Wednesday: Cycle / Thursday: Erg + “Weights”

Wednesday

Just rode home from work on the bicycle. Because of the darkness, I decided to try a new route, straight through the center of the town. My traditional route is less busy but also has a few bike paths that are badly illuminated. I have enough  lights on my bike to be seen, but I cannot use it to avoid holes in a dirt bike track in the dark.

It was better than I thought. I ended up riding at about the same speed as the trams, and faster than the cars.

https://www.strava.com/activities/426401831

In time, it is not longer.

Thursday

30 minutes on the erg, just a slow row.

30min

Then three rounds of “weights” at home, using body weight and the Bodylastics(TM) bands.

  1. Biceps Curl (blue band)
  2. Squat (black band)
  3. press up
  4. sit ups
  5. pistol squat
  6. pull up
  7. squat (black band)
  8. dips
  9. dorsal raise
  10. “bench press” (blue band and actually “inclined chest press”)
  11. row (orange band)

15 repeats for each exercise (15 per leg for the pistol squats) and three rounds. I had to look up the fancy English names for some of the exercises, so I hope I got them right. “Pistol squat” is what I would call in prosaic Dutch “kniebuigingen op een been” (knee bending on one leg).

The strength training took me about 40 minutes to complete. I am wondering if I should do one longer session per week or three 15 minute ones after the extensive steady state OTE rows.

In the nerdy section, I worked on my excel list of strength exercises. I have more than hundred of them now. I have information on recommended weight and equipment needed and main muscles trained. Then I created a pivot table which will come in handy when I need to improvise a weight/body weight circuit. It will be good for inspiration when stuck a hotel. Within a few seconds I can create a suggested list of workouts given the equipment available, ordered by muscle group worked. Probably doesn’t save a lot of time, but I enjoy creating something that gives the impression of being organized.