Saturday elliptical

post workout weight = 239 yay!
20 mins elliptical, bpm 140-160 with a "climb" to 168.

Not doing 'sprints' anymore, since I felt something 'go' in my neck at one point. Instead, I'm cranking up the resistance to do 'climbs'. Gets my heart rate up just as much as the sprints did, but doesn't seem as likely to cause injury (I hope)

Wednesday - Oct 28 Halloween candy soon!

Cell contents = Weight in Pounds x Reps.
Lift: Decline Bench
Sets 1 to 3	160x12	160x10	160x10
Sets 4 to 6	160x10	160x8	160x6
Lift: Flat Bench
Sets 1 to 3	160x9	160x8	160x5
Sets 4 to 6	140x6	140x6	140x5
Lift: Incline Bench
Sets 1 to 3	110x8	110x6	100x8
Sets 4 to 6	100x6	90x7	90x8

Elliptical

25 mins on elliptical. Just cruising. Heart rate 145-150.

Fixed the elliptical on Sunday. Took a couple of hours to get the darn thing apart, clip the zip ties that were holding the wiring harness against the frame, replace the wiring harness and then re-ziptie it to the frame and reassemble everything.

Had a few panicky moments when I was trying to find the right size screws to hold the console on. Even went to Lowes to get screws and then found they weren't the right size when I got back. Went to stash the worthless screws, and in the process found the original screws right where I had carefully stashed them away. *sigh*.

Anyway. I have a new rowing machine coming, that I intend to put in the garage, so I've moved the elliptical inside, into my den, where it takes up most of the room, and I have to climb over it to turn on the light in the corner. The exercise bike will be stashed in the game room, along with an old leather chair, until I can find someone to take it off my hands.

The GOOD side of having this beast of a machine in my room, however, is that I can now watch movies on the comp while I work out. Happy about that.

Exercise Bike

20 minutes on the exercise bike. This thing really doesn't seem to do much for me. It works my quads, true, but my heart rate never seems to break 145 unless I'm pedaling just as hard as I can, and then it burns up my legs so fast that I can't stay on the machine for even twenty minutes. It's time to get the damn elliptical fixed, and take another stab at it.

I realize the elliptical is probably part of how I got hurt, but it also WORKS, so I'm going back to it. Going to try and fix it tomorrow.

New and Improved - The SAFETY SQUAT

pre workout weight = 240.5. Post=240

Going to attempt squatting on the new safety squat machine. Hoping it won't hurt me horribly. Back injury really sidelined me for a while. I don't want a repeat of it.

Cell contents = Weight in Pounds x Reps.
Lift: Safety Squat
Sets 1 to 3	110x15	120x12	120x12
Sets 4 to 6	120x12	130x12	130x10
Sets 7 to 9
Lift: Leg Extensions
Sets 1 to 3	60x10	70x12	70x11
Sets 4 to 6	70x11	70x10	70x10

More bike

Elliptical is scheduled for repair -- electrical console problems resurfacing. But it's better equipment than the bike, I can tell, so I need to see it fixed.

Did 30 min on bike. Heart rate between 135 to 145.
Pre workout weight 242
Post workout weight 241 (what!?!?! a little disappointing).

purchase and build exercise bike

Trying to find an alternative to elliptical -- something that will provide me with variety and, also, help to prevent any future problems with my back.

Built the exercise bike today. Then used it for 20 minutes. It doesn't seem to be as good of a workout. My heart-rate hovered between 130&140 (on elliptical it would be between 145 and 165).

Also, seems to hit the legs much harder, while not hitting much of the rest of the body.

Sheez. Frustrating Back Day

Post Workout Weight = 240.5

Back day. Back has been giving me all sorts of problems. Pain is radiating away from my back and down my left hamstring. Nevertheless, I'm just very unhappy with the idea of forced inactivity. I've worked very hard to lose between 8 and 10 pounds, as well as a couple of inches off my waist. I have no intention of allowing that all to 'creep back in' as I sit on my ass waiting for my back to heal. There has to be a better solution.

And I need to figure out whether or not the injury was some sort of freak accident, or if there's a particular exercise that's going to trigger it again.

So I worked out. Hurt myself too. I'm heading out for work in about an hour, and my back is yelping at me. We'll see if it loosens up a bit while I'm at work.

Tailbone pain is resurfacing. Seems like one of the back exercises must be the culprit. If I had to take a guess, I'd bet it was bent-over-rows. Anyway, workout wasn't that good, as I was lifting in fear.

Cell contents = Weight in Pounds x Reps.
Lift: Lat Pull
Sets 1 to 3	140x9	140x9	150x9
Sets 4 to 6	150x8	150x8	150x6
Sets 7 to 9	150x4	90x12	Fuggedaboutit
Lift: Bent over Rows
Sets 1 to 3	90x8	90x10	110x8
Sets 4 to 6	110x8	110x7	110x7
Lift: Seated Rows (PA first 3, cable last 3)
Sets 1 to 3	140x6	140x6	140x6
Sets 4 to 6	90x9	90x9	90x8

Elliptical

Back isn't feeling as good as it was when I was in the middle of the steroid treatment, but it's not horrible.

About day three of the steroids, I seriously felt like I was barely even injured anymore. Pretty amazing stuff. I've finished the course now, and seems like some soreness and stiffness is creeping back in. Bench day went OK though, so going to continue, at least for now.

Elliptical for 20 min this morning, at 5 am. Back hurt, but actually seemed to 'loosen up'. Had minimal or no pain for the rest of the day! Maybe exercise is actually helping.

Uh oh! Messed myself up.

Haven't worked out for over a week now.

Somehow managed to seriously mess up my back using the elliptical. Several days of limping and back spasms. I'm still in pain, and the doc has me on methylprednisolone, which is some sort of steroidal anti-inflammatory. Taking Nabumetone as well (an NSAID), and the doctor has also recommended acetaminophen for pain relief (Seriously? I mangle my back bad enough to require steroids for the inflammation, but the doc can't kick down four or five pain pills to get me through the next few days? Must be one of those 'pain builds character' approaches).

Anyway, it's been five or six days since I started taking this stuff, and I've been very careful to not push myself. Workouts have mainly consisted of picking up the TV remote repeatedly.

But we can't just sit and rot forever, so today is a test run to see if we can get back into the swing.

Pre workout weight = no measure

Cell contents = Weight in Pounds x Reps.
Lift: Bench
Sets 1 to 3	160x12	180x10(fail)	180x7
Sets 4 to 6	180x5	160x6 (long rest)	160x8
Lift: Decline bench
Sets 1 to 3	160x6	140x7	140x8
Sets 4 to 6	140x7	140x8	n/a
Lift: Incline bench
Sets 1 to 3	90x10	110x7	110x7
Sets 4 to 6	110x5	110x7	110x6

Here's hoping I didn't make things any worse.

Saturday Elliptical

30 min elliptical
Morning Weight = 240.5
Average bpm = 150 3 or 4 sprints to 165+

Friday, Squat Day

Pre workout weight = 243.5

Cell contents = Weight in Pounds x Reps.
Lift: Squats
Sets 1 to 3	110x15	130x14	140x15
Sets 4 to 6	140x12	140x10	140x10
Lift: Leg Xtension
Sets 1 to 3	70x12	70x12	70x12
Sets 4 to 6	80x10	80x10	80x9