Lose That Sixth Grader

This is a bad news good news type workout. I was standing up talking on the phone with my brother that is closest to me in age. I had earlier commented to my wife how good my back had been feeling, how good I was feeling in general. As I was talking to my brother I kinda’ bent at the waist a bit and got an immediate sharp pain in my lower back.

I have two herniated disks and a cracked vertebra in my lumbar region. I tried to keep moving yesterday, but the flare up of pain and tightness persisted. I didn’t even go to watch fireworks with the family. I took extra anti-inflammatory medicines and spent a good bit of time in my zero gravity chair.

This morning my back still didn’t feel right. I was scheduled to do a Turbulence Training bodyweight workout. I took things easy until this afternoon and took some anti-inflammatory medicine in the morning which I normally don’t do. My inclination was to not workout. But not working out will in the long run lead to decreased flexibility and core strength that I need. Plus I realized that this workout is focused on core strength and not the most strenuous of my 3 workouts. So I bucked up and got it done today 20090705. I’m finally on schedule this week to finish 4 weeks of Phase 1 workouts at the full 3 circuits per workout. We’ll be at the beach starting 7/11 so I’ll do hotel room workouts since I won’t have any of my equipment with me.

Y-Squat 3×10 reps
Close-grip Push-up 3×8 reps
Cross Crawl 3×10 reps per side
Stability Ball Hip Extension 3×12 reps
Stability Ball Jackknife 3×10 reps
Mountain Climber 3×10 reps per side
Wall Squat Hold 3×60 secs
Beginner Inverted Row 3×12 reps
Elevated Push-up 3×8 reps per side

You’re probably tired of hearing this by now, but my knees were creaky on my first set of y-squats. The close-grip push-ups are one of my favorite exercises. I had a little discomfort in my right should on the 3rd circuit though. I tried to squeeze my abs on the cross crawls w/o rounding my low back any.

I did really well with the hip extensions. I had my feet planted flat and solid on the ball and got good extension. I really focused on squeezing my abs while exhaling strongly when I pulled my knees in on the jackknifes. I kept my abs tight on the extensions. I braced my abs tightly for the mountain climbers, too. Got to protect that low back!

Wall squats were easier this time than last. I chalk it up to better overall conditioning. I really cranked through my rows and elevated push-ups. Serious upper body pump! I completed the strength section of my workout in 25 minutes. I shaved two minutes off last weeks time!

I followed that with high intensity cardio on our stationary bike. Again I think my fitness level is increasing as I seem to be riding at a faster pace. Five minute warmup: 1 minute at 3/10, 2 minutes at 4/10, 2 minutes at 5/10 perceived intensity. Fifteen minutes of high intensity. I think I improved my pace but I’m pretty sure it was not 7/10 for the entire fifteen minutes more like 6.5/10. Cool down was five minutes at 3/10 intensity. Total bike time 25 minutes. Total workout time 54 minutes.

That’s 5 minutes off last time! With the 2 minute reduction on the strength portion of the workout, this means that I took 3 minutes less in rest and changeover from between the strength and cardio portion! Great job if I do say so myself.