Universal Fitness

Thursday August 18th Long bike-ride today.  About 45-55 minutes and over 15 miles. Forgot to set timer today though, but entire workout was an hour.  Took an a different route today which included a few more hills and a longer distance.  Overall felt great today on the bike portion.  However, strength training part am still a little sluggish on.  Managed a warm-up on the parallel bars and 2 sets of chin-ups,10/10.  Added some side pull-ups today....grasping bar vertically like holding a paddle. Did two sets of those.  Found a log on the ground the size of a baseball bat and swung that around for awhile for something different. Finished off with 1 set of triceps to failure presses and 1 set of dips on the low bars. Also, 10 push-ups.   Exercise  shout out  of the day goes to D's Muscle Madness! Bicycle abs:  And, check out his blog for more info: http://downeyworksout.blogspot.com/

Tuesday August 16th Long run today, approximately 4.5 miles. Felt a little sluggish today, walked a lot, but overall happy with my performance. Goal this week is to extend my run to over 5 miles and/or 45 minutes of run time.  Current time around 30 minutes. 

Thursday August 11th First day with new routine.  A 40 minute bike ride today.  Did bodyweight exercises at the end of ride. Parallel bar pull-ups as warmup, 6 reverse/extension swings on high-bar (pull-up), 2 sets of chin-ups, 10/10, 2 sets tricep presses to failure 12/16 and 2 sets of leg lifts to failure.  Plus, 25 push-ups at the end. Also tried some new ab exercises today...focused on learning the technique and form though.  Great workout today...mid 70's and not humid.

Tuesday August 9th Splitting my routine starting this week.  Dividing my strength training and running into two seperate days.  I am also adding more bike riding to and from my strength training sessions and then eventually extending the two of those combined.  Did a long run for the first workout this week...approximately 4.5 miles or so.  Next workout will be bike riding combined with my usual strength training. Seemed to be getting bored with the other routine and a sign that it's time to change it.

Saturday August 6 Run and bodyweight exercises.  Not a great day for a workout. Completed it though. Video below for strap chin-ups that I saw on Scott Hermans site.  Looks pretty cool to me and on my list of activities to try next. I don't have straps though or a gym membership so will have to be resourceful. 

Wednesday August 3rd 4 mile run and bodyweight exercises.  Warm up with a few pull-ups on parallel bars. Was able to pull-up and get arms onto top of parallel bars today.  Also, completed 6 reverse pull-ups over top of bar to arm extension.  Not really feeling it today though.  Just managed to complete 2 sets of bicep chin-ups.  Did same amount, 8/9 , but stopped and restarted during the first set...completed second set all 9 at once. Then, did 2 sets of triceps presses on a higher bar, (thigh height).  This felt much better as my shoulder has been sore from the lower shin height bar.  After this completed some incline leg lifts and added a twist.  I'm kind of bored with these leg lifts already and need to search for some new ab exercises.  Not a very good workout...but overall satisfied that I got it done.  Had better workouts the days when I was including more red meat...the past few days have been eating only ch...

Monday August 1 4 mile run and bodyweight exercises. Completed 3 reverse pull-ups to arm extensions, 2 sets of bicep curls for a total of 18...8/9, 2 sets of incline leg lifts, 2 sets of tricep presses and 1 set of push-ups.  Had a great workout abdominal wise...was really able to focus on thinking /  feeling my abs today. Thought: need to split routine and do strength on it's own day and cardio on it's own day.  Thinking that I could increase my running distance and then add a day of strength training for a total of 4 workout days per week.  Or, 2 days running / cardio and 1 day of strength training...ride bike to outdoor workout station. I'd like to increase my running distance to 5 or 6 miles.