Becoming an Athlete

I love Lake Pflugerville. I always see awesome birds of prey, the distance is exactly 5K, and the dam makes for wicked hill sprints. I ran 10 hills today in 6:43 total time. Nothing extreme, but enough to get my cough triggered and clear out all sorts of lung mucus. Good times. Good times....

I know this answer was originally to the question "How many times must I forgive?" My question, with this same answer is "How many times must I start over?" I was sick for just over 3 weeks, and then a work conference the following week meant I didn't do JACK for a month. I'm in no place to worry about split routines, or hypertrophy, or even maximal strength and explosiveness. I just need to get fit again, and fast. Monday, 5 MAR, was my first REAL training session in a month, and it was difficult. My weights were light and my rest intervals were long. My throat is still irritated so all the heavy breathing made me cough incessantly through the session. My results, though poor, are a starting point: Noon: 3 mile walk PM strength work: Bench press: 145 x 5; 165 x 5; 185 x 7 Superset: a. Wide grip bent row: 115 x 10, 10, 10 b. pushup: x 10, 10, 10 Deadlift: 205 x 5; 245 x 5; 285 x 3 T-bell swing: 73 x 10, 10, 2 skipped abs.

I joking told my daughter I caught Avian swine flu. Whatever I had, it knocked me for a loop for over 2 weeks. I am back from the dead and able to get out aand enjoy the early Austin spring, although we are having a cloudy cool day at the moment (27 FEB). I walked about 6 miles around Granger Lake and along ther banks of the San Gabriel River on Saturday as I fished for whatever would bite. All in all, it wasn't a workout, but just a day in the sun, getting recharged and reinvigorated. On Sunday, I hit Lake Georgetown and only walked about 2 miles as I fished. The only thing I caught on Lake Georgetown were some quality Z's in the sun. I must have slept for 45 minutes on the limestone banks. I would lift this week, but we have team meetings all week, which will go well into the evenings, so I might not be able to fit anything substantial into my schedule.

This blows

I haven't been this sick in several years. I tried to get in a late night workout on Wednesday, 2/8, but felt weak and miserable. I woke up Thursday morning and felt like my eardrums would burst from so much fluid pressure. I called in sick to work on Thursday and Friday, and pretty much spent 2/8 through 2/12 sleeping, reading or watching TV. The only exceptions were getting the kids up and off to school, and taking my son to a Monster truck show Saturday evening. I'm still not 100%, so I'll be off 2/13 through 2/18 as well. If the weather clears up, I'll start with some light cardio just to get my blood pumping. Maybe it'll help me hack up some of the crud in my lungs, too.

I put this in the wrong sequence, but I'll have it dialed in for next Tuesday. The wrong sequence specifically is going to failure on shoulder isolation exercises before hitting chest and triceps. My shoulders hurt so bad I could hardly do ANYTHING. wrong sequence: external rotations: 10s x 12; 12s x 10 overhead press: 135 x 5; 135 x 5; 140 x 5 cable lateral raise; 10 x 12ea; 13 x 10ea; 17 x 7 + 4 forced reps and 2 negatives prone dumbbell raise: 10s x 10; 12.5s x 8 + 5 rest pause reps + 3 cheat reps bench press (shoulders really limited me) 135 x 12, 12, 12 couldn't do dips couldn't do shrugs corrected sequence will be: external rotations: x12, x10 overhead press: 3 x 5 (add weight each set) bench press: wk1 = 3 x 12; wk2 = 3 x 10; wk3 = 3 x 8 dips: x10; 1 x total failure cable lateral raise: x12; x10; xTF prone raise: x10; xTF trap bar shrugs: x12; x10; xTF

I started the day with 30 minutes of Pilates this morning at 7:30 AM. It was surprisingly fatigue-inducing in my shoulders and upper back. It was easy on everything else. Today was my first training day of the next 6 week cycle. I started with a passable load on deadlift, but each week will get closer to my true 1RM. Since I'm training 5 days a week, the volume is low, following a Dorian Yates style of HIT. Warm-up: Flat back goodmorning: 85 x 10; 95 x 8 Deadlift: (3 warm-up sets, then) 275 x 5; 285 x 5; 295 x 5 Leg press: 320 x 12; 370 x 10; 450 x 12 (including Rest-Pause reps) Leg curl: 75 x 10; 100 x 13 (including Rest-Pause reps) 73lb T-bell swing: 10, 10, 10