Week 1 of part 3

I dragged my backside to the gym a few times last week and played around with these workouts but the commitment wasn't quite there due to one thing or another. I did do a fantastic session on Wallasey beach on Sunday, which involved a hellish number of sprints up a sand dune, and jumps onto a picnic bench, supersetted with dips and squats.

I have hit it properly this week. Monday I did the following: (2100 calories in case you're interested)

• 3 x 8 Lat pulldowns (80kg)/3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse pushups/4 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second rest
• 3 x 8 barbell curls (15kg)/3 x 15 side squat jumps (squat, jump as far as you can to one side, repeat)/45 seconds rest
• 4 x 8 bentover barbell rows (20kg)/4 x 30 twist jumps (squat, jump and do a 180 degree twist, repeat)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 close grip rows (20kg)/3 x 20 box jumps/30 second rest
• 3 x 25 crunches, 3 x 25 bicycle crunches, 3 x 25 dumbbell crunches (hold dumbbell over head with straight arms and crunch up). What a grueller that one is.

Tuesday (2250 calories)

• 3 x 10 bench press (14kg DBs)/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest
• 4 x 8 barbell skullcrushers (10kg)/4 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell military press (8kg)/3 x 30 med ball (7kg) woodchoppers (15 to each side)/45 second rest
• 4 x 15 bench dips/4 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups (15 each leg)/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 barbell clean and press (20kg - some turned into push presses though!)/3 x 10 burpees/60 seconds rest
• 4 x 10 incline bench press (8kg DBs)/4 x 30 mountain climbers/45 second rest

I've also put that pesky 4lb back on. I think it might be a 'cyclical' thing so I have no doubt they'll disappear again. Not that this means they're welcome. I intend to permanently lose at least 6lb before I get married in November so that I can be confident that any fluctuations won't affect my mindset. I want to feel the best I can and I can't do that with an extra 4lbs sitting around my waist line. With this in mind I've recruited Vinnie at Klick to help me out a bit, I'm going to do two sessions a week with him and see if I can get fat burned off. I don't expect miracles, but maybe a swift kick up the backside will do the trick.

Gina is a poorly Ribena berry...

This week's program has been much more stimulating than the last 4 weeks. I did a coastal run in Barrow on Saturday morning which was hideous. Just awful. The heat was great, don't get me wrong, and the sun beaming down, beautiful views to take in...but also quite a breeze which consequently caused quite a sand storm. I've had road rash, grass rash, rain rash and now I've had sand rash as well. I'd say sand rash was the worst, especially when it's combined with heat and sweat. My face was nearly purple by the time I'd finished. Not a good look.

I have only been able to complete Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's workout this week though due to ill health, and I am trying to get back on track with it but have not had the energy. I am hoping to do Friday's workout tomorrow, which is Sunday, but if not then I may have to take a hiatus. I will continue the blog though, but will commence training for the Total Warrior instead of finishing the program. I'm hoping to ultimately finish the program, but we'll have to see if I can actually make the commitment - health dependent. My last post disclosed my weight gain, but for the record, those 4 pesky pounds have vanished again, as quick as they came. And hopefully they've taken the hint that they're not welcome on this busy body of mine!
So this week has gone down as so...

Monday

• 3 x 8 Lat pulldowns (36kg) /3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse pushups/4 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second rest
• 3 x 8 barbell curls (10kg then 15kg)/3 x 15 side squat jumps (squat, jump as far as you can to one side, repeat)/45 seconds rest

What a wonderful little workout this was! I really enjoyed the dynamic movements, and felt I was actually accomplishing something too.

• 4 x 8 bentover barbell rows (first two sets 20kg, then last two sets 25kg)/4 x 30 twist jumps (squat, jump and do a 180 degree twist, repeat)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 close grip rows (15 kg)/3 x 20 box jumps/30 second rest
• 3 x 25 crunches, 3 x 25 bicycle crunches, 3 x 25 dumbbell crunches (hold dumbbell over head with straight arms and crunch up). This was a brilliant ab workout, I actually felt my abs the following day which was most unusual.

Tuesday

• 3 x 10 bench press (16kg DB, 12kg DB then back to 16kg, nearly killed me)/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest
• 4 x 8 barbell skullcrushers (10kg, then up to 12.5, then back down to 10kg)/4 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell military press (10kg - although on 2nd set only got to 8 reps then complete failure until the next set)/3 x 30 med ball woodchoppers (15 to each side) (6kg)/45 second rest
• 4 x 15 bench dips/4 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups (10kg)/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 barbell clean and press (15kg, this was quite easy but any heavier and I'd have had to push press) /3 x 10 burpees/60 seconds rest
• 4 x 10 incline bench press (10kg)/4 x 30 mountain climbers/45 second rest

Wednesday

• 3 x 10 barbell or smith machine squats(30kg)/3 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 deadlifts (50kg)/4 x 20 horizontal jacks (In plank position, jump your feet off the ground and spread feet wide, jump feet off the body and bring your feet together so you’ve returned to plank position, repeat)/60 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell lunges (8kg)/3 x 25 lunge jumps (lunge, jump up, and switch legs in mid-air and land on other foot forward)/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse dumbbell lunges (8kg)/4 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 3 x 12 box or bench jumps/30 second jump rope/3 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second plank/60 second rest

Most of you who know me will remember that I have severe OCD, and in particular a fear of...well, for want of a better word...poo. There's been some blocked drains at the gym and indeed an overflow of sewage which has struck cold fear into my heart, and after spending a number of hours sanitising my entire gym kit, following that up with two showers, I am reluctant to return. With this in mind, I am going to do the best with what I've got, which might include interval training with hill sprints, or working out with our limited equipment at home. Either way, this week could prove challenging on many fronts.

Week 8

Friday's workout was good fun - the exercises were diverse and interesting. I particularly liked the Arnold presses, not that I could do them with particularly heavy weights but mastering the technique was good.

Look at me, trying to be positive! Honestly, this program sucks, as does the fact I've put on 3 lbs. I shan't blame the program, I will blame an amendment in medication. I am so ridiculously tired of working my bum off only to have my bum...expand.

Monday I didn't do anything. Tuesday I did 4 out of 5 sets of Cross Eyes, the 5th was abandoned because of the boxing class but I made up for it by doing 20 minutes of HIIT sprinting at the end of my session.

Wednesday I did 3 sets of 12 reps with 40kg narrow stance leg press, then the same with a wide stance. I did the DB squats with 12kg, but got confused about what to do with the weights as I squatted - I mean, I hung my arms at my sides but then they bumped into my knees on the way down so I ended up propping them up on my shoulders. Then I did 150 box jumps in 5 sets of 30, on a high step. After that I did 50 step ups (each leg) and then 50 reverse step ups. But, I can't tell the difference between normal step ups and reverse step ups. They feel the same to me.

Today is Thursday and I was meant to be doing Wednesday's workout because I'm a day behind myself. Well, now I'm two days behind myself as I didn't go. Life has well and truly gotten in the way this week, and whilst I was reluctant to skip the workout today, I felt it was for the best. So tomorrow I will try and get 45 HIIT running in plus 15 minutes of backwards walking (looking forward to that...), and then Saturday will be Thursday's arm workout as well as further HIIT. I won't pretend I'm going to do 30 minutes of HIIT rowing or cycling, because I'm absolutely not. I'll find an alternative, whether it's HIIT sprinting (I'll incorporate a little Total Warrior training and do it on a hill somewhere), or skipping. HIIT sitting activities kill me, I end up limping for days because my hips seize up. Blame the hypermobility again.

As I'm sure you can tell, I hate this program at the moment - I've lost momentum with it, and am consequently bored. I want to get back to muay thai and doing my own thing. But, I'm trying to finish it. Please don't think I've abandoned workouts easily - it takes a lot for me to skip one, but this week it really has been necessary. Hopefully next week I'll find my second (third?) wind, when I start the third and final stage.

Week 7

My 10k was uneventful, I started super slow to make sure I finished but finished quite fast. Unfortunately due to the slow start, I did it in an hour and 10 seconds. I reckon I've got sub 50 minutes in me. Somewhere.

So back to the program. Today I've had 2200 calories, mostly good calories but the pistachios sort of pushed me over the 2000 mark. Boo.
Monday
3 x 12 reps bent over rows with 15kg. Still doing the wretched TUT technique for the whole workout. It's really getting dull now, I can't lie.
3 x 12 reps with 12kg DB bench press
3 x 12 reps 8kg DB incline bench
3 x 10 reps with 4kg lat DB raises
3 x 8 reps with 6kg incline bicep curls. They're hard. But quite good.
3 x 10 reps with 4kg tricep kick backs (each arm)
3 x 10 reps with 31.6kg rope pushdown
started to do the upright barbell rows, but then something in my right wrist popped out of place and continued to pop out each time I did a lift...so I reluctantly called time on that one.
This was ultimately an incredibly tedious work out and took me hours. I came home in a stinking mood, and had a big ol' rant about this program. At this stage of the operation, I don't think it's worth the time and trouble. I'm sure there are more effective workouts that can be done in two hours.  But I'm far too stubborn to toss the towel in at this late stage.

Tuesday
20 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30), 30 minutes skipping (2 mins jump, 30 seconds rest). Then I did my boxing class to add a further 30 minutes to the cardio for the day. Got to burn those calories somehow!

Wednesday I had a gut ache the size of Russia so I swerved the gym, knowing I would force myself to do two days' worth of training on Thursday instead. Which is what I did today.
3 x 12 reps 50kg leg press
3 x 10 reps 40kg deadlifts
3 x 10 reps 40kg squats
I started to do the side barbell squats but couldn't get the technique quite right so I'm going to study that one a bit more before doing any. 3 x 8 reps with 30kg sumo squats.
And then I did the Black Diamond Challenge. Oh it looks like a nice, steady, low key workout.

It's not.

400metre run, 30 box jumps (I used a box taller than a standard step - but I don't think it was 24 inches, that would have ended badly if I'd attempted that), then 30 wall ball shots with 7kg ball. Klick is a new gym, and they're rather protective of the fresh paintwork so they don't like people abusing the walls too much. With this in mind, I threw the medicine ball as high as I could, caught it and then went into a squat - 30 times.
This you're supposed to do 5 times. I got to the end of the first set and had serious doubts about making it to the second, let alone the fifth. But then this occurred to me...

The guys at Share It Fitness write that their challenges are 'very strenuous workouts, so don't feel bad if you can't make it all the way through.' But I did make it right through, in 29 minutes and 54 seconds. It was hard, especially straight after quite a tough leg workout. This is the price I have to pay for having a day off on Wednesday.

I didn't feel good in the gym today, I felt like I'd put weight on, and I felt self conscious, as though people would notice I'd put weight on...since Tuesday. I hope this is a temporary thing because although the results I have had from this program have not been dramatic, I would hate to actually go backwards.

Tomorrow I'm  off to the beach for a training session, and then Saturday I'll have to do what I was meant to do Friday, so I'm not getting as much rest as I should be, but I feel ready for it.

Week 'off'

Egads I had no idea it had been 10 days since my last blog! What neglect is this?!

My apologies, my non-existent readers.

This week has been a week off the programme in preparation for my first ever 10k race tomorrow. I don't have high expectations for myself, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself the fairest chance.

I do have a confession though. I didn't complete last week's schedule. I missed out half an hour of skipping. I am ashamed.

In my defense, I got distracted decorating my staircase. That took a day and a half so I think that was probably equivalent of half an hour skipping. Maybe.





So this week I've been back to playing around in the gym. It's been quite nice in some ways, because I haven't had to rush around trying to get the workouts done before the gym closes, or go when I really haven't felt like it. Having said that though, I have done some sort of exercise most days. Tuedsday I did my boxing class, Wednesday I did some cardio and deadlifting. I haven't done any one rep max testing because I haven't been strength training, so I thought I'd give it a go. I managed 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg. I expect I could have gone up to 95kg but I didn't bother. I tried to convince myself I didn't want to risk hurting my back ahead of the race but actually I just didn't want to look like a fool in the free weights area. Pride comes before a fall I know...

Thursday I did 40 minutes steady cardio. Friday I did a beach fitness class led by Dave. Now that was awesome. These silly boot camps in parks with 2kg dumbbells ain't got nothing on taking a sledgehammer to a tractor tyre, after having flipped it a couple of times on a windy beach.

I do like training on the beach, and I think I'll be doing it a bit more on the run up to the Total Warrior race, running up sand dunes and whatnot.

So tomorrow's my first race. As I said, I'm not planning on setting any personal targets other than finishing without losing my breakfast. Then next week, I'm back on my plan.

I'm particularly looking forward to the 'Black Diamond challenge'. But not really.

Week 6 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Calories yesterday - 2169
              today - *blush* 2445 (and I wonder why I don't lose weight...idiot)

I detracted from the program to run up Moel Famau, but I assure you I did Friday's workout on Saturday morning. I can't remember what I did, but I did it in its entirety.
Monday this week I did 5 minutes of weighted speedskaters. I was foolish enough to start with a 10kg plate, and started getting tired very quickly so reduced it to a 5kg plate. I stopped 3 times to take a short breather within the 5 minutes. This was a pattern that emerged throughout the second and third sets of 5 minutes as well.
After the 5 minutes of skaters I did 5 minutes of high knees, and had to stop - regularly.
After that, I did 5 minutes of skipping.
I repeated 3 times.
This seems basic and when I looked at it I admit I scoffed, thinking it'd be easy. It was not. This was probably one of the most difficult workouts I have come across in this program so far. I had to stop many times, and to add insult to injury, I felt really stupid doing the exercises. One guy at the gym asked me if I was playing hopscotch.

Tuesday I did the following, using the TUT format:
Bulgarian squats with 20kg, 2 sets of 12 reps on each leg, then the last set 10 reps
I started doing normal squats (which should have been my first exercise but there were no frames available in the free weights area) but then got roped into doing a boxing class. After the boxing class I carried on with the squats, with 40kg, 3 sets of 12 reps
Reverse DB lunges, 12 reps (6 each leg) with 8kg DBs for 2 sets then 10kg DBs for the last set
I skipped the calf raises. I hate them. They don't do anything except butcher my ankles. I'm all for doing exercises you hate, but when you know you're constantly doing them wrong because they cause you to hurt in places that shouldn't be hurting, I don't see the point in going through the motions.
Quad extensions, 20kg, 3 sets of 8 reps. I might have been able to bump the weight up but I know from my powerlifting days that quad extensions make my thighs look huge for days. And they ain't small to begin with.
Hamstring curls, 32kg, 3 sets of 8 reps
Finally, 100 box jumps, split into 60 and then 40.

Today is Wednesday, so I did 20 minutes HIIT rowing and 20 minutes HIIT running, 0.1mile jog at 5mph and then 0.1mile sprint at 8.5mph.

Now then. Below further demonstrates my reasoning for hating rowing.

My hands are not the most feminine due to my tendency to use toilet cleaner to wash when the soap runs out. I also have callouses from a few years of lifting with Olympic bars. But the rowing took these callouses to a whole new level today.
"Owch."

In terms of progress, the pound I put on last week has gone again, and my fat percentage is back down too. But that does not mean there has been an improvement from when I started.
The photos below are the most recent. I have to say I feel as though I look better, but these photos don't really demonstrate that, although I do quite like the little bit of definition in my legs these days. Still a far cry from that beautiful body on the front page of the program, but I'm only 6 weeks in. Fingers crossed for a miracle within the next 6 weeks. And maybe a few less calories as well.

My jaunt up Moel Famau

The alarm went off at 7:30. It was switched off but I was unable to get back to sleep knowing that someone else - Mark, to be specific - was packing his bag, donning his running kit, and making his way in the rain to the base of Moel Famau. So up Rich and I got, debating whether extra hoodies were going to be necessary, and off we went.

The extra hoodies were necessary. Rich took great delight in telling me every time the temperature gauge in his car dropped half a degree. By the time we were at the base of Moel Famau (the second car park - closest to the hill), it was cold.

Not that we needed that snowflake to advise us as the windscreen was white with hail. We took our time putting our headphones in, making sure our woolly hats were on straight, fastening our running belts, regretting wholly our choice of shorts as opposed to trousers...

My soundtrack for this run was Fleetwood Mac - 'Go Your Own Way', Placebo - 'Running Up That Hill' and Chicane & Bryan Adams - 'Don't Give Up'. Every pun intended.

I took the easiest route of course, with it being my first attempt. I started too quickly and ended up gasping quite quickly. But I levelled my pace out, controlled my breathing and carried on. As the wind got stronger and the hail beat me around the face, I admit I had to stop a few times and put my back to the weather. That hail was like tiny little needles all over me, especially when my skin was starting to feel red raw, even through my windbreaker. I also had to walk up the steep slate path only because running would have been risking actual death, it was so slippy. I ran where it was safe to, but I did start wondering when I'd get to the top. I was completely alone, not even the sheep had bothered to come out. I dropped to tie my shoe lace, then as I cast my eyes above, the cloud cleared and I saw the Jubilee Tower.

Victory!

At the top, I sought shelter in a doorway of the Tower, feeling pretty happy with myself, when a man appeared from around the corner, casually jogging along as if the terrain was a calm beach. He caught sight of me cowering amongst the rock, and yelled 'Morning!' whilst waving. These proper fell runners are truly insane.

The descent hurt more than the ascent because the hail was on the back of my legs, again like tiny little needles. I found it was easier to run like I was running through tyres, like footballers do in training, to try to avoid the rocks, but also to avoid getting into too much of a rhythm and running myself off the edge of the hill.





I was victorious at the end of the run and remained so for around 5 minutes but then the shivering set in and didn't stop until around an hour later.

It was totally worth it. I know it's not a huge deal to most people, but to me, running up that hill was a victory. And yes, it's a hill, not a mountain, which kills my buzz just a little bit. I think it's only about 6km at the most. Next time I'm doing it in dry weather, or at the very least, wearing trousers and waterproof gloves.