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Rippedveg's Training Journal


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So I clearly cannot make five entries this week because today already is January 5. Too bad for me--no chance to win prizes.

 

But I have the awesome ability for feedback and accountability, which are essential in fitness.

 

My training for the next few weeks will be different than is typical for body building but I also haven't signed on to be a real body builder and I'm not vegan--just vegetarian. As an adult, I haven't eaten a lot of dairy and eggs but in the last couple years, I've hit the eggs and honey pretty hard. Also I make my own full fat plain yogurt. Disclosures made!

 

My workouts are changing because I'm joining a challenge at my gym, mainly because the trainer seems pretty amazing. I welcome the chance to work with him and at five small group sessions a week for 8 weeks, I'm essentially paying $12 per session. He focuses on a lot of agility and functional training. My plan is to do my heavier lifting on days when we have only 30 minute sessions. Some sessions are 30, some are 60, some are 90 minutes.

 

Also in the full interest of disclosure, I am a cycle instructor. So until the end of February, Wednesday will feature an indoor cycle class at a bike shop. For the foreseeable future, my Monday will be one indoor cycle class and one hour-long work-out with the program above. I currently do a 45-minute body weight (crossfit influenced) class on Monday in addition to teaching my cycle class. Sunday will be recovery day.

 

I know this is a heavy schedule but I also know that professional bodybuilders work out even more.

Edited by Rippedveg
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Having reviewed the rules for the contest, I can make amends for lost posts.

 

The American bulldog at my side would like me to make amends for his healing TPLO.

 

Also I see I named my training journal after my twitter account (which is named after my bicycle). I'll have to see if I can change it to my handle on this forum.

 

I need to go to the gym soon today. I'm sticking to my desk chair a little today. Partially because I haven't committed to what I'm doing at the gym today. My shoulder was a little twingy yesterday and I've already done legs once this week. So I have to decide what I want and what I'm doing.

 

This week's workouts:

Monday--legs

Tuesday--arms

Wednesday--taught cycle

 

I could go for a walk outside because I am a huge believer in "outdoor therapy" and natural settings (indeed, I am not a gym person, although I am an instructor). There is a meeting at 5:30 for the small group training program that I'm joining. The program starts Saturday. Because I don't know what that work out will be, I'm being indecisive about my workout today and tomorrow.

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I kept today's workout fairly light.

 

5 mins. walking warm up.

20 mins. intervals--slow interval at 6 mph, fast interval at 7.5 min.

45 minutes with TRX Rip Trainer. I'm starting to get the hang of it.

 

The new 8-week program starts tomorrow at the gym. The first session includes a weigh-in, measurements, and pics so I'll be sure to post some data here.

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Homemade soup.

 

I started this yesterday. Actually, I roasted the butternut squash a few days ago.

 

I combined in my slow cooker: 1 roasted butternut squash, one medium head of cauliflower, two broccoli trunks, 1 golden beet, garlic and herbs to taste. Turned it on and it's been cooking while all ingredients soften for about 27 hours now. I ate some for lunch. I'll add some protein and enjoy it for dinner too.

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I'm just learning the TRX Rip Trainer (I have a certification for the regular TRX). So tonight I worked through the booklet, which entailed:

 

Straight arm squat: 20 with Rip Trainer Right, 20 Left + a handful with overhead press

Chest press: 20

Row: 20

Straight arm turn: 20

Hockey Slap Shot: 20

Axe Chop: 12/side (was awkward and I needed to figure it out)

Punch: 20

Squat Row: 20/side

Straight Arm Lunge: 20/side

Horizontal Row: 20

Chest Press: 20

OH Tri Extension: A few--didn't like it!

OH Press--12

Upright Row--12

Bicep Curl--a few

 

Also tried a few inverted butterfly leaps for the first time.

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The Jeans Challenge started today. We attended an hour-long nutrition seminar, some of which I found useful and interesting but...I have a huge problem with people recommending nutritional programs to anyone. Even MDs get this wrong and do damage to people. Nutrition science is only about 100 years old so there is too little real, proven knowledge and to many people willing to tell others what to do. Part-way through the seminar, I realized that we were hearing this practitioner's blend of paleo, gluten-free, organic, soy-free, etc. diet. All the stuff that's popular now was rolled into this diet.

 

I always find it interesting that so many fitness nutrition seminars nod at vegetarianism, in that they mention the word but when you review their protein choices, they have no vegetarians recommendations, especially if they tell you not to eat soy. Needless to say, there was no acknowledgment of vegans. Really, it displays how little these "experts" know about vegans and vegetarians.

 

We only had about 30 minutes to work out so we switched between stair climbers and treadmills.

 

Between the workout and the seminar, we weighed in, got a body fat analysis (but not hydrostatic), took a photo, and measured hips and stomachs.

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Good morning. I just made an awesome breakfast: gluten-free, vegan waffles! The batter was very thick, which made the waffles cook slowly and made them chewy. Next time I'll add a quarter cup water to thin them out a little. If anyone reads this who excels at cooking, please give me feedback. It's not my own recipe.

 

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup cashews (I had pecans on hand so I substituted them)

1 pinch salt

1 Tablespoon oil

1 cup water.

 

First, oil and warm the waffle irons.

 

Grind oats and nuts together in food processor. Take care not to over grind into a buttery consistency. Keep it flour-like. Add salt, oil, water and blend thoroughly. Spoon batter on to the center of the waffle iron.

 

I have an (&^%!) electric stove and cast iron waffle irons. I set my stove top burners to 5/10. These waffles took several minutes per side to cook.

 

I'll make them again but will thin the batter.

 

In the fitness department, Sunday is my recovery day so the most that will happen is a walk.

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Week Two, Monday.

 

I always start Monday with some cream of wheat, sauteed greens (usually Swiss Chard), and others. I need carb calories on Monday because I teach indoor cycle mid-day and I do a work out later.

 

Today is the first real workout for the Jean challenge at the gym. I'll do my best to remember what we do and then post it here.

 

So happy that I'm not sick today. I went to bed a little nauseous and a half hour early. Fortunately whatever was making me sick disappeared in the night and I'm well now.

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Yesterday's first workout with the jeans challenge.

 

We opened with some foam rolling, followed by shoulder and chest stretches. Then we did a series of dynamic warm-up exercises. From there we had 3 stations: TRX row, chest press on stability ball, step up with weights. 40 second rounds with 20 second transition between stations. We did 4 sets.

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Yesterday's workout:

 

30 minutes:

 

Jumping jacks

Squats

Half burpee: Squat down to touch bench, step back to plank, jump up to squat, stand

Plank with hip touch--no hip rotation

Walking Lunges

High knees

 

Also in honor of the 12 Days of Vegan challenge, I've given up eggs for breakfast. My lovely, local, free range eggs.

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Some measurements from last Saturday, when the jeans challenge started.

 

This was not a gas measure process but rather a scale that sent an electrical pulse through your body. Not even the gold standard hydrostatic measure (which I hope to get soon). It was a rather serious scale!

 

I am 5 feet 8.5 inches tall and weigh 135. My BMI is 20.2%. Allegedly my basal metabolic rate is 1373. My fat percentage is 23.9. My total body water percentage was 75.21.

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Surely I will be in for a world of hurt by the time the challenge ends. When I walked in today, Dustin asked if I was in pain today. I am not. I had a little burn in my hamstrings last night and in my triceps in the early hours. But I also did my dead lifts after last night's session. I committed to the dead lifts and I am not leaving them for eight weeks.

 

Last night's work out:

 

Single leg lifts

Squat rows

Push-ups with rotation

Kettlebell curl and press

 

 

On Wednesday I agreed to ride Cinderella Classic (65/95-mile recreational bicycle ride--not a race) with my friend, Jane. While I was at it, I committed to doing the Diablo Challenge (11.2 mile bicycle road ride, elevation gain 3,249 feet) this year. And, please don't tell my husband, but I think I might do the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge this summer. So between my hamstring program and my upper body program and my plan to learn pull-ups, I think I'm set for the year.

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Yesterday our small group trainer asked how my pull-ups are going. We've now down some form of hanging upper body work for two days. I guess Dustin read my PARQ.

 

Today's workout was 90 minutes. I am not sure I'll get it all listed here and I'll probably do that tomorrow because tomorrow is our rest day.

 

At the minute I have little tofu pies in the oven for brunch tomorrow. Tomorrow probably will be my dietary cheat day as well. Husband says I've never made him a tofu pie. I cut the sugar in half and I added a little unsweetened cocoa powder to mask the beany taste of the tofu base. I also made 6 small pies that that eating one single pie isn't too bad.

 

Yesterday's workout:

Ice skaters

Rowing machine

Hanging leg lifts (one of my favorites).

Wood chop

Toss medicine ball against the wall, catch, squat, repeat

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Yesterday was recovery day. I took a short walk but didn't do anything else.

 

Today was Spin plus the jeans challenge. My cycle class is 55 minutes long. Plus we did Athlete's Workout, which is 45 minutes. We then spent about an hour doing some weight lifting--chest press bilateral and unilateral, weight step up, TRX Row, stretch.

 

Dinner tonight, after eating lots of protein earlier in the day, was a simple soup of broth plus veggies and some pecans to add crunch.

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Today was a recovery day for me too. They can be nice and also extremely important and effective in the process to adaptation and improvement toward achieving goals.

 

Spinning is so fun, isn't it?

 

I had some spin classes with Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser and then I would do my own spinning sessions, just on my own, just as motivated, pushing it hard.

 

All the best with your week of training! Go get em!

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Hi, Robert and thank you for the note. Sometimes I enjoy a solo spin more than class too. I've cut back on my cardio to build muscle...it was hard but I prefer this new way of working out.

 

Quick note for today because it is bed time already.

 

Tonight's gym challenge was a half hour work out:

Body weight leg extension with a jump

squats

V-up, right, left, center

plank to push-up

 

Side plank rotating from left to right and holding at each side

rowing machine

TRX row

ropes

ball to the wall

rowing machine

shoulder press

 

I tacked on about 25 minutes of solo Spin to start prepping for Cinderella.

 

Then it was customer appreciation night at the gym...so I managed to wrap up with a brief, free massage. Life is great.

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Today was indoor cycling at Eden. I have to admit that there were times when I was happy to get off my bike and check on my riders. My husband asked if I am training too hard but I feel like I've cut back since the new year (I'm atypical). The sessions with Dustin in some ways are not as intense as what I do on my own. That said, I respect Dustin and I am so excited to work with him and to take a different approach in my training. I signed up for this because I knew what Dustin offers and wanted that.

 

Sadly I didn't do my deadlifts on Tuesday night. I have to do them tomorrow. I committed to staying with them. But I also learned last Saturday that my my form on dumbbell deadlifts needs work. Sigh...I thought my barbell form was good but maybe it isn't as good as I thought.

 

As a non-vegan on this site, I feel a little like an interloper. I am here to learn and because I support vegans and I believe a lot of the vegan philosophies (or I wouldn't be vegetarian). I don't feel pressured to become vegan but I am mindful that this is vegan space. So I also realized that I chose to give up cheese a few months ago. I needed to cut additional calories and my cheese was an easy way to shave off a little. I've maintained my pledge to substitute organic tofu for eggs in the morning and I'd already stopped cheese. My main consumption of animal foods is homemade yogurt and milk in my coffee (and any incidental baked goods along the way). Oh, and a teaspoon of honey for my allergies each day. So I am slowly moving in the vegan direction.

 

Okay, bed time. Tomorrow is a day in the office.

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Thank you, Robert, for such positive comments and encouragement. I really appreciate the space you've created and the knowledge that you share with us.

 

Today I put in a calm 60 minutes on the bike to train for Cinderella. It's raining so it was an inside ride.

 

The small group workout was

Dynamic warm up

Squats with band

Side step with band

Lat cable pull

Fast lunge

One legged squat with kettlebell (horrible at this)

KB shoulder press

Plank with rotation

Three variations of V-ups, side knee ab thing, and another ab exercise.

 

Oh, 2.5 minutes of plank and I didn't drop once. Typically I plank on Monday, after I've already taught spin. Planking after cycling is really hard. So I didn't know that I could hold plank that long.

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Making the entry in the day light, not squeezing it in before bed!

 

I'm a little paranoid that Dustin is reading my training journal. Also that means I think the world in some small sense revolves around me...but I know it doesn't. I say this because every time I get all up about doing my deadlifts...we do deadlifts in small group. Also Dustin seems worried that I think we aren't going hard enough, fast enough, or lifting enough weights. Hey, Dustin, I'm happy with the group. I want you to find the imbalances (and that assessment you did today found them--I had to spend 41 years in this body to figure all that out). And I want to have good form for my lifts because I am a little scared that if I start doing the big serious lifts, I will get hurt.

 

Speaking of form, the bottom 1/3 of my barbell deadlift is not right.

 

I was the only person who showed for 9 AM small group today. This means I had a private session with Dustin. And we did barbell deadlifts, which I yammered about last night. Weird coincidences tend to happen in my life.

 

So we did a little warmup on the treadmill, including sideways shuffles, then dynamic stretching. Then set an incline on the treadmill, didn't turn it on, and I reenacted pulling a sled up a hill (funnny, that's how I was envisioning it and that's how Dustin described it)...that was cool.

 

Next: run quarter mile, dips, deadlifts, leaps over a step, step, piviot, leap, step, pivot leap 20x

Run quarter mile, dip, deadlift, leap 'n pivot 15x

Run quarter mile, dip, deadlift, leap 'n pivot 10x.

 

So because my back rounds in the bottom 1/3 of my deadlift, Dustin gave me an additional assessment and found a tight left hamstring and tight right quad. He did so because my deadlift problem is not an issue of core strength--it's an issue of flexibility. I agree completely. Part of my leg routine is about balancing quad dominance and building hamstring and adductor strength. So in less than 2 weeks of small group, Dustin found these things. And that's why I wanted to work with him.

 

Now I'll have to discuss my plan to perfect a natural glute-ham raise with him.

 

Hummus for lunch. Creamy, eaten straight up by the spoonful.

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Saturday was a 90 minute workout

 

We started with agility moves like shuffles, inch worms, sprints, etc...

We repeated last Saturday's workout with pull-ups, sumo high pulls, and dead lifts (one big barbell). I actually lifted 100 pounds and my form was much better. We wrapped up with some abs--v ups, spidermans (forward and backwards--it's so hard backwards!), and planks.

 

Tonight for dinner I had caramelized cauliflower. Amazing. Can't wait to make that again.

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Every couple weeks I get ravenous and start cheating on my diet. It's true...it starts slowly with a little bite here or there. Next thing I know I'm in the middle of two cheat days with not much intention of letting out. Slowly my brain gets back in gear. I'm in the middle of one of those now.

 

Spin this afternoon, mid-day. Small group lifting after Athlete's workout tonight.

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Every couple weeks I get ravenous and start cheating on my diet. It's true...it starts slowly with a little bite here or there. Next thing I know I'm in the middle of two cheat days with not much intention of letting out. Slowly my brain gets back in gear. I'm in the middle of one of those now.

 

Spin this afternoon, mid-day. Small group lifting after Athlete's workout tonight.

 

Hang in there. We all go through it. My experience has been to get into the gym. A good workout puts me back on track.

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