Aug 24 to Aug 31

preventing this is what got in the way of training this week

A little bragging before I post this week - I've kept this blog alive for fifteen years as of this week. Check it out for yourself here.  

I may have to write about what this blog has brought to my life along with journalling, but that is for another time. 

Well this has been the week of two efforts, to be frank.

Week started off well - morning routine every day this week, but the evening sessions in the second half of the week, not so much. First three days, closed all rings, last three days, closed two every day.

Swimming in an outdoor pool was interesting, but not nearly as much fun as indoor swimming with the lack of idiots in the pool. It was weird. People are weird.  

Morning sessions these days are the usual, except for the last fifteen minutes. I've started to end the sessions with 12 kilo KB swings, Dumb bell/banded work for shoulders and chest along with standing hip work from the physio and various other health care professionals. All good.

What happened in the evenings in the second half of the week? I had to be a control rod for my family - keeping things calm is key this time of year. Absorb energy so that the whole thing doesn't Chernobyl, ya know what I mean?

Aug 18 to 23

 

This was about it for us this August.

This week was a semi-planned out vacation few days that was nice until people ruined it. We booked a few days away in the RV - I wanted to hang out out by the beach and just be chill. Hardly any people about on the Monday and Tuesday, but that got so bad on Wednesday we left half way through Thursday.

Love the place, not the people. Lesson learned and I expanded my knowledge of RV life. 

The four days we were away, not much happened - even the morning sessions were slept through and sometimes ignored. Some walks, some stretching, not very much of either.

Frankly, just yeah. 

I got back into it on Friday - morning session completed by 8 am - ish and a pool swim done to finish off my rings by 6pm. Lots of activity for the day, lots of work on the keyboard, just lots done. 

I have noticed a distinct difference swimming in a 25m pool to a 50m pool. I seem slower in a 50 m pool - like I know I'm moving, but it is like I am not moving. Sigh. I get the work done, the pretty comes later. 

In the Saturday evening pool session, got to Zone Two and Three for about 10 minutes - which is cool. Again, had to spend the first few laps getting all the private pool kids noodles and toys out of the lanes. Whatever, at least they let me swim in peace ofter they left.

Morning session these mornings were added to:

8- 10 minutes shoulders and hips - 90/90 stretches, push ups, downward dogs to frog pose, baby pose, etc, etc

8-10 minutes abs - dead bugs, doggie stretches, hip extensions, swimming legs, BJJ pummelling, etc etc

5-8 minutes - KB swings - one handed and two handed, standing hip opening stuff from physio and NFL kicker dude previously posted on this blog, banded arm curls, banded overhead presses. Forearm work.

Aug 12 to 17

 

Yeah, this week is about walking that tightrope between risk and reward. I finished my rings five times- which is great progress. The risk is injury and I'm just flirting with that at the moment. 

Hips, of course and shoulders. I got out on a walk this morning and did some sprints on a nicely damp grassy soccer field with bare feet and got my HR to hit 145 bpm for about 3 minutes. That's a nice comeback to reality for me. In the three minutes after the workout, my HR recovery was 27 BPM, which "isn't bad", at least according to ChatGPT. 

Not quite what I'm shooting for, but at least that is something nicer than "Get off the couch, you sausage". 

Morning sessions were done all days this week - Usually about 25-30 minutes of the usual:

10 or so minutes of Downward dog, push ups, WGS, baby pose, 90/90 stretches and the like. 

10 or so minutes of ab work - dead bugs, swimmers kicks, knee crossings, clam shells and that sort of thing. Started using the poles to do leg swings and shoulder stretches too.

5-10 minutes of shoulder and arms - curls, overhead presses. Standing delt raises, hammer curls and that sort of thing. 

All in all, not bad. On the swim on Sunday afternoon, felt the rotator cuff being cranky and popping in and out, which was both creepy and interesting. I ended the workout shortly after that. No reason to fall off the rope and end up as street pizza, thanks. I'd rather just take the "w" and get on with life. 

The nice thing about the walks is I get a chance to think about life after vacation and have a generally good idea about what an average day in November is going to look like. That is one of the very few benefits of a job like mine - I can predict with reliability what the next sixteen Tuesdays will be like in terms of where I will be and when. Makes planning fitness a lot easier. 

Aug 3 to Aug 11

 

So ... I guess we are doing these whenever I can recall to get them done now. To be fair, the days of the week kind of blend into one another this time of year, so this could be a Sunday evening and I wouldn't really have noticed. 

Investment tip: put your money in Advil. The demand is going up around here. Lots of three a day workouts - early morning stretching, mid-morning walks and a cardio workout in the evenings are helping me finish my rings quite nicely. I will hasten to add how much my rotator cuff and hip don't like having that amount of stress. Of course, this I was expecting.

I did get the long PVC pipe into the garage gym and have been exploring stretching with it - here is the resource if you are interested in following along. I'm also parking this here so that I can movie it from my office to my garage gym. 

So average day in the time of the year is like this:

Up early, stretching in garage gym, Coffee. Sometimes adventure/go for a drive

While on the drive, find a park get to the local Provincial Park or somewhere that has been watered and get out for a kilometre or longer walk. Why watered? I've been known to do these walks without footwear. Grass is awesome. 

Dry off, get home, shower. Humidity is real, my dawg.

Get some of the side hustle work done. 

Nap

Lunch - sometimes picnic in the same Provincial Park, sometimes I picnic in the nearest Kelsey's.

Nap

Executive time - setting goals, journalling, prep for stuff, StarCraft. 

Evening workout - sometimes a swim, sometimes a HIIT session, all depends what's up. 

Blue Jays game - they are on a bit of a tear this summer, so this is usually quite fun. 

Sleep by 11:00pm, because I am now old. 

I've done that routine for most of this week and it has been helpful and actually restful for me. Helping recharge batteries is what August is all about. I really am getting my mojo back these days. 

July 27 to Aug 2

 

Something I want to set up for myself next

Another "not a bad week" this week - just trying to keep things moving forward. I finished a side hustle this week and the first day after, went out to get some yardio done and heard and loud "click click" sound from my left knee. And then an explosion of pain. Not nearly as bad as another incident in the fall, but it was not a fun feeling. I got the gardening done, but then have had Advil to settle things down since. 

I did try to stretch out the legs the next few days, got back to a swim without pain a few days later. I did get a swim pass from the city and have a few ideas about how to get the swimming done along with BJJ training in the coming year. 

I did get a few HIIT sessions done this week, as well as a hike or two - trying to just keep this seemingly fragile body moving while not cracking anything else. 

HIIT session this week was sort of lame, thanks to the knee "injury", but what ever, man. Got this done for a few rounds until I got to 25 minutes this week.

5 min warm up on Air bike

2 min KB swings, cleans, clean and presses, just keep the bel moving

3 min air bike

Other thank that, was grateful that I could put weight on the knee and that walking, stairs and the like weren't affected too badly. Just sore. 

Scary clicking sound though. Should have recorded it for a home made horror movie.