This has been a good work out week in that I achieved a couple of the goals on my list. Thinking about goals turned my thoughts to a gentleman we met out on the trails quite some time ago now.
He is “a little north of 90” and said that his “goal is to live to at least a hundred so I started walking every day when I retired. I’m down now sometimes to as little as three days a week and I don’t walk if it is raining too hard either. Don’t walk as fast as I used to either. Still think I’m doing pretty good.”
Yup, I agree, that is pretty good!
He had a pretty neat stick, which he made himself, and was kind enough to let me take some pictures to show of his walking stick online. I cropped the pictures, since I didn’t ask permission to put his face on the internet.
Sun, November 15th
Today was a lazy day at home with no training or doing much of anything other than watching movies and such, playing online Parcheesi, and talking to my husband and the cats.
Mon, November 16th
Morning Walk: 2.99 miles. Calories: 1918, Protein: 106 g.
Tues, November 17th
Morning Walk: 3.02 miles.
I thought I’d change things up and do something a little different today. I talked about the Deck of Cards Workout last week, so I decided to do one this afternoon after the obligatory gripper training. I weighted the session a bit toward full squats, since increasing those is one of my major goals right now. Turned out to be a pretty good workout.
Captains of Crush Gripper (T):
- (Set 1): Right = 6mm x 7 reps, Left = 14mm x 6 reps
- (Set 2): Right = 6mm x 6 reps, Left = 14mm x 8 reps
- (Set 3): Right = 6mm x 5 reps, Left = 14mm x 6 reps
- (Set 4): Right = 6mm x 5 reps, Left = 14mm x 5 reps
- (Set 5): Right = 4mm x 4 reps, Left = 12mm x 4 reps
Achieved my current goal with the gripper today, which was to close it to 14mm for four sets of 5 reps with my (weaker) left hand. My new goal is the same, only to 10mm now.
Fitness Bag Deck of Cards Workout
| Suit | Number Card | Face Card |
|---|---|---|
| Hearts | Walking Lunges (2-ct) | 10 Full Squats |
| Clubs | Stair Incline Push-ups | 10 Dead Bugs (2-ct) |
| Diamonds | Bent Over FB Rows | 10 FB Shovels (2-ct) |
| Spades | FB Snatches | 10 FB Rom. Dead Lifts |
| Aces (any suit)/Jokers | 20 Full Squats |
When I was putting together this workout, I looked at various fitness bag exercises and got some ideas from this video. The bag shovel exercise, in particular, was new to me.
Calories: 1993, Protein: 128 g.
Wed, November 18th
Took a day off of training and worked on some writing. Calories: 2086, Protein: 120 g.
Thur, November 19th
Today I decided to test where I was at with the spring bar and the Arnold Press. I was pretty surprised so far as the spring bar goes. As for the presses, I think my current goal of 40 lb. dumbbells is certainly a long range one that will probably take quite awhile to accomplish. Come to think of it, though, I would have said the same thing about the spring bar around the first of the year. Time will tell.
Based on what I’m seeing today I added a micro goal for the Arnold Press of 35 lb. dumbbells for 4 sets of 12 reps.
- Arnold Press: 30 lbs. x 4 sets x 8 reps, 35 lbs. x 6 reps
- Heavy Spring Bar: (alternating pronated and supinated sets): 4 sets x 8 reps.
I achieved my spring bar goal today of 4 sets of 8 reps. My next goal is to bend the bar for 4 sets of 12 reps.
- Twenty-Four’s (Same as 21’s except 8 reps per exercise): 10 lbs. x 4 sets
- Standing Push-ups using cellar stairs:
- (Sets #1 – #2) 15 reps (Hands on 4th riser, feet on floor)
- (Sets #3 – #4) 4/6 reps, 3/5 reps (First number is hands on 3rd riser, which makes things harder. The second number is for hands on 4th riser once I couldn’t do anymore on the 3rd
- Super Set: Tricep Pushdowns (tricep handle): 40 lbs. x 15, 13, 10, 10 reps +
- (Set #1): Walk holding fitness rock over my head x 50 steps
- (Set #2): Spread and Raise Hands (light orange band) x 20 reps
- (Set #3): External Shoulder Rotation (black band, ea. arm) x 12 reps
- (Set #4): Internal Shoulder Rotation (black band, ea. arm) x 12 reps
- Exercise Complex: One-Handed Reverse Grip Tricep Pushdowns (d-handle, ea. arm) 10 lbs. x 12 reps, Small Arm Circles 100 revolutions CW then 50 CCW, Two-Handed American KB Swings: 15 lbs. x 20 reps
- Did a little stretching to end the session.
Calories: 1904, Protein: 109 g.
We certainly see a lot of manzanita when we are out walking on the local trails. It originally caught my eye because there is a lot of it and also because I’d never seen any in the other places I’ve lived. I’m sure there was some where I lived in Texas, in the 1980’s, but I wasn’t really looking at nature quite the same way then as I do now.
The pleasing color and how the bark peels also caught my interest. The berries are edible and that the tree has many “medicinal purposes.” I also learned it doesn’t need much water and does well in poor soil, which pretty much describes much of the area where I’m finding these trees.
According to Wikipedia, manzanita is also sometimes called “mountain driftwood” because it grows in odd, twisted shapes and turns white or gray as it rots (slowly), “rendering it superficially akin to animal bones.” I’ll have to ask around my area and find out if that is a common name here. So far, all I’ve found out about it from asking around is that it “burns hot,” which I tested out for myself some time ago and agree!
Fri, November 20th
- Morning Walk: 3.19 miles.
- Afternoon Training:
- Standing Cable Rows (straight bar): 65 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps
- Super Set:
- Standing Bicep Curls (fitness bag) : 4 sets x 8 reps.
- Twist Yo’ Wrist (cable): 7.5 lbs. x 4 sets x two windings
- Farmer’s Walk (40 lb. DB’s): 115 steps or from where the dumbbells were sitting on my bench, out the door, looped the drive and back inside.
- (Exercise Complex): Fitness Bag Cleans 12 reps, Face Pulls 15 lbs. x 12 reps, Fitness Bag Shovels x 12 reps, Full Squats 30 reps, Wrist Rolling (cable) 10 lbs. x one winding, Bell Tower Crunches (ea. side) 17.5 lbs. x 12 reps, Whirling Dervishes (ea. way) 10 revolutions
Calories: 2115, Protein: 136 g.
Sat, November 21st
(I lost 0.4 pounds for the week, so my total lost is 17.6 lbs. so far.)
Ann's Immaterium 
An interesting species Ann , I noticed in the dead centre of you last photo what looks like a pine cone, does this tree have something similar or is it just a random that’s snecked into the photo Ha Ha ! It certainly has attractive bark, similar to some of our native gum trees.
Oh and you have to love the old-timer saying he was down to three days a week, puts me to shame!
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Hi Pat. 🙂 I think it is a random that snuck in the photo. As I understand, the manzanitas have berries, which are edible, rather than cones. Not sure what kind of cone that is, but there are a lot of different cone-bearing trees in the area so one of them is probably the culprit.
I agree about the bark being pretty. I like deep red quality it has before it peels, which is what caught my eye when I first moved here. Interesting that it is similar to your gum trees.
Hehe, I think the gentleman with the stick puts a lot of people to shame! Apparently three days a week is his minimum that he is “sometimes” down to and other times he does 4-5 walks a week. Pretty decent at any age and I think a great thing that he did once he had more time when he retired.
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All sounds good! 🙂 Nice photos!
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Thank you, John. 🙂 The old cell phone does pretty good, I think considering how many years I’ve had it for.
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Great progress Ann.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks, Pete. 🙂
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The workouts are going well Ann, the gentleman’s stick is excellent, and the fact he is still getting around at his age is marvellous. Very interesting trees, will have to look them up, as not seen them before
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Thank you, Dave, a slow process but that is the nature of these things especially as one gets older. I’m glad that my main reason for doing this is enjoyment. Yes, I agree, the gentleman’s stick was quite a nice bit of art and it is pretty great to see someone in their 90’s out walking around like that. Makes me hope that someday I’ll be doing that too!
I thought they were interesting trees too. The bark is what made me originally pay attention to them, and I was surprised to learn there was so much more to them when I looked them up on Wikipedia. I might look into gathering the berries and doing something with them at some point to see how it goes.
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