Streak to 272

Monday - Upper Body Powerlifting - Day 266 

With the final bench workout of my Linear Max OT phase, I finally had a bit of struggle. Todays workout involved 190lbs for 3 sets of 4-6 reps as my main lift. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I was able to hit 6 for the first 2, but only 4 on the third. I guess that leaves more room for growth and improvement. The key is that even though I wanted to hit 6 on the last one, I knew I could only do it if I really messed up my form. So...I didn't! It's a good thing to let go of the ego, and realize that it's all about consistency and continuing to work on improvement, playing the long game. If you don't hit your marks today, that's okay, because you get to try again tomorrow!

Tuesday - Hot Yoga (Saana Music Flow) - Day 267

Today was one of my favourite workouts in a long time, because I went back to hot yoga! I'm a big fan of doing yoga and stretching/mobility workouts, and do them quite often (as you've probably seen and will continue to!), but there is something special about hot yoga. It's hard to explain, but I think the increased difficulty caused by the extreme heat (hot yoga rooms run up to about 38C or 99F, much more than room temperature!), really helps you get in the moment. I enjoy the workout aspect of yoga in addition to the mindfulness portion, and find it's a bit easier to do the latter with hot yoga. As a side benefit, you sweat LIKE CRAZY. Great for people looking to increase detoxification, support weight loss and more. Interesting note for me today; I had heard that people who are more fit tend to sweat sooner and a larger amount than their unfit peers. As you've noticed, today is Day 267 in a row. Let me tell you, I cannot remember a time I sweat as much as I did in todays class. There may be something to that sweat thing! And funny enough, when I weighed myself when I got home, I must've been about 2-3lbs lighter than this morning. Of course much of that will come back with dinner and water intake, but it was a cool thing to see.

Wednesday - Lower Body Powerlifting - Day 278 

We're now onto week 4 of the Candito program which means Heavy Weight Acclimation. The overall reps has gone down, but the weights have gone up. Still not too hard because I'm taking it easy on my squat and deadlift maxs, but it was good workout.

Thursday - Bike Ride - Day 269

Today was supposed to be an upper body day, but my neck was hurting a fair bit after pulling it last night. Thus, one of the important principles of fitness - Flexibility! Going for a bike ride is pretty easy on the neck and still allowed for a nice little workout. Plus my friend Adam asked me out of the blue to go for a ride before I'd decided what to do, so it just made sense. I had a nice time riding around the neighbourhood and looking at some of the cool, big houses and appreciating them, plus some serious pushing on the big hills around the area.

Friday - Upper Body Powerlifting - Day 270

My neck was feeling a bit better today and I was up for my regularly scheduled workout. After struggling (just a little bit) on the last one, I was able to hit all my lifts today. I switched things up again with a barbell curl instead of using the dumbbells. I don't know what it is about barbell vs dumbbell curls, but wow do you feel the burn!

On another note, I was researching phone exercise apps and finally decided to try the Nike Training Club app. As I'd already done a long workout I just did a short cardio based one. It was fun though, and I really liked that they have the option to search for workouts (out of 190+) based on equipment, time, intensity and focus. I don't know if it's as good as my favourite free workout resource, Fitness Blender (which I'll have to review in a later post), but it was a useful app and it's nice how portable it is.

Saturday - Rock Climbing - Day 271

Today was Global Climbing Day and True North Climbing was having a free day. I like this place because they have a lot of great top-rope routes, including this really cool stalagmite wall. My brother Shayne came with me and we had a fun time. Unfortunately, Shayne hasn't climbed in a while so they didn't let him belay me, but I enjoyed belaying/watching him and then doing some of my own problems. They have a handful of autobelay routes which were fun. Plus we tried out some bouldering, and I had a great time working out a few challening problems.

Sunday - Lower Body Powerlifting + Hike - Day 272

Pretty easy lifting day today, very low on the reps and "high" on the weight. It felt good to do some regular deadlifts, a lot of the weeks this program has you doing deadlift variations like pause, stiff leg or elevated. I woke up a little late with things to do, so it was helpful that the workout was pretty short.

I added to my workout today by going on a nice hike/trail walk near Evergreen Brickworks. By all means, you can still go outside and enjoy the outdoors when the weather changes, but it is great when the weather is nice like today. Sunny, but not too warm, with a light breeze. Makes for a great day!

That's it for this week, time to go prep for next week where I can be

Active Every Single Day!