Sharla's Log

[Salty]

I'm stuck in the same situation except not nearly as bad as you. Uni exam time has me stressed out and I tweaked my back last week so only done about 4 or 5 workouts in two weeks. It's weird going from 100% to crap all, I feel like i'm on almost on edge. Today has just been me sitting in front of my computer learning a semesters worth of economics ad it's been frying my brain. I can even imagine what this time is like for a Phd student.

All I can say is the heavy bag is great for stress relief, burpees are great for a quick full body workout and a shower does wonders for your state of mind

[Sharla]

Thanks Salty

Yeah i've been nervous/paranoid about doing short sessions of high intensity training since perhaps unreasonably i've always felt that I really need a long warm up to prepare for it.

Maybe I'm worng - at least I can't think of any real reason why I wouldn't be able to do a short, fast workout with a normal warm up more safely than a longer run.

I have been considering going to check out another boxing gym not far from me just for casual equipment use to begin with at least.

I've also been told that there are some positions for swimmers able to pass a fitness test to become lifeguards and get all the necessary qualifications.

If I decide I'm too cheap to go to a pool or a gym there is grass around which i can do sprints etc on so I don't really have any excuse.

I might see what I can do based on maybe 40 min sessions for a while I guess!

It's good to know other people are going through the same thing Salty! Although i have a slight suspicion you're still training more effectively than me at the moment!

[Salty]

Trust me you have nothing to be worried about on the injury front and once you go high intensity you never go back

Here's a nice quick one for you to try which only takes 15 mins...

30 second intervals of each exercise, doing as many as possible, each round totals 3 mins, with 30 to 60 seconds break between rounds. Do 4 rounds in total.

Burpees
Jumping Jacks
Split Jumps
Burpees
Jumping Jacks
Pushups (sets 1 & 3) Squats (sets 2 & 4)

I usually only do a bit of skipping and stretching as a warm up for this, just make sure your quads are stretched. Then afterwards do an ab circuit and you have done a great, time efficient workout in under half an hour. If your feeling adventurous, do some bag work afterward. Now you have no excuses Sharla

A few of my mates have been lifeguards, pretty cruisy job most of the time, well paid; I'd go for it!

[Sharla]

Ok in some ways I've procrastinated a lot today but I have a clearer idea of a few things.

Basically on top of my usual disorganized state I have difficultly prioritizing things so when the first plan I make which I'd like to stick to falls through I don't usually have a back up or any logical easy conclusion as to what a back up plan would look like.

So a job application I had to fill in this week gave me some idea. Basically one of the earlier Qs it asked on the job specifications was for an example of experience prioritizing work. A later Q was about time management.

I answered the prioritizing Q as if it was time managment and had to rethink it when i got to the time managment Q. I think i wrote a decent answer for the prioritizing Q but until they made me think about it i didn't really have much of a concept of it.

So basically being crap at it I made up an Excel spreadsheet today to help me nut out how to manage things. When I thought of all the criteria I'd assign to things to different things to assess how much of a priority they are I realized dropping some things like my exercise recently was not really that smart.

I have scores attached to everything now and some things like exercise were higher on the list due to the fact they help me relieve stress, maintain my health and perform more efficiently in all things than I would without them.

So based on Salty's excellent advice (rep when I can get it to you) I've decided to train 4 times a week, once in the pool minimum. More than that will be lower in priority but i'll do it if I have time.

I'll keep stretching every day but only 30 mins on non training days and I'll probably choose a few stretches most likely to combat computer posture for non training days.

Today was a stretch followed by a 5 min walk, 5 min jog warm up then 5 X 4 min intervals with 1 min walk recovery between them. i did the 4 minute intervals at a hard intensity and I really feel like I've done something unlike I would with one of my 30 min easy jogs. I finished of with some more stretches in between ab work.

I think I have had a few injury phobias that have been justified and a few which I've taken too far. I think especially when I'm not in a routine or feeling unfit I am prone to worry more than is perhaps justified about whether or not I can get away with training at a high intensity.

I'm kinda glad Salty made me think about it in a slightly more rational way.

I won't be doing burpees until I join a gym again though since I'm allergic to bees and restricted to training either outside or in my house and I believe you are best not jumping on anything other than sprung floor boards. If I try doing burpees at the moment I'm bound to either squash a bee into my hand or hurt my knee or back pounding on the floor inside my unit (ok let me keep a few phobias ).

There is a casual run on Sun Dec 7th. It's set up by the Adelaide road runnes club. Since I'm only planning short training sessions I'm going to enter the 5 km.

I won't aim for a time just yet but I think just having an aim - something to look forward to and give my training some focus - will keep me feeling a bit more positive in general because even though i won't be training much I'll know I'm achieving preparation for something. Also it'll keep my spirits up when other things at uni etc are just going really wrong.

Maybe next year I'll have a more interesting log and some more interesting goals but for now this is it so I'm sorry to bore the hard core amongst you who are doing a lot more than this!

[Sharla]

Of course my plans for this week are not going to be what I would have expected.

My flatmate was dumped by her partner today and is getting on the first flight tomorrow to go back to Sydney and stay with her parents.

Poor thing is soooooo upset!

We'll be up late packing her things and she'll send a truck for her furniture later.

Ironic thing is she had it trucked here less than six months ago and since I own a basic if modest lot of furniture already and her partner had nothing it's just been sitting at his place only to be moved back again.

Sucks - she was a really good flatmate, the one time I went swimming with her was awesome and we got along really well.

Now I have to get a new flatmate in which sucks!

[Scrap]

Do the ressistance work before the Stretch, much better contraction before expansion.

[Sharla]

Do the ressistance work before the Stretch, much better contraction before expansion.

Ok thanks Scrap i will do!

I have been thinking lately there's probably a lot I don't know about how and when to stretch. I'm definately a stretch beginner so any advice is greatly appreciated!

My now ex-flatmate Sarah gave me my birthday present early since I drove her to the airport to move back home this morning.

She gave me a book about exercises including stretching and strethening techniques that can be done with a fit ball! How did she know!