Frodocious's Fabulous Female Fitness Frenzy

01/03/19
Hamstring is still grumbly. I may need to go back for more physio, I'm working round it (or ignoring it)

24/02/19

Upper body bench session

27/02/19

Upper body OHP session

Both these sessions are using a 5/3/1 based template

28/02/19

0.5hr private riding lesson. I've started having lessons again after a 30 year break! I don't remember it being this much like hard work! My balance and stability need working on, but on the whole I'm not to upset with where I'm at skill wise.

 

07/05/19

Hamstring is gradually healing. I am easing back into lower body strength work and upping the cardio a bit. I have to be careful with walking or running too far, as this is what seem to set it off again. I'm currently doing 2 upper body and 1 lower body strength sessions a week, along with some cycling and easy, slow jogging. I've also been doing a bouldering course on Friday evenings.

 

Random update time...

Currently rethinking my training plan as I want to go bouldering more frequently. My stupid shoulders won't handle that as well as a lot of upper body stuff, so I'm going to plan a new routine this weekend. I'll probably drop some of the upper body pressing stuff and/or substitute other exercises e.g. landmine presses instead of OHPs. My fingers are currently suffering from ripped calluses after a boulder session last weekend. Obviously these will toughen up as I do more, but at the moment 'OUCH'!

 

OK, I need to get much better at updating this log...

So here goes...

Saturday 13/07/19

Got up to do my bike interval session (on my turbo trainer), but my neighbour was burning stuff in his back garden and the smoke was blowing into my shed. Decided to give it a miss, as I didn't want to be breathing in all that smoke.

Wimped out on my evening run as I just didn't have the energy. Did a 2.5 mile walk though, so not a dead loss.

Sunday 14/07/19

AM cycle interval session - 30 mins

Warm up

40 secs hard / 20 secs recovery x7

5 mins recovery

40 secs hard / 20 secs recovery x6

Cool down

Barbell complex
Back squat x5
Deadlift x 5
Bent over row x 5
Hang power clean x 5
Push press x5
Back Squat x5

Later on I moved the lawn. As we only have smallish grassed area so I bought a manual lawnmower, so this counts as a workout!

PM
Bouldering - 1hr 45 mins

Currently ignoring my hernia and hoping the exercise doesn't make it worse, but if it does, I might push for surgery as I really don't want to give up the sports I enjoy.

 

Restarting this log, so before I post workouts I'll update on my general training plan which is much more flexibly than it use to be.

Health update. I'm perimenopausal and on HRT (which is a godsend). I was suffering horrifically from a variety of symptoms - heart palpatations, racing heartbeat, hot flushes, night sweats, dizzy spells, headaches, massive anxiety, exhaustion to name a few. The HRT has reduced or stopped most of these. I still feel tired all the time and the anxiety is lurking in the background ready to kick off whenever I get stressed, even about little things. Fortunately, I have beta blockers that I can take whenever I feel things getting out of hand. I've also recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure, possibly due to aging but also due to life stresses.

Training wise, I'm getting back into more regular training after a break of dabbling. My dad died a month or so back and we'd been dealing with his advancing dementia over the last year or so and so my training was as and when I could fit stuff in.

My current weights programme is using the Stronger By Science programme bundle and running their low frequency, 6 day set up. I'm doing an upper/lower split mixing their strength routine for the main lifts and their hypertrophy routine for auxillary lifts with some added assistance work for core and smaller muscle groups. Although this is a 6 day a week progression, I'm adding in days between lifting for cardio. I'm doing the occasional cycle session and for running I'm using the Jack Daniels Running Formula based on pace for each workout (my Garmin Fenix is brilliant for allowing me to programme runs easily). I'm also horse riding once or twice a week. I'm not bouldering at the moment as I have Golfers Elbows and have to be really careful training round these.

Martial arts wise, I'm not doing anything consistently at the moment. I'm dabbling in mounted combat, but this is difficult as I don't have a horse! To deal with this, I'm practicing techniques on the ground, such as some polearm stuff and archery with my horse bow.

I'll try to update this log regularly now I'm back on MAP!

 

25 Mar 23

AM workout
Upper Body Weights Session
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Side Neck Strengthening
Lateral Raise
Deadbugs

PM Workout
Running Daniels Running Formula
White Week 5-8 session 2b - 30 mins easy pace

Run 3 mins
Walk 3 mins

Run 3 mins
Walk 2 mins
x3

Run 3 mins
Walk 1 min

Run 2 mins
Walk 3 mins cool down

All runs done at 11-15 min mile pace.

 

Thank you. It was a stressful time. I'm just starting to get my life back to some level of normal again. I did try to keep things as normal as possible throughout, but it didn't always work very well. Sorry to hear about your grandad. If you need any help or advice or just a moan, drop me a message.

26 Mar 23

30 min riding lesson.
Worked on light seat. This is were you stand up in the stirrups, it helps with taking the pressure off the horse's back but also by absorbing the movement of the horse with you knees, it makes you more stable and therefore it's easier to target and shoot a bow or strike with a weapon.

Lower Body Weights Session
Squat
Split Squat
Face Pull
Glute Bridge

Had planned on a run too, but my legs decided that wouldn't be a good idea (plus I got distracted by the boat race)! I am trying to be good about listening to my body!

 

Oh dear! I did not need to know that!

Added to wants list...

I think mine is probably genetic too. My dad had high BP, his sister also has it, as does her daughter.

There's not much I can do other than try medication and see if the reduction in stress now I'm not looking after my dad helps.

27 Mar 23

Upper body weights
OHP
Single leg deadlift
Front neck raises
Cable crunch

I'll start logging more details once I get back into the swing of things round here.

 

Sorry to hear of your difficult times, I hope everything's getting back onto a more even keel now.

On another note, if your lower body weights session involves a face pull you've got some pretty weird anatomy

Great to have you back

 

Greetings Mr Mitch! Hope all is good with you?

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the face pull.

My current programme is a bit of a Mish mash.

I base the description on the main lift or lifts of the day. However, because I'm not training every day, I add in some accessory work as well, often an upper body exercise at a lighter weight to complement a lower body main lift and vice versa.

28 Mar 23

30 minute stationary bike.
I've not been on the bike for a while so I just concentrated on getting my heart rate and cadence up.

 

29 Mar 23

Running

3 mins run
3 mins walk
1 min run
30 secs walk
3 mins cool down
All runs done at 11-15 min mile pace

 

30 Mar 23

Lower bodyish (for Mitch) session
Deadlift
Lat pulldown
Glute hams raises
Chest supported dumbbell rows.

 

31 Mar 23

1 hour riding lesson.
Had small, crazy pony. Fell off twice. She has a sneaky habit of stopping and putting her head down and, because she only has a short neck, there's nowhere to go but straight over the top to the floor. Thankfully, my rolling skills come in handy for this and I rolled and was straight back on to my feet.

Apart from that bit of excitement, we did some half seat, some no stirrup work, some flying changes and finished with some pole work and low jumps.

Upper Body Weights Session.
Close grip bench press
Incline bench press
Rear delt raises
Deadbugs.

 

01 Apr 23

Lower Body Weights Session
Front Squat
RLD
Seated Row
Deadbugs

Run
3 min run
3 min walk

2 min run
1 min walk
x7

3 min cool down walk

 

02 Apr 23

Upper Body Weights
Bench press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Side Neck Raise
Lateral Raise

Riding Lesson - 30 mins
Did some lateral work. Leg yields into and out of circles

Stationary Bike
30 mins, upped the resistance from last session

Eating
Went out for a lovely posh steak dinner.

Digesting
Lots of this to do now!

 

05 Apr 23

Lower Body Session
Squat 4x2, 1x5

Super set
Split Squat 3x9, 1x11
Face Pull 4x10
Hip Thrust 4x10

 

06 Apr 23

Super set
OHP 4x2, 1x5
Front neck harness 3x10

Superset
Kneeling cable crunches 4x10
Single leg deadlift 4x10

My current job is lab based and on average (including 0.5 mile walk to and from work) I walk between 4 and 6 miles a day on top of proper exercise sessions