Day 7, Workout- Weekend Notes

Sundays are normally rest days. Played softball this weekend in Savannah. The weekend started great. We were 2-0 going into our last game Saturday night. We looked like a bunch of monkeys fuckin' a football( thank you Randy Quaid via Days of Thunder) and got beat by a group of guys that I although they beat us, I will not admit they are better than us. Well, we put that behind us for today. Unfortunately, we did not shake it. We promptly went out this morning and got spanked and spanked good. Got beat 16-1. Thank you very much, thanks for your money, now head on back to North Carolina 2-2. So the first weekend of what will be many more softball weekends to come is over and quite honestly, I am rather relieved. Now I can get back to my workout routine and that I am really looking forward too. Some exciting stuff is coming up this week. I start a new semester of school at UNCW and my wife, Erin, starts her new job at her new law firm. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We'll see you around the blogging world.

Workout, Day 6

No workout today. Playing in the SSAA Winter Worlds in Savannah, GA. So far so good. We won our first game 16-1 and then won our second game 18-3. We play again at 10pm tonight. It has been in the mid 50's and WINDY! Winds have been blowing between 25 and 30 mph all day. Chapstick is in high demand for sure! So anyways, Saturdays and/or Sundays is usually my rest day, so playing ball this weekend is really not interfering with my training. Besides, a nice side effect from all the training is that it really helps me stay fresh when I play softball on the weekends and I do play a lot of softball. I will update as we move on through the tournament.

Workout, Day 5

Day 5 workout was pretty simple. Stretch and run. Ran 3 miles, just wanted to take it easy today. I am headed to Savannah, GA this weekend for a softball tourney. Do not want to be too sore that I can not move around out on the diamond. Seems like it was just yesterday that I played in my last tournament. Well, it is a new year and with a new year comes a new softball season. Ready or not, here I come! Also, I found out today that I get to do my Pilates session next Tuesday. When I was upstairs this morning stretching, I was watching a guy go through his session. He did not look like it was a pleasant experience! LOL Oh well, bring it on! I need such a good stretch, I will take whatever pain comes with it. If I can ever figure out how to mobile blog, I will keep everyone posted on how we do down in Savannah.

Day Four, Workout

Well, I woke up today fully expecting to learn how to get more flexible. I was looking forward to my Pilates instruction only to get a text from the instructor that she would not be in today because she was sick. Oh well, I say, it does happen. No big deal. So, I headed off to the gym, thought I would get in a little run. I had worked really hard the past couple of days using the new workout routine I learned and I was kinda feelin' it! Before I go on, I would remiss if I did not tell you that before I do anything in the gym, I do two things: 1- I have a cup of coffee. I read somewhere that a cup of coffee, straight black, gives you a pick me up. It is low in calories and the caffeine boost you get helps you get "up" for your upcoming workout. 2- I stretch. I do a series of stretches, mainly my lower body because I do a lot of running. The first stretch I do is standing up, legs together and touch my toes. I then cross my legs and touch my toes. I alternate my right and left leg on top . This helps get the hamstrings loosened up and also helps a little with my back. Next I sit down and stick one leg out and tuck the other leg towards my body and lean forward and try to touch my nose to my knee. I hold it for a 10 count and do each leg three times. Again, this helps the hammies and my back. Next, I tuck both legs in a "butterfly" position. Your heels should be tucked in towards your groin region. I then wrap my arms around the outside of my legs and while I am pushing down with my legs towards the ground, I am providing resistance with my arms trying to not let them touch the ground. I then bring my arms to the inside of my legs and the opposite of the first exercise. This helps stretch and strengthen the groin. The last stretch I do is what I call the "pretzel". You sit up, tuck one leg into your body, you then cross your other leg over the lower leg. Then you try and touch your nose to your shoe. Hold for a 10 count. Next you come up and twist your upper body and put the opposite arm over the leg that is over the leg tucked into your body. You then switch legs. There you go, now you have some stretches.
So onto today's workout. I did a treadmill workout. I decided to do a incline interval workout. I ran three miles with a steady increase in the degree of the incline. I started at 0% and at the peak was at 7%. Now this does not sound like a lot, but it is! I thought I would be doing a light workout today and all of a sudden I was knee deep into a hill workout! I thought to myself, "holy shit!", I am killing myself. My next thought was, "well, you started this you idiot, so now finish it and do not adjust either!" Now Mamma and Daddy did not raise a puss, so I trudged on. The second mile was the toughest. The last mile, I was just thankful that it pyramided back down on the incline. It made it feel like I was running down hill. My legs thanked me for it! All in all it was a good workout because I know not all the terrain in North Georgia is going to be like it is here at the beach. So doing a little hill work in retrospect was a good thing.

Workout Day Two, Soreness is a Bitch!

So day two of training for Warrior Dash has come and gone. I woke up sore in places I did not know you could be sore! The workout yesterday was great. To try and get the soreness out, I hit the treadmill. I ran 5 miles at about 7:30 pace. I may have pushed it a little too much. I do not know if I pushed it too hard yesterday or today. All I know though is my legs were jell-o! My back hurt, my shoulders hurt, but, the burn was awesome! I know that in the end, it was a good burn and a good soreness.
Because of the soreness both after yesterday and this morning, I decided to do yesterday's workout again this evening. Now I do not normally workout at night. A couple of reasons for this: 1- I have already worked out for the day. 2- It is just too damn crowded! Its really hard to do a circuit workout when you have to wait on machines. I mean I do understand that other people workout too, I just do not like waiting. On a side note, I was doing my back extensions and I shared the machine with this just ungodly hot woman! She was wearing a camouflage hat too. I mean I am just a man, only looking, but I am a one woman man. Wanted to put that in there just in case my wife reads this, lol! So anyways, back to the workout. I did get a good workout in this evening even if it did take me a little longer than I wanted.
A little preview for tomorrow, I am going to try Pilates. I want to get more flexible and I have heard good things about Pilates. When I am running on the treadmill, the Pilates area is right behind the treadmills. It has peeked my interest for sometime now and thought now is also the perfect time to try it out. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Workout, Day One: Boy Was I in For a Surprise!

Day one of blog diary for workout routine. I got my ass kicked! My trainer, Matt, came in with a workout routine to get me in shape for the upcoming Warrior Dash. We started with ladder exercises to warm up. It consisted of five "steps" three times each. That was just the warm up and my legs were already at a HIGH BURN! I thought, damn, what else does he have in store for me today. Little did I realize, we were just getting started. Here was the workout for today, all stations consisted of anywhere from 10-15 reps, three times each.
1. Snatch into press- done with about 55-65 pounds.
2. Medicine Ball work- what you did was lay out, butt in the air and lunge your feet forward even with the medicine ball, rotate to each side, come out of that, stand up, and throw the ball in the air. Let me tell you how much fun that was! I have done a lot of things exercise wise in my life and that one hurt A LOT!
3. Dumbbell work- Lay two dumbbells out to your side. Get in push-up position. Do a push-up, then do a row with each arm. Stand-up, do a curl with each arm, that is one rep. Yeah, sounds like fun huh? Do it 10 times, 3 sets after you have done what you have already done and come back and tell me how much fun your having then!
4. Box Jumps- this one was probably the easiest exercise. Jump up and down on an 18 inch box, you want to do it as quickly as possibly, with your feet off the ground as much and quickly as possible.
5. Chest flies- go to a chest machine, put whatever weight you are comfortable with and do 3 sets of 12 each.
6. Reverse flies- cross your arms and do opposite of chest flies. The only rest you get here is when you are doing the other exercise.
7. Back extensions- simply put, go to a back machine, grab whatever weight is appropriate and do back extensions. You then move right into what I call the half medicine ball knee to chest exercise. Using a balance ball, you bring each knee to opposite chest.
8. T-Raises- using whatever dumbbell is appropriate, do a T exercise.

Needless to say, I was a whooped puppy after this workout. The burn was great and as crazy as it sounds, I can not wait to do it again!

New Year's Resolution

It's the first week of January and like the Big Ten losing like every big New Year's bowl game, it's time for that time honored tradition of making resolutions. Now I don't normally make said resolutions, but since I have this wonderful blogging forum, I thought I would take a dive and make a couple. My first resolution, I am going to get in and stay in shape. So far so good. I got a little help and a head start a couple of weeks before Christmas when I was let go from my job. Since that point though, it has allowed me to have time for the gym. I really enjoy it too. I run anywhere from 3-5 miles on the treadmill and about every other day I do a circuit training routine.
I got started on this little adventure by pure chance. I have a friend that ran his first 5k road race on Thanksgiving weekend. After a few beers and some smack talking about how I whoop his ass, we bet a 6 pack of beer that I could do that very thing. The kicker was that I have to spot him four minutes. Now, back in the day when I actually could run, this would have been no problem. The problem now though is that I am about fifty pounds heavier and twenty years older. The first few days were tough, but, I am into a routine and now I feel bad when I do not go.
The other reason for working out on a daily basis is a race they call "The Warrior Dash". Another friend of mine told me about this fine event when we were on vacation with them down in Key West. This event is 3 or so miles of pure T hell! Not only do you run on a cross country style course, but you navigate such obstacles such as a fire pit, stacked hay bales, a log roll, and barbed wire mud pit.
The other thing I resolve to do on a daily basis is blog about my workouts and maybe some of the things I see. Maybe throw a little nugget of wisdom in there and maybe a little bullshit to boot.

Happy New Year everyone!