rantOgram

  Tough Month!  Missed ALL my monthly quota. It's not about chalking up more and more each time but these numbers has been a way to  keep myself as a form of check-and-balance from month to month.  Still. about to kick myself until I realized Aug had more full gym sessions with weights which of course on the daily Excel tracking log does not include what's done at the gym. Plus I had to train for Spartan Sprint in the first half of Aug...which included a number of exercises that aren't in my "Daily Salad" menu. Cardio work meant running has an impact as that eats up more time. Even though mileage hasn't been really high. But since putting back more into runs in Apr has meant an improvement up till this point. Finally, consistent with my usual 6km route at ~6min/km pace while able to hold average heart rate at ~HR130. Went from previous ~7:00-7:06 min  to ~5:50-6:00min/km now The other milestone achieved this month is in my "no training" Quarterly 2....

01 Aug 2023 Dinner (Gaia) Pullup: 8, 8, 8 🔫Squat: 6x2 Str.Bar.Dip: 15, 5, 15   02 Aug 2023  PullUp: 40 Deadhang: 3 x 1min   03 Aug 2023 LsCU: 8,8,8,8,8 🦐Squat: 60 AirSquat: 35,  Yoga (Hatha) 04 Aug 2023 Run: 6.02km, 5:30/km, avg ❤️HR144 PullUps: 10, 5, 8, 7 PushUps: 20 05 Aug 2023 Gym- Leg Day Squat, (slow paused squats) 40kg x10, 60kg x10, 70k x08, 70kg x08 LegPress 50kg x10, 60kg x10, 70kg x10,  80kg x12    Pullup: 5, 5 Heavy dinner with 150ml Korean wine. Slept early but SHR in the morning at 57.. (HR range is at highest last nite in recent wk/ mths of 50-75) 06 Aug 2023  10am-12pm Stretch+Mobility 2-4pm Gym- Chest Day PullUps: 5, 8 (warmup) BenchPress:  40kg x 12 x 2sets 50kg x 10 60kg x 08 70kg x 08 Dropset: 70kg x 8, 60kg x 6, 40kg x8 Neutral Pullup: 5+5 💎PU: 15 Incline BPress 40kg x 10 50kg x 08  60kg x 08 x2 Incl. DBP:  20.0kg x 08 25.0kg x 10 27.5kg x 08 30.0kg x 07 PullOvers: ~ 5 sets (10-15kg) Superset [15 ForwardDip...

No idea what to write as I fired up this monthly article... that's where training logs once again come in useful.   Signed up at the nearest Anytime Fitness on 2 Jul.  Finally back in a gym after almost 30 years !  Been there a total of 7 times this month... more than half of the workouts there are calisthenics and running on treadmill. Probably turned a few eyes with my unconventional approach even when using weights in the gym.  Not sure if anyone else had ever held a 110-135lb barbell while lying on the floor and swinging the legs in both directions at the same time since the gym opened for business :) But not that I care so long it's not obstructing or inconveniencing others. Important thing is getting a good worthy workout.    Running It's still mostly the usual 6km loops that's been honed these few months to improve on pace while keeping to my usual fetish of maintaining as low a heart rate as possible. 29 Jul was particularly exhausting after a 2hr ...

More often than not when watching videos or reading articles advising on maintaining and preventing muscle loss with age is to favor compound over isolation exercises. Almost every online guru will speak volumes on the merits of compound exercises like squats, pullups and pushups. Emphasizing how multiple joints are facilitating such movements, therefore more useful. After awhile it causes me to pause and evaluate if it makes the best sense... I would say it depends on our starting point and goals. My journey has evolved quite a fair bit even over this short span of ~1.5 year journey. Now in my 50s it is a balance of maintaining and maybe slightly gaining  muscle mass while still possible.  But the key focus would be increasing muscular endurance/ strength while not getting overly stiff in the process. That is having a certain level of various joint mobility/ flexibility. The other things attached to the equation will be to further improve overall stability and cardio. All of ...

  A thought was running through my mind on how to help a friend achieve his first double digit set of pullups... and realized that my own pullups lately has been pretty crappy. I have no problem still knocking out 10+ in a set but overall in a session, usual numbers were kinda of sketchy from day to day. Kept thinking if my messed up shoulder had something to do with it. Yet..... I wasn't convinced that was the entire issue. Then I realized I wasn't following the advice I had been dishing out to others! Or at least not sufficiently. Having so many things to train for these days meant I couldn't keep a good focus even on my basic staples like Pullups. Damn! Finished the evening stretch session and some shrimp squats---  decided first to  EMPTY THE MIND. RELOAD INPUT OF WHAT TO DO GO WITH MODERATE REPS/SET and PUSH FOR HIGHER SETS/VOLUME   Kick off with 8 sets of 5 weighted [10kg] Pulls. Followed by the usual bodyweight reps of 7 per set BUT not before reminding mysel...

 Last couple days in June felt exceptionally tiring. The ache was all over and doesn't seem to subside. What's especially bad was the left shoulder which flared up again. Not quite the same spots as before and putting the left hand behind the back was certainly challenging. Evening massage and trying to rotate and relax was of little help. And I pressed on. The month was also filled with several days that I tried out things or routines I'm not usually accustomed to. That, I suspect put on a different kind of strain to the body because of the lack of adaptation for the muscles under new movements. Did Around The World incorporating a short 1-ish km sprint for each circuit.  Adding Straight Bar Dips since 16 Jun as daily warmup before the evening session.  Tried Impossible PullUps Abs Roller after Dragon Flags Exerted/ overdid quite a few times during shoulder "dislocation" mobility exercises I reckon its 3 and 5 that really aggravated the shoulder area as the  in...

01 Jul 2023 PU 20 DB DeadLift:  (05x70lb) x1 (05x53lb) x2 (10x53lb) x2 02 Jul 2023 Back2Gym Day 01 Pullups: 10, 10, 10, 9, 10 (Interleaved with KB Press) LsCU: 7, 6, 7 BenchPress: 12x 40,50,60,70kg DB Incl.Press: 12x 15, 20, 22.5, 25,27.5kg Machine.Flies: 3 sets (light) Pullup [+10kg] : 7, 5, 5 Pullup: 5 03 Jul 2023   Stretch & Mobility: 45min [10 🐲🚩+7 Pullups]  x4 WidePushUp: 30,30,30,15,15 04 Jul 2023 @RSUP DIPS: 10 Home... Str.Bar.Dips: 10, 5, 15 LsPU: 7, 5 Pullups: 10, 10, 10 05 Jul 2023 Morning Office Pullup: 5,5 Stretch: 5 mins Evening Home Str.Bar.Dip: 20, 10, 15 Run: 6.01km, 5:53/km, ❤️131 🐲🚩: 8, 8, 8 RingLsCU: 5, 5, 5 Dips: 10, 15, 15 06 Jul 2023 Dips: 10 Pullups: 10, 10, 10, 10 🐲🚩: 7, 7, 7 Yin Yoga: 1hr LsCU: 7, 7, 7 Str.Bar.Dips: 20 07 Jul 2023 Dinner with D.Trading Str.Bar.Dip: 15,15,20 Pullups: 10,10,10 Scapula contraction, pull elbows in 08 Jul 2023 Gym: 2hr Shoulder and back Stretch: 20 min 🚩🐲: 10,10,10,10 PullUps: 8, Run: 4.33km (Treadmill) 09 ...