There is this ginger “stray” cat who has been hanging around our house off and on for a couple of months now. We checked around and no one claimed him so we started feeding him with the idea of his being our outdoor cat. We already have two indoor cats and I don’t think either of them would enjoy a new feline addition to the household. Also, and this made it easy, the ginger cat had/has no interest in coming into our house.

We made plans to get one of those outdoor cat houses so he could have a nice place out of the elements up on our porch if he wanted, and I was going to put some flea control stuff on him, etc. Not too soon after making these plans my husband mentioned that he has been seeing the cat a lot hanging out up in the neighbor’s yard along with their Jack Russell mix. They both seemed to get along which made me a little suspicious.

It turned out that our ginger “stray” was named Murphy and did in fact belong to our neighbors. Apparently, he is firmly fixed on the idea of being an outdoor cat with them too, though he hangs out there most of the time and comes down to our yard to get some nice, wet food (apparently), some play time (he doesn’t act at all like a feral; he seems very well socialized to humans) hang out and try to kill stuff as cats do. The neighbors said it was cool with them if Murphy comes down for food and whatever and that “if he has two households who love him that is fine by them.” I thought that was really nice.

Sun, April 17th

Had another nice rest day. Did some stretching in the morning and evening and sat in our massage chair for 90 minutes and watched three episodes of the original Dallas. (Darn that J.R.!)

Calories: 1900, Protein: 117 g.

Mon, April 18th

• (Wake-Up) Stretched and did some foam roller work targeting my back. The session lasted for 30 minutes.
• (Afternoon) Leg Day at Home. Warmed up with the Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Manual Program, Level 5, RPMs: 70+.
• Physical Therapy Leg Exercises at Home (All with the blue band where appropriate)
  • (Super Set) Monster Walks: 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Lateral Walks (each direction): 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Squats with Resisted Hip Abduction: 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Step Up With Knee Raise (alternate legs, 2-ct): 2 sets x 10 reps
  • (Super Set) Standing Hip Abduction: 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Standing Hip Extension: 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Bird Dips (each side): 2 sets x 10 reps
• Vertical Leg Press: 100 lbs. x 12 reps, 125 lbs. x 12 reps, 150 lbs. x 2 sets x 12 reps
• Seated Leg Curls (single, alternating legs, 2-ct): 25 lbs. x 4 sets x 12 reps
• I ended the workout with a short Tae Kwon Do “Half-Roundhouse Kick” Lesson on the Global Martial Arts University website. I had to be particularly careful when doing the right half-roundhouse kick with my left as the plant foot but I was and it went well.
• (Evening) I attended referee class for 2 hours. I started doing some lateral mobility work in class, which I imagine that I’ll be doing in nearly every class going forward now.

Calories: 1714, Protein: 141 g.

Tues, April 19th

• (Afternoon) Physical Therapy Back Session at their Office. Warmed up with the arm cycle.
  • Balance Board: 2 sets x 1 minute (The therapist thought I was there for my knee at first, which I do on alternate visits.)
  • One-Handed Pulldowns (each arm, cable): 20 lbs. x 2 sets x 10 reps +
  • High Rows (d-handles, cable): 40 lbs. x 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Reverse Flies (blue band): 2 sets x 15 reps
  • Serratus Slide (orange band): 2 sets x 15 reps
  • Bilateral External Rotation (blue band): 2 sets x 15 reps
  • One-Handed Bent Over Row (each side): 5 lbs. x 2 sets x 15 reps
  • I did some stretching and foam roller work for my back. I also did some foam roller work on the sides of my legs and hips, which were sore from all of the lateral movement I did yesterday for my workout and at referee class. We ended the session with massage, ice, and electric muscle stimulation.
• (Afternoon) We followed along to The Jack Lalane Show, DVD 4, Episode 5.

Calories: 1992, Protein: 129 g.

Wed, April 20th

• (Wake-up) Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Manual Program, Level 5, RPMs: 70+. I finished warming up with some light indian club work and dynamic stretching.
• (Tri-Set) DB Bench Press: 30 lbs. x 3 sets x 8 reps and 2 sets x 9 reps +
  • CoC Grippers (L/R Hands): Guide (60 lbs.): 3 sets x 8/8 reps, Sport (80 lbs.): 2 sets x 5/5 reps
  • TKD High Block: 5 sets x 20 reps
• (Tri-Set) Arnold Press: 20 lbs. x 10, 12 reps, 25 lbs. 10, 9, 9 reps +
  • (Sets #1-#3) Coc Grippers (L/R Hands): Sport (80 lbs): 5/5 reps, Trainer (100 lbs.): Close: 0/5 reps x 2 sets, 0/3+2 reps (Sets #4-#5) Light Spring Bar (Pronate/Supinate): 3 sets x 6/6 reps
  • Dead Bugs (2-ct): 5 sets x 10 reps
• (Tri-Set) Incline Push-up (Bench/4th Cellar Step): 2 sets x 2/10 reps +
  • Light Spring Bar (Pronate/Supinate): 3 sets x 6/6 reps
  • TKD Low Block: 3 sets x 20 reps
• (Tri-Set) Standing Cable Flies: 20 lbs. x 3 sets x 10 reps +
  • Lateral Raises: 10 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps
  • (Sets #1-#2): TKD Low Block: 2 sets x 20 reps (Set #3) Heavy Spring Bar (P/S): 4/4 reps
• (Tri-Set) DB Tricep Overhead Press: 25 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps +
  • Crunches: 3 sets x 15 reps
  • (Set #1) TKD Low Block x 20 reps (Sets #2-#3) Jab x 2 sets x 20 reps
• (Tri-Set) Tricep Pushdowns (v-bar): 35 lbs. x 12 reps, 37.5 lbs. x 12 reps, 40 lbs. x 12 reps +
  • DB Wrist Curls (each hand): 20 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps
  • (Set #1) Jab x 20 reps, (Sets #2-#3) Jab/Cross x 2 sets x 20 reps
• (Tri-Set) Tricep Reverse Pushdown (cable, each arm): 10 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps +
  • DB Reverse Wrist Curls (each hand): 10 lbs. x 3 sets x 12 reps
  • (Set #1) Jab/Cross x 20 reps (Sets #2-#3) Footwork Drill (turn ~90 degrees and pull back slightly to avoid attack and counter with step on opponent’s foot and push with both hands): 2 sets x 10 reps
• Finished with one last set of the above Footwork Drill, then Side Internal Shoulder Rotation Exercise (orange band, each arm) x 12 reps, Incline Plank going from elbows to push-up position and back again x 12 reps, Bicycling Exercise x 30 seconds, Supine Leg Windwills (each direction) x 30 revolutions, Balance Board: 1:20 seconds. For the balance board, once I got to one minute, I balanced for as long as I could until the rim of the board touched the floor.
• Did the standing, shoulder portion of “Back/Shoulder Flexibility for Beginners” by Dyland Werner on Alomoves.com and some more stretching so that my stretching session lasted 30 minutes. I also did some more stretching later in the evening.

Calories: 3292, Protein: 194 g.

Thur, April 21st

• (Afternoon Leg Day at the Physical Therapy Office) Warmed up with their recumbent bike. Used the blue band for exercises except as where noted.
  • (Super Set) Monster Walks: 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Lateral Walks (each direction): 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Squats with Resisted Hip Abduction: 2 sets x 10 reps +
  • (Super Set) Step Up With Knee Raise* (alternate legs, 2-ct): 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Balance Board: 2 sets x one minute
  • (Super Set) Standing Hip Abduction (green band): 2 sets x 10 reps +
    • Standing Hip Extension (green band): 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Seated Leg Press: 335 lbs. x 3 sets x 10 reps
  • Bird Dips (each side): 2 sets x 10 reps
  • Ball Toss While Balancing on Dina Disks: 4 lb. ball for one minute
  • Ended the session with ultrasound, stretching, ice, and muscle electric stimulation. Also stretched again in the evening and did some work with our massage gun.

Calories: 1919, Protein: 108 g.

Fri, April 22nd

(Wake-up) We followed along to The Jack Lalane Show, DVD 4, Episode 2. After breakfast, I worked on some knots in my upper back with my J-hook.

Calories: 1904, Protein: 130 g.

I don’t think our other cat, Wyatt, would be too thrilled about another cat in the house either at this point. The picture below was taken back when we were having some of our floors redone. One of the small cat trees has sort of become his brushing station/primary daytime hangout and we had to relocate it into the kitchen for a few days. My husband had his home office in the kitchen too for a few days. Wyatt (and to a lesser extent Roxy) likes to hang out with him when he’s working so putting Wyatt’s brushing station tree worked out pretty well.

Sat, April 23rd

• Recumbent Bike: 30 Minutes, Manual Program, Level 5, RPMs: 70+. Stretched out my calves a little afterward.
• (Afternoon Pulling Workout) Warmed up with 1 lbs. indian clubs, dynamic stretching, and some light sets of the exercises I did later in the workout. Finished the warm-up with “5-Minute core for Beginners” by Calvin Corzine on Alomoves.com.
• Physical Therapy Exercises
  • (Super Set) Resistance Band Rows (blue band): 2 sets x 15 reps +
    • Resistance Band Shoulder Extension (blue band) 2 sets x 15 reps
  • (Super Set) Serratus Slide (orange band): 2 sets x 15 reps +
    • One-Handed Bent Over Row (each side): 5 lbs. x 2 sets x 15 reps
  • (Super Set) Bilateral External Rotation (blue band): 2 sets x 15 reps +
    • Reverse Flys (blue band): 2 sets x 15 reps
• Did some stretching and foam roller work that the physical therapists gave me for my back. Also did some leg stretching later in the evening.

Had a nice rest day with my husband. Did some stretching in the evening. Put in a good week with the workouts, I think. Probably going to take tomorrow off too and call it a resting weekend.

Calories: 2448, Protein: 174 g.

I lost 1.5 lbs. this week. My total loss is 16.125 lbs. over ten weeks for an average of 1.61 lbs/week. My calorie intake for the week was 14,902.

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* My legs have been feeling a bit better doing this exercise than they did even last week. On the second set when I brought up my non-plant leg on the step I either did so like I was chambering for a kick or hard like I was doing a knee strike. It felt good.