February 29th, evening

Got home and did 20 minutes on the bike downstairs.  My meals today have not been stellar, but I said I would start writing them down, so I will:

Breakfast:  1/2 cup of egg whites and 1/2 piece of real rye bread (ingredients only rye and salt.  no yeast)
Lunch: veggie burger with brussel sprouts, spinach, green peppers, and romaine
Dinner:  roasted cauliflower, mushrooms, radishes, and cabbage, with cottage cheese and hummus
After dinner:  rice cakes with almond butter and ricotta

February 29th. Leap Year

Happy Leap Year

I'm still playing with the format of this blog.  But before I forget, I should write out what I did this morning:

A1: Squats:  warm-up and then
65x8
85x6
85x8
85x6
85x6

A2: V-bar lat pull-down
110x4; 100x5; 90x5
110x3; 100x4; 90x4
110x3; 100x3; 90x3

A3: plank
30
30
20

B1: push-press
45x6
50x3
45x8
45x8

B2: hamstring curl
72x5; 60x5
72x5; 60x5
72x5; 60x3

C1: Tricep push-downs
70x10
80x10
80x10

D1: Back extensions
bwx10
10x10
10x8

that was pretty brutal.  I was shaking by the end.  The lat pulldowns were a PR and my legs were shaking after the squats.  Good workout.

Tracking my weight on the Wii.  It was 124 this morning, roughly.  Honestly, I'm not that happy about that.  But I think its more that I don't feel in shape right now and I need to get a better handle on my eating.  So I'm going to start writing down what I eat just so I can stop the mindless eating.  I need some accountability.

Tuesday, February 28th

I tried circuit bodyweight training for the first time.  I wanted to try something for cardio other than the general biking or treadmill.

Done in a circuit 3 times:

60 jumping jacks
10 burpees
walking lunges:  about 40 (back and forth across the room)
wall-sit
dumb-bell swings (25 lbs)
high knees
plank

Took about half an hour.  I was definitely slower by the end.  I tried jumping rope, but don't know how to do it, so I didn't waste my time trying to figure it out.  I also did a little more core work towards the end.  I did like it, but I think I'm going to have to find some upper body work as well...maybe some light OL moves?  Cleans or something?  I'll try something new on Thursday.

February 26th and 27th

Yesterday:  45 min of biking split into a 30 min and a 15 min session.  Lots of errands during the day and climbing around the attic.

This morning:  back into the gym to do some full body lifting:

A1: bench press:  warm up and then
75x3; 70x3; 65x3
75x3; 70x3; 65x3
75x3; 70x3; 65x3

A2: Leg press:
320x10
340x10
340x10

B1: Assisted row:  warm-up and then
130x5; 115x5; 100x5
130x5; 115x5; 100x5
130x4; 115x4; 100x4

B2: Leg extension:
144x10
144x10
144x10

C1: plank
30 sec
30 sec
45 sec

C2: lateral raise:
15x8
15x8
15x8

D: cable bicep curl
60x10
60x10
60x10

Saturday, February 25th

I was unsure as to what to do this morning.  I do not lift on the weekends and didn't want to bike.  I ended up going to the gym for a change of scenery and thought I would figure it out when I got there.  I managed:

Intervals on the treadmill:  1 min at around 3.5 mph and 1 min around 5.8-6.2 mph.  Did 10 of those, and with warm-up and cool-down that was around 23 minutes.

Rowing:  2000 meters, which was about 12 minutes

Then I went to the annex part of the gym and did a little 'core' work:

db swings:
10x20
10x25
10x25

Planks:
30 sec
30 sec
30 sec

back extension
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10

Was going to do more, but I figured that would be enough.  Total time was around 45 minutes or so.

Observations:  I'm actually in better cardiovascular shape than I think I am.  I could have gone longer on the treadmill, but I just find it boring and can't stand to do it for very long. I guess the way to increase my fitness there is to increase the speed on my intervals.  In general I don't like running and don't find the bodies of runners to be appealing:  thin, but very little muscle.  Which is why I'm looking into more functional fitness for my cardiovascular work:  intervals, bw training, etc.

Plans for today:  not sure yet.  I need to go to the library to return some books and I need to pay the daycare.  I also need to buy my sister a baby shower gift, but I think I'll just do that online.  I want to clean out some of the basement and try to sell some things, too.

Friday, February 24th

I woke up late this morning; my family is gone and I had decided to either go into work late or not at all (I ended up going in late due to an overactive guilt complex).  But since I was not in a rush, I could do a nice long workout.

A1: Squats: warm-up
6x85
5x90
5x90
5x90

A2: Lat pulldown: warm-up
6x100; 4x90; 4x80
5x100; 5x90; 5x80
4x100; 4x90; 4x80

A3: Plank for 30 seconds

B1: push-press
6x45
4x50; 4x45
3x50; 4x45
3x50; 4x45

B2: step-ups on 18 inch platform
10x12
10x15
10x15

C1: dumb-bell swing
10x20
10x20
10x20

C2: hamstring curl
10x60
10x60

C3: face-pulls
10x80
10x90

Cool-down with 15 minutes biking.  Did another 20 minutes in the evening.

One of my goals in keeping track of this is to keep a sense of realism.  I look at this and I can say:  yes, I am actually an active person.  I'm still trying to decide what to do tomorrow.  There is a TRX introduction session in the morning that I may check out, but since I'm not sure I want to take the class I will probably pass.  I started re-reading NROLFW and want to look into making some interval/cardio routine I can do rather than the bike all the time.  I don't find the bike very 'functional' and would like to increase my functional fitness.

Other things I did today (again, to keep the realism...I have a tendency to think of myself as 'lazy'):  did some 'work' at work, did the dishes, did the laundry, saw a movie, folded the diapers.  A pretty busy day.

Thursday, February 23

Currently I am on a three day lifting week.  This is down from four days.  I had been experiencing a lot of joint pain, and after changing some medications, still experienced the pain.  After decreasing from four to three days of heavy lifting, the joint pain has disappeared.  I now am lifting M, W, F, which means today is a cardio day.

Since my husband and children left early this morning for the airport, I did some quick cardio on my stationary bike in our basement.  Half an hour of biking.  I like to do more than that on cardio days, so I will probably do something else later today.

I want to also find other methods of cardio to do other than the stationary biking.  This will be a goal for next few days:  to come up with some other cardiovascular activity for my 'cardio' days.

Day One and Goals

Goal:  to keep me motivated and accountable
Goal:  to keep me focused
Goal:  to keep me balanced
Goal: to keep my expectations (and thus results) realistic

because:

Truth: I am in my mid-thirties
Truth:  I am married and have three young children
Truth: I work full-time in an intellectually stimulating and moderately busy job
Truth: I have very little personal time
Truth: I am very Type-A and very much a black/white thinker

my hope:

By keeping track of my workouts and activities, I can continue my interest in fitness and stay balanced, healthy, and realistic.  In my brain, I am still a young (-ish) woman with no expectations and all the time in the world to commit to my interest in health and fitness.  In the real world, I have priorities that outweigh those interests:  namely my husband and children.  This creates a sense of disappointment and failure:  the feeling that I am not doing enough.  If I have tangible evidence of what I actually am accomplishing, perhaps that feeling of disappointment and failure will disappear?
I currently do not have a specific training goal.  This may be the first goal:  to make one.  But I did train this morning.

Bench: 3x[ 1-4x75;6-8x70;4x65]
Leg press: 10x320; 10x370; 10x370; 10x 390
Assisted row: 10x120; 3x[125x5; 115x5]
Walking lunge: 2x[20x50]
side bend with overhead: 10x15; 10x15
leg extension: 10x144; 10x144; 10x144
lat raise: 10x12; 10x15
20 minutes on a bike at home

Total time: approximately 1 hour