Single Digit Tuesday

Yes, it sure is winter. The temperature has risen to about 12 now, but this morning it was hovering around 8 or 9 degrees. Yesterday the Philly area lucked out and the temperature got close to 40. It was nice. I'm looking forward to May already! Here's my week thus far:

Monday. Garage workout. It actually wasn't too cold. I had to wear a hoodie as usual though.

5 min warm-up

Lawnmowers (18lb)

Curls

Tricep kickback

Push-ups

Shoulder fly

In & out hammers

Dips

Push-ups

Shoulder press

Stand up band rows

Band pull-down tricep 

Push-ups

Upright row

Curl/hammers

Overhead triceps

Push-ups

REPEAT

1+ mile jog. (Yes! I got a small run in!)

Cool down 

First set, 10 reps, second is 8 reps. 15lb weights used. Dips were reps of 20 and 10, push-ups were 3 and 2.

Playlist: Sparta: Porcelain 

Tuesday (today): Basement workout. The garage was WAY too cold.

5 min warm-up

Weight calf raise (20lb)

Lunges

Calf squats

Power knee

Step back lunges

Body squats

Elbow to knee

Tip-toe lunges

Side squats

Kicks

1 minute of running in place & high knees

REPEAT

I finished with about 3 minutes of hitting the heavy bag. It's been a while.

Cool down

First set, 10 reps, second, 8, with exception of calf raises. Both sets were 15.

Playlist: The Lawrence Arms: Metropole.

Stay warm!

Start of Another Frigid Week

After the winter storm on Tuesday that dumped about a foot of snow, there wasn't any outside runs for me. Plus I'm not too keen on wind chills in the negatives. No thanks, I'll stay inside. Never the less, I made it to my gym more than usual. I got in a light upper body work and some cardio on Thursday. It was nice to get out of the house as well. Saturday and Sunday (today) just consisted on 30-35 minutes using the elliptical. Tomorrow's a garage upper body day. Fingers crossed that I get a nice mile jog outside in. It's supposed to be almost 30 degrees tomorrow. Maybe the warmest day of the week.

Stay warm!

Snow Round 4, Maybe 5...Who Knows?

The Philly area is expecting over a foot of snow by tomorrow. We have about 5 inches out there right now. I decided around 10am this morning to give the guys who mow my lawn an early call to plow my driveway. My driveway is pretty long, and a foot of snow or more is a gigantic pain in the ass to shovel. I'll bite the bullet and shell out a couple of bucks to save hours of sweat and back breaking work. This is also when I start thinking about getting a plow attachment for my Jeep. They're so expensive though. Close to 5 grand. Anyways...here's my workout for the past few days.

Saturday. It was really nice out! 40 plus degrees, sunny, a slight breeze. I finally got a run in. I kept it light, running a little over 2 and 1/2 miles. Barely anyone on the trail as well. Ran by a handful of runners. Very happy I got it in.

Sunday. The cold temperatures returned. I just went to the gym and rode the elliptical for about 35 miles.

Monday: I worked out in the late morning which was perfect. Temps in the 40s, and no wind. Upper body workout day. Here goes:

5 minute warm-up

Sit down shoulder flys

Curls

Tricep kickback

Push-ups

Shoulder press

In & out hammers

Dips (20,10)

Push-ups

Shoulder shrugs (30lbs)

Static arm curls

Tricep band pull-downs

Push-ups

Upright rows

Curl/hammers

Overhead triceps press (12lbs)

Push-ups

REPEAT 

1 mile jog

Cool down 

15 pound weights used. 10 reps first set, 8 second set.  Push-ups are 3 for the first set, 2 for the second.

Tuesday (today): I really didn't want to go anywhere, because of the snow, so I just went in the garage for a light leg workout.

5 minute warm-up

Lunges

Calf squats

Step back lunges

Calf rIses (60lbs)

Power knee 

Side lunges

Body squats

Elbow to knee

Tip-toe lunges

Kicks 

1 minute run in place

REPEAT

Cool down

First set 10 reps, second 8.

Stay safe out there!

Same Old, Same Old

I've been a bit busy this week. Still got my workouts in. Monday, upper body, Tuesday, legs, today arms and cardio. I'm hoping to get in a longer run this Saturday. Let's see how the weather holds up. Enjoy your weekend!

Inside Gym Work

It's pretty frigid out there. It's pretty frigid everywhere in the country. Polar vortex eh? Never even heard of the term until this week. Anyways, work out inside! It's much warmer!

Today is a leg workout with a bit of arms. My garage is too cold, so I headed down my basement which is much warmer. Here goes:

5 minute warm-up

15 weighed calf raises

10 hammers

10 lunges

10 shoulder press

10 body squats

10 each leg power knee

10 curls

10 step back lunges

10 tricep kickbacks

10 tip-toe lunges

12 side lunges

10 each leg kicks 

Run in place for 1 minute

REPEAT

Cool down/stretch

10lb weights were used for all arm exercises.

Monday's workout was all upper body. I wouldn't mind switching the routine up, but I'm in a maintenance mode of exercising. I'm not trying to gain muscle, more like trying to maintain the muscle that I have. I try to change routines quarterly to keep it interesting and also to promote some muscle confusion. Anyways, here was Monday:

5 minute warm-up

Lawnmowers (18)

In & out hammers

Medicine ball tricep press (10)

Push-ups

Shoulder press

Curls

Dips (20)

Push-ups

Shoulder shrug (30)

Standing band row

Standing band pull-down tricep

Push-ups

Upright rows

Curls/hammers

Overhead tricep press

Push-ups

REPEAT

Finish with a 1 mile jog

DONE.

First set is 10 reps, second is 8. Unless noted, all weights were 15lbs. Push-ups were 5 for the first set, 3 for the second.

I was super happy to get a mile run in. After all the snow, ice, wind, etc it felt good to get a jog in. It's been a week that I last ran. It was pretty windy and at one point started to flurry. About 6 hours later the temperature dropped into the 20s and has only made it into the teens today with wind chills in the negative numbers. Damn polar vortex!!

Playlist: The Dead Boys

...Snow...Again

Happy New Year! I spent mine watching Futurama and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve on the couch with Zim. All I have to say is Deborah Harry looks awesome for 68 and can still rock NYC with Blondie! Love her! And Fergie looked pretty ridiculous. That sums it up. We watched the ball drop from bed (yup, we're officially old) and I texted my mom at midnight. Good times!

I got in one last cardio workout for the year. Zim and I went to the gym for a half hour to burn off all that junk we've been eating over the holidays. I did about 35 minutes on the elliptical.

Yesterday I had off from work, but had a bunch of errands to run. I went to the gym early and I'm happy I did. I forgot how insanely packed gyms get right after New Years. I'm always happy to see new faces, but MAYBE a quarter them stick around longer than a month. Just the way it is. The crowd will be back to normal by the last week of January. I did a lower body/cardio workout. Here it went:

1/4 mile jog warm-up

Leg extension machine (70lb, 80, 90)
Leg flexion machine (70, 80, 90)
Calf raise machine (140, 160, 180)
Hip abductor machine (120, 130, 140)
Hip adductor machine (115, 125, 130)
Body squats
Lunges
Lying down leg lifts

25 minutes on the elliptical.

Cooldown.

Reps were 1st set, 10, 2nd, 8, 3rd, 6, except for calf raises which was 15 each.

After my workout I ran to my bank and to the grocery store to pick up some dinner supplies. Fish tacos, yum! Oh the grocery store before an impending snow storm! Always CRAZY! I only needed about 12 items and the whole trip took me about a half hour. It could have been worse. Today we got about 6 plus inches and I got to work only for a half day. It's FRIGID out there though. I was going to go to the First Friday Horror Flick tonight at the local indie movie theater, but I'm not driving on those roads tonight. My Jeep can get through alot of snow, but ice is a whole other beast. Too bad though. "The Thing" was playing tonight, and that's a great flick. Oh well.

Cheers! Stay safe!