The wind at my back....I wish!

First off, wow. Went for a ride with some friends on Wednesday morning and it was cold and windy! Pretty sure my hands were frozen for almost the entire ride. I felt great and agreed to go for a nice long ride, but by the end my body was not liking me too much. We ended up cycling 40Km, against the wind (which felt everlasting) and some traffic on the way back.

By the end of the ride, I was spent. But not done, we had also agreed to do a mini run after the bike. I could only muscle out 2km and my legs literally felt like bricks. I guess a "brick run" in my training schedule wasn't lying. lol. 

Nevertheless it was a great ride and run. It wiped me out the next day where I wasn't able to muster out that great of a workout, but just got back from a nice 1km interval swim and it felt great.

200m intervals with 1.5 mins rest. Next time I am going to try to push myself a little more and up the distance but keep the time the same.

Not much else to say right now, can't wait to go to bed. Going to be a nice relaxing weekend ( I hope) but going to the TFC game might put a damper on my training. Yikes..wish me luck!

Til the next

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Spring is here!

The weather has been getting warmer and it's about freaking time! I finally went for a run outside today and loved every minute of it. I know there were lots of people running in the winter, but I'll leave that to the pro's... I only did a 6 km run today, something nice and easy; a mini recovery from my yesterday. My legs were surprisingly ok, which is a great sign! I grabbed my bike today looking to tune it up in the next week and get 'er on the road.

I am debating whether I should get a new bike for my race though, thoughts? I have been looking around and not sure to change my tires to slicks, or just take the plunge and get a new bike. It might be a good excuse but I'll let you help me decide.

Pictures to come this weekend, hopefully, this way you can really help me choose.

til then I'm on to the next...

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Ride for Japan!

Today I participated in a spin-a-thon fundraiser for Japan earthquake relief. It was a four hour session that was a great workout, and a lot of fun. My partner and I did two hours straight, which for me was perfect for my tri training.

This was my routine on the bike

40 mins steady pace
20 mins interval of 1:1 work:rest ratio
60 mins steady state in zone 3.

I am guessing that my ride will be about two hours on my actual race day, running 10km after this though, yikes it would have definitely been a tough run that's for sure!

Near the end of my ride, my hip flexor was starting to get tender again though, so I was glad it was over. However I'm thinking of going for a nice swim session tonight so I can calm down some of the inflammation and see how my body responds.

if you're wondering how you get to zone three stay tuned, next post I will tell you

until next time

Cheers

Rich

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Spin/Run/Lift & Swim?

Well today I am going to be very ambitious. I missed yeseterday's spin/run workout because of a headache! Common what a lame excuse, nevertheless I tried to workout but just couldn't handle it.

Today I am trying to play catch up, I have already done a spin/run interval workout. One minute high intensity and one minute recovery. As soon as the recovery was over, I got off the bike and ran for two minutes, specifically a sprint up and down hallways and stairs.

I plan on lifting after school, full body workout.
Consists of:

Everything is 3 sets of 12 with 30 sec rest. Still on my building muscular endurance phase.
Here's my workout:

1- Burpies
2- Medicine ball squat & throw
3- step- downs
4- Push- UPs
5- Scissor Jump Squats
6- Dips/ Bench Dips

*If you're feeling like you're in a rush, superset 1 &2, 3&4 and so on. You will find that you can do this workout in half the time, and turn up the intensity and get better results!
Of course this workout is followed by a core circuit

Oblique crunch
Basic crunch
Straight leg-raise

everything is a set of 20 and done on the swiss ball, except the straight leg raise.

I'm hoping that after this workout, I can recover with some great food and then go for a swim.

Will this happen? Stay tuned.

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Back at it

Finally I was able to go to the gym today! I looked at my plan and did a interval spin workout, 10 sets of 1:1 high intensity to rest ratio. So about 30 minutes on the bike with warm up and cool down. Immediately after this I went to the treadmill, 1 degree incline to simulate running outdoors, and did a 1 mile run. Not much but wanted to shock my body back into shape. My legs didn't feel that bad but only time will tell, I'm hoping that my cool down and stretching was enough for my DOMS not to kick in.

Tomorrow is looking up, I am hoping to swim and do a full body workout. Oh other big news I was talking with my friend on the weekend and got "talked" into running a half marathon in May! So I really have to make sure I stick to my plan. As long as I do that, it should be "smooth sailing".

 

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Hitting the wall

Ahh if things couldn't get any worse I woke up and was sick. It's a good thing I am on my recovery week but what a downer. Going to try going in a sauna see if that helps. Been reading up on it and it could be promising. Just have to make sure I am well hydrated before I go in.

Will blog again when I'm back to working out regularly. I am hoping this is just a two day stint, training starts again on Monday!

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Lucky Number 11?

11.4 both my beep test score and my BF %. Not too bad considering I have only been on this program for 8 weeks. I'm hoping to get my beep test up to 12.5 and BF to 8%. I'm on my active recovery week again so looking forward to that. Swimming and riding this week, along with an easy long run. Hoping for a 7 km run this week. Will keep you posted on what happens!

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A busy day...

It's been pretty hectic lately, haven't been able to post my progress. Here's what I have been up to lately.

Today's workout consisted of:

New Leg Workout ( A LOT of core incorporated into every exercise)

1- Bosu Balls squats
2- Single Leg Deadlifts (dumbbell or plate for added resistance)
3- Single Leg - Leg Press
4- Standing Single Leg Cable Curls
5- Standing Single Leg Cable Abduction

you notice a theme here? If you have ever tired a standing single leg cable curl you will notice your legs get a workout, but your core is fully engaged and feels like it's on fire! Well if you're doing it right that is.

After this I did some core exercises. V situps, Stability ball pull in's and seated Medicine Ball twists. By the end of this workout I was just toasted. It was great but it wasn't over yet.

I did an interval spin workout after for 30 minutes. Pretty basic, I did some interval sprints (10 seconds on and 10 seconds off). But then also do a few 1 minute sprints as well.  By the end of the workout I was wiped. Couldn't wait to recharge with some food. MMMMMMM Blueberries, mango and some protein on the side!

That was the type of day it has been. Looking forward to tomorrow, got a swim workout and an easy spin to help with active recovery. I'm sure I am going to need it after today's workout! Another reason I am excited for my swim is that I came across a new book today, Triathlon from start to finish. It has some great drills and tips in there. I will go into more detail once I have read more of the book. I am already half way through so hopefully by the weekend I will have it finished and can post some great material.

Like always feel free to share any ideas, comments etc.

Cheers







andontothenext@gmail.com

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Recovery Week...thank you!

This week is going to be great! A nice easy week, not much hard lifting or hard running/cycling. I have had a lot of things going on the last couple of days so having a down week will be nice. Today was simply a spin with a steady rate, in zone three. For those who are wondering how I calculate what zone I am in, it's pretty easy. I use a heart rate monitor and go from there. The breakdown would be like this

zone 1 - resting HR

zone 2- easy moderate exercise

zone 3- exercise with almost heavy breathing

zone 4- exercise with heavy breathing, but not your max

zone 5- your max HR

I will go into more specifics tomorrow to help you out. I have a nice swim followed by an easy bike. Looking forward to it! 

Til the next...

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onto..Week 3

With the amount of upsets that are happening in the NFL right now, I don't think it's going to be hard to watch the superbowl! Granted it's still a few weeks away, I can't wait to watch it. I'm not thrilled about the fact that I will probably indulge in some tasty treats and drinks , but meh you're only human.

Today's upper body workout is starting to become more routine now, I am not looking at my sheet all the time (or iPod) for my workout. I am going from exercise to exercise without hesitation. Which is a good thing because the 30 second rest period's they fly by!

For those of you interested here's my workout today

1- DB press (I prefer incline, to me I just like it more than flat)
2- Seated Row
3- Lateral Raise
4- Standing Tricep Extension
5- Standing Bar Bicep Curl
6- Push ups ( I go for 3 sets, as many as I can do up to a max of 30, but make sure I hit a minimum of 15-20). This is a killer! After the tricep extension my arms feel like jello, it's a great burn though.

Then I did a quick core circuit followed by a quick 30 minute spin (Trying to stay in zone 3) 

Try it out and let me now how you do! If you aren't sure of what I am talking about, post your comment and I can explain, you can't be the only one...

til the next







andontothenext@gmail.com

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Sticking with it

Sorry for the late post, it's been pretty hectic with work and everything else going on. The workouts are still going strong though. Yesterday's lower body session is screaming today. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is kicking in. Usually DOMS can occur anywhere from 24-48 hours after intense exercise.

Here is a quick rundown of what the workout consisted of yesterday. Between every set is a maximum of 30 seconds rest, I'm trying to increase my muscular endurance and get my body used to intense exercise with short rest periods. Everything is 3 sets of 12 right now.

1- 5 minute spin warmup followed by some calisthenic movements. (I usually do the kettle bell swing, with some moving pushups as well). Jump squats are also a good warmup.

2- One leg squats, holding the Medicine Ball overhead. 3 sets of 12+ reps * (When you see 12+ that means you do minimum of 12 and try to go for at least 3 more)

3-Dumbell Deadlift 

4- Dumbell Lunge (I prefer to do the backwards lunge, vs forward. I find you have to focus more on stepping backwards than forwards and you recruit different types of muscle fibers).

5- Stability Ball Hamstring curls - These are great, they hit both my core and by the end my hamstrings are screaming to stop.

6- Side Lunge with plate at chest level - I find this exercise to be very difficult, so don't get heavy in weight. You can either keep the weight in front of you the whole time, or when you lunge a quick punch out with the weight. You feel your chest, shoulders and grip working with this exercise.

7- Standing one leg calf raise

Then a core circuit (will give you that one another day) & 5 minute cool down, followed by static stretching. For my workout program I also did an extra 30 mins of low resistance spin for active recovery. For more on what active recovery is refer to my earlier blog.

This program is tough so far but I know I will see the results. Derek at Functional Strength has specialized my program for my specific needs for my triathlon and I can't wait to see what happens when I get to the start line, and later the finish line.

Staye tuned for more updates.

andontothenext@gmail.com

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Run in the snow?

Gotcha! I didn't run in the now today, although it would have been pretty fun.  The program , which I will give you a sneak peak soon, called for a tempo run and tempo spin today. I opted to go for the more realistic feel and spin first then bike. I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad but my legs were pretty sore from the leg workout yesterday. I guess that's what you get when you haven't worked out for a bit. Oh well it will be worth it.

Goals for the next couple days:
1- Diet
2- Rest

Improve my diet and eat to fuel my body to keep me going through these workouts. Quinoa, a super grain, will be my saving grace. I love it, it doesn't hurt my stomach at all and I can already feel the difference in comparison to brown rice or pasta. If you've never tried it I highly recommend it.

Rest- well not much to say there. I just want to make sure my body is recovering the way it should be, at least 8 hours of sleep a day and plenty of water.

Stick around I'll be putting some of my workouts up here for you to try.

Cheers





andontothenext@gmail.com

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Slow and Steady ?

Today was supposed to be my active recovery day. For those of you who don't know Active Recovery is where you work out at 40-50% of your max (either cardio or weights) which in theory helps speed up your recovery time from exercise. Your muscles are building while you rest and sleep, not in the gym, so active recovery is new to me but from my experience so far it's been working out great. I always used to find that taking a week off from the gym and then going back, I was never any stronger. When I did the active recovery week (last year in another program) I found I didn't lose strength but actually maintained/gained. So to each their own take it anyway you want.

I was supposed to do a quick spin and swim only about 30 mins each, but while I was starting my warm up a trainer from The Yorkville Club, Jacopo Stiffani, was spinning and I ended up doing a 40 minute workout with him. It was a great, for a noob like me Jacopo gave me some great pointers and really helped me focus on my form. I told him about my Triathlon training and looks like we might be doing some more spin sessions in the near future.

Now it's off to eat, recover and get ready for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a little bit of basketball in the morning for a light cardio workout followed by some weights in the evening.


Like always comment if you have any questions, comments etc.
andontothenext@gmail.com

Cheers

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First day...is it the hardest?

It was the first workout of the new year, well of my new program anyways! A well deserved workout as well, my diet has been lacking during the holidays. The wings, beer, cheesecake and anything else will certainly need to be taken off my list, or at least in moderation.  Common I'm only human!

My first workout of my new program was definitely new and different, and Functional Strength certainly did not dissapoint. By the end of my first couple exercises I was definitely feeling a great pump and couldn't help but think how great it will be when I'm in week 20 and feel the same way.

To give you a run down, I have a 52 week program with a goal of training 5-6 days a week. Realistically this might not happen, but that's the great thing about this program it leaves me some wiggle room for errors or "cheat" days.  I haven't taken my measurements yet but I will soon enough. My goal is to take measurements every 3 months and photo's every week. I was thinking of using the benchmark tests very similar to Tony Horton's P90X but I want a little more motivation, plus I would like to see the weekly photo's eventually turn into a quick slideshow. ( The downfall of being a tech junkie!)

I will try my best to blog everyday pre or post workout and let you know how I did. Please feel free to offer your comments, suggestions and of course critisim. If you have questions please feel free to e-mail me at andontothenext@gmail.com

Cheers

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On to the next...?

It's almost the new year and I've started it off with a new plan...a new workout plan that is! I'm on to the next level with this one. A triathlon is my goal and I plan on making it through with motivation and support from anyone who wants to help.

Being my first blog I will keep it simple and tell you the plan. Daily updates on workouts, meals and challenges with weekly reports and pictures is another goal.

Functional Strength has developed a kick A$$ program to help me get where I need to be. Follow me along for a quick but intense ride. (No pun intended).

So stayed tuned and feel free to post your help, support or critisism.

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