June 19 to 25

 

Almost let this week slip by. I'm so tired and the end of June is here. I've got another double job summer lined up, but this time I've got a plan and we will see this summer be better than last summer.

I did. a lot of swimming this week. And stuck with the early morning "yoga" - now including a set of banded exercises for my shoulders, on top of the dumbbell stuff I'm already doing. My abs are nice and strong, I just need to get the diet under control to start letting them see the light of day.

I did get an outdoor HIIT session done o the turf at my gym. An excellent facility: no little black things to get everywhere, usually no one uses it and it has lights. All three checkmarks make this place just awesome.  After the session, I got to jump into a pool and do a contrast session to help with recovery.

Three rounds of:

Indian club swings

banded shoulder presses

banded bicep curls

rugby passes to the wall

Three rounds of:

banded standing ab crunches

10 push-ups

ten mountain climbers with the slidey things under my feet.

Rugby line-out throws

Finished with

Three Figure 8's / sprints around the turfed area

line out throws

It was a good session, took about 40 minutes and I needed to do some recovery afterwards. The sprints at the end were not fast, but at least I got them done. Got my heart rate up to 150 there, too. 

Closed the rings five out of seven times. Missed any hiking this week as I needed to stay away from ticks this time of year. That, and it was muggy and hot. 

June 12 to 18

 

Flat water, paddling was hard

This was a weird week - hard and awful while being soft and cheery at the same time. Got the rings closed three ... four times this week. Too much time being a dad, but at least I got to be a dad and that was awesome. 

Yoga every morning. "Yoga" every morning. Still including some weights and band work in these sessions which probably disqualifies those sessions as purely "yoga". It's all good as they are still a great way to start the day, man. I'm hoping someday the day will start a smidgen later than 5:45 though. 

I got a swim workout and a kayak session done on Sunday. I did get a few hikes throughout the week as well. But lots of extra things make missing workouts necessary. I'll get back on the horse, so to speak and get them done next week. 

I'll pack a bag of kit and bring my stuff in the Adventure Van for surprise workouts. Or my kayak to get out on the water ... hmmm 

June 5 to June 11

 

This is my pic.

I finally did the sprint session I was supposed to start in May. I got on the turf for a HIIT session that was good. I combined rugby line out throws with sprints and I'll admit, I was hurting the next day. The throws were pretty good and the sprints were deadly.

Lots of yoga / early morning workouts this week. Lots of good work and more than a bit of fun.  Swim on Sunday night was a nice way to round out the weekend away in my new-to-me RV.

The sprint spot.

Lets take a moment and talk about the use of AI for the turf session. I asked ChatGPT to put together a workout for me on Monday with Indian clubs, bands and a yoga mat on the turf field. I wrote that it had to be a low setup and include sprints. I was asked about goals and the length of the workout needed. Unreal. 

It was a pretty cool workout. Indian clubs, bands, sprints and rugby skills were all included. Then a quick dip in the pool right beside the turf workout space. The only thing that would have made this better is if I had a pic of the cute raccoon that paid a visit mid-workout. I never had that in my garage gym workouts this past winter, I can tell you that for free. 

I'll have to get more than just a yoga mat into the RV for weekend workouts. The mat was awesome - both my wife and myself stretched out and felt so much better Saturday mid-morning. Like seriously: warm sunshine and yoga outside with few bugs, beside the lake. Was awesome.

May 29 to June 4

 

Outdoor pools were what was on this week

The heat has finally come back. It was humid and sticky and gross this week and I loved it. 

As I look at my notes, there were no hikes this week, no kayak rides just swims in the outdoor pool. I think I got a sunburn during today's session in the water. I'm okay with the slight stinging on my back. 

Here is what I did in 40 minutes this afternoon 

200 breaststroke

750 freestyle

350 kickboard

Of course, I mixed those up and did some laps with fins and with paddles. All good - cardio was the winner today.  I also got two new "Swimming workout record" awards from my iPhone. I'm cool my phone says so.

The yoga in the morning is transforming itself into bodyweight, mobility and a bit of strength training. I really don't care about any of that, all I know is that my hips don't hurt during the day. That and I feel so much better than I did a year ago. Two years ago. Three years ago. I'm still going to blog and monitor it as yoga though.

At the end of this workout, I went and checked out the outdoor turf area they had - I've got plans and a kit bag to put together for that one.

May 22 to 28

 

It was fun but chilly water

There was no movie on in the garage gym this week, as I didn't work out there at all this week. Now, before you get on me, I was outside. Two or three workouts in Lake Ontario on a kayak and two or three hikes in the "wilderness" around Toronto. 

There is no wilderness ... it was a sidewalk or a rather nicely set up pathway. Anyway, no garage gym workouts so far this week. 

The swimming was cool. Literally, they opened the outdoor pool at my gym and I went in for a 1.1-kilometre swim. I'm pretty sure they hadn't turned on the heater. It was pretty chilly. At least at the end, people offered me a beer. I had to decline as I don't want that to become part of the habit at my gym. Anyway, at least I can go earlier for swimming now until the end of September and get in a pool without teenaged asshats sprinting for all their worth.

Lake Ontario was fickle too - one session was meter-high waves in the surf which flooded the kayak I was in. I got to surf one of the waves though ... which was unreal. The next day, the lake was as flat as a pancake. Was differently awesome. I will be exploring the rest of the province one day, but that was not this week. 

Anyway, closed the rings six out of seven days. Fitness is starting to show up in my life. I just need to continue to master the art of showing up. That's all it takes, really ... that and a big goddamn poster. 

May 15-21

This was in the DVD player this week.

 

This was an odd week, man. I didn't get my rings completed every day and was okay with that. I keep hounding myself that I must master the art of showing up and then don't. 

Weird.

I got out for two kayak sessions this week and strapped myself to my garage gym for a HIIT session. I even got two swimming sessions in as well. I mean I got moving, I just didn't move every single day.

I did do the morning session every day this week - those I learned last week I just can't blow off and not suffer later in the day. If I want to be able to move, I need to get myself stretched out. It's just a thing for me. 

Not a bad way for Ferris to travel

Morning sessions are looking like this these days:

Knees to chest and pulled in

90/90 stretches

Baby pose / downward dog to high or low plank

hamstring stretches / hip and leg rotations / seated hip extensions

low ball squats - really help with the knees and quads

reverse ball db flies, 

ball pike

band pullbacks / pull apart, forehead smashers

band rugby line out throws

airplane pose to two-legged bodyweight squats

warrior poses and variations.

...and scene. Yeah, I usually get that done in about 30-35 minutes. No, I don't do the part where you fall back asleep on the mat at the end. As these are early morning sessions, I usually have to get out of there and get everyone moving. 

I'm trying to get the diet under control and am doing an okay job with that. I also hit my sleep goal this week - which was impressive, to say the least. Need to keep doing that, too. 

May 7 to May 14

 

This is what was on this week.

Yeah, this was a good week, but I lost my brain. Well, perhaps brains aren't what I needed, but I went on autopilot and finished the week in a heap. I did finish my rings quite convincingly most days - hiking and swimming in the evenings, even a surprise swim on Wednesday was so much fun.

See the duck above for evidence of the coolness of the fun I had this week. 

Hikes were in the 3.5-kilometre range. Took me about 45-50 minutes to complete them and found new trails in my local provincial park. Simply cannot be replicated in my garage gym. The swims were 30-35 minutes in length and I got an average of 800 m swim in that time. Again, good luck replicating that in a garage gym.

not my back, but this is a reasonable facsimile

I did get some massage therapy done on Friday after a long hike - my back and legs got cupped and I'm writing this on Sunday and I still look like the victim of an octopus attack. My legs are without a bruise, but my back is another story. 

Stretching weekday mornings is really helping me gain perspective on the rest of the day and is also helping with pain management as well as mobility. I didn't do much journalling/writing this week for a reason that is escaping me at the moment. Strange how when self-care gets ignored, I start feeling grumpy. It's like there is a connection but I'm not quite getting it.

Saturday I was working and just stretching. I watched a bit of the Jays game and then went and had a nap. Then I worked, went and had a nap and then finished off the day by going to bed early and crashing. It's like I was tired or something. I didn't close my rings yesterday and exhaustion is clearly a part of that. I want May to last longer but I also want to skip ahead to when I'm on vacation.