30 seconds to...

[lpf]

Prologue

"...come break me down, bury me, bury me, I am finished with you...."
This song got stuck in his head, he didn't even know why, as he has never really listened to 30 Seconds To Mars.
Maybe there has been another band covering it, maybe something is going to change and his head already knows,
maybe he wants something to change... At the moment, he doesn't know why, but he sings along in his head and continues his journey...



*side note from me: I am trying to do this thread a bit differently than the old one... I don't know, if it works out all the time...

 

[lpf]

Chapter 1

There I stood, fully dressed up in workout clothes, not wondering how I came here, but knowing, what I wanted to do. (*narrator: really?)
So I went down to my basement follwoing the usual line of action, before I started my workout. I turned on the lights
(*narrator: also the one to the next room, which isn't really necessary, he just confuses it every time with the switch for the desk lamp next to his workout diary),
turned on my playlist, put all the weights and stuff together (*narrator: not really) and started my warm-up.
After my warm-up, it was time for the workout of that day.
As it was pull day, I went for the Biceps Only workout, using my EZ bar, my kettlebells and one dumbbell for the last exercise.
I really like the pump of my biceps.

The next day, abs was on the list, as I also want to run a bit more (*narrator: well, how about even starting to run?),
I decided to go for the Core for Runners workout.
(*narrator: this is no substitue for running....)
I went for the whole 9 yards, meaning, I did all 5 sets with no rest (*narrator: well.... a few seconds rest were seen here and there)

On another note, the second half of the season has started and my team had there first match yesterday evening,
it was hard work, but in the end, we won that game.
As I don't know, if some of you know handball, or are really interested in this, I will keep it short
(*narrator: which is really hard for him, he tends to talk hours and hours about handball, sometimes it is really annoying!)

 

[NancyTree]

Nice new thread!

 

[lpf]

Dieser Moment, wenn man das Gefühl hat, die Zeit steht still und man könnte seinen Gedanken nachgehen, aber....
(*narrator: oh one moment, why is he speaking German? I will talk to him... give me a minute)

oh, my bad, I'm sorry, so let's start again...
...this moment, when it feels like time stands still, you could hang on some thoughts, but your body is shaking, your abs are burning,
this means, you are trying to plank for some more minutes... but let's start at the beginning.
(*narrator: well, this is a good idea)

The first thing, before I start to workout, is always looking at a clock to see, which time it is. Most of the days, I have to train in the evenings, alone in the dark
(*narrator: nope... there's always light on...)
so, after filling my bottle with water and getting dressed and ready, I went down to my basement and looked at my plan. It was push day,
meaning, getting ready to bench press cars.
(*narrator: cough.... which is a long way to go, regarding what he could actually do at the moment...)
I like push days, well, I like all workout days... I really like to workout. Which is pretty obvious by the way, if not, I wouldn't be here...
(*narrator: that's what I wanted to say.... hey! this was my text....!)
so, Push B was the plan I did, nothing more and nothing less

the next day, which was yesterday, abs was on the plan... superhero abs, you know, just to feel like a superhero
(*narrator rolls eyes)
The first exercises were bicycle (*narrator: knee-to-elbow, to be more precise) crunches and leg raises and then there was this moment, when it feels like time stands still, you could hang on some thoughts, but your body is shaking, your abs are burning,
this means, you are trying to plank for some more minutes.
And if this wasn't enough, side planks and hollow hold for time were next up. Last exercise is like flying... superman stretches.
And that's it so far.

Tonight is legs
(*narrator: oh by the way, we are still in chapter 1, I don't know, when chapters change, but sometimes I even don't know, what he is doing next, even though I am the omniscient narrator)

 

[lpf]

Nice new thread!

thank you, I will give my very best to keep it like that, at the moment, it is a lot of fun writing like this

 

[lpf]

When it was leg day on Friday, I really didn't want to do it. Not because, I don't like leg days, just because I had to play goalkeeper for the younger Handball team
This is usually pretty leg intense.
(*narrator: especially, if you are an old man...*cough)
But I did it anyway. Power Lifter Workout. I wanted to go up with the weight in each set... but let's be honest, 3 leg exercises and each of it going full force...
That would have led to not being able to leave the basement for weeks, as the legs wouldn't have worked for a long time.
(*narrator: but that would have been funny!)
So I kept the weight the same, for all exercises, half my bodyweight, which is enough.
(*narrator: *whistles....)
so, after all this was done, I was done too. I tried to walk up the stairs again, which was already harder than expected... I already felt my hams in every step.

On Saturday, I wrapped my fists, put on my gloves and was ready for combat..
(*narrator sings: ready for combat, ready for rage...)
Well, after a warmp-up which was a little bit of jump rope stuff and Fighter's warm-up, then Fighting Fit was the workout I wanted to do and what I did.
I tried some different punches and combos, different kicks and kick combos and in the third round punch and kick combos.
The last round is freestyle without a punching back, so I went all crazy and it felt great, I really like doing this...
(*narrator: yeah, I know, he misses going to kickboxing, but he enjoys training the handball teams a lot more so....)
After this, Fighter's stretching and than it was time to relax.

On Sundays, I usually ride my bike, but this wasn't possible, due to some scheduling issues, well, self made issues, so to say, my team had a handball game
on that day, so this is why riding the bike was skipped. The game went really well, we won and got our next two points so we can keep up with the team on the first place.
Oh, when I say my team, I mean the boys I coach. They are between 16-18.
(*narrator: which you have already told everybody.... Next up, he will tell you, that he also trains a team of younger boys between 13-15)
I also have a second team, I coach, these boys are younger, like 13-15, but I will stop training them in summer, as the head coach of the older ones leaves and
I will be the only coach at least for a certain amount of time, but it is already difficult to manage the schedule of both teams at the moment, so keeping just one team,
will give me a bit more free time, which I really need sometimes.
After I got home, I decided to change clothes and just workout a bit, do some abs stuff and some stretching. I really don't know, what's wrong with me
(*narrator: oh, I know...)
but again I wanted time to stand still and did the 4 minute plank workout. Which went really well. So next time, I should try 5 minutes....
After this some stuff for the shoulders and that's all for the last week.

 

[lpf]

"...we increased the goal difference to 6 again and didn't let it decrease..."
When I finished the report of our match at the weekend, I sent it to our social media team and decided it was time to do some workout.
(*narrator: oh, I see what you did here....)
Power Builder was the workout to go. I really looked forward to this, as I could go to failure in push-ups and see, if I get closer to 50...
but sometimes nothing works like planned. My chin-ups were okay, 10-5-2-3-2, my push-ups were not that good... 26-10-10-5-5.
This could have different reasons, the last time I did push--ups was 3 weeks ago (the first set reached something around 40, I think),
I had to do push-ups on my fists, which changes the range of motion and the execution of the exercise...
(*narrator: his wrist still hurts from the crash he had)
So, not my best push-ups today, but it could have been worse.
Those tricep dips were changed wih tricep extensions, to not stress the wrist meaning, keep the load on the wrist as low as possible.
5 minutes of punches were fun, as my playlist kicked in and it was more like a dancing around punching or punching around dancing...
whatever you want I might be... well, no, I am an all-out lunatic.
(*narrator: this is something he has been called already, so I am fine with this)
because the last exercise in this workout is a 3 minute plank hold.... somehow, planks are a big part of my life somehow.
Well... as the day wasn't that good, this also showed in the plank. After 1:30, I couldn't hold it any longer and just fell to the floor and lay there, just lay there....
(*narrator sings: would you lie with me.... oops... sorry)
That was it for this day, my abs might thank me tonight, as I will work on them again

 

[MadamMeow]

Sorry your wrists still hurt, but I do hope that won't last long.

 

[lpf]

Sorry your wrists still hurt, but I do hope that won't last long.

well.... I think it might take one or two more weeks, until it's okay again.

 

[lpf]

After I did abs on Monday during the upper body workout, it was time to do abs on Tuesday in a dedicated abs workout.
Well, this sounds as weird, as it was. So I went down to my favourite workout place, turned on my favourite music and looked at the plan and
there I saw something, that kept my brain working
(*narrator: your... what?)
So, let me explain it to you, what made me think, well rethink me actual workout plans.
I have two different weeks, that repeat themselves.
week one is push - abs - pull - abs&martial arts - legs - martial arts
week two is upper - abs&martial arts - legs&martial arts - abs&martial arts - upper - martial arts
mobility, stretching, cycling and running is also done on different days during the weeks on different days....
So, what's the problem or better, what was the thing that made me rethink the plan?
(*narrator: great question, tell me... what is it?)
I have one week with 4 martial arts related workouts and one week with just two.... so my idea was to rearrange this to 3 workouts of this kind in each week.
This means, I only did abs on Tuesday, as there were 3 other martial arts workouts in this week.
The abs workout itself was straight forward and short: Micro Shred

On Wednesday Legs and Turning Kicks practice. I started with 5 minutes of jump rope and put the legs work in between the different kicks, like an active rest.
(*narrator: more like "rest" regarding what he did...)
I did 20 kettlebell swings in between each kicking part, so I ended up in doing 100 swings plus a lot of kicks and some squats, as they are part of the Turning kicks workout.

Thursday was abs again. I did super abs and nothing more, as I was really short in time
(*narrator: so no martial arts either? mmmh... I really need to have a talk with him)
...
...
...
(*narrator: wait, that's all? no more things to say? okay.... so.... dear readers, fellow bees, strangers and friends, have a nice day)

 

[lpf]

Assassin's Creed is one of my favourite games
(*narrator: even though, his first one was Syndicate.... and he also likes Horizon: Zero Dawn)
*looks at narrator* Am I allowed to continue?
(*narrator: ...)
okay, so Assassin's Creed, so I decided to do the Altair Workout. The pull-ups were good, the close-grip push-ups were increased to 6 reps,
as this worked pretty good with my wrist. but the abs stuff was harder than expected. I mean, this was the 4h day with abs, so they might have been
a bit tired.... so Level 1 was all that I could do on Friday.

On Saturday, I did the Boxer Workout, on Level 3, so 2 squats every 30 seconds, 15 push-ups (on the fists) and 15 sit-ups in every set for 5 sets
(*narrator: and again abs... he might be a bit stupid... 5 days with abs...)
For the shadow boxing part, I tried different combos of punches and kicks, even though the might not be really useful or to complicated,
but in the end, it's a good workout for the brain also and it was a lot of fun, trying different things.

On Sunday, I put on my new helmet, the old one was damaged during my accident, packed my stuff, meaning something to drink and some energy bars
(*narrator: to much food as always, but he also is always hungry, so maybe someday he will eat it all)
and went for a ride with my bike. The weather was great, the sun was shining and I really enjoyed the ride.
I will attach a little pic of my bike, when we had a rest on a little hill, a mine dump. I think it is called like this in english, it's a heap of old coal and stuff from a mine.
We have like 3 of these in our region, and it's always a good place to ride uphill.

 

[lpf]

When your plan shows you a workout and you think about changing it with another one but then do it either way and realise, it was a good idea to it.
This is what happend to me, when I did my push workout on Monday. The plan said dumbbell triceps, but I wanted to do something else.
In the end I did the workout and... well... keeping the weight from exercise 1 two exercise 2, as I can lift it, was something I should rethink sometimes
(*narrator: well, rethink and ignore everything you thougt and do it anyway... this is how it usually works for him)
The rest was okay and it was a good idea to do that workout and I will definitely revisit it.

On Tuesday was abs day.... shredder abs edition. My abs were on fire again, meaning, I could have done a lot more and I think, I will do it with 4 sets next time instead of 3.
After this... no, before the abs stuff, I did combat hiit express, 5 sets. I really enjoyed this one. I did all the 5 sets without any rest.
Next time, 7 sets
(*narrator: progressive overload, yeah! On the other hand, it seems, that everything is working fine for him at the moment, so why not try to add some stuff or do a bit more)

Tonight is pull day and I think I will use my rowing machine in the end, just for the fun of it
(*narrator sings: so it is written, so will it be done!)

 

[lpf]

We got push, we got abs and we got martial art moves already, so it was time to do some pull stuff and abs and legs in this order.
This means, I went down to my favorite cave...
(*narrator: ??? cave? you are NOT Batman!)
...and did my pull workout. Pull B was the one to go and I only added weight for the bent over rows. I wanted to add 5kg, but decided 2,5kg would be enough
so it was 57,5kg on bent over rows for 10 reps each, which means, 60kg what have been also doable.
(*narrator: see you next time 60kg... hehe)
I think I can increase the weight for the curls next time also, as doing 12 reps in each set was far easier than expected.

On Thursday it was time for abs and matrial arts. abs supreme made me feel everything possible but not supreme.
It was harder than I had it in mind and I had to lay a bit longer on the floor than I thought, before I entered the Pits.
I managed to survive the Pits for 5 minutes doing only elbow strikes and knee strikes... close combat for the win.
After this it was time for a shower and to relax watching the last episode of Echo.
*looks at narrator
(*narrrator: mmmh? oh no, nothing to add here, everything is fine, keep on going...)

Next up, legs. The thing about leg day is, that after you are finished, you will walk a bit funny... Okay, but let's start at the beginning.
I decided to go for the same weight for lunge step-ups, side lunges and single leg deadlifts. I used my 20kg waterbag for all 3 exercises.
So they were more like a warm-up for the deadlift at the end
(*narrator: just to make it a bit clearer, he rearanged the order of the exercises, did the first 3 in an EMOM style and the single leg deadlift with the 2 minutes rest.
After this he started with the deadlift)
I started the deadlift with 50kg, the idea was to go up with the weight in each set and do just 8 reps in each set, so that the last set would be also doable with more reps
(*narrator: plans.... hahahaha)
I ended up doing 10 reps in the first set, increased the weight to 60kg for the next set, did 10 reps, increased the weight to 70kg, did 10 reps,
increased the weight to 80kg did 10 reps and increased the weight to 90kg and did 8 reps.
I thought about adding another 5kg just to try it, but I had to stay on the floor a bit longer, because my legs felt like pudding.
(*narrator sings: I want it that way....)
After the pudding got a bit harder, it was time to stand up and walk upstairs....
(*narrator: crawl upstairs, but who wants to know this stuff?)

Today bag work and an additional bit for the abs might happen...
Have a nice weekend you all
(*narrator: yeah, have a nice weekend)

 

[lpf]

Saturday has been a long day, I have done the last parts of the diy home improvement for the guest toilet.
When I fastenend the last screw for the shelf, I took a step back and
(*narrator: come on, say it...)
I was impressed by myself because it looks really good.
After this, it was time to wrap my hands in boxing bandages and set the time for 5 minutes... well, I didn't set the time for 5 minutes,
I set it for 35, went down on the floor for the 2 minutes abs work after each 5 minutes of boxing.
All in all, 35 minutes of boxing, some kicking, some knees and some abs stuff
(*narrator: ... heavy breathing, gasping for air and a lot of sweat...)
Then it was already time for a shower, because I had to pick up my son from school, as he came back from his school trip.

On Sunday, I did the 7 minute abs workout, which I wanted to do on Saturday but had to move it to Sunday, due to the tight schedule. Before I did the abs stuff, I
used the rowing maching for 15 minutes. Which is something I should do more often
(*narrator: I think I have heard this before... mmmh)

New day, new week. Monday was upper body day and PT Pyramid was on the list. The first reps felt really good and
I went up really fast to 6 reps for the pull-ups. The next set, I could only reach 5 reps for the pull-ups and so I went down again.
In the end, it was a hard and short workout.
(*narrator: which is something I like the most....)

It was time to walk around a bit, so I decided to walk 15 minutes uphill on Tuesday
(*narrator: on a treadmill...)
The right thing to end a walk like this, is to do some abs work, so abs finisher was the next thing to do and then it was time to look on the next day...

Wednesday was leg day and kicks day.
After 5 rounds of the jump rope HiiT workout, I did the side kicks pratice.
I prefer turning kicks, so the side kicks were mentally a bit harder, as the are not that much fun for me.
But I did them anyway and that's what counts in the end.
(*narrator: so these are a lot of days, but at least he kept it short and he didn't mention the handball game on Sunday, which was not that good by the way...
should I ask him about it? nah.... no...)

 

[MadamMeow]

(I kind of want to ask him about the handball game on Sunday, but since it wasn't good, I don't want to rub salt in the wound. So to speak).

Glad you had an all in all good week!

 

[lpf]

(I kind of want to ask him about the handball game on Sunday, but since it wasn't good, I don't want to rub salt in the wound. So to speak).

Glad you had an all in all good week!

(*narrator: if he would answer, he would say, it was a total desaster.... the defense didn't work, so it was too easy for the opponent to score, when it was time to attack, they had problems finding solutions to score.... but even though, they weren't playing good, they managed to score 32 goals, but the opponent scored some more.... all played like they were tired.... and that's exactly what the problem was, all of them were tired, because they were helping the adult teams during their games at the weekends for the whole season and that's a bit too much in the end.)

oh thanks, the week was really nice and good

 

[Sevalys]

just

 

[lpf]

just

 

[lpf]

Chapter 1.5 Interlude or when the narrator takes over

hey there, it's me... the narrator....
(I think the people know who you are...)
before we enter the next chapter, let's put some things together... the 8 weeks of his plan are done, which was fun most of the time for him, I think.
There have been a few days, when he didn't exercise, mostly because of a bad schedule.
In the end,
he had done something around 3 to 5.000 reps in total for all the exercises he did...
he had been riding his bike for 12 hours, which is roundabout 234km
he had moved tons of weight, including his own bodyweight and kettlebells and barbells and his waterbag

his new plan is mostly like the old one, he has adjusted the schedule and changed some of the fridays to full body workouts with his waterbag...
I will keep watching him and tell him to write about the things that happened.... so... see you soon

 

[NancyTree]

read you soon!

 

[MadamMeow]

Glad things seem well!

 

[lpf]

Chapter 2
check the playlist, turn up the volume and press play.... while Emily Armstrong sung something about a weatherman, I layed myself on the floor,
one kettlebell to the left, the other one to the right and started pressing them upwards to the ceiling.
(*narrator: If you ever wondered yourself, if you can do chest press with 2 24kg kettlebells and then use the same weight for flys, I can tell you, don't do this, don't even try it....)
I changed the weights for the flys, as my pecs are definitley not strong enough to lift 24 kg on each side.
Those pull overs were done with my waterbag, as this is really fun, I mean, due to the water, the weight moves around and around and you have to stabelize it the whole time.
(*narrrator: and you can go on and bore them with a detailed description of every exercise....)
okay, those abs exercises were done as described, with a medball

On Wednesday was pull day and... yeah, I could write a lot about this day, but I just want to keep it short. Everything has improved, and I think about adding more weight again.

Tuesday and Friday were abs and a little bit of martial arts....
(*narrator: wait, Fridays? not Thursdays?)
Yes, I moved the workouts around, due to scheduling issues.... do you remeber this, or do you just drop in every now and then?
(*narrator: oh, yes, I remember it....)
Can I go on?
(*narrrator: feel free.... go on....)
okay, where have I been?
(*narrator: abs....)
abs... right... brute abs and hollow hold... did I ever mention, that I enjoy doing hollow hold? Is this even something you can write in a book in chapter 2?
Keeps this the story going on? Will it thicken the plot? Or does it answer some unsolved questions?
(*narrator: dear readers, feel free to ignore those questions and go on with reading....)

When the plans says Leg day... which was the case on Thursday, you know that the fun will begin.
The order of the exercises and the way they have to be done really invites you to do them EMOM.
So, 5 exercises, 4 sets, EMOM with a little rest of 1 minute after each exercise means, 25 minutes lifting weights with your legs
I felt fresh, but exhausted after the workout and when I was ready to leave my basement, I remembered, while I am stupid sometimes.
I workout in a basement, I have to climb upstairs after working out... with legs like jelly...
so, the workout took me 25 minutes and getting into my apartement took me almost 15 minutes, instead of usual 5....
(*narrator: muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

Time for the weekend, time for some gardening, with DOMS in the legs, I moved like I am old...
(*narrator breathes in) -- don't say a word!
After gardening, it was time for martial arts... I did the Boxer workout, 25 minutes of shadow boxing and 75 push-ups and sit-ups

Sunday it was time to get on my bike and ride a bit around....
which means.... 75km in like 4 hours.... When I started the tour, I went against the wind because I thought this would be a good idea, driving home with tailwind
but I made my decision without the wind. He decided to turn around and became headwind again, which made the way home not that much fun.
On the other hand.... there is always something worse.... living on a hill means, you have to ride uphill to get home.
so after 73km, there was the hill laughing at me...
I looked at him and said:"es ist mir ganz egal, wie das aussehen wird und wie schlecht ich hochfahren werde, aber ich werde nicht absteigen und schieben!"
(*narrator: in eglish he said: it doesn't matter what it will look like and how bad he will be riding uphill, but he will not get off the bike and push it up the hill.)

and that all for the last week... as we had holidyas here, there was no training or games for the handball guys,
but this might happen in the next weeks again and if there will be something to write about, I will do it, no matter if you want to read it or not

 

[lpf]

"just let me... let me lie here for a few seconds... I will get up...." This is what I said to myself on Friday, after my....
(*narrator: wait, wait, wait.... this is somewhere in the middle, this is not the beginning of the last week... so... let's rewind to the start... Monday...)

My legs still felt a bit tired from the long bicycle ride on Sunday, so it was good, that Monday was upper body day...
Tom Boy was the workout on the list. I really like these kind of workouts, short and simple, but hard. And that is really all that happended, nothing fancy or weird.

On Tuesday I had the first training session with my team with the new coaches. So, they introduced themselves to the guys and then it was time for some fun with me...
The team has established a certain phrase for this in German, which rhymes with my name... which is kind of funny, but when they here it#s time for "Fun with lpf"
they know, what is going to happen. I did a little strength circuit with them and after this they played handball for the rest ot the training session.
After this, it was time for my own workout, so I went down to the basement and did some abs stuff.

Wednesday Legs... Jump Rope HiiT and after this, Still Here, Still Kicking. I always ask myself, why I get higher in the hook kicks, than in any other kick.
I think, the movement of the leg leads to a better position of the upper body and the standing leg. But that's just me and my weird working body,
so who knows if this is right or makes sense to anyone else...
(*narrator: well... no.)

On Thursday again abs and Hot Sauce. Throwing some punches and knees is fun.

On Friday it was time for the first waterbag workout. Special Ops was the one to go. So it looked like this: 20kg waterbag on my back...
5 sets of 20 lunges with 30 seconds rest and then 5 sets of 20 squats and then 5 sets of some sort of cleans,
followed by 5 sets of push-ups to failure with pullin the bag followed by 5 sets of twists and to finish it all, put the bag away and do 5 sets of pull-ups.
Which was followed by me lying on the floor in a puddle of sweat... saying the following words: "just let me... let me lie here for a few seconds... I will get up...."

It took some time, not only a few seconds, but in the end I got up again and climbed up the stairs to get into the shower....

(*narrator: yeah, I think that's it, some kind of cliffhanger, as Saturday and Sunday are missing, but who cares...)