Wednesday afternoon
Nice Back ST
A few weeks ago I began working in 'woodchoppers' using a barbell stood up with weights on the top, swinging or pushing it from side (hip level) to front (chest level) to other side. That's great for the obliques and general back. It's similar to the motion in this video, at around the 3-minute mark, but I use relatively more weight, so the movement is more of a jerk than the smooth flow of Kai's version:
Yesterday I tried woodchoppers with dumbbells, a great complement:
The suspension strap stuff is really coming into its own too. I'm still a few workouts away from really honing the Back St workout, but it's really coming along. The Top and Front ST workouts are pretty fluid now, but I'm still getting a feel for the revamped Back and Bottom ST workouts. For whatever it's worth, here's what the Back ST workout looks like now, organized by equipment used to ensure minimal set-up time in between exercises:
Barbell & Lat-Blaster: Standing Bent-over Row;
Barbell: Wood Chopper, Hip Thrusts;
Barbell & Stability Ball: Hyperextensions;
Dumbbell: Bench Bent-over Row, Plank Bent-over Row, Wood Chopper;
T-bar: Kettlebell Swing;
Suspension Strap: Inverted Row, Overhead Back Extension, Pendulum/Oblique Pike, Pike, Pull-Through, Mountain Climber;
Cable: Straight Arm Swing Hi/Lo
Ab Wheel: Plank Extensions
Some Kicks
Mobility & Abs
After I came home from picking up the kids, we played outside a bit in the rapidly disappearing snow. We got a couple of inches overnight. A young woman jogged by twice in VFFs, with a very pronounced forefoot strike. I thought about saying something, but I couldn't think of what, exactly, I should say, so I said nothing. If she had been a barefoot runner it would've been easier to break the ice I think. I then wondered if she was purposely running by our house, having heard that a barefoot runner lives there. Then I stopped thinking about it altogether and marveled at my daughter and her friends running around in their t-shirts in windy, mid-30s weather.
I do like to do hill 'sprints' (ok, relatively faster runs) once or twice a month though. As a matter of fact, this might be a good day for the first hill sprints of the year. We're supposed to get 8 inches of wet snow, which will make a regular run icky, but it might be tolerable if I'm just going up and down a hill--it'll add to the challenge of the workout.
Nice Back ST
A few weeks ago I began working in 'woodchoppers' using a barbell stood up with weights on the top, swinging or pushing it from side (hip level) to front (chest level) to other side. That's great for the obliques and general back. It's similar to the motion in this video, at around the 3-minute mark, but I use relatively more weight, so the movement is more of a jerk than the smooth flow of Kai's version:
Yesterday I tried woodchoppers with dumbbells, a great complement:
The suspension strap stuff is really coming into its own too. I'm still a few workouts away from really honing the Back St workout, but it's really coming along. The Top and Front ST workouts are pretty fluid now, but I'm still getting a feel for the revamped Back and Bottom ST workouts. For whatever it's worth, here's what the Back ST workout looks like now, organized by equipment used to ensure minimal set-up time in between exercises:
Barbell & Lat-Blaster: Standing Bent-over Row;
Barbell: Wood Chopper, Hip Thrusts;
Barbell & Stability Ball: Hyperextensions;
Dumbbell: Bench Bent-over Row, Plank Bent-over Row, Wood Chopper;
T-bar: Kettlebell Swing;
Suspension Strap: Inverted Row, Overhead Back Extension, Pendulum/Oblique Pike, Pike, Pull-Through, Mountain Climber;
Cable: Straight Arm Swing Hi/Lo
Ab Wheel: Plank Extensions
Some Kicks
Mobility & Abs
After I came home from picking up the kids, we played outside a bit in the rapidly disappearing snow. We got a couple of inches overnight. A young woman jogged by twice in VFFs, with a very pronounced forefoot strike. I thought about saying something, but I couldn't think of what, exactly, I should say, so I said nothing. If she had been a barefoot runner it would've been easier to break the ice I think. I then wondered if she was purposely running by our house, having heard that a barefoot runner lives there. Then I stopped thinking about it altogether and marveled at my daughter and her friends running around in their t-shirts in windy, mid-30s weather.
That's how I do it when I encounter a hill during an LSD (Aerobic) or Tempo (Lactate Threshold). I slow to maintain the same effort level/heart rate. That's why pace alerts don't really work for me unless I'm doing intervals on a flat track. I'm also careful on descents. I'd be afraid of wiping out if I let myself go full board. Then my wife would never let me run again.
I do like to do hill 'sprints' (ok, relatively faster runs) once or twice a month though. As a matter of fact, this might be a good day for the first hill sprints of the year. We're supposed to get 8 inches of wet snow, which will make a regular run icky, but it might be tolerable if I'm just going up and down a hill--it'll add to the challenge of the workout.
