<p>3 sets, 1 hour, 50 minutes. 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. I experimented with a racquet setup (the setup I tried over the weekend was too heavy - I started out with 3.5 grams extra, today I removed 2 grams so 1.5 grams extra) that felt pretty light which is good for generating more racquet-head speed but less plowthrough. I couldn’t crank the serve as hard as I wanted to so I switched to my regular frame in the middle of the second set. It definitely felt better - more solid, more power. I will probably go to an extra 2.5 grams the next time I play to see how that feels. I am trying to sync up all of my frames in weight distribution and balance and it’s a tricky thing to do. It would help to have a $5,000 Babolat RDC machine but it’s hard to justify the cost of such a machine for personal use.</p>
<p>Opponent said that I drive him nuts on the court - mainly because I get everything back and don’t get tired. The running this week pays direct dividends for tennis.</p>
<p>I’ve been slacking off on my stretching/abs/glutes/efit30 workouts because I kicked up the mileage a little. I hope to have some time this weekend for my routine maintenance stuff.</p>
<p>I’m a fan of the Fage Greek yogurt–I usually have a 1 c. of the plain yogurt for lunch and add 1T chopped walnuts and 1/2c of fresh fruit (usually raspberries or blueberries). If I don’t have those, I’ll add 1T of dried cranberries. The crunchy nuts really make it taste good, IMO, and I don’t feel the need to add any honey. I used to think I couldn’t eat plain yogurt, but I didn’t want the extra WW points in the fruit yogurt so I started on the plain. I now prefer the plain yogurt. Also, don’t like the non-Greek yogurt anymore. It’s funny how your tastes can change.</p>
<p>You are welcome to do my Valslide Painful Pushaways and swiss ball mountain climbers for me, anytime!</p>
<p>Today’s core is front plank and side plank while using one hand to do rows with a resistance band connected to a wall near the floor (so the band is essentially parallel to the floor). Then, [swiss</a> ball jack knives](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y03dkaK1O0]swiss”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y03dkaK1O0) and kneeling cable (resistance band) cross body lifts. not too tough, but the better you do the exercises, the harder they get.</p>
<p>I’m actually pretty happy with my routines and the results. But running above three miles per day for me is where running starts to push other stuff off the schedule.</p>
<p>My New Balance Ultra-Arch Insoles are shot in my tennis shoes - tennis shoes are showing wear too. I found a place (Amazon affiliate) that has them for $36 including shipping. The New Balance Outlet sells them for $45 (not including shipping). I found one other place that sells them for a tiny bit less but they aren’t an Amazon affiliate. If this works out, then I’ll order a few more. I think that my son needs a new pair of the insoles too. These things make it possible for me to play tennis and run so I consider them a necessity.</p>
<p>I am sitting on a small ball. Ouch. Too much driving/sitting/driving today, and my piriformis syndrome has kicked up. Did my workout – yay me! because I usually abandon it when things hurt – but I did modify it a bit. So tonight I’m doing sits and roll arounds on a four inch diameter firm ball, lots of stretches, icing, and so on. I really hope it is a lot better by the time I get on a plane Tuesday. I think the little ball is coming with me. This problem is the result of a fall down the stairs years ago where I literally bounced on my butt from step to step down twelve steps when my new slippers slipped on the carpet. And in a little more than an hour I’m off to another meeting (Friday night!!!) because another board member is out-of-town all week and and we have some urgent business. I think I’ll stand for that one.</p>
<p>Well, I kicked NROL4A’s butt tonight. This will probably be my last go at this round, having done the Phase II A workout on Wed. and the Phase II B workout tonight. Felt strong on all of the exercises and I know I was working hard because I was seeing heart rates in the 85% range, which is high for core and weight lifting. So, I suppose it is on to the dreaded Phase III next week. If I recall, Phase III is brutal. Really tough core stuff (heavy farmers walks, Valside alligator drags), power with med ball and hang cleans, then fast-pased strength stuff. We’ll see…</p>
<p>Doing stepups tonight to a 14 inch step while holding two 35lb DBs, eight steps for each leg, is a heck of a workout. Gets the glutes burning and the heart beating. Really simple exercise, but a it’ll wear you out.</p>
<p>I capped off the workout with two sets of totally unassisted chinups. 8 total in each set. First set I did 4, then walked around a bit shaking it off and did 3, then walked around a little and did 1. Second set, I did 4, then 2, then 2. My arms are pretty much toast.</p>
<p>bromfeld - have you ever tried adding milled flax seed to your greek yogurt? i add a little stevia too. it’s pretty good.</p>
<p>i made to the gym today for day 3. made some progress. i found that i can get my heart rate up on the elliptical machine better than on the recumbent bike so that’s encouraging. i ride my bike in the spring and summer so i am trying to come up with some good alternatives for the colder weather.</p>
<p>Most definitely. I really find the recumbent bike to be nearly pointless in the fitness realm. We use them quite a bit in the physical therapy clinic, but from a fitness standpoint there are much better options.</p>
<p>The elliptical is a great piece of cardio equipment. Very popular item as well…</p>
<p>Looks pretty nice. Manually adjustable magnetic flywheel resistance, using a bicycle shifter that rotates the magnet for more or less magnetic field at the flywheel.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure this would get the old heart rate up. My legs are still a little sore from yesterday’s Airdyne ride.</p>
<p>With nice weather outside, I’ve been doing hilly walk/jogs and not getting much Airdyne time lately, but that will change with the cold weather. I really “enjoyed” getting back on it this week (well, enjoyed is probably a stretch, it made me nearly want to puke!). You can get a crazy interval cardio workout in very short order.</p>
<p>I was actually up out of the seat for some of the short 10 second intervals yesterday.</p>
<p>Good to know, hops! Thanks. My cat chewed up some of my rubber bands and took a chunk out of my foam roller, so I have to replace some stuff. And maybe get a couple of kettlebells as stocking stuffers for DH ;)</p>
<p>At least the cat can’t do much to the kettleballs.</p>
<p>I was going to do weights this evening but I have a few aches and pains that are telling me to wait a day before doing weights - most likely caused by tennis serves.</p>
<p>Today’s run was supposed to be 20 minutes. I went to the gym to run it on the treadmill, partly because I’m short on time and partly because I wanted to try to run a steady pace with no up and down hills. I felt terrible! I could only make it 15 minutes before I had to walk, then I did 2 min, walk, then the last 3 min at a jogging pace. Not good.</p>
<p>Good thing that I didn’t do weights last night. I woke up very sore this morning. The usual tennis-related aches and pains but I think that I was working a little harder because of the lighter racquet. I’m going to do my weight routine this morning - slooooooooowly and then decide on what to do after that. We’re going to the YMCA later today so I will do some stuff on the weight machines too - haven’t done any of those for quite a while.</p>
<p>I wonder if, psychologically, the treadmill just feels more taxing because there’s nowhere near the stimulation you get outdoors? Could also be heat as I’m sure the gym is a lot warmer than you are used to outside this time of year. This exercise stuff is a funny thing. Lots of mind games involved in perception of difficulty.</p>
