injured but not sidelined

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:01:01 EST

Around January 19, my back and neck were so sore that I had a professional sports massage. Then my right bicep got terribly sore. And then, just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief that my body was done with the b.s., my left wrist started to hurt. Not a lot, but it's a joint, so I was a little freaked out, especially when it kept on hurting. I tried to take it easy but it kept hurting so after 2 weeks, I went to an orthopedic surgeon who diagnosed it as a ligament issue and put me...

Current gym routine

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:01:04 EST

I used to post my gym routines on here back in the day when I was a more conscientious Sparker. So here's an updated version.

My workouts change every week so this is more of a general picture than a prescription. I never do the same workout twice. My shorthand of 2x6 means two sets of six repetitions each.

Monday:
Lats / Abs / Obliques

Chinups: 2 sets to failure
Neutral grip pullups: 1 set to failure
Lat pulldown, standing chin grip: 4

I never do cardio, except when I do

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:05:59 EST

I am a bit of a black sheep here in that I don't do cardio. It's not that I think it's ineffective. I know it's effective, I used to do a ton of it, and I lost a lot of weight during the same time that I was doing it (and also not really eating anything). My issue with cardio is that I would rather pull my fingernails out with my teeth than do cardio on a regular basis. I believe (after obsessively watching the Olympics) that different people are built for different athletic pursuits. I...

My warm-up before a workout

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:10:20 EST

There is a thread on the Fitness forum about doing a warm up before strength training and it gave me the idea to write out a detailed description of how I warm up. I do about 3-4 heavy weights workouts per week and each of them starts with this warm up:

1. 15 minute brisk walk. I do this primarily because that's how far the gym is from my house and office, so no matter where I'm coming from, I have to do this!

2. 10 minutes dynamic stretching. I try to stretch my wh...

Gym update: first week of new split

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:33:09 EST

Photo: My tiny muscles peeking out. Apparently they are camera-shy. (And yes I know I need to clean the mirror LOL!)

Starting on September 20, I changed my program at the gym from a full-body routine 3 times/week, to a 5-day split. Here are the results from the first week of the new program. Note the presence of warm up sets (I believe we should all be doing these).

September 20: Chest, back, abs

Hammer grip pullups: 1st set: 2.5 completed, 2nd set: 1.5...

Gym update

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:38:25 EST

I'm sort of trying to stay up to date in this blog by periodically recording what my workout is, hopefully by doing it every so often, my progress will be visible.

This time there won't be much since my gym went out of business this summer and I spent SIX WEEKS without working out on real equipment. So I was kind of back to square one at the end of August. Anyway, onto the workout. I hope it's self-explanatory how I am doing it, basically the number of reps by the amount of weig...

Gym at the end of June

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:29:07 EST

This is what I did at the gym today, June 30, 2008. This is my workout after 6 weeks of working out.

Pullup: 4 attempts
Good morning: 3x6@45 lbs
Barbell squat: 6@45, 4@100, 4@110, 4@120 lbs
Alternating lunge: 6@45, 5@75, 4@85, 3@95 lbs per leg
Bench press: 6@75, 5@80, 4@80 lbs
Deadlift: 6@45, 6@55, 6@95 lbs
Calf raise: 3x12@130 lbs
Seated lat pull, close grip: 2x6@85 lbs
Seated lat pull, wide grip: 2x6@70 lbs
Pushup: 3x10
Dip: 4 <...

Gym update

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:58:37 EST

Just an update from last week's post. This is what I did today at the gym:

Assisted pull-up: 2@level 8, 2@level 10, 2@level 11 (Level 8 = 40 lb assist)
Assisted dip: 8,6,4@level 13
Alternating lunge: 6@45, 5@65, 4@75, 3@85 per leg
Barbell squat: 6@45, 5@85, 4@95, 3@105
Bar hang: 3x8 seconds
Bar crunches: 3x3
Barbell calf raises: 3x12@105
Bench press: 3x6@55
Lat pull-down: 8@60, 4@90, 8@75
DB shoulder shrug: 10@20, 8@25, 6@30, 10@20 per ...

What I do at the gym.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:40:00 EST

For reference, this is what I do in the gym, three days per week. (New split. I was doing a 6 day half-and-half split but changed to a full body 3x/wk one for the time being!) It's in the order I do it. There's a little bit of a circuit on upper body free weights, you can probably figure it out but I kept it together for simplicity's sake.

The shorthand I use is like: 3x12@100 means 3 sets of 12 reps at 100 lbs. Or, 8@60 = 1 set of 8 reps at 60 lbs.

I'm putting this...

Skin, skin, skin!

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:13:19 EST

Photo: as much of my skin as I'm allowed to show you!

I've received some questions about the issue of SKIN so I thought I would write about it here, so if you're too shy to ask, you don't have to :)

When we lose weight, our skin does adjust to our new size, to an extent. How well it adjusts depends on a few different factors, none of which will surprise you. Here is my experience, and what I've come to understand.

I have so far lost 96 lbs, and I think I've ...

NAUSIKAA's SparkPeople Blog

injured but not sidelined

Current gym routine

I never do cardio, except when I do

My warm-up before a workout

Gym update: first week of new split

Gym update

Gym at the end of June

Gym update

What I do at the gym.

Skin, skin, skin!