1-08-18 (Monday) HY: Ab EMS + ChaLEAN Extreme - Push Circuit 1 + TCF.

1-08-18 (Monday) HY: Ab EMS + ChaLEAN Extreme - Push Circuit 1 + TCF.

Normally, today would be Pickle-Ball day, but today is a National Holiday so I got to stay home.  I had a pretty productive morning once I got up at close to 10am.  Had a late breakfast and then did some video editing which allowed me to start clearing my hard disk on my recorder.  I want to get it done by the end of this month.  Then we had some family time... sort of, without my son, because he got up close to noon, then was invited out again, so he left.  So, it was me and my girls at home.  It was during this time that I got in my Ab EMS, and it felt stingingly good.

I finally got to my workout at about 6 pm and I knew it was going to be resistance.  I was debating whether or not to do one more round of the Burn Phase, or go into the Push Phase.  As you can see, I decided to go on to the Push Phase.  The main reason for that is that as I was looking through my worksheets, the Body Beast sheets caught my eye and I kind of got the spark to do that program again, so I'm going to finish just one round of the Push Phase, possibly two, then one round of the Lean Phase, then get into Body Beast.  That is the plan for now.  But anyway, today was Push Circuit 1, and I was ready to go a little heavier than before.  I added the usual 4 extra sets of Pull-Ups so that extended the time a little longer, especially at the end, because my recovery times were getting a little longer, by about a minutes or so.  As you can see from the worksheet below, I added the Horn (parallel grip), Towel Pull-Ups, Chin-Ups, and 5 Grips (Wide, Normal, Chin-Up, Close Grip, Parallel Grip).  The first move, Horn, went pretty well,  I was happy to get 15 reps in, but afterwards, I stayed in the Dead Hang for a while just to get some Hang time in.  The first Tri-set of moves was good.  I was feeling strong and the initial weights were a little heavier than before, except for the Triceps Extensions.  I was going to go up to 8.75kgs, but when I picked them up, I knew I wouldn't be able to go with a full range of motion, so I went back down to 7.5kgs.  I got a good pump and burn, and I was able to do a static hold at the top to activate my Tris even more.  Burner of a move!  Towel Pull-Ups are really tough on my fingers.  After doing them, my fingers always feel like they are a little off center, and it takes a while to feel centered again.  Nothing different today.  I kept trying to shake them out, but the feeling was still just off.  In the second Tri-set, I only went up on the Biceps move.  And that brought me to failure.  There is no way I could have pumped out one more rep with 10kgs.  I needed a little bit of a swing to get that last rep up.  Then the Extreme Sets start with this move.  Good science behind it.  I felt really pumped up after it.  The Single Leg Squat was BRUTAL!!!  Leg work is usually better for me than upper body stuff, but today, the leg work was... BRUTAL!!! No other word describes it better.  Almost feeling that cramping coming on at the end of each set and during the Extreme Sets.  Chin-Ups were beginning to show my fatigue.  I didn't come off the bar between reps or for rest time, but I did hang a little more between reps.  My right forearm was feeling the pain.  Happy to get 12 reps.  The third and final Tri-Set brought the pain on all the moves.  The Hammer Curls... OUCH!!! I had to do a little back arch to get the last two reps up.  And then the Extreme Set, I needed to cheat a bit to get the last two reps up from mid way.  I was feeling the burn!  Heel Squats would be no problem is done faster, but these slow reps a killers.  Enough said.  I almost didn't make the last rep up.  The whole routine went Biceps, Legs, Triceps, so I have no idea why Chalene does regular push-ups as the last move.  So, not to cheat out my triceps, I went with Diamond Push-Ups.  My triceps were on FIRE!!!  But the Extreme Set was not as intense with the little break.  3 reps were okay, but I still felt the burn come.  The final set of Pull-Ups were on 5 grips.  Before, I would just do one rep then switch grips, today, I did 5 reps then switched.  Wide and Regular were fine. Chin-Ups, I had to hang a bit after the 3rd and 4th to get the 5th in.  On Close Grip, I came off the bar after 3 reps, shook my arms out, then knocked out the last 2.  For Parallel Grip, I stayed on the bar the whole time, but had to hang for a breath after reps 2, 3 and 4.  I needed a kip to get up for the final rep.  But I got all 25 reps done.  For a total of 62 Pull-Ups on the day.  My grip felt strong!  But I still have the pain in my right forearm after hanging for a few minutes.  I felt incrediblly pumped, especially in my forearms after the workout.  But I felt a good pump all around as well.

I finished off the workout with a smooth and clean Flow series.

In the end, I burned a good 822kcals.  I big burn for a predominantly upper body workout.  Tomorrow is Pickle-Ball day!  We'll see how sore I am from today's workout and if it effects my game.

1-07-18 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + TCF.

1-07-18 (Sunday) HY: Tennis + TCF.

I've been getting to be late during this vacation for one reason... my son.  He has a lot of events this New Years and is taking the car to go to them.  This is the first time for him to do this this often in one trip home.  He gets home around 1-2 am.  I can't help but wait up for him.  So tonight was no different.  I went to bed as soon as he got home safely.

I woke up feeling not fully rested and a little heavy, and a bit out of sorts on so many different levels.  Luckily, tennis always starts at 10 am so I can relax some before going.  When I got there, there were very few people and it ended up that only 12 members came.  So that meant that there would be a lot of practice time and even matches.  So after a good warm up, we got into the day's training menu.  Starting off with the regular Stroke/Volley drills, then Serve/Return drills.  All the balls were used in each round, so we had a good practice with each drill.  My serve was at about 65-70% during the practice so I was relatively happy.  However, the big issue I was having today was the fact that I wasn't feeling light on my feet.  In fact, I was feeling the exact opposite, I was feeling so heavy.  My foot work laterally was okay, but moving forward to get short balls, I felt like an elephant on Dramamine.  I wasn't getting to anything.  I was always like two whole steps behind.  Anyway, after the drills, we were able to break up and play Fast4 Matches.  I didn't know the official name of these games until a couple days ago, so I'm happy I can use the official name here for the first time.  Fast4 matches are sets played, first to win 4 games with no-ad scoring.  If the set gets to 4-4, a tie breaker, first to 7, win by 2 is played.  I was paired with a very good lady, and our opponents were the #1 player in our club and a guy that got 3rd place in the Southern Japan Amateur Doubles tournament last summer.  Things seems pretty hopeless from the start, but right from the start, we were on fire breaking in the first game, and then my partner held serve to go up 2-0.  We almost broke the #1 players serve on the Game point, but he held.  On my serve, we got to 40-40 game point and we couldn't hold.   So the score was now 2-2.  But we stayed focused and broke the serve again of the 3rd in S.Japan guy, and my partner held her serve again.  We were ecstatic and giddy that we beat that pair.  It was a good match to end my day on.  I was pretty tired from the drills and the match, but when I got home, I quickly finished off my day with a Flow series.

In the end, I burned 1992kcals.  I was pretty tired and ready to go to bed, but I ended up waiting for my son to get home again.

1-05-18 (Friday) T25 - Alpha: Speed 1.0 + TCF.

1-05-18 (Friday) T25 - Alpha: Speed 1.0 + TCF.

Well, I was going to do a whole workout, but there was sort of a sudden thing that I had to take care of and I had just enough time to fit in the T25 workout and Flow.  I had a normal beginning, and everything was doing fine.  There is one move that Shaun T does once in the normal workout then once in the Burnout, the Low Cross Jacks.  For some reason, that move seems to be longer and does more to kill my arches and calves in this routine than any other move.  I did my best to keep up and stay on pace.  The 8+ minute Burnout is tough, but I got through it.

I finished up with a good Flow series from Dr. Cheng.

In the end, I burned just over 400kcals which is a lot more than I thought I would on a 25 minute plus Flow workout.  Not quite was I was expecting from today's workout, but I got something done, so I was satisfied.

Happy Weekend!

1-04-17 (Thursday) HY: Ab EMS + P90X3 - Cold Start + Six-Pack Shortcuts - Upper Body Weights + Abs After 40 - A40 Abs + TCF.

1-04-17 (Thursday) HY: Ab EMS + P90X3 - Cold Start + Six-Pack Shortcuts - Upper Body Weights + Abs After 40 - A40 Abs + TCF.

Today was another relaxing, nothing to do day.  Got to wake up late again, around 10:30am, and just relax watching some news and TV shows, playing some games, catching up on SNS correspondence and posts, etc.  While at my computer, I got in the Ab EMS session, about 30 minutes worth of stimulation.  It was a little painful at first with the setting I chose, but I got used to it and then I could feel my abs working it.  My daughter had "voluntary" school, so she was gone, and my son was sleeping the day away.  My wife was busy as a bee, but taking time to relax as well here and there.  I helped with chores, too.  Anyway, around 6pm, I started getting ready for my workout and finally started around 6:30pm. 

I was debating as to whether or not I should do resistance or cardio today, and I decided on resistance because of all the tennis I did the past couple days.  But I didn't want to get into a set program on the last and only resistance day of the week.  I wanted a "One-Off" that was moderately intense.  I fell upon the Six-Pack Abs Upper Body Weights routine that I have done a few times in the past at just the exact similar situation.  It's not too long, and works all the major/glamour muscle groups.  I still haven't made a worksheet for this routine, but I will sometime in the future.  But for now, I will just type my weights for each round.  This routine is basically 6 moves, but I added a 7th because I wanted to get back to Pull-Ups and bar work.  Then those moves are done consecutively in four rounds.  As I started the routine, I realized that I was actually feeling a bit tight, so I stopped and got Cold Start out and did that Awesome warm Up routine.  It was perfect for what I needed it to do.  Here are the moves, weights, and rep counts:

1. Single Arm Row in Runners Lunge, Right then Left.  10 Reps each side.
R1 - 17kgs,  R2 - 17kgs, R3 - 17kgs,  R4 - 18.25kgs

2. Clapping Push-Ups, 10 Reps.
R1 to R4 - 10 reps each.

3. Standing Shoulder Presses, Both arms together. 10 Reps.
R1 to R3 - 14.5kgs, R4 - 15.75kgs.

4. Alternating Standing Biceps Curls, 10 Reps each side.
R1 to R3 - 12kgs.  R4 - 13.25kgs.

5. Single Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions, 20 Reps.
R1 - 17kgs, R2 to R4 - 18.25kgs.

6. Standing Shoulder Shrugs, 20 Reps.
R1 - 22kgs.  R2 to R3 - 23.5kgs. R4 - 25kgs.

7. Pull-Up Variations, 10 Reps.
R1 - Pull-Ups.  R2 - Chin-Ups.  R3 - Close Grip Pull-Ups.  R4 - Parallel Grip Pull-Ups.

I was feeling the pump and burn on each set from Round 2 on.  There was only one set in the whole routine that I tapped out before the assigned number of reps.  That was the Triceps Extensions in R4.  My Triceps were feeling almost fried in R3, but in R4, with the added weight, I only made it to 17 reps then I had to put the weight down.  But moments later, I picked it up again and pumped out 5 more reps until failure.  During the Pull-Ups, The first two rounds were no problem, but R3 was tough.  I had to hang a bit to rest, but I never got off the bar.  Working that Grip Strength.  I felt a little twinge of pain in my right forearm, but I got through each set without coming off the bar.  But I was really feeling the pump and burn.  It took a little longer than expected, but it seemed to go by really quickly, so I was happy.

Then I saw a little Ab routine that I haven't done yet, so I figured, "Eh? Why Not!".  It is also from Six-Pack Shortcuts, but with the transitional figure head after Mike Chang left.  The program is Abs After 40, or "A40" for short.  Basically, it is just four moves done consecutively, 10 Reps each with only 30 to 45 seconds of rest between rounds.  The moves aren't anything new, but the new thing is the order of the moves and their progression.  The guy says that the moves should be done in 3 rounds, but I did 4 rounds to keep continuity with the previous routine.  Here are the moves:

1.  Flutter Kick
2.  Knees Bent V-Ups
3.  In-and-Outs
4.  Reverse Crunches/Leg Raises

I blew through the first round, but I started to feel a big something in the second round, starting with the V-Ups.  And then from that point on, I was just barely making it through each move.  The following two rounds were brutal.  I felt the burn each move from the second move of the second round.  This was a lot tougher than I had expected.  I sure I'll come back to this one in the future.  Super BURN!!!

I closed out the evening with a lovely Flow Series.  It is really interesting doing the Flow with arms like rubber.

In the end, I burned 910kcals.  It was a lot more than I had expected to burn in a short time and for an Upper Body routine.  But I was happily surprised.  I'll Take It!!!  Tomorrow, I start back to work.  All my foreign colleagues were not happy to have to go back to work on Friday, especially since Monday is a national holiday.  We couldn't plan a longer vacation bridging the Winter Holiday and the National Holiday.  The admin just had to put that ONE school day in there.  But at least I had a good workout today.

1-03-18 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + TCF.

1-03-18 (Wednesday) HY: Tennis + TCF.

I woke up close to 10am.  I wasn't feeling as sore as I thought I would.  My body was actually feeling pretty normal.  By I did have a slight pain in my left shoulder, and neck.  And a slight headache.  My kids didn't get up until closer to 1pm.  We pretty much did nothing all day.  We were huddled around our heating table watching TV and playing games.  I taught them the wonderful game of ROOK!  But I was sort of dreading the idea of going upstairs to workout.  I really felt like not wanting to exercise all day.  And I caught myself thinking, "I could do just a yoga or stretch or a recovery routine... Naw, later..."  Then, I got notification that my tennis club was practicing at the regular time.  Since I really didn't play as well as I should have/could have yesterday, I was anxious to get back swinging the racket.  So, after talking it over with my wife and daughter, I decided to go to the tennis practice.

I was feeling a little out of sorts for a bit during the warm up, and then pretty much at the beginning of each new drill, but I got into the swing of things and I was able to make contact with the ball a lot better than yesterday.  Now I know that yesterday was probably mostly due to lack of experience and nerves.  I need to keep pushing to get that muscle memory in place so no matter what my nerves do, I can have my body automatically perform shot form so I can make good solid stokes.  The menu was as usual, but surprisingly, there were a lot of people who came.  But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  The members are very dedicated to their sport. 

When I got home, I was feeling a lot better.  A lot of the tightness and soreness got worked out and I wasn't feeling much pain in my shoulder or neck.  I was able to finish out my day with a nice Flow series.

In the end, I burned 1100+kcals.  So I was happy about my eventual activity for the day.

1-02-18 (Tuesday) HY: Tennis + Walking + TCF.

1-02-18 (Tuesday) HY: Tennis + Walking + TCF.

Today is the day!  Tournament Day!  A little background, I was active in playing Jr. USTA Tournaments when I was in Jr. High and High School, but I haven't played in any sort of competitive singles tournament in about 30 years.  I promised my son, after he played last year that I would enter this tourney with him this year.  So I did.  Yes, I was nervous, and it showed.  I wasn't very talkative, and gave only short responses when spoken to.

It was cold, but luckily, the weather was perfect for tennis.  Warming up was good, but I just couldn't get the stiffness in my mind to loosen up.  I was in the second group of matches.  In my first match, I was up against a pretty good high school kid.  The first point of the match, I successfully served and hit a solid put-away volley.  I ended up taking the first two games.  Then I lost the second two games.  Then I took the next two games.  Then I lost the next two.  So the score was 4-4.  I was serving and as I stepped up to the line to serve, I noticed that my strings had popped.  I went to get a reserve racket, but the tension was a lot looser than what I had been playing with.  I couldn't adjust and ended up losing the next two games and the match.  That was a match I should have and really wanted to win.  I was very disappointed in myself.  My second match was against an older but much more experienced player.  And I got crushed. 1-6.  I moved into the Consolation Bracket and I was playing a guy that I should have been able to beat, but I was just off my game.  I was junking gimmies into the net and spraying balls long and wide.  I lost that match 2-6.  After holding my serve twice in my first match, I didn't win a service game the rest of the day.  The three games I did win were all breaks of serve.  I also, double faulted on match pint in my last two matches.
Takeaways from today:
The Bad - I need more experience in match play.  My mental game sucks.  I need to have a more consistent contact point for my strokes.  I need to be able to string good points together, not just a good shot here and there.  I need to get over my nerves.
The Good - I was able to hit aces against every opponent.  I hit at least one clean winner in each game I played.  This is just one step, my first step in gaining experience to play better and get used to match pressure.
I really didn't like to lose matches I know I'm good enough to win, but I realize that for me, I'm going to have to lose more before I start winning.  I just need to be strong and patient.  I can't get down on myself.  I need to accept my weaknesses and work hard to turn then into strengths.  Finally, I need regular practice.  I'm glad I joined my tennis club in October otherwise I would have had ZERO confidence going into the tournament.  But through this experience, I know what I need to work on (Yes, everything), so I can focus on one thing at a time over the next year until the next tournament.  I hope to play in another tournament in the summer or spring, but it will probably be a doubles tournament with my son, and if not, I'll ask someone at my club to pair up.  The fire is glowing brightly now!

After the tournament, we went to the mall to meet my daughter and to go to our regular family vacation dinner.  At least once every vacation, we go out to eat together.  I was exhausted but I was also very hungry because we didn't have time to eat a regular lunch because the tourney organizers were trying to fit as many matches in in one day as possible.  They gave us lunchtime, but my son wanted to practice during that time, so I only had a bagel and a banana.  BTW, my son made it into the main draw and got to the Best 16.  He ended up losing to an older and more experienced player.  On top of that, he had a callous rip open on his racket hand so he couldn't hit with his usual pace and power.  We'll see what happens in the next tournament.  ANYWAY, we went to our favorite buffet restaurant and had a great meal.  I ate a lot of really healthy food, and a fair portion of not so healthy food.  But I tried to keep it under control.  Then, afterwards, we walked around the mall shopping for things my kids and wife needed/wanted.  Yes, I was the only one who ended up not getting anything, but I wasn't really looking for anything, so I was happy to tag along.  But when I checked my pedometer (which I put on after the tournament, I had walked the equivalent of a 5 km distance.  My legs were really aching by this time and I was needing to stop every once in a while to squat, rest, and stretch my lower back and glutes.  I had used up my last bit of energy reserves shopping.  But as the food I had just eaten started refilling my energy banks, we got home and I closed out the day with a Tai Cheng Flow.  Which I probably wouldn't have done had it not been for a Challenge group I am taking part in through my coach.  Shout out to Elizabeth!

In the end, the tennis alone burned 3100+kcals.  I was feeling it all afternoon and evening.  I'm wondering how I'll feel tomorrow.  Of course a lot of the tightness and soreness was from playing in the tournament, but I'm sure a lot of it was due to nervous stress as well.  Once my body releases that tension, I wonder how the soreness will be.

1-01-18 (Monday) HY: Ab EMS + P90X3 - Cold Start + Body Weight BOOM, Workout A + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.

1-01-18 (Monday) HY: Ab EMS + P90X3 - Cold Start + Body Weight BOOM, Workout A + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + TCF.

The first day of 2018 was extremely... docile.  I woke up close to 11:30am (which was still before my kids).  I stayed home all day doing little busy work here and there. Finally getting up to my space to see what was going on in the world and get ready for my workout.  While there, I got in my Ab EMS and did some ab warm up. The first workout of the year is the day before my tournament so I didn't want to go to hard, but I wanted to get my heart rate up and to sweat a bit.  So I just continued with the Body Weight BOOM program.  Today was Workout A again, so I went to it.  Starting with Cold Start to warm my whole body up, I felt good and loose at the end. 

Workout A was those same moves: High-Low Plank Drill, Contra-Lateral Toe Touch, Scorpions, and 1 1/4 Squats.  I actually made a mistake last Friday on the first move,  I did only 10 reps total, but it is supposed to be 10 reps for each side leading, so today, I did twice as many as I did on Friday.  For the Toe Touch move, I used more variety in my raised foot placement in all 5 rounds.  My leg was crying out by the end.  Scorpions and Squats were fine, but time consuming.  I was not rushing, but pushing the three points:  Flexing and working the target muscle groups, Time under tension, Range of Motion.  Again, felt the burn right when I should.  Great little workout. 

I wanted to get back into my ab work, not just the EMS, so I started back slow, with Ab Ripper 200.  Great little routine!  I was able to keep up with Tony until the burn just took me out at the Hip Ups.  I had to tap out around the 10th rep.  But I got back into in and finished.  I needed to tap out one more time on the last move around the 15th rep.  My abs are stronger, but their endurance is low. 

I finished off with a year beginning Flow Series.  Smooth and clean. 

In the end, I burned 448kcals.  Pretty much what I was expecting, so no surprise or disappointment.  A good start to the New Year.  Glad to get it done.  No rest for the weary!  2017 was a good year for my workouts, I'm going to crush it in 2018!