Round 7: Day 38: 100/30/20

For some unknown psychological reason, I've been ducking out of doing intensive weightlifting routines lately, in favour of pursuing cardio workouts. Today, I followed the same routine. I awoke feeling that I should be doing Just Arms or Diamond Delts, but my heart just wasn't in it. My mind gave up before my body had the chance to start. I didn't want to skip working out (actually, I did, but chose not to) so I thought that a reasonable compromise might be to engage in an upper, middle and lower workout. With that in mind, I selected 100 (skipping) - 30 (abdominal repetitions) - 20 (pushups).

In my heart, I know that I should be engaging in more intensive resistance workouts; for now, I'll be satisfied with the fact that I'm just working out at all. It seems as though I'm going through some sort of phase where motivation is really an issue. Lacking motivation, I'm really rather pleased that I can just get some sort of workout in at all. Over time, this will probably pass, and I'll be hitting the workouts with a greater sense of aggression.

Today's workout, while somewhat moderate compared to others I've done (and I've noticed by glancing at the blog sidebar that I've done quite a lot of different workouts) is still sufficient to raise the heart rate and cause me to break a sweat. During the skipping portions, I engage in rapid jumping jacks, which, after a couple of sets, nicely loosened up my shoulders. I wasn't sore from yesterday's Iso Abs workout, so I was able to do the 30 reps of the various abdominal exercises. Some are more difficult than others, and they don't move particularly quickly, so it wasn't long before I felt a pretty good ab burn. Pushups (my specialty!) are straightforward for me, and 20 of any type aren't onerous, so that section of the workout actually felt like a bit of a break. Once you've done Tony's 30-15 workout, 20 pushups feel like a warmup.

Overall, a good workout, in spite of a lack of motivation. I'll work on my attitude more, and try harder to get back into more intensive workouts.

Round 7: Day 37: Iso Abs

Time for another review of a never-been-tried DVD (for me): Iso Abs, part of the One on One series by Tony Horton. I was heading for an upper body workout today, but didn't really feel like it. Motivation is a funny thing. If I only worked out when I'm motivated, I'd probably end up working out twice a month. The key is to work out even when you don't feel like it. As Tony points out in the DVD, if you're upper body is sore, work on the lower body. If your lower body is sore, work on the upper body. If both your upper body and lower body are sore, work on the middle. There's always something which can occupy your attention.

Well, my body wasn't particularly sore this morning, but my mind wasn't particularly willing. So, I put Iso Abs into the DVD player and hit 'play'. This is an interesting collection of moves, ten in all, twelve reps per move. The entire sequence of ten moves is done twice over the course of the workout, for a total of twenty, taking approximately 40 minutes of gut wrenching time.

Unlike Ab Ripper X (from P90X), which moves at a fast pace, each move in this workout is done rather slowly, occasionally holding isometric postures, which can be excruciating. At times, I had to rest my legs on the floor to take a break for a rep or two for recovery purposes, then jumped back into the fun. The good thing about the speed of the movements (or lack thereof) is that you have an opportunity to focus on your breath and your form. As Tony suggests, if you take the emotion out of your face and breathe deeply, you can concentrate on putting the energy and effort where it's required, namely, in your abs. It's easier said than done.

This was an excellent ab workout which moved much faster (in terms of elapsed time) than I thought it would. A 40-minute ab workout seemed daunting, but the time actually passed rather quickly. It's definitely a keeper.

Round 7: Day 36: Run

It was such a spectacular, sunny day in Toronto that I decided to head outside for a run. As the weather is really changeable here now, it's a good idea to spend time outside while you still can. At 11:00AM, I headed out in 17°C sunshine for a nice run on the intermediate length circuit.

My running has steadily been improving over the past number of months, but the last few times out, I haven't been impressed with my time. My heart rate is elevated to a good level, but I don't seem to be matching the time I used to post. Such was the case today. I felt good throughout the run, but didn't post a great time. Actually, I was about 90 seconds slower than I'd like to have been. I'm not going to get worked up about my timing. After all, I'm not about to enter a competition, nor am I some sort of elite athlete. Realizing that I'm just trying to do my best and forget the rest, I'll be satisfied that I laced up my shoes and headed out, sort of the asphalt equivalent of hitting the "play" button on the DVD player.

This could very well be the last run of the year for me. At least it was a pleasant day.

Round 7: Day 33: Mason's Choice

I dug into my DVD collection today to come up with a cardio routine, and out popped Mason's Choice, also known as Cardio Confusion, from Tony Horton's One on One series.

The workout consists of a series of cardio moves picked at random out of a hat by director Mason Bendewald, then such move is performed by Tony Horton. I wouldn't exactly say that hilarity ensues, but there are light moments, typical of a One on One workout. It's rough, it's raw, it's personal (in a good way).

The moves come from a variety of sources: Power90, P90X, Master Series, and One on One. There were some moves I've never seen before and some I had done previously. Some moves felt awkward, like the Kenpo exercises, but that's probably because my body has never really taken well to kicks and punches. I recall it took weeks before I started feeling comfortable with some of the Kenpo kick and punch combinations and, if I don't do the DVD on a regular basis, it still feels strange when I finally get back to it. Kenpo is just not a particularly natural thing for me. On the other hand, many of the individual exercises were great and overall, this is a workout which, if you put in a strong effort, will bring reward.

One thing I liked about this routine is that there is no equipment involved. At one point, Tony steps outside on the deck to jump some rope, but I substituted jumping jacks for skipping, which successfully maintained an elevated heart rate. At another time, Tony used a medicine ball for press jacks, but I think that exercise can still be effective without carrying an additional 4 lb weight.

Overall, a very pleasant workout experience.

Round 7: Day 32: Yoga

I just noticed that it's already Day 32; over one-third of this Round has passed. I guess I could have noticed that upon the completion of Recovery Week no. 1, but sometimes the obvious eludes me. Sometimes I'm more of a digital guy (hence, my attention to the numerical value) than analogue (hey! who ate one-third of the pie?!). On the other hand, I definitely prefer my speedometer and my wristwatch to be analogue. I'm a throw-back to last century, in some respects. In many ways, I'm a visual person (I am, after all, an architect, so I ought to be), so I like to see the position of things in a context. Digital doesn't do that for you.

But I digress. Today, being mid-week, is yoga day. My calves were feeling a bit strained, probably from Monday's calf raises (with dumbbells in hand) and from yesterday's run, so downward dog position, pedalling the feet back and forth, bending the knees, straightening the legs, was most welcome. I could feel the fibres in my calves and achilles tendons stretch out. There wasn't any pain, just a good stretch. I have a fear that one day, my achilles tendons are just going to snap from being stretched out like piano wire, so I'm really conscious about taking extra time prior to and following exercising, to make sure that they're properly stretched and warm. It's all about endurance, don't you know. I'll do what it takes to be more durable and less vulnerable out in the cold, cruel world. If that means 10 extra minutes of stretching, count me in.

So, today was time well spent with the dogs, warriors and moons. Deep breathing was helpful and calming, as I went to a stressful meeting straight from home. Deep, cleansing breaths is all it took to ensure my heart rate was low and my body was relaxed.

Round 7: Day 31: Run

I awoke this morning feeling a bit sore from yesterday's UML workout. My shoulders were a bit stiff, and I didn't really feel like lifting weights. Furthermore, it's still relatively warm out during these early fall days (even though the sun doesn't rise until around 7:00AM), so I'm still inclined to stay outside, weather permitting. And today, the weather was certainly permitting, so I headed out in the early morning darkness for a run.

Today's run was unusual, in that while the mind was willing, the body protested. That doesn't usually happen to me; in fact, it's usually the opposite, where my body says "go" and my mind says "stop". I could tell after the first few blocks that this run was going to be a challenge. I mulled over the thought of cutting the run short, or walking a bit, but I toughed it out, doing my best while continuing to run. I felt that if I were to stop running, I likely wouldn't start again, and would walk the rest of the way home.

When I finally arrived in my driveway, I had indeed blown my time, finishing about 90 seconds later than I would have liked, but I had achieved a minor victory by not surrendering to my mind and by not giving up. I like to develop this mental toughness. I have a crazy feeling that it will help to build my character. Even at my age, I think my character is something that can benefit from development. Not a great day for fitness perhaps, but one which will benefit me in some other way.

Round 7: Day 30: Upper, Middle, Lower

This wasn't the typical Mammoth UML found on Tony Horton's One on One DVD. Today, my wife invited me to join her for a workout at her office gym. It was a great day to go, as it was the Canadian Thanksgiving, and the gym would be empty. Having spent most of my time working out alone in my home to a DVD, I'm not used to being in the gym, and I find them (and their occupants) a bit intimidating. Some people are capable of going forever on the treadmill or on a rowing machine, while I'm just used to doing my body-weight and fairly light dumbbell exercises. If this were a day when the gym was crowded, I doubt I'd attend.

But the place was empty, so I could do as I pleased, and it pleased me to create a customized UML (Upper, Middle, Lower) routine. The workout consisted of some type of pushup followed by some type of abdominal exercise followed by some kind of leg or lower body exercise; then repeat for as many sets as possible. I managed 12 sets before failing completely.

Unlike yesterday, when my extended run beat me up for the balance of the day, today's workout resulted in an increase in energy throughout the day. I felt strong and flexible and alert. Perhaps the difference is that yesterday's workout was a really intense cardio workout whereas today's was tough on my muscles, but light on cardio. Anyhow, I really enjoyed myself and would love to have the chance to do that again.