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Week 4 – Day 5

As you can probably tell, I have continued procrastinating in reporting the progress of my workouts. It's a late night here in Dahab, and I just finished my workout for the day. I begin a free diving class tomorrow morning so I'll keep this short. I'll mention today's workout, then I'll document past days' workout tomorrow.

Today's workout was supposed to be on abs the bars, but I didn't have access to a pullup bar so I swapped today with the workout of Week 5 - Day 3. I did four rounds of the following:

  • 20 alternating side heel touch
  • 20 alternating situps
  • 30 second side plank (each side)
  • 20 situps

Similar to the last abs workout, I didn't need as much rest as was suggested, but I think my situp techniques can be improves (rely on less momentum).

Week 3: Day 5 and Day 6

Today I deliberately chose to rest because my body has been aching. I guess the workouts in addition to all the activities I’ve been doing in Dahab are taking a toll on my body.
Yesterday was a chest day. I did 4.5 rounds of the following:
  • 10 inner pushups
  • 12 spider pushups
  • 8 pseudo pushups
  • 15 wide pushups
I say 4.5 rounds because I couldn’t go through the fifth round fully - I only did the first two sets there. I lowered the recommended reps in each set by a couple of reps to make it more manageable for me. I’d rather focus on quality than quantity.
The day before I did lower body. I was already sore so that workout burnt!
Four rounds of:
  • 20 squats
  • 20 lunges
  • 15 jump squats
  • 15 jump lunges
Tomorrow we’ll be in the desert camping so I don’t think I’ll be able to do pull-ups. I’ll swap it with one of workouts from next week’s.

Week 3: Day 1, 3, and 4

The workout on day 1 was at the Lagona beach. It was a cardio workout, and it was very demanding. My heart was pounding hard for many parts of it.

Four rounds of:

  • 100 jump rope
  • 30 bunny hops
  • 10 burpees

I also did an acroyoga session with Salma that day - a great thigh workout.

Day 3's workout was at Eldorado. I used more rest time than was suggested, but managed to finish all the sets required. Chin-up sets I had to split into two, but other than that it was smooth.

Four rounds of:

  • 12 Dips
  • 12 Chinups
  • 15 Regular Pushups
  • 10 Knee Raises

Today's workout was abs. It was very smooth and I was able to complete all of it while following the suggested rest times.

Five rounds of:

  • 30 second crunches
  • 30 second laying down knee rolls
  • 1 minute plank
  • 6 inches scissor kicks

Week 2: Day 5, 6 & 7

I have done a poor job in documenting my workout the past few days. Shame on me!

Today I worked out from Eldorado in Dahab. It was very windy, but that didn't stop me 🙂

I did four rounds of the following:

  • 10 Pike Pushups
  • 15 seconds Quarter Dip Bounce Hold
  • 10 Hindu Pushups
  • 15 second Handstand Wall Hold

The exercise today was quite shoulder intensive, and fortunately my injured shoulder has been keeping up well.

The two workouts prior were in Egypt. One day was focused on the back, and that was a very difficult day. In rounds 3 and 4 of that day I divided all sets into two and took a lot more rest than was recommended. Here was the exercise:

Three rounds of:

  • 10 Wide Grip Pullups
  • 8 Close Grip Pullups
  • 5 Slow pullup releases (5 seconds)
  • 8 Pullup Hold Side to Side

Finally, the third workout was lower body and that's easy. Mido, my nephew, joined me on this workout. He coped through the entire exercise!

The exercise was four rounds of:

  • 5 Down and up Squats (5sec down)
  • 1 Leg Wall Sit (30 seconds)
  • 10 Jump Squats on Platform
  • 12 One Leg Raises on Platform

Here's a picture I took with my nephew at the end of that workout. It is admittedly a horrible picture, but that's not going to stop me from posting it 🙂

Week 2 – Day 3 & 5

I'll write about both days since I missed documenting the workout from day 3. Day 3 was focused on core. I did four sets of the following:

  • Knee Raises (20 seconds)
  • 90 Degree Flutter Kicks (20 seconds)
  • Parallel Bar Knee Raises (25 seconds)
  • 90 Degree Core Hold (10 seconds)

In the last two rounds, I couldn't hold 90 degree with my core in flutter kicks or L-hangs, so I did them with my knees bent.

Today was focused on back - lots of pullups. I did three rounds of the following:

  • 10 wide grip pullups
  • 8 close grip pullups
  • 5sec Down Pullup Release
  • 8 Pullup Hold Side to Side

I had to break down some of the sets into two as it was difficult to do this many. I also rested a lot longer than the suggested rest period.

This workout program is quite tough. If I am continuously not hitting the expected performance I may have to modify my plans a bit.

First Full Day in Dahab

Today was my first full day in Dahab, and what a day it has been! To my surprise, time passes by very slowly here (a lot of بركة, I suppose).

I worked out of a cafe by the beach in the morning, had breakfast, worked out on the beach, had lunch, went home to continue working, and then finally went with a group to the mountains for a splendid dinner in the desert. I couldn't count how many stars were in the clear skies above. I unfortunately didn't have a good camera to take pictures but Nadine, one of the women in the group, took some beautiful pictures that I'll share here in due time.

Work-wise I think it has been a very productive day. Hopefully it stays that way in the days to come.

Week 2 – Day 1

I did today's workout on the splendid beaches of Dahab. Today was an easy and quick lower body workout. The only exception to that were "In Place Jumps". Those were a killer and my heart was pounding at the end of every set.

I did four sets of the following, with ~30 second breaks in between each set.

  • Sumo Squats (30 sec)
  • In Place Jumps (20 sec)
  • Butt Kicks Alternate (30 sec)
  • Low Duck Walk (30 sec)
  • Single Leg Calf Raises (40 sec)

Week 1 – Day 7

I was on hiatus the past two days, but now I'm back! I spent the past three days diving so a delay was expected.

Today was exclusively pushups, and it was hard. In total I did 180 pushups today. I ended up doing three sets of the following:

  • 20 Wide pushups
  • 15 Incline pushups
  • 15 Decline pushups
  • 10 Regular explosive pushups
  • 10sec 90 degree pushup hold

In the second half of the third set, I started breaking sets into two because it was a bit much. Also, I took around ~1min between each exercise, which was a bit more than the rest time as recommended in the workout plan.

This concludes week one - eleven more to go!

In Dahab

I arrived to Dahab this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised that Dahab had not lost one bit of its charm - an incredible combination of beauty, nature, and simplicity.

I met up with my friend Souzan, who has been living there for several months now, and she give me a nice, gentle re-introduction to Dahab. The video below says it all.