Workout in the woods...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Since my knee seems to be pretty seriously damaged, I’ve decided I’ll have to nurse it through the weekend and then go see the doc. I thought I’d try another Back to Basic workout, focusing on the upper body, though. I thought I had my TRX bands in my back pack, but when I found they were missing, remembered Jason had borrowed them. Since I had the pack out, I threw it on my back determined to carry the 30 pounds and make the walking a little more strenuous. Bad decision.

I began walking looking for places to do push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups and for logs and rocks to lift, carry, throw or move. I came across a tree with a limb just out of jumping reach (my vertical is about 3 inches), but I did manage to grasp it after climbing part way up the tree. I did some pull-ups, dropped to the earth and continued the hike. I found a heavy log by the side of the road…one I’d used a couple of days earlier…and hoisted one end to shoulder height before beginning a series of overhead presses. It was muddy and the debris was covering my hands and falling on my head…in other words…I was looking good. I lifted it about 8 times before exhausting myself and dropped it to the ground being careful not to let it land in the mud so that I wouldn’t have to get quite so messy the next time I picked it up.

I saw a rock about the size of a foot stool and managed to pick it up to my waist. It wasn’t going any higher…at least not with any strength I had to offer, but I could hold it waist-high and walk, which I did for about 100 feet. These are all little things, but my forearms and hands were feeling the fatigue associated with picking up and carrying heavy things. I did 30 push-ups and continued on my way. When I arrived at the cabins, I found my rock and did another 10 overhead presses. I located a lighter rock in the creek bed, which used to do biceps curls and followed this with some abdominal crunches and bicycles for the lower abs. I did some more push-ups with the pack on, which limited me to 10 reps.

I headed back towards the car, continuing to find opportunities to lift and throw things. When I arrived back and stripped off the pack, I found my limbs quite spent. There was no cardio in the workout and I couldn’t do the sprinting or jumping that I would normally do, but I did what I could. The knee, of course, was quite sore, but I’d ice that up at home and deal with it.