Monday 9.10.17: CrossFit day! ...maybe the last one for like three and more weeks, though . Just when the classes have either become easier usually and/or I have gotten more used to it and actually look forward to going and aren't sore the next day! It used to be quite a hard decision to reserve a class sometimes But, the reason I won't be going is the already mentioned holiday, so I am not really that sad - Warm-up: some stabilizing exercises including rubber bands wrapped around ankles adn walking sideways in a somewhat strange posture and sideways ducks. Also light kettlebell - something like a push press, but while kneeling and holding the kettlebell bottom up by its handle. And rotating sidewys in a plank - using the free arm to grab the kettlebell and move it to the other side. Interesting. - Skill practise: gymnastics. In the end we were divided into two groups by three - one being the ground gymnasts, the other the horizontal bar people. I, of course, chose the ground, but we were to switch places soon, anyway. On the ground we practiced cartwheels. And then roundoff. I have to say I haven't done similar stuff for several years and I didn't feel very sure I want to go head down like that without any mat... But whatever, cartwheel isn't too difficult and I tried to follow instructions for the roundoff. Instructor said "that was it!" and then had us try with the jump or something just before it to get speed. After a few tries (there wasn't much time) I figured where to speed up in the swing and actually did it, which felt nice And since I knew I'll be useless on the horizontal bar, at least I had something to keep me off depression ...horizontal bar. Luckily we were only doing something easy. Basically the kipping motion. Instructor said to just swing our body and pull our bottom up, while keeping the body straight, appraching to the horizontal position. And warned us to go for speed and not use any strenght! Heh, sure, no problem there! I tried a few times, it wasn't too bad, except when swinging bakc in my gloves I fell off. As usual. There were other two guys in my group, one couldn't do that motion and the other is nice and ready to give advises. His advise today was pretty useless, though. Basically telling him to imagine the bar was a sexy woman and... you can guess XD Pffff, I could only laugh that such an advise wouldn't help me The instructor returned from the other group and told us to try the same on the rings. Since the rings were uselessly high, though, I could only laugh that unless they bring me a ladder, I can't see how I could possibly get there Not even the nearby bench seemed tall enough for me to use it to climb there... - Strenght practise: Find a 3 rep max for a back squat. My 1 rep max was 85 kg (I think) and I wasn't sure how much of that could I possible squat 3x. I added and added. When being on the heavier side there was a small men who just squatted something ridiculous I didn't even bother to try counting who gave me some advises, which was nice. He helped the only other woman there, who complained how everything feels heavy today, but definitely squatted around 10 kg more than me in the end. When he returned from watching her, ready to help, he asked what about me. I just did 75 and wasn't sure if I wanted to add the next 5 kg, but why wouldn't I try? If he had my back I was less worried. He always reminded me to breath deep in into the... ok, stomach, but we would say hara in karate and... I actually did it So 80 kg being now my 3RM. Instructor said we should technically do 3x3, but we didn't have that much time. - WOD (haha, as if someone got inspired by my yesterday's workout, but adjusted it so I can feel a bit less comfortable ): 10 min AMPRAP: - 8 handstand push-ups (they apparently practised last Monday? I wasn't there whenever it was, though, so was allowed to get the box) - 10 American! kettlebell swings - RX for women: 16 kg - 8 goblet squats (16 kg) - 10 shoulder-to-overhead - not a strict press, use legs, 10 for each side. I tried with the 16 kg, but the instructor didn't want us to get stuck there forever and told me to get 12 kg kettlebell. Which was a good idea, I am not sure if I would be able to finishe the second round... - I did the push-ups from the box. As for the american swings, I ever only saw them on a video so I went to ask the instructor if there are other differences other than the kettlebell goes overhead. He said I needed to use my butt more. I was "ah, ok, I wasn't sure if there weren't some tricks how to do these". On which I got: "There are, but that would take long to explain"... whatever, can't be that hard! Didn't I write yesterday that 16 kg for swings isn't too heavy? Anyway, once I discovered that the kettlebell is unlikely to fall on my head when in the swing if something unexpected happens, it didn't seem particularly difficult. As for the shoulder-to-overheads, I started with my right arm. Took a while to finish the round with 16 kg. Then I was told 12 was better for me. And it was, indeed. Especially when I was about to work with my weaker - left side. Needed to adjust my Polar watch as the kettlebell hit them a bit (luckily, no scratches left!), but then it went well. And actually the left side was somehow easier even in the next rounds, probably as my right was tired from the 16 kg But, just as the instructor warned us to be sure to scale down this exercise if we can't do it easily, lest we get a lot of lactate in our shoulders and it is going to be nasty for the push-ups that followed. And of course, he was very right And I was even only doing the easy version from the box . Finished with an average score, I'd say: 3 rounds + 26 reps (meaning I finished all the goblet squats, but had yet to do the last exercise of the 4th round). I saw and celebrated no one from ours and even the two morning classes actually finished the fourth round, just as one of our group's guys came and wrote down his 4.... Cardio-wise today wasn't difficult (or I am getting that muc batter ...hm, unlikely)... I didn't even need to sit after the work-out. But that doesn't mean I didn't see sweat drops flying off of me during the kettlebell swings Polar results: Time: 1 hour 6 mins Average HR: 115 Max HR: 159 Training benefit: Basic training Kcal: 408 kcal Fat burn: 43 %
Tuesday 10.10.17: Karate (2 hours): - Traffic as usual, came 10 minutes late, but joined them right at the warm up with some footwork. - Stretching in pairs - Pads in groups of three: 20 mae geris for each leg, 20x2 hiza geri for each leg, to the small pads: gyaku + oi tsuki, then duck + mawashi and another mawashi tsuki. Again, 20 for each side. - Bunkai up to Seiyunchin - starting with all the attacks x 5 solo watching ourselves in the mirror. Then all the bunkai in pairs. But only up to Saifa as it turned out that although there were 4 brown belts, I was the only one confident in remembering all of them. Then we did all the bunkai till Saifa in groups of four - pressure testing, sort of and then with one person in the middle and all the others attacking. - Some light belly work-out at the end. It didn't feel like a particularly difficult training, though one of my friends in our group seemed to have just enough after the pads. I didn't even begin to breath hard. Yay for crossfit! This would be a warm-up there After that, four of us, including sensei went to sit to a restaurant for a while. Aaaand, sensei said she could see I did lose some weight! (now I am missing some totally smug emoticon here)
Aaargh, I again forgot one note. My Polar today showed the lowest heart rate score so far both when I slept and when I sat still in the afternoon and tried. Both were 39 BPM. Which... is becoming a little suspicous, I'd say... But in case it is correct and I actually don't know how would a mistake occur, I doubt I could get any lower so it is worth noting down, I suppose.
Wednesday 11.10.17: Karate at uni (1,5 hours): - Started with jumping up from seiza - 12x, probably until everyone did it right. - Junbi Undo with hiza geri and various exercises done properly took, together with the warm-up about an hour. But it was part exercising, too. - Some work-out in threes. Sensei told me to go to two girls, then decided to divide those two girls and instead pick a big guy to make a group with me and sensei. Then I realized I am probably going to suffer as sensei was putting together people with similar build. And he has a few exercises where your partner's bodyweight matters, so I thought I am in trouble... until sensei spotted a group with a rather small men, one girl and one giant, at least height-wise, so I took his spot while he was invited to sensei's group We did the pendulum, then two people lifting the third who is like a plank while doing sumo squats and the one exercise where one person lies down, the second does push-ups either over him, if he can't do them on the lying person's belly and the third person does sumo squats while holding up the legs on the push-uping one. I hope it is understandable I hate to admit it, but I was quite obviously the heaviest person of the group. For the pendulum, I was prepared I'd end up on the floor, as it happend to me several times with people not used to it. I probably... yeah, that must be it! ... look lighter than I am My partner's had some trouble pushing me back, but they did it! As for the lifting, I said three times instead of ten would surely be enough when sensei luckily just ended the round And for the third, push-uping exercise, I did the push-ups on the other girl's stomach, she was willing to try and did well, actually! While the only men in our group was supposed to do push-ups on me. It took some adjusting of the position, but... you know... the push-ups with feet up and on an unsteady surface like someone's stomach with hands close to each other... they are rather hard. So after going down the guy fell right on me, head on my chest. Ehm, but... I was calm and prepared for everything - after the complex junbi undo and practising getting up - repetition of what was taight last time - we practised tsuki, did a few push-ups and... hmm, a lot of half sit-ups and that was probably it. The training was over before I knew it Sensei and I were planning to go to sauna, but it was locked, our knocking on the door wasn't heard and the receptioninst told us our faculty was supposed to have sauna beginning next week. Such a dissapointment! But I just knew something would go wrong No Polar results, as I couldn't wear it agian :/ Sensei promised a tough training tommorrow planning to make us and himself crowl out of the dojo. We will be starting with some hojo undo, that I didn't do in a while, so I am looking forward to it. Aaaand, just theoretically, I think, some watches on wrist couldn't matter, just for the hojo undo... maybe... O
39bpm seems to show you have a good range with your max I've no idea what my proper resting rate is as my HR only monitors with a chest strap; I need to get me one of them wrist HR types
Thursday 12.10.17: Karate kids' class (1 hour): Me and a friend teaching today, no sensei. We let the kids do the slapping game for a warm up, then a thorough Junbi Undo. It wasn't as crazy as it used to be, though I'd kick some lazy bums if I could Then practised a couple of basic techniques for the sake of beginners and spent the rest of the class doing kihon ido, focusing on kicks - mae geri, mawashi geri for the beginners, for the advanced we had them practise ushiro geri. There were around 20 kids and our dojo has like 40 square meters, so it was quite crowded, but we managed Karate (2 hours): - Sensei promised a tough training doing the traditional karate stuff. We started with stretching, junbi undo and some fotwork coordination exercise that was quite easy as soon as you figured the principle. - We started the main program with hojo undo. There were 8 people, sensei included, we made pairs and 4 stations. We started with: - Kongoken: 25x lifted up, 20x steering wheel, 15 push ups with a sorry form. - Myiagi's garden - bring 9 stones to the other side of the dojo moving in shiko dachi - Wallbars - 100 half sit-ups. I was focusing on what we were told on the trainer's licence course - to try to push heels into the floor instead of pressing them up -> in order to use the right abs. 50x the same with legs raised, still pushing down, 30 whole straightened legs up, 20x legs to the side like pendulum - Chi-ishi - three types of exercises, always 10x for each side - Ude tanren - iron body conditioning - only 5 types of exercises - forearms from all sides and tsuki to the stomach. We did two lines where one line would always move to change partners. I stood on the same side as sensei, so I was relatively safe. That is, until he saw that and made me and my partner swap places. And then the remaining two pairs as well - picking the tougher people to go against, obviously. And he didn't go easy. Especially some exercises, at the beginning he went full force. I mean, it must have been full force, my arms were blown away after every hit and I didn't have time to return them properly. Though I am quite happy that for one of those exercises that I like the least, sensei said it hurt him, too, actually. Last exercise was punches to the abs. Or rather - for men, one punch to each side of the chest, two to the stomach. But for us two poor women - four punches in the stomach, which I still think is actually much worse. When sensei's punches came, I couldn't help but cave in slightly towards the end. Still holding the musles still, but the caving in a little compromised my stability, so I was always pushed back. My belly was all red after sensei was done with me... We always did each exercise with 4 partners, with each roughly 20-50 times, for the tsuki it was 4x10. Or 11, sensei didn't let me go too easily Sensei was always my second from the last partner, so I wasn't going too hard with the others, but could take it out a little on the poor guy who came last. He's a young lad who came after a while and I think he didn't like me after that, but... that's life - Kakie - first exhausting our shoulder when trying just simple kakie with three partners consecutively, then one round when one person is agains two, thus engaging both arms at the same time. - From kakie we then did Kakie bunkai and variations on bunkai from the other side: inside/outside. We did Gekisai Dai Ichi and Ni like this, then two careless boys kind of were careless and broke the glass door leading to the dojo from the outside. Door that, however, can't be opened, so sensei will have to figure out a way how to repair them :/ Aaand... that was the end for today. I asked sensei if I could use my fitness tracker solely for hojo undo as I planned. I started it sooner, before we took out the equipment, so it measured everything maybe close to ten minutes before we really started exercising. So, for example, the average heart rate was higher during the hojo undo itself. Polar results for hojo undo: Time: 29 mins (or rather 20) Average HR: 120 (higher, in fact) Max HR: 154 Training benefit: Basic & steady state training Kcal: 193 kcal Fat burn: 38 %
SRI LANKA HOLIDAY 13. - 28.10. 2017 So I have just returned from an awesome two week holiday in Sri Lanka. Travelling to several places with my dad, seeing bits of the culture and the nature, which was the most enjoyable to us as we both love to watch birds We left on Friday 13th and spent that and the next day travelling. Sunday we went to a jeep safari, sitting on our butts mostly, training-wise. Monday 16.10.: Morning birdwatching walk in Anavilundava Sanctuary. We planned not to take a long walk straight away, so we didn't bring any water, but spent the better part of morning walking 4+ km (we were walking rather slowly, watching birds). As per some advises in a different log here, I downloaded the C25K app, leading people to run 5 km. Thinking about getting better at running, I thought working on it a little during this holiday might be nice, since I'd have time. However, there was not much free time in the end and the time there was I spent doing another activities I planned - like studying for my upcoming trainer's licence exam... Anyway, Monday evening I took my phone and did the first, 30.minute session. (Walk for warm-up, then running 60 s and walking 90 s for 8 rounds and walking to cool down). I was running on a path outside of our resort, back and forth so that I wouldn't enter the village attracting much attention There were however people on motorbikes or in tuk-tuks, always blowing their horn and calling "hello!", still. One time there was a pick up driving my way. The driver shouted hello at me, blowed teh horn and waved. I replied and was glad he just past me when my time to start running came. When I did I heard a laughter seemingly from a group of people. Confused, I looked back and saw on the deck of the pick-up a group of women waving my way and laughing softly. Great Altogether, I covered around 3,5 km with an average speed of 6,6 km/h and max HR 175 BPM. Unfortunately I didn't find a suitable place and/or time for the next session till our return... Tuesday 17.10.: A sightseeing walk at Anuradhapura & Mihintale (apart from travelling the rest of today). Used my Polar to measure Mihintale walk: 5,05 km in 1:48, avHR: 100 BPM, maxHR: 135, 427 kcal. It included around 200 steps I think and some slight rock climbing. Wednesday 18.10.: We were accomodated in a hotel in Trincomalee run by Czech people and hosting mostly Czechs, too. Since it was finally in a city and had a free day without any program (rare), we thought to go find some shop to buy a milk or some food for lunch. What was called a city looked like a large village (at least the part we were at), taking 4 km to reach an asfalt road and some tiny shops. It was a nice walk, though. The Tamil people were celebrating an important holiday (Deepavali) so we were lucky some shops were actually open, with not much of what we wanted to buy, though. It was really hot today again. Polar results: 8,24 km in 2:04, av speed 4 km/h, avHR 116, max HR 135, 823 kcal. Thursday 19.10.: Morning birwatching walk on the beach. In the terrible sand in the terrible sun. Ended up feeling a litle sick from putting pressure on my lower back because of the sand and from the heat, I suppose. Didn't measure the results, but it should have been "only" around 5500, though quite hard steps And a short walk in the evening. Friday 20.10.: Snorkeling at NP Pigeon Island near Trincomalee. Around 2 to 3 hours in water. Watching sharks, getting sunburned. Saturday 21.10.: Most of the day spent on the road + some sightseeing in Polonnaruwa and a jeep safari in Kaudula NP. Sunday 22.10.: Climbing Sigiriya - an ancient rock fortress. 2,08 km in 1:21 (mostly climbing the steps which was quite slow because of all the people there). AvHR 117, maxHR 163, 501 kcal. And a shorter walk to the rock temple in Dambulla: 1,36 km in 0:40, avHR 108, maxHR 147m 192 kcal.
Sounds like my kind of Holiday - Beats spending 2 weeks lounging by the pool/at the beach any day! Travess
SRI LANKA HOLIDAY 13. - 28.10. 2017 part II Monday 23.10.: Morning birwatching near our hotel in Kandy and walk to the Buddha's Tooth temple and a botanical garden aroung lunchtime. Nothing too much. Tuesday 24.10.: Birdwatching walk at the same places and an evening walk in the city we travelled to next - Nuwara Eliya high among the tea plantations, though the city itself was fairly dirty and we had trouble breathing so returned back to our hotel rather quickly. Wednesday 25.10.: One of the most expected highlights of our holiday - NP Horton Plains. A soft trekking in a national park in the hilly area, which was absolutely amazing and with great sights right from the sunrise. 9,5 - 10 km (had to stop the GPS, so this is an estimate as precise as could be) in 4:24 (watching birds along the way, of course, so we took our time). AvHR 112, may HR 164, 1477 kcal! On the road for the rest of today with a short birdwatching in Udawalawe. Thursday 26.10.: After 2,5 hours drive again a trekking in Sinharaja rain forest. The best place we visited, along with Horton Plains. Beautiful nature, beautiful birds and not so many poeple. My Polar watch had a low battery, though charged thoroughly, after some time, so I ran a different app later. The numbers were gien by Polar, those in the brakes are estimates together with the app: 9 (12,5-13) km in 4:10 (5:30), av HR 105, max HR 134, 1060 (maybe aroud 1300?) kcal. And after this trip I have to say: I HATE leeches! Evening walk near our hotel very close to Sinharaja. Walking on the road (started the app a bit later): 4,9 (5,3?) km in 1:28 (1:45?), av HR 102, max HR 129, 421 (at least 450?) kcal. Friday 27.10.: Again, getting us before dawn as several past days, the manager of the hotel where we were the only guests (not that it happened only here) arranged a local ornithologist to come with his jeep and take us birdwatching to a nearby village where there are supposedly a lot of birds. We decided to eat our brekfast after, though we didn't know we'd come back after 11 am... The trip was awesome, though and we visited a waterfall, too After packing our stuff and resting a little, we went for a walk the same direction as yesterday to say goodbye to Sri Lanka and watch some last birds. 7,7 km in 2.47, avHR 107, maxHR 159, 803 kcal. Unfortunately just when we were the furtest from the hotel, it started raining and the rain turned rather heavy in a moment. Haveng binoculars, cameras and stuff on us and no raincoat, we got doaking wet. We stayed the worst rain under the roof of some locals. We gave the three childrent here some presents and they seemed happy to welcome us under their roof. Left for the airport at 19:00, spending the next 24 our travelling. Now I am very tired and looking forward to getting some sleep. The less positive part is that I returned 2 kg heavier :/ It took so much work to lose those 2 kg! We usually didn't lunch much, but had righ breakfasts and dinners that we not always could choose and were not always the healthiest. Or just ate until we couldn't anymore as at some places we were presented with several coursed dinner that would be enough for 4 people and we thought it would not be nice to leave too much.... I at least avoided all alcohol and soft drinks, only drank water, milk tea and most days one fresh fruit juice. ....I think a few mostly vegetable weeks are coming for me!
Agreed! I never actually used the beach and the pools even if some places we stayed at had them. There are more fun things to do I can go to a pool near my home.
Monday - did nothing except for tidying the dojo. Before I left for holiday I mentioned glass door there being broken and just covered with mats. No one moved it since then, until the windstorms came in the weekend and the glass pieces fell out of the door inside the dojo. So we swept it, properly, put some tape on the remaining pieces in the door to tie them together and properly again covered everything with mats. Until sensei comes back and until someone is available to repair it... Tuesday 31.10. Morning super short exercise: 5x10 push-ups and 30 goblet squats (16 kg). I noticed - at least my subjective feeling is that I have fallen out of my exercise routine, I am getting out of breath sooner and I would swear a piece of my biceps dissapeared There was a karate class today, but I have stuff to take care of, so thought about going to CrossFit instead - it is closer and the class is shorter. But considering how I feel about my declining fitness level, I was worried I would die there, so before I renew my membership, I decided to work-out at home... Home work-out (1 hour): Ehm, somewhat random bodyweight and kettlebell exercises, taking some breaks between exercises: 60x kettlebell swing (16 kg) 5x10 push-ups 3x10 V-ups 3x10 burpees 10x10 goblet squats (16 kg) 3x10 V-ups 45x kettlebell swing 5x10 jumping lunges 5x10 tricep dips 2x50 calf raises 30x kettlebell swing 50x (for each side) side leg raises (lying) 30x kicking each leg back and up while on the knees and hands 5x (for each side) kettlebell jerks (16 kg) - wanted to do more, but was pretty tired already and 16 kg is generally on the challenging side for me 30 kettlebell swings 5x10 crunches 2x10 burpees 10 lunges finished now because I just reached a goal of 500 kcal. I measured everything with my Polar watch, however, I thing it was a bit imprecise at times - like after some swings when I was breathing the hardest, it showed the lowest HR of all workout. I think it happened at least twice... Polar results: Time: 1:03 Average HR: 135 Max HR: 160 Training benefit: Steady state & Basic training, long Kcal: 503 kcal Fat burn: 34 %
Whoa!!! Clicked on the above image, and the resolution was so high, that my entire (phone) screen was filled with an extreme close up of your shoulder... Lol Beautiful scenic views though! Travess
Oh, sorry about that! I put a link from Facebook and thought it was just the small preview and didn't really check... Ooops.
I forgot to mention I passed my trainer's test on Monday, now "only" some essay needs to be written... Also, the 2 kg of weight I gained at my holiday dissapeared just a couple of days after my return. I guess it must have been just some stored water or something. Wednesday 1.11. 2017: Karate at uni (90 minutes): - Game of tag - Junbi Undo with sensei explaining and demonstrating (on me) a lot of the movements that they are a part of the warm-up/stretching, but have martial applications. Very nice. We also practised those in pairs - Knee kicks, tsuki - Some joint manipulations or ways how to get rid of a wrist grab etc. - Age uke + a combination with it - I didn't sweat too much today, the training was more on the technical side, but was very interesting.
