Veronica: Aug 26 - Stretching

10 mins warmup on elliptical, 1 hour stretching and foam rolling, 10 assisted pistols w/ overhead cable. Felt magnificent.

Veronica: Aug 22 - Cardio

saturday, 8/22: elliptical - 25 mins low/med; running - 5 mins @ 8.6 / 1.0 incline, stopping once in the middle.
sunday and monday rest.

Veronica: Aug 21 - squat (retry)

--squat: 13 sets of 5, some empty bar, some 25lb (practice) bar
--cardio: running outdoors, 2 miles
--stretching: 1 yoga class

I am still trying to learn correct form for squats, and today's attempt went much better than yesterday's! (I didn't give up and leave.) Once I got over the geekiness of having a webcam at the gym, it was excellent to be able to review each rep in slow motion. I took "Starting Strength" with me and tried to follow those instructions word-for-word.

There must be some mistake in my form, though, because tonight I am lying down with a bunch of lower back pain. Fortunately, icing my back, ice cream, and good music on the internet can distract me from this.

Here are the last 3 reps with the empty bar:





Tips, anybody?

My next task is to brainstorm about which style to learn, and whether to go back to a trainer who I met in April (she's kind of pricey & far away but a great teacher).

Veronica: Aug 20 - Squat

Less than awesome today. I "attempted" squats, but only did a few sets with light weights then went home. I feel great physically, however I think I was distracted mentally.

Tonight I got a little frustrated by not being able to feel what was right and wrong technique (and also not knowing which style of squat to use). To try to solve the problem, after getting home I set up a webcam.... When I am not using it for "LiVE WEbcAM FeED SiNGles IN yoUR aReA" or playing MMORPGs, I'll give it a try at the Z. :)

Veronica: Aug 18 cardio/hips and Aug 19 cardio

Aug 18
Yesterday, my plan was to do mostly hip exercises, to try to "rehab" some recent knee achiness from running outside. This routine below has helped in the past, and today my knees felt pretty good.

Hips/core:
--Standing cable sideways hip ext: 30x12, 35x8, 40x5 (not sure of weight, might have been more)
--Lying-down sideways leg raise: 30x3
--Side plank with leg raise: 10x3
--One leg hip raise from lying on back: 24ish
--Leg sled - plié style: 60x20, 80x20, toes pointed inward: ??x20
--Hip abductor machine: 50, 60, & 70 x a bunch
--Incline situps: BWx30, 15lbsx24, 20lbsx10
--Sideways knee raises on leg-raising-ab-machine (don't know what it's called): 24x3
--Standing hip lift - 40 reps x3
--Sideways situps on inclined bench - 10lbs x??, 20lbs x12

Cardio:
--15 minutes swim
--Green building - 3x (3:20, 3:33, 3:45)

Aug 19
I would like to try squats again soon, so took it easy today. I'm picturing a squat rack appointment for tomorrow or Friday.

Cardio:
--Running outdoors: 1.8 miles
--Running on treadmill: 2 mins @ 7.4, 10 mins @ 7.5, 1 min @ 9.0 (all at 1.0 incline)
--Erg: 10 mins @ level 4, 2:30-2:40 / 500m. Last minute was 2:40-2:45 / 500m.
--Swimming: 10 mins
48 mins total.

Stretching: 1 yoga class

Veronica: Aug 17

55 mins running outdoors, slow pace
10 minutes climbing across MIT chapel wall
1 yoga class

Felt good today. I stopped climbing when the insects started to bite too much...

Veronica: Aug 16 - deadlift

Cardio
track -- 800m warmup + 200m fast + 400m + 100m fast + 200m
running in Boston -- 1.8 miles medium
running in Boston -- 1.8 miles slow/intermittent

Deadlift
55x5, 75x5, 98x5ishx2ish,108* x a bunch (did not count)
____*might have been 128 with a prior set at 108

Stretching 1 yoga class

This was Day #2 of trying to learn to deadlift correctly. Got lots of useful tips from Danny and Nate that I collected in a Word doc. 108lbs felt good, however I was not arching and also felt a little back twist on the last rep. Because of both these facts, I'll stick with two green plates next time and practice form a while...

Veronica: Aug 13 - light upper and cardio

I finally made it to be non-sedentary yesterday! This is a "scheduling challenge" week until next Tuesday. Boo. I tried cloning myself so I could have a good workout, but science skills were not good enough... so I settled for 15 minutes at the Z and some midnight cardio.

15 minutes at the Z
pushups - 8x2
dips from bench - 16x3
bent over row - 40x10, 50x10, 60x10
half pull-up from smith machine - 8x2
pulldown - 50x12, then had to leave before finishing exercise.
____(Next time, I will save things like pushups and dips for home when in a rush.)

midnight cardio
green building - 3x - 5:00, 6:14, watch said 11:34 for the 3rd one, but I think that's not right.
____(First try ever ... and new admiration for Shanker and Andre for less than 3:00 times.)
track - 2 miles: 2400m medium/slow and 800m fast
0.5 to 1 miles other running

My upper legs were pretty sore, until I tried ice and a hot shower and that worked like a charm!

I will aim for early morning gym times for the next few days...

Veronica: Aug 11 - Squat

Squat: 45x5x2, 65x5x2, 85x5, 95x3, 95x5, 105x3, 95x5, 85x5, 65x5

Felt good... looking forward to more. Pointers yesterday: take a bigger breath when reps become difficult - veins should be popping out of neck, and face should be red. Be careful of lifting by extending my back (instead of lifting "from hips") when tired. Thanks Rene and Hil.

Running: 40 mins outdoors @ medium-slow pace
Foam roll, yoga class, sauna.

Veronica: Aug 10

Same as most Mondays...
--running - 30 mins outdoors @ slow pace
--rock climbing - 4 or 5 courses, 5.7-5.8
--stretching - yoga class

Veronica: Aug 9 core/cardio and Aug 8 deadlift

Thanks for inviting me to the blog. Already I have learned something important: it helps to wear an Under Armour hat to lift heavy weights; for very heavy weights, another hat with flames can be added to that one...

Sunday, August 9

Cardio: I'm trying to lose weight at the moment, so aiming for 25-45 mins cardio on most days. Total today: 45 mins.
---running outdoors - 16 mins @ medium pace
---running on treadmill - 1 min/7.2, 10 min/7.4, 1.5 min/9.0. Incline 1.o for all times.
---swimming - 17 mins @ leisurely pace

Weightlifting: Was sore from DL yesterday; tried to do things that use the opposite movement.
---Incline situps -- 10 lbs x 16; 25 lbs x 5; 20 lbs x 6; no weight x 30ish
---Leg raises on leg-raising-ab-machine (don't know what it's called) -- 16 x 3
---Knee raises hanging from bar -- 12 x 3
---Cable hip flexor exercise -- 60 x 12; (80 or 90) x 6
---Knee-to-opposite-elbow situps while balanced on other hand and foot -- 16 x 3
---Assisted pullup -- 35 lb assist x 5 x 2

Stretching/misc: 1 yoga class and sauna

Saturday, August 8

Deadlift
---Romanian (?) style -- 64 x 5 x 2; 74 x 7; 84 x 5
---regular -- 94 x 7ish; 104 x 7ish; 114 x (3-5) x (4ish) or maybe it was 124 lbs... I forget

This felt "enjoyable" overall... got tired at the end and grip failed. My goal for the next few months is to learn correct technique, so I don't mind adding weight slowly. Thanks, Shanker, for the pointers: shins more perpendicular to ground, weight on heels, lift from upper back first then legs.

Cardio: running ~2.5 miles outdoors, ~20 minutes.