning was causing pain.  So, I learned that if I'm going to do a kick serve, I need to go for it and not task my shoulder to get the extension I need to generate the racket head speed and path I need.  Even though I didn't have the feeling today, I focused on form and made sure I got low But I was really pushing it today, and we stayed for a little longer today so the burn was a bit higher.

In the end, I burned a good 922 kcals.  Playing tennis didn't bring any knee pain or ankle pain, so I was happy about that.  I may not do Plyo Legs again for a while, or at least until I know my knee feels better.

May 21, Leg Day with Tony, a new routine for me.

May 21, 2019, Tuesday:  One-on-One with Tony Horton, Vol. 1, Workout 1 - Plyo Legs + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Abs + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

Today is Leg day.  I was going to do the Tony Horton leg routine I did before from Volume 3, but I found one in Volume 1.  It was Plyo, so I thought I would start it and if it was too hard on my ankle from all the jumping, I'd stop and then do the Volume 3 routine.  As it turns out, it wasn't that hard as far as high impact stuff like Insanity, it was almost the same as the P90X routine Plyometrics X.  A lot of the same moves, a few new moves, and a few amped up old moves.  So, I finished the routine.  But I was afraid I wouldn't near the middle of it.  It as tough and my legs were starting to cramp and give out.  Luckily, the last few moves were a little easier so that was motivation to finish it out.  There was no worksheet for this routine so I couldn't really keep a record of my rep count, but I pretty much kept up with Tony except for a couple of moves where I did 5-10 fewer reps.  It was a very tough routine.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

The biggest thing with this workout was the fact that there are a lot of moves where I have to bend over and touch the ground and stand back up.  By the middle of the workout, my lower back was just screaming out.  So much so that I had to stop and lay down on my rumble roller to relieve the tension.  I had to do that for a few minutes every few moves with bending over.  But I got through it.

My legs were fried, but I felt good enough to do Chalene's Extreme Abs.  I had to tap out a few times, but I did my best to breathe through the burn.

In the end, I burned a good 892 kcals.

May 19, I went for the second Tempo workout.

May 19, Sunday, 2019: Body Beast - Tempo: Back and Biceps + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

This is the second and final Tempo routine in Body Beast.  All the parameters are the same as the Chest and Triceps routine.  Again, the weights I used were a lot lighter than I usually lift, but it was still as brutal as all get out.  The one big difference was the sets were mostly single sets and after the three rounds, there was a Core/Cardio move, as you can see on the worksheet below.  I really felt the pump and burn today.  I suspect that I will feel the soreness for a few days afterward like I did with the Chest and Triceps routine.  Since I was feeling a little wasted already in my abs, I went back to the regular Power 90 Ab Ripper 200, the longer one, not the accelerated 100.  Still got the good burn even with the short breaks between moves.

In the end, I burned a good 728 kcals.  I'll do these ones again, I'm sure.

May 17, Tested my ankle on the wall.

May 17, 2019, Friday: Wall Tennis.

Today was the first time for me to go out and do some actually hitting a tennis ball in a month and a half.  My wife was actually the one that suggested this to me.  We didn't get a court, but just went to the hitting wall at the park and we hit against a wall.  I wanted to test my ankle to see if there was any pain with actual tennis movement.  I started out at the service line and just practiced my stance and was looking for my contact point.  I felt really uncomfortable.  I couldn't seem to find the correct contact point and it was a mess.  I felt like I was just flailing around.  I was misjudging the distance to the ball a lot and was either reaching out for the ball or jamming myself.  After about 15 minutes or so, I started to get the feel and timing back.  After half an hour, I started to move back, and I began to hit the ball a little harder.  My wife also hit so we traded off.  There was another guy there on the other half of the wall so we had to share.  We actually lost a ball over the fence but found two more so we gained a ball.

I was happy to get back to tennis and almost on a court.  Since we were on only half a court, I couldn't really do a lot of lateral movement with my footwork to test my ankle like I wanted, but maybe that was a good thing.  I need to just take it slow.

In the end, I burned a good 788kcal.  I was surprised that I burned that many calories just hitting with the wall.

May 16, Time Crunch, so a quick The Challenge.

May 16, 2019, Thursday: P90X3 - X3: The Challenge + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 Speedy.

I got home a little later than I was expecting so I had to rush my routine and try and cut out or skip the periods where Tony did a lot of talking.   Just a quick shake out and stretch/ballistic stretch and I was on to the next move.  If I got too far ahead, I would jump the video ahead to catch up to my move.  When I was finished, I was only about four minutes faster than the regular straight play.  I did the Burnout with Tony and the team.  My numbers were 20/7.

Due to my time crunch, I went to my shortest ab routine, Power 90's Ab Ripper 100.  But I rushed through with no breaks or waiting between moves to watch Tony's demonstrations, and ended up doing the Ab Ripper 200 in the Ab Ripper 100's time.   My numbers were 20/7.

In the end, I burned a good 455kcals.

May 15, Leg day on the slides.

May 15, 2019, Wednesday: PiYo - Strong Legs + P90 - Ab Ripper B + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

I was really feeling the soreness today, so I was happy to work on the lower body.  I was a little scared of using the slides today because of the difficulties I had last time, but I stuck with it.  And, I  must say, I think I did better than last time.  I didn't lose my balance as often, and I got a little further into the routine before tapping out.  But the bridge work at the end of the routine was still hideous.  In that position, I just have virtually no range of motion.  I was barely able to open my legs more than 10 inches or so at the knees.  But I was happy that I could still hold my bridge higher.

I still had to tap out near the middle of Ab Ripper B last time, so I went with it again.  I still had to tap out pretty early.  My abs and core must still be incredibly weak.

In the end, I burned a good 602kcals.

May 14, Trying the new TEMPO routine from Body Beast.

May 14, 2019, Tuesday: Body Beast - Tempo: Chest & Triceps + P90 - Ab Ripper B + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

I've always wanted to try this pair of routines, but buying them on disk was way too expensive.  But now, with Beachbody on Demand, I am able to give them a go.  I had seen reviews for it on YouTube but really wanted to try it myself.  So here it goes.  The Tempo for the three sets was 6-6, then 6-3, then finally 3-3.  The numbers denote a "count" pace for each direction of the weight.  Basically, the longer number is for the eccentric half of the rep.  All the reviews said that the Tempo routines were brutal, and now, after having tried them, I'd have to say that I agree.  The first set starts of pretty easy because of the light weight, but by the middle of the set, my muscles were feeling it.  The brilliant thing is that since I'm going so slow, I was able to focus on form and activating the target muscles.  In today's case, Chest and Triceps.  The one thing I was wondering about was the fact that one difference I saw when compared to other Tempo routines I've seen on the internet was the Static hold.  Some trainers add a static hold at the bottom and top of each half rep.  Not too long, but something like a beat or two.  I assume that is for preventing momentum from helping move the weight.  But Segi emphasizes a continuous movement.  I got a good pump and burn from this one.  More burn, though.  And I was exhausted at the end.  So exhausted that I went with the shortest ab routine I have.  I got a great burn from this one as well.  Below is my worksheet for the Tempo routine.

In the end, I burned a good 646kcals.

May 10, Week ending Recovery Plus.

May 10, 2019, Friday:  X2 - Mobility & Recovery + Push-Ups and Pull-Ups.

I actually had some time today, but I was feeling a bit run down, so I decided to stick with the schedule and do recovery.  In my younger days, with this much time on a Friday, I probably would have tried to do another resistance routine to finish out the week, but not anymore.  Stuck with the recovery.

I'm a bit tighter than I used to be so the stretching part was disappointing.  Less range of motion in my stretches.  I a lot of hot spots in my calves that wouldn't release, so I just moved on.  Not many hot spots in my hamstrings, though.  But overall, the foam rolling felt good.

I had some extra time and motivation, so I did three sets of 30 reps of Push-Ups on my Push-Up Stands.  The stands increased my range of motion so I wasn't able to get to 50 reps in one set.  But that is my goal for Push-Ups on the stands.  Then I knocked out 20 reps of Pull-Ups, then a set of 10 reps.  This is the first time for me in a LONG time to do 20 reps in a row with no breaks.  I was very happy.  I wanted to get to at least 15 reps in my second set, but my wife made me laugh so I couldn't get it.

In the end, I burned a nice 371 kcals.  Just an easy workout with some burn at the end.

May 8, multi-10-Minute Trainer routines

May 8, 2019, Wednesday: 10-Minute Trainer - Upper Body + One-on-One Upper + Abs + Shoulder Care Yoga + TCF.

I was feeling for something short today.  I was just feeling off and not really balanced and I didn't want to overdo something and then get injured again.  So instead of a routine that used dumbbells, I went with a band routine(s).  10-Minute Trainer is the only program I could think of that used bands in a consistent manner through a full routine.  I did two routines, Upper Body, and One-on-One Upper.  Both only 10 minutes, but they actually took me a little longer to get through because I wanted to hit even rep counts when I did alternating sides on certain moves.  So, even though it was a 10-minute routine, it actually took me a little over 15 minutes for each one.  I have a new respect for bands.  I really got a good burn from the bands.  I also got a pretty good pump as well.    But the burn was definitely there.  There were some moves that also worked the core along with the upper body.

I also did 10-minute Abs.  It has been a while since I did that routine, and before, if memory serves, I was able to get through it without more than a couple tap outs at most.  But this time, I was tapping out all over the place.  Especially when I was doing moves from the Plank position.  Definitely felt the burn.  The rest of the workout felt as it should.

In the end, I burned a good 687 kcals.  One thing, during the band work, I actually broke one of the handles of my bands, so I had to switch to another set that was a little weaker, but it ended up being a good switch because I was fried.