Day 5: I Hit My Greatest Obstacle: Myself

Whew, Friday is here!  That means at 5 pm, you get to open a beer, watch the tube, undo the button on your pants and let your mind and body rot until Monday.


Well...not so for me.  In addition to working a 10 hour day, a Personal Training session and performing in a play, I had to do this little workout:


Density Pullup: 6 on the minute for 20 minutes
Density Deadlift: 4 on the minute for 20 minutes; 10x140 pounds; 10x150 pounds


Then this circuit 5 times through, as fast as possible:
***Decline Pushup: 12
***TRX Suspended Lunge: 12/side
***Low Windmill: 12/side
***Dead Clean: 30 sec/side with 35 lbs kettlebell


Finish off with:
***Wall Push: 4 sets of 15 seconds
***Burpees: 5 sets of 35 seconds with 25 seconds rest




Thoughts:
Pullups: This was a very fascinating workout.  During the fourth set of pull ups, I started crying inexplicably.  I don't know why; the pull ups weren't that hard (at that point anyways).  
Me personally, I'm a huge believer that the body can hold old emotions or traumatic events in our organs (such as a serious injury or the loss of a loved one).  There are several ways to get rid of this, and I think each method has its validations.  But for me when I want to work through something, I give myself a hard workout.  There you can confront yourself completely, without any fear of being rejected or laughed at.  It's your own internal reflection at who you are, weaknesses and all.  It's always a really humbling experience.  During my various workouts over the past two years, I've gotten mad, happy, sad, burst out into laughter, swore, and get the runner's high.  But I've never cried.  Needless to say, it was a very heartfelt experience.  I have not felt this upset since a teacher of mine (and one who I consider a family member) passed away in January.  It hurts, but like anything else, you have to deal with it in your own way and on your own time.  Me?  I hate confronting my weaknesses, or pushing myself outside of my comfort zone; but in order to keep going, I had to do that.  By the end of the pull ups, I could barely pull myself up 2 inches.  Now that's when you know you've worked.


Deadlifts: This was starting to get fun.  I'm not the biggest fan of deadlifts, but hearing that satisfying "clunk" after being done made me feel really badass.  My legs cramped up though, which majorly hurt deadlifting 150 pounds.  


Decline Pushup: Nice little detox which just means putting your feet on a raised surface ; overall pretty easy; I'm gonna push myself tomorrow in this area, so no worries there.


TRX Suspended Lunge: This is a fun little exercise that works your core, focuses on functional strength in the quads as well as balance and coordination.  You put one foot in the TRX strap, and push that foot back.  When you push back, eventually you can't keep your base leg straight, so you bend it until you get as close to 90 degrees as possible.  Reverse the process to come back up.  It sort of mimics a runner's lunge.

Use those arms for balance!

Now hold it...

When you do 1 set of 12: easy.  5 sets of 12: not so easy.  

Low Windmill: This exercise kills your obliques, and is a new move for me.  Lower your weight in your low hand to the ground, then contract your muscles and bring the weight back up.

Reach up to the sky!

Yes, this was an awkward pose.

I did this with a 55 pound dumbbell.  Oh the pain, the marvelous pain!

Dead Clean and Press: Ah, my old friend, the dead clean and press.  We will be friends again, but not this day; today I made you my bitch.  Oh it hurt to do so, but it was worth it.  


Wall Push: This exercise replaced a sled pull.  I just pushed against a wall as hard as I could.  Deceptively, stupidly easy, but you'd be surprised how hard you work.

Must...push...harder...

Burpees: Oh yeah, burpees.  They are a great killer to add to any workout to burn off that little extra bit of fat.  Need I say more?  I love teaching my swimmers and clients this exercise because you can do it anywhere, and modify it for virtually any fitness level.  


Extras:


In addition, I also did this:
6x25 pushups
6x25/side bicycle crunches
4x4 pull ups
2x5 pull ups


I decided to up the pull ups because I want to be able to rattle off 6 sets of 10 like they're nothing.  I also want to do a one-armed pull up by the end of the year (and I want to record it!).  Once I do that, I'll post it up here.


What's that?  You want more ab work?  Well then, here we go; a repeat of Wendnesday:


1x (Spartan Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
1x (Spartan Leg Raise x1, Clockwork Leg Raise x6, Spartan Leg Raise x1, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
1x (Spartan Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
2x (Hanging Knee Twist x6, Hanging Knee Raise x5)


And in case you're wondering, yes there is a Reiki treatment (there was one yesterday too; I was forgot to put it on yesterday's posting...oops...).


Today, in a nutshell, sucked; I was crying, my legs cramped up, my hands were shaking...I hit my first obstacle, which is what I was hoping for, although not this soon.  It hurts when you have to face yourself, but as I said earlier, when you confront yourself, no one judges you or tries to break you down.  To confront yourself in such a vulnerable way, you have to be willing to go to places you don't want to go.  Sure it's scary, but if you feel something is worth it, you have to be willing to go the distance.


Saturday might bring more of this, or something else entirely; or it could just be another workout; I don't know.  Check out tomorrow to find out.