Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 190

Day 190 Last night because of the torrential rain earlier in the day, I decided to cancel my conditioning class. The grass was just too wet and the parking lot we usually do our warm-up in was pretty much a  swamp. However, I wanted to make sure that my group didn't miss out on a session, so I decided to run a make up class tonight.

For our workout tonight I joined in but I'm afraid to say that my body didn't hold up as well as I wanted. I managed to do most of the workout but about halfway through our sprints my right quad started to seize up on me. I'm not really sure why it happened. I felt pretty good going into the workout, but I guess I still hadn't recovered fully from last week. I usually didn't warm-up quite as much as my group because I had to spend some of the time instructing.

Today's Workout

Dynamic Stretches:

• Walking Knee Hug 3 per side
• Walking Leg Cradle 3 per side
• Reverse Reaching Lunge 3 per side
• Lateral Lunge 3 per side
• Inverted Hamstring 3 per side
• Hand-Walk 4 reps
• World's Greatest Stretch 3 per side

Ladder Series

• High Knees
• 2 in 2 out
• Skier
• Cross-over
• Zig Zag
• Ankle Hop (Every Square)
• Ankle Hop (Skip a Square)

Hurdle Hops

• Single Leg Hop (Stick Landing) 2 sets / 5 reps per leg
• Single Leg Hop (Double Contact) 2 sets / 5 reps per leg
• Single Leg Hop (Continuous) 2 sets / 5 reps per leg

10 metre Hill Sprints

5 reps / 90% intensity / 30 seconds rest

20 Metre Sprints

2 reps / 90% intensity / 50 seconds rest (I wanted to do 2 more but more right quad started to seize up, so I cut these sprints short)

Body Weight Circuit: 2 sets / rest 60 sec between sets

• Burpees x 10
• Walking Lunges x 10 metres
• Push-ups x 20
• Split Jumps x 20
• Bear-walk x 10 metres
• V-Sits x 20

I don't think my leg will be too much of an issue. I think I stopped just in time. However, I will have to baby it a little bit over the next couple days. I've obviously let things get a little too tight. Stretching and improving the tissue quality of my muscles will have to be a priority going forward, so that this doesn't happen again.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 189

Day 189 I woke up today feeling good and ready for the coming week. The stiffness I was complaining about on the weekend was gone, so I felt optimistic about putting in some good efforts for my workouts this week.

Last night just before I went to bed I got an email from Pete Estabrooks, the editor of Impact magazine, asking if I would help out with a photoshoot. He had originally asked my co-worker Philip who was unable to to but was nice enough to refer Pete to me. I wasn't sure initially if I wanted to do it, but I thought why not. It would give me some exposure beyond the Glencoe and it would something different than what I normally do on a Monday.

Pete asked me to come up with an interesting strength movement that used a lot of muscle at once, so that they could photograph it and use it as part of a workout series for the magazine. I had a few ideas, but wasn't sure which one I wanted, so when I joined my client Ryan for his workout I tried some of them out.

Today's Workout

Exercise 1: Barbell Sprawl Deadlift: 4 sets / 8 reps / 90 sec rest

Exercise 2: Barbell Roll-out Push-up / Bent-Over Row: 4 sets / 10 reps / 90 sec rest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFtzaKAZhCs

Exercise 3: Barbell Front Squats: 4 sets / 6 reps / 90 sec rest

Exercise 4: Cable Cross-Over Lunge to Twist: 2 sets / 8 reps per side / 60 sec rest

I showed Pete exercises 1, 2, and 4. He thought the Barbell Roll-out Push-up / Bent-Over Row was the best so we decided to use that one. They took a lot of photos from multiple angles, so I guess I could actually say I did a lot more reps than I have claimed for my workout. Either way it was fun, and I got a new shirt and pair of shorts from Lululemon to wear during the shoot.

Earlier in the day when I went to Lulu, the girl at the store told me that Pete wanted us to wear something bright and tight. She then proceeded to so me the compression shorts that he would be wearing for his photos. I said that it was probably not my style but that I'd try them on. I think I had them on for about 2 seconds. Definitely not my style. In the end I found a really nice pair of shorts and a shirt.

Tomorrow is a really busy day at work, so finding time for my workout will not be easy. I will either have to happen before 7 am or after 5 pm. My money is definitely on 5 pm, but you never no.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 187 & 188

Day 187 & 188 Seeing as it was the weekend and I was preoccupied having fun last night when I would usually be writing my blog, I decided to write Saturday and Sunday's workouts together as one post

Workout #187

Way back on March 4th, I decided to attempt a fitness challenge called the Mantathlon. The Mantathlon was something I found in an article written by world famous strength and conditioning coach Martin Rooney. The gist of the Mantathlon is 5 exercises using your body weight or a percentage of it done for maximum reps. When you're finished you add up all of your reps and see how your total compares to the Rooney scale of manliness.

March 4th Mantathlon                                 July 7th Mantathlon

Bench Press (Body Weight)                        Bench Press (Body Weight) My Reps: 180 x 15                                       My Reps: 175 x 15

Chin-ups (Body Weight)                              Chin-ups (Body Weight) My Reps: 180 x 16                                       My Reps: 175 x 20

Overhead Press (1/2 Body Weight)             Overhead Press (1/2 Body Weight) My Reps: 90 x 20                                         My Reps: 85 x 20

DIps (Body Weight + 25%)                           Dips (Body Weight + 25%) My Reps: 180 + 45 (225) x 15                      My Reps: 175 + 45 (220) x 16

Barbell Curl (1/2 Body Weight)                    Barbell Curl (1/2 Body Weight) My Reps: 90 x 22                                         My Reps: 85 x 23

Total: 88                                                       Total: 94

Well it was hard to judge how I faired. My rep total certainly improved. The last time I was a little ticked off at myself, falling just 2 reps shy of Man of War Status, the highest category on the Mantathlon. This time around I improved by 6 reps. However, my body weight has dropped by 5 lbs since then, meaning that in some cases I actually performed worse, but considering how beat up I'd been feeling all week I think I did pretty well. Last time I swore to break 100 reps. I did get pretty close but next time I'm passing the century mark for sure.

Workout #188

Although this week kind of kicked my butt I still want to push pretty hard in the week coming. With that in mind, I took another light day. Nicole and I decided to enjoy the weather and go for a run from our house to Eau Claire Market. We didn't run super fast but it was a good enough pace, to break a sweat and get the heart pumping.

Today's Workout:

20 minute Run (Moderate Pace)

I think by tomorrow, my body should be feeling fully recovered and ready to work hard. I don't think I'll be pushing the limits quite as much this week coming but I still plan on working hard. Tomorrow may be a double session, with some strength in the morning and some conditioning work in the evening. I may even do a burpee or two.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 186

Day 186 The past week was a little different than last week. Last week I had some very long physically exhausting days. I didn't really do anything that pushed me to the point of failure but the accumulation of lifting things and demolishing basements for hours left me totally wiped. This week I didn't have to tear up any basements, so I had a little more time and energy to commit to really pushing it with my workouts.

This week was all about intensity. On a couple occasions I decided to really test my limits and find out where my breaking point was. For day 183, the halfway mark to 365 days, I tried to see if I could do 100 burpees without stopping. I hit the wall at 75. Then a couple days later I tried to see if could do battleropes continuously for 10 minutes. The good news is I succeeded, the bad news is I still have 10 more minutes to reach the ultimate goal of 20 minutes. I also, did about 40 minutes of all out sprinting with my conditioning group

Although the workouts weren't very long, they pushed me to the limit. Not surprisingly by Thursday I was starting to get really sore. When I woke up on Friday I was walking like a had stick up my butt and my shoulders were screaming at me when I washed my hair in the morning. Basically, being in my invalid state I was left with no choice but to do a regeneration / recovery workout.

Today's Workout

Stationary Bike: 20 minutes / Level 10 / 80 - 85 rpms

Full Body Foam Roll Session: 20 minutes (Extra emphasis on hip flexors and IT bands)

Full Body Deep Stretch: 20 minutes

I felt a little better after trying to loosen things up. I'd say I went up a level in mobility from a zombie (not those fast zombies from 28 days later or that Brad Pitt movie, but the slow ones from The Walking Dead) to Mr Burns. Needless to say, slow progress. The plan for the next workout was still pretty much up the air. If I'm still feeling pretty useless I may just have to do another regeneration day.

At least I've been sleeping really well. I have no idea why. Having tried everything under the sun to improve my sleep with little success, I'm suddenly sleeping through the night. The most puzzling part is that I've been breaking all the "rules". During the flood recovery, my diet went completely off the rails. Drinking beer everyday, having pizza and cookies with the other volunteers, and this week I've even had the occasional caffeinated coffee. Maybe I've just been so tired that I'm trumping my insomnia out of pure survival. We did recently get an air conditioning unit in the bedroom which is definitely helping. Whatever, it is I'm not going to complain. I think I'll still limit alcohol, wheat, and caffeine just because I feel better overall when I limit them, but for the time being maybe not stressing out about what I put in my mouth is really nice.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 185

Day 185 Recently one of my co-workers, Suzette O'Byrne, brought to my attention a ridiculous fitness challenge involving battle ropes. Apparently, Fraser Quelch, creator of the TRX Suspension Training Program has been working up to doing a 20 minute continuous set of battle ropes. To put this in persective, I usually do my battle ropes in groups of 20 sec.

The training effect of 20 minutes versus 20 seconds will obviously be different. My shorter intervals are working more on the power end of the spectrum where as the 20 minutes will be working more on endurance. The interesting thing with Fraser's challenge is that 20 minutes of a lower body dominant activity is not that unusual but 20 minutes of an upper body dominant activity, like battle ropes is very different. Our bodies are typically not very good at doing endurance based activities with our arms and shoulders.

When Suzette first mentioned this challenge, I thought to myself good luck, that's just crazy. However, I saw on facebook this morning that Fraser had just completed the challenge. The man is obviously a beast. Today, just to see how far I have to go to reach the same level as Mr. Quelch, I tried 10 minutes of continuous battle ropes.

Today's Workout:

Battle Ropes:

Alternating Wave (Hands Shoulder Height): 10 minutes continuous

- The high alternating wave was the method described to me as the one Fraser used.

The 10 minutes of ropes was pretty tough but more achievable than I thought. I was pretty sure I'd crash and burn about 2 minutes in, but once you get into a rhythm it gets a lot easier. However, 20 minutes like Fraser does is truly insane. I could hardly move my arms when I was finished, I can only imagine how I would feel after going twice as long. I guess I've got another thing to work toward.

It wasn't the regen / bike ride day I had planned for, but once again scheduling got in the way. That being said, the battle ropes although quite difficult didn't seem to deplete me too much. However, the burpees and the sprints from the past few days have certainly taken a toll. As the day wore on today , my feet, quads and hamstring just got more and more sore. I played softball after work tonight and just couldn't do anything. Batting, throwing, running, it all hurt like hell. I think I really have no choice but to do something really light tomorrow. Who knows, I might go for a swim. Not exactly a relaxing endeavor for this sinker but I think freeing myself from the constraints of gravity for a little bit would be really nice.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 184

Day 184 Today was day 1 of the 2nd half of the year. In one way it definitely felt like day 184, but in another way it kind of felt like starting over. The routine continued but for some reason, I had more enthusiasm, and more energy today. I think viewing the 6 month mark as an achievement helps takes some of the pressure off.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do today. My day was wide open, so I had plenty of time to fit something in. It was just a matter of picking something. Over the last couple days my workouts hadn't been very long but they were pretty intense. I thought about doing more of a regeneration day and hopping on the bike for 30 minutes or even trying to find a yoga class somewhere. Neither happened as I got busy running around doing errands. The day ran away on me and next thing I knew it was 6:30 and time for my conditioning group.

Oh well, in the end I joined my group for some sprints. Yoga would have to wait another day.

Today's Workout:

60 metre Sprint Repeats: 12 reps / 85 % Intensity / 90 seconds rest between reps

180 metre Shuttle: 3 reps / 90% intensity / 2 minutes rest between reps30 metres sprint out and back + 60 metre sprint out and back

I actually had a lot more in the tank than I thought. The 100 burpees the other day hurt a lot at the time but apparently they didn't quite destroy me. Tomorrow I'd really like to get to yoga but It doesn't look like my schedule will allow it, so light cardio like I mentioned before will probably be my workout of the day. My quads and hamstrings will probably appreciate something a little less intense.

On a side note I picked up Biosteel's "Sports Drink" today. I had been reading about it lately and thought I might give it a try. Apparently a lot of the top NHL players have been using it to fuel their workouts and have been giving it great reviews. The proposed benefits are increased energy, recovery, and mental alertness. I didn't have a chance to use it before my workout today, so we'll see if this "Sports Drink" is worth the money.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 183

Day 183 Well today officially marked the 1/2 way mark to my goal of 365 days of exercise. 6 months have come and gone and I have not missed a workout. I don't think I believed I would get this far. I just wanted a really difficult challenge to push myself and make this year interesting. When I was playing badminton I had tournaments and competition to motivate me. When I was in university I wanted to be as big and as strong as possible, but over the last few years I have found my motivation waning. I don't care if I have bigger muscles than the next guy, and I haven't played a high level competitive sport for a long time. I needed a challenge and a reason to workout other than just being healthy.

I set quite a few mini goals along the way. finishing 1 week was my first. Then 1/2 a month, and then a month. Unfortunately, I had let my fitness slip a bit prior to starting this thing. This made things really difficult physically in the beginning. I was really sore and really tired during much of January and into February, but after a while, things started to get easier. My body changed very quickly. A lot of my co-workers noticed how much weight I had lost in just a month. Its pretty cool how fast things can improve when you're consistent.

By March, I had the momentum going. I was feeling great physically and mentally I was really dialed in. However come April I was starting to get a little burn out. I felt great physically but mentally I was getting tired. Coming up with workouts and writing my blog was becoming more of a challenge. Weekends were especially hard, but I pushed through. The weather improved and allowed me to get outside a lot more. This allowed me to break up the monotony of being in a gym so much. Plus it was really nice to see the sun and get some fresh air.

I made it through the spring pretty well. My conditioning group had started, so I was able to jump in with that quite a bit. The ability to workout with a group was really helpful when I wasn't really feeling like pushing myself. As June hit I suddenly became super tired. I don't know why but I was just really lacking energy and focus. April and May were really heavy months in terms of hours. The exercise was one thing but the work hours had definitely taken a toll. One saving grace was that I had committed to running the Kananaskis relay towards the end of June with some friends. I've mentioned before that long distance stuff is not really my thing, but I wanted to a decent job, so I was logging a lot miles to get ready. Being able to just head out and run when I wasn't feeling overly creative, made getting my exercise a lot more convenient.

Unfortunately, the Kananaskis Relay was cancelled due to the terrible flooding in the mountains that eventually created all the devastation here in Calgary as well. The last week was really difficult. I spent a lot of time helping out with the flood recovery, which was physically very strenuous. I did claim some of the work I did pulling furniture out of basements and swinging sledgehammers as exercise, but I felt I needed to add something extra to make it really count. By the end of the week, I was exhausted with only a couple days left to reach my 1/2 way mark. I managed to push through the weekend and make it to day 183.

Today's Workout:

The Goal: 100 burpees without stopping

I managed 75 in a little over 4 minutes.

After the first 10 burpees I thought, there's no way I'm going to make it to 100 but then as I broke 50 I thought I might just have a chance. At 60 I was getting a little worried but thought I'd be able to keep going for a good few more, but at 70 I just hit a wall. The last 5 hurt like hell. I thought I might be able to squeeze off 5 more and hit 80 but I was toast. In fact I'm pretty sure I would have puked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7RchdiJIAc&feature=youtu.be

I was pretty happy that I managed to as close as I did to 100, but I was still kind of disappointed that I didn't make it all the way. Oh well, next time I'm going to get 100, even if it means I throw up. I did finish the 100 after resting about a minute. In the end it amounted to less than 7 minutes of work but I felt nauseous for about 30 minutes after.

Well in a way it feels like I'm starting all over. I still have another 6 months to go. However, from this point the number of workouts left will be less than the number of workouts completed. I feel pretty proud of myself. I thinks half a year is a pretty big accomplishment, but again I'm not finished yet. I'll be going to Europe this August to visit family in Ireland, so I'm pretty sure I'll be faced with some logistical challenges, especially on travel days. I think body weight exercise will be my friend. Although, Nicole has told me if I start working out at our departure gate, she's going to pretend she doesn't know me.

Nicole really has been amazing throughout this whole process. Having someone so incredibly supportive and understanding as I've been doing this has made more of a difference than anything possibly could. Making time in our days so that I can get my workouts in, putting up with me writing my blog until well after bed time, and helping me get through my workouts by helping me come up with ideas and joining me as my workout partner. Nicole had made everything easier. She believes in me and knowing that makes me feel like I could do anything.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 182

Day 182 Today I joined my client Ryan for his workout. Normally we would be working out for an hr but he was held up and got there about half way through. I still wanted to get a good amount of work in, so we had to condense things. I decided to pick two upper body exercises and see how many reps we could get in the time we had left.

Today's Workout

Superset: Alternate Exercise 1 and 2 with loosely 60 seconds between sets

Exercise 1: Bench Press (135lbs) 4 sets for maximum reps Set 1: 21 Set 2: 18 Set 3: 18 Set 4: 20

Total: 77

Exercise 2: Pull-ups (Strict, no kip) - Body Weight 4 sets for maximum reps Set 1: 20 Set 2: 15 Set 3: 12 Set 4: 12

Total: 59

I was actually really happy with this workout. I was pretty tired the last couple days and didn't feel like I had a ton of energy for my workouts. Today I had a lot of energy and felt quite strong. When I knocked off 20 strict pull-ups I was kind of excited and actually a little suprised.

Later in the day, I organized an ultimate frisbee night for my conditioning group. As I mentioned yesterday, many of them had had a very difficult week dealing with the floods, so I thought something fun and active would be a good way to take their minds off things. It was really hot and after about an hour of playing frisbee I think everyone was feeling pretty tired and sweaty. We rewarded ourselves by finishing the night with some pizza and a little beer.

Tomorrow, is day number 183, the half way mark. I haven't planned anything special, but we'll see what happens. I have a feeling I'll have a good amount of energy, so conditions should be good for putting forth an effort worthy of finishing 6 months of exercise without a day off.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 181

Day 181 Today Nicole and I stopped by the Glencoe to pick up a few things from the fitness centre. As we drove down through the neighbourhood on the way to the club it was amazing to see how much progress people had been made with their homes. Obviously, there will still be much to do, but the amount of work that had been done in the span of one week was still very impressive.

Nicole and I were originally planning on making our way back to Mount Royal University but we decided to stay at the club. The place was pretty deserted so we did our workouts there instead. My hand has been really sore for the last couple days. Turning door knobs, and opening bottles has been pretty painfulI. I decided that lifting weights was probably not a good idea. I was originally going to do some sprints on the MRU track, but seeing as the track at the club isn't the best, I ran stairs instead.

Today's Workout:

Glencoe Stairs:

5 sets (Double Steps)

1 set = bottom to top, 1/3 down, then back to top

The dust in the area around the club was a bit of a problem, like it was at my client Rick's house. My chest was feeling a bit tight about half way through my sets. I was thinking about doing 10, but I decided to cut it short. I imagine the dust around the club will be a bit of an issue for a little bit longer. I guess I will just have to limit my cardio to areas away from the flooded areas.

I'm looking forward to my workout tomorrow. Many of the members of my conditioning group have been putting their homes back to together or helping friends and family dealing with the flood damage. I thought a little fun would be a welcome change of pace for them, so tomorrow night instead of our regularly scheduled workout we are playing ultimate frisbee instead. It should be a good time.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 180

Day 180 For my workout today I went back to the gym at Mount Royal University. The Glencoe was open but I felt it was still best give it a couple more days before heading back. I took a break from the demolition work today, so I had a little more energy than I had the last few days. I was looking

Considering the upper body circuit I did yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to do something that involved lower body. Squats or dead-lifts would have seemed like a logical choice, but my lower back was feeling a little burnt out. I decided to avoid heavy loads and do some light olympic weight lifting instead. It would get a lot of muscle working but wouldn't overload me too much.

Today's Workout

Exercise 1: Barbell Snatch (From Floor) 5 sets / 5 reps / 100lbs / 2 min rest

Exercise 2: Barbell Overhead Squat 4 sets / 6 reps / 100lbs / 2 min rest

Exercise 3: Barbell Jump Squat 4 sets / 6 reps / 100lbs / 2 min rest

The workout seemed to have worked out the stiffness pretty well. I thought about doing a little more than just 3 exercises but I felt it was just enough. I was a little concerned that with all of the heavy lifting last week that I'd put my back out again. Thankfully, I had no problems but I still didn't want to push it too far.

Well only 3 more days until I'm 1/2 way through to my goal of 365 days of exercise. it's pretty crazy looking back on the last 6 months. At times it seemed like time was going really slowly, yet now that I look back it, it feels like it just flew by. However, I'm not finished yet. I've still got a long way to go, but at least I'm getting to a point where I have fewer workouts left to do than I've completed.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 179

Day 179 This morning I went over to a client's house with my friend Scott to do a little more demolition work. We weren't in a basement, which was refreshing. Instead we were removing a lower section of the front of the house, so that we could get at some more soggy insulation. To do this we had to remove some cement that was covering the wood siding. This meant a lot of time with the sledgehammer. For 2 hours we took turns swinging away at this cement. At first it was a lot of fun, but after about 2 minutes the novelty wears off. We were both pretty dirty and sweaty by the time we were finished, but it was more than worth it to help out my client.

Later in the day after recovering from my session with the sledgehammer I went to the gym at Mount Royal University for a more structured form of exercise. I had originally planned on doing a light upper body workout. My arms and shoulders were still pretty tired from earlier in the day. However, when I got to Mount Royal I saw this piece of equipment called a "Move Strong" that I couldn't help but try out.

The Move Strong is a big open cube that is comprised of multiple stations. In a way its kind of like those old universal exercise machines with the cables. However, instead of fixed machine exercise stations like a bench press or lat pulldown, the move strong has stations that involve things like gymnastic rings, battle ropes, and a variety of chin-up bars. It even has mini trampolines at the corners for throwing medicine balls at. I found the rings particularly fun. I've been trying to do a muscle-up (essentially pulling yourself from a dead hang up on top of the bar) on a standard chin-up bar for ages with no success. On the rings I was able to do a muscle up on my 3rd attempt. I was pretty excited.

I decided to throw together the following circuit on the move strong.

Move Strong Circuit: 3 rounds

• Battleropes: Snap Downs 20 reps
• Ring Dips: 10 reps
• Battle Ropes: Alternating Wave 40 reps (20 per side)
• Pull-ups: 15 reps (1 round I tried the salmon ladder station a la American Ninja Warrior)

I really enjoyed using this piece of equipment. It just makes so much sense. it doesn't take up a lot of space considering the number of exercises you can do on it and the exercises you can do yield so much return. The Glencoe fitness centre will be undergoing a big renovation next year. Part of that reno will be adding new pieces of equipment. I will definitely be suggesting that my director considering adding a Move Strong set-up to the gym.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 178

Day 178 Today was a lot less strenuous than the last few days of the week. I slept in a little longer, had a good breakfast, and watched some tennis on tv. That being said I still got up to a little heavy lifting. I got a message from my client Rick saying that if I was interested in some heavy lifting he could use some help moving furniture out of his house. I was planning on giving the lifting muscles a break today, but I just couldn't say no. Rick's house is directly on the river and was hit really badly by the floods.

I drove over to Rick's house and helped move some furniture and boxes out of his house and into the moving van. It was nice to see that even though they had sustained so much damage, they had still managed to save a lot of their things. I had been helping for about an hour when my chest started to feel tight. All of the houses I had helped out with so far had been really wet, whereas the area in front of Rick's house was actually really dusty from all the dried mud and silt. My asthma was acting up a bit. I don't normally carry an inhaler, and I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to manage, so I decided to call it quits and head home.

I waited at home a little bit for my lungs to feel a bit better before starting my workout. My muscles were pretty sore, so I decided a short run up and down 17th ave would be a good idea. I didn't want to run to far with my lungs feeling a bit fired up but I thought a short one would be ok.

Today's Workout:

25 minutes Run / approx 4 km

The run went ok. My chest wasn't too happy but I got it through ok. For some reason there seemed to be a ton of smokers out on 17th ave. Maybe it was because my asthma was acting up, but the cigarette smoke seemed to bother me a lot more than usual. I guess with the weather being nicer, that's something I'll have to expect on such a busy street.

After my run, Nicole and I went out for softball, which was nice seeing as the weather had cancelled a lot of our games lately. It was fun. We didn't have a big team, so we all got up to bat a lot. My first hit was a grounder, meaning that I had to sprint pretty fast to first base. My legs just would not move. I felt like I was running in quick sand. I guess my muscles were even more tired than I thought. Things got a little easier as the game went on. In the end we one, which was nice.

Tomorrow morning, the plan is tell help a client remove some tile from yet another flooded house, but in the afternoon, I think I might actually find a gym and lift some weights.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 176 & 177

Day 176 & 177 Today will be two workout posts in one. After spending the whole day yesterday tearing out basements I was just too exhausted to sit down and write anything. I got back out to more volunteering with the flood relief today, but I called it a day a little bit earlier, so I have a little more energy at the moment

Part 1: Day 176

Yesterday, the physical activities began in the morning at my friend Steve's house. The other day we spent a few hours pulling his family's belongings out of the basement. This time we were demolishing the basement itself. Everything had to go. Drywall, ceilings, cabinets, wood panelling, absolutely everything. It was a really messy job. Steve's Dad Don, or Disco Don as we call him had a bar set-up in the corner of the basement with a mirror behind it with Disco's Pub. Unfortunately we had to demolish the bar, however, we were able to save the mirror, meaning that someday, Disco's Pub would open once again.

After completely gutting Steve's basement, and having some pizza and a beer (my nutrition has taken a bit of a slide the last few days) I drove to a different neighborhood to help out my friends Chris and Dustin with their basement. Their house had some flooding, but very little compared to the other houses I had seen. However, it was a still pretty big job. All the drywall and insulation up to 2 feet from the ground had to be removed. This was actually a lot more work than I had though it would be. In the other houses the drywall was so wet that it literally crumbled like oreo cookie. This drywall actually had to be cut with a saw, which took a very long time. This took a good 3 or 4 hours but it was nice to leave a house feeling like we had actually finished a task. All the other houses still had so much to be done when we left them.

When I got home, I was absolutely fried, but I decided before I went to bed that I needed to do just a tiny bit of "workout" exercise, so that it would be a little different than the day before. My friend and co-worker, Philip releases a weekly fitness tip on his website ndugga.com every Sunday. I found one of the exercises in last weeks fitness tip really interesting, so I decided to give it a try. The exercise is called the "Remy Squat". It's a deceivingly difficult exercise. It's done for 20 sec as part of a 5 exercise circuit. I really didn't have enough energy for the whole circuit so I did 3 sets of 60 sec Remy squats instead. You can watch Philip's tip of the week in the youtube link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap43fM6hDn0&feature=player_embedded

Part 2: Day 177

Today was much like yesterday. More ripping up of basements and hauling of heavy things. I met my client Danielle and her parents at a house they were helping at. Her Dad was excited to see me as he was getting ready to take apart a furnace and hot water heater and needed someone to help him. When I first saw this thing I thought there was no way we were getting it up the stairs, but after some hard work with saws, crowbars, hammers, and good old fashioned elbow grease we managed to break the furnace down into some more manageable parts. The hot water tank was a little trickier to get up the stairs. A big slippery cylinder is a little more difficult to grab on to than a pile of sheet metal, but we managed.

On my way home I stopped by my friend Steve's place again to see how he and his family were doing. I had pretty much decided that I was done for the day but Steve and his Dad were still working away, so I decided to pitch in a bit. All of the contents of their basement were in massive heaps on their front lawn. We had to pile up the mess in a massive bin in front of their house so that it could be taken to the dump. It took us about an hour to fill it to the top. It was satisfying to see so much ready to be taken away, but then we realized that we only piled up about half of what needed to go. Oh well, they were still 50% farther than they were before they started.

When I got home I was pretty close to taking a nap and shutting down all physical exertions, but I felt I still had a little bit in the tank. I decided to put on my running shoes and go out for a quick run and a little workout on my neighborhood playground. I ran a couple minutes then managed squeeze out a few sets of chin-ups and push-ups.

Today's Workout:

50 chin-ups in as few attempts as possible 20 push-ups for every break in chin-ups

Chin-up attempts: 4 (30 - 60 seconds between attempts) Attempt 1: 15 (20 push-ups)Attempt 2: 15 (20 push-ups) Attempt 3: 10 (20 push-ups) Attempt 4: 10 (20 push-ups)

I think after 4 days of working in soggy basements and lifting heavy things, I deserve a bit of a break. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to sleep in and have an easier day. I might even get that massage I skipped last week when the flooding started and cancelled my race in the mountains. The Glencoe club is still closed, but it looks like it shouldn't be too long before we open again. I'll have to spend another day working out away from the gym but that's ok. It's been nice to switch things up.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 175

Day 175 Holy cow I'm exhausted. After two days of ripping out dry wall and moving furniture out of soggy basements, I'm spent. That being said I've had the luxury of going home when I want, having a shower and sleeping in my bed, something my friends affected by the flooding have not had. In fact I know some of them have not slept for two days.

I tried to organize a group to get together today to help with the clean up. I had a small group show up. Initially I was a little disappointed that I didn't have more but I quickly came to realize that every one of them had gone out on their own to help their friends and neighbors, which in the end was what I was hoping for.

I said yesterday that it was amazing to see so many people rallying together. Today was no different. I heard that a a group trying to organize volunteers to meet at the football stadium was hoping to get around 500 and ended up with 7000. Just amazing. My group and I walked around the community looking to see who we could help. Many houses were thrilled to have us offer help but told us they had plenty of help already.

We found one family, the Saftons, that we knew from the Glencoe and helped them for quite a while with their basement. It was at their house that I'm claiming the bulk of my workout for the day. I'm pretty good at moving heavy things. I have a low centre of gravity and I'm pretty strong. My task with Mr Safton was pulling their washer and dryer out of the basement. This was not easy. It's one thing to move something heavy, it's another to move something heavy that's covered in mud and water. My job basically was to dead-lift the machines up the stairs while Mr Safton helped push and guide things. It was tough but we got them out.

After spending a good while at the Saftons, Nicole and I left for a little bit to grab a bite to eat. When went back to help out but decided to go to a different neighborhood, Rideau Park, which is on the other side of the river. As we were walking there this young 15 yr old kid I train named Byron decided to join us. When we got across the bridge we came across a woman who was directing volunteers to houses that needed a little more assistance. She mentioned this Asian couple who didn't speak much english and knew very few people that really needed some help. All of our friends in Rideau seemed to have plenty of help, so we headed over to the couple's house and spent the next few hrs there.

Up to this point I had known pretty much everyone I was working with during the clean-up. At this couples house most of the volunteers that had shown up had come from the football stadium. With the exception of Byron, Nicole, and I, we were all strangers to each other, yet there was still an amazing sense of comradery. We even took a group picture.

Byron was a champ. Dressed in his badminton clothes he put all his youthful energy to use and got straight to work. I was a little worried he would get hurt amongst all the hammers and crowbars and falling dry wall, but he listened well, stayed safe and was a huge help. I'm pretty proud of that kid.

We left the couples house a little bit before before dinner. I dropped Byron off at home, good and muddy. I wouldn't have been surprised if his Dad hosed him off in the back yard before letting him in the house. It was a long day, but very rewarding. My work is still out of commission, so I'll probably put the boots on again and see if I can help out some more.

Just before posting this I decided I needed a tiny bit more exercise, just so It was little different than yesterday. I knocked off a quick 100 push-ups then called it a night.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 174

Day 174 For my workout today I got a little dirty:

This afternoon I decided to stop by some of my client's homes that had been affected by the flooding. I had seen a lot of the devastation on TV but seeing it in person was completely different. The amount of mud everywhere was astonishing. I wasn't wearing appropriate footwear so I left and headed over to Mark's Work Wearhouse and bought some rubber boots.  When I came back I went to my client Adam's house to help him and his family rescue some items from their house.

It was really sad to see the damage that had been done to their home but it was really inspiring to see how many people had come out to help. Adam had rounded up quite a few friends who were eager to get to work and get dirty. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon moving couches, cabinets and soggy pieces of carpet out of the house and into their front yard.

The most difficult piece of furniture being this antique piano, that I'm guessing was pretty close to 700lbs. It took about 8 of us slipping and sliding in the mud to get this thing outside. Luckily no one lost any toes and we got the piano outside. It was a beautiful piece of furniture. I'm hoping that Adam and his family will be able to restore it. Some things are much harder to replace than others.

After helping Adam, I went home to get some lunch and met up with Nicole. After having a bite to eat we went to the Glencoe to see how things were around there. Fortunately the club had sustained very little damage. We'll still be out of sorts for a few days but that's a lot better than a few weeks.

We  walked around the block over to my friend Steve's house to give him and his family a hand. The Smiths have always been very good to me. I spent a lot of time at their house growing up and I felt the least I could do was help them clean up their home. By the time we got there they had already pumped most of the water out of their basement and had moved a great deal of their belongings outside. We chipped in and headed down into their basement to help move what was left. My heart ached as I pulled muddy photo albums and badminton trophies out of soggy boxes. After a couple hrs we were covered in mud but had pretty much emptied the basement.

We told the Smith's we'd be back tomorrow to help move the rest of their things into bins so they could be picked up and discarded. Later when we got home I was checking facebook and found out from Steve's sister that his mom was able to salvage almost all of their family photos. This made me really happy, because in the end it's the memories you create inside a house that make it a home.

I know this wasn't a structured workout but it was a physically challenging day and it served a much more valuable purpose than just making me run faster or my biceps bigger. On Monday's I usually have my conditioning class but instead tomorrow I'm organizing a group clean-up. I think it will be a great way to get together with some friends and help out for a worthy cause.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 173

Day 173 Early this afternoon, I joined my friends Gene and Steve to hit some golf balls. I knew it wouldn't be pretty. I think I've maybe been to a driving range twice in the last 6 years. We went to the Shaganappi golf course to use the driving range but the whole golf club was closed due to the heavy rains. Instead we drove to another course, Elbow Springs, which is towards the outskirts of the city, thinking that it would be less affected by the flooding.

The driving range was closed as well but the course was open. They had no power and the course was still pretty bogged down with water, so they offered us a discounted rate for 9 holes. We weren't planning on actually playing golf, but we had driven all the way out there, so we thought why not.

I had a lot of fun, but boy was I bad. We were taking too long for this guy behind us, so he decided to play through, but not without telling us we were too slow. He was a tool. I got a little better after the 3rd hole, after abandoning the driver and sticking to a 7 iron and a putter.

It was more than just a casual walk on a golf course as I had to traverse some interesting terrain looking for my ball, so I think I got a little more exercise than Gene and Steve. We didn't keep score but we had fun. My friends made some nice shots and I learned a couple things from them. I plan on getting out a lot more and perhaps even taking some lessons. I'd would love to get better at golf so that I could enjoy it a bit more. A lot of my clients use golf as an excuse to travel, which I think would be a lot of fun.

When I got home I took a short nap. I think the sun and the 2 beers I had during golf made me dopey. When I woke up I decided to do a small workout with some dumbbells in my garage. As much as I was mucking about the golf course, I felt I needed to get some actual structured exercise to claim a workout for today.

Today's Workout

Part 1: 9 holes of bad golf

Part 2: Dumbbell Workout in the Garage

Superset 1:

A1. Db Front Squat: 3 sets / 15 reps / 60lbs (30lbs per side)

A2. Db Bent-Over Row: 3 sets / 20 reps / 30 lbs per side

Superset 2:

B1. Db Curl to Overhead Press: 3 sets / 15 reps / 30 lbs per side

B2. Db Single Leg Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets / 10 reps per side / 30 lbs per side

Superset 3:

C1. Lateral Db Raise: 3 sets / 15 reps / 30 lbs per side

C2. Overhead Db Tricep Extension: 3 sets / 12 reps / 30 lbs per side

I was somewhat limited by what I had for equipment and space. I think I need to invest in a couple more pieces of equipment. 30 lbs is a bit light for some exercises and a bit heavy for others. However, I was feeling pretty lethargic and the workout definitely woke me up and made me feel better.

My work will likely still be closed for at least another day. The good news is that there doesn't seem to be much damage from the flooding. However, I imagine many of my clients will still be trying to put their lives back together over the next little while. I usually have my conditioning group on Monday nights. I might see if instead of doing a workout if I could interest them in joining me in helping with the recovery process. I think it would be great to see a bunch of young fit people chipping in and helping out the community.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 172

Day 172 After being cooped up all day inside, avoiding the rain and hoping not to lose power or be evacuated, Nicole and I ventured outside for a workout. The weather had really improved. In fact it was quite nice. I know this didn't mean the city was out of the woods but the sunshine made me feel optimistic that worst was behind us.

We ran to my go-to playground do a circuit workout on the equipment. After doing a series of 6 exercises we ran a loop around the neighborhood then came back and repeated the same circuit. It felt really good to get outside and get some fresh air. We were going a little stir crazy at home.

Today's Workout:

Approx. 600 m run

Playground Circuit Workout

• Walking Lunges Approx. 20 metres
• Push-ups x 30
• Chin-ups x 10
• Squat Jumps x 20
• Hanging Knee Raises x 12
• Tricep Dips x 30

Approx 1000 m run

Repeat Circuit

Aprrox 1000 m run to Riverbank

After finishing our second circuit we ran to towards the 14th st bridge to check out the river bank. It was incredible. The speed and power of the river was amazing. We hadn't run all that far from home. It made me a little nervous to think about how close we were to the river. When we got home Nicole was checking the internet for flood updates. Our neighborhood was still in the clear, but we realized that we were about one block away from losing power. I feel really fortunate that we weren't affected by the devastation but I am deeply concerned for my friends that have had to leave their homes. I pray that they can return home as soon as possible.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 171

Day 171 The plan today was to do a nice light run to keep the blood pumping through my legs. I didn't want to do anything too taxing because I had my run in Kananaskis this weekend, but I did want to work just hard enough to keep my body active and prepared for something much harder in a couple days.

I was just about to go for my run when I got a call from work saying that the Glencoe club had been closed and evacuated due to a flood warning for the elbow river a few blocks away from the building. I wasn't too upset about having a shorter day of work but I do have quite a few clients that live in the area, so I was concerned about them and their homes.

For my run I decided to run to the club and check out what was happening to the river. I didn't push too hard but the hill up 14th st from my house was a challenge. However, the rest of the way to the club was relatively downhill. When I got to the Glencoe it was spooky how quiet it was. The parking lot was empty and there were no cars parked in front of any of the houses. All I could hear was a helicopter over head. The traffic noise was gone as Elbow Drive had been blocked off.

I ran to the river bank to check out the water level. It was incredibly high and moving very fast. I felt a deep sense of concern as I looked at the houses across the river bank. Many of the back yards were becoming submerged. I really hope that they don't sustain too much damage.

I made my way back home at a much slower pace. I kind of ran / walked my way up 4th st and 17 ave. I was trying to push just hard enough to get a sweat and keep the blood moving but not tire myself out. I stopped into Yann Haute's and picked up some macarons for dessert. Pretty much ensures being in Nicole's good books when I do that. She has a slight obsession with them.

When I got home I checked my phone for any messages. Last time I went for a run when there was a possibility of rain, I nearly fried my phone. So this time I left it at home. When I checked I had an email from my friend and K100 team captain. The Kananaskis Relay had been cancelled due to the severe flooding and mudslides around Canmore and the Kananaskis area. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I felt really prepared and was looking forward to running my leg. Oh well, I got myself in decent shape which was pretty rewarding. I'll likely continue to throw some running into my workouts, but I think I'm going to refocus my energies toward getting really strong.

All my stuff aside, I really hope everyone affected by the severe rain stay safe and that they can return to dry undamaged homes.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 170

Day 170 I woke up today feeling less drained than I had the past couple days. My sinus cold seemed to be pretty much gone, save for a slight tickle in the back of my throat. This made me feel much more optimistic about feeling healthy for the weekend. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of running 16.5 km with a cold on Saturday morning.

I thought about doing a short run today, but I decided to do some upper body strength work instead to give my legs and lungs one more day of rest. I've been going pretty heavy lately but I thought seeing as I've been pretty tired this week, dialing back the intensity a bit would be a good idea.

Today's Workout

Superset:

Exercise 1: Chin-up Variation / 90 seconds rest before moving to exercise 2 Set 1: Underhand Grip Chin-up (12 reps) Set 2: Archer Pull-ups (5 reps per side) Set 3: Neutral Grip (Alternating Single Arm Lowering) Set 4: Negative Underhand Chin-ups (20 sec lowering x 4 reps) Set 5: Smith Machine Salmon Ladder Pull-up (4 reps) Set 6: 90 Degree Flexed Arm (60 seconds hold)

Exercise 2: Inclined Barbell Press 5 sets / 12 - 15 reps / 90 seconds rest before moving back to exercise 1 Sets 1 - 6: 135lbs x 15

Exercise 3: Dips 80 reps in as few attempts as possible / 30 sec rest between attempts Attempt 1: 38 reps Attempt 2: 16 reps Attempt 3: 15 reps Attempt 4: 11 reps

I actually had a lot of fun with this workout. The variety I used made putting it together a lot more interesting. I was pretty impressed with what I was able to do. The heavy strength work is definitely doing some good. I think a few months ago, I maxed out for dips at about 29 reps. Today I crushed out almost 10 more.

Tomorrow the plan is to go for a short run during the day then get a massage after work. I haven't had a massage for a while so I'm really looking for to it. Hopefully, I can add a good nights sleep to this mix as well tonight.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 169

Day 169 I decided that today needed to be an active rest day. I still planned on exercising but I needed some less structured and a lot less difficult. Over the last two days, I've been really unusually tired. This head cold seems doesn't seem to be making me feel that sick, but I'm guessing it has something to do with my lack of energy. For that reason I felt I needed to dial it back today.

I left work a little early this afternoon because I was feeling pretty yucky and took a nap on the couch. I pretty much crashed as soon as I got home. After about half an hr I woke up feeling a little groggy but a lot better. The weather earlier in the day was pretty awful but at this point it was actually really nice. I knew I didn't feel like running but thought getting some fresh air would be a good idea, so I pulled my bike out of the garage and went for a bike ride.

Today's Workout

1 hr minute Bike Ride (Light to Moderate Pace) Approximate Distance: 15 km

20 minutes of deep stretching

I wasn't setting any land speed records on my bike but it was reasonably brisk. I didn't track my distance or pace, but judging from my runs I would say it was around 15km. Along the way I stopped into Deville Coffee Shop and picked up a couple macarons for dessert. Nicole was pretty happy when she saw them in the fridge. After dinner I did good deep stretch. Now time to call it a night a little earlier than usual so I can recoup some sleep and feel better tomorrow.