We’re finally retiring our old Galaxy 6 phones so the other day I pulled off the great mass of photos that I’ve accumulated over the years. So I have had a chance to look at some pictures (old and newish) I’d forgotten about.
One that isn’t too old is this picture of one man’s rather inventive solution at transporting his medium-sized dog around on his Harley. The dog seems quite happy and fortunately it was a nice, pleasant day. As it turns out, my hairdresser who is very much into bikes, knows this guy and told me the dog absolutely loves traveling around all over the place like this, which I think is nice. Our piebald friend certainly looked happy.
Sun, February 27th
Rest day. Recovering from the Saturday wrestling show. My husband and I went to the mall and hung out in the Shiatsu massage chairs for an hour, which was nice.* Made a point to drink a lot of water throughout the day and periodically stretch.
Calories: 1997, Protein: 145 g.
Mon, February 28th
- Started the day by working a little with the 1 lb. indian clubs and then stretched for 15 minutes.
- Later Morning Workout: I followed along with The Jack Lalane Show (DVD 1, Episode 4) and kept lightly moving when he paused to talk to the audience. I ended by doing a lateral stepping exercise with a band around my knees. I did four sets of 12 reps with each leg. This exercise is one I’m going to be doing a lot going forward because my chiropractor gave me the exercise to correct a weakness, which has been irritating my knee. I didn’t notice it until I started going to wrestling school and I want to nip it in the bud while I can.
- Late Morning/Early Afternoon Circuit Workout: As usual, there was no rest at all. I went from exercise to exercise and from set to set as quickly as I safely could. I treated this like carido in that if my heart rate got too high I back off on the intensity, and I also purposefully went for brief bouts of high intensity here and there early in the workout and at the very end.
- (Tri Set) Standing Rows (hog bar): 60 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps +
- CoC Grippers (Guide 60 lbs.) x 3 sets x 8 reps, (Sport 80 lbs.) x 5 reps
- Low Toe Taps x 4 sets x 30 seconds. I got my upper body into it too, almost like dancing or just doing whatever felt good to give the movement a bit more intensity.
- (Tri Set) Pulldowns (hog bar): 60 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps, [70 lbs. x 6 reps + 60 lbs. x 6 reps] +
- CoC Grippers (Sport, 80 lbs.) x 2 sets x 5 reps, (Trainer, 100 lbs.) x 2 sets x 5 reps (partials)
- Low Toe Taps x 4 sets x 30 seconds with the same upper body stuff as the first set.
- (Tri Set) DB Bicep Curls: 15 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps, 20 lbs. x 12 reps +
- Alternating Sets of Front Kick Stretch and Side Kick Stretch x 2 sets each x 12 reps (each leg)
- Low Toe Taps x 4 sets x 30 seconds with the same upper body stuff. I also worked in some leg curls like one does in step aerobics.
- (Tri Set) BB Standing Wrist Curls: 44 lbs. x 12 reps, 54 lbs. x 12 reps, 64 lbs. x 2 sets x 12 reps +
- Alternating Sets of Reverse Hyperextensions x 12 reps and Supine Leg Windmills x 50 fast revolutions each direction
- My heart rate was getting a bit higher than I liked so I went to 30 second marching around the gym.
- (Tri Set) DB Reverse Wrist Curls: 10 lbs. x 2 sets x 12 reps, 12 lbs. x 2 sets x 12 reps +
- DB Hammer Curls: 12 lbs. x 12 reps, 15 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps
- Marching around the gym for 30 seconds
- I stretched for 20 minutes and made sure I included some Cat-Cow and Cobra’s, which are two of my favorite poses, or at least my spine’s favorites, and I always try to keep on friendly terms with my spine.
- Late Afternoon Walk: I forgot my phone so I didn’t have a pedometer, but it was a short, brisk walk that took about 25 minutes.
- Attended a two hour pro wrestling class.
Calories: 1915, Protein: 179 g.
Tues, March 1st
- We woke up and followed along to Jack Lalane Season 1, Episode 1. I was really sore from wrestling class so when Jack said, “Beginners stop here or do it this way,” I put on my beginner’s mind. Also did a little stretching.
- My husband was sore too so we skipped the afternoon walk and instead went to the mall. We sat and sat in the massage chairs for an hour, which was nice and picked up some healthy Chinese food on the way home. I went for some chicken and vegetables. The nice people, who own and run the business, make the dish lighter for me without the oils and such. Pretty nice!
Calories: 1884, Protein: 158 g.
Wed, March 2nd
- I stretched for 20 minutes shortly after waking up.
- Afternoon Walk: 3.26 miles.
Calories: 1995, Protein: 143 g.
Thur, March 3rd
We followed along with Jack Lalane, Season 1, Episode 5. I thought this episode was a nice morning wake-up stretch.
Afternoon Workout: I warmed up with dynamic stretching and indian clubs.
- BB Military Press: 45 lbs. x 12 reps, 46 lbs. x 12 reps, 47 lbs. x 10, 8, 8 reps
- DB Incline Press: 25 lbs. x 12 reps, 30 lbs. x 12, 10, 10 reps, 35 lbs. x 7 reps
- (Tri Set) Tricep Pushdowns (straight handle): 40 lbs. x 12 reps, 45 lbs. x 3 sets x 8 reps + Light Spring Bar (Supinated/Pronated): (6/6) reps x 4 sets
- Pinch Grip Lift (Ironmind Hub, each hand): 15 lbs. x 3 sets x 10 sec, 15 lbs. x 22 sec.
- (Tri Set) Dead Bugs (2-ct) x 4 sets x 12 reps +
- Face Pulls**: 17.5 lbs. x 12 reps, 15 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps +
- (Set #1) Heavy Spring Bar (Supinated/Pronated): 6/4 reps (Set #2) Lateral Raises: 12 lbs. x 12 reps, (Set #3) Russian KB One-Handed Swings (2-ct): 12 reps, (Set #4) Lateral Walking with Band above knees (each side): 13 reps +
- I did the “Back/Shoulder Flexibility for Beginners” yoga class with Dylan Werner through Alomoves.com.*** The class lasted for a little over 30 minutes.
Evening Walk: 3 miles.
Calories: 2043, Protein: 157 g.
The Ironmind hub is an interesting piece of equipment that allows one to train at picking up and holding a weight with the fingers tips in a way that allows for convenient weight progression.
It hits the hands differently than many other methods and also involves the thumb, which often gets left out of the mix with things like hand grippers. One interesting thing about this device, is that people are often not very good at this hold at first, even otherwise strong people who train their grip in other ways. My husband, who is generally very strong, found this device “humbling.”****
Ironmind keeps track of records with the Hub and the current women’s record is held by Anzhela Kulagina. That worthy recorded a hold under contest conditions of 62.85 lbs. (28.51 kg.). The men’s record, held by Harri Tolonen, is 98.96 lbs. (44.8 kg.).
Ironmind doesn’t mention this, but you could also train the fingers for pressing out in a static way by placing your fingers inside the hub ring and pressing out as you pick up some weight.
Fri, March 4th
- (Morning Workout) Morning Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Hill Program, Level 7, RPMs: 80+.
- One Round of Squats: 10 reps, Seated Leg Curls: 35 lbs. x 10 reps, Partial Walking Lunges: 10 reps, Front Kick Stretch (each leg): 10 reps, Leg Extension Exercise (each leg): 10 reps, Side Kick Stretch (2-ct): 10 reps, Lateral Walking With Band Around Knees (2-ct): 12 reps, Calf Raises: Legs Straight x 10 reps + Legs Bent x 10 reps
- I did the “Hip Openers for Beginners” yoga class with Dylan Werner. My stretching session lasted for about 35 minutes.
Calories: 2019, Protein: 114 g.
Sat, March 5th
- A bit of light, weekend cardio: Morning Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Hill Program, Level 7, RPMs: 70+. Afterward, I did Lateral Walking With Band Around Knees (2-ct): 20 reps and a little gluteus medius work following this video. on Athlean-X.
- I did the “Forward Folds for Beginners” yoga class with Dylan Werner. My stretching session lasted for about 35 minutes.
Calories: 2000, Protein: 150 g.
I lost 0.875 lbs. this week. My total loss is 6.125 lbs. over three weeks. My calorie intake for the week was 13,872.
* And very affordable and easy too. As a former Certified Massage Therapist, I don’t want to advocate for massage chairs over going to a skilled CMT, but it really worked out for us! Heck, if we keep going to the mall to use theirs I suspect we’ll just end up buying one at some point.
** I decreased the weight on the Face Pulls so I would feel a better contraction in the rhomboids by bringing the shoulder blades together. This is an exercise where the goal is getting that shoulder blade movement rather than how much weight you can pull. Jeff Cavaliere is my go-to guy for face pulls, but I’m told that Mighty John of Just Needs Varnish is not slouch at pulling faces either!
*** I kept wanting to type Dylan Thomas instead for some reason. Also, I signed up for a full year with Alomoves because it has become clear that while my strength levels are more than adequate for what I want to do, my flexibility in general is not. So I decided to make Yoga and flexibility training more of a priority than in the past. I did the yearly membership and found a 25% coupon on Google, so the whole thing came out to $12.44 USD/month, after a two week free trial, which I think is well worth it considering that the classes I previewed (and as of typing this, have followed along with) were all high quality. I also like their filter where you can choose the type of class, intensity level, instruction tone, etc.
**** I wasn’t humbled at all by the hub because I expected to be weak with this movement (and I am!) since I haven’t spent much time doing things like holding up anvils by the horn and the like.
Ann's Immaterium 
16 responses to “Work Outs: February 27 – March 5, 2022 (Dogs, including Dog Transport on Motorcycle, and Ironmind Hub)”
I hope you enjoy your new phone and I’m surprised that you used to wrestle! Did that ever wear you down physically? It seems to me like professional wrestlers tend to get that way between being on the road and all of the appearances that they make but I could be wrong.
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Thank you, the new phone is very nice so far. I think the feature I’m liking best so far is it comes with a pen that you can use to do stuff, such as write out texts in longhand rather than having to type with your thumbs, which is nice for longer texts. It is pretty dramatic upgrading to a new phone every 8-10 years instead of every year or two like a lot of people do.
Yes, I found that initially the training was pretty brutal until I got used to it, and I did do the occasional “tour” where I’d be part of a caravan driving all over the place wrestling in a different place every night and I did find that wearing both physically and mentally. Mostly though, I wrestled at most 4 or 5 times a month (weekends) usually no more than about a 4-5 hour drive away for various small promotions and that wasn’t too bad.
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I try to hang onto my phone for as long as I can because I don’t care enough to upgrade constantly and you’re right that if you can wait that long, you’ll really see some changes and improvements!
That makes sense! If I were a wrestler (and I never would be at 5’5!), I would do something similar to you because anything else would be pretty tough to stick with for the long term.
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We’re the same way with phones. If it is doing everything I want it to do, then great, but it is fun to see the advances when it is time for a new one. I’m really liking this writing texts thing a lot and while I wasn’t unhappy with the speed of my old phone, since I’m not using it to play games or watch movies, I am highly impressed with the speed of the new chunk of silicone I’m lugging around in my purse/pocket. (With the size the things are getting now, lugging a phone around in one’s pocket, especially with the anti-break casing we put on our phones, is becoming a bit of a no-go.
Yeah, I found I didn’t like the travel, etc. Plus I had/have a family and being on the road pretty much full time didn’t seem like such a great idea over the long term for continuing to have said family.
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Sounds like you’ve been busy! 🙂 The dog pics are great!
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Thank you, John, I have been very busy. I think my favorite dog picture of the bunch is the blue-eyed hound with the tip of his tongue sticking out.
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Great pictures Ann, and progress on the workouts, noticed a few mentions of your wrestling in there, have to ask are you heel or face ?
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Hi Dave. I haven’t wrestled in front of a crowd in quite a long time. I started in the late 90s and went through until about 2012. I ended up stopping mainly because I moved out of New England and into a pro wrestling desert. Plus I had some family responsibilities that required my full-time attention.
I found myself in both situations but 90% of the time I ended up as the former. It always seemed like people enjoyed rooting against me much more than they did rooting for me, though I’m never sure why this was the case. (That is ok, I came to not much like them either … I guess I became a little bitter?) I suspect, at least in part, this might be because I was initiated into wrestling by Walter Kowalski, who wasn’t exactly known for showing much mercy to his opponents in the ring or out when he tore part of another wrestler’s cauliflower ear off and then went to the hospital to apologize and couldn’t stop himself from laughing about it. He was a man, who was uncompromising in the ring but could see the funny side of life and I admired that in him (among many other things).
I found a two part 1982 interview of Mr. Kowalski on Letterman that brought back some nice memories.
Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–hzgP82fvA
Part Two: https://youtu.be/DctTdOqz1Q0
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Wow you trained with Walter Kowalski ! Have rooted for certain characters over the years, when they were either face, or heel, some people cannot make the transition between the two, so very cool that you have managed both, hope all goes well with your return, and old injuries don’t resurface.
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I don’t really think I managed both. I was never comfortable in my own skin when people were rooting for me, though I did sell a lot more pictures so there was that. What happened was that I wrestled in a lot of the same areas for years and people got used to seeing me, I think, and where they used to get mad and boo they would laugh, and eventually that turned into cheering. The promoters, never ones to miss the main chance, told me to “curb some of my excesses” to keep that going, which I did because they were the ones paying me.
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Wow Ann you have been busy , I’m all enthusiastic now as I’m of to the Gym in an hour to be Tortured by my instructor 😅😅so thanks ! Of all the dogs we have owned they loved having the wind in their faces as we drove along , the strange thing is our current dog Terry hates it 🤔.
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that’s great, Pat, I hope you enjoyed your “torture.” 🙂
Yes, I see a lot of dogs in my day-to-day with their faces and sometimes half their bodies stuck out the car window. I’ve never heard of a dog who doesn’t like it; I guess Terry is his/her own dog.
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It is strange 🤔,we only got him at around the age of five , I have always wondered if he was involved in a minor car accident as he hates getting into one .
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That could be it. Maybe he had a bad experience, as you say. Whatever the case, now at least he has a good home. 🙂
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He does indeed Ann, and he just love s have a manor to Lord over 😉each morning after breakfast he goes out and does his thing and then get gets down to the business of barking at all the ghost from the night , oh and that done it’s a quick scamper inside and a long rest for most of the day, Oh what a life for a 15 year old lad 😅😅
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Yes, indeed it sounds like a great life. 🙂
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