Still Rolling: Heather’s Log

Periodically I take a break from my log, and I guess lately has been one of those times. I haven’t seen much point in posting every workout since I’m not on a specific program, and my only real goal right now is maintenance and fitness. I’ve been just biking, and lifting to keep fit, and it’s working out well.

I bought a new bike the day after my old one was stolen. It’s a nice enough mountain bike, though heavy (steel). A Giant Boulder. So I call her Pebbles. She weighs as much as many, many, many pebbles. Bought some better locks and use them both, so hopefully that’ll keep her safe. I’m thinking of maybe riding her til the snow falls and either in the fall or spring, checking out the bike expo and biking up something SWEET for a steal. Something hybridy, like a light mountain bike frame with front suspension, slick or semi-slick tires, bullhorn handlebars if possible but I’m flexible there. Something I can still bang up a bit but also move faster on. My quads are really getting a workout on this beast though, I’ll say that.

My gym just announced it’s shutting down! I need a new gym. DAMN. I might be crawling back to my old gym but before I do that, I might see about a month or two at a friend’s gym. He’s got a private place in a jiu jitsu gym downtown, and I went in the other day to play around. He let me have a go on the sled, and we did some oly lifts and barbell complexes. Tried chinups using this thick rope to hold onto, that was nuts. It was fun Feeling it in my traps from the high pulls.

Also went rock climbing last night, that was fun! I could get into that if I had more money to spend. Maybe I’ll keep it up.

Today I went into my gym with a friend. The place is closing in a matter of days. Bummer! But we had a good time. He’s going to build a home gym and wanted to get some ideas so we had a productive time I think. It’ll be fun to get to help him with that, and I obviously get visiting privileges to train when he gets his setup done, yah!

OH I should fine a pic from my ride home from work last night, it was insanity. I ride through a trail by the Don River, which floods easily. We got a crazy storm with hail that day, and I left work, just grateful the storm was over. Little did I realize the trail was badly flooded. By the time I realized how bad it was, it was too late to turn back. There’s really no way on or off the trail once you’re on it, you either turn around or keep going. I rode through about six gigantic ‘puddles’ that were up to 50+ feet in length, and the two deepest were probably four feet in the middle. The water came up to the tops of my thighs, covered my whole bike except handlebars and seat. It was craziness! I cleaned my bike up well after that ride. Made a good story that’s for sure!

I took the past week off from the gym, just did a lot of biking and went climbing on Friday. I didn’t really intend to take the full week, it just worked out that way. But I’m sad because I went to see Iron Man tonight (that was a fun flick) and my bike got stolen while I was in the theatre. The shitty thing is that I kept thinking that it wasn’t safe to lock it up at Yonge and Dundas. And then some dick told me that he saw someone trading it for something and he knew it was stolen. Thanks muthafucka, I appreciate you lifting a fucking finger, lazy thoughtless prick.

This was my first bike since I was a kid and I loved her. Come home Tessa! She fit me perfectly, she even looked like me, I swear. We both look good in bright blue, and we’re both cute and sporty. It’s like we were soul sisters and we played every day and this nasty bum fucking kidnaps her!

Been eating too much, gotta lay off the carbs! you know when you eat too much for a few days, and you feel kind of bloated (and ARE kind of bloated) but you occasionally get a feeling that’s like a weird combination of stomach hunger and overall full/bloatedness? That’s what I’ve been feeling - I hate that.

What makes it feel worse is that it is SO hot and humid - typical Toronto. Takes all the energy out of you… well, me. Biked to work and home and did go to the gym but was feeling quite tired. But I don’t feel bad, just not WOOHOOOO! if you know what I mean.

Bike is getting a bit in need of a tune-up. Ever since last week when I wiped out on the ride home (I’m fine), it’s been shifting all wrong. I need new brake pads too.

Tonight I did a light workout and nothing on legs - not intentionally really, just forgot at first and then felt too blah to care. Did two full circuits and then a little more chest and shoulder work and then bailed - it was later than usual since I did all my groceries today.

A Weighted Crunches:
25x8x3

B Pushups (feet raised):
bwx20x2
bwx12x1

C Seated Rows:
65x20x1
65x15x1

D Push Press:
40x12x3

E Side Raises:
10x12x3

F Pulldowns:
75x12x2

G DB Flyes:
17.5x20x2
20x8x1

H Incline Curls:
17.5x15x2

I Skullcrushers:
40x12x2

Back felt tired as hell. Haven’t done flyes in a dog’s age.

Duration: 45 minutes

Okay, so… Friday I biked to work and home as usual, and Saturday I trained and biked around a fair bit. Today (Sunday) I just biked over to my cousin’s to get a ride to a wedding, so today was pretty much ‘recovery’ I guess, though I don’t feel like I need much recovery (been eating a lot).

Here’s Saturday’s session. Did some deadlifts, felt really good. Did them in straight sets, then did circuits.

A Deadlifts:
135x6x4
115x6x1

2A Bench Press:
95x6x5

2B Lat Pulldowns:
95x6x4

2C 1-Leg Supported RDLs:
25x8x5

3A OH DB Press:
27.5x8x5

3B Face Pulls:
40x12x5

3C Ab Leg Lifts:
bwx12x5

I’m not entirely sure I’m remembering this workout quite right, but close enough….

Duration: 50 minutes

Okay I last posted nearly a week ago, bad me! I biked to work and home Friday, biked a lot on Saturday and also went to the gym (didn’t post it, and not gonna), biked a fair bit Sunday and went rock climbing, biked to work and back on Monday, Tuesday and today. But despite my plans, I bailed on the gym til today. Here’s what I did:

A Romanian Deadlifts:
115×8x5

B Standing DB OH Press:
25×10x5

C Chinups:
bwx5×4

A 1-Arm Ball Chest Press:
30×12x4

B 1-Arm Bent Over Row:
45×8x4

C Weighted Decline Crunch:
35×8x4

Have been low carbing a few days, and really feeling sluggish. Went for Indian after the workout and good lord, it was amazing. Yay carbs!

Duration: 45 minutes (weights), 90+ minutes (biking)

I was really strong today, not sure why. Super fast and strong on my bike, and felt great in the gym in spite of training on an empty stomach. I winged it - my program is stale and I haven’t bothered designing a new one. Did supersets within a few circuits, if that makes any sense…
Basically I wanted to do a bunch of stuff, and couldn’t decide, so I just warmed up doing all my favourite lifts - military press, bench, pullups, and then decided to just do them all and superset, and go as heavy as I wanted and do low reps.

Circuit 1: (repeated each superset twice in a row)

1A Bench Press:
105×3x2

1B Chinups:
bwx4×2

2A Barbell Overhead Press:
60×6x2

2B Seated Rows:
105×6x2

3A Romanian Deadlifts:
135×6x2

3B Weighted Crunches:
35×6x2

4A Weighted Dips:
25×6x2

4B Push Press:
50×6x2

Circuit 2: (repeated each superset more than twice in a row - three or four depending)

1A Bench Press:
105×2x3 (added a set, fewer reps)

95×3x1 (added another set at a lower weight)

1B Chinups:
bwx3×4 (lowered reps, did four sets)

2A Barbell Overhead Press:
60×8x4 (increased reps, did four sets)

2B Seated Rows:
105×5x3 (lowered reps a bit, did three sets)
3A Romanian Deadlifts:
135×6x4 (same reps, four sets - felt great)

3B Weighted Crunches:
35×6x2 (same - would have done more but some guys took the decline)

4A Weighted Dips:
25×6x3

bwx8×1 (more sets, one at bodyweight - started getting tired!)

4B Push Press:
50×8x4 (more sets and reps - I love delt work)

Duration: 50 minutes (weights - biking added another 80 - gettin’ faster!)

Biked - it was windy and hard, but otherwise good. Fewer bugs when it’s windy at least.

Trained - I ate first, a meal of frozen banana with cinnamon/splenda, plain yogurt and natural peanut butter, followed by spelt/sourdough bread with coconut oil and cinnamon/splenda on it. Pretty awesome. Been eating a lot more carbs lately and not gaining weight, I guess I need them what with the biking.

Did a moderately off the cuff workout that was not really in line with my program, which is stale anyway, so this is a good thing.

A Push Press (again):
40×12x4

B Dips:
bwx12×4

C Seated Row:
75×12x4

D Close grip pulldown:
65×12x4

E 1-Leg RDL:
20×8x1
22.5×8x1
25×8x2

A Side Raises:
12.5×8x4

B Skullcrushers:
40×12x3

C Pushups:
bwx6×3

D Crunches:
bwx12×3

E Seated incline curls:
17.5×10x3

Duration: 40 minutes

Biked to work and home on Friday, and hit up a hatha yoga class after work (before heading home). It was great! Really opened up my hips and shoulders. Then I met a friend for sushi and it was great - headed home after that.

Had a nice quick workout yesterday. I guess for the time being I’ve truly released my strength goals and that’s okay, though I do miss being able to bench a respectable amount. But whatever!

My back was feeling a bit tired and sore, so I went easy on it. Chest felt okay but not strong, so I didn’t lay off of it, but I did split my sets so I hit chest twice in the first circuit, at lower reps per set, to get all the reps in that I wanted. Did the same thing in the next circuit for chins. Did an extra set of glute/ham raise and overhead press (at a lighter weight on the press though).

A Bench Press:
95x4x4

B 1-Arm Bent Over Rows:
40x6x4

C Bench Press:
95x4x4

D Glute Ham Raise:
bwx5x6

A OH DB Press:
30x8x4
25x8x1

B Chinups:
bwx3x4

C Weighted Crunches:
25x8x4

D Chinups:
bwx3x4

I miss my old gym friends but love speeding through workouts with very short breaks and no chit chat.

Duration: 45 minutes

Biked to work and home, as per usual, and hit the gym. The other day when I went, I stopped at home first and ate a little whole grain bread, but not this time (the eating of carbs right before going to the gym after work was unusual). I felt kind of hungry. My workout wasn’t anything special but I got through three circuits.

I decided to not eat my usual gigantic pile of veggies afterwards, and just ate eggs and fruit and bread and stuff. Actually it sounds much more boring than it was. I often eat some eggs and such, but then eat so many veggies that I end up pretty bloated. No biggie really, but I wanted to not be all bloated today so I skipped them, and lo and behold, I look 5 lbs lighter!

A Dips:
bwx12x3

B Pulldowns (normally would be chinups):
90x12x3

C Ball Pushups:
bwx12x3

D Seated Row:
75x12x3

E Side Raises:
10x12x4

F Extreme Decline Crunches:
bwx12x3

G Ball Ham Curls:
bwx12x3

H Ball Glute/Ham Bridge/Pulse:
bwx12x3

Duration: 45 minutes

My weekend was AMAZING! I’ll post pics when someone sends me some (since I lost my camera).

The wedding was beautiful, held outdoors in a gorgeous public garden, and the weather was perfection. The couple are perfect for each other - smart, down-to-earth, a riot.

I love that side of my family (don’t get me started on the other side though).

The other awesome thing was our hotel. We stayed at the Spokane Athletic Club, a private club with beautiful rooms, a gym, pool, courts, the works. The food in the juice bar thingy was cheap and just my style - hardboiled eggs for a buck, salads, coffee, chopped veggies, fruit, stuff that got me by away from my kitchen. God love the Spokane Club!!! I loooved being able to train through the weekend, it was freakin’ awesome to have something to do when I woke up while I waited for my slow as molasses grandmother to get moving. Yay Spokane Club!!!!!

I won’t bother trying to remember my workouts from the weekend, but I did more leg training than usual since there was no biking. But there was also no squat rack, so leg training was deadlifts, RDLs and Bulgarian split squats, all of which did me juuuust fine.

Anyway, I biked to work yesterday, but no gym. Legs were pretty sore from lifting on Sunday and then sitting on a plane all day Monday. Biking was tough yesterday.

Biked to work today and yes gym. Biking was easier today. It’s getting to be time to shake up my program…. for now I’m juggling the days around but I should make more changes.

Warmed up with light weights. As usual biking was my cardio warmup. Approximately 45-50 minutes of biking each way, so 90-100 overall. Fortunately coming home is a bit easier and faster.

Circuits:

A OH Standing DB Press:
25x8x2
27.5x8x2

B Lat Pulldown:
90x8x4

C 1-Leg RDL (supported):
25x8x4

A 1-Arm Ball Chest Press:
30x12x4

B Seated Rows:
90x12x4

C Weighted Crunches:
25x12x4

Duration: 50 minutes