Fitness, Education and Scuba Diving: May 2013

Background

The continuing quest to get as fit as I possibly can at the age of 41!
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Attempting to Regain my Fitness at 40!

The background story for this latest quest to raise my fitness level lies is the fact that I've turned 40.
Being a Physical Education Teacher and having been around sports and fitness most of my life I believe I have an excellent understanding of how to gain and regain fitness in a short time period.
That is what this page of my blog 'Fitness' will be about, a diary of my quest to get back my personal fitness after a hiatus from hard aerobic training of about 4 years!
In this return to regaining my fitness as quickly as possible I have set myself a number of rules which I will try to follow and nodoubt break along the way.

The first rule is, if you want quick results you need to get out on the road!
Easier said than done... So rather than smash my untrained joints up, I have started the roadwork slowly... doing a day in the gym, in-between the joint jarring roadwork!
The second rule is, don't get involved in long boring sessions!
The plan is to keep up the intensity and drop the hours...
Finally the third rule is, change the routen everyday(ish)!
I've discovered I'm much more motivated if I take 10 minutes and use my underpinning knowledge of what I require for that day and plan a whole new route and workout.
It should be noted that rule number three, the need to create new workouts on a daily bases... my weights routen does not change so much. In this case after being around weights for over thirty years, I believe I have the perfect short, sharp routen that works for me.
Please note, the days may not necessary run consecutively over time, where possible, I have included the date, but generally I try not to schedule days off and take them whenever it is not possible to get out on the road or into the gym.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

DAY 17 (May 29th, 2013)

Morning: Gym Work

Elliptical Cross Trainer 30mins

Shoulders & Traps
Seated Barbell Behind The Head Press 6x12-3
Incline Shoulder Press 4x12-8
Seated Lateral Machine Raises 5x12
Seated Rear Machine Delts 5x12
Machine Shrugs 5x12

Evening: Roadwork - Hill Training
http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=184291

The Route Distance 5.61km (Three Hills)

Before the run home completed HIIT Hill Run
Hill Intervals: Run up hill for 15s + Jog or walk back down to base (30s) x10

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

DAY 16 (May 28th, 2013)

Gym Day

45mins Elliptical Cross-Trainer

Chest & Triceps
Dips 5x12
Close Grip Bench Presses 4x12-8
DB Standing French Press (Alternate Arms) 4x12
One Arm Pushdowns (Continuos) 4x12
Rope Pulldowns 3x8

Monday, 27 May 2013

DAY 15 (May 27th, 2013)

Morning: Roadwork!

Stretches: 10mins (feeling old)
Warmup: walk to gym (more calf stretches)
Hyperextensions 3x15

Ran 6km
For every KM performed:

Pushup Jump Burpees 5x10
Lunges 5x16

Back at the gym:
Machine Crunches +71lbs 5x12

Evening: Gym

Wide Grip Pullups 5x7-8
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4x12

DB Bicep Curls 5x20-12
21s x3 (light weight)

Saturday, 25 May 2013

DAY 14 (May 26th, 2013)

Fartlek on the treadmill.

9mins stretches

5min jogging

2min sprint

5min jog

x6 Sets

5min cool down

Distance Run: 9km

Calories Burnt: 955

4 sets of giant superset:

Squats (holding a 20kg disc) 4x15-20

Close grip chins (assisted 36kg) 4x10

Dips (assisted 36kg) 4x15

Hammer curl Military press (20kg disc) 4x7-8

Friday, 24 May 2013

DAY 13 (24th May, 2013)

Taking it up a gear!

Roadwork: Basic - 5.5km run (just to make sure I could still do it without stopping - lol)
Ended at the gym - took Tito Ortiz's workout and changed it

20 reps of Pushups, Jumping Burpees, Lunges, Crunches, Sprawls
15 reps of Pushups, Jumping Burpees, Lunges, Crunches, Sprawls
10 reps of Pushups, Jumping Burpees, Lunges, Crunches, Sprawls
05 reps of Pushups, Jumping Burpees, Lunges, Crunches, Sprawls

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

DAY 12 (May23rd, 2013)

A lighter cardio day, but really wanted to get into the gym to blast my shoulders and traps.

Seated Machine Press 4x8-10
Smith Machine Press (rear) 4x1-12 (really went heavy with a max 2 rep and a max 1 rep)
Light DB Laterals 5x12
Machine Rear Delts 5x12
Machine Shrugs 5x12

Elliptical Cross Trainer 45mins

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

DAY 11 (May 22nd, 2013)

Fancied something a little different... This one is easy to do without leaving the house

Special Edition Spartan WOD: Tito Ortiz Training with the Troops

Punishment Training Center, and Spartan Race are pleased to bring you a special Spartan WOD to do tomorrow. An MMA Superstar, Tito Ortiz, former five times Light-Heavyweight UFC champion takes us through a brutal WOD Punishment Training Style with this special video filmed in Huntington Beach, CA. Ortiz does a countdown style workout with US troops in Okinawa, Japan on a live feed with this special edition Spartan WOD. Do you have what it takes to finish?

Tito Ortiz Training Video*

Main Set:
10 Rounds of push-ups, burpees, crunches, jumping jacks and sprawls.

# of reps per round:

1st - 10

2nd - 9

3rd - 8

4th - 7

5th - 6

6th - 5

7th - 4

8th - 3

9th - 2

10th - 10

Advanced:
Start with 20 reps each and go down to 1 (20 sets total)

I did the 10 Rounds version :)

Afternoon: Gym

Dips 5x12
Close Grip Bench Press 4/5x4-12
One Arm Cable Pushdowns 4x12 (continuous)
Rope Pulldowns 4x8-12

* Interestingly on the Tito Ortiz Video he demonstrates Lunges, yet on the material above there is no mention of Lunges... They should of been between the press-ups and burpees!

Ten Day Reflection

It's been longer than ten days, and day one defiantly had a handful of rest days from roadwork after it, due to the fact my body ached so much. But I did it and that motivated me enough to get back out on the road again.

OK, I love quick results, and I know you have to put your body on the edge of overtraining to get them. Interestingly the overtraining effect didn't really kick in until day eight or nine (OT effects have been slight joint ache, but minor and disturbed sleep patterns).

So the question is... Is it working?

Yes, it is. My time and distances have improved, in fact they have doubled. I'm finding the HIIT easier (it's still hard, but I'm not physically collapsing) my breathing whilst running has improved, and the ease of performing Burpees is improving, and I've not dropped weight and I'm keeping my strength in the gym.

I'm going to push another ten days before easing off the gas. Possibly moving to a three day roadwork schedule...

As long as I stay injury free it should be a fun ten training days :)

Training routines I like and that push me are the Fartlek treadmill days, the 1km burpee/ squat/press up mix, and the HIIT hill sprints and the endurance hill runs. Variations of all of these will make up the next ten training days. In addition to my weights routine.

Monday, 20 May 2013

DAY 10 (May 21st, 2013)

So here is a prelude of my roadwork for today (Recorded day 10)

High Intensity Interval Training - HIIT on Hills
I based this program on a hill that is slanted about 40 degrees. The work interval will be 15 seconds of running up the hill and the rest interval will be as long as it takes you to trot or walk back down to the base. To perform hill intervals start at the base of a hill and then run up the hill for the work interval. After the work interval is complete walk or trot back down to the base. Once you get down to the base perform the next work interval and repeat the process until all ten sets are finished.

When performing hill intervals watch your footing when going up and down the hill to avoid twisting ankles, tripping, and falling. Always warm up before performing intervals and cool down afterwards.

Interval Chart:

Hill Intervals	Sets
Run up hill for 15s + Jog or walk back down to base	10

Another Example
Try these shorter 10 second hill intervals for a change of pace. Since they are shorter there will be more sets to perform (14 sets) and they will give you a shorter trip back down the hill for a shorter rest interval.

Interval Chart:

Hill Intervals	Sets
Run up hill for 10s + Jog or walk back down to base	14

Extract lifted from: http://intervalsforcardio.com/hill-interval-training.html

THIS IS HOW I RAN IT!

Morning: Roadwork - Hill Training
7 mins stretches
Jog to hill: 2.3km
HIIT Hills: Run up for 15s and jog/walked down for 30s* for 10 Sets**
Jogged back to start: 2.3km

*To enable me to jog down the hill for 30s I started half way up the hill (the hill was long enough for both running up and jogging/walking down times)
**Used the Round Timer Pro for my HIIT Hill sets and timings

Afternoon: Gym
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4x12
20kg Plate include pullovers 4x12
Wide Grip Chins 5x7-8
Assisted Chins 2x12

DB Bicep Curls 5x10-12 (includes warmup sets)
Seated DB Curls 4x12
Preacher Curls 4x12

DAY 09 (May 20th, 2013)

More variations on a theme (Bad weather kept me off the road)

Warm Up: 1km jog and then stretches

If my running speed could be placed on a sliding scale, walking, speed walking, jogging, running and sprinting then the speed aimed for today would be running.

Run 1km
Burpees x15
Squats x15
Pushups x15

Repeat 5 times (5km and 75 Burpees, Squats and Pushups, total).

Cool Down: 0.5km walk/speed walk...

Close Grip Chins super setted with Dips 5x8-10 (until failure).

Sunday, 19 May 2013

DAY 08 (May 19th, 2013)

Gym training

Fartlek (the next level)

5min Stretch/jog

2min Sprint

5min Jog

6 sets

5min Cool Down

20kg Olympic Disc Military Press 5x8-10

Supersetted with

Light DB Laterals 5x10-12

Machine Rear Delts 5x10-12

Thursday, 16 May 2013

DAY 07 (May 17th, 2013)

Variations on a theme

Warmup included hyperextensions 2x15

Ran 6km
Every km dropped and did (5 sets total):
Burpees x15
Lunges x15
Pressups x15

Finished the run at the Gym doors
DB Laterals (light) 5x12
Machine Military Press 4x8-10
One Arm Machine Military Press 2x12

Machine Crunches 4x12

DAY 06 (May 16th, 2013)

Gym Day
Morning (Aerobics): Fartlek Training on Treadmill
Using the Round Timer App. (Pro)
Warmup: 5mins jog/stretch
A Round consists of:
Sprint 2 minutes
Jog 5 minutes
Total of 6 Rounds
Cool Down: 5mins jog/stretch

Evening (Anaerobic)
Dips 5x12
Close Grip Bench Press 5x8-12
One Arm Push Downs 4x12 (continuos)
Rope Pull Downs 4x10-12
Bench Leg Raises 4x12

DAY 05 (May 15th, 2013)

Roadwork Day: Hill Training Variation
2 Hills + 1 Bridge (2 Ascents) x 3sets
Total: 6 Hills, 3 Bridges (6 Ascents) = +5km
On the decents:
20 - 30 - 40 Pressups
20 - 30 - 40 CGI Pressups
Totals: 90 Pressups, 90 CGI Pressups

DAY 04 (May 14th, 2013)

Gym Day
5km Running Machine (small inclines)

Wide Grip Chins 5x7
Assisted Chins 2x12
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4x12
DB Alternate Bicep Curls 5x12
Seated Incline Curls 4x8-10
Preacher Curls 4x8-10

DAY 03 (May 13th, 2013)

Morning (Roadwork)
Run 6km
Every km:
Burpees x15
Free Squats x15
Spiderman Pushups x15

The run finishes at Gold Gym
Weighted Crunches 200lbs+ 5x8-10
Back Hyperextension 5x12

Evening (Gym)
Machine Military Press 4x12
Smith Machine Press 5x3-12
DB Seated Laterals 5x12
Machine Rear Delts 4x12
Shrugs 5x12