Question of the Week(s)

GREAT new articles up on Gillian's blog - both dealing with issues I'm sure most of us are familiar with:  what to do about your training when you're feeling ill, and how the heck to get (or strengthen) your pull-up!

An Open Letter

Dear Mr. Bluetooth Ipod,

I am very happy that you enjoy your gadget.  It is very cool that you can attach your ipod to the beaded curtain near the tanning booths and wander around the free mat area, practicing your boxing movements.  Or that you can attach it to the metal posts of the squat rack while you do your squats (even tho they make my neck and back hurt just to watch).

But I would appreciate it greatly if you would resist the urge to sing along to the tunes.  Aside from the fact that your voice is less than stellar, I find it difficult to concentrate on my own workout when you keep blurting out random musical phrases.  It's quite frightening, to tell the truth.

Sincerely,

The Shortie at the Squat Rack

ps - You  probably also didn't realize the ruckus you made when you dragged the plyo box across the floor (I know that you're a bad-ass, and needed the cable station so that you could don the vest, attach yourself and work your sparring moves).  It's a heavy box.  It is most likely larger than I am (or at least it feels that way whenever I pick it up to move it).   But dragging it is LOUD.  Particularly to those of us within spitting distance.

Reading is FUNdamental

Do you keep a training journal?  Paper?  Online?  Software program?

If so, what do you record in it?  Do you stick to mileage and time, reps and weight?  Or do you include your perceived effort, your mood, what you ate or how you slept?

Lastly, do you ever look back at what you wrote?

I keep both a paper and an online training journal.  One is merely a reflection of the other (although I record a few humorous thoughts in my notebook while I'm at the gym - ie, smelly man, water fountain parade, dude who won't stop singing, etc).  I look at previous workouts in order to figure out the weights to use  or the rep scheme, but that's about it.

Today I completely failed that very simple exercise in due dilligence.  Off the bat, I was doing my full body workout with too high a reps scheme (3 sets of 15 rather than the 10 I was supposed to be doing), and then I flubbed on the amount of assistance to set for the Gravitron.

Oy.

Moral of the story is - use what you've got.  Namely - if you record your workouts in a journal, READ them. 

Food Find, January 22nd

Occasionally, I buy toys that are as good in practice as they were in the "I want, I want, I want it" stage. 

I love my spiral slicer.  Yes, it takes up valuable space in my kitchen.  Yes, the suction cups always seem to suction when I don't want them to (and never when I do).  And  yes, I have often times come close to slicing my own fingers (I'm notorious for that, so don't blame the slicer).  But when all is said and done, this is one toy I adore. 

I've used it a few times to make curly fries or onions - but what I generally use it for is to make "pasghetti".  That's what I call my raw zucchini sliced in long spaghetti threads :)  Check out the carrots in the above photo to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

With raw pasghetti, I can have a hearty "pasta" dinner without the late night stuffed belly - a win/win situation for me!  Last night's dinner was particularly glorious: pasghetti with turkey meatsauce (which was equally simple to prepare):

1 Jennie-O turkey burger patty

1 can of sodium free crushed tomato

1 zucchini (green squash)

Defrost turkey burger and crumble in hot skillet. Once the meat is browned, add tomato (however much you like) and season to taste. Cook through and plate over spiral cut zucchini.

Burp!

Lemonade Stand

How do you deal with a bad workout?  Not one you don't like, but one that just doesn't feel right?

Last night, I hopped on the treadmill to get a quickie 2 miler in.  5 minutes into my run, I had to dial down the speed and walk it out - my legs were dead and my breath just wasn't there.  The worst part?  I wasn't even going very fast!  It was a mere 6.0 mph (a 10 minute mile).  It should have been easy.  But it wasn't.

I could have bagged the workout right then and there.  Sucked it up, licked my wounded pride, and go make dinner.  But I didn't.

Instead, I walked for a quarter of a mile and turned my easy 2 miler into a moderate interval workout.  800m runs alternated with 400m walk, going up in speed at each 800m interval.  In the end, I ran 2 miles, walked 1 mile and watched an entire episode of "Castle".

Lemons to Lemonade...

Rut Ro

Apparently, I was in a rut at the gym and I didn't even know it.  Last week I switched up my training program significantly - and in the process I started to use some of the machines at the gym.  Things like the Leg Press. Cable Lat Pull Down.  Cable Pec Fly.  And I had absolutely no recollection of how to use the darn things!  Forget about the fact that I was clueless as to how much weight I was capable of using - I couldn't figure out what to DO.  At all.  And I had to share them with people.  Eek. 

During the course of the past two years, I have gotten so comfortable with big dumbbells and my beloved squat rack and barbell - but the rest of the gym has been pretty much filler.  It's the space between the locker room and where I need to be.  And now, that filler IS where I need to be. 

Quite the eye-opener.

I even had to use an 8# dumbbell.  8#!

Thankfully, I still get to visit with my barbell.  My happy place :)  But I think it's good to step out into the unkown (or relatively forgotten) every once in a while.  Scary, but good. 

So if you see me at the gym with a blank look on my face, or even worse - that "deer caught in headlights" thing going on, point me in the right direction.  It may take me a while to figure this all out...

Question of the Week

The first installment of Gillian Mounsey's Question of the Week is up and running!  Check it out here.