Ruli's Log

[Ruli]

thanx don - it sure is nice to be active again. are you still doing SF, cause you haven't been posting lately?
did D2L1 yesterday and showed some really good form on the chin-ups. this gives me hope for tomorrow's D3 (being able to do all 10 pull-ups with chin above the bar).
strangely, the squats were a bit tough. i say strangely, cause i never struggle with squats.
push-up went well.
all 5 round were just over 40 sec's each.

[Ruli]

just finished L1D3 like this:

chin-ups: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1
push-ups: 21
squats: 21
time: 3:55

i was really happy with my form, especially chin-ups.

next week L2!!!!

[Ruli]

L2D1 - 19 rounds

to be honest, i'm a bit disappointed with the result. less than one round per minute, despite the fact that i did a couple of rounds back-to-back.
i can only attribute this to the fact that i wanted to avoid burn-out towards the end. next week i'll definitely rest less between rounds in the beginning.

[DonQuijote]

thanx don - it sure is nice to be active again. are you still doing SF, cause you haven't been posting lately?

I haven't been doing SF recently
I had been doing British Military Fitness workouts in the mornings. 45mins of pushups, situps, burpees, sprints etc. But then I was in South Africa for 3 weeks and work got really busy so I had about 2 months off

I'm back on BMF now but really need to work on situps (so bad at them!).

I'm thinking about doing SF but switching pushups (I get these on BMF) for situps and do it on my "off" days. However, the way things are looking work-wise I don't think I can get to this until new year.

[Ruli]

as long as you keep exercising don!!

L2D2
this was a really hard workout for me, mainly because i didn't sleep well last night. the first 2 rounds were especially tough, but as i got into the swing of things, it started getting better.
i'm really chuffed with the fact that i can do 3 chin-ups in a row - that bodes well for D3!
i did each round in +/- 52 secs, which gives me a total time of 4 mins 20 secs.

[Ruli]

L2D3
Chin-ups: 3; 3; 3; 1; 1; 1; 1
Push-ups: 20; 6
Squats: 26

Time: 5:07

As anticipated on D2, the fact that i could do 3 chin-ups in a row helped a lot today - a solid 3 sets of three chin-ups each before my strength failed me. although i didn't kip, i used my legs a bit to gain some momentum, which made the chin-ups a bit easier. although i struggled a bit to get my chin over the bar in the last few rounds, i was really happy with my overall form.
as opposed to the chin-ups, i found the push-ups quite challenging. but then again, after 13 chin-ups it shouldn't have come as a surprise! i wanted to do all 26 in one go, but i was completely paste after 20, which forced me to take a break. the last 6 wasn't easy as well - i almost had to break that up into two rounds as well, but you'll be surprised how strong the mind can be be!!!
squats was quite a breeze - all 26 in one go.

as this was the end of my first three weeks, i'll be resting next week. i'll maybe work on some cardio, rope skipping and punch bag.

[Ruli]

as what you could have gathered from the absence of any posts, i haven't worked out this week - things were a bit just too hectic in my personal life. i'll start again after christmas.

speaking of which, for those of you, like me, who celebrate christmas: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

[Ruli]

i trust you all had a most enjoyable christmas weekend and that you'll equally enjoy the last week of 2009!

after a 2 week rest period a resumed SF again today with L2D1:
1 chin-up
3 push-ups
4 squats

surprisingly the chin-ups was a breeze. i maintained good form and ROM throughout the 20 mins.
i struggled a bit with the push-ups though. for some or other reason i found it quite challenging today.
squats were not too bad. i could feel the effect on my abs from the first round which i enjoyed. during the last 5 mins or so i could also feel the strain on my legs.

in total i managed 26 rounds which i'm very happy with (although i might not be so happy so tomorrow, as i've got a good feeling that i'll be in pain)

[Ruli]

i was right with my prediction: i was in pain. in fact, i'm still in pain - considerable pain!!! my legs and chest are the worst. one can't think that doing "air" squats can be so taxing on your legs. but as the saying goes: no pain, no gain!!!

just finished L2D2 and it went well. the first round was a killer though. maybe i didn't warm up that well, cause it felt as if my muscles were tearing off my bones with each repetition. as i progressed through the rounds, things were getting better though, except for the chin-ups.
each round was more difficult than the previous one and i really struggled to complete the last set of round 5.
push-up were getting progressively easier and the squats were indifferent.

total time (excluding rest time) was 4m16s, viz the previous 4m21s. although very minimal, some progress is being made.

i must be honest: i'm NOT looking forward to friday!!!

[Ruli]

since starting SF, my routine has always been monday D1, wednesday D2 and friday D3. this week i however changed my routine and did D3 this morning. i felt that the extra rest day did me the world of good in that my body had one more day to recover before tackling the all important D3.

so, it was L2D3 this morning and it went like this:

chin-ups: 4; 3; 2; 2; 1; 1
push-ups: 26
squats: 26

time: 3:30, viz 5:07 the previous D3.

chin-ups went surprisingly well, although i struggled a bit with the last three to get my chin properly over the bar.
although i did the push-ups in one go, i had to stop momentarily after 20 reps for brief second or two before continuing. i didn't get up, but merely paused.
squats were also done in one go, but i could definitely still feel the pain in my legs from the week's workout. if i had done D3 on friday, i'm sure i wouldn't have been able to do the squats in one set.

although i struggled a bit with chin-ups towards the end, given my time for the workout, i'll move on to lvl 3 next week. i suspect that i'll be on lvl 3 for more that the 2 weeks i've been on lvl 2, but i suppose that's the nature of the beast!!!

have a blessed 2010!!!!

[Ruli]

today was my first round on L3, and i tell you what, that extra pull-up made a huge difference!!!
secretly i was hoping for 20 rounds, but would have been happy with 18 or 19. i eventually managed 17 rounds, which is a bit disappointing.
but, i'm on L3 and making progress. at least the benchmark for D1 has been set and i'm already looking forward to next monday to see what my "score" would be!!!

[Ruli]

so, today was D2L3:

5 rounds each of
3 pull-ups
10 push-ups
16 squats

i managed each round with an average of 57 sec's, eventually clocking 4min 41sec's for the 5 rounds.

as always, although challenging, pull-ups wasn't too much of a problem, except for the last two rounds in which i struggled a bit with the last rep.
push-ups and squats were a breeze.

together with monday's D1, i can really feel my abs getting a work out as well.

as what was the case last week, i will give myself 2 days rest and do D3 on saturday.

[Ruli]

Yesterday was L3D3:

16 pull-ups
33 push-ups
33 squats

although not in constant pain, my elbow is still sore and therefore i'm doing chin-ups in stead of pull-ups. I don't want to risk aggravating my tendon again by doing pull-ups, so chin-ups will have to do for now. i might do some neutral grips shortly and see how it goes.

Having said that, the workout went quite well. Chin-ups were done in sets of 4/3/3/2/1/1/2.
push-ups: 20/13.
squats: 33

I am really impressed by the way I have progressed with chin-ups. Although still challenging, I find it more manageable and to a certain extent, easier to do.
On the other hand, it feels as if push-ups are getting more difficult by the day. When I started SF, push-ups were easy to do, but not so anymore.
Squats are still easy to do and every now and again I can really feel my legs burning from the workout.

Unfortunately the workout went untimed, as I pressed the wrong button on the stopwatch!!! i'll have to wait for next saturday to see what my time on D3 is.

[djjd5000]

Nice workoutt, Ruli!!

I just finished my day 3 level 3 with a time of 7:06, so I need to repeat! Man that was a hard workout. I think I did:

8/4/3/1 pullups
20/6/7 pushups
30/16 squats

Good luck next week!!!

[Ruli]

after the disappointment of not timing my workout on saturday, i made damn well sure the stop watch was running before i started L3D1 this morning!
last week i managed 17 rounds and this morning i did 20 - progress indeed. i will be sore tomorrow though