Back to lifting... ugh to the push-ups!

The tent came down last night and I got my lift in this morning!  Woot!

A couple things to note.  I dropped my rows back down a bit because I was trying to finish off the last 2-3 reps of the set with back rotation.  For a lower rep set, I would be fine with 50#, but I need to complete all reps with good form.  Also, I was very disappointed with my push-ups.  I would think I should be able to bang out push-ups no problem, but I'm still struggling with more than a few reps.  Frustrating. I should probably go to an incline to fix them.

FBB Base Phase A81:08
Foam rolling (from SnG), warm-up (did all jumping moves)
Bird dog - 3x10
Forward Ab Roll - 3x10 (subbed ab roller for ball)
Stepup - 3x10/15#ea hand
Three-point Dumbbell Row - 1x10/50#, 2x10/45#
Partial Co-contraction Lunge - 3x10
Pushup - 2x10, 1x4 (some pauses, booooo)
Hip-Thigh Extension - 3x10 with knee pulled in
Bent-Over Reverse Fly - 3x10/8#

More FBB

Just a quick report on a great workout!I listened to TheFitCast podcasts during my workout.  I don't know why I didn't realize the great use of my cute little Netbook to do this before.  Great stuff.

FBB Base Phase A7
1:03
Foam rolling (from SnG), warm-up (skipped jumping moves)
Bird dog - 3x10
Forward Ab Roll - 3x10 (subbed ab roller for ball)
Stepup - 3x10/15#ea hand
Three-point Dumbbell Row - 3x10/50#
Partial Co-contraction Lunge - 3x10
Pushup - 3x10 (some pauses)
Hip-Thigh Extension - 3x10 with knee pulled in
Bent-Over Reverse Fly - 3x10/10#

New Toy!

I got my aluminum Oly bar in the mail yesterday!  It's 15 pounds.  I'm anxious to give it a try.  It seems well made.  It only has a weight limit of around 150#, so I will only use it up to the point when I could use the 45# Oly bar.  The sleeves seem to move fine, which was my biggest worry.

My heel is still getting sore, so I skipped the jumping moves in the warm-up.  Otherwise, I did everything.  My heel did feel sore afterward, but I took some ibuprofen and iced it on my way to work.  So far, it's not getting worse, but I would like it to actually get better!  Patience, patience.

I didn't increase any of my weights today, but I still felt like I got a good workout in.

FBB Base Phase A6
1:02
Foam rolling (from SnG), warm-up (skipped jumping moves)
Bird dog - 3x10
Forward Ab  Roll - 3x10 (subbed ab roller for ball)
Stepup - 3x10/15#ea hand
Three-point Dumbbell Row - 3x10/50#
Partial Co-contraction Lunge - 3x10
Pushup - 3x10 (some pauses)
Hip-Thigh Extension - 3x10 with knee pulled in
Bent-Over Reverse Fly - 3x10/8#

Increasing the sets

Before, I only did two sets of each exercise.  This time I moved it up to three.  Because of that, I didn't really increase my weights.  Same weights, more volume!

FBB Base Phase A5
1:09
Foam rolling (from SnG), warm-up
Bird dog - 3x10
Forward Ab  Roll - 3x10 (subbed ab roller for ball)
Stepup - 3x10/15#ea hand (getting better)
Three-point Dumbbell Row - 3x10/50# (still concentrating on form before increasing, left side making big improvements)
Partial Co-contraction Lunge - 3x10
Pushup - 3x10
Hip-Thigh Extension - 3x10 with leg straight
Bent-Over Reverse Fly - 3x10/8#

Newest piece of equipment... homemade!

So, the Show and Go program I'm doing right now calls for ab wheel rollouts and iso holds.  I didn't have an ab wheel, so I substituted Olympic barbell rollouts.  They worked fine, but my barbell isn't a professional version and rolling on it loosens the bolts that hold it together.  One time, after I was done, an end even fell off!  I'm more careful now about checking the bolts, but still, I think an actual piece of equipment would be better.  Naturally, I headed out to the interwebs to see what was available.  I found a plethora of cheapo ab wheels.  Some had an upgrade of two wheels side by side.  None of those were interesting to me.  There was one or two that looked like something I wanted, but they were expensive and I was still going off of a picture.

So, I went to Lowe's and bought some supplies to make my own ab roller!  I liked the idea of a handle that allows a shoulder width grip rather than the narrow grip of the cheapo wheels.  Also, I wanted a wider base, because really, I don't think the extra instability of a narrow wheel base is necessary or even desired.  Here is what I came up with:

 And for size reference:

The wheels were the most expensive part.  They were about $8 a piece.  But, they have ball bearings and rubber tires (instead of plastic), which was two things I really wanted.  I may upgrade it at some time by adding bicycle handle bar wrap, but for now the PVC handles seem pretty comfortable!  I don't know if the lock washers are overkill, but it seems to work fine the way it is.  Once I decided on length and bought the parts, it took about 10 minutes to cut the parts and assemble.  Pretty easy!

Shopping list:
1/2" PVC pipe, cut into 3 pieces (shortest PVC pipe was 5' long) - $1.33
1/2" threaded rod, plated, 3' cut to fit the rest of the parts when put together - $3.87
1/2" hex lock nuts, qty 2 - $0.38
1/2" washers, qty 6 - $0.54
1/2" lock washers, qty 2 - $0.14
6"x1.5" center hub mower wheels with ball bearings and rubber tires, qty 2 - $15.96
Grand total:  $23.78 with tax

Not bad!  (Actually, I have 6 extra lock nuts, for $1.14, since I changed my mind on construction.  Ha!)