Gimme 10 (Thank you Steve Cotter)

Well, howdy! It may look like I haven't been active, but I've mainly been posting on Facebook. But, you know, it's just about time for another facebook hiatus. The place gets to me after awhile. It has such a facade of social interaction, but when you scrape that thin veneer away, it's really just a bunch of people only wanting to keep up appearances. So I'm taking a break and retreating back to my corner of the blogosphere. I'll post a recap of what I've been up to, but really, you can find all that nonsense on my Facebook page if you truly want to know. 
Tonight's work was as follows:
30 seconds each of every movement. Obviously, the single handed movements are 30 seconds on each side. 
35lb KB -
2 Hand Swing
Goblet Squat
One Arm Swing
Push Press
Figure 8 Lunge
One Arm Switch
Push Press
One Leg Dead
20lb KB - 
Get Up Sit Up
Windmill
35lb KB - 
2 Hand Swing - 1 FULL MINUTE
Single Arm Racked Squat
••••••••••
The get ups and windmills were relatively new to me so I kept them light at 20lbs. Now that I have the coordination down, I feel comfortable enough to bump them up to 35lbs next time.
I was running a sort of "event" on my facebook page called 31 days of bells. I was hoping to get some people motivated to kick their fitness into high gear and really hit the ground running this year. I doubt that I motivated many, if any, people at all, but I got myself moving. I did miss about a week total. That pisses me off to no end, but I fully intend to keep at it, so it'll all come out in the wash. 
I took this workout from a couple of videos by Steve Cotter. He has a slightly different variation on the swing than I'm used to, a soft swing as opposed to the hard swing, but I like the combinations that he uses. I also like the fact that this entire circuit is between 10-15 minutes (depending on how spunky you are). You get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.
Anyhoo…...I've missed this little blog; my own personal diary, soap box, venting station. Who knows if anyone even stops by and reads this baloney, but it feels good to put it out there. 

Everything's Up In The Air (except the weights)

Oh my word. Almost a year since my last post. And yet, not all that much has changed. I've been at a sort of impasse for quite some time and I'm telling you, I have no answers. I have questions galore, but answers are sparse. As sparse as daisies in the dessert. 
I stopped going to the gym probably 2 years ago because logistically, it was insane. I will admit that it was that change that caused the upset. I went from living 10 minutes down the street from where I work and having the bus drop my daughter at our driveway  to moving a couple of towns away and having to drop my daughter off before and after school. It turned my commute into a 45 minute schlep one way. That's a huge chunk of time gone from my week. 7.5 hours to be exact. 
Now I have a home to take care of. Dinner to cook for 3 of us, a maniac disguised as a dog and chickens. Although, the chickens really don't require much day to to day. My daughter's in 3rd grade now and homework for her sometimes means homework for me and that's a good 30 minutes. 
So while I'm not one for using excuses, I just can't seem to work anything out around all those factors. Not anything with any regularity anyhow. All of those things combined have also lead to just an overall decline in the enjoyment of working out. It's not fun anymore.  Instead, it's simply another chore that needs doing. I'm tired of chores. And just plain tired. Crappy sleep, usually around 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep nightly, wears on you after awhile. 
Train had been my priority.  I came home and that's what I did. Of course, I had more time by myself then and it filled the emptiness. Now my life is full and I certainly won't call that a bad thing. So is it really all that bad that my priorities have changed? I still want to be healthy and fit. I think that's a goal that we all should have.  I want to be capable and mobile well into my golden years so I know I have to start that now. But deadlifting 500 lbs doesn't seem like it's such an important thing anymore. I mean, it would be cool as hell if I could do it, but if I never do, I'm kinda good with that too. Kind of. Because under it all is still this drive to keep on keeping on. It drives me insane; seriously. I wish I could turn that little nagging asshole voice off, but it won't shut up. When all I want is to sit and turn my brain off, that frickin voice is berating me for not doing something; anyhing. I swear, if I could meet that voice face to face, I poke it's eyes out. But then too, on the other hand,  I'm grateful for that voice at times. There are times I can just ignore it, but then sometimes I can't and I push through and find 30 minutes to lift. I've never regretted giving in to that voice. 
After it all, I have no conclusions. I've talked through all this stuff hundreds of times over in my head; talked about it with my boyfriend; made countless schedules, and it all leads to dead ends and inconsistent effort. Basically, this post was one big vent session but I needed it. I'm leaving it kind of like a cliffhanger for now. Will I nail down some discipline and a workable schedule? Will I sell all my equipment and go out for hot fudge sundaes? Will I ever have an equal number of answers and questions? You know as much as I do at this point. 

Haven't Died Yet

SEATED OVERHEAD PRESS:
Rear/front
Bar x10 / x10 
50lb x10 / x10 
55lb x8 / x6, x2
●●●●●●●●●●
STANDING OH PUSH PRESS:
55lb x5
[55lb x10] 4x 
●●●●●●●●●●
LAT PULL DOWNS / REAR PULLDOWNS:
40lb x20 / x20
50lb x20 / x20
60lb x10 / x10
70lb x10 / x10
●●●●●●●●●●
Man, it's been a bit since I've posted, but I'm still around; still hanging in there and plugging along! I've been aiming, this month for at least 30 minutes per day of exercise and so far, it's going well. Not every day has seen 30 minutes, but most have. I've also kept a food diary. I'm not eating enough. I mean, I'm not eating enough of the right things. I've cut down on junk, but my protein has slipped. I've found my Appetite just isn't there, so I don't eat. That, of course, leads to a loss of energy. It's disheartening. Not impossible to overcome, by any means, but disheartening nonetheless. Ah well, I'm not dead yet, so there's still time to improve!

Pressed For Time, LITERALLY

(All overhead presses were seated)
••••••••••
REAR/FRONT PRESS / FRONT/REAR PULL DOWNS:
Bar x10 ea. / 40lb x10 ea.
50lb x10/x5, x5 / 50lb x10 ea
55lb x5 ea. / 60lb x10 ea.
bar x10/x7, x3 / 70lb x10 ea.
••••••••••
BB ROWS:
Bar x10
55lb x10
65lb x10
••••••••••
PLATE PULLOVERS:
25lb x15
35lb x10
45lb x5
••••••••••
So this week has been super short on time because I get home and only have a little bit of time before I need to leave again and pick my daughter up from camp. So the sessions have been speed sessions, to be sure. I can't get everything done that I want, but I don't want to skip it entirely. So the sets are short and they feel incomplete in some sense, but complete enough to feel them. 
Next week should be back to my regular, only slightly pressed for time routine! lol

Can't Keep A Good Otter Down

It's been a couple of months since I instituted my "no frills" policy in the basement. I have to say, it seems to be working. I can go down there and lift. Period. Frank spots me when I need it, he trains with me when the mood strikes him and so far, my daughter has played by the rules. Fingers crossed we keep up the positive vibes!

Training sessions are usually short and sweet, but I've been good at mostly sticking to a 4 day a week schedule. Monday - bench, Tuesday - deads, Wednesday - press, Thursday - squat. I missed a couple of days this week, but I'm not beating myself up over it. I've changed my eating slightly to back when I was making good progress - more protein at breakfast, small lunch, protein at dinner after training. 

I've seen my number rising, slowly, but they're going in the right direction so that's good. Plus I'm still learning about myself and what works and doesn't work with motivation, discipline, strategies, etc. A weird thing was the mirror. We put a mirror behind the squat rack. I thought that would be great - I could see my form and correct as needed. I forgot about my neurotic tendencies though. The first night I tried to press in front of it, my gut was so distracting that I had to cover the mirror. I've gotten better though. I had to tell myself to watch my form. Don't look at my body. It actually worked lol. I was able to press in front of it a couple night ago and noticed my core was nowhere near tight enough. Correction made. I also used it during squats and noticed my depth is actually pretty damn good most times - despite what some naysayers had to say. 

With all that being said, I am still striving for "more". I believe I always will be. So I'm trying to obtain a treadmill to go back to  running a couple of days a week. When the weather finally breaks around here, I'll head back outside on the weekends and start some heavy pulls and probably go back to heavy carries. You know, just to keep the variety there. 
Over the years I have slowed to a crawl at times, slid backwards, gotten pissed and fed up. But one thing I have never done is quit, and I never will. You just can't keep a good Otter down!

Quiet, Please!

Wow. Seems like ages since I blogged. I haven't been posting my training logs because they've been sporadic, at best, but I've still been keeping track in my notebooks. However pitiful it may be! Even shitty training is a teaching tool, after all.
If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that we never stop learning about what we're doing. I've learned I have almost no patience, that's for certain, least of all with myself. There are days when I'd like to smack myself to get myself going. I've learned I'm oftentimes too hard on myself and I've actually improved that a wee bit and learned to ease up and cut myself some slack. Right now, it's still a minute amount of slack, but it's there, I promise.
A bigger, more important epiphany I've had is that I do much better training either totally alone or with someone who doesn't want to talk. I detest distraction and breaks to my concentration. I hate them so much mainly because I know myself, and I know it's hard enough for me to concentrate period, let alone with people chit-chatting, or a 7 year old dancing around me, or a dog gnawing on his toenails. I enjoyed the gym and the comrade of people there, but it always bothered me how many people were there purely to socialize (or so it seemed). How you can be putting in 110% effort when you haven't stopped talking since you walked through the door? I haven't been able to figure that out yet. I enjoyed being in a room with a few other people who were straining, striving, sweating and exceeding. No talk needed aside from an occasional sentence or two. 
I started working out a couple of years after my daughter was born. I made a stand and decided that an hour in the basement, alone, was not too much to ask for myself. So every night, or most nights, anyhow, I'd saunter off to the cellar, put on my tunes and sweat. It was nothing fantastic, I had nothing but a pair of 10lb dumbbells and an elliptical trainer but it got me going and it worked! i could lose myself in the struggle and I could let the beat of the music carry me over the hurdles. It's near to impossible to be lifted beyond yourself if you can't concentrate on yourself. When weather permitted, I'd run hills in the cemetery - alone. Nothing but the sound of heavy, quick footsteps on the cracked asphalt and the pounding of my pulse in my ears. Even after I moved into my mom's house, most training was done outside in the garage or in my room. Most times alone. 
So now, now I train much better by myself. That's not to say that I don't watching my daughter mess around with weights or that I hate my dog. I love those things! What I'm saying is that for me, serious training where I push beyond my limits has to be done in a certain environment. No chit-chatting about the day. No dodging child and pet. NO MONKEY BUSINESS! Frank won't mind. He performs better that way as well. We can be there to spot and encourage each other in quiet fortitude. We're not the yelling and shouting type. 
That means strict house rules for our gym and you can bet your bippy I'm making a poster and putting it on the door. My training time is my daughter's homework time. Period. No exceptions. And If I have to, I'll lock the door to keep poor old Butch from sneaking in and licking my face while I bench. If I'm down there moving the bar and in my world, it's for your own safety that you remain quiet. Trust me. Sssshhhhhh, someone's making gains, people. My weight always moved better with a quiet resolve anyhow. 

Ups And Downs

Warm up:
RDL: Bar x10
●●●●●●●●●●
DEADS:
135lb x10
155lb x3  (belt)
185lb x3 
[205lb x3] 2x  (grip started giving out)
205lb x1
185lb x3 
135lb x10 
●●●●●●●●●●
GOOD MORNINGS:
Bar x10
65lb x10 
75lb x8
85lb x6
95lb x3 
85lb x6
75lb x8
65lb x10
●●●●●●●●●●
GLUTE BRIDGE:
B.W. x10, left leg x10, right leg x10
H.K.R.:
Left x10, center x10, right x10
●●●●●●●●●●
Dark horse military style leg workout:
One round  (about 5 minutes)
●●●●●●●●●●

Disappointed that I STILL can't make a 5x5 on the 205lb.  But I'm resigned to the fact that I'll just have to keep chipping away at it. My accessory work has been lacking, so my goal is to now add more of that stuff in. It may mean squeezing in a couple of more days per week, but it has to be done. I had seen a leg workout put to the music of Katy Perry before and I tried it, but it was way too "dancy". I'm definitely NOT a dancer.  But then I found this one that I like much, much better. If I can get my phone to cooperate,  I'll link the video. It was killer, and I'm keeping it in my repertoire!