Jan 14 to 21

Lots of work on the elliptical in the mornings these days. Usually about 25 minutes, but I know that if I give myself a bit more time, I'll fill it with more cardio.

A killer 

Wednesday the 16th was my usual killer workout. 55 minutes of kettlebells - I used 45 and 35 lb dumb bells - and farmers walks - used 50 lb dbs ... and then a finisher on the Jacbob's ladder.

I hate that machine, man. But, it gets my heart rate up over 160 bpm and that is what I want these days.

Anyway, the next few days after that were all cardio in the morning, if I could. Work and family life were killer until Sunday when I got a couple of pretty good workouts done. I'm getting angry with my Polar Loop as it does an excellent job of interrupting my iPhone's ability to connect with the heart rate monitor thingy on my chest. A few times this week it interrupted and the monitor stopped.

Drag, but I found a workaround so I'm happy.

Monday I was back at Cedar Springs and got a light workout in - I had to be a dad and I had to get some work done, too.

Jan 9 to 13

Wendesday I had a killer session. 55 minutes of treadmill and kettlebell intervals, then farmers walks and bench flies.

I was dead afterwards and I ran out of time to do much else. I usually take Wednesdays to do work after work, but I just took too long for this workout. I mean I was mostly caught up with work thanks to the Christmas break, but it's always good to stay ahead of the game.

I was pretty happy with how my body worked during and after the workout. No pain during and nopain the next day. Soreness I expect, but nothing much. I didn't even take ibuprofin for pain.

Thursday was a drag and had to run around before work and after work I had an ASL class. Yup, I'm taking a class to learn American Sign Language. The instructor was very good and I'm learning with one of my kids. I'm stoked.

Friday was another show before work and so did not get the walk/run in I wanted to. I did get a training session done in the evening.

Saturday I was back at the Burlington Beach. It's something I now kind of look forward to as a part of the week. Sunrise was merely ok, but I got a chance to get there and just see it for myself. I did have an issue with the HR monitor linking to my Loop and not my iPhone, but that was ok.

Sunday was a nice and easy training session at Cedar Springs. Same sort of session as on Wednesday, but lighter and shorter. I had stuff to get done.

What I do need to try and remember when training at Cedar Springs is to use the Jacob's Ladder as a finisher to my workouts. I'd like to extend the sessions to at least 55 minutes. I need the sessions that long for weight loss and fitness.

Dec 30 to Jan 8

Happy New Year, everyone!

Not a bad few days - the Polar Flow app is letting me know what I was planning. I saw the calendar and saw what I have left to do before the start of the rugby season.

And so, I got back to deadlifting and doing a lot more kettlebell activities.

I was on break until Monday, and that was awesome. Sunrise walks on the beach nearly every day was pretty cool. My family is struggling with the return to school, but I've been up and at them early every day since their break began.

Lots of lifts - got the Apple TV working in the garage gym, too. I've been watching some great Netflix movies while spending time on the elliptical and lifting kettlebells.

I did get back to doing this for 30 minutes, too:

5-8 deadlifts
10-15 TRX BW rows
15 push ups
20 KB swings - using the new green kettlebells
20 step ups
5-8 seated bent db reverse flies

The last one was added to help with getting thicker delts and rhomboids. I just need them to stop being so annoyed with my efforts, though.

I am running into some difficulty with the Polar H7 HR monitor, though. Seems the Polar Loop wants to take over for my iPhone 6 all the time. Even after the workout is done, the Loop will hook up to the monitor and record my HR on the drive home from the beach. One night session on the elliptical I had to take the Loop off and have the iPhone beside me as I did the workout. Quirky but ok, I suppose.