April 17, 2014

Haven't posted since last week. I have had a great day today. Been part of a squat challenge in a group I am in, so far have done 500 squats throughout the day.
My workouts seem to be going really good. My strength is increasing. I feel great with my lifts. Started doing pull ups and dips with weighted vest. Still increasing on squats and dead lifts, as well as everything else.
So here is today's workout routine.
Workout
50 burpees warm up-yes still had to warm up even with all squats during day
Weighted pull ups 4x5 w/ 34# vest
Squats 4x5 1@225, 1@245, 2@265
DB shoulder press 4x5 @ 60
Dead lift 4x5 1@225, 3@245
Curls 4x5 @ 105
Calf Raises 4x5 @ 360
Weighted dips 4x5 w/ 45# vest
10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 burpees
Push ups with feet elevated 30

With end of today's workout, I have completed day 17 of Spartan push up challenge and day 25 of 100 burpees a day for 100 days challenge. Moving right along!

April 9, 2014

I had another great day! This morning did my push ups for day 9 of 30 day Spartan challenge. This afternoon I was back at the gym lifting. I was able to increase my weight on several of the exercises, surprising to me. I have been doing lighter weight explosive type exercises for so long, I didn't know if would be able to lift heavy again. I will continue increasing weight each workout til unable to get reps for that set. Plus going to add a set to each exercise next week.
Today's workout
50 burpees warm up
Rest 1 min
Weighted pull ups 3x5 with 24# vest
Squats 3x5 @ 225
DB Shoulder Press 3x5 1@50, 2@55
Dead lift 3x5 @ 205
Curls 3x5 @ 95
Calf Raises 3x5 1@200, 2@290
Dips 3x5 @ BW
50 burpees to complete workout
*Rest 1 min b/w sets and workouts.
Like I said, I will continue going up with my weight. Be interesting at end of 4 wks to see what gains I make. With the completion of 100 burpees that completes day 17 of 100 burpees 100 days challenge.

April 7, 2014

Had a great workout this afternoon. Going to back off running so much for next 4 weeks and work on my strength and adding a little size. I definitely want to improve my squats and dead lifts over this time. I have been doing squats, but just don't feel like I am that strong in them. Dead lifts on the other hand suck, I have never been a fan. I think once I get the form down for lifting I will do fine. So here is this afternoons routine.
50 burpees warm up
Pull ups 24# vest 3x5
Squats 3x5 1@205, 2@225
DB Shoulder Press 3x5 2@45, 1@50
Dead lift 3x5 3@185
Curls 3x5 3@75
Dips 3x5 BW
Calf Raises 3x5 3@180
50 burpees to finish
Rest was 1 min between each set and exercise. This is different than have done in past 22 months. See where it takes me. Happy training!

April 4, 2014

Another quick routine, pressed for time! But you know what I really like doing them like this. Today I was little slower than Wednesday plus I added dead lifts into the routine.
Routine this afternoon
Pull ups 30
Burpees 100
Squats 30
DB Curls 30
Shoulder Press 30
Dead lift 30
Calf raises 30
Finished in 24:24 today!

This morning tried to run, but I got a block from house and it started lightning, so that was a no go. I did do 60 push ups though this morning.

April 3, 2014

Another great day training! Today no running...did 75 min Taekwondo class, actually did some sparring tonight, love it...100 burpees, 50 push ups, 30 squats, and 30 calf raises.

April 2, 2014

Another great day training. This morning I did a 5K jog. Not trying to on speed. Just logging some miles right now. After my run I did day 2 of 30 day push up challenge. Then I stretched out to increase flexibility and cool down.
This afternoon had another great workout. I was pressed for time so I changed up my routine a little today. I did the following routine for time.
Workout
Pull ups 30
Burpees 100
Squats 30
DB curls 30
Shoulder Press 30
Calf raises 30
Finished in 17:57...felt great! Day 10 of 100 burpees a day for 100 days challenge complete and day 29 of 30 day squat challenge done!

March 31, 2014

Great workouts today! This morning did 5K run then stretched really good. Afternoon session was at the gym!
Superset routine: 30s rest b/w sets
Pull ups 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Burpees 20, 20, 20, 20, 20
Rest 1 min b/w supersets
Squats 8, 8, 8, 6, 6
DB curls 8, 8, 8. 8, 8
Rest 1 min
Dead lifts 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Shoulder press 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Rest 1 min
Wide t-bar rows 10, 10, 10
Calf raises 10, 10, 10
Rest 1 min
Tire flips 10, 10, 10
Battle ropes 30s, 30s, 30s
Rest 1 min
Toes to bar 8, 8
Russian twist 15, 15
Rest 1 min
Plank routine 5 min

Couldn't get 3rd set of toes to bar due to hip flexors cramping. Felt great otherwise today! Got my 100 burpees in, 30+ squats and 30 calf raises.

January 20, 2014 training

Training was great today. I started back running yesterday a week after my marathon. I ran 5k. Felt great to be out running. Today I did 9 miles of running. This morning ran 4.5 miles to work. It was a slow run, but it felt awesome.
This afternoon the return run was split into 2 runs. First was 1.67 miles to the gym. When I got to the gym, I did a 40 minute workout, then ran the remainder 2.9 miles back to the house.
The workout was awesome as well. I was not able to get all reps on last set of muscle ups.
Workout
20 pull ups
5 burpees
Rest 30 sec
15 pull ups
10 burpees
Rest 30 sec
10 pull ups
15 burpees
Rest 1 min
12 hack squats
5 handstand push ups
Rest 30 sec
12 hack squats
5 handstand push ups
Rest 30 sec
12 hack squats
5 handstand push ups
Rest 1 min
10 tire flips with tire jumps
Rest 1 min
25 push ups
5 muscle ups
Rest 30 sec
25 push ups
5 muscle ups
Rest 30 sec
25 push ups
3 muscle ups
Rest 1 min
2x10 toes to bar, 30 sec rest.
The tire flips kicked my tail. I was sucking wind when finished them. I hope to add another set of them this week.
Ready to see how the rest of week turns out.

January 17, 2014 training

I had a great training session today. I added an exercise into my routine that have not done in long time and one have never been able to do. So today I still did everything as high intensity, and actually turned up my intensity with the workout.
I decided to add hack squats into today's workout. I want to work on increasing my leg strength. I will probably add regular squats with weights in couple weeks instead of just doing air squats. Secondly I added muscle ups. I have never been able to do these successfully or completely, today was able to do. I had to have a box to jump up off of to do, but it is a start for me. I look to get better at these and be able to do from the ground soon.
Here is today's workout:
Jump rope 2x100
15 pull ups
5 burpees
Rest 30 sec
10 pull ups
10 burpees
Rest 30
5 pull ups
15 burpees
Rest 1 min
10 Hack squat
5 handstand push ups
Rest 30 sec
10 hack squats
5 handstand push ups
Rest 30
10 hack squats
5 handstand push ups
Rest 1 min
10 tire flips with tire jump after each flip
Rest 1 min
10 toes to bar
Bear climb up/down flight of stairs
Rest 30 secs
10 toes to bar
Bear climb up/down flight of stairs
Rest 1 min
5 muscle ups
Rest 1 min
5 muscle ups
Done
Great workout. I look to improve on this routine. Really looking to getting stronger this year.

January 16, 2014 training

Today was another great training day. I am still not pushing to full potential yet. Today I did a high intensity routine. I began my workout with 10 minutes on stair master. I did 2 minute warm up followed by 6x30 sec sprint with 30 sec recovery. Then I did 2 minute cool down.
After the stair master, I did 2 Tabata routines, four minutes for each routine. First routine was jump rope followed by butt kicks. Second routine was jumping jacks followed by air squats. After the Tabata routines I did 30 burpees. Finished today's workout with 10 toes to bar. I really felt great today when done. I hope that I can continue to push harder tomorrow and Saturday, then by Monday be back out running.

January 15, 2014 training/recap

Been a few days since last posted something. The 10th and 11th did not do much. I was getting ready for the marathon on the 12th in Mobile, AL. I had to travel on the 10th after work. The 11th I hung out with friends, but my eating and drinking was not that great. Race day showed me.
January 12th I ran my first marathon. This was the First Light Marathon in Mobile, AL. I was excited about running this race because it was in my home town. My nerves were running wild before the start. Weather was chilly and sunny. Great for the run.
The race started out very well. Took about 1 mile or so til the runners thinned out and was not in such a crowd to run. Course was flat for the first 7 miles, which was awesome since all I run on is hills. I had a great pace going at the half-way point of the race. I actually was ran a faster half than my previous PR. I was at 1:39:00. Pace was still looking good around 18 miles, right around 2:35:00. Then things started changing. I began to cramp. I pushed on through those initial cramps, but at mile 20 I had cramps in my hip flexors and glutes. At this point I was around 2:55:00 with 10k to go. But as the cramps became more severe I had to walk and run. I would run til cramps began then walk til eased up. By this point I had stopped sweating and was looking for Gatorade and water to drink. The last 10k I hit every hydration station and drank both. I ate pretzels and gummy bears. I was doing anything to get fluids back in and ease the cramps. All I can say is the never quit in me allowed me to push through the last 10k to finish my first marathon. I completed it in 4:16:28. No not the time I was shooting for. I really wanted to be under 4 hours, even looked at trying for 3:30:00. But being my first time, I am proud of myself. I learned some valuable lessons about hydration and nutrition during a marathon.
January 13th I was able to run 1 mile at a slow pace. Then I did my workout routine. 15 pull ups
5 burpees
30 sec rest
10 pull ups
10 burpees
30 sec rest
5 pull ups
15 burpees
Rest
Then I did 2x5 hand stand push ups, 2x20 air squats, 2x10 toes to bar. Felt great after workout.
Then January 14th hit. I could not move much at all yesterday. Every step hurt, breathing hurt. Very different for me.
Today I was not as sore. I went back to gym to workout. I warmed up 5 min on elliptical. After my warm up I did the following workout:
15 pull ups
5 burpees
30 sec rest
10 pull ups
10 burpees
30 sec rest
5 pull ups
15 burpees
Rest 1 min
5 hand stand push ups
Rest 1 min
5 hand stand push ups
Rest 1 min
10 tire flips with 2 tire jumps after each flip
Rest 1 min
12 squat thrust
Rest 1 min
12 squat thrust
Rest 1 min
10 toes to bar
Bear crawl up/down flight of stairs
Rest 1 min
10 toes to bar
Bear crawl up/down flight of stairs
Great day...worked the soreness out from Sunday. Ready to get back to full strength.

January 3, 2014 training

Today was a great training day. I had to go back to gym to run on treadmill again. But it was better today. I ran another 5k today. Ran my first 2 miles at 8 min mile pace and the final 1.1 at 6:15 mile pace.
After my run I did the following workout routine:
15 pull ups
5 burpees
Rest 30 sec
10 pull ups
10 burpees
Rest 30 sec
5 pull ups
15 burpees
Then 2x5 hand stand push ups, 100 crunches, and 200 push ups.
So I got my 30 burpees in again today. Hand stand push ups were tough. I can't go that deep yet. I want to get stronger at these.
Looking forward to tomorrow so I can get a long run in. Have great night.

December 22, 2013

Today's workout was pretty good. It was a 5k run for time and compare to day 4. I don't feel like I ran that well today. I wore a new pair of Vibram's today. That was not the smartest thing to do, but that is neither here nor there. I also have not been eating great the last week. Working in nursing home is tough during holidays with all the cookies, etc that come into building. But with all of that, I still was 11 secs faster than the run on Dec 4th. Today I completed in 21:51 vs 22:02 on Dec 4th. Still want to be faster. Have 10 days til my first 5k of 2014. Would like to complete in under 20 min.
After my run I did 25 toes to bar. My hands very tender from previous 2 days, so I was not able to hold my grip for all 25. I did 12, 8, 5. I will shoot to get all tomorrow. When finished these I did 30 burpees to end my workout. I think it is time to bump up to 40 a day. We will see tomorrow morning.
Hope everyone had a great Sunday!

December 15-18, 2013

Have not blogged in few days! I have had some tough workouts. I continue to do my daily burpees challenge. After this afternoon I have complete 29 days. As for my workouts, here is what been doing.
Sunday 15th I did 3 rounds of 30 burpees and 400 meter sprint. 3 minutes rest between rounds. Monday 16th I did 6 kettle bell swings on the minute for 20 minutes. Been a while since done any of these. My upper back was feeling it. Tuesday 17th was 10, 9, 8...3, 2, 1 of kettle bell swings and pull ups for time. I completed in 9:28. I can definitely tell not done pull ups in a while. They were rough. Today was very hard. Shoulders are really getting sore and it has only been couple hours since finished workout. Today was 3 rounds of 800 meter runs and 100 meter reverse bear crawls with minimal rest for time. I completed this workout in 25:39. 
I have also been doing the toes to bar challenge I designed. Sunday was 15, not to bad. Still issues with grip at times. Monday and Tues was 17 both days. I did not have much of an issue with these. Now today on the other hand was hard. Today was 20, I got the reps in, but my grip killed me. I had to complete in 3 sets 11, 6, 3. Hope tomorrow will be better.
Overall good past few days of training!

December 14, 2013

Today I combined yesterday's workout with today's. I did get my 30 burpees in yesterday, but was not able to do the running routine that was schedule due to a sick child. So I decided to do Friday and today's this morning.
First part of the routine was to run 60 minutes, record distance and compare to day 1. Well I was little slower this AM with the run, I did 7.15 miles, last time 7.3. Then I was to continue running 30 more minutes. Well I decided I was going to run 20 miles this AM. But at 1 1/2 hours I had ran 10.42 miles. I finished the morning run with 20 miles at 2:59:32 miles. Not too bad! I was shooting for 3 hrs to complete. I did it!
After about 2 hours to recover, I did today's routine. This was great routine. Never had done goblet squats before. I did them with 25# weight. Routine was 2 rounds of 20 goblet squats and 20 push ups with 30 second rest. Afterwards I did 30 burpees.
Today was great! Accomplished a distance never done before and am closer to reaching my marathon goal.
Have great weekend!

December 10 & 11, 2013

The past 2 days have been great workouts. I am really enjoying these routines. Yesterday's workout was tough, but today's was not too bad. I am still sore from Sunday, but continue to push.
Tuesday my workout was 5 minute burpees test. That was hard. AMRAP in the 5 min. I did 52...started out too fast. I did 15 in first minute, by the time minute 2 had passed I was sucking wind. At the end I was looking for some oxygen. After my burpees and I could breathe, I did 5 minute plank hold. That took whatever I had left out of me. Later on in day I did 30 more burpees for the challenge I am doing and 14 toes to bar. I was surprised at how well I was able to do on the toes to bar. It does pull everything in my body when I do them.
Today was little easier. I was surprised with my running today. It has been a week or so since actually able to run other than when suppose to for workout. This morning I did my routine which was 3 rounds of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 yd bear crawl with 1 min rest b/w rounds. Bear crawl was easier. Afterwards I did 30 burpees. An hour and half later after kids went to school, I ran to work. This a 4.5 mile run. I was just doing a jog to work like normally so I thought which normally takes 37-41 min. I did not feel like was running very fast and was not breathing that hard. When I finished I had done the run in 34:40 a 7:42 pace. I guess the burpees and other activities are really paying off. This afternoon I did the 14 toes to bar. I could feel these more today. Only reason I waited was the bars outside were slick with ice this AM. I could manage the pull ups, but was worried about slipping off during the TTB.
Training is going great. If my eating would not stray off I would have great results. But all I can do is continue to work hard and try. Have great one!

December 8 & 9, 2013

Sunday was a nasty day. I was to get up and run 18 miles early that morning and it was pouring down rain. Instead of running got up and finished helping my friend finish up move. When got done yesterday evening I did my workout. Thought it was going to be fairly easy until I started. I was sore from Friday's bear crawls and Saturday's hike.
Sunday was crab walk 50m and reverse crab walk 25m, then perform 25 prisoner squats. Oh my! I thought bear walks were tough...crab walking was very tough. Who needs weights for shoulder and triceps work? Not me! They were destroyed after these walks. I performed 2 rounds of this routine with 2 minutes rest between rounds. Afterwards I did 30 burpees, 110 sec wall sit and 240 sec plank hold.
So today I have been feeling my shoulders. The workout today was great. It consisted of pull ups. I could tell not done in couple weeks. But still able to squeeze out the reps. Also today was suppose to sprint row on erg machine, but did not have access to one, so I did a 2 minute sprint. The workout was 3 rounds of 15 pull ups and 2 minute sprint. Gave myself 1 minute b/w rounds. Afterwards I did 3 sets of 30 sec bottom push up hold a superset with 10 wall squats. Then I did 30 burpees, 120 sec wall sit, 12 toes to bar and 270 second plank. Besides weather being wet cold and nasty and interfering with my runs, workouts have been great.

December 7, 2013

Today was another good workout. It was cold, windy and damp. At least not raining this morning. I was feeling the effects from yesterday's workout this morning as well.
Today's workout was designed to build grip strength along with working on downhill running. I was to hike 20 min uphill carrying a heavy object, then at 20 min had to sprint back to the start. I did not have a place to just hike uphill, but the place I did hike was up and down hill.
So I did my hikes carrying a 5 gallon bucket full of water (40#). Once I hit the 20 minute mark, I gave myself 6 minutes to sprint back to the start. It took every second to get back. Then once back at start, I repeated this activity again.
After finishing the 2nd sprint, I rested about 2 min, then did 10 toes to bar, 30 burpees, 240 second plank hold, and 100 second wall sit.
This was a great workout. Realized I need to work on my grip strength. Have great Saturday!

December 6, 2013

Today was a cold wet day! Don't know about you guys training, but I was not really looking forward to going outside and doing this one. But I did it anyway. I am so glad it was rest day from plank and toes to bar.
Today's workout though has left me freaking sore. My shoulders were on fire when done, and I am feeling it in my legs tonight. I never thought that bear crawls would make me feel this way. But oh my!! I was gasping for breath and trying to come up with thoughts to keep my mind off the fact that my shoulders were about to fall off. I wanted to give up, but I dug deep and completed the workout.
Workout today
3 rounds
100m bear crawl
50m reverse bear crawl
2 minute rest
I think the reverse bear crawl was harder than I could have imagined.
Afterwards I completed day 17 of the 30 burpees 30 day challenge, and finished with a 90 second wall sit.
What a great challenge today, but I completed it. Look forward to tomorrow.

December 5, 2013

I had a great day training. When done I was soaked with sweat and sucking wind. Felt great!
Workout started with 3 rounds of 400m run then a 200m active rest. So I did bounding skips for my active rest. Really focusing on driving the front leg up and getting some height. After the 3 rounds, I performed 3x15 burpees with 1 min rest between sets.
Next I did 9 toes to bar. These were still not too bad. I feel like the challenge will get harder after about 12 reps. After those I did an 80 second wall sit, followed by a 210 second plank hold. Man I was feeling that in every muscle. Last but not least, I finished the workout off with 30 burpees. Stretches to cool down afterwards.
Great routine and workout today. Took a while to breath normal again.