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.