Tag: squats

Leg Day

Today (Wednesday) is leg day. I performed my full hip routine with bands first. You can search for my previous blog posts describing this if you would like to learn more.

I next performed squats working up to 225 pounds followed by Romanian Deadlifts for hamstrings. Next I did 4 rounds of hamstring curls. I then did a superset of 24 walking lunges and 45 calf raises for 3 rounds.

Once that was done, about 57 minutes, I walked 1.10 miles with a 20 pound weight vest at a fast pace. Good overall workout, nothing special to report.

Searching for Positivity

This morning was challenging. I cannot explain it but felt down and tired. It was difficult to get moving. I completed my normal Wednesday leg routine. Positive moment: I actually did it which is better than not doing it.

I started by rowing 500 meters to warm up. I then moved to hip work with bands. The bands I use are here: https://amzn.to/47IeA6D. The first set is to tie the bands just above both knees. I use two bands and try and tie it pretty tight. I then perform 100 reps opening my legs against the resistance. It takes just about 2 minutes in total as I try and do them slow. I next remove the bands and place a ball between my knees. The ball I use is here: https://amzn.to/3XUXmzP. I then perform 100 reps pressing my knees against the ball. Again it takes about 2 minutes total. I target 2 minutes as this is slow enough to get a good rep.

After that, I move to my exercise bike and site backwards. The seat is high enough to get my feet off the floor which is needed for this exercise. I tie the same two bands across my ankles and place the ball between my knees. I perform 100 reps pulling my ankles apart which takes about 2 minutes total.

I then use a resistance band attached to the bottom of my weight bench. These are the bands I have: https://amzn.to/3TJ7xF0. I use the purple one for this particular exercise. I put my left in the band and swing my leg out against the resistance for 100 reps. I repeat the same with my right leg. I then do the same thing with left and right legs only this time I swing from front to back for 100 reps each.

I thank attach an ankle stripe band like the one here: https://amzn.to/3XBM02l. I bend my knees so that I am close to a sitting position and walk side-to-side for 7 steps to the right and 7 steps to the left for a total of 14. I repeat this 7 times giving me 98 total reps. My legs are burning pretty good from this.

Next I get on the squat rack and work up from 135 pounds to 255 pounds and back down. I go as deep as I can. I use an old school squat belt for back stability like this: https://amzn.to/3XBM02l.

Once squats were done, I performed a 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 400M run, 10 Romanian Deadlift for hamstrings with 135 pounds, 24 walking lunges with no weight, and 45 calf raises on a step with no weight. For the calf raises, I do 15 with toes pointed in almost touch each other, 15 with toes pointed straight, and 15 with toes pointed out. This hits all part of my calf muscles. I was able to perform 3 total rounds.

After that, I put on a 20 pound weight vest and walked for 1.10 miles at a fast pace. Overall, I got the workout done but had a very difficult time getting through it and my intensity was really lacking. I had 72 intensity minutes which is lower than normal.

The positive of all of this is that I did it. Way better for both my physical and mental health than not doing it. I always encourage people to do the best they can even if circumstances are not ideal. I had to take my own advice today and am glad I got it done. Have a great day everyone.

Blessed – Leg Day

There is a song I heard today named Blessed by Fearless Motivation. It starts off this way

It doesn’t matter where you are in life
If you don’t feel blessed you won’t be blessed
You’ve got to know your worth, before you can be worth anything

The song has a great overall message. I like listening to uplifting music in the morning and YouTube music built a very nice playlist based on this song.

Let’s talk about leg day. Previously you’ve seen that my leg days start out with all of these hip exercises with bands. I wanted to explain how that came to be. About 3 – 4 years ago my lower back was constantly hurting and didn’t seem to get better. I went to the doctor and they referred me to physical therapy.

In physical therapy they had me doing all of these hip exercises with bands. I asked the physical therapist “why am I working on my hips when back hurts?”. She explained that my back is just a symptom of a bigger problem. My hips were weak. Because my hips were weak I overcompensated by using my lower back in awkward ways. She was right. Over time as I strengthened my hips my lower back pain went away. Since I finished physical therapy I continue to do a series of hip exercises I learned at physical therapy during my leg workouts prior to lifting heavy.

Once I completed the hip and band exercises, I moved on to squats. Today I did 10 reps at 135 pounds, 6 reps at 185 pounds, 4 reps at 225 pounds, and 2 reps at 275 pounds. I actually did 2 sets of 2 reps at 275 pounds. I am still unhappy with how deep I am going but I try my best to get as deep as I can. I will keep doing this weight until I can get all of the way down. Once I completed the 2 sets at 275, I reduced back to 225 pounds and completed 4 reps. Then 185 pounds for 6 reps and finally 10 reps at 135 pounds. I use a weight belt once I hit 185 pounds and up to limit stress on my lower back.

After this I performed a 20 minute AMRAP of 400M run, 10 Romanian deadlifts at 135 pounds, 24 walking lunges, and 45 calf raises with 100 pounds. I was able to complete 3 rounds. Next I put on a 20 pounds weight vest and walked at a fast pace for a little over a mile.

Overall it was a good workout. I was pretty winded during the AMRAP and it was pretty humid outside. I had to keep pushing through. I will leave you with another part of the song blessed:

When failure tried to take my mind
I wouldn’t let failure take my life
I am not blessed because it all went right
I’ll never give up
I’m blessed because I’ve got fight

Stay positive, stay active, keep fighting, and always do your best. Have a blessed day!

Last 2 days

Yesterday I performed a run of 3.1 miles for a total of 78 intensity minutes. I did not have a good sleep the night before and it showed in my run. I actually did a run / walk. I was able to get through it and well exceeded my weekly intensity goal of 150 by Tuesday again. After my run I performed a series of leg stretches and did 100 triceps extension and 60 hammer curls with 15 pound dumbbells. After that I completed 70 sit us with the ab mat.

Today is Wednesday and it is leg day. I did my normal band routine and then squats. I worked my way up to 275 pound squats and I think I got a little deeper than last week but not where I want to be. I think if I keep working at it I will get deep within a couple of months. Once that happens I will increase weight to 300 or more pounds.

After squats I did a 20 minute AMRAP involving a 400M run followed by Romanian Deadlifts with 12 pounds, 24 walking lunges, and 45 calf raises with 80 pounds. I was able to complete 3.5 rounds. On the last round I just finished the run portion but didn’t have time to complete the other exercises.

After that, I put on a 20 pound weight vest and walked 1.10 miles at a pretty good pace. Overall intensity minutes today were 78 and that brings my total for the week to 238. Not too bad and I will continue working at it.

Wednesday Fitness – Leg Day

I haven’t been sleeping well. I have a bout of poison ivy and my sleep scores have not been good. Last night was 46. It took everything I had to get up and out of bed at 4:30 am this morning. Very challenging but I did it.

I started my workout with bands tied around my knees and I did 100 reps spreading my knees against the resistance of the bands. Next, I placed the yoga ball between my knees and did 100 reps pressing against the ball. I then moved to the back of my bike and tied my ankles with the bands, placed the ball between my knees and did 100 reps spreading my ankles against the resistance.

I used a different band wrapped around the leg of the work bench in my garage and did 100 reps extending me left leg to the side against the resistance. I repeated the same with the right leg. I then repeated the same with left leg this time pushing my leg directly back against the resistance. I repeated with the right leg.

I used a band with Velcro straps wrapped around both ankles and did 98 reps walking side to side. After this I moved to squats. Again focusing on deeper squats. My first set was 135 pounds for 8 reps. I increased weight to 185 pounds and did 3 RFQ which means rounds for quality. I did 5 reps each set. I finished with one more set of 8 reps at 135 pounds.

I then did a 20 minute AMRAP consisting of 400M run followed by 10 Romanian Deadlifts for hamstrings, 24 walking lunges, and 45 calf raises with 80 pounds. I was able to complete almost 4 rounds. The last round I just finished the run when time expired. Overall, I got it done but because of the poor sleep quality I felt pretty sluggish and was challenged to complete. Tonight, I will try and get a better night sleep and prepare for a good run tomorrow. Have a good day everyone!

Fitness Leg Day – Wednesday

Today was tough again. Very hot and humid. I was able to get through it. Most of my workouts are about an hour in length, including today.

My leg day starts out on the ground with bands. I have these bands that are similar to what they us in physical therapy. I lay on the ground and tie them just above my knees. I then do 100 reps of spreading my knees apart against the resistance. Next, I will put a small yoga ball between my knees and squeeze for 100 reps.

I then sit on the seat of my bike in reverse. I tie the bands around my ankles and place the ball between my knees. I then perform 100 reps pulling my ankles apart against the resistance. Next I will switch to another band wrapped around the leg of a built in table in my garage. I place my left leg and swing my leg from inside out against the resistance for 100 reps. I repeat on the right leg. I then do 100 reps pushing each leg against the resistance front to back.

Next I have a difference band that has Velcro to wrap around my ankles and I step side to side for 98 total reps. Next, I move to squats. Today I worked up to 275 pounds and try to go as deep as possible. I was not satisfied today as to how deep I was able to go. I’ll keep working at.

Once that is completed I then did a 20 minute AMRAP. This included a 400M run with 10 Romanian deadlifts, 24 walking lunges, and 45 calf raises with 80 pounds. I was only able to complete 3 rounds today. Last week I got closer to 4 rounds so my performance was a little worse this week. I’ll try to build off of this for next week. Anyway, I am traveling today so my workouts over the next couple of days will be different than normal based on what is available in the hotel gym. Until next time, have a great day!

Fitness – My Home Gym

I took the day off yesterday. My daughter and her family was here. I must say that my nutrition was lacking terribly yesterday. I am so disciplined when it comes to working out and even in my profession of data architecture, I have always struggled to be disciplined with my nutrition.

I have a sweet tooth. I was eating cookies and overeating food even though I was not hungry. Sometimes I eat just because the food sounds good and I want it. I have got to focus on being disciplined with this. I will keep working on it.

Whenever my daughter, son in law, and grand daughter come over, my son in law works out in my home gym. I am really proud of him because when I first met him years ago he wasn’t into fitness. He has mentioned to me that I have inspired him and he always admired our family because of the emphasis we put on fitness in our family.

Since then he has really taken to working out, mainly strength training. I have seen him get much stronger and more fit. He says that he feels much better. He has really grown to make fitness a routine and is very disciplined with it. He comes over and uses my garage gym every day he is here.

Yesterday he was telling me how much he likes my garage gym compared to the gym in his apartment complex. Also, he has been to other gyms and says he likes mine better. He is similar to me and really likes to work out on his own with his headphones in and no distractions. This inspired me to write about my garage gym to let you know what I have and why it is useful.

First, I don’t have the most expensive equipment. I have thought about upgrading certain aspects but do not really need to. The main thing I have is a half rack that I purchased from Dicks Sporting Goods many years ago. It absolutely is not the best or most heavy duty but it does get the job done. And if taken care of, will last a very long time.

I have a bar that I purchased from Dicks Sporting Goods also with about 400 pounds of weights with 4 45 pound weights, 2 35’s, 2 35’s, 2 10’s, 4, 5’s and 2 2.5 pound weights. This gets the job done. Since it is in the garage I wipe them down with 3 and 1 oil about once a month and that keeps them very nice with no rust accumulation. I also wipe my rack down with oil.

Underneath my rack and spread out a ways are sic horse stall mats that I purchased from Tractor Supply many years ago for about $35 each. This is very nice for laying on and protecting the garage floor. I also have a couple of yoga mats for extra cushion for floor work. I have a couple of Powerblock adjustable dumbbells that go to 50 pounds each which is plenty for me.

I have an assortment of bands for stretching and various exercises along with some other bands and a yoga ball for some of my hip and leg work. I have power pushup bars for pushups and a pullup and dip station. There is an ab mat I use for sit ups. The ab mat sis under my lower back for stability. I do also have weight belt for back stability when I do heavy squats.

I have a treadmill, a Rower, and a bike. I use the rower quite a lit for warmups, keeping hot in between sets, and extra work. I also have a 20pound weight vest that I will use for walking and when extra weight is needed for dips and other exercises. I do have a step but I also have some steps in my garage that I can use for steps up with weights.

As I write more about my workout routines I will explain how I use this equipment and you will see that I use every last bit of all of that equipment. Until next time, have a great day!

Fitness 8/22/2024

My legs are really sore today. Yesterday was leg day and I have been working on getting deeper in my squats. I have always struggled with flexibility and for a long time worked on getting my butt down to the bench. For the past month or so I have removed the bench and have been focusing on getting deeper. AAfter a series of hip work with bands, I do some warm ups without weights focusing on getting deep in the squat. 

A few weeks ago when I started this I did 95 lbs and max 135 lbs deep. Today I did a progression of 135, 185, 225. I did 3 sets at 225 of 3 reps each trying to go as deep as possible. I noticed that my hamstrings are very sore and I think this is a big reason. That is very good.

I ran today and it was a struggle with sore legs. I only did a little over 2 miles and then some stretching. Of course I ended with 100 dumbbell tricep presses with 15 lbs on each dumbbell, 60 hammer curls with 15 pounds each dumbbell, and 77 sit ups over 2 minutes. My goal is to get 100 sit ups in 2 minutes. I am getting there. 

Overall not too bad today but I need to keep going after it. This is for my mental health as much as physical health. I have to try and stay positive on the day, especially when interacting with other people. Focus and let’s go!