Ry's Log

[rahmed]

As I posted in goals, I'm trying to get back in good shape after a year of college and doing absolutely nothing even remotely athletic, aside from the occasional run. My goal is to start rock climbing again at a decently high level and just generally to achieve muscle strength and lower my body fat / lose weight.

I've been on the following routine for the last few days:

3 rounds of the following, with 1 minute sprints in between:

20 x Squats
10 x Push ups
10 x Crunches (not sure what to call this movement - I keep my legs elevated the entire time, and do crunches diagonally across my body)

I'm on tour for the next 5 weeks, so all of my workouts are going to have to be stuff I can do on the road, which I think if okay with bodyweight exercises... hopefully I'll have access to shower rods or something that can support my weight for pull ups - anyone have any ideas or tips for working out while on the road?

[volleyball_man]

Get a door gym.

[rahmed]

how portable are they? I'm going have pretty limited space...

[volleyball_man]

Look on the products page.

[rahmed]

I've been keeping up every few days with the simple squats/crunches/pushups workou, but I finally had a chance to do a simplefit workout (the hostel I'm staying in tonight has a shower bar stable enough to do pullups). I decided to start right at the beginning, and see where it goes from there... I took everything nice and slow to make sure my form was good. My pullups and pushups felt really nice and controlled, but my squats definitely need a lot of work. I think I probably should have hiked up the speed, but I'm glad I let myself get a feel for the workout.

6/13/08: L1D1 - 21 rounds

[rahmed]

So, staying totally active on the road because of many many 8 hour long bus rides, but I did go on several very arduous hikes and managed to go on a few hour or so long jogs throughout the various cities.

But! Now I'm home, and I'm getting my butt in gear. I ordered a door gym, it should come in early next week, and this is what I've done so far this week (in preparation for doing normal Simplefit workouts as soon as the pull up bar comes):

Week 1

• Monday, July 14, 2008
  • Tabata pushups
    5 rounds, score: 1
    Didn't pace, failed before 8 rounds. 12-8-7-1-0-0-0-0.
  Thursday, July 17, 2008
  • Tabata pushups
    6 rounds, score: 2
    Paced, but not enough: 6-6-6-6-6-2-0-0.
    
    Tabata sprints
    8 rounds, didn't measure distance
  Friday, July 18
  • Tabata pushups
    8 rounds, score: 4
    Got it! 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4.
    
    Tabata sprints
    8 rounds, didn't measure distance

Can't wait to start simplefit in a few days! I'm going to work on squats between now and the door gym getting here.

[Edit]: Thanks to cheapo for showing me exactly the bbcode he uses to format his posts so nicely. The door gym came, and I'll post L1D2 and L1D3 later today...

[rahmed]

This week I started doing SF workouts, beginning with L1D2 (as I'd done D1 a while ago, and I'm trying to push through the lower levels quickly to find where I need to be and start training hard).

Week 2

• Tuesday, July 22, 2008
  • Tabata pushups:
    8 rounds, score: 4
    4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4.
    
    Tabata sprints:
    8 rounds, didn't measure distance
  Thursday, July 24, 2008
  • L1D2:
    4'45"
  Friday, July 25
  • L1D3
    2"29'
    Pullups: 3-4-3; Pushups: 14-4-2-2 (woops, too many); Squats: 21

Starting level 2 next week!

[rahmed]

I'm traveling from tonight till Sunday (the next 5 days), so I kind of truncated my week. Did L2D1 and then (as per vbm's advice), did L3D3 (skipped D2 because of the not-having-time thing).

Week 3

• Saturday, July 26, 2008
  • Hauled logs for 2 hours:
    Um. Lots of logs. 2 hours.
    Okay, so it wasn't a regimented workout, but I felt bad only posting 2 entries this week, and, well, I was sore and tired the next day, so I figure it counts for something...
  Monday, July 28, 2008
  • L2D1:
    29 Rounds
  Wednesday, July 30
  • L3D3
    3'46"
    Pullups: 4-4-4-4; Pushups: 9-8-8-4-4; Squats: 12-11

As VBM recommended, next week I'm going to go straight to L4D3, and I'm going to keep jumping from D3 to D3 until I get to the level where I can't do the D3 in under 10 minutes. At that point, I'll stick to that level and start going through D1 - D3 as normal.

[rahmed]

Week 3

• Monday, August 4, 2008
  • L4D3:
    7'18"
    Pullups: 5-5-5-2-2-1; Pushups: 11-10-5-5-5-3-2; Squats: 21-14-6
  Tuesday, August 5, 2008
  • Tabata jump rope:
    16 rounds of 20 on 10 off
  Wednesday, August 6
  • L4D1
    21 rounds

Figured out that I'm going to work at level 4 for a while. Onwards...

[rahmed]

This week ended up being an easy week. I spent the past weekend at the All Points West festival in NYC, and when I got back, my body felt all sorts of screwy, both from training and from standing hours on end at the festival. Took the week off, basically.

Week 5 - Easy Week

• Monday, August 11, 2008
  • L4D1
    11 rounds in 10 minutes, then stopped
    I was experiencing hip pain and my body was basically telling me to take it easy, so I gave it a break.
  Thursday, August 14, 2008
  • L4D2:
    11'23"
    This was TOUGH. Ugh.

My joints feel fine now, and I should be totally ready to go next week. Going to actually go through all three days of L4, this time...

[rahmed]

First week I've done L1, 2, and 3 in a week straight, and it felt great.

Week 6

• Monday, August 18, 2008
  • L4D1
    22 Rounds
    40" pace until 10', then 1 more, rest until 8 left, then 1 per minute.
  Wednesday, August 20, 2008
  • L4D2:
    4'50" = 56" + 55" + 1'02" + 59" + 58"
    First time I've timed this correctly (i.e. without counting rest)
  Friday, August 22, 2008
  • L4D3
    3'44"
    Pullups: 5-5-5-5; Pushups: 11-10-10-5-3-2; Squats: 21-20

This week felt great; especially doing the Day 3 - miles better than my last L4D3, I could feel that the last two weeks have given me tons more muscular endurance. Simple Fit kicks ass.

Level 5 next week!

[rahmed]

I went to a physical therapist about my hips / past knee problem, and they diagnosed it exactly as I'd been told when I ran XC in high school - I have flat feet and a little hypermobility in my ankle. I was fitted for orthodics, and they should be coming in sometime this week; until then, I'm giving running and squats a break.

I should be restarting Simple Fit as usual as soon as the orthodics get here; in the meantime, this week, I think I'm going to just do tabata pullups and pushups and such, or maybe some non-SF exercises.

[rahmed]

SO! After getting back to school this past September and dealing with the whole hip/knee problem, I entirely fell off the wagon and got really out of shape first semester.

But, now I'm back in it... so... starting over!

Week 1

• Monday, February 16, 2009
  • L1D1
    20 Rounds
    didn't actually time this, just did 20 rounds full out and then stopped -- I need to get a watch to time myself
    
    Tabata pushups:
    8 rounds, score: 4
    4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4.

[rahmed]

Alright, seriously this time! School's over, I've got the whole summer ahead of me, so no excuses...

Week 1

• Tuesday, May 19
  • L2D1
    21 Rounds
    Took a big long break in the middle, I feel like I could have pushed some more out. Oh well. It's a start
    
    Concept2 Rower, tabata:
    8 rounds, didn't track distance/strokes

I'm a complete newbie to using the rower... does anyone have any pointers? If I'm doing tabatas on it, what should I track? How should I set the resistance?

[volleyball_man]

The resistance is up to your body type and how you row. There are quite a few hoe to vids on the crossfit site. Basically it's like a deadlift high pull. So the action is legs hips arms then arms hips legs. Make sure you have moved passed the knees before you bend them.