Gym Time

I finally got back into the gym today. I haven't squatted or benched since school let out until today. I went with 3 other guys from work and we had varying levels of fitness which was honestly pretty cool. It felt great getting in the gym for a real weighted workout. After the gym I also got into the boxing room with a few guys and we did a little bit of circuit training. However, the workout was cut short in both places due to the fact that we all needed to get to work.

Whenever I go to the weight room I typically follow a Starting Strength program. I've made some variations to it by now but it's pretty much the same deal. First, we started out on squats. Since there was nobody in the gym we split up into teams of two and had our own squat station. I was with a kid that squatted for the first time yesterday, so I was pretty excited. We did this:

115 lbs - 5x
135 lbs - 5x
155 lbs - 5x
175 lbs - 5x
185 lbs - 5x
195 lbs - 5x

We decided instead of doing a predetermined number of sets we would just go until he couldn't anymore. He thought he was maxing out at about 155, but by the end he realized that 195 wasn't even at his max. We stopped there because the other pair was ready to bench so we moved on.

Benching was similar but shorter. We did this:

95 lbs - 10x (He went first and I didn't do this weight)
115 lbs -10x
135 lbs - 8x
155 lbs - 6x
185 lbs - 1x (My max and I failed)

We were going to go dead lift but we realized we were short on time and it was either dead lift or go box and get some cardio in. We chose the cardio. Since we had 4 people, we had a 4 station boxing/cardio circuit. We would be at each station for a minute putting out as much effort as possible (except at the rest station) and it went like this:

Jump Rope
Shadow Box
Rest
Heavy Bag

It was intended to go through these stations 4 times each taking 16 minutes. However, we had to end after 2 rounds because it was time to go to work. In the end it was a solid workout, but I may go after work too just so that I can finish off with some core and more cardio.

Matt n Nick

Yesterday I worked out with Matt and Nick. Matt's the same one that took me mountain biking a week ago. The three of us are doing the GoRuck challenge together in 2 weeks and had our first team workout yesterday. This isn't a big deal because the three of us are already very team oriented so team bonding isn't really priority number one.

As for the workout, we ran 4 miles and did 300 pushups, situps/flutter kicks, and squats. We did this with our camelbaks on so I decided right away that we should do flutter kicks instead of situps because we could just move the bag up and do flutter kicks relatively normally. Nick and Matt did some situps anyway and mixed flutter kicks in, I did just straight flutter kicks. It went like this:

1-mile
100 : pushups, flutter kicks, squats (No Partitioning)
1-mile
20 : pushups, flutter kicks, squats 5x
1-mile
20 : pushups, flutter kicks, squats 5x
1-mile

I finished in 1 hour and 3 seconds. When I finished I thought that my watch said 1 hour and 3 100ths of a second which pumped me up because my goal was an hour. However, I then realized the milliseconds changed to seconds when an hour was reached. Oh well, I still feel good about the workout.

Overall, I worked really hard and loved the entire workout but I really had to push myself on the last mile. I had 8 minutes to finish the mile and I didn't think I could do it. Turns out it was 8 minutes and 3 seconds. Matt and Nick worked hard too and I think the three of us had a great workout.

Running Tabata Something Else

Tabata Something Else is a workout that you do 4 consecutive rounds of tabata with different workouts. If you don't know what tabata is look here. The workout works like this:

1 round - pullups
1 round - pushups
1 round - situps
1 round - squats

In other words you do a full tabata set then move on to the next without pausing more than your given ten seconds. What I did was the running supplemented version of this workout. It works like this:

Pullups
1 Mile - 7:57
Pushups
1 Mile - 9:02
Situps
1 Mile - 8:31
Squats
1 Mile - 8:34

Clearly those calisthenics are the tabata form of their already exciting selves. You can also see my times for my miles on the above chart. As you can see, I really struggled on mile two then I evened out afterwards. I think a big problem is that I started the workout with minor dehydration. Then it was supplemented by the temperature, which is currently about 86 degrees Fahrenheit with high levels of humidity.

Overall, I felt good. I felt like I was going to die at first but then I got used to the heat and started sucking down the water. In the end, I finished and was ready to continue if I had to. However, I did not.

GoRuck - 23 days... Compel me.

Mountain Biking

I went mountain biking with my good friend Matt this past weekend. I had never been before so I was a little tentative to try it. However, I manned up and went for it. Matt is pretty good and goes a lot so I was happy to be going with someone that has some experience.

First, we went on a little obstacle course to warm up and I did horribly. I fell off of a board really quickly and hurt something that no man ever wants hurt. However, the good news is that was really the only "injury" I sustained during the trip.

Once we got onto the real trails the workout really started. Riding up hill over roots and rocks was difficult. But, I soon started having fun so I forgot I was working out. After riding for a few hours we were both pretty tired and it was time to go home.

However, we got lost on the wrong side of the mountain. After figuring it out we rode a few miles back to the parking lot. I shouldn't speak for him but I know my legs were fried.

Good news, I recovered quickly and the next day I was only a little sore. I really enjoyed the right and look forward to biking again.

Murph Tribute

First, I'd like to show you my face. :-) .

Murph Tribute:
1-mile Run
50 pullups
100 pushups
150 situps
200 squats
1-mile Run
50 pullups
100 pushups
150 situps
200 squats
1-mile Run
No Partitioning

The "No Partitioning" part simply means that I can't break the calisthenics up into 10 sets of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 situps, and 20 squats. However, that doesn't mean you have to do 50 pullups without leaving the pullup bar.

Time breakdown:
(each segment includes transition time from that segment to the next)

Mile #1: 8:06.76
Cal #1: 26:03.88
Mile #2: 10:56.17
Cal #2: 27:39.96
Mile #3: 9:39.37
Total: 1:22:26

The workout almost made me quit. It almost made me puke. It almost hurt me. Luckily none of those things happened and I ended up finishing very satisfied with my workout. I have continued to recover quickly after workouts and at this point I feel as though I could keep going with no other motivation than my own.

This is reassuring for me because I need to be the toughest at GoRuck to survive. It's likely that I will be the smallest one there, thus, I will need to be capable of carrying not just my own load but the load of a man 30 pounds heavier than myself. I'll need motivation to keep up my morale.

Compel me.

P.S. I may get my nose fixed before GoRuck which will allow me to breathe out of my left nostril which has severely deviated septum. HOLLA!