Fun of a different kind!

[Catrin]

I hear you Crankin, planks and sliders can be...interesting for me as well because of my bad shoulder. Things seem to be improving though - slowly - but improving.

[Catrin]

Today I met with a training partner and we did the Partner 100's workout. The actual exercises can differ, but this is what we chose to do:

100 Chin-ups (her) or TRX Rows (me)
100 back squats (her) or goblet squats (me)
(I am not allowed to do overhead work or pullups right now and while back squats aren't "over head", one must go there to get the bar in position and, of course, remove it!)
100 Abmat situps
100 95-pound deadlifts
100 TRX hip extensions

How this works is one partner runs a set distance while the other partner starts the exercise. At the end of that distance the partners switch and partner 2 starts up with the number where partner 1 stopped. We normally do 4 exercises in this workout, but we seemed to have some fuel left in the tank so decided to do a "bonus" round. I've no idea how far we actually ran, and it took us 54:12 to complete this workout. We were focusing more on form than time, and now my hammies are sore. This is a GOOD thing as I hardly ever get sore...tomorrow all I will do is mobility work and, possibly, some rowing. We will see.

[Catrin]

Our coach gives us a "weekly challenge" every week to do on our own, and this week the challenge had a Christmas connection - it was the "12 Days of Christmas" workout. It is pretty simple, with each round add the next exercise, just like the song. I had to change the overhead work since I can't do that, so this version has my modifications.

1 Burpee Pullup
2 Deadlifts (body weight)
3 Medball Cleans (originally Medball Clean & OH Toss)
4 Tire Flips (originally handstand pushups or pike pushups)
5 Box Jumps
6 Pushups
7 TRX racked rows
8 Split Jumps
9 Kettlebell Swings
10 TRX Crunches
11 Medball Forward toss (replacing Medball OH Slams)
12 BB Front Squats (originally BB squat and press)

It was a lot of fun and took me 44:06 (not counting warming up). My goal was to finish the workout + warmup in an hour and I succeeded. This was the most equipment heavy workout I've ever done on my own! I know I've team-mates who would have done it faster, but my goal was to FINISH it, and to focus on proper form. I will do it again in a couple of months and see if I can improve my time

[ridebikeme]

Sounds like a great workout Catrin! Glad to hear that you are having fun and being challenged

[Catrin]

Sounds like a great workout Catrin! Glad to hear that you are having fun and being challenged

Who needs a working shoulder!!! (tongue thoroughly in cheek) It actually is VERY stable because of the nature of the mechanical problem with it, I just can't go overhead with it.

[ridebikeme]

[I]'m glad that you were able to find something to challenge you while your shoulder is recovering! It's some times a very hard place to be in, and obviously you took the challenge head on. Congratulations!!!I]

[Catrin]

[I]'m glad that you were able to find something to challenge you while your shoulder is recovering! It's some times a very hard place to be in, and obviously you took the challenge head on. Congratulations!!!I]

Thanks for the encouragement! I am uncertain that it will actually improve more than it has, it's been like this since I was 12 - I just didn't know about it as my life was so sedentary for so long. The neck injury from the mtb crash didn't help. Surgery is an option, but I won't go that route unless they can guarantee that my shoulder would be more functional afterwards, and of course they can't do that. My OD is convinced that we will, eventually, get there without surgery, we will see Giving up just isn't an option, I know what lies in that direction and I refuse to allow myself to be in that kind of condition (or lack thereof) again.

[Catrin]

I needed a good conditioning workout this morning since I missed our Funday workout yesterday, so I took this one on again. Even managed to shave a couple minutes off my origional time! Would love to do this in sub-30 minutes, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. It is a lot of fun though!

Our coach gives us a "weekly challenge" every week to do on our own, and this week the challenge had a Christmas connection - it was the "12 Days of Christmas" workout. It is pretty simple, with each round add the next exercise, just like the song. I had to change the overhead work since I can't do that, so this version has my modifications.

1 Burpee Pullup
2 Deadlifts (body weight)
3 Medball Cleans (originally Medball Clean & OH Toss)
4 Tire Flips (originally handstand pushups or pike pushups)
5 Box Jumps
6 Pushups
7 TRX racked rows
8 Split Jumps
9 Kettlebell Swings
10 TRX Crunches
11 Medball Slams (actually did the slams the second time)
12 BB Front Squats (originally BB squat and press)

[Crankin]

Sounds very hard, but good.
The "evil one" is no longer teaching at 5:30 AM, starting this week. Everyone was complaining, so I was elected to talk to the fitness director. It worked...

[Catrin]

Sounds very hard, but good.
The "evil one" is no longer teaching at 5:30 AM, starting this week. Everyone was complaining, so I was elected to talk to the fitness director. It worked...

Glad to hear you no longer have to deal with the evil one! 5:30 in the morning is just too early for that sort of thing!

Yes, it was a very good workout, but I didn't realize how hard it was until I finished it. And immediately got dizzy....but then again I AM a dizzy broad sometimes I am pretty sure that THIS kind of dizziness is from not drinking enough. I really like this workout as a kind of benchmark - it does have a little bit of everything! I think I want to do it every 6-8 weeks, no more frequently.

I was describing this workout to someone and it took her a bit to realize that it isn't just 1 time through Day 1, then Days 1 & 2, then Day's 1-3, etc. Guess she didn't get the song reference

[Catrin]

Amazing the difference it makes when you take my shoulders out of the equation. I think my coach has been as frustrated (or more) than I have been about my inability to gain upper body strength due to my mechanical shoulder complex problem that is also strongly affected by my neck. I am VERY happy with something that happened yesterday as those of you who also deal with physical limitations will especially appreciate.

My shoulder/neck problem means that, not only a strong resistance from my body to gaining arm strength (shoulder girdle is prevented from getting in the right position), but we have learned that I simply cannot go overhead or do vertical pressing. No bench presses, no pushups, no overhead squats, jerks, etc. Pity, for I want to do Olympic lifting but I am precluded from MOST of the lifts - but not all That is another topic.

Yesterday our coach had bench presses on tap for my group. In the past I've attempted this with an unloaded bar and had to stop due to the inability to show proper form and, at times, pain. This time he had something totally different in store for me while the others worked on heavy bench presses. He is good at dividing his attention!

We have some lovely new weight machines - these aren't cable machines either (plates instead). One of the new ones is a standing squat machine that basically takes the arms totally out of the equation but the arms are in a good position for the lift - not just hanging down. Perfect for someone like me. I was able to go up to 190 pounds - and that felt light. I felt like I could have gone MUCH heavier - and my coach was more surprised than I was. I can do close to 500 pounds on the leg press for multiple reps so I figured some of that would translate, and apparently it does. He paid very close attention to my form and called it good

We are focusing on what I CAN do, and stop trying to persuade my body to do what it doesn't want/can't do. We really have been doing this, but even more now.