Start of the week!

Today is Monday, January 7th, 2019 and the weather outside is a little chilly, however it is NOT Raining! 
The weather is expected to get upwards of 67 degrees later this afternoon

I was feeling a little motivated after taking an XMBurn and XM3 this morning, however after getting onto the computer and doing some work, I felt less motivated.

It was nearly 1130am when I  went out to get some fresh air and realized how amazing the weather was, so i took the puppy out for a nice 2 hour walk.  We finished up, and then went to the backyard to play some more. 
I looked around and noticed how messy the backyard really looked, so instead of hitting the gym to continue the Spartan training, I went to do some of the landscaping. 
Got the blower, blew all the leaves on the lawn into 1 large pile in the corner of the lower backyard. We had soe large wood chunks that were on the property as well, from when the landscapers took down the trees, so I decided to do some lifting of those, and rearranging them.  (I guess, they would be like the log lifts at the Spartan), however these were a lot dirtier and nastier. 

Moved around 20 logs around into the opposite corner of the leaf pile and made it look a little cleaner / nicer.
Spent a few hours outside doing all of that, and by that time, I was pretty sore!

I am going to start my burpee challenge soon, however I am still up in the air in regards to where I will be working, so not able to fully commit to a race here in Georgia, versus the possibility that we may move to North Carolina.

Non Spartan training days

On Saturday and Sunday this week, I did not work out doing the "Spartan" Training plan, as previously expected.  However, I did end up playing Pickleball.  Saturday morning was some doubles with a few players, one of which is a top level singles player.  I was pretty sore from the previous workouts, however still went.  Got in a solid 2 hours before calling it quits.

Pickleball is a great sport that provides a full body workout, as you are using your legs in squat position (ready position), torso (abdominals / obliques) for your volleys / dinks, as well as shoulders and arms for overheads, serves. 

Overall, my total step count for each day was well over 12000 steps.

Spartan Training - Hercules training - Day 3

Woke up this morning and was feeling really lazy and achy, and didn't really want to go to the gym.  After doing some work in the morning, my mind started to wonder and it was then I realized that I needed to get my butt back in gear and stick to the training plan.
Around 10am EST, I ate a Core Moringa Plant Pro Bar (chocolate Chip Fudge) which is a vegan / Gluten Free snack.
Right  before I went to gym at 1130am EST, I took 2 scoops of the Ripstix Performa Build Protein and mixed it in a shaker bottle with 8oz of Almond milk.  This gave me a little more energy and I also took a pre-workout pill of my XMam (Core Moringa Exercise enhancing cap)  - this contains approximately 130mg of natural caffeine.

I got to the gym today with a plan on my mind.  I will continue this spartan workout plan.  I had everything laid out for me to do my workout as well

Started off by doing 1 mile run on the treadmill (it was raining outside AGAIN); but this time I did the workout using one of the preset settings - Hill training. Based on the 1 mile run that I did, I burned 137 calories, average speed was 5.1 mph and time was 11:52 minutes.  The treadmill went from 0 incline to 6% incline during this 1 mile run. 
Since there is a lot of running with the Spartan Race, I plan on doing Running before every training session to help build myself up.  I was NEVER a runner, so it will take a lot more work than I am used to.  I am planning on increasing the run 1/4 mile every week as well as once the weather gets nicer, I will start to train outdoors and hopefully find some good trails to run on as well, so that I can get used to the 'terrain'.

Today's Spartan workout consisted of the following:

20 Kettlebell Deadlifts

4×10 Eccentric Pull-Ups

4x Farmer’s ISO Holds

20 Superman w/1-second ISOhold

10 Assisted Pull-Up

Repeat 3x

The Kettlebell deadlifts weren't so bad. I didn't know what to expect in the beginning so I didn't go with overly heavy weights. The kettlebell weights i used were 8KG (works out to be approximately 17lbs each). When I realized that the correct way of doing the kettlebell deadlifts, my workout was over (I did deadlifts using 2 kettlebells, instead of one in the middle). I made sure that I went slow enough keeping the proper form as I saw online on various videos.

For the Pull Ups (Eccentric) - I set the pull up Machine at 59lbs. This allowed me to climb up right away, then tucked my knees in so I was able to release the weight and do the negative Pull-ups. I wasn't sure what the '4x10' meant, so I ended up doing 5 Negative Pull ups for an 8 second count on each. (I later asked a trainer what they thought, and they said that they figured it was 4 Pull ups with a 10 second count)

The Farmer's ISO Holds were a lot tougher than I thought. I used the same kettlebell weights as used above. My balance is not all that great, so it took a few tries to get the hang of it. I did these on a 30 second count (1 left side, 1 right side) - I wasn't sure what they meant by 4x, since i did repeat this process 3 times.

The Superman with a 1 second ISO hold was pretty good. I ended up doing a 2-3 second hold in between each Superman

The assisted pull ups were just as tough as the negatives as noted above. I used the pull up machine and set the weight at 59lbs. This time I left the machine assist me while doing the pull ups, as my shoulders are not the strongest, nor healthiest (I have rotator cuff issues and am working to get that stronger as well - so I was only able to do 8 pull ups during this time (x3 sets)

The 3 sets were tough to do, however I got through them. When I got home to look at the next workout plan, I realized that this workout is for a specific obstacle on the course called the Hercules Hoist - not an actual plan... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpLfRoRzPkU

Based on this, I do plan on continuing to do the week long training session, but plan on continuing other training sessions that were recommended to me as well.

Going forward, will keep you posted on my progress...So far, I am 3 for 3 days in terms of my training. I'm still feeling motivated and driven, however I am trying not to be one of those 'new year day resolution' people who last a week or two before they drop out. Goal is to get myself ready for that April Sprint down here in Atlanta, GA.

Food / Drink:

as noted above,

10:00am ish - Core Moringa Plant Pro Bar

11:00am ish - Ripstix Performa Pro Protein Blend (2 scoops with almond milk)

11:00am ish - XMam pill

drink -

Ripstix Hydrate Glacier with 28oz water

Ripstix Recover (lemon berry) with 20oz water

Spartan Training - Day 2

After a successful day 1, I figured lets continue with the training and go for day 2!  

Day 2 was a lot harder than I thought.  It looked easy on paper, so I decided to do a 1 mile run on the treadmill.  (The gym that i went to today was YouFit, located the mall of Georgia). 

Unfortunately, I probably should have bypassed that part (the treadmill run).

Woke up and did my pre-workout weight check: Weight: 162.8lbs

Today's workout consisted of the following:

 30 Seconds Jumping Jacks
30 Seconds Switch Kicks - basically a kickboxing front kick
30 Seconds Butt Kicks - running in place, kicking your feet back to your butt
30 Seconds Power Squats - same as regular squats, except legs are wider, and knees are going outwards, while trying to sit on a chair.  
12 Diamond Pushups - tricep workout!
12 Sandbag Press - don't have a sandbag - so utilized a heavy ball to replace 
12 Elevated Push ups - used a 1 foot jumping stand
3×20 Bench Dips

Repeat 4x 

The hardest part of it was the "repeat 4x".  I went through the first exercise cocky as could be....How hard can jumping jacks for 30 seconds be?  (first round did 23 in 30 seconds). Then went to switch kicks, which was easy as well, then butt kicks and power squats.  When i got to the Diamond pushups, sandbag press, i was starting to feel the BURN!.  Then went into the Elevated push ups...and i started to struggle!  followed by 20 bench dips (without any weight).

I was aiming at doing 30-60 seconds rest in between, however after doing the first set...I was WIPED!  After the first round, i took nearly 3 minutes rest before starting up again and started the 2nd round.  I split my round into the 30 second exercises and thn the pushups/sandbag press / elevated pushups and bench dips, taking a break in between.

I kept myself hydrated with 30oz of Hydrate Glacier, followed by a 30oz bottle of Ripstix Recover (the new, awesome flavor of Lemon Berry).  

The entire workout took me a lot longer than expected (nearly 2 hours)

Supplements taken: XMam, XM3

After workout - ate a Heavenly Orcanics - double Dark Chocolate honey pattie (160 calories)

#wipedOut #spartantraining #MrRipstix #YouFitBuford #TimeToGetJacked

New Spartan Challenge

Today i started on a new path that I always told myself I'd try out one of these days if I ever gave up doing triathlons.  Ever since I left Long Island, New York and moved to the greater Atlanta area, I am now finding that besides my LOVE and PASSION for Pickleball, I am missing that one item of going to the gym and training for something.

I used to go every day to train for triathlons - whether it be the swimming at Lifetime Fitness or at Eisenhower park, or going cycling with friends in the area.  Or even running via RunStart / RunSmart programs held in local areas.  Now that i'm in Georgia, I have not found that kind of group to do that with.  

I stumbled upon an advertisement that popped up on my Facebook page that mentioned a 'discount code' for a Spartan race, and that is what really triggered something in my mind.  I have now a clear path of what I am looking to do.  I will start the training plans that are provided by the Spartan peoples and go from there.  

I started off by weighing myself in the morning to get some accurate stats: weight at 9:30 AM EST - 161.2lbs

Today's workout was as follows:
Dead Hang – 4 Min Accumulated Time
15 Shoulder Press 
12 Lateral Raise 
40 Push Up Position Shoulder Tap
20 High Row 
Repeat x3

I started that challenge at home.  It was very simple, but it was only day 1.  I didn't quite understand some of the exercises at first, as I thought the pushups that they were referring to were actual pushups, when in fact they were 'touch ups'.  A push up stance that just has you touching each arm while in pushup form.

The Dead Hang - didn't quite understand what it meant of '4 minutes accumulated times' so i did 3 - 4 minute hangs (1 for each set).  This was done on a pull up / dip bar device that i have in my basement.

I used 2 - 15lb weights for for shoulder presses, 

I used 2 - 8lb weights for the lateral raises

and lastly, used 1 - 15lb weight for the high rows.  

These exercises were done contineously for 3 sets.

These exercises were done in part from the video located at: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGErLkltk3/?utm_source=ig_embed

breakfast: Supermix, xmburn