HST Round 2 Reboot - 10's Day 2 and 3

Did day two of 10's on Saturday afternoon, which went fine. I was especially careful of my lower back and I didn't so much as feel a tinge. I did a less steep incline dumbbell set which left me actually feeling a tad bit sore in my chest, which I haven't had for awhile. Also did a nice set of regular seated pull-ups (versus the set of wide grip and even wider griped pull-ups I usually do) which also left the muscles in my upper back feeling sore. I know you're not necessarily supposed to feel sore after a work-out, but it feels good once in awhile to know you've hit a muscle group differently enough to surprise it. Of course, the soreness could have been more due to the infrequent work-outs due to travel, or the lack of sleep/rest with having to catch up with stuff when I got back. Friday night last week I actually slept 12 hours, which NEVER happens for me. Then Saturday I slept 9 and took a nap on Sunday. Hopefully, I'm all caught up now.

Today was day three of 10's and it went well. I was still feeling a tad sore in the chest and back, so I didn't push them crazy hard, just hard enough. I also think I helped my legs a bit today by doing more warm up squats and lunges in between other lifts before I got to those exercises. I may need to add a note to my work-out plan to do those warm-ups, as they left me ready to lift heavier. I may need to add a chest and back warm-up too... but of course that's just what I need, more time in the gym :P

I wrapped up today with a quick five minutes on the elliptical machine at level 13 and then a record three minutes of jump-roping. I could have kept going on the jump-rope, but I figured I'd leave some room to set a new record for myself next time.

Half way through this round of HST and I have to say it is nice to be finally lifting semi-heavy weights again. I know I shouldn't care, but until I'm finally putting those 45's on the barbell to do squats and bench, I feel kinda silly.

HST Round 2 Reboot - 10's

I managed to finish off the 15's after my reboot right before having to run off for business to Tokyo for a week. I did some light working out in my hotel room there, but it was effectively a week of deconditioning. To be honest, with the jet lag I didn't sleep well at all there, so working out probably would not have gone well anyways.

Anyway, just got back yesterday and hit the gym this morning to start off the first day of 10's. Still feeling the jet lag, but it was good to feel my body work again. Overall I felt strong and all the weights were pretty good except I'm thinking I may need to up my bench press weight as I blew past 10 reps and probably could have kept going to 20.

I'm feeling a tinge in my lower back in the gym that has me a bit worried. I really don't want to hurt it as I know too many people with back injuries from lifting. I've always been really careful because of that. Gotta watch my form.

Off to work now. Super busy there, but having fun and it's REALLY nice to have a job in a city I love. Oh and she finally found a job she loves. She just started, and for now it's a temp position, but I have no doubt that they'll hire her full time and if she wants to, she'll move up quickly in the company. Yay!

REBOOT HST Round 2

Well, with lots and lots of stuff going on (traveling, significant vows taken by people, conferences where lots of friends came to visit, family in town, etc.) I skipped a week of HST and rather than pick up where I left off, I decided to do a reboot. I did day 5 of 15's yesterday and it went great, probably in part because I had to skip two days while I was up in Vancouver for business (so I had an extra day of recovery in there, although I did do some cardio in the hotel gym the day before). I just got back from doing some light cardio in the gym this morning, including a new record of 2 1/2 minutes of jump-roping (hey! it's f*cking hard!) and I'm looking forward to day 6 of 15's tomorrow morning.

Work is getting VERY busy with travel and the season push to get products out, so making time for the gym is getting more challenging, but I've been through this before and I think I can keep it up.

What I haven't been able to keep up is low carb - it's just tough when you are traveling so I'm "trying" to eat right, or at least eat reasonable portions. But it's difficult for me becuase I'm such a food lover, so I have my doubts I'll loose anymore weight. But not running a carb deficit does make the work-outs easier, and maybe I'll pack on more muscle this way.

I'll do some pics soon.