The gym workout tonight consisted of 10 minutes on the treadmill followed by a really action-packed weights workout.  Paul and I both stepped up on the chinup weight, so my arms are pretty shot right now.  Fun stuff!

Got to the gym late today (after another fairly long day at the office), where I did a short cardio workout on the elliptical.  Tasha did some laps around the track and then it was time for weights.  I felt stronger today, moving my weight up on a few machines.  We ended the workout doing some ab exercises, and Paul and I did some balance and medicine ball training just for fun.

The assisted chinup machine is what makes me feel the most accomplished during the gym workouts.  I was never able to do too many chinups before this, and thanks to a 70 lb weight offset I’m able to do two sets of 10 each (and tricep dips too)!  Tasha put up a good showing on that machine too, so it was a Dalcher family chinup celebration tonight!

More Olympic watching tonight, so I’m off!

Tonight was a good gym workout, not much cardio (since apparently Paul had been there 20 minutes before I got there) but we hit the weights pretty quickly.  In addition to the normal machines, I added the ab crunch machine.  It felt good to work out my core again, and I was able to do a bit more weight than I expected (90 lbs).  We also did the chinup machine again, which was pretty fun.

The gym didn’t seem that busy, but yet we were asked if people could cut in with us on our sets.  Paul and I do three sets of 15 reps apiece, so it doesn’t take that long on each machine but for whatever reason people were impatient.  We opted out of letting them cut in, Paul likes to keep a fairly quick pace to his weight sets.  Me, I’m usually good for a break but I don’t like meeting new people so I was fine to let him decline the cutters-in.

I’m pretty tired, but I have a feeling of accomplishment after tonight’s workout.  It probably didn’t hurt that I had a good day at work too!

Tonight PW, Tasha, Kara, and I headed to the gym.  The cardio machines were all in use, so I opted for a treadmill and ran 3/4 of a mile.  Those of you that know me understand how much I detest running, and not much has changed.  My lungs were screaming but I got through a 10 minute stint on the treadmill before heading to weights.

The weights went well tonight, we did assisted chinups along with our standard compliment of machines.  It felt good to work out and we’re looking at some more on Thursday!  Tomorrow night is karate!

I did 20 minutes on the elliptical tonight, followed by some weights.  We did two sets of assisted chinups and dips to end the workout, I can tell I’m going to be sore tomorrow!  For me, the worst part of the workout is the cardio on the elliptical but I’m making myself tough it out.  Eventually it will get easier!

More soon!

After Kangeiko was complete, I decided to do better about keeping a regular workout schedule.  After articulating my plan to Tasha, she told me that she wanted me to find out how much it would be for her to join the gym with me.  She wants to do better about losing weight and being active, so I was happy to oblige and today was our first gym visit.

I did 20 minutes on the elliptical machine (which I hate) and Tasha opted for the reclined bike for the same amount of time.  We were joined shortly thereafter by Paul who put us through a good weights workout taking special care to show Tasha the different exercises.  His many years of weightlifting and cross-training has made him an excellent personal trainer!

I am proud of Tasha for working out so hard, it was fun to have her there with us.  More soon!

After a very lazy Sunday morning, I headed to the gym with Paul for a casual karate workout.  We did some stretching, basics, the combination of the month from the Arvada dojo, and then some kata.  I took him through Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan a few times so he could continue learning them, then we did Bassai Dai and Empi just for fun.

We tend to share the aerobics room with whatever other rag-tag group of exercise people, and today there were some guys that looked at first like they were doing breakdancing practice but after awhile it became obvious they were some form of Capoeira.  Some of the stretching and bending they do was pretty incredible looking, but I question the effectiveness of some of the techniques they were working on.

And before those of you come here to say “stop being so close minded, other martial arts have value”, I AGREE.  However, when practitioners are overheard saying “this is how they get cool kicks like you see in the Matrix” I immediately question the value.  Just sayin’.

Ignoring all of that, we still had a pretty decent workout.  I got a sweat going and I got to work on some of our combination and timing drills while Paul got to work on refreshing his basics and kata.  Much fun was had by all!

After four long months, I realized that I was still getting charged for my gym membership so I decided to use it.  Paul and I met up and I did a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical, then we did a light set of exercises on the weight machines.  We added the assisted chinups and assisted dip machine, which was the first time I’ve done that one.  It was interesting, but I couldn’t help but feel like some sort of hydraulic robot as I did my chinups.  If I ever build myself an autonomous suit of armor, I imagine it would feel quite similar. We rounded out our workout for the night with abs, and much fun was had by all.  After some work and social obligations wrap up this week, I will be heading back to the dojo.  I’m really looking forward to that!  Not much else from me tonight, just sitting around waiting for South Park to come on!

Tonight I opted for a gym workout to relieve some of the stress of the office.  I started off with 10 minutes on the elliptical, followed by free weights for an hour.  I rounded off the workout with some ab training.  It felt good to work out again, I’m certainly more relaxed as a result.  Things are starting to taper off in the office a bit, thanks to everyone that expressed their concern over my stressed-out state.

Since we’re so close to the end of the month, I’m going to head back to the Arvada dojo at the beginning of August to prevent from having to spend $60 for a week of training.  In the meantime I’ll fill in with some weights and karate training at the Louisville Rec Center and I should be good to go.  I’m looking forward to meeting their instructor, and I’m looking forward to the shorter drive to get some good ol’ fashioned karate in.

Tonight I finally made it back to the gym.  We did legs and some arms on the machines upstairs, I noticed that my right knee was complaining a little so I went light on the leg curls.  We then went downstairs and did some free weights, abs, and rounded out the workout with a little basketball just for fun.  It felt good to do weights again!

I had a handful of small trees growing in our garden near the front door, so when I got home I did a little bit of yardwork.  While I was chopping up the fallen small trees, I bent over and I smelled something… well… minty fresh.  Upon closer smelling, I found that we had half a dozen small spearmint plants right in front of our yard.  Neat!

Aside from that, I worked on my guitar a bit and hit a bit of a milestone: I was able to play along with Bell X1’s Eve, The Apple of My Eye with the song.  Now I’m hungry, so I’m going to find some food.  Go me!