Bum deal

I got a call from my allergist today and it's a no go for SCUBA diving.  Son of a gun.  I was looking forward to going when I'm in St John this weekend.  Oh well.  It's a good thing I checked because I could've messed myself up something fierce if I had gone diving.  I'm not sure if I'd blow in my eardrums or not, but it's not something I'd want to test.

I'll still get to go snorkeling so it's all good.  I'm definitely not going to complain since there'll be plenty of stuff to do there since I've only got two full days.  I plan on relaxing as much as possible and soaking up some rays.

Never Gymless Day 48

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curls) x 4

Evening: EIT5

• (run for 60s, pushups for 60s, squats for 60s, rest for 60s) x 4

I actually did alright with this workout.  I was knackered, but I was able to run pretty far and I was able to bang out some quality-form pushups.  I felt lighter on my feet than the last time I ran.

Never Gymless Day 47

Morning: core

• (10 crunches, 15 blue band pull throughs, 10 blue band rotational chops) x 3
• plank: 91s, 80s, 82s

I set a new personal plank record this morning with 91s.  Not too shabby considering I could barely do 30s when I first started this program.

Evening: maximal strength

• (3 wide grip pullups, 3 glute-ham raises) x 4
• (5 one-armed pushups, 3 one-legged squats) x 4
• (3 elevated-feet pike presses, 5 blue band good mornings) x 4
• (3 bodyweight tricep extensions, 10 one-legged medicine ball calf raises) x 3

My legs are still pretty sore from yesterday's squat marathon, but I was able to do my tricep extensions using a chair which is closer to the ground than the ledge I've used in the past.  I definitely getting stronger.  The pullups were easier as well.  I could nearly do two real ones.

Never Gymless Day 46

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curls) x 4

This workout is a bit stale, but I followed it by serving tea with a 5lb weight.  Holy moly.  I definitely felt that stretch.

Evening: ICT 10

• (30 bodyweight squats, 10 band high pulls, 10 band chest presses) x 10

I was able to complete this workout in 21:10 with splits of 2:08, 2:15, 2:17, 2:14, 2:11, 2:11, 2:10, 2:05, 1:51 and 1:48.  Yeah, I was actually able to speed up towards the end.  I had hoped to break 20 minutes, but that would've been tough.

My legs and wrists are pretty sore, but in a good way.

Never Gymless Day 45

Morning: explosive strength

• (8 front-clap plyometric pushups, 12 squat jumps) x 4
• (10 blue band 1-armed pulls, 20 medicine ball ankle hops) x 4

It's too bad I don't have my fitness rings set up yet because this workout regime is a little light.  I definitely feel stronger for doing it, but I'd like to add some whole body exercises.

Fitness update

I think I'm sort of just maintaining right now, but I'm not where I'd like to be so that's not a good thing.  I've been doing my strength exercises with regularity, but I've been eating too much.

I'm planning on signing up for volleyball through the town for September so maybe that will help.

Never Gymless Day 44

Morning: core

• (15 V-ups, 15 blue band slams, 10 blue band rotational twists, chinnies to burn) x 3

This routine has gotten a little stale so I think I need to add some more exercises to it.

Never Gymless Day 43

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curls) x 5s x 4

Evening: EIT4

• 50m sprint, 25m bear crawl, 25m crab walk - 15 min

I did 5.5 cycles, just like five weeks ago.  However, I miscalculated on the field so I ended up sprinting 75m, bear crawling 25m, crab walking 25m and backwards running 25m.  You might say I went 50% farther than before, but the tough parts went from 50% of the total distance to only 1/3.  I did improve, but certainly not by 50%.  In any case, I felt pretty good except during the crab walk because my triceps tightened up after about 15m.  They get worked pretty well during the maximal strength workouts.

This workout also helped partly erase a fairly crappy day at work.  I was also pretty stoked that I was able to restrain myself from eating some free candy despite my coworker eggin' me on.

Never Gymless Day 42

Morning: core

• (10 crunches, 15 blue band pull throughs, 10 blue band rotational chops) x 3
• plank: 84s, 74s, 71s

I set a new personal plank record this morning.

Evening: maximal strength

• (3 wide grip pullups, 4 glute-ham raises) x 4
• (3 1-armed pushups, 3 1-legged squats) x 4
• (3 feet-elevated pike presses, 6 blue-band good mornings) x 4
• (4 bodyweight tricep extensions, 10 medicine ball 1-legged calf raises) x 3

I was nearly able to do two real pullups, but was dragging through the rest of the workout.

The best laid plans...

My new fitness rings came tonight and I started to set them up.  I got one ring on one strap when I realized that my plan of setting them up in the basement was a stupid one since my basement's ceiling is only about 8 feet tall.  I'd be able to do pushups and low ring activities, but few of the high ring stuff and I certainly wouldn't be able to do inversions or handstand pushups.  Hmmm...

I really should've thought this situation through a bit more carefully before shellin' out the dough.  For all of my analytical skills, I can be pretty impulsive.  I'm rarely impulsive at work so maybe there's a conservation principle working with my personal life.  Gah.  I could try to mount them on my garage's ceiling, but I'm pretty skeptical that any hooks or whatever would hold my weight since I want to do some snatching.  I could mount them outside, but then I wouldn't be able to use them during the winter.

I think my best bet is to get a weightlifting rack or cage or whatever and put it in the garage.  I'm not sure how that's going to work with my car, but I could figure something out.  I can always take my car out of the garage for a workout.

Crikey.  Cheap racks are still $400.  Fudge.  Maybe I could brew up something homemade instead.

I'm really kickin' myself for not thinkin' this through.  I got pretty stoked when I saw they would come today.  Somehow I thought I could make them work down in the basement, but what's the point of only being able to do about a quarter of the exercises?

Never Gymless Day 41

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curls) x 5s x 4

Evening: ICT9

• (burpees for 60s, chinnies for 60s, divebomber pushups for 60s, lunges for 60s, medicine ball slams for 60s, rest for 60s) x 3

This workout was actually pretty tough and I worked up a hefty sweat, mainly due to the burpees and the chinnies.  I hadn't done the divebomber pushups before so they worked my upper body muscles in a new way. I'm not sure I would've made it through another cycle, but I think that speaks more to my sorry conditioning than a tough workout.  Hmmm... to be charitable, maybe it's a little from column A and a little from column B.

A whole lotta nothing

in audio form...

Never Gymless Day 40

Morning: explosive strength

• (8 front-clap plyometric pushups, 12 squat jumps) x 4
• (10 blue band 1-arm pulls, 20 medicine ball ankle hops) x 4

It's too bad that my fitness rings don't show up until Monday because I'd like to expand this workout with a couple more exercises.

Updating my web page

I felt like get a "real" webpage up so check out the changes to BigMonkey's Big Adventure.  Yeah, I know monochrome with like 50 words of text and a couple of drop-down menus isn't going to drop any panties, but I'm just starting out so it's all good.

If you have HTML reference sites you like, please let me know.

Never Gymless Day 39

Morning: core

• (15 V-ups, 15 blue band slams, 10 rotational twists, chinnies to burn) x 3

Never Gymless Day 38

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curl) x 5s x 4

Evening: EIT3

• (400m sprint, 20 medicine ball slams, 60s rest) x 6

I was able to do this workout in 20:35 with splits of 3:21, 3:19, 3:25, 3:22, 3:34 and 3:34.  I only beat the previous attempt by 1:30.  The sprints were a bit unsatisfactory because I felt slow and heavy.  It's hard to describe, but I didn't feel like I was moving that fast.  I wasn't able to run the whole lap up on my toes because my feet still aren't used to the stupid trail shoes.

I did feel pretty good afterwards because I put some work in, but I feel that my conditioning hasn't improved as much as I expected.

Downed tree

I had a little excitement this morning as I was leaving for work.  I started to go down my driveway when I realized that the rotten tree finally fell over:

Unfortunately, it took another tree with it so I had to bust out my saw to make work of it.  The good news is the saw went through the tree like a hot knife through butter.  I then used a little elbow grease to move the rotten tree off the driveway.  I guess I'll let it decompose there since I have no use for rotten wood.

Never Gymless Day 37

Morning: core

• (10 crunches, 15 blue band pull throughs, 10 blue band rotational chops) x 3
• plank: 77s, 75s, 71s

I was able to up my plank time by about 10s.  Sweet.

Evening: maximal strength

• (2 wide grip pullups, 2 glute-ham raises) x 4
• (4 1-armed pushups, 4 1-legged squats) x 4
• (5 elevated-feet pike presses, 6 blue band good mornings) x 4
• (4 bodyweight tricep extensions, 10 1-legged medicine ball calf raises) x 3

I'm getting stronger, but not quite strong enough to do a proper 1-armed pushup.

Never Gymless Day 36

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles), leg press, hamstring curl) x 5s x 4

I added a couple of lower body exercises this morning.  The leg press involves pushing on a wall with one leg at a time.  The hamstring curl involves squeezing an exercise ball with my heels towards my butt.  A lot of people neglect working the hamstrings so this exercise is a good one.  When I get my fitness rings set up, I'll add a couple more static exercises.

Evening: ICT 8

• 5 body rows, 10 medicine ball slams, 15 burpees, 20 jumping jacks - 10 cycles or 20 minutes, whichever comes sooner

Thanks to the stupid burpees, I was only able to bang out 5.5 cycles.  The actual workout requires 5 pullups instead of the body rows, but I can barely do two pullups.

I'm definitely getting stronger, but I need to work on my conditioning.

Never Gymless Day 35.5

Morning: maximal strength

• (2 wide grip pullups, 2 glute-ham raises) x 4
• (3 1-armed pushups, 3 1-legged squats) x 4
• (5 elevated-feet pike presses, 6 blue band good mornings) x 4
• (4 body weight tricep extensions, 10 1-legged medicine ball calf raises) x 3

I felt great after this workout.  I was able to add another pullup and glute-ham raise and the other exercises went well.  I did most of them on my new anti-fatigue mats so the cushioning forced me to use some more stabilizer muscles which is always a good thing.  The stronger those are, the less likely I am to get injured.

My triceps are really sore now because of the tricep extensions.  The goal is to lift yourself up just using your triceps.

This program is definitely working well for me and I recommend it to anyone looking to get fit.

Never Gymless Day 35

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles)) x 5s x 4

I think I may be ready to add some more exercises to this workout.

Never Gymless Day 34

Morning: core

• (15 V-ups, 15 blue band slams, 10 blue band twists, chinnies to burn) x 3

My spine still pops when I do the V-ups.

Evening: explosive strength

• (8 front clap plyometric pushups, 12 squat jumps) x 4
• (10 blue band arm pulls, 20 medicine ball ankle hops) x 4

I tried out my new mats this evening and they worked really well.  I got them to soften my landings when I jump and to protect my floor.  They have an added benefit - my feet or hands sink in which forces me to use more stabilizer muscles.  After the plyometric pushups, my wrists were sore and after the squat jumps, I could feel some soreness in the outsides of my knees.

I can definitely tell this workout regime is working because I feel strong and I'm starting to look strong as well.  Unfortunately, working out a lot increases the horniness and makes me feel like smashing people at work.

Audio rambling: exercise

I think everyone who reads this blog knows I'm a big fan of exercise.

Never Gymless Day 33

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles)) x 5s x 4

Evening: EIT 2

• (10 burpees, 50m sprint, 10 plyometric pushups, 50m run backwards) - 15 min

I was able to crank out 5.5 trips which is a 29% improvement over my attempt five weeks ago.  Sweet.  I tried to do clap pushups for the plyometric pushups, but quickly gave that up.  I didn't exactly sprint either, but I moved as fast as I could.

I feel pretty good now so it was good I got out and about.

Never Gymless Day 32

Morning: core

• (10 crunches, 15 blue band pull throughs, 10 blue band rotational chops) x 3
• plank: 61s, 64s, 62s

I'm starting to get the hang of the rotational chops even if I can't do a real one.

Never Gymless Day 31

Morning: ICT 7

• 100 burpees
• 2 min rest
• 4 min tabata squats
• 4 min tabata pushups

I was able to do the 100 burpees in 17:05 which is not great considering some people can do 50 burpees in two minutes.  However, I worked up a wicked sweat so this workout was definitely tough.

Weekend recap

Not a whole lot happened to me this weekend, but that didn't stop me from bangin' out another audio rambling.  Check it out.  Somehow I sound just like Hank from King of the Hill.  I swear I'm not puttin' anything on.  I have good ears so I tend to adopt whatever accents I hear.  I work with people from all over so I must be incorporating all of them.  Fantastic.

My new webcam should show up tomorrow so I can Skype with better video.

Never Gymless Day 30.5

Morning: core

• (15 V-ups, 15 blue band slams, 10 blue band rotational twists, chinnies to burn) x 3

My spine still pops with the V-ups and my hips pop with the chinnies.  I guess I'm still a little crooked.

Inaugural rambling

Heh.  I'm having way too much fun with this microphone.  I think the quality is really good, but I'm not an expert.  I guess I'm glad that the mic is directional since it doesn't seem to be capturing any background noise.  My house has a lot of echoes, but they don't seem to be captured as well.  Kick ass.

I have no idea why I sound like I have a bit of a Southern accent.

New domain

I got a bad ass USB microphone to help with my Rosetta Stone German so I thought I'd also give podcasting a shot.  My friend recommended getting a domain through Tiger Tech since they also provide 10 GB with no bandwidth restrictions for about $7/month.  I'm now the proud owner of www.bigmonkey.us.  Sweet.  I'll still keep this blog here, but I'll upload podcasts and pictures to my new domain.

Any suggestions for free/cheap web layout software?  Any requests for podcasts?  I think I can ramble on about just about anything.

Never Gymless Day 30

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles)) x 5s x 4

Evening: explosive strength

• (8 plyometric pushups, 12 squat jumps) x 4
• (10 blue band arm pulls, 20 medicine ball ankle hops) x 4

I hit a milestone today since I was actually able to clap during the plyometric pushups.  There wasn't much margin, but it was a definite clap.  Sweet.  I'm definitely getting stronger.  I just need to curb the bad eating habits and I'll be set.

Never Gymless Day 29

Evening: EIT 1

• (12 burpees, 24 pushups, 36 squats, 90s jump roping) x 4

There are only 5 EIT workouts so this week I cycled back.  I was able to do this workout in 26 minutes even whereas it took 39 minutes the first time around.  A 33% improvement is definitely pretty good.  I think I could've done even better except for the stupid pushups.  I'm still not quite strong enough to do them for conditioning.

The next time I would change 90s jump roping to 100 rope turns so that there's an opportunity for me to reduce my time even further.  In any case, I sweated up a storm and feel pretty good.

Never Gymless Day 28

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles)) x 5s x 4

Never Gymless Day 27

Morning: maximal strength

• (1 pullup, 1 glute-ham raise) x 4
• (3 1-armed pushups, 3 1-legged squats) x 4
• (3 elevated pike presses, 3 blue band good mornings) x 4
• (3 bodyweight tricep extensions, 10 1-legged medicine ball calf raises) x 3

I did fewer squats this week than last because I focused on dropping my ass closer to the ground.  I didn't quite do a pistol, but my thigh went a little beyond horizontal.  I decided a maximal strength workout should focus on more effort fewer times.  My pullups were also closer to legit so I'm definitely getting stronger.

Evening: core

• (10 crunches, 15 blue band pull throughs, 10 blue band rotational chops) x 3
• plank: 62s, 62s, 61s

My green band broke this morning so I had to use the thicker blue band.  I'm actually a little sore from the rotations.  I guess that's a good sign.

Never Gymless Day 26

Morning: isometrics

• (wall press (3 angles), overhead press (3 angles), bent over row (2 angles)) x 5s x 4 cycles

Evening: ICT6

• (100 rope turns, 10 plyometric pushups, 15 medicine ball slams, 20 lateral jumps over medicine ball) x 8

I did the 8 cycles in 31:15 which works out to be less than 4 min per cycle which isn't too bad.  I was sweating like crazy so I definitely got a good workout.

Minor financial discipline

I knocked another item off my challenge list since I was able to go the entire month of July without buying anything nonessential.  I'll make up for it this month, but I proved to myself that I can have some financial discipline.  I just need to practice it more often.