Oct 20 to 26

 

Buddy just sent this to me. All good. 

Nothing much here, some old, same old. Like copy and paste, but with a bit more sweat.

The week was crazy in the evenings - PD and stuff I need to do to stay married was the priority. All good. I got the PD done and I'm still married. More of that this week coming up. At least the Blue Jays are in the Series and are tied at 1 as I write this. 

8-10 minutes mobility - cat/cow, baby pose, push ups, downward dog, WGS, 90/90, thread the needle and pigeon stretch 

10-12 minutes of ab work - Swimming kicks, BJJ leg pummelling, putting on socks stretches and rotations, scorpion stretch, dead bugs, hydrant stretches hollow ab hold, clamshell and reverse clamshell stretches ... and push ups. 

15-20 minutes of cobra bicep curls, lateral DB raises, banded bicep curls, banded overhead presses, KB swings, standing hip CARS 

Oct 12 to 19

 

IYKYK

Not a bad week - completed the rings three times so far and had a good week at work as well. I got within 100 of whatever units the red ring is measured in of closing all the rings on another day as well. I mean for fitness, it was kind of boring - yoga and swimming only, but at least the sessions got done. 

I did have the hip appointment and they stated that if I told them I was going back to play rugby, they wouldn't do the hip replacement. I am paraphrasing, but they also said that Wrestling/BJJ was ok, just don't be stupid. I also posed a risk for infection as I was a bigger person and needed to lose weight. 

I think that is their go-to response to everything, but I digress.

Yeah, so swims in the evenings were boring, so I try to keep them under 35 minutes and try to not think while I'm there in the pool. Enjoying the feelings of water and the counting of tile. Its funny that I am also reading Age is Just a Number by Dara Torres this week. She's a 40+ year old Olympic swimmer for the US. Of course it's the US, but whatever. I'm glad I have my life and her life was hers. Still she is a good swimmer. Said something that I recall typing on this very blog about swimming in a 50 m pool. I usually do my swim sessions in a 25 m pool and there are real differences between those two types of pools. I feel like I am flying in a 25 m pool and in a 50 m pool I am barely able to move. Swimming in the longer pools is like swimming in the Walmart parking lot. 

Yeah, that's about right. 

Anyway, here is the pool workout I did three times this week:

100 m breststroke

300 m. arms only freestyle

100 m. breststroke

200 - 500 m freestyle

That last set is me working on my cardio and trying to just get my Move Ring closed. I didn't want any injury, nor did I want anything to pop, crunch or crinkle. Head-in, steady and straight on until the Apple Watch let's me know to stop. 

The morning sessions have had some added KB, as the mean hip people need me to lose weight:

8-10 minutes mobility - cat/cow, baby pose, push ups, downward dog, WGS, 90/90, thread the needle and pigeon stretch 

10-12 minutes of ab work - Swimming kicks, BJJ leg pummelling, putting on socks stretches and rotations, scorpion stretch, dead bugs, hydrant stretches hollow ab hold, clamshell and reverse clamshell stretches ... and push ups. 

15-20 minutes of cobra bicep curls, lateral DB raises, banded bicep curls, banded overhead presses, KB swings, standing hip CARS with Jeremy, the PVC pipe. 

Oct 5 to 11

 

I'm writing this while the Jays are losing the first game in the 2025 ALCS 2-1 to the Mariners. I'm hoping by the end of this post, the Jays will be winning. Sigh, I have high hopes.

This week was a pleasant enough slide into the holiday weekend here in Canada. Work was work and all morning sessions were covered. I had to be a dad or a family member of some sort. Morning sessions always done, evening sessions are things that I continue to struggle with getting done. 

Morning sessions this week:

10-12 minutes of mobility with some hip work. Baby pose, push ups, downward dog, cobra pose, WGS, 90/90 stretches and thread the needle. 

10-12 minutes of ab work. Swimming kicks, BJJ leg pummelling, putting on socks stretches and rotations, scorpion stretch, dead bugs, hydrant stretches, hollow ab holds, clamshell and reverse clamshell stretches and push ups

15-20 minutes of DB wrist flexion, cobra bicep curls, lateral DB raises, banded bicep curls, banded overhead presses, KB swings, standing hip CARS with the newly named PVC pipe. 

I did the Christmas season prep today - getting the calendar up and ready for the next 80 days. Work is going to drag itself out. It is the toughest part of the year and I'll need hope. We will also need better fitness for this time as well - I go in for a hip surgery consult shortly and I want the BP to be just int he right place. 

Jays are losing 3-1 at the moment. Top of the 8th, one out. Man, I don't like the Jays chances here. 

Sept 29 to Oct 4

Not the Pierre we need, but the Pierre we deserve

Not a bad week, not a great week either. Somewhere in the middle, the "Lucky Pierre" if you will.  In any case, got out of my office in the evenings at least three this week to swim and close rings. I did end up closing all rings those days and came within 90 whatevers for the red ring on a fourth day.

The other days I was a dad or a husband - days needed to keep the peace and harmony. Less lazy and more trying to be a good dad and husband.

I want to focus on the positive - morning sessions were done every day:

10-12 minutes of hip and overall mobility. baby pose, push ups, WGS, 90/90 stretch, downward dog to cobra, basic hip and shoulder stretching. 

10-12 minutes of ab work - clamshell stretches, reverse clamshell stretch, swimming kicks, BJJ leg pummelling, dead bugs, hydrant stretches, hollow ab holds, rotating putting on socks stretch, seated knee tucks....

10-15 minutes of wrist flexion, cobra bicep curls, lateral DB raises, banded bicep curls, banded overhead presses, KB swings, standing hip CARS with the supercool ABS pipe. 

Swims were the usual "I don't want to stress out anything as I am returning to swimming" type of structure;

100m breaststroke as warm up

400m freestyle, nice and easy, alternating arms only  

100 m breaststroke - a little faster than warmup

200m- 400m freestyle for "cardio" - with flippers, some times paddles ... I just get some swimming done here in order to stress my heart and lungs at this time. Endless cardio comes later.

Saturday I did a 1000m swim in 35 minutes. My running self from 15 years ago would have had a 5k run done in that time. Sigh. Swimming. 

I'm learning though: when running I would crank the running tunes on the iPod to max levels so I could just go and not think. While swimming, I am enjoying the silence and just thinking about retirement. Progress.

Sept 22 to 28

 

Another week of mobility and not very much fitness. Morning sessions are going well at least. And that Rugby World Cup final was excellent. Not the outcome I wanted, but ya know ... second in the world is pretty good. 

Having the Blue Jays win the AL East the next day was pretty awesome too. 

Anyway, morning sessions were like this:

10 minutes of mobility - baby pose, downward dog, dog leg stretches, 90/90 stretches, frog pose. Push ups. Large ball mobility on the hips

10 minutes of ab work - swimming leg kicks, BJJ pummelling, clam hip opening stretch, WGS, runners stretches, piriformis stretch, QL stretches as well. Lying chest press, chest flies.

10-15 minutes of Hip CARS, push ups BW squats, dumb bell burls, cobra curls, overhead presses, delt raises, cool stuff like that. Kettlebell swings to raise the HR.

It's just been in the evenings I get home and just need to stop. I understand this is getting in the way of my goals and that I need to get myself moving. I know it, I just ... don't. At least I didn't this week.

I did get back to voracious reading, finishing a book in a day on Saturday. And ... got all of the things done that help me keep my job done as well. So ... good on me there. 

Sept 14 to 21

 

The workout in the mornings and collapse in the evenings routine continued this week. I did stretch out (See what I did there) the morning sessions a bit this week, knowing that would happen. 

The weekend is another thing altogether collapsing. But - in my defence, Canada made it to the Rugby World Cup finals, so we all good. 

Morning sessions looked like this:

8-10 minutes WGS, hip extensions, push ups, 90/90 stretches - I'm trying to get the ankle off of the mat with these now as well. Downward dog to cobra pose.

8-10 minutes ab work - swimmers kicks, seated ab tucks, push ups, planks, clamshell and side to side ab tucks, BJJ leg pummelling. Supine dumb bell flies and presses

10-15 minutes dumb bell curls, cobra curls, overhead presses. Standing hip CARS with my supercool big piece of ABS pipe. Kettlebell swings or fan bike. 

I do recall that my children naming all of my piece of equipment a long time ago. For example, the punching bag was named Roger. I didn't tell them why until much later, after they had read Lord of the Flies. I wonder if they would be so kind as to name the super cool ABS pipe. Or ... or ... hear me out, I offer the youngest the opportunity to name said super cool thingy as he wasn't old enough to participate in the earlier days.

Sept 7 to 14

Can YOU tell the difference? Maybe it's Maybelline!

There were some positives -mostly work related - to this week, and some real slap in the forehead, thumb in the eye kind of things going on this week. I did it to myself, but it happened. <<le sigh>>

At least the morning sessions continued - I added some light cardio to the last fifteen minutes this week:

8-10 minutes hip and chest mobility - WGS, push ups, 90/90 stretch, downward dog to cobra, baby pose, basic hip and back and shoulder stretching

8-10 minutes abs, push ups, swimming kicks, lying knee rotations, dead bugs, hydrant stretches, clam shell stretches, BJJ leg pummelling, supine ground db flies

10-15 minutes, starting with 2-3 minutes on the air bike or kettle bell swings, then lateral DB raises, "cobra" db curls, overhead presses, hip opening stuff with a PVC pipe that I will now call "pole stretching". I'm doing this last part as AMRAP. I find this part rather helpful and sweaty.

After this, of course I get in the house and make coffee, breakfasts and lunches. The lunches are as always apples, carrots and hummus, prunes, some cheese. 

Breakfasts are tending towards ham and eggs. I'm trying to get protein in and make sure the caffeine levels are rising before driving to work. 

It is the evenings that are the issue - this week I was trying to get everyone out for a swim, but decided to be an idiot. When I am an idiot, everything stops until I can apologize and then this week, not even then. I did hear back about the x-ray to the knee and it wasn't a happy message. The ultra sounds might be just worse, but we will find out this week.