A work-out day: 5 km and…

I went to the gym in Devon today and worked on my quads and calves. While there I explored other machines for hip abductors, triceps etc. There are several machines I can use to help me in my karate training. I would really like to be able to use them twice a week. We’ll see how that goes in the next few weeks. I feel like I have really weak quads, it was really hard on my knees to do a simple squat with only the weight of the machine’s bar (no added weights). I’ll see how that improves over time.

In karate we often do calf raises where you lift up onto your tip toes. We do it with our feet pointed ahead, then 45 degrees apart, then pigeon-toed, then we do them again with our feet pointed straight ahead but we go up in three stages. We raise our heels just off the floor then stop and hold the position for a second, then continue up halfway then stop then continue up as high as we can go on our toes. We reverse that on the way back down. That would be one rep. We usually do 10 or 20 reps for each form. But today in the gym I was using a machine that puts weight on your shoulders as you do the calf raises. I did the same routine as in karate class but today I had an extra 30 pounds on my shoulders.

After that gym workout, I came home and ran 5 km in 37 minutes which is slightly faster than the 7:30 pace I am aiming for. It felt like hard work. I have to print myself a pace band so I can be a little more consistent with my pace. Then I came home, rested a bit and did my katas. My toe joint is really irritating me today. It refuses to stop snapping, sending a painful shock wave through my foot every time I take a step. Stretching the muscle on top of my toe seems to help a little.

That’s it for today.