Sunday:
Spent the entire day moving some furniture I'm refinishing/repairing from my parents garage, where it spent the summer, to my apartment. So, physical exertion consisted of moving several pieces of large, heavy wooden furniture into/out of a truck and up to a second-floor apartment, and then installing it in the kitchen. Ended up eating out with my parents, so food was questionable...which may explain why I was SO out of by the time we finished.

On a side note, I'm still having issues with my calves cramping (it was happening a lot yesterday while I was on the floor hammering and otherwise fussing with the cabinet). I noticed that it tends to happen whenever I'm kneeling or otherwise bend my knees past a 90 degree angle for more than a few seconds, regardless of foot position. I'm really not sure what's causing this; stretching seems to help, but then the next time I kneel or bend it happens again. I'm not having problems with any other muscle groups that way, so I'm really not sure what's going on. Weird...

CM: Captain's chair = http://weighttraining.about.com/od/exercisegallery/tp/captains_chair.htm (according to a Google search). I think it's also called a "knee raise" by some people. Like I said, it probably doesn't do much beyond amusing me while I'm warming up.

Thanks for reminding me about the pull-ups. I've been doing some GTG pull-up negatives, but I haven't been noting it in my logs. I'll have to start remembering to do that.

I'm willing to learn how to deadlift/squat with a bar, but at the moment I'm stuck using a poorly equipped fitness room maintained by my apartment complex (my department at work is closing in November, so a "real" gym membership is out of the question until I find another job). There are dumbells (the one-handed variety), but no bars or plates. The "bench press" I've been doing is actually with a machine. I've been doing a modification of the squats using a couple of dumbells (one on each shoulder), but I'm limited by the fact that some of the dumbells seem to be missing. Would it be worthwhile for me to try picking up an Olympic-type lifting bar or something? Is it even possible to find one that's fairly inexpensive?






Monday:
Ran 4x400m intervals. I decided to take 2 minutes between intervals, which seems to help as far as getting them done is concerned. I'll gradually cut back until I'm just waiting 1 minute between sprints. My 4th 400m was about on par with my 3rd (and final) 400m from last time, so I think I'm doing better. Sort of. Did GTG pull-up negatives.

to learn how to squat and deadlift properly pick up a copy of Starting Strength.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0976805421

Either that book or Greg Everett's book is supposed to be very good too for learning proper squat/DL form...
http://www.performancemenu.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=155

Plenty of women do these lifts, btw...

Tuesday:
Orchestra (I'm super-excited to be playing Night on Bald Mountain). Beyond that...I did a little extra pull-up work at the playground (with my backpack on). I'm trying to increase the number I'm doing with the GTG pull-up negatives, b/c at the moment I'm lucky if I get more than 10 a day.

looks like before you do this metcon-style (all in a row) you need to work on your strength...

You should work your Pullup negatives into a routine if ur not doing GTG.  Sicne you are doing GTG, don't overdo the pullups...

Your dips you can either do GTG or you can do structured negatives for now in a 3x5 (3 sets, 5 reps) or similar, untill you are strong enough to do one.  When you can do 1, do sets of one until you can do sets of 2, etc...

Friday:
Today I did a few random sets of 15 squats at work. I also discovered that the desk that goes around 3 sides of my cubicle is exactly the right distance apart on the open end for me to do...well, I guess they're the equivalent of bench dips. This could either be really good or really bad, because as soon as I discovered that I kept wanting to get up and do a dip...or two...or three...suffice it to say that I covered my bases with the GTG bench dips today. GTG pull-up negatives weren't so great, but there has been less falling and more lowering involved since I discovered that it's a good idea to keep my elbows in more.

Today = weight day. I've been wanting to move away from the machines and more towards freeweights, so I did a little research and tried to remember what I used to do in skill and body in my high school gym class. This is what I came up with:

• Warm-up: Jogged 1/2 a mile; 2x10 on CC (1/2 knee raises, 1/2 L-whatever-they-are)
  
• Bench press: 5 at 20#, 3x5 at 30#
• Shoulder press with dumbbells: 3x5, 10# in each hand
• Single arm row: 3x5 at 10# (for each arm; my right [dominant] arm was doing way better, but I decided to keep the weight the same for both) (hopefully I'm calling this the right thing - it's the one where you put one knee and one hand on the bench and bring the arm with the weight up towards you)
• My messed-up version of squats: 5 w/30# total (two 15# weights); 5 w/70# total; 5 w/24# total (some random guys came and started using all the lighter weights, so I decided to see whether I could do a set with the next lightest set of weights [35#]; I ended up going back to a lower weight when it was available b/c I couldn't go as deep with the heavier weights)
• Lunges around the perimeter of the racquetball court (the random guys were monopolizing the light weights, so I improvised; this also ended up being kind of a cool-down)

Yep, I know. Part of the reason I pushed so hard at the end of last week was b/c I knew the weekend would be pretty much a wash. It's good to be reminded sometimes, though. Thank you!


Saturday/Sunday:
Visited my little sisters at college this weekend, so I didn't end up doing much of anything (unless you count climbing to the top of the bleachers at the football game, lol). I ended up showing my youngest sister how to use the exercise equipment in the basement of her dorm (talk about the blind leading the blind! at least I know how most of it works, though), but that was at super-low (and weirdly unspecified) weights.

And an awesome thing happened: I finally did a cartwheel! I've been trying to do these since I was a little kid, but it never quite worked. I still need to work on keeping my legs straight, but progress has been made! (Thanks, Katy!)

If its any consolation -- all last winter i worked out in sub-freezing temperatures in total darkness in a wide open windy park for 2 hours a night ....and I ran there....and the bars I used were solid metal...and i didn't wear gloves

Pain tolerance is key