Glutes are sore, quads are like jelly. Upper body still sore from Monday. Definitely time for a day off. Normally I would have hit kickboxing at 11:15 but I advised myself against it. I think I'll just get my neck stretches and back exercises in and call it a day.
Last night after dinner, I started getting lethargic...really fast. I basically passed out or shut down and had a nap - something really unusual for me. I like naps though so it was kind of cool. :) I then woke up and promptly ate some watermelon while we watched the fireworks in English Bay. Sappy music but otherwise China's show was pretty damn good.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Day 54 - Legs
Like a potato sometimes, my legs are baked. Good heavy session today. I left with wobbly legs. The really cool thing was no pukey feelings at all today. Perhaps related to this is that I haven't exactly been sticking to a particular diet. I just make sure that I eat enough to have a strong workout and try to stay away from crap. I'm almost certainly getting too much in the carbs department and not enough in the protein department...
Turns out my current protein powder seems to have a hint of cassein protein to it. Some of the shakes are not tasty unless they are chilled down. My frozen blueberries help the chill but sometimes I add ice cubes. More than once I've skipped the shake because of the dreaded taste I knew it would bring. Nightmares of the old pure cassein days...
I also haven't been taking my one-a-day vitamin, CLA and I've been hit and miss on the glutamine. I'm definitely not taking the glutamine before workouts and I've been playing around a bit with having it about an hour before bed. Heard that works well. I'm pretty sure it was the glutamine or the vitamin that contributed to my pukey feelings so maybe I'll add back in the vitamin to see if the brings on the stomach contents.
Today's exercises brought on the need to engage my lower back a lot and it wasn't fully up to the task. My shoulders are also tight since I've been really hit and miss on the stretches. Have to get both of those things going again...
Turns out my current protein powder seems to have a hint of cassein protein to it. Some of the shakes are not tasty unless they are chilled down. My frozen blueberries help the chill but sometimes I add ice cubes. More than once I've skipped the shake because of the dreaded taste I knew it would bring. Nightmares of the old pure cassein days...
I also haven't been taking my one-a-day vitamin, CLA and I've been hit and miss on the glutamine. I'm definitely not taking the glutamine before workouts and I've been playing around a bit with having it about an hour before bed. Heard that works well. I'm pretty sure it was the glutamine or the vitamin that contributed to my pukey feelings so maybe I'll add back in the vitamin to see if the brings on the stomach contents.
Today's exercises brought on the need to engage my lower back a lot and it wasn't fully up to the task. My shoulders are also tight since I've been really hit and miss on the stretches. Have to get both of those things going again...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Dasy 52 - Numbers are up again
Had a good PT session. We're back to upper/lower alternating days now that my pukeyness has settled down a bit. My numbers were back up to what I was doing before the big holiday lay-off so that's good. No big pukey feelings today either. Nutrition was decent, drank lots of water, motivation was pretty high.
Yesterday, my kickboxing club had their annual BBQ at Ambleside Park. It was pretty much the only day in July to rain but luckily it stopped just before we started. We had class at 12:00 on the grass. I like working outdoors like that except for one thing - the Canada Geese were roaming and feeding freely on the grass and what goes in must come out. Part of the exercise was following instructions, part was avoiding shit. Not everyone brought shoes and you could hear exclamations from our shoeless peers as they "encouuntered" some goose leftovers. I myself only hit one bad patch, unfortunately, I was one of the shoeless folks... Next year, I'll know better. I'm thinking of renting some sort of vacuum and hit the field before hand or maybe camp out there and scare off the feathered buggers for a few days straight. Used to eat them back home but in urban settings that is somehow not cool. Especially the part where you use a 12-guage shotgun to harvest them. Oh well, I never really liked the taste anyways.
Ended up getting a pretty decent workout from the kickboxing class. My calves were sore and so was my lower ab. Lots of jumping jacks and clapping pushups were to credit for that good stuff.
Yesterday, my kickboxing club had their annual BBQ at Ambleside Park. It was pretty much the only day in July to rain but luckily it stopped just before we started. We had class at 12:00 on the grass. I like working outdoors like that except for one thing - the Canada Geese were roaming and feeding freely on the grass and what goes in must come out. Part of the exercise was following instructions, part was avoiding shit. Not everyone brought shoes and you could hear exclamations from our shoeless peers as they "encouuntered" some goose leftovers. I myself only hit one bad patch, unfortunately, I was one of the shoeless folks... Next year, I'll know better. I'm thinking of renting some sort of vacuum and hit the field before hand or maybe camp out there and scare off the feathered buggers for a few days straight. Used to eat them back home but in urban settings that is somehow not cool. Especially the part where you use a 12-guage shotgun to harvest them. Oh well, I never really liked the taste anyways.
Ended up getting a pretty decent workout from the kickboxing class. My calves were sore and so was my lower ab. Lots of jumping jacks and clapping pushups were to credit for that good stuff.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Day 48 - Podiatrist
Just got back from my podiatrist appointment. Went over the results of the taped-foot run from June 12. The two aches I described are apparently common ones from that sort of thing. Heel pain is from the tight taping around the ankle, shins splint from the padding twisting my heel a bit too far. I went over the feeling of poor circulation with him and described in some more detail what was going on. It so happened that even walking the 5-6 blocks to the clinic brought on that painful feeling.
In the foot diagram, it roughly shows the area where I get the numbing and achy feeling. The podiatrist said that that is more indicative of muscle or nerve pain, not circulation. Circulation pain would give more of a lateral pattern - i.e. all the toes. He tapped around the foot a bit, poked and prodded and concluded the most likely scenario is muscle pain in the arch. So we casted for orthotics and I'll get them in 2 weeks, try them for 3-4 weeks then see him again for a follow up.
I'm hoping this does the trick because I want to get back into running. My winter fat layer is going nowhere without so good sustained cardio baby!
In the foot diagram, it roughly shows the area where I get the numbing and achy feeling. The podiatrist said that that is more indicative of muscle or nerve pain, not circulation. Circulation pain would give more of a lateral pattern - i.e. all the toes. He tapped around the foot a bit, poked and prodded and concluded the most likely scenario is muscle pain in the arch. So we casted for orthotics and I'll get them in 2 weeks, try them for 3-4 weeks then see him again for a follow up.
I'm hoping this does the trick because I want to get back into running. My winter fat layer is going nowhere without so good sustained cardio baby!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Day 47
Managed to get my nutrition stabilized a bit for today's PT session. I also put off having the glutamine until after the workout. Last but not least, I brought a water bottle with delicious cold H2O with me and kept up the hydration during the workout.
Session went well. No major pukey feelings that stopped the show. Just a solid cardio workout. The legs didn't get the same monster workout as on Monday which may have made some difference. I'm really happy with the results today though.
I was getting mad at myself during the one-leg, running-row thingy exercise we did because I couldn't seem to keep my balance. Sean reminded me to make sure my core was engaged and voila, balance was back. Subtle but powerful. It's because of things like that that paying a personal trainer is worth it. I would have dragged that exercise into ad futilitum...
Kickboxing last night was good. We had a good class of light sparring and I learned of 2 of my weaknesses for being faked out. First was when my partner hits me with some left and right jabs/hooks to keep my block occupied and more importantly, blocking my view from the round kick to the head. I couldn't see that bugger coming until it hit me. Counter? Open up the block a bit to prevent against the kick and give visibility to see the kick coming. You have to adapt the block a bit more for the punches but as they say taking a punch is better than a kick to the head.
The other weakness was falling for the old "I'm going to make you think I'm throwing a jab, then I'm going to use my fake jab momentum to transition into a spinning back fist and pound your head" trick. Don't know the counter for that one yet.
In the plus category, I was getting a bit better at reading some body language for kicks and even managing to block some like the instinctual animal fighter I am. :)
At the end of class, we lined up to do squats and as we're going up and down with our arms up, our instructor was punching us in the gut. Makes you tighten those abs pretty well.
Session went well. No major pukey feelings that stopped the show. Just a solid cardio workout. The legs didn't get the same monster workout as on Monday which may have made some difference. I'm really happy with the results today though.
I was getting mad at myself during the one-leg, running-row thingy exercise we did because I couldn't seem to keep my balance. Sean reminded me to make sure my core was engaged and voila, balance was back. Subtle but powerful. It's because of things like that that paying a personal trainer is worth it. I would have dragged that exercise into ad futilitum...
Kickboxing last night was good. We had a good class of light sparring and I learned of 2 of my weaknesses for being faked out. First was when my partner hits me with some left and right jabs/hooks to keep my block occupied and more importantly, blocking my view from the round kick to the head. I couldn't see that bugger coming until it hit me. Counter? Open up the block a bit to prevent against the kick and give visibility to see the kick coming. You have to adapt the block a bit more for the punches but as they say taking a punch is better than a kick to the head.
The other weakness was falling for the old "I'm going to make you think I'm throwing a jab, then I'm going to use my fake jab momentum to transition into a spinning back fist and pound your head" trick. Don't know the counter for that one yet.
In the plus category, I was getting a bit better at reading some body language for kicks and even managing to block some like the instinctual animal fighter I am. :)
At the end of class, we lined up to do squats and as we're going up and down with our arms up, our instructor was punching us in the gut. Makes you tighten those abs pretty well.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Day 46
Yesterday's PT session was the first "real" one in about 4 weeks. My mental state was good - I wanted to go hard and ignore mental blocks. I hadn't eaten well - slept in late, only got one meal in before the session, but felt ok.
Session started well. We hit the legs hard with lots of squats and jump shuffles and my numbers were good. Sometime after the majority of the leg stuff, I hit the block I wasn't prepared for. My old friend Hurl. Hurl didn't actually appear that day, but he was sending me a lot of messages.
This was a different kind of pukey feeling this time around. As I was sitting on a bench trying to keep Hurl from appearing, I had time to describe how I felt. "It's kind of like I want to sort of fall asleep and have the puke dribble out the side of my mouth. Different that the projectile feeling of pukeyness I had before". It was just the utter tiredness of it all that I don't even think I had the energy to put into giving the puke the velocity it so wanted. If it was coming, it would have to climb out of my throat on it's own.
After lying on the floor for a bit then stepping outside for fresh air, we lightened up things a bit and hit the arms. With about 15 minutes left in the session, Hurl wasn't calling anymore.
That pukeyness is a bit of a show stopper and I think it comes from the heavy leg workout, but I'll have to watch for it on arms days. The sessions are still fantastic though. I like being able to do a lot of the jump shuffles with no breaks, especially if I pull them off clean. All the squats help my kickboxing immensely and my extra energy level showed through well at my kickboxing class on Sunday.
Session started well. We hit the legs hard with lots of squats and jump shuffles and my numbers were good. Sometime after the majority of the leg stuff, I hit the block I wasn't prepared for. My old friend Hurl. Hurl didn't actually appear that day, but he was sending me a lot of messages.
This was a different kind of pukey feeling this time around. As I was sitting on a bench trying to keep Hurl from appearing, I had time to describe how I felt. "It's kind of like I want to sort of fall asleep and have the puke dribble out the side of my mouth. Different that the projectile feeling of pukeyness I had before". It was just the utter tiredness of it all that I don't even think I had the energy to put into giving the puke the velocity it so wanted. If it was coming, it would have to climb out of my throat on it's own.
After lying on the floor for a bit then stepping outside for fresh air, we lightened up things a bit and hit the arms. With about 15 minutes left in the session, Hurl wasn't calling anymore.
That pukeyness is a bit of a show stopper and I think it comes from the heavy leg workout, but I'll have to watch for it on arms days. The sessions are still fantastic though. I like being able to do a lot of the jump shuffles with no breaks, especially if I pull them off clean. All the squats help my kickboxing immensely and my extra energy level showed through well at my kickboxing class on Sunday.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Day 42
The first session back after my vacation was a real bitch. I had the capabilities of someone who just came off major bypass surgery. I think I was mostly finished after about 15 minutes but we dragged it out for the full hour. The next day, my quads were screaming sore and I was starting to walk like something was shoved up me arse. Who would have thought that two weeks would do that? At one point in the PT session Sean mentions "I'm only laughing because it will get better". That's the kind of day it was.
Starting that day, I tried to get the diet back on some sort of decent direction so I cut out the Salt and Vinegar chips. Just kidding. I managed to get back to eating some normal food and eating more than 2 meals per day, none of which are deep-fried. I also got some protein powder started up again and added back in the glutamine today.
Second PT session for this week went much better. I mentioned how glad I was that the gym has that fake wood flooring cause it would make vomit cleanup so much easier. I avoided that experiment by at least a full minute as I lay on the floor at the end of the session hoping my guts wouldn't spill out. As much as that sounds bad, the session was good. Energy levels felt right back up there and I didn't wimp out on too many things.
Today's session really highlighted something for me. I've always known a lot of guys that can just push through the pain and discomfort and ultimately get the most of their workouts. I'm not that guy. Once I feel that wall, every fibre of me says "Take a break buddy. Wouldn't some salt and vinegar chips be good after this is over?". I've been battling that asshole in my head for some 30 years now. He always won. Lately though in kickboxing and now with Sean, I'm tapping into that competitor. Today, I was at that give-up-point a few times but then I turned on the mean face and pounded through a few more reps until I was truly done. I kept thinking "If I do better today, it will be easier tomorrow". There was some other little asshole voice that piped up and said "with those extra reps, you've earned a few chicken wings". Haven't heard that asshole voice since university. Anyhoo, if I can tap into that tough guy more regularaly, I actually see how one can get in shape. The goal seems to be that if one can push oneself to the point of puking, one has done well with discipline... :p
Now I just have to get back to kickboxing.
Starting that day, I tried to get the diet back on some sort of decent direction so I cut out the Salt and Vinegar chips. Just kidding. I managed to get back to eating some normal food and eating more than 2 meals per day, none of which are deep-fried. I also got some protein powder started up again and added back in the glutamine today.
Second PT session for this week went much better. I mentioned how glad I was that the gym has that fake wood flooring cause it would make vomit cleanup so much easier. I avoided that experiment by at least a full minute as I lay on the floor at the end of the session hoping my guts wouldn't spill out. As much as that sounds bad, the session was good. Energy levels felt right back up there and I didn't wimp out on too many things.
Today's session really highlighted something for me. I've always known a lot of guys that can just push through the pain and discomfort and ultimately get the most of their workouts. I'm not that guy. Once I feel that wall, every fibre of me says "Take a break buddy. Wouldn't some salt and vinegar chips be good after this is over?". I've been battling that asshole in my head for some 30 years now. He always won. Lately though in kickboxing and now with Sean, I'm tapping into that competitor. Today, I was at that give-up-point a few times but then I turned on the mean face and pounded through a few more reps until I was truly done. I kept thinking "If I do better today, it will be easier tomorrow". There was some other little asshole voice that piped up and said "with those extra reps, you've earned a few chicken wings". Haven't heard that asshole voice since university. Anyhoo, if I can tap into that tough guy more regularaly, I actually see how one can get in shape. The goal seems to be that if one can push oneself to the point of puking, one has done well with discipline... :p
Now I just have to get back to kickboxing.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Day 39
I've been off now for the better part of 3 weeks. Quick trip to Tofino then 2 weeks in Manitoba. Four meals per day was an impossibility so I didn't even try. Protein intake was low because I didn't bring powder. Meals were whatever. I even satisfied the salt and vinegar chip craving I was having. Ate a lot of fish so that was good. Drank a hell of a lot of coffee.
Back home now and I have a session tomorrow at 2.
Back home now and I have a session tomorrow at 2.
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