gym: 12/26/08

My hamstring still hurts. That sucks cause I all i have done since nationals is a couple game of basketball a couple saturdays ago and climb a couple mountain/hills in Peru. I'm lifting, but not to explosively and I'm generally being pretty careful. I will be officially frustrated in 2 weeks probably.

Used a warm up Chris Frost sent me although I couldn't exactly remember it.

It was supposed to start with some fronts with just the bar, but I forgot and got right into the following:

A1 RDL's
(3) 10 @ 95

A2 front squat
(3) 10 @ 95

No rest between A1 and A2, just clean it up to front squat position and do them.

box squats: I haven't done these in a while. Weight didn't get up that high. I think the amount of weight is really dependent on how far you lean forward when you are coming off the box. Try getting up from the chair you are in without leaning forward while keeping your back in good squat form. Impossible right? So there has to be a little lean. Unless I guess you splay your legs out wide. Whatever, I thought the weight was fine for how little I was leaning forward.
(3) 5 @ 220

one DB lunges: Use one DB instead of two to work on the core while you lunge. I doubt i made this up, but I just thought it might be interesting to do.
(3) 12 @ 55

circuit: x 3, no rest between sets
1 minute heavy bag
5 med ball pushups elevated, 5 not elevated
30 sec side planks each side

quickie: 12/23/08

Snuck in a sweaty one today.  Quicky, snuck in, sweaty one...not really the tone I was going for when I started writing this post.

circuit x 3 with 2 minute-ish rest

hit the heavy bag for one minute

10 pull through and ups @ 45  (db on ground between legs, two handed grip, toss it up to the sky)

10 med ball slams

20 med ball pushups, feet elevated (10 with right hand on ball, 10 with left)

12 step ups with shoulder press @ 35 (step up with db at shoulder level, step up then press db)

Hitting the heavy bag got harder each time.  During the third I gassed with about 20 seconds left, which means everything else was real tough to get through.  

gym: 12/20/08

circuit to start: 2 sets, decent 2 minutes between sets
RDL's 8 @ 95
upright rows 8 @ 95
OH squats 6, 8 @ 95
1 armed db push press 6, 8 @ 45
side squats 10 @ 45
elevator push ups*: 6

deadlifts:

(3) 5 @ 250
1 @ 265
1 @ 275
1 @ 285
1 @ 295
1 @ 305
1 @ 315: during the last couple, after finishing the lift, I was a little light headed. 315 is pretty good. I think I could lift more, but the lightheadedness made me hold off.

reverse hypers: i finally found something to hold my legs for reverse hypers pr whatever they are called. Only problem is that my heels are being held down and not my hamstrings so it makes it a little more difficult/uncomfortable.
(3) 6

gym: 12/17/08

If I'm doing heavy lower body, I gotta get the chest all bloated too right?

A1 flat bench: I already feel the man boobs coming back

(3) 6 @ 185

(1) 3 @ 195

(1) 3 @ 205

A2 chest supported row:

(3) 6 @ 55

(2) 6 @ 65

B1 pull ups

(3) 6

B2 one arm db shoulder press

(2) 6 @ 35

(1) 6 @ 45

C1 push!ups onto step and back down: cant find a video. in push up position with your chin over the end of a vertically placed step up.  Do a push! up so your hands land on the step.  Do a push up on the step and then get your hands back to the ground.  That is 1.

(3) 4

C2 bar rollouts: everyone should be doing bar rollouts.  Here's a video of the Cressey Performance kids doing them with bands.  

(3) 8

gym: 12/16/08

I got out of work with tons of time to make a workout happen. I had this plan to go do some fartleks around the block, but I decided that my hamstring still isn't 100% and it would be stupid to push it even a little bit when instead I can take the whole next 2-3 weeks off and start again in January. I am going to try and lift my way out of the injury by doing low rep low intensity high weight lifts for the next couple weeks.

front squat:

6 @ 195

6 @ 205

(2) 6 @ 215

6 @ 2225 225, although someday ill be front squatting buicks.

pulls:

4 @ 250

4 @ 275

4 @ 295

4 @ 315

one legged squats:

(2) 8

basketball: 12/13/08

Dropped some knowledge on some people in the form of reckless drives, terrible perimeter jumpers and so so defense. I did feel decent running up and down the court and my hamstring sustained the 80% effort until 5th of 5 games. I missed my free throw to play in the 6th game and it was probably for the better.

I don't know what is in store this week. Celtics game Monday, work Tuesday through Thursday nights, work party on Friday night. Swamped.

sore monkey: 12/10/08

That shitty little pussy workout killed me. I'm sore, a sore monkey if you will. I also only had about 45 minutes so I went out and just did an active and some light sprints.

gym: 12/08/08

I'm back!

circuit x 2:
ninja warrior* - back and forth (in the cage put the vertical bars at the top most setting and then lay a 45 lb bar across. Do a pull up and then one side at a time slide the bar to the end of the cage and back
12 step ups
35 lb plate movement
lunges w/ 45 lb plate overhead
10 clap push ups
16 side lunges

"heavy"
deadlift
5 @ 135
5 @ 185
5 @ 205

flat bench - why not?:
(2) 8 @ 135

*not exactly the same, but like the 2nd stage in this. I use this kind of cage. Instead of having the safety bars down low, i put them all the way to the top. Slide the bar over those and try to go front to end and then backwards. Fun.

What a Waste

November that is/was. And not even a write up. Boo me. Im headed to Peru for a week. When I get back it is back to the gym and back on the diet.

Nationals

Man. That was disappointing. I am slowly taking it all in. Losing the finals seems to have claimed a part of my generally good humor and left it discarded at the polo fields, but it is coming back mostly because I love the team so much and I am so excited for whatever comes next.

I'm gonna break my recently made rule to comment on the games and how we played and how I played. I am still somewhat surprised and embarrassed when people other than those who know me tell me they read this and as we all know blog impressions are worth a thousand wing ding characters so I will try and keep it bland and objective.

stairs: 10/22/08

I had my cleats in my bag and was headed towards the park next to my house, but saw a bunch of kids smoking weed, looked at myself all tighted up and went with the better option anyways which was stairs.

4 or 5 warmup reps
3 sets every step
minute or so
1 rep 6 explosive steps, easy 6 steps
1 rep bounding 3-4 steps at a time
1 rep 6 explosive, 6 easy
done

Quick and simple.

Started on the stairs this year, 01/21/08 to be exact, so it was nice to end on em 10 months later. Probably the longest sustained working out without being badly injured that I've ever done. Right at 196. I think I could still put on a little more muscle and drop a little fat, but that would mean that much more commitment to program design, workout space and equipment and workout time. I am kind of stretched thin at the moment.

NU practice tonight, rest on Fri, practice this weekend, massage on Monday, agilities on Tuesday, HO'n on the beach on Wed...

gym: 10/21/08

Finally got out of work a good 45 minutes early and headed to the gym before a meeting at night.

hit the heavy bag for a bit with open hand cause i dont have gloves. i bet i could f someone up in a slap fight.

circuit 1, 3 times:

30 toe taps 0, 15 lb dbs, 25

10 lateral pull ups elevated feet

step ups

15 secs of constant plate movement 45, 70, 70

one legged squats 0, 15 lb dbs, 25

pull ups 6 @ 0, 5 @ 25, 5 @ 25

I really pushed it on the last two sets, taking about a minute between these two sets

circuit 2, 2 times:

6 overhead squats @ 95, 125

10 pushups

10 bar roll outs

cleans:

1 @ 115

1 @ 135

1 @ 155

1 @ 175

0 @ 185, bummer

*the constant plate movement i found on this insane workout an mma guy does. tell me he couldn't hang with us in death point of ultimate.

Tossin': 10/20/08

Worked on my throws while getting in some actives. Probably threw 25 backhand and 40 flick hucks and worked on my throws to space when i was collecting the discs.

practice weekend: 10/19/08

Last tough practice weekend of the year. It finally got windy for us, which was a nice preview of Florida. Gusty, multi level wind coming from every direction. It was fun to get some touches in with adverse elements. We also got out all of the stupid shit we would have done on Thursday morning.

I'm working on my schedule for the next two weeks.

workout: 10/17/08

We have had some pretty easy weekend since Labor Day which was more than a month and a half ago. In order to toughen up for nationals we did a Friday workout in anticipation of 3-4 hard days of ultimate in a week and a half.

20 sec:10 sec; sprint:jog for 4 minutes. I didn't do as well as I wanted.

4x
12 up downs (burpee without the pushup)
24 pushups
30 squats
200 m

I was good up until the the 3rd set of up downs which I didnt recover from till after our cool down jog. 31,32,36,32.

Mini: 10/16/08

I got out for a warm up on Wednesday and had an ambitious sprint workout planned, but after some actives and a warmup lap I shut it down cause my hamstring was hurting. I wish I had brought some discs to toss at least.

Thursday was mini and it was fun and hard.

Gym: 10/13/08

front squats:
6@225
6@225
4@245
4@245

DB reverse lunges from deficit:
6@35
6@35
6@40

A1 shuffle tap things
3 x 20 @ 45

B1 front bridges on swiss ball
3 X 45 secs

regionals: week of 10/12/08

15-3
-3
-5
-5
-8

Didn't play that much with so much dominating going on.

gym: 10/06/08

(3) circuits, 2 mins between sets
prone pull ups: 10 @ 0, 8 @ 25, 8 @ 25
toe taps: 16 @ 50, 20 @ 50, 20 @ 50
t pushups: 10 @ 15 x 3
explosive lunges: 12 @ 30
cleans: 6 @ 115, 6 @ 135, 6 @ 135

deadlifts:
6 @ 225
6 @ 245
5 @ 265
4 @ 275
1 @ 295: I dont think ive ever bar deadlifted over 300, but Ill have to check it out. I could have done it, but those 5-10 pounds wouldn't have made a difference in my conditioning and might have messed my back up.

Im at 198. If I can keep lifting once or twice a week and stay below 200, Im in good shape figuratively and literally.

practice: week of 10/05/08

Last practice before regionals. Lot's of stuff to gel on and never enough time to do it.

This week:
Mon - Gym
Tue - Throwing
Wed - sprint workout
Thurs - agilities
Fri - game film (aka Mighty Ducks 2)

weights: 10/03/08

Friday I got done with work and Alexis wasn't around so with nothing to do and nobody to be home for I headed to the gym with no deadline on when I had to leave.

upper body circuit: 3 times through
med ball pushups: 10 right hand on ball, 10 left, 5 both
pull ups: 6 @ 20, 6 @ 20, 4 @ 30
one armed DB jerks: 6 @ 40

A1 bench:
(3) 6 @ 185

A2 row:
(3) 8 @ 110

B1 incline raises:
(3) 10 @ 15

B2 side planks
(3) 45 secs

agility and speed: 10/02/08

I got in some good agility stuff, but my ankle was bothering me through the heavy change in direction stuff so I shut it down.

I might be off the track for the rest of the year, just so I can stay healthy for the weekends.

track: 10/01/08

Track workouts on da birthdays.

2 laps jogging curves, striding straightaways to really get warmed up.
2x200 (fast) with 60sec/5min
3x100 with walkbacks. 90 seconds rest after the last one.
1x200 (fast) then 4min
2x100 with walkbacks
8x40 with walkbacks

Cooldown.

I was planning on going out hard on the first 2, but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. I finished right behind a couple guys at 26. Then hit 26 again while the people around me switched a bit, except for Jeff who is always right in front of me. 100's were shitty cause it hurts my ankle, but regardless of how far off the lead to do a 200 with 90 seconds rest after a 100 is tough. Started off fast in lane 4. Jeff flys by, Mullen creeps by the rest are cutting the gap at the turn, but I hold them off and struggle to catch Mullen who is struggling to catch Jeff, neither of us get there. 27. More 100's and some 40's.

gym: 09/29/08

finally had enough time where I didn't have to completely rush it, but I would still have liked to build up on the front squats

circuit:
overhead squats 6 @ 95, 115, 115
incline bench one armed db 6 @ 50
reverse lunges defecit 8 @ 25
bent over db row 8 @ 40
platform shuffles* 20 @ 35
pull ups 8@0, 6@25,25
*hard to explain, easy to do. get one of those 6 inch platforms and turn it lengthwise. start with your right foot on the platform, try to explode off your left foot and land with your left foot on the platform. (that's one) Quickly explode off your right foot, which is now on the ground and keep going till you get to 20. The 35 lbs is in the form of a plate you are holding above your head.

A1: front squats right into 3 squat hops
6 @ 145
6 @ 185
4 @ 205

A2: bar roll outs
8
8

Sectionals: Week of 09/28/08

7 games and we gave up about 15 points:
15-1
-1
-3
-5
-2
-3
-2

this week:
mon: gym
tue: massage/NU practice
wed: track
thur: sled and agility
fri: throw
sat: practice
sun: practice

light plyo: 09/25/08

I needed to get to the red sox game so I did an active and some light change in direction.

track: 09/24/08

2 laps with accelerators on the straightaways.

3x200m run these relay style. You should have approx. 60 seconds of rest in between each 200m.

5 minutes rest.

2x200m. 90 seconds.

4 minutes.

4x100m. Walkback.

4x60m. Walkback

This was short so I tried to run it hard. On the relay we weren't timing the splits, but I bet it went about 30, 30, 29. I had to bust ass to catch Dan P on the last one. On the next set of 2's I went out pretty hard and held off everyone and was satisfied with hanging behind Jeff and right in front of McCarthy. Maybe 29. The next time it was just me and Jeff, or at least that is what it felt like. He took a big lead around the turn and at one point I thought I was catching him, but he shrugged me off and maintained for a substantial win. Definitely 29. 100's on the grass by myself, but there were lots of holes from shot puts and such to avoid so I came back to the track for the 60's. I was ahead almost every time off the start, but Dave H and Jeff would catch me in the last 20. My ankle is still hampering full speed.

tossin': 09/23/08

Did almost a full active while I waited for a group of teens to clear out of the park. It was 10:00 so I was a little nervous about them attacking me, well maybe making fun of me and then attacking me, but they eventually faded into the night. I spent some time with one disc really concentrating on making every huck count.

gym: 09/22/08

I think the schedule that I posted yesterday will set me up with a nice little routine for the next couple weeks. Monday's will be my gym day. Ideally I would get out of work by 4:30 and be doing a modified active by 4:45. Of course it never works like that and I was getting into my active at 5:05. Those 20 minutes make a huge difference when I have to be out by 5:4o for a meeting at 6:00.

active

circuit, no rest between exercises, 2 minutes between sets, 3 sets:
8 jump squats, clusters of 2, @ 95
10 push!ups feet elevated
8 DB bulgarian splits @ 50
8 pull ups
8 one legged squats

heavy/dynamic: deadlift
4-6 reps of deads and then right into explosive jumps from deadlift position with no weights
6 @ 135
6 @ 185
3 @ 235

practice: week of 09/21/08

Well into September and it feels good to be playing ultimate. We had two perfect days of weather this weekend and we can only hope it stays this beautiful for this weekend sectionals and next weekends regionals. I really look forward to every opportunity to play ultimate these days. Whether that be sectionals, regionals or nationals.

I have moved away from analyzing what I have been doing well and what I need to work on mostly cause I got a little self conscious about who was reading this thing. I've been a little banged up recently, well for about a month and a half, with what has been diagnosed as tendinits in my ankle. I gave up all exercise for two different two week periods and although the rest did me well, I am stiff very uncomfortable at times. I will continue with my streghthening excercises over the next few weeks and hope it doesn't limit me come regionals.

This week:
mon: gym (explosive then heavy)
tue: an active and throwing
wed: track
thur: spaq
fri: an active and throwing

All over the place

I haven't been doing a good job here. I promise to pick it up for the last month and a half.

gym: 09/03/08

Got under the bench for the 1st time in a while to push myself and see how weak I have gotten.

A flat bench
(2) 6 @ 185
(1) 6 @ 195
(1) 6 @ 205

B1 pull ups:
4 @ 25
4 @ 20
6 @ 20

B2 1 armed shoulder press:
(3) 6 @ 45

C1: prone pullup
(3) 8

C2: push! ups
(3) 10

D1: prone trap raises
(3) 10 @ 15

D2: physio ball front planks
(3) @ 45 secs

3 weeks later: Recap

I am gonna try to recap my last three weeks quickly and I promise to get back into the blog as I gear up for the series.

My ankle started hurting at practice August 9th, but I didn't worry to much and chalked it up to the grind of the last six months or so. Sunday practice rolled around and it hurt much worse than before. I taped it and got out there and after hobbling through some drills the pain started to leave and I was able to play through it. It looks like I was able to get in the gym on Monday as well, but I know I skipped the track workout that week. I was hoping I would be ok for Chesapeake after taking the week off.

Saturday morning and I am taped up and ready to go. My ankle felt like it did on Sunday the weekend before. It wasn't serious pain, it was more of a strength thing. I couldn't push off my toes when I needed to sprint. I tried to keep it to myself and just play through. I played a very blah day and was very frustrated as I saw all my work between Boston Invite and Chesapeake starting to unwind due to whatever injury this was. Sunday was the same and although my ankle was a little better in the semi's and finals, I didn't play that well. I felt like I lost a great opportunity to step up and play my best.

On Sunday night I flew from DCA to Chicago where I had a conference for work. My ankle had me hobbling at this point. No swelling, just weak and painful. I assumed it was a stress fracture or something long term that wasn't going to get worse, I just needed to rest it. I was in Chicago proper for the first time and all I wanted to do was walk around, but I could merely stagger around painfully. Sunday night I ended up walking about 2 miles as I was sent on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to get from the E stop to my hotel with all my shit on my back and a busted ankle. That adventure was followed the next day by a lot more walking as I tried to make my way to a Sport's Authority that didn't exist. Of course the E breaks down for like 20 minutes as I try to make it back to midway on Wednesday night and I have to hobble/jog/run to try and catch my plane, which I miss. It wasn't until I got back on Thursday morning that I could really rest it.

I attended, but didn't participate in practice that weekend, the 23rd and 24th, but did go to the gym that Saturday. I went to the Dr's and they diagnosed it as tendinitis, gave me some Naproxen, and told me to stay off it and schedule an appointment with ortho, which is on September 10th.

I stayed off it all week leading up to Santa Cruz, but developed this itchy pain on the top of my bad foot. Friday morning when I woke up it was angry and red and lumpy. Sweet. I went to the Chelsea MGH, or Crazytown, USA, and waited for 2 hours for the attending to tell me it was infected and I should take some stuff and put warm towels on it. Zoom to Burger King for 3 whopper juniors, zoom home to say bye to Alexis who is leaving for NJ for the weekend, zoom to Walgreens for the drugs and whatever they have for food for the weekend, zoom back home to get my stuff, grab a cab and zoom to the airport only to be confronted by a long snaking jet blue line due to their computer systems being down. Seeing that my flight was in 30 minutes they whisk me to the front, where they are writing out tickets long hand. Zoomed through security and had enough time to call my mom and give out some brownies, left over from our mural inauguration the night before, to the 30 other Boston ultimate players on the plane. 6 hours later we were in Santa Cruz.

Most of us woke up around 6 am on Saturday, buoyed by the time difference. Continental breakfast didn't start till 6:45 unfortunately. We made it to the fields in plenty of time, but the trainer hadn't shown up yet. I waited while the team started warmups. When she came she sterilized my infection which had come to a small head. I popped it like a small zit and then she cleaned it and put a band aid on it before wrapping my arthritic ankle. The infection area felt numb and tingly, which is still does, and weird with the tape pulling on it, but I was good to go. My ankle felt fine during warmups, worse by about the third game, but it bottomed out there and bottom wasn't as bad as the previous weeks.

We did allright. The loss to Pony makes regionals all that more interesting. Maybe it will light that fire that we were void of against them till it was way to late. We beat Sockeye last year around this time. We also lost to Bravo on double game last year in August. Regardless of the results those teams are a step above us. We need to be taking steps two at a time if we want to catch em while not forgetting about the other teams that are stride for stride with us right now.

We got back at 5:30 am on Monday morning. I walked from the Chelsea shuttle to my apartment (1.25 miles) had a bowl of cereal and then a bowl of soup (earliest in the morning Ive ever eaten soup?) and went to bed for a couple hours. I went to the gym that day which I am proud of. I'll write that workout later. No track this week, but no practice this weekend, so I will probably get out on the track this weekend or at least out to the chelsea turf fields for some work.

Gym: 09/01/08

Off the plane at 5:30 am, some sleep, hit some golf balls, went to the gym. I decided to go heavy this week to mix things up cause I will have a decent amount of time to recover.

squats:
(2) 6 @ 225
(1) 6 @ 235
(1) 6 @ 245

rack pulls:
(2) 4 @ 225
(1) 4 @ 245

side lunges:
(3) 14

bowler squats
(3) 8

gym: 08/11/08

3 sets of the following (once through is one set) rest after each set

front squats
8 @ 95

1 armed shoulder press
6 @ 45

lateral toe taps on 12 inch step
20 @ 35

push!ups
10

walking lunges
16 @ 35

pull ups
6 @ 25

practice weekend: 8/9-10/08

Two 4 hour practices.

Track: Wed 08/06/08

6:30 fartlek: ran two slows to start and did about a mile

4 min

6 x 200 75 secs: 30,31,31,32,32,31

4 min

2 laps of jog the curves sprint the straights

4 min

4 x 200 90 secs: 30,30,29,29

3 min

4 x 100 walk back to start: I started in the medium group and came in second, then I won the medium group, eeking out a win over Dan P who didnt get a good start, which moved me up to the fast group. I somehow won the fast group barely beating Colin and then Jeff got pissed at me for beating him and he crushed me in the last one. People were dropping quick during the 100's.

Done

This was a solid performance for me. Sticking to 31 during 6 200's in a row is tough for me. My legs felt like stiff heavy boards for the sprint the straights, but loosened up for the second set of 2's, which felt great with the 90 seconds of rest. The 100's felt great as well except for the last one.

Tennis: Mon 08/04/08

I dusted off the racket and joined Mullen and Jeff for tennis at Tufts. I played tennis in high school and by senior year was the number 1 tennis player at Lowell High. Of course we sucked and I ended up winning like three matches that year (2000) and since then I have played tennis less than 10 times.

For some reason I couldn't get my serve over the net for awhile, which severely limits any win potential. Lucky for me Mullen was in the same boat and and I got in just a few more than he did each time we played. Ben 3-Mullen 0. Jeff's serve started to leave him so he just started dinking his serve over knowing that we would hit errors. Jeff 3-Ben 0, Jeff 3-Mullen 0.

It was a lot of fun once the sun set and the lights came on.

Practice: Saturday and Sunday 08/02/08-08/03/08

I was not to optimistic that my groin would be ready to go. During summer league I never felt right and then I tried some sprints on Friday night. I got to about 95% and felt funny so I stopped and doom closed in around me. If I take this weekend off that leaves me one weekend to practice before Chesapeake. If I play this weekend there is a chance I would set myself back till Chesapeake. I was really frustrated, but it was all for naught as I started warming up. I felt fine if a bit behind in cardio after limiting myself for almost two weeks.

Saturday was ugly. Lots of turns as guys got used to each other again and try to shake off summer league impulses and the rust of taking a month off. The practice was cut to about 3 hours due to lightning and a downpour.

Sunday was less ugly. Decisions were a little better and throws a bit crisper. The rain held off till sprints.

Summer League: Thur 07/31/08

I played summer league at about 85%. Of course we didn't have enough people to play a real game. I felt ok. I am gonna ice again today after work and then we will see how Saturday goes.

Sore: Tue 07/29/08

My groin is still in rough shape since wildwood. I iced the last two days and will start with heat today. I want to go to the gym tonight to get some upper body and abs in and maybe some jump roping. Im hoping I will be fine for Saturday.

Wildwood: Sat&Sun

A fun, but ultimate wise, uneventful weekend of ultimate. I did manage to strain both groins muscles very well.

gym: thu 07/24/08

My groin is sore from the Monday workout and then playing summer league, but I wanted to get in the gym because although my plan is to get in the track workout tomorrow, I dont think I will have enough time before leaving at 1 for wildwood.

warmup x 3:
jumprope - 50 regular, 20 left, 20 right, 10 double unders
active stretch
hit the heavy bag - i want to start doing this more often cause I dont have much of an upper body warm up
push up variations

circuit x 3:
10 jump squat @ 135
6 push press @ 135
8 reverse lunge from defecit @ 30
6 physio ball pushups
8 one legged squats
8 pull ups

In an ideal world I would follow this up with some heavy weight, but in my world it was 8:15 pm, Alexis was waiting for me downstairs and I was starving. Still felt good to get through a rough circuit.

Summer League: Tue 07/22/08

We lost a summer league game and I had a terrible first half leading to a deficit we couldn't get out of.

We have another game on Thursday. It is hard to get into a positive mindset when you constantly are playing super savage 6 vs 7, but I need to have some goals for Thursday.

Speed and Power: Mon 7/21/08

cause turning makes you weak.

Sweet weekday night I have wrestled you back away from work for a couple days.  

active

plyos:

(4) 15 yards high knee skips

(4)  10 lunges jumps alternating legs

(4) 3 x jog 20, jump as high as you can

(4) 2 x sprint 20, jump as high as you can

speed:

(2) 15 yard sprint from chest

(2) 15 from 4 point stance

(2) 15 from 3 point

(2) from standing

 

power: 50 lb weight

(4) 2 x 20 yard sled drags

(2) 2 x 20 yard reverse sled drag

The Whole Thing:

(2) 10 walking lunges 50 lb plate overhead, 10 plate push press, 20 yard sled drag, 10 push! ups, 10 50 lb front squats, 10 50 lb power cleans, 20 yard reverse sled drag, 20 yard sprint

Throwing: Sun 07/22/08

I did an active with jumping rope, dynamic stretches and pushup variations then:

10 straight flick hucks
10 s cut flick hucks
10 IO flick huck
10 backhand straight hucks
10 backhand S cut hucks

between each I would try to get some plyos in and make sure I chipped back to the pile.

Track: Fri 07/18/08

Man it is hot out. Hot and humid. The heat died down mid way through the workout, but the humidity stayed.

4x200 meter, with 75 seconds rest. 4 minutes.

2x300 meter. 2.5 minutes, 4 minutes.

4x200 meter, with 75 seconds rest. 5 minutes.

4x200 meter, with 90 seconds rest.

30,30,30,30,44,44,32,34,33,32,32,32,32,31

I stopped doing track workouts around this time last year. I think I hit a wall last year after such an active spring and early summer and my interest wained. Im still raring to go I think thanks to constantly mixing up the workouts.

SPAQ: Wed 07/16/08

regular active

20 minutes of ladder

10 minutes of cone drills

25 minutes of sprinting:
10x20x30 suicides: 1:30 between each
(2) suicides
(2) 2 x sprint the 10's, jog the 20's, sprint the 30's
(1) 10x20x30 (30 sec break) 10x20x30

O points: 1:30 between each
(3) sprint 10 out, sprint 10 in, sprint 5 out, jog 10, sprint 10 out, sprint 10 in, sprint 30 out

D points: 1:30 between each
(3) 5o yards @ 75%, 10 sprint out, 10 sprint in, quick feet for a full stall count, 10 sprint out, 10 jog/backpedal, 5 sec break, 10 hard in, 10 hard backpedal, 30 hard out

navy seal

Weights: Tue 07/15/08

I really wanted to do this on Monday, but I got out of work at 7:30. Today I wanted to get out by 5, but at 5 I had to completely re-write a newspaper article for the week's paper cause that is how you get stuff done in Chelsea, you write the article and then they copy and paste it. Definitely makes sure you aren't misquoted. I didnt get out of work till 6:45 pm, blah.

warmup:
3 x jump rope - 10 regular, 10 knees bent, 10 alternating feet, 10 left foot, 10 right foot, 10 double unders

plyo/upper body circuit:
(3) 8 jump squats, 8 1 armed incline bench, 16 alternating leg bench step ups, 8 pull ups, 10 alternating leg jump lunges from defecit, 10 push! ups

power:
hanging cleans
deadlifts

sprint workout tomorrow so I didn't want to go crazy.

track: Sunday 07/13/08

5x200M. 75/75/75/75/5 minutes rest.
1x400M. (Run at your 200m pace). 5 minutes rest.
5x200M. 75/75/75/75/4 minutes rest.
4x200M. 90/90/90/Done

32,30,31,30,30,67,33,33,34,34,34,33,31,33,30

There was a tough tail wind that made a pretty discernible pattern on the 200's especially the 1st and 3rd sets. This was killer. It's one of those where after the 1st set you know you gave a lot trying to keep up with the times you want and it will only get tougher. I was content with my 1st set and was looking to keep it around there. I really wanted to break 70 on the 400, but the 67 took a lot out of me. The second set of 2's is all about survival while trying not to slip into the 34,35 level, which of course I ended up doing. The 2nd 33 on the last set was the one I wanted back cause if i had enough for 30, even if it was wind aided, I had enough for 32 against the wind.

Last years times on July 10th:
31,31,31,31,32; 73; 32,33,33,33,33;34,35,33,31

sprints: Saturday 07/12/08

Finished up my workout started on Friday.

regular active warm up

sprint workout (90 secs between each rep)

10x20x30 suicide

10x20x30 suicide

(2) 10x20x30, sprint the 10's and 30's jog the 20's

(2) 10x20x30, sprint the 10's and 30's jog the 20's

10x20x30 (30 secs) 10x20x30

This just completely kills me and 5 minutes later I have nothing left. I need some partners to fire me up for another set of these.

agility: Friday 07/11/08

warm up:

5 x's

1 min of jumprope: 20 reg/20 left foot/20 right foot/10 doubles. If I did it right I could finish with time to spare. I think that happened once.

2 min of dynamic stretches: 1 min at a time of knee to chest, heel to butt, lunges, over a fence, etc.

10 upper body reps: pushups, scap pushups, high butt pushups, explosive pushups and one more type

A great warm up but the only problem is that I had an hour and after this warm up and a couple more dynamic moves 30 minutes have gone by so I only had time for the agility drill from last week, this time with 1/4 full water bottles instead of tennis balls.

Deck o' Cards: Thursday 07/10/08

To much work this week. I wanted to get out early today to do a sprint workout, but it is just to crazy. I got to the track at 5:05 pm with a meeting at 6:00 pm and new I couldn't do it so I hightailed it home, changed, got my cards, headed up the hill, did a quick warmup and busted out the deck of cards workout. I don't know if I detailed this before:
spades-squats
clubs-crunches (in this case row boats)
diamonds-pushups
hearts-burpees
aces=15
face cards=10
1-9=1-9

time:
18 minutes or so, better than the 19 minutes I did in May.

spaq: Monday 07/07/08

It was steamy, even at 7 pm.

mobility x3:
jumprope
20 regular, 20 left foot, 20 right foot, 10 doubles/singles
lunges/side lunges/ front squats (switch each time time through so each done once)
20 pushups

active warmups

sprint workout: 1:30 between each rep
2 x 10-20-30 yard suicide
2 x (10 yard suicide sprint, 20 suicide jog, 30 suicide sprint) x 2 = 1
1 x 10-20-30 yard suicide 30 second break 10-20-30 yard suicide

power workout:
(2) 2 x 20 yard tire sprints
(2) 2 x 20 yard sprints start sideways
(2) 2 x 20 backward drags

strength workout:
20 yard lunges with 50 lb plate overhead
10 50 lb push press
10 50 lb front squats
20 yard tire sprint
20 pushups
20 yard backwards sled drag

Not as bas as it looks. Could have added some ab stuff.

track and agility: 07/06/08

Got on the track for a good 1/4 of a workout. After some active warm ups and plyos I got into some jump roping. I did 6 minutes of 30 seconds off, 30 seconds medium, 30 seconds fast. I am getting better, but I only think I did one full minute of jumping.

Got up to speed a few times on the track. Hit a 31, 50 and 72, on a 200, 300, 400 respectively and then did a couple more, but I just wasn't feeling good or it.

Boston Ultimate: 07/01/08

I made the team. Goals to follow for July.

speed and agility: 07/02/08

Warmup

Agility Ladder workout (generally twice through for each rep):

one step in each.
two steps in each -- leading w/right foot.
two steps in each -- leading w/left.
two in, two out -- leading w/right.
two in, two out -- leading w/left.
two in, two out -- leading w/right (slalom style -- trying to maintain upper body facing down the ladder while your lower body swings -- easier to demonstrate than describe)
two in, two out -- leading w/left (slalom style)
two in, one out.
two in, one out -- but this time, lead with your outside leg first (so if you start on the left side of the ladder, start with your left foot in this time; cross-over style).
three steps in each

two in, one in (1-2-1).
Sideways, one foot in each box. Start w/right foot in first box; place right foot in box 2, left foot in box 1; shuffle. (2 times, then turn around, lead w/left foot).
Sideways, two feet in each box. (2 times, then turn around).

Sideways, stand w/ladder to your left. Left (front) foot in front of ladder; right (back) foot in ladder, left foot crosses over to behind ladder, right foot in ladder. (Right back foot always stays in ladder, left foot alternates from front to back). Then, change directions.

Sideways, stand w/ladder to your left. Reverse of the previous. So, left (front) foot in ladder; right (back) foot in front of ladder; left foot in ladder; right foot in back of ladder. Then, change directions.

Sideways, two steps in, two in front, two in, two behind, two in, two in front, etc. Then, change directions.

Agility work with tennis balls:

Six goaltimate cones in a rectangle, tennis balls in five of them. Shuffle/sprint starting at the open cone and proceed to a cone with a tennis ball; take ball and shuffle/sprint/backpedal back to empty cone; place tennis ball in cone; repeat by shuffle/sprinting/backpedaling to next cone, until you have completed all six cones; tag out to partner. Repeat 4x with breaks.

Plyos:

6 Hurdle Hops at 24 inches: Everyone was able to do these once we got the spacing down. Holzer was clearing them easy, but got to close on one of the two-at-a-times and managed to end up perched and perfectly balanced on top of one of the hurdles for at least 3 seconds.

(2) 1 hurdle at a time trying to land on your toes as quiet as possible

(2) 2 at a time trying to land quiet on the 2nd

(1) 6 in a row

2 inchers: get in an athletic position (knees slightly bent, chest up, feet at shoulder length) and pump your feet as fast as you can getting them 2 inches off the ground until you feel your pace cracking. Paul and Jeff could do around 8-10 seconds, the rest of us around 6.

(3) no arms

(3) slow arms

(3) into 15 yard sprint

20 yards forward, 10 yards back of high knee skips

(2) 5 standing long jumps

20 yards of diagonal one legged jumping

Speed:

(4) 10 x 20 x 20 shuttles

(2) on stomach to 15 yard sprint

(2) sprinter stance to 15 yard sprint

(2) backpedal to "

(2) jog into "

Boston Invite: 06/28/08 - 06/28/08

Saturday:
Mephisto - won

Pike - won

NY - won
The only game worth commenting on. This maybe the 3rd time we have played them this spring and I am sure we will manage to play them a couple more times as well. We were 2-0 against them this year, but 0-2 in the first half. The O-line seemed to fall right back into the early deficit. They were completely erratic, but extremely consistent. Erratic in the sense that they turned it on every other point of the 1st half, consistent in that someone would get a block every time or Pony would toss it away. Brutal to watch. Our failed to produce a single turn in the first half, but then a few points into the 2nd Dave H grabbed a D and we were off and over the next couple points we collected 3-4 breaks. Ballgame.

Sunday:

Pheonix - Won
They had some pretty athletic dudes, but very little disc discipline.

Great Britain - 13-12 won
They took half 8-6 on two breaks or so. We played a very lazy 1st half probably thinking we could coast because of the beating we laid on them Friday. We came back with a more fired up second half and had the disc on their goaline at 11-10 to win the game. They scored, we scored, they scored, on an amazing layout in the back of the endzone, to tie it at 12-12's and bring on double game. Despite a foul contest for a huck, we scored relatively easily to win.

GOAT - Won
This game really came down to who was in better shape and we are. Rotating a huge roster in and out of games kept us fresh right up until our victory sprints. They kept with us early as we exchanged breaks, but they were getting lucky and our d was wearing them down and forcing them into bad decisions. Fatigue started taking its toll as the second half moved on especially after one of their best handlers got his ankle tweaked in a scrum for jump ball and that is when we turned the screws and they folded.

I played allright in each game. Only got toasted deep once, but it was bad. Missed a deep d by a couple inches, missed another when as I tripped over the offenders legs. Came down on the wrong mark once and cost us a point. One pull out of bounds because it didn't turn over, another one that I didn't get high enough that went out the back, but I am very happy with 2 of 25.

I feel like I cut well when I cut. There is still a lot of commotion that makes me hesitant to cut and I end up waiting to long especially near the endzone. Three turnovers on the weekend. One on a huck to an open guy taking not a great angle that hung and got d'd. Probably should have pumped. One on a huck to a poached guy that just came off to hot and forced him out the back of the endzone. One on a backhand huck in the goat game where I got crossed up with my receiver. That one killed me cause it was before we mounted our surge and it probably would have opened the flood gates earlier. Two goals thrown, 4 goals caught, no drops.

Showcase: 06/27/08

Just when you thought the showcase was over we have the showcase of all showcases! Boston vs Great Britain in front of about 300 people (eventually) under the lights (eventually). It was fun even if we destroyed them. They did get a break towards the end and held us relatively break-less in the second half, but we jumped out to 6-2 lead and they never had a chance to come back.

I played all right. Tough, but d-less, defense. Smooth O when I we got the rock and I was, and have been for a couple weeks, bombing some pulls. Per tradition we gave their MVP's some gifts, but they had nothing for us. Poor SOTG if you ask me.

Faust: 06/25/08

Got in a half ass track workout cause I was on my way to a meeting at 6:30 in Cambridge.
200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200
32, 57, 76, 73, 53, 32... I was supposed to follow up with another set of (4) 400's, but I ran out of time.

Times last year:
31,55,78,75, 56,33: I remember that weekend last year. I felt miserable during this workout and although my times are comparable I left a lot in the tank this year and those are two big seconds for me on the 400's. I am excited to get back on the track with the boys in July.

Gym: 06/24/08

I am trying out something different at the gym these days. I am taking into account the fact that lifting heavy weights is not the only way to get an "ultimate" workout in the gym. I have a pretty specific routine when I go to the gym these days:
Active warm up
heavy lift/joint mobilization
supplementary lift/joint mobilization
supplementary lift/ joint mobilization
core/stabilizers

I have been talking/reading about "ultimate" workouts and I want to implement a few ideas.

I am going to change my active warmup to a more active warmup. Continuous warm ups incorporating jump rope with dynamic lower and upper body movements.

Next comes an explosive set of plyo exercises for both upper body and lower body.

Finally we end with heavier weight in multi joint exercises.

Here is how it broke down for me:

x 2 active:
lunges
jump rope (20, 20 lft foot, 20 rt foot, 20 double jumps)
1st set push! ups/2nd set push ups with feet on physio ball
side lunges
jump rope (20, 20 lft foot, 20 rt foot, 20 double jumps)
push! ups/push ups with feet on physio ball
lunges
jump rope (20, 20 lft foot, 20 rt foot, 20 double jumps)
push! ups/push ups with feet on physio ball

x 2 plyo:
8 bench step ups
hands on physio ball push ups
side shuffles with 25 lb weight overhead
jump-knee tuck pull ups

multi joint:
cleans (2) 6 @ 145
deadlifts (2) 6 @ 225
front squats (2) 8 @ 205
1 arm snatch (1) 4 @ 45, (2) 4 @ 55

This wasn't exactly right. My space is limited and equipment limiting so I will keep evolving it to fit my needs.

Practice/Showcase: 06/26/08

We only had Sunday practice and it was real early due to the showcase game at 12 ish.  D won the scrimmage at the end, but with some mediocre play on both sides.  

15-11 Cambridge on the open side and 15-14 Boston on the coed side.  I had a lot to do with our loss in the coed.  Tons of throw aways, many to bad cuts or no cuts at all as it turned out.  Bummer. 

Showcase: 06/20/08

Busy week. We rallied from a terrible showing last week to take the 2nd open game 15-11. A couple key additions personnel wise helped us take a lead and extend it to the 4 points necessary for the victory. I broke my no laying out rule, but kept with my huck it if you see your teammate going deep regardless of defenders and poaches.

summer league: 06/19/08

6 v 7 again. We played some douche team who, as they fall from whatever grace they were at, are trying to take as many younger, more athletic teams with them by calling terrible fouls and strips. We persevered and smacked em 15-11 or so. 6 v 7 is super frustrating cause you can't really run hard, but you are running forever at around 75% and offense with 6 people is just a mess.

Track: 06/18/08

I was not happy heading into this workout. My hammies were in rough shape. All day I could feel tightness and pain right where they connect to the glutes. I was just sore from the leg workout on Monday, but I didn't feel like running and sucking more than usual at another track workout and this workout seemed hard. I got there around 6:00 and we didn't start running till 7, which further made me not want to be there, but we had an awesome group of guys. Definitely the biggest group since the timed mile with Metal a couple years ago.

6 minute 30/30/30 fartlek run. 5 minutes rest.

3x400M, 90 seconds rest after each
200M, 4 minutes rest.

2x200M. 75 seconds/90 seconds
2x400M, 90 seconds rest after each
2x200M, 75 seconds rest. Done.

73*, 75, 75, 30, 30, 31,75,76,30**,29***

*we hit the split at like 33 and I immediately figured I had just fucked myself for the whole workout.
**Kevin outkicked me for first. I just couldn't give it that last umph.
***Colin dominated the last one at like 27, I crossed the same time as Jeff for second.

I completely suprised myself with this. Doing workouts by yourself on shitty tracks really adds some seconds to your time.

My times last year 6/19:
75 , 78, 78, 30, 32,33, 83, 82, 33, 32

upperbody: 06/17/08

I need to get back into notebook mode cause I can't really remember what all these weights were.

A1 one armed bench:
(3) 8 @ 45

A2 bent over DB row:
(3) 8 @ 55

B1: pull ups
(3) 6 @ 0

B2: DB military one armed
(3) 8 @ 40

C1: rows
(3) 8 @ 120

C2: airplane pushups
(3) 10 @ 15

D1: prone trap raises
(3) 10 @ 15

D2: palov press
(3) 10 @ 45

Lower body: 06/16/08

A1 deads: I took it easy on the weight cause a month ago I tried to get involved with 225 and the 225 turned on me and hurt me real bad. After some warm ups:
(4) 4 @ 205

A2: bulgarian split squat
(3) 8 @ 35

A3: one legged squat
(3) 8 @ 35

B3: bar roll outs

Practice: 06/15/08

The morning weather was sloppy, but not sloppy enough to account for our sloppy play out the gate. Things got cleaned up as the day went on, but I feel like we should be at a higher level. You have to give some of the credit to our sloppy play to the fact that although we have had a core of 15 out for everything 20 other dudes have been floating around in and out of events.

Ultimate: 06/13/08

The Shwagcase game between Cambridge and Boston. They killed us. I felt like shit and didn't even get a part of the trackworkout in cause they didn't have a track.

Summer League: 06/12/08

Summer league, more like Bummer League. I wanted to get my track workout in before our summer league game. For some reason our start time was announced as 6:00 pm which seemed ridiculously early so I busted ass to get to a set of fields that were very much occupied. I definitely could have fit in a brief workout cause while most of our team were on time the other team didn't get there till about 6:30. We ended up moving to Belmont High and played our game from 7:00 to 8:45 ish and got the last pull in right before it would have been called due to darkness. We lost 15-14 having been pulled to at 14-13 and 14-14. We played 6 against 7 cause we were down a woman, but even that was no excuse for losing.

We have a fun team that runs from elite to very very beginner, which is more what I was looking for in a summer league team as opposed to the pretty dominant ones I've been playing on over the past couple years. Wins will be that much more satisfying.

Upperbody: 06/10/08

Finally an upperbody day. It has been a while.

A1 incline bench:
(3) 5 @ 165

A2 chest supported pull
(3) 8 @ 55

B1 pull ups:
(1) 6
(2) 8

B2 DB shoulder press:
(3) 8 @ 40

C1 face pulls:
(3) 10 @ 50

C2 side bridges
(3) @ 45 secs

It was so f'n hot in that place. No AC and a bunch of sweaty dudes heating and stinking that place up.

Weights and Ultimate: 07/08 thru 10/08

Caz Invite:

I'm not gonna get into details until I make the team, but everyone played well and we played well as a team leading to our victory over GOAT in the finals 15-11.

Weights: Legs

front squats:
(3) 6 @ 225

walking lunges:
(3) 8 @ 35

one legged squats
(3) 8 @ 35

Yikes

Disjointed month due to some mild injuries and work being crazy, but now I am pain free and work has cleared up a bit as well.

Two days of ultimate. Saturday I bounced around a few teams and got my throws dialed in. I think the teams I was on did allright. Andy from Brown and I won the (3) sprint 70, 10 pushups, sprint 70, 10 situps race at the end. Sunday I was on the green team. We had a tough start. Lots of miscommunication led to an o-fer to start. We got better throughout the day and ended up winning the last two scrimmages despite a stupid, stupid decision by me to try and end a point early with a cross field flick a foot outside our endzone. Winning was great, but we also dominated the sprints after that, winning on both the 40 and 70 yard relay races.

I want to get back in the swing a bit seeing that we have somewhat of an offweekend coming up.

Mon: lift
Tue: rest
Wed: track cardio
thur: sled/sprints
fri: rest
sat: ?
sun: ?

A Real (and Posting) Vacation

I half-assed a sprint workout with Hot Toddy, Seigs and Kolt way back on the 16th or something. I was still tight from the gym workout that I did that Monday and my back was real sore from the first weekend of tryouts.

I had a lot of loose ends to tie up at work, but I should have fit in a deck of cards on Thur or Fri. Then I was off to Ed Van Leer's (formerly of Metal) wedding in Baltimore. Left Baltimore on Sunday for sunny Florida where I had a lazy ass week eating rich fatty food and chilling on the beach in Miami and throughout the keys. I got in a quick sprint workout on some dry flat open land 90 miles from Cuba on Key West. Set up a course where I would 4 x sprint 40, jog 15. I did that 8 times and then converted it into a suicide course with cones at 10 yards, but after nearly killing myself with sliding stops I stopped and went swimming for a while.

We flew back to Alexis' parents house for a nice transition into real life before returning to the true nitty gritty. They live right near princeton so I got to bask in the glory of GW ultimate. Or at least relive the good times on those fields cause those fools went out quick. GW had made the game to go or at least the the g2g to the g2g every year for the past 8 years. It was over fast within three game and tryout Seth from last year had a big part in Cornell taking them out. Lots of come to lay out blocks. I got in a long jog and another sprint-ish workout after that.

We drove a rental car back to Boston on Sunday night. All that sitting, through plane rides and car rides didn't do much to help my still hurting back, but I plan on lifting my way out of it next week. I find that generally lifting makes things better: your body, your love life, the size of your penis. And if not better, than bigger like the size of your ego as shown in the last sentence.

Work is crazy this week. On Monday I rushed home at 5 to get in a nice stair workout only to be back at work at 6:15 pm.
3 reps in a row. Couple minutes rest. 3 reps with added sprint up the hill on each. Couple minutes and then repeated except on the last rep I went up the hill and then up another hill on a path. That was rough.

Today was my day with nothing in the evening so I got in a track workout till the need to go bafroom made me leave.
3 x 400/ 90 secs: 81, 79, 78
3 min
3 x 400/ 90 secs: 78, 76, 78
ehh. I'm not happy with these times. I really just want a base so when we start doing it for real I am not flapping around 10 secs back like last year. By the way I don't like the Chelsea track. It is much more rounded than the MIT one and my "strength" in these things is seeing and going after the finish line straight ahead of me.

I might try and get out of work at some point tomorrow to do a deck of cards cause Im not gonna get another chance to workout till Saturday evening.

Total Body: 04/14/08

Time for a quick 40 minute workout today.

The active warm up was brutal, but about 3/4 of the way through things were forced into loosening up. Because of the short time and little direction I ended up doing Seig's cage workout. I changed a few things and mine ended up looking like this...

(1) 6 each @ 95: bent over row, RDL, (cleaned the bar to get it onto position for) front squat, military press (at this weight I didn't need any added momentum)
(3) 6 each @ 115
(1) 6 each @ 135 (in all 4 of these sets I had to push press the weight instead of stationary military press it)

Try Outs: 04/12/08 and 04/13/08

Winter never seems to end. Cold, short days mount up and grow indistinguishable. When spring comes it doesn't thaw away the cold, but replace it suddenly with blue skies and days in the 50's and 60's. With that sudden change in temperature tryouts sneak in and it seems like one day you are running steps in a ski jacket and the next you are in shorts and a t-shirt settling into a routine you left for dead 5 months ago. Your body knows it's been a long time and during two days of separate 4 hour practices it hopes someone will hear its pleas to slow down, to relent a bit, but it is drowned out by the hustle of 30 bodies trying to keep up a frantic pace while outdoing the 29 other guys out there. It's hard believe it's been 5 months since we were in each others company. It felt like someone could have given the punchline of a joke started 5 months ago but never finished and no one would know the difference.

I made the mistake of lifting pretty heavy on Thursday. I don't know what is up with my body, but it sure takes me a long time to recover. During actives my legs were grumpy. During the first drill they got tired after a deep cut and that feeling persisted through Saturday and probably Sunday, but I felt to tired and sore to pick out what hurt and why. I didn't go that hard on Thursday. I guess I just have to be super careful from now on, knowing that anything done after Wednesday I will feel on the weekend.

Pretty good Saturday and a mediocre Sunday. I am working on developing a set of goals for the next 2 months.

As far as workouts go my goals for the next couple months is to get through 1 of the following a week, 2 a week if no tryouts:
change in direction/sprint workouts and 200's and 400's
total body and lower body weights

Faust: Summarizing

Thurs:
Practice with NU. I went easy on the cardio, but we played out a lot of points.

Fri:
Implemented my new sprint workout. It was too hard so I had to modify it halfway through.
Start in the back endzone. Sprint upfield 15 yards, stop, sprint backfield 10, stop, explode upfield for 5, jog 15 more and repeat 4 times, but on the last rep instead of the exploding for 5 it was sprint 40 yards to the goal line. Yowzer. I did this twice and I couldn't kick it in for those last 40 yards so I cut out a rep and did it two more times.

Sat: work

Sun: work, good news is that I did some finagling and by putting in more time during the week I don't have to work next weekend, which means I can attend both practice days in full.

Tue: Did another sprint workout
2 x 15 yds out, 10 yds in, 30 yds out (30 seconds between reps)
1 minute
2 x 15 out, 10 in, 5 out, jog 10, repeat, end with 30 yard sprint
1:30
2 x 15 out, 10 in, 5 out, jog 10, repeat, repeat, 30 yard sprint
1:30
2 x 15 out, 10 in, 5 out, jog 10, repeat, repeat, 30 yard sprint
1:30
2 x 15 out, 10 in, 5 out, jog 10, repeat, repeat, 30 yard sprint

It's not that bad distance wise. I would like to hang out and do some more reps, but everytime I've done this I've had to leave early.

Wed: Practice
We had a good crowd of local club talent show up to scrimmage the NU guys and many thanks to those who did show up. We got in a 6 pull on O and D, played to 5, and got in the 1st couple points of a game to 3 before the lights went out. It was great to play on a full field outside for the first time in a while. Ended in the dark with:
sprint 15 yards, 5 burpees, stay on your stomach when you are finished. When the last person is finished someone counts down from 5, sprint 15 more, 5 more burpees, wait for the 5 count, 15 yards 5 burpees. A 15 count this time to give a little more rest and we are coming back the way we came with 2 more 15 yard sprints and 2 more sets of 5 burpees.

Thurs: Gym
45 minutes to get something done after about a 2 week absence.

A1 Deadlift:
2 @ 145
2 @ 195
2 @ 225 (i got a little to aggressive on this one and put it down to fast causing my hamstring to tighten really suddenly and now I have a little pain on whatever ligament is on the inside of my left knee. A little scary and I hope to be pain free on Saturday.)
2 @ 275
2 @ 225

A2 pull ups:
(3) 6 @ 20

B2 1 armed DB military press
(2) 6 @ 40
(1) 8 @ 40

A3 chest supported row:
(3) 8 @ 70

B3 pushups
(3) 10 claps, 10 regulars

Cardio: 04/01/08

April already? It seems like these weeks are flying by.

I want to be ready for the first practice/tryout so I am fashioning some sprinting workouts that will hopefully limit the shock of playing hard ultimate for the 1st time.


Active warm up
sprint warm up: "sprint" 40 yds, walk 40 x 8
sprints: (3) sprint 40, jog 40, sprint 40, wait 10 secs x 4. This meant start at the back of the endzone sprint to the 30, jog to the opposite 30, and sprint to the back of the endzone. Good cardio workout, where I could make my lungs give out before my legs.

On 04/02/08 I want to do something like this:
sprint upfield 15 yds, plant and come back for 10, jog upfield 10. Do that 10 times and then sprint the last 40.

04/01/08: Catching Up

3/27 practice:
Got in a couple cardio and spaq things, but did a lot of playing and strategy as well.

3/28 skiing:
6 hours of skiing at Loon

3/29 basketball:
Got in a bunch of games that I played terrible in.

3/30: coaching:
Lots of pacing, lots of big wins over shitty teams.

Explosive: 03/26/08

Did Tuesday's workout, which I will not be able to catch up from till Monday.
A1 hanging cleans:
3 @ 155
3 @ 165
3 @ 175
1 @ 185
0 @ 195: I thought I had this one. Bummer.
1 @ 175
2 @ 165

A2 row:
(3) 8 @ 130

B2 clap pushups:
(3) 10

A3 toe taps, airplanes, stepups, DB shoulder press @ 45 lbs
(3) 20, 10, 20, 8 each arm

track: 03/24/08

My first, albeit abbreviated, track workout of the season. I will stick with the short sprint cardio stuff too, but I until I am running 75's, I will feel like a loser. On June 7th of last year I did my first track workout of the season. This was at the point when I was running them right after lifting, which was a terrible idea. I went:

84, 83, 82. 83,84,83. with 90 seconds between each rep and 3:00 between each set. There was also a 600 thrown in there and a couple 200's, but this is a comparison from today:

75, 78, 78. 80, 80, 80. 76. I actually wanted to do 3 sets of 3, but I was breaking down and I knew I could either rock three more 80+ or go for the glory of a one and done. I got into a good pace down the homestretch and made up some time to capture the 76.

I need to keep losing weight so my body doesn't feel so heavy on my legs. I'm gonna really go after lowern' my carb intake and boosting my protein intake, but I need to figure out how to do that without starving or spending a bunch.

outside: 03/23/08

Took another day to just get outside in the grass with my cleats. I did some cutting patterns. Out, in, clear, out, in, out. Things like that. It was tiring, but I didn't do to many.

track: 03/22/08

I like to wait two days after a leg workout to run, but I felt the need to use the decent weather of NJ to get outside and on the track.

Ran a hard fartlek to start and then did (3) 400's with about 120 seconds between each.
74,80,78: Looking back on my times for starting the year last year, this is not bad at all. I felt gassed though, having limited myself to a lot of short fast stuff this winter. I would like to strap my cleats on tomorrow and do some cutting.

Lowerbody: 03/20/08

I was rushing my balls off to get this workout in between work and a meeting and then leaving for NJ.

box back squats:
(2) 6 @ 225
(2) 6 @ 245

pulls:
(3) 6 @ 275

split squats:
(2) 20 @ 0

upper body: 03/18/08

A1 one armed DB bench:
(1) 7 @ 60 - I should have just done 8, but I thought this would be my warmup
(2) 8 @ 60
(1) 7/8@ 60 - got 8 with my right hand, but only 7 with my left

A2 rows:
(1) 7 @ 110 - warmup
(1) 8 @ 120
(2) 8 @ 130

A2 pullups:
(1) 6
(3) 10 - Every set I did a couple more semi jump pull ups until on teh 4th I probably did 7-8 with a slight jump

B2 hanging DB snatches:
(4) 6 @ 50

A3 face pulls:
(1) 10 @ 40
(2) 10 @ 50

B3 dips:
(3) 8

spaq: 3/17/08

I was really sore from the tabata runs and squats on Sunday night so I put on some new cleats and did a light active warm up. Once I felt stable enough I made some hard cuts on grass for the first time this year and then I did some cutting patterns for about 5 minutes.

Practice: 03/16/07

warm ups
some agility stuff working on starts and coming out of cuts hard
For cardio we had 30 seconds to sprint the length of the gym and come back. If you do it in 15 seconds you have 15 seconds of rest. We did this for 4 minutes straight. On average i bet it took guys 17 - 21 seconds to make it there and back.
play
tabata squats: i went butt to the ground to set a good example; 17,16,17,13,16,18,19,16 or something like that. It is brutal and the good thing with this exercise is that no matter how good you are at it, it still sucks cause you just do more squats.

upper: 03/10/08

incline bench clusters: 1 set = 4 x 2 with 10 seconds between the 2 reps
(3) 8 @ 155 - I finished them all, but I dont know if I could have done another set.

DB rows:
(3) 8 @ 60

pull ups:
6 @ 25
6 @ 20
7 @ 20

DB push press:
(3) 6 @ 55

seated row:
(3) 8 @ 125

push ups
(3) 20 - The bench clusters made this tough. I got through the first set allright but had to abandon form for the last 5 and then it was a free for all on the last set even taking to my knees at one point.

Lowerbody: 03/09/08

front squat:
4 @ 205
4 @ 215
4 @ 215
4 @ 225

rack pulls for speed: I wasn't feeling the heavy weight so I kept it at 225 and went for speed. 4 clusters of 2 = a set
(3) 8 @ 225

split squats:
(3) 8 @ 30

Monday upper body will complete a nice little week. Cardio, cardio, lower, rest, rest, cardio, cardio, lower, upper. I would like to get this down to one week.

Mon: upper
Tue: spaq
wed: fartleks/tabata
thu: lower
fri: off
sat: cardio
sun: cardio
mon: lower
tue: upper

Basketball: 03/08/08

Played about 5 games of basketball. I tried to run the court whenever possible and by the end of the 4th game I was about done. I was getting tossed around down low for the last two points, but rallied for the fifth game.

Cardio: 03/07/08

I got through two 6:00 fartleks and then tabata sprinted my way home. Those tabata's are impossible. Seriously it might be impossible to run your hardest for 20 secs and then expect 10 secs to be enough to recover enough to run 20 seconds again at top speed, but if I can get better at it I would imagine that it would help my ultimate game immensely.

Lowerbody: 03/04/08

Deadlifts: warm ups with 135, 225 and 245 then
5 @ 265
4 @ 275
3 @ 285: I didn't feel like I powered through it as much as persevered

one legged squats:
(3) 8 @ 0: a little bummed I couldn't hold some weight

DB pull throughs: kind of like a DB swing, but with the emphasis on the initial hump! and not the swing follow through.
(1) 8 @ 50
(2) 8 @ 60

Stairs: 02/03/08

Got right back onto the cardio train thanks to a guest appearance from Paul Batten.

Two reps for warm up and then into 4 sets of 3. The 1st two reps of each set being every stair and the last one being every other. I like this system cause my legs are made for every other and I can just bound up the stairs almost as if it was a hill, but I was still dying during the last set. The stairs are set up well. 30 steps and then 10 yards of flat, 30 more and then 8 yards of flat and then less than 10 stairs, flats, less than 10. This means that getting through the second set of 30 is brutal, but once you get through that it means just two more short bursts then you are done. Not that it made it any easier for me.

Tue: Lower
Wed: Off
Thu: Cardio
Fri: total body
Sat: off
Sun: cardio

Fartlek and Tabata: 03/02/08

Ripped out a 6:00 fartlek, but felt shitty so instead of following up with another I went for the sprint tabata. Those of you who know me understand that my logic skills are lacking and therefore won't be suprised that I couldn't figure out how to fashion my fartlek mix, which comes in 30 sec intervals into a 20 sec, 10 sec tabata mix. What you need to do, as I figured out after 2 or 3 reps, is rest for the 1st 10 secs of a song and then go hard for the last 20 secs or until the song changes. Tabatas are brutal. I constantly felt like I was gonna throw up.

Upperbody: 03/01/08

I wanted to do a cardio workout, but got my signals crossed on the whereabouts of the workout and therefore headed to the gym.

A1 flat bench: Im trying to lay off this a little bit cause I need to lose weight and not get any bulkier
5 @ 165
5 @ 185
5 @ 205

B1 supported chest row:
8 @ 65
8 @ 75
8 @ 75

A2 push press:
8 @ 115
8 @ 125
8 @ 135

B2 DB row:
(3) 8 @ 60

C2 plate kicks: lay down like your gonna flat bench take the weight off the rack, hold it there, and kick each plate with your feet together and legs straight.
(3) 8 @ 135

A3 pull ups:
(2) 6
(1) 8

B3 airplane pushups
(3) 8 @ 15

C3 knees to elbow crunches
(3) 8

Weights/Cardio: 02/27/08

I have lost my rhythm after taking some odd days off and I came in not wanting go heavy cause my back is sore from playing ball without stretching so I settled on a squat tabata.

squat tabata: 20 secs of exercise, 10 secs of rest w/ 45 lb plate clutched to chest
(+/- 1) 14, 15, 16, 14 (dropped the plate), 15, 16, 15, 15.

pull up tabata:
I then went and tried a modified tabata with pull ups, but it was more like do 6 wait 20 secs do 6 more. I got 3 sets through and then I started hopping into them and did 2 more sets for 5 total.

Front squats: After this I felt lost so I wandered around to the racks and did some front squats
5 @ 185
5 @ 205
2 @ 225

bulgarian split squats: I finished with 3 0f 10 @ body weight of bulgarian split squats

The tabata killed me even though I didn't realize it at the time. Hopefully I can get in some cardio tonight. I haven't done fartleks in a while.

Practice: 02/25/08

My back is sore from playing basketball without stretching enough. How old am I?

warm ups
agility work: did a fun one with tapiocas into releases, did a bad one working on cutting with the outside leg
cardio: brutal backpedal suicide and ended with a lame sprint to stations (squat jumps knee to chest, mountain climbers, burpees) that ended up being impossible.

Weights: 02/24/08

Finally back to the gym, but stuck to power/high impact stuff so I wouldn't be to sore for NU practice tomorrow.
A1 hanging cleans:
4 @ 135
4 @ 155
4 @ 165
2 @ 170
2 @ 175
0 @ 180: I just couldn't see myself getting the weight up to my chest and didn't feel like falling over in the middle of the gym.
2 @ 175

A2 rack pulls: my main objective here was getting the weight up. I feel like I hadn't been attacking this and as my deadlifts are getting up there the pulls should follow.
4 @ 225
4 @ 275
4 @ 295
4 @ 315
1 @ 325: Went for the 2nd rep and thought better of it. Never really got in a good pulling rhythm as I kept feeling like the weight was draggin me forward.

A3: alternating bench jumps
(3) 0 @ 10

monday: practice
tue: gym/rest
wed: rest/gym
thurs: cardio

Basketball: 02/23/08

Took it to the courts on Saturday morning. I don't remember dribbling the ball off my foot or any other appendage, which is part of my checklist for success after a day of ball.

Sled and Stairs wi/ Siegs: 02/19/08

From Siegs:

Took Fausty up on his offer to do "cardio" at his place in Chelsea. Great view up there of the city - I had never been to that part of town before.

We started off with stairs, doing 2 sets of 3 times up a flight of stairs probably equivalent or slightly longer than the Harvard ones. I felt pretty good doing these. Finished up the last flight with a sprint to the stop sign, maybe 30 yards or so.

Then we rocked the "sled". Faust talked in an earlier post about the tire he rigged up at Home Depot. We took turns running with it trailing behind us through a very muddy field. Must admit, it is a bad ass workout, and you can feel the burn in your quads. We probably ran 20-30 yards 4 times a piece and then a few more times backwards. We finished up going backwards for 20-30 followed immediately by sprinting back forwards.

2/17/08: Weights

A1: pull ups
(3) 6 X 20

B1: DB swings
(3) 8 @ 45

A2: one armed DB press
(3) 8 @ 55

B2: supported chest row
(2) 8 @ 55
(1) 8 @ 65

A3: t pushups
(3) 8 @ 15

B3: paloff press
(3) 8 @ 65

Weights: 02/16/08

Deads:
4 @ 135
4 @ 185
4 @ 225
4 @ 255
4 @ 265
4 @ 275, touchdown. And I don't feel like my back is broken today.

jump squat clusters: do 2 take 5 secs, do 2 more until you get to 8 = 1 set
(3) 8 @ 135

one legged squats: I did it on the raised platform with a swiss ball to use as a box squat, which ended up making them to easy.
(3) 8 @ 45

203 yesterday, but after some beers last night and some E. Boston pastries I'm worried to get back on the scale today.

Practice: 02/15/08

Agility: 2 box variations and then a back pedal, release out on an angle deep, cut under, backpedal, release on a thrown disc.

cardio:
(3 laps) 3 person piggy back relay: A carries B 20 yards with C running along side, A drops B, B picks up C for 20 yards while A runs along side, B drops C, C picks up A for 20 yards with B along side, when they reach the next marker everyone sprints back to the beginning and starts over.

(2 laps) 15 yards two foot bounding, 15 yards lunge jumps, 15 yard sprint, 10 pushups, 15 yard sprint, 10 situps, 15 yard sprint, 10 squat hops knee to chest.

And there was gonna be one more, but the we ran out of time. I hope i get to do it next time.

Stairs: 02/14/08

Back on the stairs to work some poundage off right before a faValentines Day dinner.

Warm up lap around the block.
Warm up set of 3, right into a hard set of three, right into alternating jog/hard for 6, rest.
3 hard ones with a minute in between each one.

Today: NU practice
Sat: Lower
Sun: Upper
Mon: off
Tue: Cardio
Wed: Total Body
Thur: off
Fri: Practice

I hope work doesn't f to much with this schedule and that I can get my sled up to par in time for TUE cardio.

Power/Strength Cardio

Went for the power/strength cardio route tonight.

hanging jerk to overhead squat: neat exercise, but Im not sure I will do it again. I can get more power out of a hanging clean, but being in squat position with 115 overhead is interesting.
5 @ 95
5 @ 115
5 @ 115
5 @ 115
3 @ 115

8 knee to chest+6 pull ups+(8) 40 lb floor press= 1 rep
2 sets of 3 reps

30 second intervals
bench toe taps>step ups>side plank>side plank>burpees> mountain climbers>front plank

and that just about killed me.

weight: 206
target weight by March 1st: 200 (I haven't lost a pound in two weeks!)

I am still trying to figure out what my ideal total body day looks like. If I am getting three days of cardio I can afford for this to be all about power, but what does that look like? All olympic lifts? More cross fit stuff? I am thinking a combination of body weight and weighted explosive exercises. Start with power cleans move onto 15 sec intervals with step ups and toe taps and planks, and then finish with burpees or something.

sled: 02/11/08

My sled is done. I am kinda proud of it and I will have pictures later. Again I attached some straps to a tire that I am pulling. I tried to use a 60 lb bag of concrete, but I couldn't get it snug so it ripped when after being dragged around for a while. If I could put a 2 x 2 of plywood underneath it would work to keep the sand bag from dragging, but then I have to worry about the front edge of the plywood catching when I drag it. My objective was not to spend more than $20 on it, but I might have to splurge and buy some 45 lb plates.

Fartlek: 02/10/08

28 degrees. Wintery Mix. Perfect fartlek weather.

I made this sweet mix that changes songs every 30 seconds. This gives me the advantage of listening to slow, medium, fast music and not having to mess around with the shitty watch I have. Unfortunately the software I use to make the mix comes in 20 minute demo form so I haven't really gotten the songs I want on, but I made a great call with my last fast song to send me flying. I'm using a nice little loop near the veterans hospital. I'm sure they are pumped to see someone flying around outside late at night. It's about three minutes a loop with a fast downhill and longer uphill. Pretty good.

(2) 6:00 fartlek 1.6 miles

Tomorrow I want to finish my homemade sled. I found a tire on the street back in December and I thought it would make a good sled. I cut out the top to make more of a cup out of it. Now I have two u-screws with big A bolts on the end so it doesnt come through the rubber. Two carabiners will connect the tire to some 200 lb strength truck tie down rope that I will hold to pull the tire and the 60 lb bag of concrete Im gonna put in it.

Upper: 02/08/08

This workout made me feel pretty weak. After each set and how hard the last rep would be, I thought there must be more weight than there actually was. My pulls ups are weak shit. If there are any numbers I want to increase this year it is pullups with weight. I think I should set a goal of (3) 5 @ 15 for the end of March.

incline bench:
5 @ 165
4 @ 175
5 @ 165
5 @ 165

chest supported row:
8 @ 65
8 @ 65
8 @ 75
8 @ 75

pull ups:
(3) 5

DB 1 armed push press:
(3) 5 @ 55

Sunday: Cardio
Monday: Cardio
Tue: Total Body
Wed: Off
Thurs: Cardio
Sat: Lower
Sun: Upper

Weights: 02/07/08

Front squat: The weight bearing down on your collar bones and threatening to crush your adams apple makes these feel harder than they really are. I felt really strong.
(1) 5 @ 185
(3) 5 @ 205


Rack pulls: I should be doing much more weight than this, but it is a great way to lift a lot of weight explosively. Even girls do it!
5 @ 225
5 @ 255
5 @ 265

reverse DB lunges from deficit: These are for everyone and they are amazing. Stand on a raised platform like your standard aerobics step. Take a bigger than normal backwards step off it and lower till knee hits ground and then explode up with the leg thats still on the step.
(3) 8 @ 30

Fartlek: 02/06/08

I'm back!

I find much more personal value in this than any team blog. I will continue to post my updates there, but they will be weekly instead of daily.

I wanted to do (3) 6 minute fartleks at 30 seconds change in pace. I pulled off a sweet move when I started resetting the countdown for 15 secs instead of 30. You think I would have realized pretty quickly. Nope. Not until my 3rd go at it. Which means I did
(2) 3 min fartlek @ 15 secs
(1) 6 min fartlek @ 30 secs

Pretty shitty, but not a bad start to the flat ground cardio season. When I finished my 2nd 3 minuter I coudn't understand why I felt so good.

Thurs: lower
Fri: upper
Sat: off
Sun: pulling or stairs
Mon: lower

Links: 02/04/08

Mullen sent me this the other day after we talked about whether or not you needed to lift heavy to get in ultimate shape. I like the workouts and the text is interesting if you are into that tyoe of stuff. One thing to remember is that depth jumps and other plyos are made for short term gains. They shock the muscle into contracting quicker. It is not something you want to do year round because you will lose the shock value and your muscles should not be put under that kind of stress for more than a couple months at a time. Two, two month cycles a year: one preseason and one right before the series should suffice.

Continuing on targeted heavy lifting this article also has some great suggestions for an ultimate player who wants to be getting the most out of a lifting session. It is lifting intensive for the majority of us, but if you could even fit in one or two of those lifting days a week you would be better for it.

The deadlift is a great exercise and easier than some of the power exercises mentioned in the previous article. Check out Eric Cressey's May-June deadlifting series for how to do it, how not to do it, and for variations.

Upper Body: 02/01/08

A1: flat bench
(2) 5 @ 185
(1) 5 @ 205...If Jeff can do his body weight, I felt like I had to saddle up and do mine

B1: chest supported row
(3) 8 @ 55

A2: pull ups (dude next to me was huge and doing 5 @ 45 lbs which got me thinking about this and how impossible that shit looks)
5 @ 25
5 @ 20
5 @ 0 (knew I would get 0 if I tried to do some weight)

B2: DB shoulder press
(3) 8 @ 40

A3: prone trap raises
(3) 8 @ 10

B3: bent over DB row
(3) 8 @ 55

Lower Body: 01/31/08

warm up

A1 deadlift:
(3) 4 @ 255

A2: reverse lunge from deficit:
(3) 8 @ 25

B2: bar rollouts
(3) 8

A3 one legged box squats:
(3) 8 while holding 35 lb weight

The circuit stuff isn't for me. I'll do high impact total body stuff one day, heavy lower body one day and an upperbody workout one day or something to that effect.

My homemade sled is coming along nicely no thanks to you guys.

Stairs: 01/29/08

3 sets of 3 and ended with a stair suicide.

I felt much better this week. I tried to concentrate the 1st and 3rd sets on speed and used the 2nd to work on leg drive.

Weights: 01/24/08

Quick workout yesterday.

I changed my routine and got burned on the first set. Two weeks ago I did single reps of each exercise to complete my circuit (one clean, one front squat, one press, etc), but this time I tried to do each exercise 5 times (5 cleans, 5 front squats, etc) before moving onto the next and it was almost impossible. I broke it down into two sets.

3 @135
5 x clean
5 x front squat

3 @135
5 x lunge
5 X press

3 sets of
8 DB push press @ 35
8 bent DB rows @ 55
8 weight touches @ 135
8 flat bench @ 135

I'm not sure if this circuit shit is working for me. If I am in the weight room I want to lift heavy. I can do all the body weight stuff during cardio days, but I guess I have time to figure it out.

Links: 01/23/08

JMU has an awesome site for researching different exercises. We should all be able to do the 300 by August.

http://orgs.jmu.edu/strength/

If you can deal with all the muscle head stuff t-nation is a great resource to spice up your workouts, get nutrition information, and look for rehab stuff. The people who write articles there are among the best strength coaches in the world. Use the search engine to look for things.

t-nation.com

University of Idaho has revamped their site and now offers videos of every exercise you could ever want.

http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/strength/

Ill keep posting the good ones.

Stairs: 01/22/08

Only had 20 minutes today.

Every step; 3 sets of 3 with a minute break between sets.

Should these be this hard? Can someone come do these with me and tell me if it sucks for them too? I am already imagining some kick ass workouts on these sets of stairs come March and April.

Tomorrow: Circuit weights
Thursday: off
Friday: Practice with NU
Sat: weights heavy
Sun: goaltimate

Im taking my show on the road

I might still use this for personal stuff, but i'm switching channels for a bit.