Gemma v. Chaos

[Gemma]

Wedneday, March 28 2018

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 1x3

75# 1x1

85# 3x5

 

Bench Press: 

45# 1x5

65# 1x3

75# 3x5

 

Deadlift:

95# 1x5

115# 1x3

135# 1x2, failed third rep, possibly because I didn't eat enough yesterday (1533 cals, target = 1800?) or didn't take my allergy meds this morning or some other lame excusereason - whatever, I was just completely wiped out by the time I got to deadlifting and it sucked.

115# 1x3

 

Plank:

2 x 70 sec

[godjira1]

Crap happens. Some days u just don’t feel up to it - learning to accept that is part of the journey too. 

 

Try to rest a bit before the final workset and see if it helps?

[Gemma]

Friday, March 30 2018

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 1x3

75# 1x1

85# 1 x .5 - I barely got into a half-squat when I felt something not super painful but very weird in my left knee and something equally weird but a little painful in my low back so nope.

Tried to de-load to 75# - still felt like "I'm not 100% sure that I'm going to injure myself if I keep going and maybe I'm just wimping out but I am not interested in getting hurt again so heck with it."

De-loaded all the way back to 65#, that felt fine, so 3x5.

Coach watched the last set of those, said I was a little "rotated" so probably putting extra strain on my left knee because my SI joint is out again. This sucks. My SI joint is kind of always out. Seriously I can go to the chiropractor and have him put it back and there's about a 40% chance that it will slip out again in the chiropractor's parking lot on the way to my car.

The good news, such as it is, is that coach has the same problem - apparently it is quite common in women who have some measure of hypermobility. She still squats, and squats impressively heavy. She says it's more frustrating, and you have to waste invest more time playing around with different foot positions and re-setting and de-loading and working back up and de-loading again than someone whose hips tend to just stay where God put 'em, but it is still possible that I might one day be able to squat like an actual strong person. If I'm patient. And careful. Which are not my two least favorite adjectives, but they definitely are on the list of adjectives I normally avoid.

 

She also wants me to add RDLs back into the rotation to try to make my lower back more strongerish.

 

Emotion/mental health stream-of-consciousness junk in the gray.

Spoiler

After I failed that first squat at my working weight, I started to cry. Yeah, crying at the gym. Not proud of this but it happened. At first I almost convinced myself that it was because my knee hurt, but then I got honest with myself and admitted that it did not hurt, it just felt tweaky, and I have a pretty darn high pain tolerance and it has to be childbirth or broken bone before I cry from physical pain, so it wasn't that. I think it was part frustration from missing the lift, part fear that I had hurt myself again and would have to start over from basically scratch for the third time in four months, partly that I was just beating myself up from suspecting that I was just being a sissy and avoiding lifting a weight that I know perfectly well I can lift because I just lifted it on Wednesday - and actually technically I should have attempted 90# this morning but I just didn't want to, so I was already kind of mad at myself for that.

But then I got wrapped up inside my head, analyzing why my stupid eyes were leaking in the squat rack, and then it almost turned into a full-blown anxiety attack, the kind where I couldn't stop crying, and I was yelling at myself inside my head to knock it the heck off because everyone in the gym was going to see me crying and think I was a baby, and the more I thought about people having opinions about me crying the more I wanted to cry, and then I went to the ladies room and glared at myself in the mirror while chanting (softly so no one would here) "get it together, c'mon, get it together, this is stupid, get it together," which astonishingly did not help. Deep breaths. Back out. Seriously no one was paying attention to me at all. It was fine. I hit the second de-load set and just sat on my bench and cried, but with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands kind of like I was just tired. Or maybe praying. Which might have helped now that I think of it but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

Re: no one was paying attention to me at all - the only other person who was training with me in the black iron area is a guy who is a notorious talker, and he was monopolizing coach's attention. I was for once grateful to him for this. On the other hand the folks over on the Oly platforms had their music up really loud and were all talking at once about all different subjects and yelling to be heard over the extra loud music. So really I was in my own little world and could cry as much as I wanted as long as I was quiet. On the other hand the noise got extremely overwhelming and in the worst most anxietyish part of the episode was definitely making everything worse.

 

But I kept going, finished the squats, and by the time the coach was paying attention to me again and talking about being "rotated" I had my junk together enough to listen, nod, and agree with her. My eyes were probably red as raspberries but she was kind enough to not mention it.

 

I finished the workout. It sucked but I did it. I'm calling it a win.

 

 

Press: 

45# 1x5

55# 1x3

62# 4x3 (failed the fourth rep on every set, so did an extra set to bump up the volume some)

 

Lat Pulldown:

105# 3x5

 

Plank:

95 sec

[Gemma]

Monday, April 2 2018

 

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 1x3

75# 1x1; 5x3

 

Bench Press: 

45# 1x5

65# 1x3

75# 3x5

 

RDL:

95# x8

 

Lat Pulldown:

105# 1x7 - and my right elbow hurt on the last rep? That seems random, but I didn't push it.

[Gemma]

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 1x3

75# 3x5

 

Press: 

45# 1x5

55# 1x3

62# 1x5; 3x3 (failed the fourth rep on second+ sets, so did an extra set to bump up the volume some)

55# 1x2 (tried to use a drop set to increase volume further but my shoulders were put-a-fork-in-me-DONE at this point_

 

Lat Pulldown:

105# 3x6

[Gemma]

Friday, April 6 2018

 

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 1x3

75# 3x5

 

Bench Press: 

45# 1x5

65# 1x3

75# 3x5

 

RDL:

95# 3x10

 

Prowler +50#

Pushed for 3 minutes, waited until HR came back down below 110, pushed another 3 min ... x4

[Gemma]

Monday, April 9 2018

 

Squat: 

45# 2x5

60# 1x3

70# 1x1

80# 3x5

 

Press: 

45# 1x5

55# 1x3

62# 5x3

 

Lat Pulldown:

105# 3x5

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 11 2018

 

Sore throat, on staycation, so didn't gym. Instead, set up circuit in backyard w/ tractor tire, sledgehammer, and 25# KB

 

Set timer for 5 minutes: 

Sledgehammer - 10 over hand strikes per side

Pushups - 10 (elevated)

Bent over KB rows - 10 per side

Walk around yard for remainder of time

 

x6 

 

 

[Gemma]

Friday, April 13 2018

 

Squat: 

45# 2x5

66# 1x3

75# 1x1

85# 3x3

65# 1x5

 

 

Monday, April 16 2018 (calorie restricted elimination diet day 3, reduced weight ^volume)

 

Squat: 

45# 2x5

65# 5x5

 

Bench Press: 

45# 1x5

65# 4x5

 

Lat Pulldown:

90# 3x8

 

 

[Gemma]

I am re-booting this battle log, because 

a) I'm not participating in the current 4 wk challenge, and 

2) I just started a new program, so I need a consistent place to track both my strength training days and my off-day cardio/activity attempts

 

New program: ReVamp, by Nia Shanks - 12 week body recomp. 4 days/week strength training. Off days - minimum 30 minutes of intentional movement: walking, yoga, jogging, etc. 

 

Wednesday, Aug 29 (Upper Body 1)

 

OHP (reverse pyramid, starting with 6-8RM)

45x5

55x6

50x8

45x10

 

Chin-up (band assisted, AMRAP)

8

8

10

 

Pushup AMRAP

7

7

6

 

Inverted row AMRAP

10

10

10

 

Dumbbell curl AMRAP (15#)

5

4

 

Band Pushdown AMRAP

10

11

 

Thursday, Aug 30 

Walk/jog 30 minutes using day 1 of C25k protocol (5 minute brisk warm-up walk, then jog 60sec, walk 90sec) 

 

Friday, Aug 31 (Lower Body 1)

 

Squat (reverse pyramid, starting with 6-8RM)

45x5

65x6

60x10

55x10

 

Leg Curl (machine set at 30#, AMRAP)

10

10

10

 

Split squat AMRAP

8

6

6

 

Plank ALAP

:37

:37

 

Reverse crunch AMRAP 

10

10

 

 

[Gemma]

My gym (located on a military base) was closed on Monday and Tuesday for Labor Day. My plan was to work out at home on Sunday and Tuesday using my suspension trainer and some full-body suspension workouts that Ms. Shanks provided as a free bonus with the ReVamp program, and then get back to my regularly scheduled Upper/Lower split on Thursday. The best laid plans ...

 

Saturday, Sep 1 (supposed to be 30 min Cardio/intentional movement)

 

So, not sure what happened here - I fell down a YouTube rabbit hole? I really barely left the sofa all day except to run to the store for dog food. Let's call it a "recovery" day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

Sunday, Sep 2 (Suspension Trainer 1) 

 

Circuit, x2, 30 sec rest between exercises: 

Suspension Trainer Push-ups x8

Inverted Row x8

Split Squat x8 (I'm really starting to hate these) 

Glute Bridge x10

Plank :40 

Y Fly x12 

 

Monday, Sep 3 (30 min Cardio/intentional movement) 

 

Didn't actually leave the house, but did log more than 30 minutes (and over 1200 calories according to my wildly inaccurate Apple Watch) running up and down steps doing housework and such.

 

Tuesday, Sep 4

 

Didn't touch my suspension trainer, but the hubs invited me to come out with him and his friend to their various hunting areas to help clear lanes, set up stands and blinds, etc. I naively figured I'd work out when we got home. Wound up hiking over extremely rough terrain for about 4 miles, which is NOT an activity that I am conditioned or acclimated for. My quadriceps were very very adamant about reminding me that we used to hike up and down hills ... when we were younger. Seriously, I need to spend more time in the woods. I should not be this out of shape for hiking when I live in the middle of all of these beautiful woods. 

 

Wednesday, Sep 5

 

Went for a two-mile walk around the campus.

 

[Gemma]

Thursday, Sep (Lower Body 2)

 

Deadlift (reverse pyramid, starting with 6-8RM)

95x5

125x5

110x6

95x8

 

Goblet Squat (20# KB, AMRAP)

8

8

8

 

Side Plank ALAP

:23

:24

 

Russian Twist AMRAP

7

7

7

 

Reverse Lunge AMRAP

5

5

 

I started the NF "Handstands" course today, so during most rest periods worked on wrist mobility and quadruped rocking.

 

 

Friday, Sep 7 (Upper Body 2)

 

Bench Press (reverse pyramid, starting with 6-8RM)

45x5

65x3

75x5

70x6

65x8

 

Bent-over row (20# KB, AMRAP)

10

10

10

 

Arnold Press (15# DBs, AMRAP)

8

6

8

 

Lat Pulldown (Overhand grip, 100# AMRAP)

5

5

5

 

Lateral Raise (8# DBs, AMRAP)

8

8

 

Band Pull-Apart (Black Theraband, AMRAP)

10

10

 

Continued w/ wrist mobility during rest periods

[Gemma]

Saturday, Sep 8 (30 min Cardio/intentional movement)

 

We had a church workday today, and after about 15 minutes of climbing up and down on a chair to wash all the front windows I realized that I was already doing cardio, so I set my watch to record it as a "workout." 

 

Also did 10 minutes of NF Handstands Wrist Mobility work.

 

Sunday, Sep 9 (30 min Cardio/intentional movement)

 

Tested out of Level 1 of NF Handstands (Wrist Mobility + Quadruped Rocking). Then turned my "Combat Bagpipes" playlist on and practiced the one Irish Step Dance step I actually remember while cooking/cleaning the kitchen (plus a lot of in-between random freeform dancing.) 

[Gemma]

Mon, Sep 10 (Upper Body 1)

 

OHP (reverse pyramid, starting with 6-8RM)

45x5

55x7

52x9

48.5x8

45x10

 

Chin-up (band assisted, AMRAP)

10

10

12

12

 

Pushup AMRAP

8

8

8

8

 

Inverted row AMRAP

11

11

11

12

 

Dumbbell curl AMRAP (12#)

6

7

 

Band Pushdown AMRAP

12

12

[Gemma]

Florence-limited workout, Wednesday, Sept 12:

 

Circuit x3 (30 seconds rest between sets)

Pendulum Lunges x5

Suspension trainer pause push-up x7

1.5 rep squat x5

Inverted row x10

Alternating Alligator x5

Mountain Climbers x8 

 

Later in the day I did the shoulder mobility work + quadruped rocks from Handstands course.

[Gemma]

Re- re- spawning here. 

 

Hurricane Florence really did a number on my workout plans (also on my house, those two things are related.)  Repairs and remodel got to mostly completed or at least manageable - and then there was a global pandemic and I pretty much stopped working out entirely until August of 2021. 

 

I haven't set foot in a gym since The Before Times. My local gym (on a military base) was closed for a long time, now they are re-opened but require masks and have very limited capacity. If I was still really into it with barbells that would be fine, but I lost a lot of strength and virtually all of my conditioning in two+ years of being pretty sedentary, so I am more focused now on just getting back into regular workout habits and establishing a solid basic fitness level.  I recently learned that my lifelong chronic pain is a result of joint hypermobility (either hypermobile joint syndrome or hypermobile type EDS) so I am doing much less stretching and much more strengthening around the most painful of my joints and my core. 

 

Today's workout:

 

GMB Resiliance: Ankles 15 minutes session, 2 minutes each of:

• Toe walk 
• Toe squat  (focus on going really slow to full depth and not resting on my calves and losing tension at the bottom)
• Deep Squat + Single Leg Knee to Floor
• Duck Walk (I am terrible at this! )
• Foot Blade Squat

Followed by a flow that runs all of these movements together. 

 

Core sequence:

Leg thread x10

Mountain climber x10

Hollow body holds 

[Gemma]

Today: 30 minute session of Elements: Straight Arm Baby Frogger and Alternating Step Frogger

 

Felt pretty good. The Baby Frogger variation is a bit hard on the knees, but I took breaks when I need to and did no harm. Lots of focus on how I pushed my hands against the ground and what my shoulder position was. 

 

The Play was a Crab to Bear to Frogger transition - I've only just got my underswitch straight going from Floating Table Top to Crab, going the other direction is still awkward. Need to figure out hand placement. 

 

 

[Gemma]

I completed the 30m version of Regulator: Resilience - Core Strength and Flexibility 

This was really challenging. I took breaks as needed, but I think I should stick to the 15 minute version for a while longer.

Practice
→ Resilience 3 Point Cross Body Low Reach: Relatively easy to do, but fatiguing.
→ Resilience Swing Set: Not hard, but I don’t feel like I am compressing my abs as much as I ‘should’ be in the back part of this.
→ Resilience Iguana Walk: This is fun and relatively doable, balance is a little bit of a challenge but I didn’t struggle too much with it.
→ Resilience Plank Cross Body Knee Touch: Done in A-Frame, this is not too bad but I needed to focus on going very extra slow to maintain my balance.
→ Resilience Hollow Body Series: I am completely lost on this one. I can not yet maintain the tension in my abs while rolling around. The prone Superman position is the only easy part of it.

Push
→ Resilience Core Strength Combo: Went through basically 2 reps (per side as applicable) for two full series, except for the Hollow series - for that I just held a basic Hollow position as long as I could. Which is not long.

[Gemma]

15m version of Regulator: Resilience - Wrist Strength and Flexibility 

Starting to learn these movements now. Able to put a little bit more weight on my hands in both the Back of Hands Plank and the Plank on Hand Blades (both still from knees, but I can lean into it more.)
 

The Single Arm Frogger Walk is … impossible? No, but it is harder on my knees than on my hands or wrists. It came down to me basically standing in a lineman’s three-point stance and putting weight on the arm while barely lifting one foot, then the other.
 

Prep
→ Wrist Circles
→ Hand Clench

Practice
→ Resilience Seal Walk
→ Resilience Walking Plank On Hand Blades
→ Resilience Single Arm Frogger Walk
→ Resilience Table Top Walk
→ Resilience Back Of Hands Plank

Push
→ Resilience Wrist Strength Combo

[Gemma]

15m version of Elements - Lower Intensity Workout 

I chose the LI version because my shoulder is still a bit sore after the mild strain on Sunday. So grateful to have this option. I was super careful and put almost all of my attention on my lat engagement to make sure I wasn’t putting that shoulder in a bad position, and it worked out fine.

Prep
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Twist
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees
→ Wrist Circles

Play
→ Basic Bear, Basic Monkey, Basic Frogger, Crab R&L

Push
→ Wrist Circles
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Standing Hip Circles

[Gemma]

15m version of Resilience - Ankle Strength and Flexibility 

This is starting to feel more doable, for the most part. My ankles don’t fatigue as quickly as the did the first few times I did this.

Prep
→ Supine Ankle Circles
→ General Kneeling Lunge

Practice
→ Resilience Foot Blade Squat: I’m still doing this mostly with both hands on the ground behind me, but I tried it a few times with one hand in front and could manage it, this is very cool. It doesn’t seem any more difficult to do both feet at once than just one at a time.

→ Resilience Duck Walk: What is this witchcraft? My legs have 100% not yet figured this out.

→ Resilience Squat Single Leg Knee to Floor: It seems much easier to get my right knee to the floor than my left.

→ Resilience Toe Squat: I’m doing these super super slow (supported) and it actually feels pretty good, like I’m stressing a lot of different muscles in a useful way.

→ Resilience Toe Walk: This is just fun - ballet class flashbacks!

Push
→ Resilience Ankle Strength Combo

[Gemma]

30m version of Elements - Swing Set and Single Arm Baby Frogger 

My left knee really didn’t like the position for Single Arm Baby Frogger. I tried it a couple of times and the knee continued to protest, so I modified it to Baby Frogger for a little while. When that became too uncomfortable I just finished out the time with Basic Frogger,

My Bear to Crab transition had been getting better, and I was starting to feel controlled in it, but today it was back to being awkward and a bit ‘crashy’ - now I’m wondering if the floor has anything to do with that. Last time I tried that transition I was on carpet - when I do it on the cork floor my stationary foot kind of ‘sticks’ and won’t pivot; I think it is when that foot comes unstuck that my hand crashes to the ground. Tried it with socks, that was a slip-slidin’ hot mess. Best bet for the upstairs seems to be barefoot but on the stall mat. I have less room, but at least my support foot seems to act right.
 

Practice
→ Single Arm Baby Frogger
→ Swing Set
 

Play
→ Bear to Crab Transition
 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Crab Walk F&B
→ Circuit Basic Frogger

[Gemma]

30m version of Resilience - Wrists, Ankles, and Core 

I really love what GMB has done to expand the resilience program! Fewer exercises with more time to practice each, plus each body part comes up more often in the rotation. I’m excited to have these new options to alternate in to my Elements practice.

Prep
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Hand Clench

Practice
→ Swing Set: This is difficult, but not because of core weakness. I feel this much more in my shoulders and lats, staying pushed down into the ground with my shoulders packed fatigues them so quickly that I am not sure I am doing anything at all to strengthen the core - interesting to see how this changes once I develop more pushing strength to hold myself up for longer.

→ Resilience Toe Walk: Still just fun 

→ Resilience Table Top Walk: This is challenging, but I like it. I do take my hand ‘over’ further than Ryan shows and put a little bit of weight on the back of the hand before putting my palm down, just because that feels like the direction my wrist needs more work in.

[Gemma]

This morning did a Prep session from Praxis and then just did several of those Twisting Bear>3 Point Bridge>Monkey 360 combos. I meant to just do that a couple of times, maybe video it once, and then finish the session. Instead I wound up doing that same combo several times, until I was out of breath and starting to get sloppy, then called it a day.

[Gemma]

I completed the 15m version of Recovery - Crawling, Squatting, and Twisting 

I did this instead of my scheduled Elements workout because that right shoulder is still very tender. I was a bit worried about the Iguana Walk, but it was fine. The Walk Into Squat was harder; I took that very slowly.

In retrospect, I probably should have backed off on the Monkey 360 yesterday to cut my shoulder some slack 

Prep
→ Supine Single Leg Swing
→ Supine Knee Drops
→ Standing Straight Leg Hip Circles
→ Wrist Circles
→ Elbow Circles
→ Neck Circles
→ Arm Drops
→ Full Body Vibrations

Practice
→ Reach Back Walk Into Squat
→ Recovery Iguana Walk

Play
→ Prone Twist to Sitting

[Gemma]

30m version of Elements - Bent Arm Bear and Straight Leg Monkey 

This felt really good. Shoulder seems to be almost all better now. I video recorded my Twisting Bear and I’m glad I did - I really believed that I was ending with my shoulder right over my hand, but looking at the vid it seems I’m actually coming way too far forward. So, there’s something to work on!

The Straight Leg Monkey is hard - I started on carpet, but quickly realized that I still very much feel better about this in socks and on a hard floor. Still, though, feels much stronger than it did a few months ago. Same for Bent Arm Bear - tough, but no longer impossible.
 

Prep
→ Supine Hip Circles
→ Walk Into Squat
→ Quadruped Spinal Circles
→ Quadruped Shoulder Circles
→ Wrists - Palms Down, Fingers Facing Knees

 

Practice
→ Straight Leg Monkey
→ Bent Arm Bear
 

Play
→ Twisting Bear
 

Push
→ 3-Point Bridge
→ General Kneeling Lunge
→ Seated Clasped Hands Extension
→ Kneeling Back Flexion to Prone Lying Back Extension
→ Crab Walk F&B
→ Circuit Basic Frogger
→ Circuit Basic Monkey
→ Circuit Basic Bear