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<p>Great balance exercise! One that I plan to incorporate into my workout in a couple of weeks. I believe I have it in Week 6 or 7 of my new program. I’m in Week 2 right now.</p>
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<p>Oh, yeah, baby… I’m just a balancing fool! </p>
<p>This workout also has the [single</a> leg, single arm dumbbell deadlift](<a href=“http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=13591899001_470]single”>http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=13591899001_470) – a balancing act that most trained seals couldn’t manage. I have to do it next to wall so I can reach out to the wall if I get wobbly. Today was good. I was able to do about half of them without support. Three sets of 12 on each leg. Works the hamstrings and butt like crazy. Good for core stability because you’ve got all kinds of stuff wantin’ to go every which way.</p>
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<p>Got a real life example of squatting earlier in the week. I was clearing out old TVs and computer monitors from the basement graveyard and trucking them up to Best Buy to recyle. One of them was a 21 inch Sony CRT computer monitor that had to weigh a million pounds. I had to get it up off the floor, carry it up the stairs, put it in the trunk of the car, lift it out of the trunk, and put it on a flatbed cart at the store. All the squatting practice has paid off. I just pushed my hips back, went down into a sumo squat position, cradled my arms under that bad boy, and lifted it with my legs. It’s really nice when some of this diabolical workout stuff shows up in real life fitness.</p>
<p>idad, you should have saved that monitor - it is a freebie piece of exercise equipment! Some people run with truck tires dragging behind them, maybe you can start a new trend! There are no rules against using computer stuff as exercise equipment! I read somewhere that Russian computer geeks hold an annual semi-official keyboard and mouse toss. [Russian</a> Volga city holds keyboard throwing competition](<a href=“http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090415/121134594.html]Russian”>Russian Volga city holds keyboard throwing competition - 15.04.2009, Sputnik International)</p>
<p>I played with my weights tonight and did some t-pushups. Will do another, even longer run tomorrow. DH is out of town, and the pets can wait for their dinners, so no one is going to stop me.</p>
<p>Throwing computer parts is better than the [Annual</a> Mullet Toss](<a href=“Mullet Toss 2008 - YouTube”>Mullet Toss 2008 - YouTube)at the Flori-Bama Lounge.</p>
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<p>I bow down to anyone who does T-Pushups. </p>
<p>I’m taking a little break from Spartacus and T-pushups. However, this new book I’m doing has a dozen pushup variations that you can plug into the pushup slot in the workouts. I’m doing a moderate degree of difficulty – feet on a Reebok step. They list the TRX pushup with the hands in the rings of a suspension trainer as the second hardest variation. I’ll say. I can do about four of them. Gives you a real appreciation for how strong gymnasts have to be to do those handstands in the rings.</p>
<p>The grand prize winner for their hardest recommended variation? Yep. The T-pushup with dumbbells.</p>
<p>Monitors contain hazardous chemicals and should be properly recycled.</p>
<p>I still remember using a huge Sony monitor in my office and one morning turning it on and hearing a crackle followed by smoke coming out from the top of my monitor. The smell was rather unpleasant. I’m glad that we’re in the LCD with LED backlight age.</p>
<p>I also have a 21-inch television at home and look forward to getting rid of it someday. I believe that I carried it into the house on my own. These days I have a very strong son to help me out with moving things around the house.</p>
<p>A couple of years ago my dad and I managed to break out 32" TV. It required my brother and I to move it because it was so heavy. Then, dad and I went out and bought a new flat screen. I carried it into the living room and then we called for my brother-- told him we needed help carrying it. He came in and we started to lift it up-- he about threw it through the ceiling… 
Have never claimed he was the brightest…</p>
<p>Got back on track with a second day in a row of *New Rules of Lifting for Abs *workout today. This program calls for alternating between two workouts for the first four to six weeks.</p>
<p>I really struggled on Monday with front foot elevated split squats – a split squat with the front foot on a 6 inch step. I got some tips from Alwyn Cosgrove himself and was kind of determined to make some progress. I dumped the dumbbell in each hand in favor of a goblet squat (one dumbbell held like a wine goblet under the chin). I backed off on the weight a bit and used a single 30 pound weight. And, I used an Airex pad to give me a reference for depth with the back knee. Front foot was on a 6 inch Reebok step. I did 12 good reps on each leg, for three sets, touching the back knee to the Airex pad on every one. It did feel like someone was holding a blow torch to my left hamstring on a few of the reps. And, I had to throw in a rest between the two legs in each set. Still, it’s good to see progress. I had actually planned to only go 6 to 8 reps if that’s all I could do with good depth, but I was able to just keep going. Probably the best set of squats I’ve ever done.</p>
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<p>In other news, I did the first two sets of pushups with my feet elevated on the Reebok step. I did the third set with my hands in the suspension trainer rings for the first time, set at about knee height. Managed 10 of those (and a heart rate of 97% of max) on the very last exercise of the workout. Not bad for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy.</p>
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<p>Inverted rows were good. 12 reps on the suspension straps. I’m determined to be able to do chinups when the time comes in Phase II. I also got my chip up bar isntalled last night and confiigured for assisted chinups (with bands) for the first time today, so I’m gonna be playing around with that. I look at it as the same kind of challenge as doing “t-pushups”. I knew I had to progress through stronger and stronger pushups. Same deal with this inverted row > assisted pull up > pulll up progression. I’ll get there.</p>
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<p>These workouts are challenging, but they have real rest periods, unlike my last couple months of Spartacus and iPod nazi, so they don’t feel quite as gruelling. The tradeoff is pushing to do strong sets with challenging weights.</p>
<p>Played tennis today and won 6-3, 6-0. I lost the first game on my serve (always a bad sign), won the next two, lost one and then got settled. The other guy was running me around and hitting some unexpected shots and I missed a few easy sitters. Pretty easy to lose games when you have a lapse for a few points. I didn’t damage anything which is good. Arm and knees slightly sore but they will be fine by morning.</p>
<p>Shovelled the second half of the deck and then started on my mission to do chin ups. I’m going to do two quick sets of assisted chin ups (palms facing you) and pull ups (palms facing out) every day until I don’t need the bands any more. I’m using my trusty WalMart exercise bands. Today was two black ones (labled “15 pounds”) and one red one (labeled “10 pounds”). They are doubled, so theoretically they were providing 80 pounds of assistance – with more assistance at the bottom than at the top because the band is stretched more. Whatever. Doesn’t really matter. I’m just going to do my sets and when I can get to ten reps, I’ll go down to the next combination of bands. The next step will be two red ones and one black (theoretically 70 pounds), then 60 pounds, then 50, and so on and so forth… until I can do chinups without assistance.</p>
<p>I did six good reps (chin above the bar) on the pullups and six good reps of the chin ups today so I’m on my way.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the NROL workouts I’m doing have inverse rows and lat pulldowns, so I’m strengthening my pull there, too. We’ll see how long it takes.</p>
<p>^^ I hope the bands don’t break! Don’t want you to go crashing to the floor.</p>
<p>Spent the morning in driving school to erase the last speeding ticket. Lovely. At break time I scored a homemade donut out at the farmer’s market in the parking lot. It was truly worth it. Hot, moist…yum. Hot spiced cider to wash it down before I went back in to learn why we need to wear our seatbelts.</p>
<p>7.1 miles outside (yay) this afternoon. Blew off the low HR stuff in the 2nd mile because I had some rolling terrain and didn’t feel like walking. Not that I was fast by any means. I was going to do the 7 tomorrow, but the weather looked like today was the better day, so I got it done.</p>
<p>I hope the bands don’t break, because they snap up and hit you in the face!</p>
<p>I’m jealous of you folk who can get outside for some exercise. We have so much snow and it’s so cold that there’s really nowhere to even walk. I guess shovelling counts, but my back has had about all of that I can stand. I don’t think there’s any “good” way to shovel snow.</p>
<p>^^^With a front loader.</p>
<p>Got the dogs out for a romp. We can’t go to our usual places – the 1,000-acre nature preserve has too much snow for the dogs to walk in, and DH got stuck in the unplowed parking lot for two hours – had to get Triple A to tow him out. I took the dogs to the soccer fields behind the schools, where front loaders were busy clearing paths. Lots of other people had the same idea, so the dogs got a bit of running around.</p>
<p>And today: Ditto.</p>
<p>Except for the front loaders. No front loading on Sunday, I guess.</p>
<p>Had my first 40 mile week since August. It wasn’t pretty to get there- involved some two-a-days and lots of dreadmill time, but I was outside yesterday and today. I figure I am now about a minute a mile slower than I should be- maybe a little more. It isn’t fun clawing my way back to running fitness, and when I wake up in the morning my first thought is “I don’t want to run. I will settle for 15 mile weeks.” Then if I can get the run done during the day, I am gleefully plotting my next week’s mileage. This really is always a tough time of year for me, and coming back from injury just makes it worse.
BUT- I will continue to do it and continue to whine. The whining should stop by April or so.</p>
<p>Nah, join the rest of us in perpetual whining.</p>
<p>My exercise plans for this weekend were ruined by the stupid mirror fallout. It is amazing that a 7’ x 4’ sheet of thick glass can disintegrate into glass dust simply by falling a few feet! I’m finally done with sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, vacuuming, checking for glass dust, vacuuming again… Phew. I need a beer. Maybe I need a good run. :)</p>
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<p>Both. (10 characters)</p>
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<p>It’s amazing that a 7’ x 4’ sheet of glass falling didn’t kill someone. That is no joke.</p>
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<p>My only exercise today was few more attempts at assisted pull ups and chin ups. I struggled to do six of each the first time, then went back for more an hour later and did six good pullups and six good chin ups. Not ready to take a band away yet. Six is all I can do, getting my chin fully above the bar.</p>
<p>I was really stiff this morning – after effects of the split squats on Friday afternoon and back-to-back NROL4A workouts on Thurs and Fri.</p>
<p>My marathoner friend says that Corona is the best source of electrolytes 
As soon as I’m done with tossing the rest of cr@p I pulled out of our closet, I will hit the treadmill.</p>
<p>I think we’re all a little cranky with the winter weather. And it’s only the middle of January. :(</p>