Day 503

Today was an official holiday in the Philippines, so I had time off work.  I was able to catch up on my sleep over the weekend, as I had a late late Friday night with my coworkers.  After enjoying the weekend with my family, I went to train in the afternoon.  I tried another full-body training session, cutting the sets down to 3 sets instead of 4 as I had done before.  There were a few new exercises in the plan, which included snatch pulls (new), split squats, single-leg back extensions(new), reverse grip bench press (new, bit painful because of my bad left wrist), barbell push jerks (new), side-to-side pullups (new), woodchops, and finally plank walkups (new).  All in all an interesting workout!

Day 499

I was a bit late to bed last night as I was catching up on some things to do, so though I originally planned to train early this morning, my body just wouldn’t let me get up and train with just a little over 5.5 hours of sleep.  I opted to sleep longer and train after work instead.

I did the same full-body training plan as two workouts ago, but instead of doing four sets of 10, I did only three sets in most of the exercises.  That seemed to make the total running time of the session more manageable and I was able to stay more focused throughout.

Eat right, train hard, and expect success!

Day 497

This morning I woke up early again to do another whole-body training session based on the Men’s Health Power Training program.  Just like before, there were exercises for every prime movement pattern: explosive movement, hip/knee dominant lower body, horizontal push/pull, vertical push/pull, core rotational/bridging.  Once again, I found myself running out of time at the gym, even if I followed the prescribed rest periods quite closely.

As each of the exercises had 4 sets, each up to 10 reps and 1 minute rest: 9 exercises X 4 sets X 1min/set = 36 minutes just on the rest periods alone.  If you take 40 seconds to complete each set, that’s another 24 minutes, making 60 minutes.  If you include a warmup set per exercise, that’s another 15 minutes.  Plus 10 minutes to do a proper warmup including foam rolling and dynamic stretches and a little stretching afterwards.  What if you had to wait for equipment to be available?  Or if you had to take time to catch your breath?

This morning then, I found myself running beyond my planned time.  Also, one of the killers was making wide-grip pullups the last exercise before the core exercises, when I was already running out of steam, so there was no way I could do four sets of 10 with one minute rest.  If I were not training before work I wouldn’t need to rush too much, but since I do, I’d probably have to either make it 3 sets per exercise, or do the split routine.

Day 494

Sorry to post this a day late.  Last evening, I tried a new training program from Men’s Health Power Training by Robert Dos Remedios.  As may be evident from my previous posts, I like doing explosive movements such as power cleans, dumbbell snatches, and more recently, I was dabbling with power snatches.  So last night I decided to try one of the full-body training plans from Dos Remedios’ book.

Most of the training plans in this book are composed of an explosive movement, one knee-dominant and one hip-dominant lower-body movement, one horizontal-push and one horizontal pull movement, one vertical push and one vertical pull movement, one core rotational and one core bridging movement.  It is a pretty long list especially if you are doing 4 sets of 10 in most of the exercises with about 1 minute between sets.  The book says you can finish such a workout in about 50 mins.  However, I doubt you can do it that quickly during rush hour in a crowded gym.  Especially if you factor in warmup and cooldown periods.

Still, it was fun doing the exercises.  I started with barbell hang cleans (which I feel demands quite a bit more of the traps), then alternated front squats with single-leg Romanian deadlifts (1st time for me), then barbell bench presses (it’s been a long while) alternating with dumbbell rows, then barbell push presses alternating with single-arm pulldowns.  I didn’t have time to do the core rotational and bridging exercises, as the gym was already closing.  By that time, I was already over 60 minutes into the workout proper.

Next time, I might try one of the push-pull training plans.  Those would be shorter compared to the full-body training plans, but would preferably be done 4 days a week instead of three as in the full-body plan.

Day 492

The inner side of my lips have been giving me major problems this week. More than a few sores have formed where my recently-adjusted (and rewired) braces have been making contact. This has made it difficult to eat as if I am not careful when I chew, the wires dig into the sores and cause me to experience sharp pain.

Still, I try to eat as much as I need every 4 hours or so.

This morning I woke up early again to train. I did dumbbell snatches, then pushups+clap pushups alternating with dumbbell rows, single-leg squats alternating with rope face pulls, and then three point planks. I did not go for a PB on my dumbbell snatches as I wanted to work on my form, which still has lots of room for improvement especially when I get to the heavier weights.

Gladly, though I finished the workout satisfyingly beat, the morning workout seems to give me energy to power through the day at work. There were times when I was so focused that I almost forgot to eat!

Day 490

I originally planned for a few days hiatus to let the pain in my newly-adjusted teeth subside, but the pain lasted much longer than planned.  Even up to now, I have to be careful when eating so as not to aggravate the irritation that some of the wires have been creating in the inside of my lips.  Just when I had planned to go back to the gym last night after work, my mother asked me to bring one of our dogs to the veterinarian as the dog was not feeling well and not eating much.

So instead, I woke up early today to do my training before going to work.  I tried to do something new, which is barbell snatches pulling the bar raised slightly off the ground, to focus on the second part of the pull.  Then I did pullups alternating with barbell overhead squats, then dips alternating with Pallof presses, and then finally dumbbell external rotations.

It felt good to be back in the gym! I’m going to have to adjust my schedule so that I train in the mornings when possible, so that neither work nor family life interferes with my training plans.

Day 482

I did not do any training today.  The reason for this is because I was advised by my dentist not to lift any heavy weights for a few days, as I just had another two of my teeth extracted yesterday.  It was another surprise for me from my dentist.  Two weeks ago it was from my lower set of teeth; yesterday it was the corresponding pair of upper teeth.  The four teeth that have been removed are the ones just behind the canines, to make space for moving my teeth around.  After removing the teeth, my dentist adjusted the wires on my braces again, and also added power chains from my canines to my molars to pull the teeth and close the gaps made by the extracted teeth.  As soon as the anaesthesia wore off, my teeth started to hurt, and I realized that my canines have moved a bit so now the upper and lower canines clash against each other in places they haven’t before.  My molars also feel pain whenever I try to chew anything.

Needless to say, since last night after my visit to the dentist, eating has been a challenge because

1. My canines hit each other whenever I close my jaws
2. I feel pain in my molars whenever I chew, especially if the food is harder than boiled rice.
3. Food sometimes get stuck in the space between my teeth, or sometimes on my braces.  I cannot just suck it out as it could cause the wounds to reopen.

Nevertheless, I tarried on eating food, albeit softer food.  I actually shopped for chicken breasts over the weekend, but right now I don’t think I can eat and enjoy grilled (relatively tough) chicken breasts.  Luckily, my mom made pork and beans; the beans and pork were soft enough for me to eat for last night and today’s lunch.  Omelettes are okay for breakfast.  Tomorrow I’m planning to steam some cream dory for lunch.

Now, until the pain goes away, I’m not even considering lifting.  Just the thought of gritting of my teeth whenever I try to exert more force is enough to make me avoid it for now.

In any case, the pain should go in a few days.  Until then, I’m making use of the rest time to do other stuff I’ve been putting aside.

Day 480

This afternoon, I went for my training session at the gym. I just found out two days ago that the gym I go to now has some foam rollers. Although they are a bit too soft for my liking, it now allows me to do a more complete warmup at the gym, instead of having to do my foam rolling at home before I go to the gym.

To start off, I did dumbbell snatches. I intended to do 4 sets of 4, with the last set being at the heaviest weight I have done successfully (75 lbs). However, at the end of the fourth set, I felt I had a little bit left in the tank, so I decided to go for 80 lbs. I wasn’t able to do 4 (ending up with 3 on the left and 2 on the right), but it felt good to be able to go for a personal best!

After that, I did alternating sets of exercises. First were single-leg squats alternating with rope face pulls. Then it was pushups going straight to clap push ups, alternating those with dumbbell rows. Finally, I did two 3-point planks. The entire workout took a just little over an hour, but I felt it was a good one!

Eat right, train hard, and expect success!

Day 478

I had to postpone my training to today instead of yesterday.  Lots of issues cropped up at work, which had me working late on both Tuesday and Thursday, up to 12 hours straight in the office.  I was determined to get my training done, so I opted to do my training today in the early morning before going to work instead of after work.  That way, whatever happens at work, my training is already in the bag.

It’s been a while since I lifted weights in the early morning.  I had a light meal before going, and then took my bike to get to the gym to save time instead of waiting for public transport.  It was a welcome change to train early as there was almost nobody in the gym save for a few people working with their trainers.  I did power cleans, pullups, dips, barbell overhead squats, Pallof presses, and then finally, dumbbell external rotations.  I then cycled back home, had my breakfast, then sped off to work.

Fortunately, it was not as busy as the past two days. However, a few minutes after I left the office at the normal time, my phone rang. It was a client asking for me to go online to help them fix the mess that they made. This is the same client which I had been working with for the past two days, whome I talked with online the whole morning, during which I had already given instructions on how to go about fixing their own mess. Before, I would have turned around to try to please the client. However, this time I politely told them I am already out of the office and they would have to wait until I get back tomorrow.

There is more to life than work.  Rest, training, and family time come to mind.  You can’t be efficient trying to please everybody.

Day 475

It was a public holiday in the Philippines today, a day to commemorate our dearly departed loved ones.  This allowed me to have my training session in the late afternoon.  This time there was no drama upon trying to enter the big chain gym; the front desk manager who gave me a hard time last Friday wasn’t there even though it was about the same time.  I was able to stay focused throughout my workout with some good music pumping through my music player to drown out the crap music being played by the gym.

Exercises were dumbbell snatches, single legged (pistol) squats, pushups + clap pushups, dumbbell rows, rope face pulls, and three point planks.

Below, as you can see, I am back to taking pictures in my room at home.

Day 475

It’s been a very busy week for me since I arrived in Manila after a three-and-a-half-month project in Saigon.  Though I did take Monday off from work, the rest of the week was flat out work catching up on other work commitments and also supporting/hand-holding the client in Vietnam.  I had planned several times during the week to train after work (actually, every day), but always something came up that forced me to stay overtime in the office.

This afternoon was the first opportunity to go.  I and my mother went to the gym and I was looking forward to training again after the break.  Before I went away, I “froze” my membership at the big chain gym I go to, to save money as I would not be using that gym while I was away (I only pay 20% of the membership while it is frozen).  I froze it for the months of August, September, and October (I went away in the middle of July).  Once I returned sometime in late September or early October, I could just “unfreeze” the membership by paying the other 80% toward a full month’s dues.

Imagine my surprise when, upon logging in at the front desk, I was informed that my membership was still frozen, and that if I push through with working out today, I would be charged for the whole month of October, even though I would only be using the facilities for one day in October!  I asked the front desk manager for some consideration; I have been a founding member at the gym, paying my dues, sometimes not even freezing my account even if I am away a lot (due to the bureaucracy you have to go through to get it frozen, and then sometimes even getting billed in full even if my membership was frozen).  No amount of reasoning was enough to get me through (even on a day when they were handing out free passes to non-members!), so I asked to speak with a higher manager or else threatened to cancel my membership.  The front desk manager was only too happy to hand me a cancellation form!  Bad customer service! Fortunately, I was able to talk to the membership manager and explained my situation, and she agreed that some leeway should have been given to me in this situation.  I told her that this kind of behavior from the front desk manager made me feel that the club does not care about its current and (so far) loyal members, and she apologized.

I almost lost the urge to train, but I pushed through.  I kept to one of my templates from last week: barbell power cleans, pullups, barbell overhead presses, dips, Pallof presses, and dumbbell external rotations.  I was just happy to be able to work out at all, so no records today save for the barbell overhead presses (for which it was only my 2nd time to do).

Apologies for the lack of status pictures today.  I did some grocery shopping with my mom right after training, and got out of the mall at closing time, with the rain falling already, so it was a long wait to get onto public transport.  Another typhoon is affecting Metro Manila today and through the weekend; hopefully this time it is not as bad as there are many families out and about to visit their departed ones over the All Saints/All Souls weekend.

Day 463

I’m on track to go back home to Manila on Saturday morning, so I cannot go to the gym on Friday evening as I’ll be packing my stuff then.  This makes today’s training session my last here in Saigon on this trip.

I did not try out any new exercises, but I did do a few challenging exercises: single-arm dumbbell snatches, single-leg (pistol) squats, pushups + clap pushups, seated cable rows, face rope pulls, and three-point planks.  The gym was packed, hot, and humid.  Though sometimes it can be difficult to work out in those conditions, I know I am going to miss the place.

Eat right, train hard, and expect success!

Day 461

In tonight’s training session, I tried a few new moves among the exercises I did.  First, I warmed up with some power cleans with an empty Olympic bar.  After that I decided to try to do snatches with it, my first time to do so.  I then did my work sets of power cleans.

Next, I did another new exercise, which were barbell overhead squats.  Even with just the empty Olympic bar, I found the exercise to be challenging, as I had to really control my core to keep from falling over backwards (or forwards).  I did 2 sets with the empty bar before doing a set with another 10 kg (there were only a pair of 5kg plates, a pair of 20kg plates, and 3 pairs of 25kg plates for the Olympic bar).

After that, I did pullups and then dips.  I then tried the third of my three new exercises, which were Pallof presses.  This is an exercise which trains the core to resist rotation.  I finished wih dumbbell external rotations.

Eat right, train hard, expect success!

Day 456

Today’s training went even better than the last one.  It consisted of dumbbell snatches, deadlifts, pushups + clap pushups, dumbbell rows, rope face pulls, and Russian twists.  I found that I had enough energy today to push myself, and only faltered in the last rep of my deadlifts (the 5th one on the 3rd set).  Still, not too bad as that last set was equal to the maximum weight I have lifted on deadlifts (130kg).  It only gets me to aspire to improve on this exercise!  Perhaps my next program will include progressions on the deadlift.

On a not so positive note, I have been asked to my stay here in Saigon by another week.  I was already getting excited to see my family again this weekend so I am a bit disappointed.

Anyway, training goes on.  Eat right, train hard, expect success!

Day 454

The weekend was good for me as I was able to catch up somewhat with my sleep, especially on Saturday.  Sunday I went around the downtown area to hear mass and also do some shopping for some souvenirs to bring home (fingers crossed) this coming Saturday.  Today at work I was still not 100%, but still felt better than I did at the end of Friday.

Today’s training consisted of pullups, power cleans, pistol squats, dips, prone alternate extensions, and dumbbell shoulder external rotations.   With each training session I feel more and more convinced that a good training session makes up for a less than stellar day at work!