DaveGetsFit

Since I did my lifting on Sunday, I got in a quick round of Tabata on the rowing machine today.  Distance and stroke rate per interval:

1. 97    42
2. 99    42
3. 92    42
4. 93    42
5. 93    42
6. 93    45
7. 89    45
8. 88    45

Hmmmm—stroke rate up but distance down towards the end.  I’d say those strokes lacked some quality.  I’m sure part of that is due to not having full use of both legs on the catch.  My foot is feeling a little better today but I went ahead and set up an “urgent” appointment for tomorrow rather than wait another two weeks.  I’ll probably end up having to wait for a podiatrist consult anyway.

Not much to report on for Friday and Saturday, but today I took my grandson to the gym for a workout.  Normally this would have been a nice day for our weekly bike ride, but my foot is still bothering me so I passed.  At the gym I did a 30 minute ride on a Lifecycle recumbent, and then headed over to the weights for the following:

Barbell Overhead Press

• 5 x 65lbs
• 5 x 70lbs
• 4 x 75lbs

Dumbbell Bench Press

• 15 x 25lbs
• 8 x 30lbs
• 4 x 35lbs

Dumbell Single Rows (L& R)

• 15 x 35lbs
• 8 x 40lbs
• 4 x 45lbs

Notes:  I don’t know what made me decide to go up in weight on those overhead presses.  One principle I’ve tried to adhere to in weight training is to keep good form and not go to failure.  I did neither on that last set of overhead presses and I paid a price.  I strained the right trap near my neck, and now I have a hard time turning my head—especially to the right.  So now I have two strikes against my in my quest to get back on the racquetball court.  This sucks!

Morning weight: 208

I didn’t feel like doing a third consecutive day at the gym so during lunch today I headed to the range to hit a small bucket of balls, and to do a little work on my short game.  In retrospect, I probably should have stuck to chipping and putting because making those full swings put unneeded pressure on my sore foot.  But it felt great to whack some!   I was hoping to start playing in a week or two but that will depend on my foot.  You really don’t appreciate how important your feet are until they don’t work properly!!

Good day on the food side of things.  I had my standard egg scramble for breakfast, and a big ass salad with a chicken breast for lunch. I ate some left over ground beef in tomato sauce with a little asparagus this evening.

I’m planning on hitting the gym tomorrow to do some lifting and another round of rowing.

Morning weight:  208lbs (damn thing is stuck!).

My foot is still hurting so I’m somewhat limited in my exercise choices.  Racquetball and cycling are out.  So yesterday I headed to the gym at lunch to get in a workout.  After a warm up with some real light dumbbells, I  grabbed a barbell and…

Overhead Press

• 5 x 65lbs
• 3 sets

Dumbbell Bench Press

• 8 x 40lbs
• 3 sets

Concept2 Rowing Intervals

• 30 sec work
• 30 sec rest
• 8 reps

Notes:

• I remembered the lesson learned from a few months ago when I was doing the barbell press.  I can’t do a hierarchal set starting with a 45 pound bar.  I’ll stick to 5rep sets until I get a little more strength.
• I couldn’t put any pressure on the ball of my right foot, so I had to place me foot high up on the C2.  It was a little awkward, and I couldn’t get the full force of my legs into the pull, but it was still a good exercise.

I went in at lunch today and did a “vanity” workout.  A quick set of tricep extensions and curls.

Good news!  Although my foot isn’t showing any sign of improvement, my hands finally are!  I gave them a test drive today but trying a couple pushups.  I felt just the smallest amount of discomfort in my left wrist.  I think I’ll give it another week, and then I’ll start doing pushups again.  I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to see my doctor (hard to come by–lots of military medical people are deployed) about the hands.  The way things are going, I’ll end up having to use it find some help for my foot.

Morning weight: 208

My foot is bothering me this morning so I’ve decided to give it a rest–no racquetball today. In the past I have had foot injuries that stopped me from runnng, but I could just jump on the bike to keep active.  Not so with this one.  If your bike is set up properly, the place where your foot makes contact with the pedal is the ball of the foot—the very place where my pain is!  So that also means no bicycle commute.  I’ll definitely head to the gym at lunch to get in some work.  I’ll do some upper body work, and perhaps I can find a way to get in some additional work that wont aggravate the foot.

I did a pretty good job of sticking to plan with my eating this weekend except for the loaf of Tuscan bread at the Marconi Grill friday night.  But it wasn’t a calorie-deficit weekend by any means so no downward movement of the scale.  Not being able to play racquetball or ride the bike this week is going to hurt the effort—I’ll have to make an extra strong effort on the diet side.

Morning weight:  208lbs

Ouch!!!  I’m no stranger to foot pain.  My running days were ended by a case of chronic plantar fasciitis.  After expensive orthotics, night splints, and cortisone injections, I decided it just wasn’t worth it any more.  But every once in a while, its cousin flares up.  It’s an intense pain in the ball of the foot.  I think I brought it on this time by playing one too many games of racquetball in some skate shoes.  I had bought some good court shoes (my old pair was trashed) but they turned out to be too small.  I wore the skate shoes (which I bought for weightlifting), and they seemed to work fine.  But after playing last Monday and Tuesday, I woke up with the pain on Wednesday.  I’ve been putting ice on it, and popping 800mg Motrin, and it was starting to feel better.  But the bike ride today apparently aggravated it so I have to make a decision.  I probably should just rest it, but I really want to play racquetball and ride.  I’ll play this one by ear (or foot if you will).