Tabata This

Workout of the Day:

15 minutes of EDD’s

6 x 4 box jump for height

Tabata this:

Back Extensions

DB Push Press (22 kg/48 lb ea)

Side to side leg lifts with pressed barbell (40 kg)

Chest to bar pullups

The soreness that had begun to creep into my legs yesterday worsened considerably today. My hamstrings, glutes, and quads were all tender to the touch. Getting up after my 2 hour lecture this morning was like unfolding myself from within a suitcase. There is now little doubt left: single leg DB deadlifts are a must-have addition to your lifting regimen. I’d love to hear some feedback on this if anybody tries them out.

The EDD’s are going great, not much to update there. The back bends using the wall are getting stronger and my balance with the handstands gets better every day.

For the box jumps, Niels and I wound up stacking every bumper plate we could find in the Cite gym. In addition to being a little tipsy, this drew some priceless stares from the other patrons. The height is hard to estimate, but it reached about to my bellybutton. I don’t think this was a maximum height, probably could have gone about 4 inches higher. I’m going to have to find a different method of creating ledges without boxes.

And the tabata… Well, this sequence proved more of a muscle endurance test than a cardio vascular one. With the exception of the leg lifts (the weak programming link in this chain), I felt acute muscle failure in every exercise. The back extensions especially hit the spot. By the half way point I was starting to really feel fatigue all the way along my erector spinae. By the 7^th and 8^th sets I had to split the 20 seconds into 3 parts. The push press’s started strong and finished pretty soft. The weight began to overwhelm me by the 4^th set, but I never strategized around it, so that was good. I repeatedly went to failure, took a few breaths and did a couple more before time expired. The chest to bar pullups were definitely my weakest point, as could be expected. I still have a hard time finding a rhythm with this exercise when tired, and wound up doing them one at a time. This actually worked pretty well. I didn’t get too tired in my grip or lungs and was able to do about 6 per set every time. My totals for all exercises are below.

Back Extensions: 79

Push Press: 75

Side to side leg lifts: 70

C2B pullups: 50

Total: 274

Less than three weeks until the Copenhagen Challenge, and I'm feeling pretty good about things. Looking forward to seeing those friends again and testing myself against whatever they come up with.

Tomorrow is for resting and exploring some more of this city. Paris, light the way.