Pneumatised!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Nathan and I made a small trip to the gym.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Back extensor

Free weights:
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

We skipped out on the cardio as we were planning on going for a walk later. Next time we’ll probably do some more cardio work.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Nathan and I went for another mile run. My time was 8 minutes 55 seconds. Then we headed to the gym. Here’s the list of exercises I did.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Leg lifts
Back extensor
Stomach curls
Seated row
Seated leg extension (My knee hurt a bit after doing these and I don’t know why I did these. the doctor for my knee surgery warned me to be wary of this machine as it puts a ton of stress on the knee joint. I guess I just wanted to see if my knee was willing to do this. The machine works the quadriceps, but I guess I’ll just be happy with other ways of strengthening the quads.)

Free weights:
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

I did some pushups – 5 variations of them (hands in triangle; hands wide, fingers pointed out; knuckle pushups; regular pushups; and finger pushups (I can’t do them full length yet, so I do them while doing side splits – less weight on the fingers). Total 100 pushups.

Then we did some cardio. I was tired but still managed to do the following.

Eliptical 0.98 mile in 10 minutes
Stair climber 34.6 floors in 10 minutes 15 seconds

Then, we did some stretching and headed home.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I skipped out on the do jang this week. I just wasn’t in the mood for it. As someone said to me, “you have nothing to prove”, which explains why I go when I feel like going and try not to freak out when I don’t go because others expect it. Frankly, I’m only concerned with what my Master thinks (because he’s such a great guy) and he isn’t complaining about my training. Besides, what with the running and the work I need to do, it’s just hard to keep up sometimes. In any case, training for the black belt test starts in May and it’s not like I’m being lazy eating “bonbons” every night.

Today, I went for a run. It’s good for my knee to run and I like getting out for some fresh air (or as fresh as it’ll ever be in this city). It helps clear my congestion from my allergies too.

I decided to go for a mile and a half run. This is probably the second time I’ve done it all in one run. I’ve been doing it split up into a half mile and then a mile. Today my time was decent – 12 minutes 55 seconds. It works out to 8 minutes 36 seconds for a mile. My time is getting better again. I think it has much to do with the cold weather. It just hurts alot to run in the cold, but it’s good for me to get used to it. Since I have to run the 10k in July, it’s good that I get used to running in the cold. I should end up running faster in the summer. Less weight on the body to run with and I don’t have to worry about my lungs and my ears freezing up on me. 🙂

I’m hoping in the next few weeks I should be able to run 2 miles. The one mile should really just feel like a warm-up, not my whole workout. Though I guess it doesn’t help that I have allergies and am congested on the days I’m at home working. Ah well… just love my kitties.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

Monday, February 27, 2006

I went to the do jang and helped teach poomse class. Then, I took the next taekwondo class, which was one hour or more traditional training. After, I took the half hour crazy kicking class, which loads of speed kicking

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

I went running. Nathan decided to join me. We ran 1 mile up Church to Yonge and Bloor. My time was 9 minutes 22 seconds. Then, we headed to the gym. Nathan signed up for a gym membership. Yay! We can now go workout together. Below are the exercises I did.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Bicep curl
Tricep extensor
Leg lifts
Back extensor
Abdominal press
Seated row

Using free weights:
Bicep curls
Two shoulder exercises
Wrist strengthening

Cardio:
Elliptical

I did some pushups. We did some stretching and then headed home.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

I went to the do jang and took gumdo and taekwondo class.

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Nathan and I ran 1 mile to Yonge/Bloor via Church street. My time for the run was 8 minutes 53 seconds. Then, we went to the gym. Below are the exercises I did.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Leg lifts
Back extensor
Seated row

Free weights:
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises
Wrist strengthening

Situps and side situps

Cardio:
Eliptical 0.97 mile in 10 minutes
Stair climber 20 floors in 10 minutes

Then, we did some stretching and headed home.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

“Don’t let the things you can’t do stop you from doing the things you CAN do”

MM,

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Last Sunday, I wend to the do jang. I actually woke up at 7:30 a.m.! So, I went to the do jang for the 10:30 taekwondo class. Since I hadn’t been in for awhile, I stayed to practice gumdo and TKD forms. After, I went to gym too.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Leg lifts
Back extensor
Bicep curl (using free weights)

I also did some free weights – two shoulder exercises and wrist strengthening which I hadn’t done for awhile. I did some pushups. Then of course I did some stretching before I headed home.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Finally, made it in for gumdo class! Hehe… had such a long break from it. Turns out the gumdo test was this month on Friday, but I decided not to test anyway. Apparently, need the gumdo uniform to test. So, I’m going to wait two more months. It’ll just give me more time to make some techniques better.

I took taekwondo class after. It was good cardio kicking class again. The Master had adapted our schedule a bit so that Monday and Wednesday is more traditional (hand strike techniques as well as other kicking techniques and not so competition focused). Right after class on Monday and Wednesday, we also do half hour of crazy kicking. Tuesday and Thursday is cardio kicking, which means lots of bouncing on our and speed kicking. I still feel so slow. Slower than I used to be before my knee injury, but it’s finally coming back without much complaint from my poor knee.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

I went to the do jang for taekwondo. I took the 7 p.m. class and then the next half hour. Total: an hour and a half of training. Good stuff for me though. Traditional style training is more power focused and trains more isometrically while the modern style (cardio) trains the speed. Anyway, I like this schedule better. Works for me.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

I woke up early again… hehe… starting to be a regular thing. I’m starting to like exercising earlier. I must be getting older. Hehe… the martial arts keep me young though. Weekend classes are fun because we get to do different things. This time we practiced some advanced combination kicks. Not so much focused on speed, but just trying out the combinations. Some were familiar to me, but I hadn’t done in awhile (e.g., hop-step roundhouse, roundhouse, tornado roundhouse, spinning hook kick). Hehe… fun stuff. I even had enough sleep and had something to eat in the morning, so was doing fairly well. Still slower than I used to be though. I really need to be training more often, but just haven’t had the time yet. I promised the Master I’d be in more often in March and April. (Though I’m still in the middle of writing my reiki manuals. I’m on the second one. Hoping to have all three done by April and then have to review it all.)

After the class, I stayed to practice my spinning hook kick a bit more. I could feel it coming back to me. I hadn’t practiced it in a long time in class so it was starting to get sloppy. Yesterday, it felt better, so I stayed afterwards to practice some more. I need to practice that kick often. It’s the kind of kick that if you don’t do often, it’s easy to lose because it relies on loose hips among other things.

Then, I went to the gym.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Leg lifts
Bicep curl (using free weights)

I also did some free weights – two shoulder exercises and wrist strengthening.

I headed home and then went for a run. I ran to Yonge from home and then back (total 2 km). Nathan came with me this time. We took a short break at Yonge (to do some errands), then ran towards home and the grocery store. (We ended up stocking up our freezer again. 😀 Oh, happy, full freezer of meat!) My time for the run yesterday was 5 minutes 17 seconds to Yonge and 5 minutes 54 seconds going to Sherbourne. Eek… slow times for 1 km each way, but in all fairness I worked out all morning. Already lots of cardio and muscle training then a run. Still needed to do it though. I felt like I need to do some more cardio. It is still hard to run in the cold, but I put on another sweatshirt that had a better hood, so my ears and head are kept warm now.

Okay, time to get back to work.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Finally went for a run. I ran a half mile to Bloor and Park Rd., then a mile back going north on Yonge to Church and then south on Church. My time was a little slow, but decent. I was feeling a little dizzy from the cold. Thinking on top of wearing a hat, I need to wear ear muffs. My ears really can’t take the cold well. The time for the half mile was 5 minutes 14 seconds and the time for the mile was 9 minutes 7 seconds. I’m hoping to get a run in tomorrow.

I did do some pushups when I got back from the run and some free weights for my arms. I felt like my arms were getting weak from not getting to the gym as much as I should lately. I also did some light stretching. I’m fairly flexible, so a short time not doing much stretching doesn’t hurt me as much as missing the running and weight training.

I didn’t get any writing done, so hoping to go for a run tomorrow and come back and do some writing.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

This is just a quick update. Since I’ve been so busy writing lately, I haven’t gotten much training in. 🙁 I did get to the do jang last Monday for taekwondo. Then on Saturday was a black belt meeting, so I had to go to the do jang. We didn’t do much training and because I didn’t get enough sleep, I decided to head home. Next week, I’m hoping to get some more training in though it’s hard to do sometimes when my brain just has too much that needs to be written.

On a good note, I’m just about done writing my Reiki One manual. 🙂 There was much to write and I still have to review it and edit it.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week and hoping I can get some writing done as well as get some exercise. Around March I have to increase the amount of training because I have my black belt test in July. Intense training starts in May and I have to get up to speed again after taking some time off of regular training.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Made myself go to the do jang last night. Hehe… had to tear myself away from writing, but the exercise did help clear my head. We had an easy class, just practicing all our kicks on our own. Not an olympic style training class. Phew! I hadn’t exercised for a few days, so I was glad it wasn’t too much cardio.

Today, I need to do more writing.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Finally had a chance to run last Friday. Since I had nearly two weeks off from running and not much do jang and gym time, it was rough trying to run again. I also felt a little bloated. I ended up getting a cramp by the time I finished running a half mile – that’s what I get for taking time off. I thought maybe the cramp would go away after I walked for a bit and then started my mile run. It only eased up a bit and after running another half mile, I cramped up again. This time it was much harder to recover from and I ended up walking almost the whole next half mile back. It took me nearly 5 minutes to recover from the cramp. By that time, I was almost home. I decided that I might as well run the rest of the way anyway.

My time for the first half mile was 4 minutes 55 seconds. The time for the second half mile was 4 minutes 39 seconds. At least I did run a total distance of one mile.

Tonight I’m hoping to make it into the do jang. I’ve been busy since last Wednesday and haven’t gone in yet. My Master is probably wondering what happened to me!

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

It’s been a bit of a crazy week for me. I had my reiki 3 course on Saturday (January 21) and have been working on my manual and generally engaged in research.

I did manage to get to the do jang this week, even if it was just one day. Wednesday, I actually got there just in time to change and get ready for poomse class and ended up teaching the orange and green belts. I had two children to teach too. It’s strange how these two kids pick up things faster than the adults. Then I took the next class which was of course lots of kicking. But a good workout as always.

Now, I’m contemplating if I can get a run in today. Still lots of work to do, but I guess it will still be here when I get back. Today is going to be rough for a run since I haven’t ran for awhile. Wish me luck.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame