Workout Recap - Week of November 17, 2019
To follow-up on my intro from last week, I went fully vegan for my breakfasts this week (which was just a matter of not having any hard-boiled eggs) and generally reduced my meat intake for other meals, too. My workout performances were quite solid across the board, and while I did find myself having to eat a little more than usual to feel full, I didn't feel like I was missing out on enjoying what I was eating. All in all, it seems to have been a successful experiment.
Granted, as I'd said before, I don't see this going to the point of giving up meat entirely because there are certain things that I'd still want to eat at least occasionally. However, I will take another step in that direction by trying out some more specialty items like flax seed eggs and nutritional yeast. If it goes well, I can start seeing what I can do towards coming up with vegan versions of some of my favorite baked items.
Monday
Type: As Many Reps As Possible
12 minutes of 50 second intervals with 10 seconds rest of:
Pull Ups (total = 45)
Close Squats (total = 86)
Push Ups (total = 78)
Lunges (total = 37, each side)
Bonus: none
Getting back into focusing on improving my endurance meant getting back into some HIIT action. Right after doing this workout and adding up my totals, I felt down about the pull ups, but comparing that to what I'd done in some previous 50-second interval workouts allayed that disappointment. I still would've loved to have squeezed out a few more, but in retrospect, getting almost fifty pull ups done in about two and a half minutes is pretty awesome.
Tuesday
Type: As Many Reps As Possible
12 minutes of 30 second intervals with 10 seconds rest of:
Burpees (total = 25)
High Knees (total = 121, each side)
Mountain Climbers (total = 106, each side)
Bridges (total = 44)
Straight Leg Raises (total = 48)
Speed Rows (total = 199, each side)
Bonus: 6 close pull ups
I was churning out the goods, here. I've hit higher individual totals on most of those movements, but considering that all but one of them was putting a ton of load on my waist and hips, keeping up that performance with little respite was no joke.
Wednesday
Type: As Fast As Possible
5 sets of:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Prisoner Squats
Time = 4:00
Bonus: 9 hammer pull ups
An immediate bounce back to my personal record in this routine is phenomenal. Still having the juice in my arms to get in a nice pile of additional pull ups afterwards was also encouraging. Honestly, I could've gone for a higher set count, but between wanting to do something quick to free myself up to help out a friend and feeling like repeating exactly what I did last week would be best for comparative purposes, I stuck with just five. I don't see either of those concerns holding me back in the near future, though.
Friday
Type: As Fast As Possible
7 sets of:
7 Pull Ups
7 Bridges
Time = 6:00
Bonus: 1 pull up, 1 bridge
I was once again concerned with freeing myself up quickly on this day, and seeing as I haven't done any of my trusty 7x7 in a few weeks, I decided to just jump on into the one that I could do the fastest. I fell just short of tying my personal record, but I'll take it for now, since at least it's a sign that I've gotten back near my best shape.
Saturday
Type: Pass/Fail
Fingertip Push Ups - 2 sets of 14 (pass)
Uneven Pull Ups - 2 sets of 8, each side (pass)
Pistol Squats, both hands behind me - 2 sets of 7, each side (pass)
Bonus: 2 sets of 6 Superman push ups, 7 burpees
My initial intent had been to do another 7x7 challenge workout today, but due to my weekend grocery shopping taking longer than anticipated, I was starving by the time I could do a workout, and that didn't seem conducive to having a representative performance. Instead, I went with something where speed wouldn't be a factor, and I'm happy about how I did with it. Advancing a rep from where I was on two of the three movements is good, and while I just held steady for the pistol squats, I felt good while doing them. Time to get back on the progress train, choo choo cha'boogie!
