Daily Workout - Yoga at MMA Gym

My MMA gym is offering Yoga classes twice a week (Tuesdays & Thursdays) and as I am not so flexible, this gives me the opportunity to work on my flexibility and learn some new exercises I can incorporate during my home workouts.

Yoga is more than just stretching. It's also about relaxation, balance and body awareness. Our instructor summed it up nicely by thanking us at the end of our Yoga session for investing this time in our health. In fact any time you do some sort of exercise, you are investing in your health. And when you think about it, isn't your health the most important thing you can invest in. So why don't we all do this more? Oh yah, it takes time and energy! All I can say to that is it's time and energy well invested.

I found this particular Yoga session to be fairly low intensity and more focused on proper technique, which was good for me as I am not a Yoga regular by any means.

I think Yoga is for everyone, it improves your strength, flexibility, balance and breathing. If you are religious and maybe you have been tuned off by the meditation side of Yoga going against your religious beliefs, most Yoga these days is meditating for the relaxation side of things. You can meditate about whatever you want. Personally I was thinking about being able to do some of these moves one day.

By the way, here is a good Yoga YouTube Channel!

Update: I decided to do an evening Back Workout - I used my Smith Machine pulleys to do Wide Pull Downs, Narrow Pull Downs and Seated Rows. I worked in some of my Yoga hip stretching (I learned  this morning) between sets and I finished off with Abs. Total time about 35 minutes.

Daily Workout - Chest & Punching Bag in Home Gym

 

I actually got around to doing an earlier workout today! Everyone was out of the house so I knew there would be no interruptions. This was also a good time to hit the punching bag as it tends to make some noise and I can't really use the punching bag at night when the kids are sleeping.

• Warmup: Punching Bag for 10 minutes (Punches & Kicks).
• Bench Press with Dumbells.
• Incline Dumbbell Press Flies.
• 3 Stage Pushups: Planche, Extended, and Regular.
• Abs: Mixed Sit-ups & Floor Raises.
• Misc. Stretching.

Total workout time: About 1 hour.

Daily Workout - Cardio and Legs in Home Gym

Sorry - No picture today! Todays workout was another one I just didn't feel much like doing, so I used the old "I'll just do a quick 10 minutes of cardio". For some reason once you get started, carrying on with the rest of the workout isn't so hard.

So if you don't feel much like doing a workout, tell yourself you will just do a quick one and more than likely you will end up doing the entire workout!

• Elliptical Warmup - 10 Minutes.
• Squats with Smith machine.
• Calf Raises: with Smith machine.
• Leg Extensions: Bench with leg attachment.
• Leg Curls: Bench with leg attachment.
• Misc. lower body stretching.
• Abs: Total Gym Side Twists.

Total workout time: About 1 hour done in my home gym. 

Daily Workout - Arms - Total Gym

 

I took Sunday off as per usual, it's a good thing because I am still felling my 3 mile run form Saturday! I haven't done a run in a while and even though I do regular leg workouts and Elliptical cardio, it's still not the same as going for a jog.

I don't think I've mentioned it yet but about 4 months ago I injured my left middle finger while doing an MMA workout, and the funny part is it was during a rugby like warmup. The injury I sustained was a "Mallet Finger". Basically I bent the tip too far in the right direction, severing the tendon. It sounds painful put it actually wasn't.

The problem is it takes longer for this injury to heal then if I had broken my finger and the outcome can be iffy at best... Or in other words, my finger could stay bent to some degree forever!! Lucky for me it turned out pretty straight. I can't bend it all the way yet but it gets better all the time. And the point off all this is that I wanted to mention today was the first day I did an entire workout without using my finger splint!

Well today was Arms day and my workout machine of choice was the Total Gym:

• 10 Minutes Elliptical.
• Biceps: Lying Down Curls with Total Gym. (3 Sets with an increase in the incline each time)
• Biceps: Seated Curls with Total Gym. (2 Sets with an increase in the incline each time)
• Biceps: Arm Curls with Light Dumbbells.
• Triceps: Seated Overhead Extension with the Total Gym.
• Triceps: Lying Down Extension with the Total Gym.
• Triceps: Rear Extension with the Total Gym.
• Abs: Seated forward Side Twists with the Total Gym.

Total workout time: About 1 hour.

Daily Workout - Jog and Shoulders with Total Gym

I usually do my MMA workout on Saturday but todayI just wasn't 100% and I really need to feel 100% to do my MMA workouts. I'll try and make it up by going Monday or Tuesday next week instead!

Since it was a nice sunny day to day and we haven't seen the sun for some time, I decided to do my first jog of the year. I'm not really built for long runs, (shorter strong legs) but I do like to mix jogging in to my routine form tie to time.

I use a program on my iPhone called Runner, It's AWESOME and tracks literally everything  about each and every running session. (Calories, Miles per hour, GPS tracking with stats all along the way...) The Map image at the top is a screen capture sight from the Runner Program.

When I got home I had a quick drink and protein bar and then did Shoulders on the Total Gym and then some Punching Bag at the end.

• Running: 3 Miles - 30 Minutes.
• Shoulders on Total Gym - 30 Minutes.
• Punching Bag and Stretching - 20 Minutes.

Total workout time: About 1.5 hours.