I woke up early and headed to the man-cave to do a i30x5 Biceps and Triceps workout. I must admit that I kind of cruised the plyo portion of the workout. I could have put out more effort, but I was sloppy. Rounds 4 and 5 were pathetic. However, the actual biceps and triceps part of the workout was strong. I guess I should have just done a traditional arms workout instead of doing i30x5. The plyo was kicking my behind. It does not make me feel good about admitting it. At least I got a terrific pump from the arm workout. I used my Tower 200.
After work I ran around Kapiolani Park a couple times for a total of 32 minutes. You might wonder why 32 and not 30. Well, it’s on the workout schedule that I am using to help me build my conditioning. People a whole lot smarter than myself created the training plan so I follow it.
Ok, I am really frustrated with our so-called leaders in D.C. Check this out…
This morning I headed to the gym and did an i30x5 chest and shoulders workout. I think the folks in the gym must have thought I lost my mind. I tried to do the workout in a lower traffic area so that I wouldn’t be too disruptive with my lifting and plyo intervals. For plyo I set up jump boxes. There was a set of four with different heights. I was pretty wasted by the time I started round 4. Round 5 was a mess. I got a great pump though! i30x5 is a heck of a workout. My shoulders may pay the price during my swim tomorrow.
After work I went for a run. I am trying to rebuild my running base. I completely lost it after the knee injury. So I decided to get on a triathlon training plan (olympic) that allows me to build my running base as well as allowing me to continue swimming and biking. The plan is based on minutes rather than distance. It works well for me because I won’t push my knee to make a distance. I know how long each run will be and I can plan accordingly. Of course, I kind of blow the whole schedule because I was supposed to run 24 minutes, but I went 30. I think that is ok, though, because it is not a whole lot more. Again, I don’t have plans to run a particular race, I just think it makes it easier for me to follow a training schedule to help me build my endurance.
Ok, I usually embed a video here, however, embedding was disabled for this particular video. Anyway, it shows a guy who does a 100 yard freestyle in 40.92 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbBggbTMd1M
I did my chest and back workout. I am not feeling well, so it would be an understatement saying that it was low quality workout. After chest and back, I just blew off the core workout.
I am not sure what it is, but I have a headache that would take down a moose and I am getting light headed and kind of dizzy. I have been like this all day. The last time I felt like this my blood pressure was through the roof. I hope its better tomorrow morning.
So I will keep this short tonight. I wish I could have had a great workout like this guy…
On Saturday I did Tabata Plyo for my cardio workout. I am really liking the Tabata workouts. Today (Sunday) is a rest day for me. My son started another season of football today. It was a good game. I really enjoyed my status as a “retired” coach. The game is much more enjoyable for me now. I have never watched a youth football game as a “parent/spectator”, I have always been a coach.
My son, Brendan, has a great coach. He is a former linebacker that used to play for the University of Utah. He was roommates (and he is also a relative) with former Pittsburgh Steeler running back, Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala. Chris is retired now and lives in Hawaii. Hey, Jeff… aren’t you a Steelers fan?
Anyway, he came to practice on Friday to talk to the team. The kids really enjoy seeing him. He gave the kids great advice, especially the importance of God, parents and education. He signed some photos for the kids and took pictures with them. My son threw the ball to him a couple times so he could tell the kids at school that he threw the ball to a real NFL football player.
So instead of videos today I decided to share a couple photos with you folks.
A photo that Chris autographed for my son, Brendan.
Brendan and Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala just after getting his ball signed
I crushed shoulders and legs today. Well, at least for the first 3 rounds. I went as heavy as I could on the delts. They were aching pretty good. After the half -way point the burn got pretty intense so I had to drop the weight quite a bit to get my reps done. I could barely lift my arms at the end of the workout. Legs went ok. I wasn’t able to hit them quite as hard as the shoulders. Legs are always a bit tougher for me, well, except for the calves (which I hammere. I was able to push through to the end. It took a bit of time for me to walk normally.
The plyo movements went ok, and again, I looked pretty uncoordinated with the plank pillars. The plyo clap push-ups were hard after round 3.
Just for a change I decided to do P90X+ Abs/Core Plus. I haven’t done this workout for quite a while. Actually, I don’t quite remember the last time I did it. At any rate, the abs/core workout went well.
After having recently performed a couple of Tabata workouts I have become a big fan of Tabata training. I have also been interested in Spinervals, a cyclist’s high intensity interval training method. Tabata is a natural fit for Spinervals. Check out today’s video pick…
I liked the Tabata Plyo I did last Tuesday so much that I decided to do it again today. I have big time respect for Tabata. If you do an intense movement like burpees or jump knee tucks for your Tabata circuits you will feel like toast at the completion of your 8 rounds. Go through a few of those eight rounders and you get a pretty tough workout.
I use an iPhone app for my interval timer. I set the timer to give a signal 3 seconds before the rest interval. I found that very helpful because it signaled me to cram in a few more reps. At the end of the 8 rounds the timer has an applause/cheering soundbite so you get that positive feedback when you finish. It might sound a little corny, but after getting trashed that soundbite felt pretty good.
Hey, for all you P90X’ers out there… do you remember when Tony Horton offers up a tip and says something like, “don’t hit your face”? Well, it turns out that this is pretty good advice. Check out my video pick of the day.
I had my alarm set for 4:45am this morning, however, I had to pee really bad at around 4:15am. I hate that because it forces me to get up and use the bathroom shortly before I have to start my day. I jumped back in bed to try and knock off bit more sleep, but you know how that goes… I ended up just tossing and turning. So at 4:30am I decided that instead of doing my plyometrics in bed, I may as well drag my rear end to the man-cave for my workout.
After a short warm-up I started my interval timer and hammered my circuits. I like doing biceps/triceps. I crushed those body parts today. The plyometrics intervals, however, are the butt kickers in i30x5, especially the box jumps and the jump knee tucks. Those really spike my heart rate. The 30 second rests seem awfully short. Oh, I forgot to tell you folks, but the first time I did box jumps a couple weeks ago I kind of broke my bench. I don’t have those adjustable blocks so I used my bench. The apparatus is still usable as a bench, however, this one section of the bench busted when I jumped on it. So now I have a couple of quarter size pallets that I use now. I am in my 3rd week of i30x5 and it ain’t getting any easier. It is a bonafide bone crushing butt kicker. My arms were pumped for quite a while after the workout. It is tough to get all the way through 5 rounds. Maybe I shouldn’t say that because some hot shot will try it out and tell me I’m weak!!!
After I got home from work I knock out abs/core. I usually like doing this in the gym, but I had lunch with the guys in the office. All the guys in my office workout and are sort of health conscious so we have declared Wednesday as salad day! Yipes, the sounds girlie! Anyway, abs/core went quite well. I basically did a bunch of crunches and a lot of the core exercises from P90X core synergistics. Can you say superman/banana?!?!
Since it was biceps day, take a look at guns on this guy doing hammer curls…
When the alarm went off this morning at 4:30am, I didn’t feel like getting up. However, I knew that if I didn’t get my workout done this morning, I wasn’t going to get it done later. So I dragged myself out of bed, brushed my teeth and headed to my man cave. I had chest and back on the schedule. During the first round of circuits I was feeling the effects of yesterday’s Super Bowl snacks. Ok, I know that I should be eating well, but hey, it was the Super Bowl. After the first set of jump knee tucks, I stopped my interval timer and took a break. After a few minutes I started the timer and got back to work. I took it easy on the plyo during the second round. That seemed to help so that by the third round I felt okay… tired, but okay.
I went to the gym at lunch to do my abs/core workout. For some reason I am able to focus much better at the gym when I do abs/core. I am okay with doing the other body parts at home, but I just like doing abs/core at the gym. I know, I’m weird. Anyway, I had a pretty good abs core workout.
Ok, for those of you who have done P90X, you remember the dive bombers right. Well, how about this video…. enjoy!
I have a couple of days of posting to catch up. On Friday, day 12, I did legs and back. Last week I did burpees during one of the circuits. That’s not a good exercise to do during a leg workout. My legs get so wasted during the i30x5 workout that it is hard to get up off the ground and jump. So at the suggestion of one of folks (Steve a.k.a boxcarvibe) who regularly stops by at Project Exercise, I sub ‘d out the burpees with plank pillars. It was a good choice. It was funny though. I have never done these and I looked like an uncoordinated buffoon trying to do the movement. By the third round I was getting the hang of the exercise, but I was so wasted that it still looked ugly. Anyway, the leg workout was pretty decent.
I also had a good shoulder workout. After round 3 I had to drop the resistance a bit. 2o sets and around 250 reps will give you a pretty good burn. The i30x5 workout will exhaust the muscles if done correctly. At the end of one of these strength workouts, you will leave everything behind.
I cleaned up with about 20 minutes of abs/core.
Today, just for the heck of it I did Interval X Plus. This workout is extreme. It comes close to the Insanity plyo sessions. It starts out easy enough, but by the time you hit the mid-way point, the going gets rough. For those of you who of done this P90X+ workout, you know how you feel when doing the Calito 3 ways.
Here is a video Steve recommended. They do the pillars at around 34 seconds.
