8-28-17 (Monday) HY: P80X3 - Complex Upper + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Splits + TCF.

8-28-17 (Monday) HY: P80X3 - Complex Upper + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Splits + TCF.

Well, I'm back into it.  I can't avoid the weights and Pull-Ups forever, so I decided to get back into it by finishing off my most recent round of X3 resistance.  I definitely modified on the Pull-Ups, and I went back down to 7.5kgs for the one weighted move.  But all was not well.  It started off well, I was fresh and I pumped out all the reps with not much pain, especially the Pull-Ups, but after finished the second round, my back suddenly started to feel a bit gimpy.  Like I had wrenched it again, but I didn't feel anything like I had wrenched it.  The pain and discomfort were just suddenly there.  So I slowed down my pace some and took more shorter breaks.  But my lower back just got more and more painful.  I gutted out the last two rounds, and I went a little lower on the Burnout, but I got on a great burn and my arms and upper body got a great pump.  Oh, as for modification, I used the green resistance bands for my Pull-Up assist or I wouldn't have been able to get even one, and I really didn't want to re-injure my side.  Arms got an incredible burn and a pretty good pump as well.  I think something happened to my back on the 4th move, Lunge Thrust Press.  I must have jammed my back more than it felt.  I'm feeling a lot of discomfort as I type this, but I'll get through it.  Here is the worksheet for the routine:

Even though I did abs yesterday, I went with the same light routine today and really slow up the pace and focus on the flex and contraction of the abs.  I got through all ten moves with a good burn.

The splits and Flow were fine, but the Flow was especially tough today because of the additional back pain.  Again, had to gut through the pain.

In the end, I torched a good 820+kcals.  I got the burn and the pump I was expecting.  But I wish I didn't pick up that extra back pain.  I hope it clears up tomorrow because I'm thinking of going to play tennis tomorrow with that new club since I don't have my night class.  We'll see.

8-27-17 (Sunday) HY: P90X3 - CVX + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Unlock your Hip Flexors + TCF.

8-27-17 (Sunday) HY: P90X3 - CVX + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Unlock your Hip Flexors + TCF.

I was feeling tired this morning when I got up.  We got back from Nagasaki late last night so I wanted to sleep in, but I had to get it going because today is the day my son goes back to Tokyo.  We were planning to bring him to the airport as a family, but my daughter had to go to an Open Campus event of a college she potentially wants to attend after she graduates.  So we did the parent split, I took my son to the airport and my wife took my daughter to the open campus.  When my task was all done, and I got home to an empty house, what was there to do?  I just vegged out.  I really didn't feel like doing anything.  I watched TV, played some games.  Almost took a nap, but I wasn't sleepy.  But come 5 o'clock, I started to get that itch again.  That itch to get moving and to get active.  I was still tired, and I wasn't feeling it for heavy weights, so...  I remember a friend posting something about CVX, so I figured I'd give that a try.  I keep saying I want more routines and even a program with routines that combine weights and cardio, so I figured this would be a good way to start and get back into the old working out routine.

This was a really good workout.  It didn't put a lot of pressure on my painful right side, but the cardio with the weight was tough.  Before starting, I thought to do the routine with my 5kg medicine ball, but just as the routine started, I wimped out and went for my 4kg dumbbell instead.  That was a good decision.  I think the 5kgs would have been too heavy, especially for my injury.  Three moves, two rounds back to back.  But, since I have lost some of my conditioning because of the off days, I took a few extra breaks all throughout the routine.  Legs again were getting a good burn.  Upper Body also was getting some high rep toning work as well.  Not too much burn, but good movement.  One minute cardio moves, especially the jumping ones were particularly breath-taking.  Great routine, DONE!

I wanted to get some abs in, but I was worried about my side, so I went light and slow.  It was tough, but compared to Tuesday, when I did the same routine for abs, there was a lot less pain, so I'm on the mend.  Got a nice burn on today as well.  Slow controlled reps does a whole lot more than just blasting a ton of reps really fast.  No momentum to help get up.

The stretch and the Flow were as usual, a good run.

In the end, I torched just over 700kcals.  I sweat a ton, but I had a good burn overall.

8-24-17 (Thursday) HY: Insanity - Cardio Recovery + TCF + Walking.

8-24-17 (Thursday) HY: Insanity - Cardio Recovery + TCF + Walking.

I was planning to do a workout yesterday (Wednesday) but I was just so exhausted for some reason that I took yesterday off and basically did nothing.  Today, my wife and I are leaving for Nagasaki for a few days because that is the site of the High School Field Hockey National Tournament that my daughter is playing in as a representative of the Kagoshima team.  We don't leave until noon, so I did a quick workout/recovery workout in the morning.

I chose Insanity - Cardio Recovery because it was a recovery routine, but I knew it wouldn't be easy.  I wanted something I could go through in a short amount of time and still get a burn.  This routine did just that.  I was Pulse Lunges and Squats, and all those different combos just burned out my legs.  Following the workout, my quads were shaking as I was going down the stairs.  I was able to get in a series of Flows at the end.  Another reason why I chose a recovery level routine is because I am nursing a minor injury I suffered on Tuesday.  I mentioned a pain in my right side while doing Pull-Ups, and that has stayed with me.  Wednesday night, I still couldn't raise up on my right side without a lot of pain, so I wanted a routine that would give that area a little relief.  There were some painful moments, but I modified when the pain came.

We left at noon by bullet train because we wanted to attend the opening ceremonies, but as it turns out, only the coach and captains had to go.  So, instead of going directly to the tournament site, we stopped off at an Outlet mall and did some shopping.  My wife wanted to get something there, but I was the one who ended up getting a few things.  We walked about 5km at the mall.  But I guess it was more like a plaza of 150+ shops.  We walked up and down the small streets looking into all the shops we wanted to look at.  All that walking on top of the workout in the morning, I was very tired by the time we got to the hotel early that evening.  Not too much pain, but a few times when stepping down from a high step on my right foot, there was a shooting pain in my right side when I landed.

In the end, I burned just over 300kcals in the morning.  No HRM during the walking, but I would guess it was close to 300kcals or more.  I was really tired so it was nice to get to sleep early.

8-22-17 (Tuesday) HY: Arm Shaper + Splits + TCF.

8-22-17 (Tuesday) HY: Arm Shaper + Splits + TCF.

I was still feeling tired today.  Not as tired as yesterday, but not quite back to full power yet.  So, I decided to revisit another Arm Shaper task routine that was sort of like the X3 Complex Upper Body routine.  Again, I added one move to the end.
Here are the numbers for today's routine:

Round One: 
1. Floor Presses (All rounds on a Swiss Ball for more range of motion) 15 reps/17kgs. 
2. Dumbbell Bent-Over Row, 15 reps/17kgs. 
3. Lying Overhead Triceps Extension (All rounds on Swiss Ball for more range of motion), 12 reps/8.75kgs. 
4. Bent-Over Reverse Fly, 12 reps/6.25kgs. 
5. Standing Dumbbell Biceps Curl, 12 reps/8.75kgs. 
6. Parallel Grip Pull-Up 10 reps. 

Round Two: 
1. Floor Presses 15 reps/17kgs.
2. Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 15 reps/17kgs.
3. Lying Overhead Triceps Extension 15 reps/8.75kgs.
4. Bent-Over Reverse Fly 15 reps/ 6.25kgs.
5. Standing Dumbbell Biceps Curl 15 reps/8.75kgs.
6. Chin-Up, 6-4 reps.

Round Three: 
1. Floor Presses 15 reps/19.5kgs.
2. Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 15 reps/17kgs.
3. Lying Overhead Triceps Extension 15 reps/8.75kgs.
4. Bent-Over Reverse Fly 15 reps/ 6.25kgs.
5. Standing Dumbbell Biceps Curl 15 reps/10kgs.
6. Standard Pull-Up, 6-4 reps.

Round Four: 
1. Floor Presses 15 reps/22kgs.
2. Dumbbell Bent-Over Row 15 reps/17kgs.
3. Lying Overhead Triceps Extension 15 reps/10kgs.
4. Bent-Over Reverse Fly 15 reps/6,25kgs.
5. Standing Dumbbell Biceps Curl 15 reps/12kgs.
6. Vaulter Pull-Ups, 5 reps switch 5 reps.

The weights were a little lower overall than the last time.  I didn't raise the weights at all on the Rows and Reverse Fly.  They were constant for all four rounds.  On the Triceps Extensions, I stayed constant until the last round where I went up a bit.  The biggest thing of the day was my Pull-Ups.  The first two rounds were fine, no problems, but in the third round, I sort of felt a little twinge on my right side around my ribs.  In the fourth round, the pain was clear and pronounced.  I think I may have strained my muscle in that area.  It is painful to try and raise my upper body from lying on my right side, while the other side seems fine.  Overall a good workout, but I hope the pain doesn't affect me too much.

Because of the pain, I opted not to do abs today, I figured I should give it a rest.  So I went straight into the splits.  I lost some distance since I didn't do much splits over the past week and a half or so.  So it is time to start pushing again.  The Flow series was fine.  I had a good workout today.

In the end, I torched just under 600kcals.  Why so low?  Actually, I forgot to turn on my HRM until just beginning the third round of the Arm Shaper routine, so there should be maybe another 200-300kcals on there.

8-21-17 (Monday) HY: Arm Shaper + Ab RIpper 200 + Unlock your Hip Flexors + TCF.

8-21-17 (Monday) HY: Arm Shaper + Power 90 - Ab Ripper 200 + Unlock your Hip Flexors + TCF.

I was feeling extremely tired today, so I got back to that old lazy schedule.  I didn't do anything pretty much all day.  Watched some TV, played some games, did some web surfing, etc. Come late afternoon, I started to feel like, "I need to do something active."  My body was saying "NO WEIGHTS!!!", but I wanted to stay on track with my Arm Shaper tasks.  Luckily there wasn't a new task listed so I decided to do that same one I did, I believe it was on Thursday, or Friday.  The ten moves, three sets.  But light weights, or so I thought.  Here is the graphic again:

This time around, it took a good 40-45 minutes.  I needed to take several more breaks than last time, and I also upped my dumbbell weight from 5kgs to 8.75kgs.  I kept thinking to lower the weight from the second set, then for the third, but something in my head just made me keep it at 8.75kgs.  A lot more heavy breathing with the heavier weights.  Also, this time, on the Clapping Push-Ups, on my knees all three rounds.  Still very tough!  The most brutal move this time ended up being the second move, Dumbbell Squat and Press.  That move absolutely killed me from the second round on.  I was actually pretty happy with the Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls.  I was dying in the first round, but I must have caught a second wind, because I was able to get the whole 60 seconds with a growing number of reps each time, 20-21-25.  But the final move was the most intense.  Easiest to do physically, but stamina-wise, coming at the end of the round, this one just drained me each time.  Also, I realized that I was doing it wrong the first time around.  I failed to see the forward reach in Plank position, so I did a double set in the first round.  This was a really grueling routine, especially when done while tired.

I really didn't feel like doing abs but I knew I had to, so I went with the grinder routine from Power 90.  Oh BURN BURN BURN!!!  Plus, I still had that neck/shoulder kink, so the crunches were a bit painful there.  But I gutted through it and got the expected burn.

A good stretch to open and loosen my hip flexors, a short series of Flows, and my day was done.

In the end, I torched over 700kcals.  That was a surprise.  I was expecting around 500, but not 700.  The heavier weight must have really made me work.  I'm glad to be done.

8-20-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis Tournament + Arm Shaper + TCF.

8-20-17 (Sunday) HY: Tennis Tournament + Arm Shaper + TCF.

Today is the day!  This is only the third tournament I'm playing in with my son.  The past two times we didn't make it into the regular draw from the group round, so our goal was to make it into the main draw, not just the consolation draw.

I was really feeling the nerves all morning.  Our first match was very competitive.  From the start, I was not feeling good.  Not "sick", but like I wasn't able to move like I wanted.  My body was so "not mine" if that makes any sense.  I felt uncoordinated and out of control.  I didn't feel comfortable setting up on my forehand.  Everything just felt off.  But, I played on.  My son, who is a veteran at playing tournaments helped me through and really carried us the whole match.  There were several good things about the match as well.  First of all, I was able to serve well, and keep all my service games.  I didn't double fault as much as I thought I would, but I did lay off my second serve just to get it in.  Something I really didn't want to do on principle.  But, I guess my nerves got the better of me in that situation.  There were a few moments of brilliance where I was able to keep the rally going and hit the winning shot.  But for the most part, since we were evenly matched, there were mistakes on both ends that kept the match close to the end.  But we finally won in a Tie-Breaker 7-6.

The next group round match was against a pair that have been playing together for years.  They were better all around and they didn't make many unforced errors.  So, in order to win, we would have to win points as opposed to waiting for them to give us points.  We actually did pretty well.  I lost my first service game and they went up 1-3.  My son won both of this service games to a score of 2-5.  If we were going to stay in the match I would have to win my next service game.  In my first service game, I went up quickly 30-Love, then things fell apart.  My serve in the second game was on fire. No double faults.  And we raced to a 40-15 lead.  Then I hit the best serve of the day.  I hard, fast, and wide serve for a clean ACE!  The receiver didn't even move for it.  Oh man! That felt good to win my game on an ace.  Well, we ended up losing by a score of 3-6, but the match was a lot of fun.

Good news! We made it into the main draw as the second seed from our group.  The bad news, we would have to play the first seed from another group.  The team we played was even better than the first seed of our group.  We had our chances for points and even an extra game or two, but my lack of experience and their level of play were just too much for us to overcome.  My son won his first service game for a 1-1 score.  But that was it.  They were just too strong and consistent for us to really compete.  They would return fast shots by my son with even more pace.  Serves that would have been aces or at least service winners were returned deep and with pace.  They were just too good.  By this time I was a little more warmed up so I was hitting the ball better, but it was no where near enough to put us in contention.  In the final game, the score was 1-5.  We were receiving the serve of the better server of the two.  My son was unable to return the first serve, 15-Love.  Me, being on the Ad side received a wide serve to my back hand which I returned down the line, but the ball fell wide by about a foot.  If I had made the shot, we would have gotten the point because the net player was moving to poach a cross court shot.  He looked at his partner with the expression, "WHEW!  That was close!".  30-Love.  There was short rally on the next point, but they got it to go to Match Point.  Back to me.  No time to hold back,  Fault on the first serve.  I moved closer to base line and hoped to catch the ball early.  Again, I got a wide serve to my backhand.  I banged it down the line and it landed well in for a return winner!  That was the shot of the day for me.  I guess the net played didn't think I'd try going down the line again, because again, he was moving to poach and got totally burned.  Either way, it felt great to hit such a great shot.  We live another point.  But they got the next point and that was the match, 1-6.  It was a big loss, but the match itself was a lot of fun because playing a team that is clearly better forced me to push myself all the harder to make shots I wouldn't try otherwise.  In sports, the old adage is true, "In order to be a winner, you have to lose." or something like that.  Even though we lost our last two match, they were against clearly better teams so I think I got a little better through those losses.  As for my son, if he had played with the friend who originally invited him to play, he could have gone all the way, possibly.  So I know I held him back.  But I think that playing with me, he learned a lot about leading a team.  His friend is the better player so it would have been a different roll for him.  But losing makes me want to practice harder to become a better player for next time.  I don't know when that will be, but I'll be ready.

There was even a more valuable benefit that came from today's tournament.  The first match we played was against a team that was a member of a tennis club.  We got to talking and they were very nice people.  They invited us, my son, wife, and I, to join their club.  Thankfully, they play on Sundays, so we can go to their sessions.  They also play on Wednesdays, so when I'm free, I'll play then, too.  I really don't want to play on the gym floor if I can help it, so I'm glad that I now have the opportunity to play and learn.  But the big thing that I learned from my Thursday club is the game mentality.  Since being in Japan and getting back into tennis a few years ago, I was mostly teaching beginners and playing with beginners so I lost my stroke form for power and spin. But I mostly lost Match toughness and that Game Mentality.  Beating the nerves, overcoming the stress and nervousness.  I didn't learn much as far as skills, but I got back a lot of the mental toughness I lost through constantly playing matches with them.  So I am very indebted to them for allowing me to play with them.

Just as a trial, I used my HRM for all my matches, practices and warm-ups today.

When I got home, I was exhausted.  My legs were numb and from the second match there was a slight kink in my neck.  I checked with my Arm Shaper group to see what day 13 was, and thankfully, the admin decided to hold off on a day 13 task until other member caught up.  So, I did my 35 Push-Ups and I was done.  A short Flow series today as well.

In the end, I torched a big 2000+kcals.  Eight straight days of tennis.  I haven't played this much tennis since I last went to tennis camp when I was a high school student.  I wish I could keep it up, but that is just a dream.  My son goes back to Tokyo next week and I leave for Nagasaki to watch my daughter play in in the Japanese National Field Hockey Tournament as a member of the Kagoshima Team.  Busy week ahead.  But I'll see if I can play a few times more while my son is still here.

8-19-17 (Saturday) HY: Tennis + Arm Shaper + TCF.

8-19-17 (Saturday) HY: Tennis + Arm Shaper + TCF.

In light of the TERRIBLE session yesterday, I had to try and get my timing back, so after sunset, my son and I went to the court to practice.  It was a little better than yesterday, but I was still way off on my backhand.  It is extremely frustrating when I was hitting crisp shots two days before and now everything is hitting off the frame of my racket.  Again, very little good contact today.  I wanted to practice my volley and serve, but we took all the time on just ground strokes and trying to get back my timing.

For the Arm Shaper, I did my 35 Push-Ups at the tennis court, and then the routine part at home after the session, along with the Flow series.  It was the same routine as yesterday, so not much to say, but I was tired so I did the routine as shown.

In the end, I torched a nice 800+kcals.  Tomorrow is the day.  I'm not feeling very confident but what can I do but just do it?