Day 19 - Monday; the start of a new week

I woke up this morning and I have to admit I felt very guilty about not making the effort to exercise as hard as I usually do . . . at the very least I usually road ride for two to four hours on my mountain bike (harder - more tyre resistance).

Due to my desire to get back into the saddle of hope, I hit the gym as soon as I was able this morning.

Firstly, as with all exercising I spend about 30 minutes carrying out a good stretching warm-up to ensure no injury results.

Oh yes, and as I forgot to have my weekly weigh-in, I carried this out on Saturday morning.
I am happy to say that I weighed 85.2 kgs, another loss of 1 kg for 1 week.
Happy, happy, happy.

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Weight

What I have noticed and what I now know is that BMI (body mass index) is very relative as it can fluctuate and seem worse when you reduce fat, but gain muscle mass.
I am happy if I gain some weight as my excess fat stores are diminishing and simultaneously my muscle growth has increased . . . this is now evident in the fact that my tummy is flatter, my arms and shoulders are more defined and my body is now toned overall.
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Sustenance at the gym:

1 x medium banana
600 ml water
500 ml Lucozade Revive (a little fizzy actually - might try something new next week; does bloat you a little)

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Sustenance within 30 minutes of last exercise:

300 g of mixed raisins, nuts, crackers, thai mix (really good)

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1. Stretching - This is similar every day and I cannot express enough how important this is to aid movement and diminish the probability of injury.

90/90 hamstring stretches - holding for seconds on each leg x 2

Ankle circles - 10 clockwise, 10 anti-clockwise

All four quad stretches, 10 seconds on each side

Arm curls - 10 small rotations, clockwise and reverse, 10 large rotations as left

Wrist curls - 10 small rotations, clockwise and reverse

Shoulder rolls - 10 backwards, 10 forwards

Dynamic chest stretch 3 x 15 second holds

Elbows stretch; 1 x 10 second hold

Abs - overhead stretch 1 x 10 second hold
Abs - half crunches 2 x 20

Cat stretch - 3 x 10 seconds

Lower back curl - 3 x 10 seconds

Calf stretch hands against a wall - 10 seconds each foot

Seated floor hamstring stretch 2 x 10 second holds

Standing hip flexors - 2 x 10 each leg

Overhead stretch - 1 x 10 seconds

Shoulder stretch - 1 x 10 seconds each arm

Tricep Stretch - 1 x 10 seconds each arm

Lunges - 2 x 10 each leg

Air Bike – 2 x 30 seconds each leg

Pelvic lift into bridge – 1 x 20 lifts

Plank - 3 x 20 seconds (I am now able to perform this easier - The first time I tried it I lasted under 10 seconds), pathetic, but we all start somewhere.

I am much happier with my stretches now as I am more confident with the technique and the ability to carry them out easier and with fluidity; taking less time to perform more.

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2. Cycling

My objective, due to my inability to ride was to ride in the gym; non-stop for one hour. You may think;
'Well, hold on a minute, how is one hour non-stop the same as two to four hours on the road?'
The fact is it is not, but I had limited time; not four hours, and riding non-stop is much tougher than you think. This is doubly so as when I ride in the gym I have a set rule;

• 4 minutes low resistance
• 1 minute high resistance.

This has been, four minutes at level 2 or 3 and 1 minute at level 17 for only 30 minutes.

Today, I felt as though I almost needed to be punished; even though I was really unable to ride. Therefore, I decided to ride thus:

• 4 minutes - level 3 maintaining 100 rpm minimum constantly
• 1 minute - level 18

For one hour.

This may not seem hard, yet to maintain 100+ rpm for four minute intervals requires almost two revolutions a second, which is pretty full on. The great thing about this low intensity high speed revolutions is that when it comes to the high intensity but slower riding, although it is much more difficult and makes your thighs burn, your brain likes the rest and you as a rider start to see this as the easy part . . . ironic actually as quite the opposite is true.

At the end I was knackered, but a banana, a Lucozade revive and some water later and I was back on form again.

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3. Gym work - 30 seconds between reps, 2 minutes between sets

*ALL weights are lifted with quick spurts and lowered very slowly; taking five times longer than the lift.

Today was fairly quick as I had other commitments.

Muscle groups worked on:

• Lats
• Shoulders
• Forearms
• Abs 

• Assisted dips - 3 x 20 - Triceps 64 kg assist
• Assisted chin-ups - wide grip - 3 x 20 - Laterals 64 kg assists

• Seated crunch - 1 x 20 @ 90 kg [full], 1 x 25 [top of rectus abdominals - minor crunches] 1 x 25 [bottom of rectus abdominals - minor crunches] 
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• Decline oblique crunch - 1 x 20 full, 1 x 20 cross body crunch, 2 x 25 half crunches

• Bent over barbell row - Middle back 3 x 20
• Standing barbell lifts - 10 in front of head, 10 behind head

(these two are carried out straight after each other working three muscle groups)

• Bent arm barbell pullover - 3 x 12.5 kg