July 8th, 2012

I intended to workout on the morning of July 5th, but due to an incredibly fun July 4th, I ended up staying in bed until noon.  All motivation was shot at that point, so I bummed around and generally felt crappy.  That crappy feeling continued through Friday.


But on Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early with the intention of doing STUFF around the house in preparation for our upcoming vacation.  Lawn needed mowed, chicken coop needed some repairs, recycling needed to be transported to the recycling center.  Ya know, standard homeowner crap.


Since I was up early (read: before the sun turned our land into an unbearably humid swamp), I decided to try running again.  Ya see, Mrs. Wife has taken up running recently and it's making me feel kind of lazy despite working out on my rings and bar for 60 minutes 3x/week!


I decided to give the "barefoot" running thing a chance.  I did a Couch to 5K-style walk/run the trail on our woods in just my sandals.  I cut down the running to only 4 one-minute intervals, rather than the 8 intervals that C25K calls for in its first week because I've heard barefooting will kill your calves the first  few times.


I got in a mile over 20 minutes.  And it felt awesome.  No pain in the calves at all.  A little bit the next day, but all in all, a good experience.  I'm going to get myself some better shoes to run in since the sandals felt a bit unstable.  Probably some water shoes.


I worked out yesterday:
20 minute "barefoot" walk/run.


I woke up today at 6:45 raring to go.  I knew I had to head into work for a while, but I wanted to get a quick workout in.  While not rushing, I certainly didn't dawdle like I tend to do during weekend workouts.  I was able to actually get in my entire workout!


I was also able to try out a new exercise: the bodyweight curl.  It replaced the inverted pull-up as my "arms at the sides" pulling exercise.  See an example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8izkNkcBw HOLY CRAP it's hard, but my biceps felt huge all day.  Twelve inches of power, baby.


I worked out today:
3x8 Hanging Bent Leg Raises
3x60s RKC Planks
3x8 Ring Rows (rings@29", feet@18")
3x8 Ring Push-ups (rings@29")
3x8 Bodyweight Curls (rings@48", knees bent)
1x8 Weighted Dips (8lb)
1x7,1x8 Unweighted Dips (forgot about the weight... whoops)
3x8 Single Leg Squats (1 ring/1 finger assist)
3x8 Modified Glute Ham Raise
3x4 Close-Grip Chin-ups
2x3 Wide-Grip Pull-ups

Some notes: I was able to do a freestanding Pistol Squat later in the day on my right leg.  My right leg has been the weaker leg all this time, so I think it's time for me to stop using rings for assistance.  Also, my ass hurts.  GHRs need to be modified to be harder somehow.  I'm getting too used to the motion.  Any ideas?