Gymmed it up.
Back and biceps, so I rocked lat pulldowns, wide and close (felt really good on the wide), tried to high and low row, but the high row was making my shoulder ache, so i just did low row and then a machine row. With the machine rows, I can really feel my back engage. I think it's promising. After the back stuff, I did a series of biceps curls, ending in hammer curls at 20# each. Shouldn't be too hard, but after a long workout of rows (which work my biceps hard too), it was more than enough to hit full fatigue and failure.
After lifts was sprints, so I ran a series of suicides. 3 sets of 3 reps, ~1min between reps, ~3min between sets. I set up cones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 at 5 yd intervals. The first set of suicides was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The second set was 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The third set was 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 5, 3, 4, 2, 3, 1. The first set was tough but felt good. The second set I had trouble focusing on my turns and pushing hard through. The final set was next to impossible to push hard the whole way through. It was constant direction change and i was on parquet (dirty parquet at that) which was really making my feet slip and slide. My legs were shot, my lungs were shot and my cardio was fading fast. I'm really glad I did them now. I can start really working on this shit in the next few months.
In other news, Ginie told me about a former teammate of ours who is looking to put together a team for the series. It's mixed, but they look like they're grabbing some serious talent. I'm surprisingly excited about it. I think it could be a real opportunity, if they get the right people, to make definite noise at regionals.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Finally! I finally broke out of my stupid goddamn rut. I hit the gym and felt GOOD about it. Then winter league rosters came out and my team looks really solid. I'm so excited. As in, I was excited enough last night that I didn't fall asleep for a while. I have training again tonight, followed by FITTFU. Hopefully FITTFU will come off better and I can go into the weekend feeling good.
Fingers crossed, doin' work,
~#28
Fingers crossed, doin' work,
~#28
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
It's been a while again. Since last time, it's been mostly FITTFU and gym work. I...was displeased with my FITTFU play. And it's been dragging on me since then. I haven't played in too long and my self-confidence is shaking. I need to be back on the field, back on the track. Just...out of the gym. I need to be competing again. Fuck, man.
Gotta do some work,
~#28
Gotta do some work,
~#28
Thursday, January 20, 2011
WITTFU last night. Hence, Getting Better. To gauge how I was doing, I'd say I was on par with the college kids with club experience more or less. I don't think I can afford to be on par with them. Obviously, they carry the benefit, come tryouts, of being much younger. Players like Adrian bring both talent and youth and that's a pretty tough combination to beat. Oh well...gonna have to do it come April.
I can feel my work in the gym paying dividends. But I'm not where I need to be. Gotta keep doing work, keep proteining, keep my nose to the grindstone. I'm on the upslope, so I just need to not lose track of things and it'll be okay.
I can feel my work in the gym paying dividends. But I'm not where I need to be. Gotta keep doing work, keep proteining, keep my nose to the grindstone. I'm on the upslope, so I just need to not lose track of things and it'll be okay.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
What a strange workout it has been. Last night was legs, which normally gets me jazzed, but it had been a weird day and I just wasn't feeling it. I focused on form, i lifted decent amounts, I powered through my core work and I went home. This all occurred in a daze, as if I wasn't controlling any of it and my body was just running on autopilot. I repeatedly had to remind myself that I would only get something out of it if it was hard, so not to slack (especially on my core work) but even in itself, that's a strange thing for me. Normally I'm psyched to gym it up. Yesterday was just...a workout. Not sure what it means. I'm inclined to say nothing.
Just gotta keep doing work
~#28
ETA: Never mind. Got the call that there's ultimate tonight. Ballersauce. I'm excited again.
Just gotta keep doing work
~#28
ETA: Never mind. Got the call that there's ultimate tonight. Ballersauce. I'm excited again.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Got Stronger AND Faster and hit a monthly goal last night. Ballersauce.
Chest Press: 45 bilateral, 45 isometric, 50 isometric
Incline Press: 25 iso, 30 iso, 35 iso (all as fast as possible)
Decline Press: 45i, 55i, 60i
Chest Fly 30, 25, 20, 15 @ 5 reps each, no rest. Then, 25, 20, 15 for 5 reps each.
Alternating for three rounds:
(10 decline pushups, 15s hold hands on a medicine ball, elbows bent in a plank position [work core and triceps])
Tricep dips: 5, 3 1/2, 2 1/2
Run: 1 mi at 10 mph, 1% grade. MONTH GOAL. That's one off the list. Awesome. I felt good doing it too. My cardio was good enough that I didn't get tired really, but my legs were weird. I came down with my knees relatively locked too many times. I don't know if that was a form thing or a tired thing or what, but it made me a little nervous I'd come down hard and something would snap or i'd hurt my foot or leg or any of a million terrifying things. BUT, none of that happened, and I finished my mile in 6:01 or something (the treadmill includes the distance spent getting up to speed, otherwise it would have obviously been just a regular 6 minute mile) and got my protein shake in me. Awesome.
Doin' Work
~#28
Chest Press: 45 bilateral, 45 isometric, 50 isometric
Incline Press: 25 iso, 30 iso, 35 iso (all as fast as possible)
Decline Press: 45i, 55i, 60i
Chest Fly 30, 25, 20, 15 @ 5 reps each, no rest. Then, 25, 20, 15 for 5 reps each.
Alternating for three rounds:
(10 decline pushups, 15s hold hands on a medicine ball, elbows bent in a plank position [work core and triceps])
Tricep dips: 5, 3 1/2, 2 1/2
Run: 1 mi at 10 mph, 1% grade. MONTH GOAL. That's one off the list. Awesome. I felt good doing it too. My cardio was good enough that I didn't get tired really, but my legs were weird. I came down with my knees relatively locked too many times. I don't know if that was a form thing or a tired thing or what, but it made me a little nervous I'd come down hard and something would snap or i'd hurt my foot or leg or any of a million terrifying things. BUT, none of that happened, and I finished my mile in 6:01 or something (the treadmill includes the distance spent getting up to speed, otherwise it would have obviously been just a regular 6 minute mile) and got my protein shake in me. Awesome.
Doin' Work
~#28
Monday, January 17, 2011
I read this again (my inaugural post on this blog) and it makes me think. I laid out where I was at the beginning of september there. I'm three months deeper into training, three months further away from the season. I feel and look better. I am definitely stronger (and my weights correspond to this). I have gained ten pounds, which is more than I gained in four years of college. I'm learning new routines. I'm feeling more competent on the field against all opponents.
And yet... And yet, I think I feel even _less_ assured of making a team in April than I ever did during the summer. I'm, yet again, in a down period. I'm a 24-year old club team virgin hoping to make a meteoric rise. I am trying to do this in the face of unpromising odds and a lot of hurdles.
They say that walls are there to make sure that only people who really want something can get it. I guess writing all this helped get me back on my feet. I already have plans to gym it up after work. Hopefully, it'll work as it often does and I'll walk out of the gym feeling great again. Here's hoping.
~#28
And yet... And yet, I think I feel even _less_ assured of making a team in April than I ever did during the summer. I'm, yet again, in a down period. I'm a 24-year old club team virgin hoping to make a meteoric rise. I am trying to do this in the face of unpromising odds and a lot of hurdles.
They say that walls are there to make sure that only people who really want something can get it. I guess writing all this helped get me back on my feet. I already have plans to gym it up after work. Hopefully, it'll work as it often does and I'll walk out of the gym feeling great again. Here's hoping.
~#28
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A little Back and Biceps work with Ken today.
Seated Row - old hat
Plate Low Row - This was new.
Plate High Row - This was new
Machine Lat Pull Down - This was new
1-arm row - old hat
Preacher Bench - PR:80 pounds
Aside from the PR on biceps work, which is nice but not high on my list of "Care abouts", I felt like I made a real breakthrough in understanding the back work. I always feel in my shoulders and biceps what I'm supposed to be feeling in back muscles and that made me suspect I was doing them wrong. Today, I really felt them in my back and the lifts got much easier, as though I was recruiting much larger muscles, like the ones in my back. Awesome.
Now, before I shower, I think I'm going to try glute activation work to see if I can understand it. Here's hoping.
Seated Row - old hat
Plate Low Row - This was new.
Plate High Row - This was new
Machine Lat Pull Down - This was new
1-arm row - old hat
Preacher Bench - PR:80 pounds
Aside from the PR on biceps work, which is nice but not high on my list of "Care abouts", I felt like I made a real breakthrough in understanding the back work. I always feel in my shoulders and biceps what I'm supposed to be feeling in back muscles and that made me suspect I was doing them wrong. Today, I really felt them in my back and the lifts got much easier, as though I was recruiting much larger muscles, like the ones in my back. Awesome.
Now, before I shower, I think I'm going to try glute activation work to see if I can understand it. Here's hoping.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Boomtown. Modified Crucible:
10, 9...1x[
Smith Squat: 90 lbs on the rack
DB Squat Deadlift (dumbbells on the floor to my sides, feet close, lift with neutral spine and hip action, return fully to floor for 1 rep)
Hack Squat 50 lbs on the sled
Rest (30s for 5 sets, 15s for 2 sets, 10s to finish out)
]
I walked in planning on doing the first crucible in <11 minutes. On this modified crucible, I got 10:23. I can do better, too. I know I can. My calves were still aching from my workout tuesday, so if i started out fresh, I'd be money.
After that:
1 Leg seated press (don't remember the weights)
1 leg quad extend
Hammy
St. Calf 30x135
STRETCH
Good workout. I went home and ate about three pounds of food.
10, 9...1x[
Smith Squat: 90 lbs on the rack
DB Squat Deadlift (dumbbells on the floor to my sides, feet close, lift with neutral spine and hip action, return fully to floor for 1 rep)
Hack Squat 50 lbs on the sled
Rest (30s for 5 sets, 15s for 2 sets, 10s to finish out)
]
I walked in planning on doing the first crucible in <11 minutes. On this modified crucible, I got 10:23. I can do better, too. I know I can. My calves were still aching from my workout tuesday, so if i started out fresh, I'd be money.
After that:
1 Leg seated press (don't remember the weights)
1 leg quad extend
Hammy
St. Calf 30x135
STRETCH
Good workout. I went home and ate about three pounds of food.
Wrote up some goals. I've slacked on explicit goal setting because I've been letting Ken take the lead and I've been chilling in the passenger seat. Time to fix it. By Valentine's Day (1 month from now), my goals are to:
- Run a 6 minute mile at 1% after a workout (not just hop on the treadmill; have at least one major muscle group tired)
- Overhead Squat 65 pounds
- Finish the Crucible in <10 minutes
- Power clean .5 bw (80 lbs)
- At least 4x/week- 45 pushups, 60 crunches, 18 glute activators (Do them BEFORE hopping online)
These should all be entirely completable, given some work ethic. We're three months and change from the start of Tryouts. I want to make some goddamn noise this time around.
Ken's promised me the Crucible again today. I want to do well but after yesterday's shoveling and the calf workout I'm still feeling, I'm afraid I'll be sore or tired. All I can say, I guess, is that it's heavy on the quads, thighs and glutes and none of those are sore. As long as I don't have to use my delts to do a squat (and if I do something is seriously wrong...), I better be able to pull this off.
Doin' Work
~#28
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Disappointing Power Lifts today. Lower body day-
Smith Squats 10x125, 155, 175
3x
[10x Clean And Jerk 65 lb
10 Kettlebell 1-arm Power clean-type thing
10x Drive The Bus (hold a plate with hands opposite each other and rotate the plate)
Standing Calf raises 10x 195, 15x 175, 20x 155 with minimal rest.
Run .5mi at 10 mph, brief rest. Then 100m at 4mph, 100m at 6mph, 100m at 8mph, 500m at 10 mph. All at 1% grade.
The smith squats had decent depth, especially at the lower weights but I'm not as flexible as I like. Perhaps now is a good time to drop weight significantly and really work a more complete range of motion. As well, it may be a good time to get back on the quad extend and try to rack more weight there, see if that helps. I can talk to Ken about it.
The power lifts went poorly. I could enter a set with good depth and decent explosion but by the fifth rep or so in every exercise, I could feel fatigue set in and I lost explosive power. I also lost rhythm frequently and more than once had to stop with the weight racked on my chest and in a standing position rather than catching the weight in a squat. Can't really get much out of it that way...
The calf raises went much better than expected. These are pretty modest weights for me, so when I was hitting burnout by the 11th 175 raise, I was pretty surprised. I actually ended up doing the 20x 155 in 4 sets of 5 and even then there was a fair amount of resting mid-set. This effectively killed my calves, which worked well for the run.
I really had to focus through the run and with my legs so punished by the power lifts and my calves incapable of doing anything for me, it made a nice challenge to see how far I could push myself. I also was dealing with a cramp that popped up within the first few hundred meters so that added a second, less welcome challenge. Either way, I pushed through and it proved a pretty effective workout. Ken has offered me a second shot at The Crucible (my workout from last monday which ruined my legs for more than three days) and I talked myself up big so I better be able to drop my time. I honestly think I can do it. Now that my muscles know the rhythm and about how taxing it is, I think I can pull a bunch of time out of there.
In the mean time, it's lean protein in chicken form and some c-milk while I wait for a monster blizzard to roll in overnight. Great... Just gotta keep doin' work.
~#28
P.S. Gained another 5 pounds! Boom!
Smith Squats 10x125, 155, 175
3x
[10x Clean And Jerk 65 lb
10 Kettlebell 1-arm Power clean-type thing
10x Drive The Bus (hold a plate with hands opposite each other and rotate the plate)
Standing Calf raises 10x 195, 15x 175, 20x 155 with minimal rest.
Run .5mi at 10 mph, brief rest. Then 100m at 4mph, 100m at 6mph, 100m at 8mph, 500m at 10 mph. All at 1% grade.
The smith squats had decent depth, especially at the lower weights but I'm not as flexible as I like. Perhaps now is a good time to drop weight significantly and really work a more complete range of motion. As well, it may be a good time to get back on the quad extend and try to rack more weight there, see if that helps. I can talk to Ken about it.
The power lifts went poorly. I could enter a set with good depth and decent explosion but by the fifth rep or so in every exercise, I could feel fatigue set in and I lost explosive power. I also lost rhythm frequently and more than once had to stop with the weight racked on my chest and in a standing position rather than catching the weight in a squat. Can't really get much out of it that way...
The calf raises went much better than expected. These are pretty modest weights for me, so when I was hitting burnout by the 11th 175 raise, I was pretty surprised. I actually ended up doing the 20x 155 in 4 sets of 5 and even then there was a fair amount of resting mid-set. This effectively killed my calves, which worked well for the run.
I really had to focus through the run and with my legs so punished by the power lifts and my calves incapable of doing anything for me, it made a nice challenge to see how far I could push myself. I also was dealing with a cramp that popped up within the first few hundred meters so that added a second, less welcome challenge. Either way, I pushed through and it proved a pretty effective workout. Ken has offered me a second shot at The Crucible (my workout from last monday which ruined my legs for more than three days) and I talked myself up big so I better be able to drop my time. I honestly think I can do it. Now that my muscles know the rhythm and about how taxing it is, I think I can pull a bunch of time out of there.
In the mean time, it's lean protein in chicken form and some c-milk while I wait for a monster blizzard to roll in overnight. Great... Just gotta keep doin' work.
~#28
P.S. Gained another 5 pounds! Boom!
Good chest day. Got in accidental core, as it were, also. Lots of plank-style work. As always, finished up with a run in <8 minutes (4% grade, 1200m at 7.5mph, 300@8.5mph, 100 at...something higher). Did a set of tricep dips, which was pretty much the first time. At the end of a number of other tricep exercises (cable pulldowns, bent-arm planks, etc.) I got 5,4,3 of tricep dips on bars. It was absurdly hard. Felt great to push them out though. That's another exercise off the list that I am physically capable of doing more than once (along with squats, deadlifts, clean and jerk, KB swing/Snatch; still waiting on pull up/chin up and maybe even dragon flag). Working through the lift makes me feel pretty good.
Tonight, if the snow holds off, it's another day for the gym, and tonight it'll be legs for sure. Gonna work 'em hard. Gotta get ready for lots of ultimate. FITTFU and BUDA Winter Hat start on the 21st and the 2nd, respectively (or similar dates) and I can't roll in looking like a dick. That would not be acceptable. I got way too winded at Madison Pick Up. As Adam called it, it was Wake Up O'Clock. It's really important to me to be well into the top tier of my BUDA team, especially if I'm not on a team with KToad. If so, I'd like to be the best person on the team. That would be a major confidence booster and I could really use one of those around now. FITTFU coming before BUDA may be a good thing, may be a bad one. It'll probably depend on how quickly I get used to playing on the gym surface with the Tufts crew. It'll either make me feel confident in my on-field results from gymming it up or it'll make me nervous that I'll have to take one (more than one) of these guy's spots come April.
~#28
P.S. Funny story, but I can no longer run at 6 miles an hour. It's just too slow for me. My legs physically cannot get in the rhythm. I thought it was funny at least.
Tonight, if the snow holds off, it's another day for the gym, and tonight it'll be legs for sure. Gonna work 'em hard. Gotta get ready for lots of ultimate. FITTFU and BUDA Winter Hat start on the 21st and the 2nd, respectively (or similar dates) and I can't roll in looking like a dick. That would not be acceptable. I got way too winded at Madison Pick Up. As Adam called it, it was Wake Up O'Clock. It's really important to me to be well into the top tier of my BUDA team, especially if I'm not on a team with KToad. If so, I'd like to be the best person on the team. That would be a major confidence booster and I could really use one of those around now. FITTFU coming before BUDA may be a good thing, may be a bad one. It'll probably depend on how quickly I get used to playing on the gym surface with the Tufts crew. It'll either make me feel confident in my on-field results from gymming it up or it'll make me nervous that I'll have to take one (more than one) of these guy's spots come April.
~#28
P.S. Funny story, but I can no longer run at 6 miles an hour. It's just too slow for me. My legs physically cannot get in the rhythm. I thought it was funny at least.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Going back to regular gym time. Hooah.
Hopefully I'll be back to 4x/week or so. That made for a really good system of 3 days of focused lifting (back & biceps OR chest & triceps OR legs & shoulders) plus one day of just cardio (get a hard run in). This can hopefully become the routine, which will be very good for me. In addition, hopefully I can make it back to having the 2 training sessions per week that I'm contracting Ken for. The past long while, it hasn't really been that. Boo. I'm paying too much to not get my money's worth.
Gotta get around to weighing myself legit on a good scale. Hopefully I've added another 5 pounds. That would be nice. Even though, given my eating recently, it's probably something like 2 pounds more muscle and 3 more of fat... Not the ratio I'm looking for.
Other news: Ultimate season's kicking back up. Soon, Tufts FITTFU (Friday Is The Time For Ultimate) starts up and shortly after that, BUDA Winter Hat. Between the two, I'm playing two days a week, probably lifting three times a week and I'll probably be pretty damn happy with that. Fingers crossed, eh.
That's about it. Gotta keep proteining and things will work themselves out.
Doin' Work.
~#28
Hopefully I'll be back to 4x/week or so. That made for a really good system of 3 days of focused lifting (back & biceps OR chest & triceps OR legs & shoulders) plus one day of just cardio (get a hard run in). This can hopefully become the routine, which will be very good for me. In addition, hopefully I can make it back to having the 2 training sessions per week that I'm contracting Ken for. The past long while, it hasn't really been that. Boo. I'm paying too much to not get my money's worth.
Gotta get around to weighing myself legit on a good scale. Hopefully I've added another 5 pounds. That would be nice. Even though, given my eating recently, it's probably something like 2 pounds more muscle and 3 more of fat... Not the ratio I'm looking for.
Other news: Ultimate season's kicking back up. Soon, Tufts FITTFU (Friday Is The Time For Ultimate) starts up and shortly after that, BUDA Winter Hat. Between the two, I'm playing two days a week, probably lifting three times a week and I'll probably be pretty damn happy with that. Fingers crossed, eh.
That's about it. Gotta keep proteining and things will work themselves out.
Doin' Work.
~#28
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Got hella Stronger today.
Lower body circuit:
Hack Squat (90 lb on sled)
DB Squat (25 lb each hand)
DB Stationary Lunge (25 lb each hand)
Rest
Sets as 10, 9, 8...1 with 30s rest to 5 reps, 15s rest to 3 reps, 10s rest to finish out. This smoked my legs and I could feel as major muscle groups gave out, moving between my quads, glutes and thighs. That was awesome. Naturally it was followed with more work.
DB Walking Lunge 3x20
Calf raise: 3x175 (easy weight to gently tax them)
Run 1 mi: 1200m at 6.5 mph, 400m at 8 mph. All at 1.5% grade. The run was interesting. My legs were just crumbling under me for the first maybe 50m. After that, it was relatively smooth sailing. Sure I was tired but my lungs held on, so it was just a matter of waiting out the run (that's a really slow mile for me at this point).
~#28
Lower body circuit:
Hack Squat (90 lb on sled)
DB Squat (25 lb each hand)
DB Stationary Lunge (25 lb each hand)
Rest
Sets as 10, 9, 8...1 with 30s rest to 5 reps, 15s rest to 3 reps, 10s rest to finish out. This smoked my legs and I could feel as major muscle groups gave out, moving between my quads, glutes and thighs. That was awesome. Naturally it was followed with more work.
DB Walking Lunge 3x20
Calf raise: 3x175 (easy weight to gently tax them)
Run 1 mi: 1200m at 6.5 mph, 400m at 8 mph. All at 1.5% grade. The run was interesting. My legs were just crumbling under me for the first maybe 50m. After that, it was relatively smooth sailing. Sure I was tired but my lungs held on, so it was just a matter of waiting out the run (that's a really slow mile for me at this point).
~#28
Monday, January 3, 2011
Been a while.
I did, in fact, gym it up after the last post. I've gotten stronger twice, I think, since then, once with and once without Ken. Got a little faster too. Most importantly, though, I got Better (at least a minuscule amount) in Madison. Hit up winter league with Rob and Andy. Got myself a layout d. Got myself a few fantasy points. All in all, I'm pretty solidly happy with how I did. Looking forward to BUDA winter league with a burning fire and passion. I gotta cleat up. Gotta do it. I'm so excited. Registration opens Wednesday.
Doin' Work
~#28
I did, in fact, gym it up after the last post. I've gotten stronger twice, I think, since then, once with and once without Ken. Got a little faster too. Most importantly, though, I got Better (at least a minuscule amount) in Madison. Hit up winter league with Rob and Andy. Got myself a layout d. Got myself a few fantasy points. All in all, I'm pretty solidly happy with how I did. Looking forward to BUDA winter league with a burning fire and passion. I gotta cleat up. Gotta do it. I'm so excited. Registration opens Wednesday.
Doin' Work
~#28
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