First Update - Day 258!

As mentioned, the core of this blog is going to be weekly updates of my own exercise journey. I'll mostly share what I did during the week for exercise, but I'm sure some helpful tidbits may show up!
This week I pushed my streak up to 258 days of activity in a row. I feel great and am proud of the commitment I've made, and have no intention of stopping thus far. So without further adieu, here's a roundup of the last week.

Monday - Shrednado - Day 252 

As you'll see in the blog, I've been fortunate to acumulate a fair number of video workout programs and like to do them a lot. I find home workout videos are an awesome way to do a good workout when motivation may be low, as they keep you on track and doing what you need to do.
Shrednado is one of my absolute favourite of these, coming in as one of the workouts from the workouts in the MetaShred 21 program from Mens Health. I love this workout because it is non-stop, a little different than traditional HIIT. The workout involves NINETY sets of 10s on, 10s off. If you think about it, that means it's only 15 minutes of actual work, but WOW is this intense and hard. The sweat was dripping and I felt accomplished after this.

As a bonus, my nephews Erik and Andrew were over and THEY ASKED ME if we could go to the basement to workout. At 6 and 4, they're interested waned after the first few minutes and they proceded to mess around with the resistance bands and treadmill, but it was fun having them run around while I did my workout.

Tuesday - Powerlifting Leg Day - Day 253

As a throwback to summer of 2014, I'm currently doing the 6 week strength program from Candito Training HQ. It's a free program template, but you definitely need a little experience with barbell trianing to ensure you're being safe. The program is fun because it has a variety of phases which keep your workouts interesting, and most importantly, you see RESULTS. Powerlifting is enjoyable because you can see real change not just in how your body looks, but what it can do.
Today's workout involved a cool variation called extra volume squats. My set included 160lbs for a max rep set of 10, which I was able to hit. After that, I had to add 5lbs and then do 5 sets of 3, except only a 60s rest between sets. For a weightlifting exercise, it was intense!

Wednesday - Powerlifting Upper Body Day - Day 254

Continuing with Candito training was the upper body day, which includes bench press as your main lift, and then accessory work on your back, biceps and shoulders. I tried something new today (as this is technically the second week of the program), and decided to superset my accessory workouts instead of doing each separately. This means I would do my first sets for my back (dumbbell rows) and then IMMEDIATELY do my sets for biceps (barbell curls). Needless to say, it was more difficult than usual, but I got a great workout and finished faster than usual.

Thursday - Yoga and Foundation Training - Day 255

Going for MANY days in a row without rest is crazy right? NOT REALLY! You just have to program in recovery workout days that are easy and let your body rest in a different way. So today I did some yoga, kind of following a video and kind of on my own, benefits of having a lot of experience and knowing how to make up workouts. Funny to think of it, I've actually been doing yoga for over 8 years now!

I actually tried to do yoga on the patio outside, and this was really nice, but unfortunately, it was really windy, so my mat kept getting rolled over by the wind,

I also did a short version of the Foundation Training Back Routine, a fantastic video I found that works on connecting the link between the muscles of your posterior chain. This is awesome for improving posture and core strength and hopefully preventing back pain. Give it a try! (but take it a little easy if you have current back pain).

Friday - Leg Day and Insanity Abs - Day 256

Another leg day, but this one started super late thanks to some craziness at work and getting home really late. While doing this workout, I enjoyed the heck of watching American Ninja Warrior city finals, with one of my favourites Jessie Graff making it to the national finals again!

Todays workout had another cool squat variation called back-off squats. Similar to Tuesday I had to hit 10 reps, though this time with 165lbs. Then I took off 10lbs, and had to do TEN sets of 3 with only 60s rest. It was easy at first, but let me tell you, by the 6th set I was seeing stars! Proper hydration kept my going, and that final set felt great!

I also had my buddy Daniel over today and he was doing his own workout, but it was nice to have some support during my crazy sets.

After the leg workout, I did the core workout from the original Insanity. Funny how when you don't train a lot of core directly, your endurance is not so great! I definitely got a good workout and am improving, but my endurance on core specific workouts is lagging a bit, requiring quite a few breaks during the workout. All good though, because it's all about improving, not being perfect!

Saturday - Rock Climbing - Day 257

Had a lot of fun today rock climbing at Up the Bloc with my friend Renata. This is only the second time I've rock climbed in the last year. If you recall from Friday, I really enjoy watching American Ninja Warrior, and rock climbing is definitely THE skill to build to improve the ability to do that kind of Ninja stuff (who knows, maybe I could tryout one day if it EVER comes to Canada..).

Today was better than last week, with some improvement in my technique and completing more routes than before. I even completed and down-climbed a route than I fell and almost died last week! (ok, a little dramatic, but it wasn't the best fall, so I was happy to beat it this time!).

Sunday - Upper Body Day and Ab Attack - Day 258

For the final workout of the week, it was another upper body lifting day. My bench press is feeling like it's getting a little bit stronger as I go, and I'm really enjoying the focus of the program thus far. I will say that my pull-ups felt a little weaker at the end of the workout than usual, but it's okay, because I technically lifted more on my bench than I have in the past.

On that note, I think it's important to consider that in workout programming. You want to always progress and improve yourself, but remember that it's about the whole workout, not each individual exercise. Sometimes the later exercises may lag because you worked really hard on the first ones. That's okay, just ensure to put the most important/most taxing things first.

After the lifting portion, I did another Insanity core workout, this time Ab Attack from Insanity Max 30. Another tough one, I found myself following the modifier for quite a few exercises (of the 10 minute workout). But again, I worked hard and felt good after completing it, and that's all the matters, right?

So that's it for my update for this week, looking forward to another week is being Active Every Single Day. I've got my workouts planned on my calendar, and can't wait to keep going.

Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or are looking for tips, always happy to help!