December 2, 2015: Setting Up New Challenges

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Sometimes, we need to give ourselves a challenge. I've written about the importance of challenging yourself before. Challenging our previous efforts and attempting to improve upon them is our key to progress in life - not just in fitness. 

We can challenge ourselves with our goals and within each workout. Another way to challenge ourselves is to participate in an event or competition. I have done this in my past mainly with running road races and with thai boxing. These events give you something to train for in the not too distant future. I have found some of my greatest progress in fitness when training for a competition.

Last week, I decided to train for an indoor rowing race that is about 10 weeks away. The competition gives me enough time to focus my training a little and try to get a dramatic improvement. Also, the spirit of friendly competition and comparing myself to the performance of others gives me a lot of motivation as well. Also, as opposed to a running race which I've done more recently (albeit a couple years ago), I have not done an indoor rowing race in over 20 years (when I rowed in high school). The race also aligns with my current goals since I have a specific rowing goal and I don't have to postpone my other goals because those goals complement my rowing goal.

I won't say too much more other than to encourage you to find an event or competition that would help motivate you to improve yourself. For running and endurance challenges, there are a ton of road races at all times of the year. If you are looking for more of a challenge, you can try a Tough Mudder. If you want to improve your strength, there are a ton of power lifting meets all around the country. Pick one three or four months away and sign up! It may be intimidating at first, but the benefits to your fitness and your confidence will be worth it.

December 2, 2015 Workout

Warm up 500 m row 3:07 

Stretching

Push-ups 5 x 3 sets

I generally stretch in between my push-up sets (and during my barbell sets too). Rowing is a great warm-up for me as it hits the whole body. It also gave me a chance to work on my form a little before my longer rowing piece.

Bench press 

1. 95 x 5 

2. 115 x 5

3. 135 x 5

4. 135 x 5

5. 135 x 5!

Felt  tired last couple sets. I didn't get as much sleep as I usually do (maybe 5 hours) and I think that affected me a little. Also, I didn't feel as focused today during the sets. However, my reps were clean (except for the very last one) and overall I felt great afterwards.

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Rowing: 15 min. 2745 m (Avg. 500m Split 2:43.9)

I felt very comfortable during this. Every 5 minutes (so 3 times during this workout) I pushed a little harder for a minute - I brought my stroke rate up to about 22 and the split to about 2:30. I wanted this to be an easier row today, as I hadn't rowed for 15 minutes in a while, so I wanted to keep things in the "cardio" zone intensity-wise. I set a pace-boat for 3 min. splits, but it was pretty easy to beat, so I'll increase it next time for my longer rows.

Stretching 10 min.