Fitness, Education and Scuba Diving: June 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, 26 June 2013

DAY 38 (June 26th)

Gym Day

Shoulders, Chest, Triceps

Machine Rear Delts 5x12

Machine Laterals 5x12

Machine Press 5x12-2

Dips 5x15

DB French Press Gian Sets 3x12/10

Elliptical Cross Trainer 45mins

DAY 37 (June 25th)

Reebok CrossFit - Daikanyama

Combat Fitness Class

Monday, 24 June 2013

Sunday, 23 June 2013

DAY 35 (23rd June)

10 Rounds of push-ups, lunges, 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

Gym Day

Back & Biceps

Wide Grip Chins 5x7-8
Close Grip Chins 4x6
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4x12
Supersetted with Lat Pulldowns 4x15

DB Curls 5x12-6
Concentration Curls 4x12-8

Elliptical Cross Trainer 45mins

Thursday, 20 June 2013

DAY 33 (June 21st)

Road Work

Jogged a 10km route

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

DAY 32 (June 19th, 2013)

Gym Day

Shoulders, Traps, Chest & Triceps

Behind the head military barbell press 5x 12,12, 8, 4, 4

Machine lateral 5x12-15

Super setted with

Machine shrugs 5x10

Machine rear delts 4x12

Dips 5x15

DB french press (giant sets) 3x12&8

Elipitacal cross trainer 45mins

Machine crunches 5x15-12

DAY 31 (June 18, 2013)

Reebok CrossFit Daikanyama

Combat Fitness Class

Monday, 17 June 2013

DAY 30 (June 17th, 2013)

Gym Day

Back & Biceps

Wide Grip Chins 5x8,8,7,7,8
Close Grip Chins 4x7
Straight Arm Pulldowns 4x12

DB Curls 5x20-6
Concentration Curls 4x12-8

Elliptical Cross Trainer 45mins

DAY 29 (16th June, 2013)

Roadwork

A 60 minute run.

With traffic lights and crossings completed 9.61km.

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=190463

Sunday, 16 June 2013

DAY 28 (15th June, 2013)

Warrior Dash

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

DAY 27 (June 12th, 2013)

Shoulders, Chest & Triceps

Behind the Neck Barbell Military Press 5x12-3
Machine Lateral Raises 4x12
Superseted with
Machine Shrugs 4x10
Seated Machine Rear Delts 5x12
Dips 4x12
DB One-Arm French Press (giant sets) 3x12/10

Fartlek

10mins Stretches
5mins Jog warm-up

2mins Sprint (level 14)
5mins Jog (level 10)
x 5sets
2mins Sprint (level 12)
5mins Jog (level 8)
x 1sets

5mins Cool Down

DAY 26 (June 11th, 2013)

Reebok CrossFit Daikanyama

Combat Fitness Class

Monday, 10 June 2013

DAY 25 (10th June, 2013)

Gym Work

Back & Biceps
Wide Grip Chins 5x8,8,8,7,7
Close Grip Chins 3x6
Straight Arm Pulldowns 5x12

EZ Bar Curls (superset) 5x10 (heavy weight) 5x6 (lighter weight)
DB Curls 5x8-6

45mins Elliptical Cross Trainer

Sunday, 9 June 2013

DAY 24 (9th June, 2013)

Roadwork Day

Once around Lake Saiko = 9.86km

http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=187905

DAY 23 (7th June, 2013)

Gym Day

Fartlek Training - Stepping it up a gear!

Treadmill
10mins Stretching
5mins Jogging (speed 8)

2mins Sprinting (speed 14)
5mins Jogging (speed 10)
6 sets

5mins cool down

Abs
Machine Weighted Crunched 5x12

Thursday, 6 June 2013

DAY 22 (6th June, 2013)

Gym Day

45mins Elliptical Cross Trainer

Shoulders & Triceps

Machine Incline Press 5x12-2
Superset
Machine Lateral 5x12

Machine Rear Delts 5x12
Superset
20kg Plate Shrugs 5x12

Machine Dips 4x12
Dips 4x12
DB French Press 4x12 (2 giant sets)
Pushdowns 3x12

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

DAY 21 (5th June, 2013)

Roadwork

8.86km (according to google pedometer)
Felt good - could of ran further

Monday, 3 June 2013

Twenty Day Reflection

The last couple of days have been interesting to say the least!
Personal Fitness wise I am coming along great guns, my endurance has improved, my speed has improved and I have still kept my strength and muscle mass, though I am leaner around the waist.
Day 18 was a fantastic day at the gym, completed a hard fartlek treadmill routine and caught up on my arm exercises - I was really happy and felt positive.
Unfortunately, Days 19 and 20 where not the spectacular finished I wanted due to the effects of over-training really hitting home... no injuries, just a raised metabolic rate and a feeling of being run down.
So I took my foot off the gas...
Now is the difficult part, phase two as it were, getting myself into a routine that isn't going to lead to over-training and one that is going to keep making good gains in a short amount of time.

Overall the 'jump start' worked, yet, if I was doing this again I'd possibly run the intensity training over a 15 day period and then settle into some long term routine fixtures. 20 days was possibly a bit ambitious.

DAY 20 (June 3rd, 2013)

Gym Work

Back & Biceps
Wide Grip Chins 5x7
Straight Arm Pulldowns 5x12

DB Curls 5x20-6
Preacher Curls 4x12-10

Machine Crunches 4x15-10

Sunday, 2 June 2013

DAY 19 (June 2nd, 2013)

Gym Day - 'Short and Sharp'

Shoulders and Traps
Superset 1:
Incline Shoulder Press 5x12-3
Machine Laterals 5x12
Superset 2:
Machine Rear Delts 5x12
20kg Plate Shrugs 5x12

Elliptical Cross Trainer: 20mins