Never Gymless Day 8

Morning: isometrics

• (Wall press (3 angles) for 5 breaths, overhead press (3 angles) for 5 breaths, bent over row (2 angles) for 5 breaths) x 4 cycles

Evening: EIT workout 2

• 10 burpees, 50 yd sprint, 10 plyometric pushups, 50 yd backwards run - as many cycles as possible in 15 min

I was only able to do 4.25 cycles because of the plyometric pushups.  I'm still not beefcake so I've got a ways to go.  Fortunately, I've finished every workout so at least I get my participation medal.

Never Gymless Day 7

Morning: maximal strength workout

• (Body rows x 10, hamstring curls x 10) x 4 with 60s rest in between exercises
• Medicine ball pushups x 3 + 60s rest
• Assisted one legged squats x 5 + 60s rest
• Medicine ball pushups x 4 + 60s rest
• Assisted one legged squats x 5 + 60s rest
• Medicine ball pushups x 4 + 60s rest
• Assisted one legged squats x 5 + 60s rest
• Medicine ball pushups x 5 + 60s rest
• Assisted one legged squats x 6 + 60s rest
• (Pike press x 10, good morning x 15) x 4 with 60s rest in between exercises
• One legged calf raises x 10, 12, 15 with 60s rest between sets

I had an easier time with this workout than I did last week so I'm definitely making some progress.  I was able to do the full pike press workout and could do more calf raises.  My balance still needs some work, but it'll come.

Evening: core

• Crunches x 10
• Lying hip swing x 20
• 33s plank
• Crunches x 10
• Lying hip swing x 20
• 33s plank
• Crunches x 10
• Lying hip swing x 20
• 37s plank

I was able to plank longer than last week so I'm making progress.

July 4 weekend

My goal this year was to be away from Albany for every holiday I get off.  I spent a night over Memorial Day weekend in Beacon.  I had hoped to go up to Canada for this weekend, but it didn't work out so I went down to Ithaca instead.  I played pickup frisbee and realized how much further I need to go to get into shape.  That night, I went with my friend to a barbecue hosted by some of her friends.  The food was good and the host had some fireworks.

The next morning, we went out to breakfast and she told me about the badass martial arts classes she's taking.  She even showed me how to arm bar someone to establish distance.  I like the "science" of fitness about as much as anything.

I drove back Sunday morning and ran into some pretty heavy rain near Oneonta.  I did some chores around the house and read quite a bit.

This morning, I did my exercises and got my ass out into the yard.  I finished mowing the front yard and mowed as much of the back yard as I could before the charge ran out.  I then got out my ladder to clean off my gutters.  It turns out the guards are the perforated kind rather than the ones with slits, so they were easy to brush clean.  I got up on the roof over the hot tub to brush off some leaves.  I was going to go over to the other side, but my shoes were wet and I chickened out.  Heh.  I'm getting my yard into better shape for sure though it still needs a lot of work.

My July 4 dinner was baked beans, salad, grilled squash, a grilled chicken sandwich and a Mexican Coke (made with real sugar):

I feel pretty good because I was productive.  I've got to keep it up this week so I can catch up on my chores.

Never Gymless Day 6

Morning: ICT workout 2

• (10 medicine ball woodchoppers, 15 medicine ball slams, 10 burpees) x 8 for time

I was able to complete the series in 25:26.  I'm not sure if that time is good or bad, but I was able to finish so I feel accomplished.

Evening: isometrics

• (Wall press (3 angles) for 5 breaths, overhead press (3 angles) for 5 breaths, bent over row (2 angles) for 5 breaths) x 4

Survival knife

My new survival knife, a KA-BAR Becker BK2, came yesterday and I'm pretty stoked. I was looking for a good knife for camping and for when I go hiking. I also wanted something sturdy to prepare for the eventual zombie apocalypse.

Holy moly. This knife is solid. I wouldn't exactly call it heavy because it's well-balanced, but it has a... substantial feel to it. Most reviews stated you can cut everything from tree branches to tomatoes with it without a problem so it should be useful. It cut a cardboard box like a hot knife through butter.

It came with a durable plastic sheath which makes it tough to actually get the knife out. I must be doing something incorrectly so I'll poke around on the internet for help.

Here's a picture of the bad boy:

Pinole

I read Born to Run earlier this year and have been intrigued by pinole ever since. I finally decided to make some for an in-game snack since I'll go down to Ithaca this afternoon for some ultimate.

The following recipe is based off one I found online (I doubled it):

1 cup of yellow ground corn meal
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
2 tbs of agave nectar
1 tbs of ground maca root
some chia seeds

Toast the corn meal in a skillet over medium-high heat until it browns up - 5-10 minutes.
Mix toasted corn meal in a bowl with everything else. Add 225 mL of water and mix to thicken. Form into "cookies" and bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes.

After baking, here's what I got:

They sort of look and smell like snickerdoodles, but I'm pretty sure they'll have their own taste. I'll find out later today and will edit this post with the taste results. Maca root has a pretty strong flavor, but so does cinnamon.

7/3/11 edit: I tried a couple of these today and they taste ok. They're really dry so I would add dried fruit and/or some chocolate to them the next time I make them.

Never Gymless Day 5

Today is rest day, but there is an option to do a light workout so I jumped some rope and then did some jumping jacks on my mini trampoline.  It wasn't much of a workout, but it helped work some of the kinks out from the previous four days.

The Never Gymless plan is 50 consecutive days, but I'm going to spread it out over ten weeks so that I have the weekends to do my own thing - hiking, frisbee and biking.  I'm not as beefcake as the target audience so I could use the extra couple of days of rest.