<p>I’m slowly getting myself back into action by just working on range of movement for my right shoulder (year old rotator cuff injury). I’m doing mostly static strenghtening moves like plank rather than any weight work. My new favorite is that plank where you (try to) lift one arm and opposite leg simultaneously and balance. I think I saw it on one of idad’s links. I really enjoy these exercises so much more than the crunch type, so am more than thrilled to learn that crunches are “bad”. These core strengtheners feel more like the yoga moves I’m used to. Now I understand why I could do all the core strength stuff but still can’t do a single sit-up. And i don’t care anymore! Yay!</p>
<p>IDad your stew sounds great. I haven’t tried putting saffron in mine otherwise it’s pretty similar. (I don’t have a recipe.) Mine always has mussels (my favorite) and squid (dh’s favorite) and often has monkfish.</p>
<p>Nice work out today. Did two sets of inverted rows. Still not very good at them though. To make up I did pull ups and chin ups and dips. Last day at this setting I think I can do them with less assistance next time.</p>
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<p>Wow. That is a very advanced version of plank. I can only do it for about 10 seconds at a time and I lose my balance sometimes. I have to lift my leg first and then the arm.</p>
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<p>Yeah. It’s definitely a challenge. At first, it seems easier than burpees, but I always end up at a point where I can’t pull myself for one more rep and my arms are trembling. I’m looking forward to getting stronger at them.</p>
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<p>Mussels would be good. Sometimes I make with whole littleneck or mahogany clams that open up in the broth. That makes it a really fancy dish. Tonight, I’ve got my Marcella Hazen italian pot roast braising away.</p>
<p>We did a lot of work in the garden today, and the yard waste can is full. DH tricked me - instead of changing into his execise clothes, he hopped in the shower. Of course, I followed, and as soon as I got my hair wet, I realized our mistake, “Honey, I thought we were going to go for a run?” Ooops. 
We are trying to compensate by doing some pushups and pumping weights while watching the game.</p>
<p>So, I listened to a podcast with Alwyn Cosgrove yesterday while I was prepping the pot roast ([Episode</a> 151: Alwyn Cosgrove Exiled? And Chris Frankel on TRX : TheFitCast- Fitness and Nutrition Podcast](<a href=“http://thefitcast.com/episode-151-alwyn-cosgrove-exiled-and-chris-frankel-on-trx]Episode”>Episode 151: Alwyn Cosgrove Exiled? And Chris Frankel on TRX – TheFitCast- Fitness and Nutrition Podcast)) and now I have a much better understanding of how the various workouts I’ve been doing fit together.</p>
<p>By way of background, everyone who joins his gym signs up for a training prackage. They do little or no one-on-one personal training. Everything is either semi-private (custom programs for each person, but two or three people train at the same time with a coach) or group classes. Semi-private customers can sign up for either one or two sessions a week, plus they have unlimited access to as many group classes as they want.</p>
<p>The semi-private programs are similar to what I am currently doing with the New Rules of Lifting for Abs workouts. They cover the entire gamut from stretching/dynamic warmup and mobility, core strenthening, strength training, and a metabolic/cardio finisher. The rest periods are longer and the emphasis is on getting stronger by progressively lifting heavier as you get more fit.</p>
<p>The Spartacus workout I’ve been doing is an example of one of their group classes. Ten exercise stations, with the people in the class spending 60 seconds at each station and then rotating to the next. What I didn’t fully understand is that these workouts, while incorporating weight lifting, are not primarily intended to build maximum strength. The are intended to be metabolic/cardio interval training sessions. Instead of putting you on the treadmill or the bike, they use the series of exercises, with very short rest intervals, to give you a 12 minute per set intense interval session. The idea is to not try to lift the heaviest possible weights, but to pick weights that allow you to work fast and hard for the full 45 or 60 seconds at each station. Burn maximum calories in a short period of time. The same purpose as hopping on the treadmill, just more efficient, more effective, and less chance of injury. The iPod nazi workouts are really in the same category. In both cases, they give the cardio benefits of interval training, using whole body strength exercises as the vehicle (kind of like old-school “gynmastics” workouts).</p>
<p>What I found interesting is that Cosgrove said that many of their semi-private customers use these types of group classes as their off-day “cardio” workouts. That makes a lot of sense to me. I was using Spartacus as a bit of a hybrid, trying to push my weights up, but I now see how I can use it as an interval day – just like hopping on the Airdyne or going for a fast hill walk.</p>
<p>I’m baaack. The hip feels better and I think I just overworked it. Well, it was enough to have to lay in bed for a whole afternoon taking ibuprofen and acetometaphen. Now, I need to do some stretching exercises to gt back into the groove. I just don’t want to lose my momentum!</p>
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<p>That’s good news! I’m tellin’ ya… job one for all of us ol’ guys trying to exercise is minimizing and (if that doesn’t work) managing injuries. It’s tough because getting in better shape helps reduce the injury risk, but you have to find a way to navigate the potential injuries to get to the point of being in better shape! I’m becoming more and more convinced that a key is variety and not overdoing it with any one thing. For example, I set a goal of doing some assisted pullups every single day. I realized after about five days of it that I was getting to be permanently sore in my “lats” and that I needed to allow some recovery days or I was going to hurt myself.</p>
<p>Idad, I received my book today. I’ll start reading tonight and look at doing the first workout tomorrow. I just got back from my workout for today, but I’ll highlight it later… I’m headed out the door…</p>
<p>First post-surgery swim today…and it was great! I cannot believe how much better my range of motion is and how good it feels to move in the water.</p>
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<p>Truer words were never spoken. That’s my dilemma in a nutshell. I have good range of motion for regular day-to-day activities in my right shoulder again, but am still pretty constrained while doing yoga. I start to wonder why I need the extra flexibility/mobility for doing these specialized moves if I can get by in regular life. But then I think the “extras” are what keep you flexible and mobile as you get really old. It’s tricky though, to not re-injure myself. Gotta push it but not too much.</p>
<p>hops:</p>
<p>Be sure to download the free PDF workout sheets. </p>
<p>[Werkit</a> Workout Logs: New Rules of Lifting for Abs](<a href=“http://werkit.com/programs/nrol4abs]Werkit”>http://werkit.com/programs/nrol4abs)</p>
<p>This will give you each workout on a one-page cheat sheet to take to the gym (or to simply study on your computer to prep for the workout). Makes it easy to do the workouts without leafing back and forth in the book – after you know how to do the exercises. </p>
<p>I kinda treated the first workout as a walk-through. I’ve picked up the pace now, because I can plan out ahead of time what I need to set up, what variations I’m going to try, what weights I’m going to use, etc.</p>
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<p>Mike Boyle has a well-known saying:</p>
<p>[If</a> It Hurts, Don’t Do It](<a href=“http://forums.jpfitness.com/new-jp-fitness-start-here/43421-more-mike-boyle-if-hurts-dont-do.html]If”>http://forums.jpfitness.com/new-jp-fitness-start-here/43421-more-mike-boyle-if-hurts-dont-do.html)</p>
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<p>But, he doesn’t explain what you are supposed to do when *everything *hurts!</p>
<p>^Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to do any PT for my knee if I followed that rule! </p>
<p>At first, every movement hurt. The therapist said I got so stiff b/c I was “babying” the knee and not doing anything. So, yeah, it hurt to try to straighten it but it was necessary to push it a little to achieve anything. I did do the exercises faithfully and only those that the therapist ordered.</p>
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<p>I’m so jealous, BB. With the snow we’re getting, I’m not planning on garden work until late July!!</p>
<p>Oh, my. I revisited one of the iPod nazi Phase III workouts today for a little change of pace. No wonder these workouts were kicking my butt. I’m a lot stronger now – I can feel it lifting the dumbbells and doing the various squats. Having said that, these workouts are really, really demanding – tougher than the *New Rules of Lifting for Abs *Phase I workouts. I am completely gassed</p>
<p>Four supersets:</p>
<p>Split-squat with opposite arm lateral raise
Plank on stability ball
Repeat three times then finish with a minute of jogging in place</p>
<p>Rest for 2 minutes</p>
<p>Step-up with bicep curl and press (2 dumbbells, 10 inch step)
Side plank with reach under and up to ceiling with a dumbbell
Repeat three times then finish with 30 seconds of burpees</p>
<p>Rest for 2 minutes</p>
<p>Lunge walks with lateral raises (2 dumbbells)
Stability ball knee roll-ins (prone jackknife) and pushups)
Repeat three times then finish with 60 seconds of jumping jacks</p>
<p>Rest for 2 minutes</p>
<p>Stability ball one-leg hamstring roll-ins
Ab wheel roll-outs (instead of ball crunches)
Repeat three times then finish with 60 seconds of mountain climbers (which I tried in a plank position, hands on the stability ball – OMG, that is brutal)</p>
<p>I am going to be seriously sore tomorrow. Pretty much everything is burning.</p>
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<p>Understatement of the day for me…</p>
<p>Workout #1:
-10 minutes elliptical
-Lat pull down 5 sets of 5 @100#
-Parallel Squat 5-5-2-2-1
-Bench Press 5-5-2-2-1
-Dumbbell Bench Press 5 sets of 5 @35#
-Dumbbell BOSU Squats 5 sets of 5 @20#
-BOSU Lunges 5 sets of 5 per leg
-30 minutes of elliptical</p>
<p>Sounds like quite a workout, huh?</p>
<p>Then I let one of my co-workers into working out with her after a high school basketball game tonight.</p>
<p>Workout #2
800 meter run (I walked on treadmill)
4 rounds of:
21 KB swings 35#
15 jumps on jump rope
9 burpees
800 meter run (I walked on treadmill)</p>
<p>I may not walk tomorrow…</p>
<p>You are going to be sore.</p>
<p>The ol’ (formerly) fat guy hasn’t figured out the jump rope yet. I’ve got one and I’ve tried a few times, but… let’s just say that I don’t look as good as Svetlana skipping rope. I’ll keep working on it. At least I haven’t fallen down.</p>
<p>I’m going to be sore, too. I decided to speed up my run a little bit and finished my treadmill 5K in 24:33, then jogged the rest of my 30-min run at 8:45 pace. That’s my personal best for the year. I really need to slow down and run longer distances, but DH was hungry, so I had to cram as much distance in the 30 minutes as I could. Then I made our dinner: baked chicken, roasted cauliflower, and collard greens with garlic and smoked pulled pork. DH licked his plate clean and said that he was looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch.</p>
<p>Bromfield, I hear you! You are welcome to come to my neck of the woods to help me pull weeds if you need a gardening fix this time of the year. I promise that when I fly to MA in July, I will stop by your house and help you with your gardening work. :)</p>
<p>You go guys! I was going to use my “injury card” and skip bootcamp tomorrow but all this talk about being sore has inspired me to go!
Of course, I’ll be more careful…</p>
<p>Well, after all that shovelling to keep the deck clear, the massive ice dam fell this morning and the deck is now piled with blocks of ice the size of Volkswagens. I haven’t been out with proper boots and gloves to see if my strength training has paid off, but I seriously doubt I can budge them. I’m glad I wheeled the grill away from the eaves. It would have been crushed by the falling ice.</p>