Moizkader's log

[KTG]

It looks to me like you are doing all the right things. The hard thing now is keeping at it and being patient.

There is a book, Muscular Retraining, by a physical therapist named Craig Williamson. See if they have it at your library. The whole book is about pain management, but there is a chapter on posture that I found very helpful. He emphasizes thinking about the stomach as key to improving posture.

[moizkader]

Thanks KTG, I'll see if I can find that book. Core and stomach strength is the main reason I started pilates, in order to improve my posture....I just needed that little additional work too.

W4L1D1: Missed
W4L1D2: Untimed for form
W3L1D3: 4m16s

I was supposed to have a low level workout this week but forgot. Should I maybe take a week off? Or should I just plow into L2 from Tuesday. Might see how I feel on Tuesday when I get home from work, either way, I'm stoked about moving up a level. When I started back in Jan I thought I'd be on L1 for ever!

M

[KTG]

Nailed that! Great work. I've been too impatient to do the low-level workout week. It would be interesting to know how many people are sticking to that and how it works out.

[moizkader]

Well, a week off for rest followed by a week off due to unforseen work commitments meant an unexpected 2 week break.

W5L2D1: 21 rounds. Pretty happy with that.

M

[moizkader]

W5L2D2 - Untimed for form

W5L2D3 - 8m 2sec

W6L2D1 - 22 rounds

Was disappointed in my D3 time but figured it's probably a bigger jump up than I realise. 22 rounds is an improvement, might have even been able to squeeze a couple more in, next week will go at it much harder. I do need to switch my D1 back to Monday though, I struggled through my pilates class after 22 rounds of day 1 today!

[moizkader]

W5L2D3 - 7m 55sec

Slight improvement over last week. Suffering from a headcold though so not too bad considering. No D2 this week, back to D1 on Monday from next week.

[moizkader]

W6L2D1: 28 rounds. Very happy.

[KTG]

Great job! It will be interesting to see how the D3 time comes in after that big jump in the number of rounds.

[moizkader]

W6L2D3: 6m 58sec

W7L2D1: 28 rounds again. Wasn't feeling great when I did this, mentally rather than physically but pushed out 28 rounds so was happy.

W7L2D3: 7m 12sec. Slightly slower but done at 5:30am on Saturday as I missed Friday night because of work.

W8L1D1: 35 Rounds. Brought it down to L1 for this week as per the instructions. Still went at it pretty hard though. Tough week of work ahead, I hope I manage to get it all in this week.

[moizkader]

W8L1D3: 3m 7sec

[KTG]

Nice work! There are always small ups and downs, but I think you'll start seeing the L2D3 time coming down pretty quickly now. Getting 28 rounds down shows that you are pretty close to being on top of the level.

[moizkader]

W9L2D1: 24 rounds
W9L2D3: 6m 45sec

Its been a tough few weeks at work, I'm up early and exhausted by the time I get home so it's been hard pushing myself to do my rounds. Was feeling mentally exhausted for D1 and really had to push myself to do it. An improvement for D3 though.

KTG, thanks again for the encouragement. My D3 times will probably take a while to come down yet, despite the 28 rounds at D1. My D1 technique is to do one round pull up, one round chin up and one round parallel hands and I find the latter two options much easier so I can kick through them with much less recovery needed. My D3 I only allow myself to do pull ups. I am also, week on week, trying to widen my grip on my pull ups so my arms are almost shoulder width apart so I am working my lats much more and so progress is slow yet marked and steady.

[dolem]

Don't stress about rotating pull-up grips on D1- I actually rotate pull-up grips on D2 and D3 as well. I think doing chin-ups helps build your pull-up strength quite a bit because it lets you work your muscles even when they are tired. I've gone from a max set of 5 pull-ups to 10 pull-ups in four weeks and I've been rotating the whole time.

[KTG]

I also alternate grips. On levels 4 and 5 I alternated on D2 for a while and then switched to all pull-ups. For L6 I'm just starting D2 with all pull-ups. But, alternating is critical for me on D1 and D3. My hat is off to those (like Maddog) who do all strict pull-ups. On the other hand, with Dolem, I think there is something to be said for the fact that they work slightly different muscles so that is a good thing as well.

[moizkader]

I'm back!

One and a half months of work stress, going from 7am till 10pm followed by a month of fasting during Ramadan then topped of with 10 days in Disney, Fl (OK, no complaints about the last bit even if I did put on a few pounds) have meant no exercise.

So, Monday was a return to L1 to get myself back into it. Managed 19 rounds which was actually better than expected. I hope now to put in some hard graft until Xmas, 4 months of really pushing myself.

Third time lucky as they say.

W1L1D1: 19 rounds
W1L1D2: untimed