Workout Recap - Week of November 10, 2019
I just watched an interesting movie on Netflix called The Game Changers, which was about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. I wasn't surprised by the basic idea that eating foods which the human body has adapted to handle is better than forcing it to deal with whatever you shovel into your mouth. Neither was I surprised that it's possible to meet all of your nutritional needs without eating meat, since everything has to flow down the food chain.
There were two things about it that did surprise me, though. First, one of the NFL players commented that giving up meat helped rid him of feelings of sluggishness and bloating after eating, which was exactly the reaction that I had after giving up grains. In retrospect, it's possible that the difference for me was also at least partially from increasing my vegetable intake to fill in the void left by cutting out grains. The other surprise for me was the degree of malnutrients that even high quality (organic, grass fed, etc.) meat had.
Now, I don't see myself switching to being 100% vegan immediately in the way that I was able to pretty much instantly go paleo because I'm a fan of certain meats (primarily seafood). However, I'm willing to try reducing my meat intake and seeing if I feel a difference.
Monday
Type: Pass/Fail
Stand-to-stand Bridges, one wall touch on the way up - 1 set of 10 (pass)
Uneven Pull Ups - 1 set of 8, each side (pass)
Fingertip Push Ups - 1 set of 16 (pass)
Bonus: 4 bridge kips, 5 burpees
Seeing as I'd been away from intense strength-focused exercise for almost a week, I thought it'd be best to check myself against my recent baseline performances before pushing into new grounds. Thus, my goal for this week was to just do a few steady workouts and see how my body responds. I was quite satisfied with how it went on this day.
Tuesday
Type: Pass/Fail
Close Handstand Push Ups - 1 set of 10 (pass)
L-Hang - 1 set of 20 breaths isometric hold (pass)
Pistol Squats, both hands behind me - 1 set of 8, each side (pass)
Bonus: 2 sets of 3 two-way suicide jumps, 7 burpees
I was able to hit my rep targets here, but I wasn't entirely happy with how my endurance held up. The pistol squats in particular had me gasping for air more than I feel like I should've been doing. Come next week, I think I'll try to dial up some HIIT workouts to work on tuning that up.
Wednesday
Type: As Fast As Possible
5 sets of:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Prisoner Squats
Time = 4:15
Bonus: 5 close pull ups
Further evidence that I didn't drop off too much but did suffer from a palpable drop in endurance, seeing as I had achieved 4:00 finish times in my last couple goes at this workout.
Friday
Type: As Fast As Possible
6 sets of:
6 Pull Ups
6 Burpees
6 Bridges
Time = 7:00
Bonus: 5 chin ups
I moved my challenge up a day because I was eager to see how I'd do at least, and I was rather pleased. Given my endurance concerns in my last couple of workouts, I'd had some doubts about my ability to keep things going here, but I powered through to a solid finish time.
Saturday
Type: As Fast As Possible
50 Burpees
Time = 4:15
Bonus: 2 sets of 7 pull ups
Honestly, I was tempted to go for the full 100 here, but I backed off on a gut feeling. The final performance was still solid, hitting the same time as I'd gotten just before my trip. I was definitely sucking wind afterwards, though, so I can't rest on my laurels, lest I embarrass myself when my regular 100 burpee challenge comes due in three weeks.
