Sun, December 6th
I found this stand of trees interesting because when I was on one side of the hill nothing appeared amiss, but when I climbed over to the other side I saw that erosion had exposed their root systems. I imagine these trees probably won’t be upright much longer. I’ll have to see if I can find them again one of these days and see how they are doing.
When I see stuff like this I often find myself thinking about applying what I see out in Nature to my life or to life in general.
I remember being introduced to the rudiments of this sort of thinking in high school and it came up quite a bit again in more depth during my freshman and sophomore years in college. Once I learned more about it, I realized that it was probably just as well that the teenaged me hasn’t gone around telling people she was a Transcendentalist.
Even so, I did churn out reams of poetry along what I then thought were transcendental lines, though a lot of it was probably incomprehensible. I don’t have any of those poems now, though I think a couple might still survive if any of the (now) dusty journals they were published in are still kicking around. I wasn’t keeping good track of such things back then so I don’t even remember the names of said magazines and journals.
Mon, December 7th
While I kind of wish that I still had saved more of my old work, I don’t think my misplacing them is any great loss to American Letters. Still, I’m a bit more careful about such things now. Perhaps there is lesson about all this in the plight of the undermined trees?
Rest Day. Calories: 2600, Protein: 104 g.
Tues, December 8th
Morning Walk: 3.31 miles.
Can’t use the basement today for working out because of paint fumes. Plus I don’t want to drag my cat litter fitness bag upstairs and make a bunch of noise with it while my husband is trying to work in his office, so I dug out my old 8 lb. medicine ball, which doesn’t get much use these days, for the Tuesday deck of cards workout.
Deck of Cards Workout
| Suit | Number Card | Face Card |
|---|---|---|
| Hearts | MB Walking Lunges + Front Kick Stretch (2-ct) | 10 Hindu Squats |
| Clubs | Kitchen Counter Push-ups x 2 | 10 Cossack Squats (Partials) |
| Diamonds | Bent Over MB Rows x 2 + Side Kick Stretch (2-ct) | 10 MB Full Squat and Reach |
| Spades | MB Torso Rotation (2-ct) | 10 MB Rom. Dead Lifts |
| Aces (any suit)/Jokers | Black = 20 Full Squats Red = 20 Hindu Squats Joker = 10 Full + 10 Hindu Squats |
Calories: 1965, Protein: 117 g.
Wed, December 9th
Morning Walk: 3.27 miles.
Captains of Crush Gripper (T):
- (Set 1): Right = 6mm x 5 reps, Left = 12mm x 5 reps
- (Set 2): Right = 4mm x 5 reps, Left = 12mm x 5 reps
- (Set 3): Right = 4mm x 5 reps, Left = 12mm x 5 reps
- (Set 4): Right = 4mm x 6 reps, Left = 12mm x 5 reps
- (Set 5): Right = 2mm x 3 + 2 reps, Left = 10mm x 5 reps
- (Set 6): Right = Closed x 2 reps, Left = 8mm x 5 reps
Calories: 1980, Protein: 140 g.
This little pile of squash and such caught my eye when we were out in the woods a couple of days ago. Although the picture makes them look sort of front and center, they were a bit off the beaten trail and I almost missed them. Apparently someone doesn’t want people finding their little cache. Hopefully the creatures out there, who enjoy such things, will but failing that I’m sure our mycological friends will set things to right eventually.
Thur, December 10th
Morning Walk: 3.49 miles. Calories: 2036, Protein: 140 g.
Fri, December 11th
Morning Walk: 3.11 miles.
- Arnold Press: 25 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps, 25 lbs. x 9 reps + 20 lbs. x 3 reps
- DB Bench Press: 25 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps
- Twenty-One’s (FR 12 lbs., LR 10 lbs., RD 12 lbs.): 3 sets
- Super Set
- Tricep Pushdowns (tricep handle): 40 lbs. x 15 reps, 45 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps
- Light Spring Bar (over head): 8-S, 8-P, 12-S, 6-P
- I tried the heavy spring over with a supinated grip over my head. I could barely bend it, which was where I was at some months ago when I started bending the heavy bar at chest level. Changing up an exercise can sure make it a lot harder or easier!
- (Super Set) One-Handed Reverse Grip Tricep Pushdowns (d-handle, ea. arm) 12.5 lbs. x 2 sets x 12 and 15 reps, 15 lbs. x 2 sets x 8 reps +
- (Set #1) Dead Bugs (2-ct): 20 reps
- (Set #2) DB Hammer Curls: 20 lbs. x 12 reps
- (Set #3) Two Handed DB American Swings: 20 lbs. x 15 reps
- (Set #4) Small Shoulder Circles (each way): 60 reps
Calories: 2057, Protein: 137 g.
It isn’t a big deal or anything, but whoever dumped this stuff should have taken the stickers off first for various reasons, not the least of which is no stickers would have made my close up way better!
Sat, December 12th
Morning Walk: 3.0 miles.
I was planning on lifting some weights but I ended up spending the day having fun with the family instead and didn’t want to interrupt our good times with rows and pull downs, though I enjoy lifting weights and was a little tempted. I’ve been working out a decent amount lately, so I’m sure my body won’t say no to an extra bit of recovery time.
Calories: 2540, Protein: 141 g. (I was the same weight as last week, so my total loss is 17.2 lbs. so far.)
Ann's Immaterium 
14 responses to “Work Outs: December 6 – 12, 2020 (Undermined Tree and Squash Cache)”
I appreciate the mention of transcendentalism. I read Emerson and Thoreau several times during school and appreciate their philosophy quite a bit. Those authors and their ideas seem like an ideal thing to be thinking about while getting in touch with nature, I’d say š
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I enjoyed reading them as well. It has been a very long time. I think I might have to go back and re-read some of their work and see what I think of it now. I vaguely remember thinking there was quite a bit of transcendentalist thinking in many of Emily Dickinson’s poems, when I first read them, at about the same time. She was another writer who I greatly admired as a child.
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Nice to see the old school medicine balls gets a run out. Lots of good exercise you can do with one of those.
Keep up the excellent work.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks, Pete. You are right about medicine balls, they are very versatile, though the one I have is a bit less so because it isn’t really designed for rough use for things like slams and the like. I bought it years ago when we were living in an apartment and it gave me good service. It is fun, nevertheless, to bust it out once in awhile.
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Good stuff Ann, great to hear that your regime is on track – you’re making me want to hit the gym now, (was planning a rest day, but those weights ain’t gonna lift themselves!)
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Thank you, Alex. Hehe, you are right, one thing those weights don’t do is lift themselves! š
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As always, I like the photos! š Still don’t understand all the technical exercise stuff, but sounds like you doing well with it and coming up with varying routines (I don’t remember seeing “Cossacks” mentioned before, so I’m sorta paying attention)!
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I’m glad you like the photos, John. It is fun to include them and I notice more when I’m out and about hiking and such because I have my eye open for pictures. Yes, indeed, you are paying attention if you noticed the Cossack Squats. The thing I like about those is they help develop flexibility and such going from side to side. I like to include stuff in my training that I’m not very good at, which would include Cossacks.
I think this is a pretty good video on doing them and progressing to doing them.
A couple more good things about them is you don’t need any equipment or special space to do them and if one lacks the flexibility to do a full Cossack Squat, then one can still get some benefit doing partial squats and working toward being able to do a full one assuming no knee, hip, etc. problems making it impossible or contraindicated. I also think that Side Squats are also a useful exercise to get some of the benefits of doing CS’s but doesn’t require quite as much flexibility.
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I was going to ask why someone would leave all those vegetables out in a forest but Dave answered that , and Iām hoping his mention of the bedrock works for the trees as well , it would be a shame to see such fine trees end prematurely!
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My guess is the same as Dave’s. They probably bought too much for Thanksgiving and thought they might as well dump them in the forest where some of the local wildlife would have a chance at them rather than just toss them in the trash. One of the things that made me guess the cache was holiday left overs was I noticed a couple of persimmons in the pile, which here is something that you commonly see more around Thanksgiving and Christmas than other times of the year.
I’m with you too on the bedrock. Hope those trees manage to not fall over anytime soon.
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That interesting investigative work there Ann,not many people over here would know what fruit and vegetables were seasonable any more as we are able to get all varieties all year round!
An interesting fact over here my mother who was ninety seven when she passed away some years ago told me that when she was young and her dad owned an orange orchard people actually gave oranges as Christmas present to there friends as they were exotic and expensive ! who would believe that now !
I probably wont get in another post before Christmas so i’ll say I trust you and your husband have a safe and happy one and I’m sure we all look forward to a better new year. kindest regards Pat and family.
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That is true. We do have access to much produce year round that used to be a seasonal thing. I remember my grandmother talking about oranges too and my mother also said she received oranges as a present when she was very young but that ended as she got older because the price went down and they were no longer seen as a luxury item. I also remember seeing oranges as presents alluded to on television shows depicting life in the 19th and early 20th Centuries such as Upstairs Downstairs and so on. You are right, who would believe that now?
Thank you, Pat, I hope you and your family have a good Christmas and a nice start to 2021.
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Thank you, Dave. I’m glad that the sedimentary rock will help them out for at least awhile. Perhaps they’ll end up like some trees I’ve seen the past where you can see that the roots were exposed but the tree survived long enough to grow roots in another direction and again anchor itself? Perhaps there is a lesson in this somewhere? š
Yeah, take the labels off before you dump your squash. Darned squash dumpers!
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Workouts seem to be well on track Ann, the trees look very precarious, but there seems to be some sedimentary rock underneath that should stop them falling over.
Nice someone left all those squashes out for the wildlife, but as you say take the labels off ! LOL
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