Saturday (15/12/18) and Sunday (16/12/18) - Both Rest Days My training plans/advent calendar got (happily) put on hold this weekend, as my eldest brother paid us a surprise pre-Christmas visit, and it is only the 2nd time this year that I have seen him. Monday (17/12/18 - Part 1) Day 17 / Workout 15: Rather than just writing off the workouts that I missed, as I did with my last rest day, I figured that I'd at least try and play catch up this time. So, as Saturday was meant to be a Bag-Workout, that is exactly what I did today. Warm-Up: (16 mins) 5 mins Light Cardio 5 mins Stretching 5 mins, 30s on, 30s off of Shadow Boxing Bag Routine: (19 mins) I worked for 5 x 3-minute rounds, following a similar structure to Iain Abernethy's Solo Bag Drills, but not strictly follow the round-by-round setup. Rnd 1 - 1 min Hands-Only / 1 min Single Power Shots / 1 min Close Range Strikes Rnd 2 - 1 min Single Power Shots / 1 min Hands-Only / 1 min Hands & Feet Rnd 3 - 1 min Close Range Strikes / 2 mins Hands & Feet Rnd 4 - 1 mins Hands & Feet / 1 min Pyramid Strikes / 1 min Hands & Feet Rnd 5 - 2 mins Hands & Feet / 1 min Continuous Straight Punches (1 min rest between each round) Extra Credit: (6 mins) I decided to add a few shorter rounds on to my initial time, just for good measure. Rnd 6 - 1 min Hands-Only Rnd 7 - 90 sec Hands & Feet Rnd 8 - 90 sec Feet-Only (again, with a 1 min rest between each) Cool Down: (8 mins) 2 min Light Shadow Boxing 4 min Stretching Tensho Kata Note: Forerunner needed charging, and I did not want to wait around, so I went ahead with my HR monitor. Travess
Monday (17/12/18 - Part 2) Karate @ 90 minutes - Still trying to fight off the last lingering grips of this damn winter cold, I asked if I'd be able do some teaching tonight - Which I was. I ran the junior grades (10th, 9th and 8th Kyus) thru an introduction to 'Fence' Concepts to start with, looking at things like using it Control Space, and as part of a Propreoseption Drill, for Pre-emptive Striking - I finished this up with a little chat about Geoff Thompson, and the History of the 'Fence', before moving on to Kata. This was very limited, as they only knew Gekisai Di Ichi, so rather than just drill the kata over and over again, we isolated certain segments, practiced them in their basic form, before throwing in some related Pad Drills, and then finished up with some Bunkai. A fairly chilled session, which seemed to challenge, interest, and on occassion confuse my group, but they enjoyed it all the same. Travess
Tuesday (18/12/18) Gonna keep this (extremely) brief today, as I am feeling particularly rough (and probably should not have trained) Warm-up: 5 mins Light Kata 5 mins Stretching Workout: Did a 'Full Body' Deck of Cards routine today... Hearts - KB Swing Spades - Goblet Squats Diamonds - Ab Roll Outs Clubs - KB High Pull (left side evens, right side odds) Cool Down: 5 mins Stretching Tensho Kata Here ends my extra curricular training for a while, despite having so much planned, as my head us swinging, I am constantly coughing my guts up and my chest is starting to feel tight. (It is my last Karate session of the year tomorrow, so I will do my utmost to make that, before having an all out training break) Travess
Thursday (20/12/18) Karate @ 90 minutes - Tonight was the final session of the year, which Sensei decided to run as a Round Robin - It was a surprisingly small turn out, with only 21 members taking part, which put us in groups of 3, as we made our way round the 7 Stations. Before getting the round robin underway, we started of with 6 rounds of Light Restrictive Sparring (3 x striking, 3 x stand up grappling) to get ourselves warmed up. Round Robin: (8 mins per station) Station 1 - Heavy-Bag (any kicks you like) Station 2 - Heavy-Bag (power shots only) Station 3 - Randori (submissions) Station 4 - Focus Mitts (multiple strikes) Station 5 - Kickshields (any kicks you like) Station 6 - Takedowns (semi-compliant) Station 7 - Restrictive Striking (from seated) As we were in groups of 3, there would always be 2 working, and 1 watching, but I think my group did a good job of keeping everything fairly even, time wise. (Except for station 3 maybe, where I'll admit to hogging more matt-time than either of the other 2!) No I just need to find other ways of keeping my sanity, whilst I wait for the 7th Jan 2019' to roll around. Travess
Friday (21/12/18) - 100% Rest Day... ...No exercise, no chores, no errands, nothing! My health is still proving to be a bit of an issue, and I appear to have taken 2 steps backwards, having taken part in last night's Karate round robin. Saturday (22/12/18) I've got the final Kids Karate class of the year to help run this morning, so I thought I'd wake myself up (and test my energy levels) with a little Remedial Push Up routine - 100 reps in total, over 10 x 10 EMOM sets, slightly changing up the exercise with each set. Military Push Ups Regular Push Ups Military Push Ups (on knees) Regular Push Ups (on knees) Incline Military Push Ups Incline Regular Push Ups Incline Military Push Ups (on knees) Incline Regular Push Ups (on knees) Decline Military Push Ups Decline Regular Push Ups This was a struggle, but at least I found out categorically where my energy levels were at, which is to say, IN THE TOILET! More rest on the cards now (well, following the kids class at least...) Travess
It seems more if a challenge for you to rest than to do a intense workout. I feel that too! The mental battle, and itchy feet. I hope the rest pays off
Yeah, as we've previously discussed, 'off' days seem to be presenting a fairly big psychological barrier for me (where was this mentality in my 20's?) but it is only during this past 8-10 months that it appears have been to the detriment of my health. As for yesterday's rest day - Hoovering, tidying the house, wrapping prezzies, last minute shopping and sorting the recycling out put pay to that! (But at least I managed it all without feeling drained...) Sunday (23/12/18) Yesterday's 10 min Push Up routine workouted out well enough, that I figured I'd try another little 10 min routine today - I ended up having a Mini Arm Day, with a single 10 min Tabata, alternating through each 20 sec work period between Bicep Curls, Wrist Rolls, Tricep Curls and Overhead Press (all with my 12kg KB) Felt pretty good during, and straight after this one, so YAY! Travess
Monday (24/12/18) - Rest Day The most 'training' related thing that I did today was to meet up with a few guys and gals from the club, and sink a few afternoon beers. Tuesday - Christmas Day I dragged Mrs T and the kids out for a nice Family Walk in the afternoon, which was only around 5km, as my youngest's legs started to get tired (but boy did she sleep well that night!!!) Wednesday - Boxing Day We headed out for another Family Walk today, sans Mrs T though, as she was offered (and excepted) a very deserving nap on the sofa - We only went out for 3km this time around, as another 5km may have been too much for my youngest. Travess
It seems to be a relatively new one on us, but one that looks likely to continue. Thursday (27/12/18) AM: A little bit more than just an active rest day today (which I suppose, technically, the last 2 days were) as in addition to my planned afternoon walk, I did a very low intensity 25 minute Stretching Tabata, that I squeezed in before breakfast. Duration: 25 mins Starting HR: 68 bpm Max HR: 93 bpm Average HR: 79 bpm PM: I had my kids with me all day today, whilst Mrs T was at work, which ruled out another walk (it wasn't for lack of trying, but as my youngest was pretty adamant in her protests, and as she had done 8km in the past 2 days, I thought I'd better not push it.) It did not however rule out being able to 10 laps Up and Down the Stairs (1 lap = up and down) which I did EHOH, throughout the afternoon, to make up for it. I've got some free time to myself tomorrow, so I may don my 10kg/22lb weighted 'running' vest, relocate my walk to a nearby national trust area, and get some cross-country, hilly walking in the bag. Travess
Friday (28/12/18) So, as planned, I put my 'me time' to good use today, by heading out to a local national trust area - Uffington Castle, Whitehorse Hill, Dragon Hill, Wayland's Smithy, and various points around / inbetween - for a nice, Cross-country, Hilly Walk. (wearing my 22 lb 'running' vest) Dutation: 85m 52s Distance: 7.4km Average Pace: 11m 40s Max Elevation: 290 feet Starting HR: 88 bpm Max HR: 139 bpm Average HR: 121 bpm Considering that this was just a casual walk, it was, at points, actually pretty bloody hard going. As I took a few phots, I figured I'd share them here, to accompany the post: Travess
I didn't notice to the extra weight too much, except on the serious inclines, but I did experience some discomfort on my collarbones - But that was probably just because I had the damn thing on backwards! Travess
Saturday (29/12/18) - Rest Day Sunday (30/12/18) Warm-up: (6 mins) Light Shadow Boxing (for ROM) Stretching Moderate Shadow Boxing (30s rest) Routine: (27 mins) Time to jump back on the old Strength Training wagon today, with a Small Circuit, made up of just 4 Stations (see below) - Starting at 10 reps per Station, then 9, then 8, all the way down to 5 reps on the 5th and final circuit. Station 1 - Deep Squat (TRX) Station 2 - Bicep Curl (into Overhead Press) Station 3 - Buprees (with Slow Push Up) Station 4 - Weighted Crunches (30s rest between each station, 60s rest between each circuit) Cool Down: (6 mins) Light Shadow Boxing Stretching Tensho Kata Duration: 39 mins Starting HR: 73 bpm Max HR: 156 bpm Average HR: 117 bpm Calories: N/A Travess
Monday (31/12/18) - Rest Day I ended 2018 with more of a whimper than a bang, training wise, despite having set plans to the contrary. Tuesday (01/01/19) Hitting the ground running (quite literally) in 2019, with a brand new Training Calendar, this time with set rest days, and better spaced workouts - The 1st of which being today's Road Run. Warm-up: (10+ mins) Stretching Run: This was meant to be pleasant plod, with set 30s walking periods interspersed throughout the run, (which I kept to) but as is indicated by my constantly elevated HR below, it did not play out that way. Distance: 13.06 km Duration: 1h 19m 23s Pace: (Av) 6m 05s per/km Pace: (Best) 4m 48s per/km Cool Down: (10 +mins) Stretching Tensho Kata Duration: 1h 43m Starting HR: 74 bpm Max HR: 186 bpm Average HR: 174 bpm Calories: 1247 used Travess
Wednesday (02/01/19) I had a Deck of Cards based KB Session planned in for today, focusing on Arms/Chest/Shoulders Warm-up: Light Kata (Ichi, Ni, Saifa and Seyunchin) Stretching Deck of Cards: Spades - Press Hearts - Bicep Curls Clubs - High Pulls Diamonds - Overhead Press Cool Down: Light Kata (Sanchin and Tensho) Stretching Duration: 47m Starting HR: 61 bpm Max HR: 121 bpm Average HR: 93 bpm Calories: 203 used Travess
Wednesday (02/01/19) **Addendum** I got a little restless, whilst I was making dinner, so I pushed out 100 Push Ups (20, 20, 10, 10, 20, 10, 10) to pass the time. I always go to bed around 60-90 minutes later than my wife (time spent catching up on my TiVo recordings for the previous week) but rather than just lounge around on the sofa, I figured I'd position myself on the floor, and get some remedial Stretching in, whilst I was at it. (Which I really should try and do most nights really...) Travess
Thursday (03/01/19) Well, if yesterday was a strength day, that must mean that today is a Cardio Day. Warm-up: Light Kata (Ichi, Ni, Saifa, Seyunchin and Shisochin) Stretching/Range of Motion Routine: Today I put together a 6 x 3 minute rounds (with 30s rest between each) workout, with each round being made up 3 x 30 seconds of Shadow Boxing, alternated with 3 x 30 seconds of Plyometric Drills (R1: Heismans / R2: 180 Squat Jumps / R3: Box Jumps) Cool Down: Light Kata (Sanchin and Tensho) Stretching Duration: 41 mins Starting HR: 68 bpm Max HR: 179 bpm Average HR: 141 bpm Calories: 424 used I have also decided, as a dedicated single exercise goal, to give myself a target of 2,000 Push Ups to hit, before January comes to an end - This number will include any push ups that may be found within whatever routine I am doing that day, including those found in Burpees, as well as any additional ones that I choose to do! Push Up today - 50 Running total - 150 I finished up my day on a few more Stretching drills as I watched some late evening TV. Travess
Friday (04/01/19) - Unplanned Rest Day On top of being volunteered to look after one of my daughter's school friends today, one of our cars up and died, and then our Tassimo kind of exploded on us - So, with luck like that, I decided to keep myself out of harms way, and free from any personal damage. I did still squeeze in my Push Ups and my Stretching though... Push Ups done today - 97 Running total - 250 Evening stretching: 25 mins in total, both Static and Dynamic. Saturday (05/01/19) - Planned Rest Day Today is my clubs annual Assistant Instructor Cadre (accredited by the BCKA) which as is an all day course, which I was required to take part in. (In an auxiliary capacity) Push Ups done today - N/A Running total - 250 Travess
Sunday (06/01/19) For the next 6/7 weeks, I am planning on making Sunday my regular Bag-Workout days, with today being the 1st. Warm-up: 5 mins Moderate Cardio Drills 5 mins ROM / Mobility Drills Rounds: I opted for a 15 round, 7 stage pyramid set-up today, starting, and ending 3 x 1 min rounds, with a 30s rest between each. Stage 1 - 3 x 1 min rounds (60s rest) Stage 2 - 3 x 1.5 min rounds (60s rest) Stage 3 - 1 x 2 min round (30s rest) Stage 4 - 1 x 3 min round (30s rest) Stage 5 - 1 x 2 min round (60s rest) Stage 6 - 3 x 1.5 min rounds (60s rest) Stage 7 - 3 x 1 min rounds (2 min rest) Cool Down: 1km Road Run (@5m 42s) Sanchin Kata Tensho Kata Stretching Duration: 60 mins Starting HR: 67 bpm Max HR: 183 bpm Average HR: 153 bpm Calories: 661 used Push Ups done today: 100 (20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 15, 15) Running total: 350 Daily stretching: Just 5 mins done today, of solely static stretching work. Not bad for a morning's work! Travess