Thursday

This was a nasty cardio day. After warmups and strength work we had to do 4 rounds of:

  • 500 meter row
  • 75 double unders or 200 single jump ropes

Towards the end my arms and legs were no longer coordinated at all.

Friday

There was a strongman competition going on at my gym.  I didn’t participate but I went to watch.  While I was there I ended up being a judge.  That was fun!  I got to count reps and keep people aware of the time.

There were three events.  The first one had them doing a farmer’s carry (carry a barbell in each hand) across the gym then do 10 pull ups. Repeat farmer’s carry and do 8 pull ups.  Repeat, decreasing the pull ups until you do just 2 pull ups.  There was a 4 minute time cap.  The weight started for the scaled women’s division at 75 lbs in each hand and went up to 250 in each hand for the toughest men.

Event two was stone squats.  They had to hold an atlas stone on their shoulder and do as many squats as possible for 3 minutes.  Stone weights for each division were 75#, 95#, 115#, 150# and 175#.  I wanted to judge my trainer in this one so badly.  He tells me continuously that my squats aren’t low enough to count.  I was looking for some pay back!  LOL.

Round 3 was a yoke carry.  There was a contraption that they had to carry by crossing their arms in front of them and balancing the bar on their elbows.  Weights were added up to 265 lbs.  They had to carry it across the gym and back as much as possible in 90 seconds.  They got a point for every line they passed on the floor.  At the end of 90 seconds they stopped and immediately did as many burpees as possible for 60 seconds and then went right back into yoke carries for 90 seconds.  It was a killer.  People were averaging about 30 pts on the first carry and about 10 after the burpees.

Tuesday

I have to write this quickly because I think I’m going to lose the ability to move my arms soon.

We started out with a lot of plank variations in the warmup.  Holding one move for a while gives you the opportunity to ponder the fact that you are doing plank at 6 in the morning before the sun is even awake and that’s not good.  We followed that with push ups and squats and lunges.  Then we did a 1000 meter row.  The strength move was bent over rows.  I did 55 lbs.

The workout was a bear complex.  That means you take the bar from the ground to your shoulders then overhead then lower it behind your head onto your shoulders and squat.  Then push it overhead again and lower it in front of you to the start position.  The limiting factor on weight there is what you can push overhead.  I did 55 lbs.

The workout was:

  • 12 bear complex – To make it even more fun, once we started we weren’t allowed to let go of the bar.  If we needed to rest we had to do it with the bar on our shoulders.  I managed to smack myself in the head with the bar a few times going from behind my head to in front towards the end.
  • 20 jump touch burpees – That’s a regular burpee and then you jump up and touch a pull up bar.
  • 9 bear complex
  • 20 burpees
  • 6 bear complex
  • 20 burpees

They had us rest for 2 minutes after each set of burpees.  If they let you rest,  it is going to be bad.  I did it in 14 minutes not counting rests.

I signed up to do the 12 K Fitness Challenge that Sheila is running.  I’m going to do the advanced version which starts with a 5K and then adds a kilometer a month for a year.  I’m signed up for a 5K in a few weeks.  It is frigid cold here so I haven’t run in a while. I’m dealing with this lack of training by ignoring it and just telling myself that I can run/walk the 5K.

There is also a mini challenge:

Your February bonus challenge is to drop a habit this month that may not be the best for you.

I have a bad habit of stopping to get something to eat on the way to work.  I eat breakfast in the morning and then go to work around 10.  It is easy to stop for junk food.  I quit this habit during the Whole Life Challenge and then slid back into it.  I just need to get something healthy to have at home for a snack at that time.