Today's workout was...

[Laura]

ERMAHGERD AH WERKED ERT

Yeah. How long has it been? A month? More? Anyway, I got my dumb ass into the gym and did some gentle stuff that wouldn't hurt my plantar fasciitis.

Started out with some squats, crossover lunges, etc., and a bunch of calf/foot stretches to warm up. Then I did two sets each of step-ups, incline pushups, and torso twisting things with the medicine ball. I tried to do a set of lunges but the foot said "aw hell no". So I did Bulgarian split squats instead. Worked fine. I didn't attempt any back stuff (rows, etc) because my bursitic shoulder is still an issue, but I will try that next time.

Then I got on the recumbent bike and did 10 minutes of HIIT. It was definitely HIIT because I could only manage ten minutes. I always thought the bike was too easy -- until I discovered that the resistance goes well over 10 on this particular machine. So I cranked it up and, yeah, that was a workout.

[Ryan]

30 minutes of swimming 50 m laps.

Hope you start feeling better soon, Laura! Plantar fasciitis is a terrible thing to deal with.

[Laura]

It's just so damn annoying! And stupid. It's a stupid injury.

I hit the gym again today. Put together a "don't hurt yourself hiking" workout plan. Today was Workout B, which started off with some dynamic warmups. Then it was 2 sets of the following:

Combo offset/goblet squats (10-lb kettlebell in left hand; squat; kettlebell held in center with both hands; squat; kettlebell in right hand; squat; kettlebell back to center; squat. That was one rep. I did five)

Assisted dips, 130# assistance

Single leg, single-DB Romanian deadlifts (30#, 30#)

Planks (first one 65 sec, second attempt 45 sec + 30 sec)

One set of bird dogs (I forgot to do the second set)

...plus 27 min on the recumbent bike. I did 12 min of HIIT, discovered that the women's locker room was being cleaned, went back and did another 15 minutes of medium-IIT.

[John Rauch]

I was pretty sick over the weekend, but got back to the weights today. I worked up to a heavy 1RM barbell bench, then switched over to dumbbells for reps, superset with taters, which are basically a combo of a kettlebell swing and goblet squat. Then I finished with push-ups and toes-to-bar. I'm not sure if my kids have baseball practice tonight, but if they don't, I'll be at black belt class, working on muay thai, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever.

[Ryan]

Friday: Weight Lifting: Triceps/Biceps/Gluts/Quads

Saturday: 30 minutes swimming 50 m laps. I've never learned a "correct" way to swim, but I've been trying to teach myself front crawl technique because it's supposed to be the best cardio swimming you can do. I think I'm getting better at it? Question mark? I know my legs have been screaming at me when I finish.

Sunday: 35 minutes Elliptical Machine in the morning, 20 minutes of HIIT cardio at night.

Today: 35 minutes Elliptical, Weight Lifting: Triceps/Biceps

[John Rauch]

Ryan: When you talk about lifting for specific muscle groups, what types of lifts do you mean? Are you doing isolation moves to hit them specifically or or those just the muscles you happen to be using? Most of the time, you'll get a lot more bang for your buck out of multi-joint movements than specifically trying to work muscle groups you want to improve.

Also: I'm very similar in swimming. I'm capable, but I have this fear that I look ridiculous doing it. Also, guys who seem to be in less conditioned than me are sometimes way better. I'm sure it comes down to technique and I even considered taking lessons back when my kids were, but I just never did.

[Ryan]

Lately it's been more isolation moves with dumbbells because of space limitations (I've had to use my office as a weight room the last few weeks because of the heat). I actually just learned a few new combo moves that I'm working in to my routine that don't need a lot of space, though.

I think I might take a rest day today or maybe swim a bit later.

[Laura]

Another don't-hurt-yourself workout. Very simple but effective. Started out with dynamic warmups, then 2 sets of 10:

Step-ups on the bench this time (10s, 10s)
Incline pushups on the bench
Bulgarian split squats (10s, 10s)
Med ball reverse chops (8, 8)

13 min of HIIT on the bike.

This really wiped me out for some reason; a couple of times I felt like I was gonna barf. Why, I don't know. I ate before I worked out. Maybe I didn't eat enough.

[Ryan]

Decided to swim: 30 minutes of 50 m laps. Going to try to do shoulders/chest/back tonight.

John, I also wanted to give you kudos on the colors you've been throwing down on Invincible. The Cory Walker pages from the past few issues have been really great.

[Ryan]

Yesterday: Rest day.

Today: 35 minutes elliptical, weights: gluts/quads/biceps/triceps

[John Rauch]

I'm taking a rest day today. I had considered some jumping rope or light cardio, which I often do on rest days, but I slept very little last night because of work and a baby who refuses to sleep, so I'm not pushing my luck.

Yesterday, I did squats, mostly, and set a couple new records. 405/1 is my new max and I also hit 275/20, which is a rep scheme I've been using a lot lately. Tons of time under tension. Very challenging, physically, and mentally, especially when using a weight I should only be able to squat 10-12 times.

[John Rauch]

HEAVY THINGS!!!

[John Rauch]

MOAR!

[Laura]

ALL THE HEAVY THINGS!

Okay, so a quick rundown of what I did physically each day whilst on vacation in southern Utah from August 1 to August 9 (hence my silence on GZ):

Aug 2: 2 mile walk
Aug 3: 2 mile walk + 2 hours horseback riding, incl. cantering, so a whole lot of thigh and hip exertion was involved -- not to mention abject terror, good for blood and adrenaline flow
Aug 4: 2 mile walk + 1 mile hike/wade through small but powerful Virgin River
Aug 5 and 6 were mostly spent driving to Moab, but there were a few small hikes in there
Aug 7: 4 hour raft ride on Colorado River; much swimming and some sunburning involved
Aug 8: 4 mile hike, uneven sand/rocks, some scrambling, in bright sun/104-degree temps, whilst hauling a 25-lb backpack (which ended up being about 17 lbs after I drank a gallon of water)
Aug 9: Run from one end of Denver airport to the other with 50-lb duffel bag

My plantar fascist heel hates me again, and my right knee told me to piss off about halfway through the trip, but I took loads of ibuprofen and soldiered on. This coming week is recovery. Last week of August, I get back on the regular exercise.

I'm also doing a whole-foods cleanse diet for three weeks. Wish me luck.

[John Rauch]

Sounds awesome, Laura! (well, except for the plantar fasciitis (fascist was funnier)) The whole food cleanse is a great idea. I wish I could stick to whole foods all the time, but I end up losing too much weight. It's a great way for me to drop a few lbs. when I need to, though. Not much fun if you don't have a creative/good cook, though.

As far as workouts, I've been doing lots of heavy stuff lately and cutting back the volume on non-resistance based cardio. I just do a quick circuit at the end of every strength day, maybe one run a week, and muay thai once a week, and that's it. It's been great for my strength and I've put on some weight as well, mostly muscle.

That said, I'm taking a week to deload and lighten it up a bit to fully recover and see where I am. So, this week's workouts probably won't be especially impressive, but I can live with that.