Tuesday, December 1: Ninety minutes in the gym to start December’s fitness campaign: chest and triceps followed by five km on the treadmill. My ankle, which I injured in August, is now strong enough to jog on, and I tested it out today by jogging one of those five kilometers. It felt a little stiff, but it held up fine, although I’ll need to run on it more to get it back up to 100%. My shoulders, sides, and calves were exercised immediately after stepping off the treadmill.
Wednesday, December 2: I went to the gym much later than usual at 8 p.m. It was very crowded and that made doing my planned workout quite difficult. With patrons vying for the machines, it wasn’t easy to get into a rhythm. The result was that I was forced to improvise and train a little differently and that’s a good thing as my body’s probably getting used to my usual workout routine. It was my shortest session for a long time at just over an hour and that included ten minutes waiting for a treadmill to become available. I worked my back, traps, biceps, and lower back as fast as I could given that there were people waiting to use the various machines. I ended with 2.5 km on the treadmill up a much steeper incline than normal and that made all the difference and left me feeling like I had run 10 km:
Thursday, December 3: I was up and ready in time to walk to work for my 7:50 a.m. class. That doesn’t happen very often, but I like it when it does. I like nothing better than rugging up for early morning walks with my iPod. Sure, it wasn’t a whole lot of exercise – perhaps a 4 -5 km round trip – but with my left knee feeling a little sore recently, I want to take advantage of the low impact exercise walking offers. Hope to walk more often, but the problem is being ready to leave home before 7:20 a.m., and that ain’t easy!
Saturday, December 5: An intense and hunger inducing two hours in the gym late this afternoon left me famished and exhausted. Chest, triceps, forearms, sides and abs followed by 6.5 km on the treadmill. I jogged 1.5 km and although my ankle felt a little stiff, it coped with the running just fine and felt almost as strong as normal. I ended the session with a shoulder workout.
Monday, December 7: Up bright and early and in time to walk to class. A nice 30 minute early morning walk and then walked home in the evening after my 4 p.m. class.
Tuesday, December 8: Eighty-five minutes in the gym between my 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. classes. Back and legs followed by 2.5 km on the treadmill. The weights were done very quickly with little or no rest between sets and that left me feeling a little nauseous, which I saw as a sign I worked out pretty hard.
Wednesday, December 9: Walked to work and back again listening to Under The Dome, Stephen King’s latest. 8-minute abs in the evening followed by a spicey chicken pizza. Yum!
Thursday, December 10: My M.B.A. studies finished for the year today, so today officially marks the start of my winter vacation fitness campaign. It began with a solid 90 minutes in the gym on a rainy, rainy wet December night. The session consisted of chest, shoulders, tricepts (gave those some extra attention), sides, and 3.5 km on the treadmill. My left knee was feeling a little sore again today, so I reduced the speed and incline on the treadmill.
Friday, December 11: I walked to work again in the morning, leaving at the ungodly time of 7:15 a.m. I hopped on my exercise bike for the first time since November 23 and did my usual 20 km in just over 30 minutes. My knee surprisingly felt fine today.
Saturday, December 12: My longest gym session in quite a while clocked in at 2 hours and 16 minutes. It began with a back workout involving 5 different exercises, one was a new one for me. On to the treadmill next for 8 km in 67 minutes. The time really flew by and I was almost tempted to keep going, but decided not to because of a stiffening right ankle and recent soreness in my left knee. Forearms were next, then back extensions for my lower back – 4 sets, followed by an all round stretch. Surprisingly a very enjoyable 2 and a quarter hours. With my studies over for the year, I hope there’ll be a lot more sessions like that over the next few months. And unfortunately I forgot to take a clean shirt to the gym, so I had to put on my very sweaty shirt on again after my shower. Yuk! Oh and I almost forgot: in the morning I walked to the other side of campus and back again. A 90-minute round trip.
Sunday, December 13: I woke up with a headache that I think was due to all the exercise yesterday. I’ve noticed when I exercise more than usual, as I did yesterday, I often wake up with a headache the next morning. Not enough water perhaps? So today was pretty much a rest day, which was fine with me. But I did do some exercise in the form of a nice leisurely 90-minute walk around my neighborhood listening to James Horner’s new Avatar score and Stephen King’s Under The Dome audio book on my trusty 160GB iPod. My precious… until I get an iPhone.
Monday, December 14: Walked to work and back as Under the Dome draws to an end.
Tuesday, December 15: A lot of walking today, perhaps around 12 km judging from a rough estimation from Google Earth. I walked to my 7:50 a.m. class and then to the Engineering Building for final interviews with my 9 a.m. students. To the hairdressers next for a haircut and then I walked home stopping for some dolsot bibimbap along the way. A couple of hours later I walked to my 4 p.m. class to wrap up interviews with the remaining students. I had planned to go to the gym after all that, but tiredness got the better of me and I decided to save the gym for tomorrow. While walking I finished Under The Dome and gave the new release of the classic Back To The Future score its first listen. Here’s a map of today’s travels:
Wednesday, December 16: Back in the gym today for to work my chest, shoulders, triceps, sides, abs, calves, hamstrings, groin, and thighs. A little light on the thighs because of an aching left knee due to leg extensions, then 2.5 km on the treadmill.
Thursday, December 17: I was feeling very sore from yesterday’s weights session – my chest felt particularly sore – so I skipped the weights today – I had planned on doing back and biceps – and just did cardio on the treadmill. My knee was sore yesterday but felt fine today.
Friday, December 18: I walked to work and back in the freezing cold and then later in the afternoon I got back on my exercise bike for a solid 20 km while watching the season 7 Stargate SG1 episode “Avenger 2.0.”
Saturday. December 19: Ninety minutes in the gym: back, biceps, lower back, sides, abs, and calves. My usual treadmill session to to finish the day’s exercise (4 km):
Sunday, December 20: Just some light walking today out in the cold listening to the Avatar soundtrack. I walked from home to Seong-so subway station and then went downtown and bought a 500 GB external hard drive.
Monday, December 21: Tonight marked the end of the semester and I celebrated with 2 hours and 20 minutes in the gym. I think perhaps my hardest workout of the year. Chest and triceps first followed by 7.5 km on the treadmill with the incline cranked up to its maximum setting of 16 for about 5 minutes. I really felt that in my legs, particularly in my hamstrings. Once off the treadmill, it was straight into the weights again: hamstrings, groin, and two light sets of leg presses. My left knee, which has been troubling me lately, felt fine – big relief! I finished the session with shoulders and a stretch. I was absolutely exhausted when I finished. The most tired I’ve felt from a workout in a very, very long time:
Tuesday, Decmber 22: Twenty kilometers on the exercise bike watching Stargate SG1:
Wednesday, December 23: I walked to work and back and then a rare morning gym session. 101 minutes all up that included back, biceps, traps, lower back, abs, forearms, and 3 km on the exercise bike which brought my monthly total up to 50 km. That session must have worn me out because later that day I slept for 3 hours straight!
Thursday, December 24: No intense cardio or gym session today, instead a lot of walking. I walked to and from my office with a long detour on the way home listening to my iPod. All up perhaps 3 hours walking.
Friday, Christmas Day! I began my Christmas with 35 km on my exercise bike. My longest bike session for quite a while:
Saturday, December 26: That was perhaps the laziest day I had all year. I snoozed for about 3.5 hours during the day both on my sofa and back in bed. But I did make it to the gym, albeit some 5 hours later than I had hoped. Chest, shoulders, and triceps and that was it. No energy for the treadmill, so I called it a day after some 35 minutes.
Sunday, December 27: I felt refreshed after a good night’s sleep so I jumped on my exercise bike bright and early for 30 km:
Monday, December 28: Ten km on the treadmill and then an intense abs session in the gym. I ran 1.6 of those kilometers and was the first time I had run in a couple of weeks. My knee felt fine while I was running, but it felt sore the next day. I’ll have to take it easier next time and over the coming weeks. I also walked to work and back home again in the morning, making for a busy day for my legs:
Wednesday, December 30: My last gym session for the year was a particularly intense one. I exercised my lats, back, traps, biceps, forearms, lower back, and legs. And for my final treadmill session of 2009, a very fast 3 km:
Thursday, December 31: I ended the month of December and the year of 2009 with 25 km on my exercise bike watching Stargate Atlantis:
Monthy Totals: Exercise bike – 150 km. Treadmill – 63 km.
