No UPS Means ACTIVE Rest Days!

I did not need to go in to handle packages at UPS and soon that will be a thing of the past all together! Woohoo! Only a few more 3:30am wake ups left! One thing that UPS did provide was 4-5 hours of heavy lifting and loading of packages, even on what I would consider a "rest day". So today instead of lifting or running a bunch, I hit the rowing machine and stretched.

Active Rest Day:
Row, 5000m
Mobility:
Quadriceps Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Calf Stretch

Have a Great Day!!

RIP Elie Wiesel and the Active Rest Day

The year 2016 has to stop killing great people in this world. Before today there was Prince and Muhammad Ali and now Elie Wiesel. Wiesel, was known as a Romanian-born American Jewish Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, writer, professor, and political activist. While imprisoned at Auschwitz his mother and sister were murdered. Wiesel and his father were deported to Buchenwald, where his father was beaten to death a few weeks before the camp was liberated. Wiesel felt that he was blessed to have survived and spent the rest of his life telling his story trying to prevent a tragedy like the Holocaust from ever happening again. R.I.P.

"When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity." - Elie Wiesel

Active Rest Day:
Rowing, 20 minutes

Have a Great Day!!

Stringer's Ridge on an Active Rest Day

Today is a day away from the weights for me. I took the pups up onto Stringer's Ridge for an early morning hike. This 92 acre Stringer's Ridge Preservation Easement is just a couple of miles from downtown Chattanooga and is pretty much right out my back door! It has a rabbit warren-like trail system that must see a lot of mountain bikers, runners and hikers.... but we saw only a couple of people early on a Sunday morning. Ocho, Biscuit and I linked together a handful of loops until the little Blue Heeler was chugging like a locomotive and then we headed back to the car. This was just the ticket to walk off the soreness from the week of lifting!

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day!

It has been a good week of exercise and today will be an active rest day away from the weights. It is great to wake up and think "Oh yeah, those are some muscles that I used yesterday that I do not hit very often...." Those overhead squats yesterday definitely put a whoopin' on some rarely used muscles!

Workout:
Steady Pace Row, 25 minutes

Have a Great Day!!

Continued Dominance of America's Women and an Active Rest Day

Today Serena Williams won the Wimbledon title.... again. That makes 21 Grand Slam singles titles and 13 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus. Overall her record is 723 wins with only 121 losses... that is an unheard of 85% winning percentage?! Between the USWNT World Cup title and now Serena taking Wimbledon, American women are kicking some serious ass lately!

Today's quote is from Serena Williams:

"I've always considered myself the best and the top. I never considered that I was out of it."

Active Rest Day:
Rowing Machine, 30 minutes
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 100 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Monkey Off the Back and an Active Rest Day

Today is the opportunity for Abby Wambach to go out on top. Few athletes get the chance to end their career on the pinnacle, on their own terms. I was in Pittsburgh when the Steelers won the Superbowl in February 2006. Steelers' running back Jerome Bettis, at 33-years old finished his 13th NFL season as the league's fifth all-time leading rusher and finally won a Superbowl in the town he grew up in, Detroit Michigan. Retirement cannot come better than that. 

Wambach has won an NCAA National Championship, she is a two time Olympic gold medalist, she has been voted the FIFA Player of the year, and has scored 183 goals?! There are only two monkeys on Wambach's back: One is never winning a high school championship. That ship has sailed unless Abby does something like coach a high school team after she retires. The one that she can do something about comes today: Winning a World Cup. And it cannot be any better than playing the Japanese again, the team that beat the U.S. in 2011. I believe that she will win.

Today's quote is from Megan Rapinoe:

"I would get a turf burn on every inch of my body to win Abby a World Cup."

Active Rest Day:
Relaxing Stretches for the Back
Foam Roller Work
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 75 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day

Today we got up early at 4am for Rebecca to report to the emergency room, so Ocho and I went for a nice 3-mile walk. When we got home just as the sun rose, I did my back stretches and exercises. If you are looking for a great book on stretching, I am a huge fan of the classic Stretching by Bob Anderson.

Have a Great Rest Day!!

Thoroughbred and The Active Rest Day

For the first time in 37 years, we have a Triple Crown winner in horse racing with American Pharaoh winning the Belmont Stakes yesterday. I find the word "thoroughbred" a very interesting term mostly because of what a horse has to do to win the Triple Crown. Now, regardless of how you feel about horse racing and its ethical treatment of animals, it is an amazing feat for one animal to pull off all three wins. It is not only the speed, but also the amount of stamina that these equine athletes need. American Pharaoh had run the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and then finally the longer Belmont versus horses that had not run nearly as much. American Pharaoh was clearly well trained and thoroughly bred.

Today's quote is from Ovid:

"A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace."

Active Rest Day:
Foam Roller Work
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 50 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Active Day of Rest in Preparation for Memorial Day

Today is an active day of rest, eating well and hydrating. I am going to roll out some sore muscles and not hit the weights at all. Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I will do the same thing I did last year: The Murph WOD.

Active Rest Day:
Some walks around the base with the dog.
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Studying and Active Rest

Today is my scheduled active rest day and it will be a heavy study day for the personal trainer certification. After one week of the new full body training I feel quite good even with the more intensive focus on the cardio-respiratory training. Today will be eating healthy, hydrating and maybe doing a little foam roller work. Lots of dog walking! I will be ready to hit the full body workout again hard tomorrow.

Active Rest Day:
Mellow Dog Walking
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Caps: Consistency is Not Always a Good Thing and Trying Something New

The Washington Capitals. Sigh. The only thing that the Caps have been consistent at is losing in the playoffs. For a couple of decades now they have done nothing but disappoint. Game 7 has moved back to New York and even my die-hard fans back home in the DC area have said that they cannot watch.

Now that I am going to working out on my own for a while I am going to mix things up and throw in more cardio as well as full body workouts with a couple of days of rest. I think that it is often a good move to switch up workouts to break out of routine and make more substantial gains. We will see where things go! Because yesterday was a heavy leg day and I am going to start a full-body routine tomorrow, today will be an active rest day.

Today's quote is from Bruno Mars:

"Music is not math. It's science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion."

Active Rest Day:
Spin Bike, 20 minutes
AbMat Crunches, 50 repetitions
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Dog Sitting and an Active Rest Day

One great thing about living in a community where there are a number of dog owners, there is always
someone willing to watch your dog. Last night my co-worker drove to the Gila Wilderness to pick up the Medicine in the Wild course and I got to spend the afternoon and evening with Pepper. The dogs here are un-phased by having one of the other pack stay with them for a few days. It is great!

Today's quote is from Cesar Milan:

"The dog is a reflection of your energy, of your behavior. You have to ask, 'What am I doing?' That's the right question to ask."

Active Rest Day:
Spin Bike Easy Spin, 30 minutes
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day Two for One!

Today we are going to drive to pick up our NOLS Southwest Instructor Course from the Gila Wilderness and get them to their rock climbing section at Cochise Stronghold. With all of this driving we are going to take today off from the weights. We should be back at NOLS Southwest early tomorrow afternoon which means that we can get a chest and biceps workout in. There will be no post tomorrow but I will put tomorrow's workout here today!

Active Rest Day Today:
AbMat Crunch, 50 repetitions
Foam Roller Work

Workout Tomorrow:
Warm-Up: One minute each.
Jumping Jack
TRX Chest Press
Ball Slam
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch
Weight Training:
Bench Press, 30 repetitions
(Primary Muscles worked: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, triceps brachii)
Dip, 75 repetitions
(Primary Muscles worked: Pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, triceps brachii)
Axle Bar Curl, 50 repetitions
(Primary muscles worked: Biceps brachii, flexor carpi radialis and ulnaris)
Toes to Bar, 30 repetitions
(Primary muscles worked: Rectus abdominis)

Have a Great Couple of Days!!

Active Rest Day!!

Today was a relaxing day of having breakfast with friends, celebrating a friend and co-worker's 35th birthday, getting together with buddies online and cooking a batch of Scotch Eggs. It feels good to take a break from the weights and recharge a bit.

Active Rest Day:
Abdominal Crunches with the AbMat, 50 repetitions
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Rest from the Weights!

Today is a great day to recover after a good week of hard weight training. Going to ride the spin bike and make some pork shoulder!

Active Rest Day:
Spin Bike HIIT, 30 minutes

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day!

Today is the weekly day away from the weights. A lot of the regular workout participants are scattered doing various jobs today, so it only seemed logical. We will be back at it tomorrow with a strongman back day!

Active Rest Day:
Spin Bike HIIT, 30 minutes

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day!!

Today the Archer School for Girls returns from the field. We will have over a hundred extra people at the base between NOLS instructors, teachers, chaperones and 9th grade students. It is the perfect day to focus on work and take a break from the weights.

Active Rest Day:
Foam Roller Work
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 100 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day!

Just a quick post to say that: A) Work is going to be nuts here as about 100 9th grade girls and teachers arrive from the Archer School for Girls for their expeditions for "Arrow Week". It is a very exciting time at the base as 6 different expeditions head out for a week of backpacking and learning. B) All of that Archer School busyness makes it the perfect day to take a bit of a rest from the weights. Back at it tomorrow.

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day and Sunday!!

I got back to studying for my Personal Trainer Certification this week. Work has kept me busy the past few days, but tonight and tomorrow will be spent studying quite a bit. Other than that, I road the spin bike, did some crunches, rolled out sore muscles and trimmed the dog's nails. All around a great Sunday in the desert.

Today's quote is from Joseph Addison:

"Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week."

Active Rest Day:

HIIT Spin Bike, 45 minutes
Abdominal Crunches, 100 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Active Rest Day!!

Working on Saturday getting two courses de-issued, de-briefed and graduated. Everyone at the base is doing their part to wrap it all up. Today is a day off from the weights. Tomorrow is the last day of lifting before I start my field contract.

Active Rest Day:
HIIT Spin Bike Routine, 30 minutes

Have a Great Day!!