Gym: 08/20/09

I have two new gyms. One is the olympic lifting place in Queens and the other is a regular gym in Brooklyn. I will describe this place when I have a bit more time.

bench: i figured the best way to get to know people was hop on the bench
8 @ 145
8 @ 165
6 @ 185
4 @ 205
2 @ 225

squat: I don't know, I got up to a decent weight. I f'd up my neck though. I hadn't done back squats in ages.

5 @ 135
5 @ 185
5 @ 225
4 @ 275

popped off a few front squats at 225

shoulder press
(3) 6 @ 45

bulgarian split squat

(3) 8 @ body weight

6 pull ups whenever i went by the pull up machine

Ultimate: 08/17/09

We played all right at ECC. D was great, but left a bunch of points on the field. O struggled at times because we got to focused on accomplishing individual it became to much of an individual race to score and not a concerted effort to move the disc effectively. When this happened we stalled out and had to make tough throws that sometimes got turned over. We had almost all of breaks on Saturday, going down to Ring and Furious 0-3. Ring has some balls and it was hard for the D to get them cause Ring kept bailing/ballin out of tough situations with crazy hammers and crossfield throws. Their D also takes hours to call a line and effectively took the game to cap although we had caught up by then and ended up going up to at cap meaning the game was over. We clawed back quickly against Furious and took half.

I played well and my achilles was hardly noticeable except for a few leaps where I didn't get much height. The first O point in the Chain game I took off deep with some space and got a very nice throw that hung only slightly, which made my guy think he had a play on it (he didn't) and as I went up he crashed into me sending me cartwheeling. Luckily after a scary fall where limbs were sent into the ground at awkward angles the only thing that hurt was my calf which took the brunt of the contact when his knee slammed into it. It ended my day as I could jog around, but when I tried to really push off somewhere deep inside my calf had shut down and wouldn't respond. I spent much of the game trying to do something to loosen it up, but nothing worked.

I will take it easy over the next few weeks and hope to be good to go by Chesapeake.

Injuries: 08/12/09

My achilles is still giving me problems. When I started this blog it was amidst pretty bad achilles problems and it feels similar. I can't point out one instance where I could have hurt it so it must be do to overuse. I was just starting to feel awesome, but might have been pushing my body to hard over the last month while I tried to make up for 4-5 months of inactivity with a month of crazy town. I also tweaked my lower back. Basically I'm a mess.

I practiced last weekend and will play at ECC, but I need to get this shit under control before sectionals if I want to have a chance to be anywhere near 100% for nationals.

In New York news I was at IKEA yesterday and I noticed a woman who looked like a trashy version of Susan Sarandon. Kind of dressed frumpy, no makeup, tattoo on the back of her neck. I realized it was the real Susan Sarandon when she stole my IKEA guy away from me. She asked an innocent question (I still thought it was a poor man's Susan Sarandon so I didn't record exactly what she said, my apologies) to the IKEA employee I was deep in conversation with about whether one of their tv stands came in a walnut instead of a medium brown and he, in mid sentence to me, not only turned to answer her, but took off leaving me deep in my color conundrum. He returned a minute later like nothing had happened, but the damage had been done. I also notified her when she dropped her receipt at the check out line, but not without some disdain in my voice as I talked over a couple adoring fans who were bothering her. She actually seemed really nice and Im glad she looked frumpy, a hot 60 year old frumpy.

Back to the color thing. IKEA changes their colors very slightly every few years so you can't match used things to new things. Or at least that is my theory.

Liftin':08/05/09

I went to the Lost Battalion Lifting Hall yesterday thinking it would be my gym for the rest of the year. It was pretty cool, but the only thing the dudes do are olympic lifts and a few, very few, supplemental exercises that improve olympic lifts. I was there for 2 hours and did nothing but clean and jerks and snatches. At the last minute I hopped in with some guys doing front squats as a supplemental exercise. I was kind of disappointed that they took such a narrow view on lifting. Just mentioning a deadlift drew some pointed remarks about fast twitch exercises vs body builder exercises. I can't understand why being able to move a shit ton of weight at a slower speed is bad for trying to move a shit ton of weight fast. You can't build fast twitch muscle. You can get better at your fast twitch movements, but either you have a lot of fast twitch muscle or you don't. Anyways it turns out that this hall is part of the NYC parks and rec that has gyms all over the city, apprently in various points of disrepair, but it is cheap, cheap, cheap. Only 50 bucks for the year.

I tried to tell the dude helping me that I have lifted before and yet he was continuously shocked that I was decent at it. I'm sure he gets a lot of guys in there talking about how much they can bench, but I was trying to tell him that I've done most of this stuff just not the right way so it was amusing (and I admit a pretty good ego boost) to see his chest swell as he told the other coaches, "under an hour, and look at him". The kilo's fuck me up, but he was adding some decent weight.

snatch
This is an awesome video. See how the bar follows the contour of her body? Mine was more coming straight up from the knees towards the chest instead of taking a detour to the waist. We didn't get the weight up to high with this one. Actually I have no idea how high we got.

clean and jerk
This is where the weight started getting up, but again I wasn't keeping track.

front squats: a couple at 255

Not sure how I will proceed with this place.

practice: week of 08/02/09

Friday I thought I could run home from work and in about 2.5 hours finish up getting all of our stuff out of the apartment. That didn't work. It took more like 6 hours, which was a big sucky sucky cause we were trying to get to an engagement party, which we ended up about 2 hours late for. The engagement party went till after 1 am and by the time we got parked, into our hotel room and made a poor food delivery order it was 3:45 am.

Up at 7:15 am for practice, nice to know you Boston Sheraton, and off to bachelor party things for same engagement party at 3 pm. Volleyball, wiffle ball, more stump and at Foxwoods by 9 pm. Lost $100 in the first hour. Didnt play for an hour or two. Back to even by 12:30 am. Up $100 by 2:30 am. Another terrible food decision and we weren't asleep till 6:30 am. Up at 8 am for practice. On the road to Brooklyn by 4 pm. 1.5 hour nap around 84. Cruised on into Brooklyn at 8:30 pm. 3/4 of the stuff unloaded by 10:30. Asleep at 11:30. Up at 9:30. Breakfast. Back to sleep at 11:00 am up at 2 pm ready to start my New York life.

Practice was good. I made some bad throws on decent decisions. I got to just let it rip. On the two completions I did just that. On the three throw aways I tried to guide it in which is not my game.

I managed to severely stress my ankle and achilles on my left foot. I am hobbling around right now with an ankle brace and icing constantly. I think this is my body's way of telling me to ease up for a bit. My back has also been bad for two weeks, which has been excasperated by all this moving. Im using this evidence to take a light week of workouts on so I am ready for next weekends practice and ECC the weekend after that.

runnin: 07/30/09

My legs felt awful heavy from this. It's either cause I did the sled workout last night or I'm hitting a bit of a wall. I might take some extended rest next week to see if I can work out the heaviness.

3 x 6-cone drill
rest is 3 to 1 so about 45 seconds between reps

2 min

3 x 6-cone drill

2 min

3 x tennis ball drill
3 to 1 rest to work

2 min

3 x tennis ball drill

5 minutes

3 x 0, 15, 0, 25, 0, 40, jog 40, 40
1:30 min between reps

3 min

5 x 15 s work* into 40 yd sprints (start one rep every 45 s)

3 min

3 x 0, 15, 0, 25, 0, 40, jog 40, 40
1:30

3 min

5 x 15 s work* into 40 yd sprints (start one rep every 45 s)

3 min

1 x 0, 15, 0, 25, 0, 40, jog 40, 40

Done.

*Plyo exercises for each set are:
tuck jump (http://www.brassringfitness.com/workout-techniques/tuck-jumps/)
fast feet
mountain climbers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTK0XzbFN0&feature=fvw)
toe touch (http://tinyurl.com/7gcrxz - #7 on the list, ignore the medicine ball)
burpees

runnin: 07/29/09

Up on the hill for a speed workout.

one legged broad jumps
two legged broad jumps
one legged bounding
two legged bounding
starts from prone
15 yard sled drags
10 yard 85% to 10 yard 100% drags
10 yard drags, let go of sled, 10 yard sprints (while i was doing this Alexis' earphone got wrapped around a knot in the rope and the head popped right off)
pull throughs
side drags
front drags
one footed jumps for height
two footed jumps for height

throwin:07/28/09

Got some throws and an active in instead of the gym. To much to do.

Mini: 07/27/09

I moved on Sunday. Awkward heavy lifting, check. We rented a Ryder truck that was filthy and only went 40 mph on hills, which there seem suddenly to be a lot of on the pike, but it got worked although it killed my back, which leads me to some disappointing news to my readership. 400 won't be conquered today. I don't think 300 could be conquered today. My back is still sore from last week's field workout and lifting heavy doesn't seem like the ideal way to get it back in shape. Good news is that I am contact with a few people in NY who have some information on gyms where I can get what i need so I am not giving up hope yet on the 400 for this season. By January 1st 2010 I hope to be up to 425.

Mini was fun. Although I have been running at least twice a week it has all been from one cone to another. It is a little different to have that cone moving all over the place and deciding how long and far the sprint will be. It took me a few games to get my legs under me, but eventually I was playing well. My team started off weak, but finished strong. Lots of tired ultimate, which is a great situation to be practice.

I will probably go to the gym today. I will take what it gives me.

Tue: gym/work
Wed: work/throwing
Thurs: trackish
Fri: off
Sat: PRACTICE!!!! finally
Sun: Practice/final move
Mon: Brooklyn! job? gym? who knows

Runnin: 07/25/09

It was hot today for the first time in a while. It was genuinely chilly last night.

8 x jog 30/sprint 30

2:00

8 x jog 30/sprint 30

2:00

8 x jog 30/sprint 30

5:00

4 x's 15 out, 10 in, 40 out with walk backs

2:00

3 x's 15 out, 10 in, 40 out jog backs

2:00

3 x's 15 out, 10 in, 40 out jog backs

3:00

10 out, 10 in, 5 out, 10 jog x 3 except on last rep sprint 20 instead of 5

1:30

10 out, 10 in, 5 out, 10 jog x 3 except on last rep sprint 20 instead of 5

1:30

10 out, 10 in, 5 out, 10 jog x 3 except on last rep sprint 20 instead of 5

3:00

(2) 5 x 15 yard hill sprints

Liftin: 07/23/09

I've been spoiled by being healthy and making time to go to the gym. As I said before I managed to tweak my back during some part of the workout yesterday and my left upper arm is feeling weird, but overall I've been doing well. I say that to preface my complaint with my back. It is more of a nuisance than anything else because I want to try for my 1rm deadlift next week, probably on Tuesday. I am secretly I deloaded a bit this week and went for a little higher reps with less weight.

sled pull:
2 x 40 yds @ 135
2 X 40 yds @ 160
2 X 40 yds @ 180
2 X 40 yds @ 205

safety bar squats:
(2) 6 @ 225
(1) 6 @ 245

pull throughs
(1) 8 @ 45
(2) 8 @ 80

reverse lunges from defecit
(3) 8 @ 40

pallof press
8

bowler squats
6

running and running and running: 07/22/09

I liked this workout, so much I don't even want to share it with you, but you won't really know it till you run it with a bunch of your teammates so if you want to nut up and do it, more power to you.

8 x 25yd jog, 25yd run (80%), 25yd sprint (100%), 25yd walk

3 min rest

8 x 25yd jog, 25yd run (80%), 25yd sprint (100%), 25yd walk

6 minutes

4 sets of

25 yards (or 5) continuous double leg bounding for distance
10 stationary lunge jumps
25 yards bear crawls for speed
10 knee tucks for height (stay in the same place)

2 minutes between sets and every time you start a set, start with a different exercise

5 minutes

USA Box Sprints: Ask someone on your team who tried out, its hard to explain
2 sets of 2 reps
give yourself about 5 x's what it took you to do 1 rep at full speed
2 minutes between sets

3 minutes

suicides:
3 x's
0, 10, 0, 20, 0, 30, 0
1 min between reps

3 mins

3 x's
(sprint) 0, 10, 0, (jog) 20, 0, (sprint) 30, 0, 10, 0, (jog) 20, 0, (sprint) 30, 0
1 min between reps

3 mins

1 time through the following:
0, 10, 0, 20, 0, 30, 0
30 secs
(sprint) 0, 10, 0, (jog) 20, 0, (sprint) 30, 0, 10, 0, (jog) 20, 0, (sprint) 30, 0

This had me dry heaving, but it felt great and despite a little tightness in my back of all places I think I will be ready to lift tomorrow.

lifting: 07/21/09

I think I messed up my arm tossing some kids around at a work social. I felt my left bicep immediately feel weird, but I wasn't to concerned. I headed into the gym today and right from the first lift it hurt. I was benching for the first time in a while and the pain started moving from my bicep into my tri and it was getting progressively worse. I persisted cause I am stupid and got all the way into pull ups and pushups before I decided to shut it down. I am sure it will be fine, but no more upper body for a few days.

A1 flat bench
5 @ 185
(3) 5 @ 205

A2 chest supported row
(3) 8 @ 80

B1 pull ups
5 @ 1/2 vest

B2 push ups
(2) 10 @ 1/2 vest

Throwing: 07/20/09

My legs were real sore from yesterday's stair portion of the speed and power workout so I didn't go to the gym and instead returned late night to the hill to shake out my muscles and work on my hucks.

Google analytics tells me I have a decent following again and I know a bunch of you are decent ultimate players so I have a question. Let's see if we can get 5 responses.

How often do you practice your throws? When you practice them how often do you think of mechanics? Do you just grip it and rip it? I've been having golf swing type problems with my backhand and in the past have had similar problems with my flick huck where the throw just wasn't going where I wanted it to with the angle and speed that I wanted. So I would get creative with wrist angles, arm positions, arm speed to see if something clicked. I even studied tape from time to time so I could visualize some guys with great backhand hucks. Take for instance Bailey Russells backhand huck. I want to marry it. Make it mine forever. I'd treat it to a nice dinner, well maybe the first night would just be tacos or something as I figured out if it was reliable, and then eventually just hope that it would be ok with just being seen with me on a pretty consistent basis. I highly suggest taking a look at it in the 2004 nationals video.

So that is what I have been working at on the hill. What is my most consistent backhand huck form when I am a: standing with the disc in the middle of the field; b: going from catcher to thrower near the backhand sideline and c: pumping the flick on the flick sideline and then tossing the backhand while the cutter turns the page

So anyone else think about mechanics? I'll share some ideas if anyone is interested cause I have been through a shit load of different forms especially on the backhand.

07/19/09: Speed Day

Plyos

high knee skips
2 x's 3

hurdle hops
2 x single, double, quad jumps @ lowest height
2 x single, double, quad jumps @ next height

long jumps
4 @ jump, pause, jump...
4 @ jump, gather, jump...
4 @ jump, jump, jump...

Steps at Harvard
2 x's big steps, big, little, big, big, little; 1:30 between reps, 4 min between sets

sled pulls
2 x's 2 reps of 15 yard full speed drags @ 50
1 x's 2 reps of 75% to 100% @ 50

shuttles: 6, 12, 12
2 laying down facing straight
1 laying down facing right
1 laying down facing left
4 approach, hop, go

games and games and pole climbing: 07/19/09

On Saturday night after grazing a "how hard can you punch" thing twice, I finally adjusted and got a decent score. 2nd best in the bar that night. It was a small bar. I had said if I did well I would show some self restraint and not just spring back for more. And despite some "5 years from now are we gonna talk about that time you got second place at that punching game?" talk, I held firm, until the guy with the best score, perhaps inspired by my untapped potential, actually gave me a dollar to go do it again. I fucking drilled that thing the 4th time and now we can all talk about me being the hardest puncher at TC's on July 17th, 2009.

On Saturday we played a lot of wiffle ball and stump. These dudes are playing stump, but ours was about 1 foot off the ground and we were way more aggressive. It was more like trying to hit an elusive mouse with a huge mallet.

On Sunday I had to run my last big party. I had to climb a thick lamp post three times and my feet kept slipping so I had to just rely on my hands, which took a lot out of me and might have caused me to tweak my left bicep.

07/17/09: Liftin'

warm up with a couple ladders and some heavy bag work

front squat:
5 @ 225
5 @ 225
3 @ 245
3 @ 265
3 @ 275: i might of had a little bit left after this for a shot at 285, but there was no one around who could help.

step ups: bench sized step. rested foot on the step and lifted the back foot a touch off the ground, pause, up
(3) 8 each leg @ full vest

GHR: im still not as strong at this as I want to be. it's really the only thing that is still lacking and I think it is because it is such a unique movement and during my hammy stuff I couldn't do it. I would like to be holding a 25 lb plate in two weeks.
5 @ 0
5 @ red band
7 @ red band

07/16/09: Running

First an awesome video on a dude from my gym. I went to www.boston.com and saw his face front and center on the home page.




As for me back to the track and field. It is getting humid. Late July is notoriously the worst part of the year for trackworkouts, but it has been so mild that there is no room for complaint.

3 sets of the 9 cone drill
1 minute between sets

3 minutes

4 sets of kolt's box drill: 30 on 1:30 off

3 minutes

200 m
60 secs
200 m

4 minutes

4 min tabata
15s sprint, 15s jog

6 minutes

5 x 60m
4 man relay or 20 seconds between sprints

3 minutes

5 x 60m
4 man relay or 20 seconds between sprints

3 minutes

200m
60 secs
200 m

Done

That tabata messed me up and I lost track of reps and got completely psyched out. I might do this again on Sunday just cause I sucked so bad at it this time.

29,29,27,29 on the 200's, which were a real fun way to start and end the workout.

Toss: 07/15/09

Threw for 45 minutes. I bring 6 discs up to the park that sits on top of Chelsea, which is right next to my apartment. The Boston sky line looms huge in the distance. It's just me and a perfect night. Well and there is the guy who is always sitting on the bench 50 yards away that faces the skyline. I feel like one day he is gonna get off the bench, approach me and have no face or something. And there is the guy who had like terrible cysts on his hands and they had to remove his lymph nodes and a piece of his skull. He talks to me about everything while his pitbull licks the sweat from my legs. I hate pitbulls, mostly cause they scare the shit out of me. It is like looking into the eyes of someone that would just as well beat the shit out you then make conversation.

gym: 07/14/09

Quick active and jump rope warm up

jumping, overhead 30 lb med ball throws (i need to make a video) with jumps for height after

reverse sled drags
(3) 2 x 30 yards @ 135

box squats with buffalo bar: like this dude, but without the chains and with a shirt on (i know, surprising)
4 @ 225
3 @ 275
4 @ 275
4 @ 275
3 @ 295
3 @ 315: i was bouncing up to fast I realized after. I don't want to rock back like the dude in the video, but I want to let my butt drift a bit farther back than natural, touch the box with my butt, let the box take some of, but not all, of my weight, and then fire back up so the 315 barely counts

walking lunges:
6 @ 45
6 @ 50
6 @ 50

And had to leave for work. More work tomorrow night so I have to go off schedule a bit and make Thursday my track workout day. Hopefully I will get to throw a little more tomorrow night.

Tossin: 07/13/09

I made an executive decision to go hang out at home and not rush to the gym before I had to head back to work. Walking around and talking to people always takes longer than I think it is going to take. I ended up talking with these two dudes who live in one of the worst sections of the worst streets in Chelsea about what is going on there. They are most likely well above average in income and education levels for the street and they are just about done with the street after like three weekends in a row of fights, domestic disturbances and tons of public intoxication. The block has so many problems that it is hard to convince people that anything can help, but that is what I try to do as well as offer up all my contacts in the police department and at city hall to try to show them that people care.

Anyways it meant that I got home near 8:30 instead of 7:30 cause I kept forgetting where shit was in our new Market Basket which is like the biggest supermarket on the east coast or something. I cooked this cause I bought a can of harissa on whim like 3 months ago and I wanted to use it. It was good.

Headed up to the hill for some hucks and an active. My intention was to get up to the hill at least once a week, but life has intervened so this is my first time since the invite. I need to make my backhand huck more consistent and I am trying to figure out how to do that. I would love to have a big arching OI that can catch some wind and carry, but I might be better at ripping a tight, lower straight ball with a bit more OI release point. I think the latter is actually better with a mark on. The release point is more point blockable but the follow through is much more compact as opposed to really flailing to get the big OI to carry. Always more work to do.

beach sprints: 07/12/09

I took Saturday off and headed up to Newburyport to talk team workout stuff. We managed to sneak a workout in before hand on the beach.

4 x's tennis ball drill

3 x's 6 cone drill

(3) 3 x's 15 yard get up and go

6ish 50 yard sprints

(3) fake d points:
30 yard sprint, 10 yards out, 10 in, 10 out, 10 seconds fast feet, 10 in, 10 out, 10 in, fast feet, 30 out
1 minute rest
repeat

gym: 07/10/09

Before I forget.

active

3 x's
jump rope for 2:30 -
100 regular, increasing speed
50, every other foot
50, left, left, right, right
as many reg, reg, left, left, right, right, l, r, l, r (i do these last 4 reps as fast as possible) as I can do before time is up

pound the heavy bag for 30 seconds

1 minute rest

3 x's:
A1: 4 x's 450 lb tire flip
A2: 10 x's 20 lb sledge hammer slams (5 each side)
A3: 5 burpees (on jump get up onto tire)
good rest

I asked one of the trainers why my shoulders were getting so fucked up by the tires and he said it was cause i was doing it right. Sweet. He suggested I move up to the 650 lb tire, which would supposedly fit me better. It did, but it was full of crazy big grooves that were hard to get a hold of. It was also 650 lbs. I could get it up, but then I would have to brace it with my knee and then push it over where you are supposed to do it all in one motion. The worst part was getting that wobbly fucker back in its place. Rolling a 650 lb tire is not like rolling a regular car tire. It goes where it wants which meant at one point I was doing a "whoa, whoa, whoa" like in the movies when you don't want the elephant you are leading by a leash to crush the fence and flower garden of the woman you are trying to woo. That may not be a movie, but you get it. So it took me a solid couple minutes to roll it like 20 yards and it only fell over once luckily in the parking lot and not on somebody stretching inside.

deadlift: This gym is kind of firing me up to lift more. Everytime you go in people are moving heavy weight. Watch the first minute of there exercise of the month videos.



It fires you up to go big. Today it was low rep deadlifts with chains.

2 @ 225
2 @ 225 + 40ish lbs of chain
2 @ 275 + 40
2 @ 275 + 80
2 @ 275 + 80
2 @ 275 + 80
2 @ 275 + 120: I should have just done this again, but like I said above you get inspired so...
0 @ 275 + 160: even after a couple years of deadlifting, I can't remember missing a lift. I think this means that I'm not being aggressive enough. I wasn't really that close, my legs straighten pretty quickly and Im just not ready to have all that wait just on my lower back. This is the form that scares me a bit, not to mention what amounts to a full large person more he is lifting.



He barely has any knee bend. Yikes. His name is Mailbox and I saw him deadlift 730 lbs a couple weeks ago. That is the bar filled to each side with 45's. Ska-doosh!

Back to my day.

GHR's
5 @ 0
3 @ 25, 3 @ 0
3 @ 25, 3 @ 0

one legged squats:
8 each leg with 1/2 the weight vest on

box jumps:
5 double leg @ 1/2 the vest
5 single leg 1/2 the vest

during the GHR's and and squats/jumps i did pull ups

10
4 @ 1/2 the vest
5 @ 1/2 the vest
10: this made me feel good

Work: 07/09/09

We had a -uuuge meeting last night, one of my last big ones as an organizer in Chelsea. Sad. I didn't do anything workout wise, but because half of my posts concern leaving a workout early or getting to a workout late becuase of my job and for the reason that I think my job is interesting, I will give a little breakdown of the night.

I direct the Community Engagement Department of a Community Development Corporation called Chelsea Neighborhood Developers. For the past 9 months we have been working with staff of the City's Planning and Development Department to think of ways that we can improve three of the most challenged streets in Chelsea. They have some of the highest crime and poverty rates in the city and Chelsea's averages are high for the state to begin with. We have gone through all of the challenges facing the streets from trash and safety to overpopulation and poor neighborhood design and come up with some solutions we think possible. In order maximize, 1st our ability to assess the situation correctly and 2nd our ability to develop solutions we are having community visioning sessions or charrettes as they are known in the biz....nasss world or something. We were lucky enough to partner with CDRC, a non profit that matches non profits like us to architects and urban designers and they hooked us up with some professionals who have been helping us work through some potential ideas. In order to bridge the neighborhood knowledge gap we host these community visioning sessions where residents and stake holders give the architects information on what is and isn't working in the neighborhood. The architects then come back with ideas on how to improve on what is not working. Here is lead architect David Gamble talking about how to improve the litter situation.



The residents then brokeout into groups to discuss the merits of these ideas. Once we convene all these ideas the CDRC group will put together a document that along with their design ideas will contain other social and economic plans for improving what is not working in the neighborhood.

I guess I am writing about it because it was a great meeting. Over 40 residents attended from streets that have been noted for their lack of civic engagement. The Chief of Police came, as well as representatives from city hall.

Imagine how much i could deadlift if I had a regular job? Sometimes/sometime soon I wish to have more of a 9-6 job where I can leave work at work a little more, but the highs and lows of this job are what make it so interesting. It is unique to have a job where if you are unsuccessful you feel like it's because people don't like you. You become very familiar with a very large group of people 300+ who you tend to trust and rely on to take time out of their crazy lives so that your work is successful. So when people come to events you organize you feel like people like you, like you had a party and that evite you sent out with an amazingly long invite list was fulfilled.

I ultimately won't be a part of whether or not the charrettes work, which is hard, and there is so much more to my job than these charrettes. No matter what CND does with the groundwork I have established, I can always fall back on some great relationships I've made over the years.

Just some thoughts on a non-workout day that I wanted to save on the WWW.

07/08/09: track and field

Not your typical track and field.

on the track:

2 reps of 2 laps of jog 50 m, sprint 50 m; 4 minutes between reps

5 minutes

5 reps of a 4 x 100 m relay or if you don't have enough dudes: 5 reps of 100 m, 30 seconds rest

on the field:

fake d points:
3 sets of 2 reps - 50 (yd sprint) in, 10 out, 10 in, 10 out, 10 seconds fast feet, 10 in, 10 out, 10 in, 10 sec rest, 10 out, 10 in, 10 out, 10 secs fast feet, 10 in, 50 out; 1 min between reps, 3 min between sets

3 minutes

fake o points:
3 sets of 2 reps - 15 (yd sprint) out, 15 in, 5 out, 10 jog, 15 in, 15 out, 5 in, 10 jog, 15 out, 15 in, 30 out; 1 min between reps, 3 minutes between sets

Lot's of "fuuuuck" and "im gonna poop myself" but we battled through and even ran the fake points with some conviction.

07/07/09: I need a job

Got stuck at work late applying for jobs. Who wants to find me a job in NY? Dinner with Alexis, her sister and her cousin. More job stuff at home. I wanted to get up to the hill and launch some discs and do an active, which is supposed to be my Tuesday routine, but I just worked on applications till I went to bed.

I started looking into gyms in NYC. I wonder if any gym would be interested in giving me a discount if I was only gonna go for 1.5 hours on Mondays. Probably not. I looked into crossfit which they have in brooklyn. $300 for like a month of training/certification then $160 a month after. Fuck. That. Seriously I could "crossfit" in a park with about $30 worth of equipment and some low hanging branches.

07/06/09: gym

Monday will be my heavy day until August when I am forced to leave my gym that I am slightly falling love with. Now that I can lift with the big boys , in the sense that I'm no longer worried about my hamstring, I feel like I can finally start looking people in the eye instead of moping around and doing one legged squats with no weight. So Monday's will be heavy.

prowler push : i did it the right way this time. 30 yards ish down and back. Worked on powerful starts and fast feet throughout.
3 @ 50
4 @ 100

safety bar squat : the safety bar is just another squat variation to be filed among back squats, front squats, box squats, etc. It de-stabilizes the weight a bit and makes it hang straight down, which shifts the poundage to your hamstrings a bit more and also makes it so you don't have to hold the weight at all.
(2) 5 @ 235
(1) 5 @ 255
(1) 5 @ 265

rack pulls: i always have trouble re-racking this without a. hurting my back or b. making the most noise in the world. You are supposed to be able to rack pull more than you can deadlift, a lot more, but the rack position was a bit awkward for me so I might be hanging it a bit too low.
225
315
335
365
385
405

reverse lunges from defecit:
(3) 8 @ 35

This will be a typical Monday gym day. On Thursday's or Friday's I will work on a more total body, circuit, agenda.

07/05/09: independence

Imagine two trips through NY this weekend and no traffic either way. This of course means that on a Tuesday night at like 10:30 pm this month we are gonna get stuck for like 2 hours on a random spot on 91, but it was worth the 2 sub 5 hour trips this weekend. I did manage to talk myself out of bringing my running shoes because I thought I could get a complete workout in on the beach, but it was probably for the better cause I pushed it this past week and should make sure my body is ready for consecutive weeks like this.

On Friday night we went for a walk and ended up on a track with high hurdles that I spent about 5 minutes jumping over while Alexis and her sister walked the track. I felt springy and was gonna try and take down the fence around the track. I'd say there was about a 85% chance for success, but the Johnson family have enough experience/terror with me trying to jump/climb/hike/leap over things that I thought I'd come back and do it alone at some point.

On Saturday I didn't take into account how packed the beach was gonna be so it wasn't easy finding some real estate to run on. I ended up getting a decent sized space and ran some sprint intervals, 10 steps as hard as I could, 10 steps to slow down, repeat 5-6 times. On the track you wouldn't have been able to stop in 10 steps, but on the beach you come to almost an instant stop. Running in sand is really hard especially when it's getting up into the 90's. The worst part really was how hot the sand was after I'd stop each time. I think I did this like 3-4 times and then went for a decent swim. Nothing crazy, but I was sweating balls.

Sunday we went for a 3 mile walking loop along the canals. It was a beautiful day except for the blister wreaking bloody havoc on my achilles, which I eventually applied 5 band aids to.

MON: gym, plan is to push the prowler, do some front squats, some rack pulls (blister on my palm from playing on a ropes course might prevent this), some reverse lunges from defecit
TUE: off
WED: track
THUR: work/off
FRI: gym
SAT: ultimate?
SUN: track

independence

gym: 07/02/09

My hamstring is back so I am back. I don't know what I am committing to, but I would like to post every work day morning for the next week. During July I want to lift Monday, take Tuesday off, track/cardio on Wednesday, Thurs lift, Fri off, something cardio/spaq related.

deadlift with hex bar
5 @ 225
5 @ 275
3 @ 295
3 @ 315
3 @ 335

My grip isn't great and I tore up my hands, but I don't that is a bad starting point.

lunges:
(3) 16 @ 45

A1 GHR:
(2) 5 @ 0
(1) 5 @ 25

A2 wheel roll outs with band
(3) 5

07/01/09: Speed and Change of Direction

Warm-up

4 min tabata
6 minutes rest

(10) 0, 5 yd, 0, 10 yd suicides (3:1 work to rest ratio, or run them in a group of four)
2 minutes rest

(5) 0, 10 yd, 0, 15 yd (3:1 work to rest ratio, or run them in a group of four)
2 minutes rest

(3) 0, 10 yd, 0, 15 yd, 0, 20 yds (3:1 work to rest ratio, or run them in a group of four)
2 minutes rest

(3) 0, 10 yd, 0, 15 yd, 0, 20 yds (3:1 work to rest ratio, or run them in a group of four)
3 minutes rest

4 x 100 yard sprints w/ walk backs
Done

The tabata as always is impossible. The first two reps go well and then I just lose it and rebound for like every other. Cause i was alone I used the timer on my watch for the suicides. I messed up the 3:1 rest to work and did 2:1 for the 10 reps of 0,5,0,10 which came to about 14 secs off, instead of 20 off. Whatever. The 10,15 i did 30 sec break. 10,15,20 was 50 off. I only managed 4 of 6 100's for a number of excuses. 1. my body was falling apart, but not my hamstring, yeah. 2. A dude I work with at city hall arrived at the track as i was finishing my 3rd 100, i had my shirt off, it was weird. 3. I had to leave for work.

kettle bells: 05/28/09

I am coming off a semi-successful Wednesday testing of my hamstring. I made 10-15 yard cuts at or near 100% for the first time in... 7 months! Terrifying. I can't even imagine what my cardio is going to be like. I will do some drills on Saturday and maybe play a few points at some point. The last thing I want to do it go all out and set myself back again for the 100th time.

Anyways I was at the gym to do some light circuit stuff and I saw that the kettlebell class was starting so I did a quick active and hopped in never having taken the class before. It was fun. Lots of explosive lifts. I had a 16 kg and a 20 kg bell. I ended up using the 20 kg ball for most lifts and the 16 only when the instructor suggested we use the light one.

It was a lot of:
8 clean and press rt arm
8 clean and press lft arm
30 secs off
3 get ups
30 secs off
6 swings rt arm
6 swings lft arm
etc

then we did some kettle bell walks which were great except i needed a bigger bell

and we finished with some timed sets; 20 secs on; 10 off which nearly killed my arms

a good total body workout with a lot of sweating. if nothing else it's something to add to the tool box. Ill probably go once a month.

more hotels: 05/23/09

3 in 4 weeks isnt crazy.

Put the treadmill at about 8 and ran a minute then did 10 burpees took about 30 secs off then repeated 3 times.

Put the treadmill on 11 and 7 incline did 30 seconds then did 10 airplane pushups and 10 crunches 30 secs off and repeat. I did it 3 times.

Then my friend and I raced a 13 year old boy and a 12 year old girl in the pool. 4 lengths of an itty bitty pool. I won. It was tiring.

giddy up: 05/19/09

No more hamstring talk. It will either get better or it won't.

One Monday's they have a million little kids boxing upstairs so no heavy bag. Instead I got right into a circuit.

4 times: 2 minutes between reps

12 sledge hammer slams: 6 each side
10 alt hand med ball push ups: legs spread left hand on the ground, righthand on ball, pushup!, and in one motion hand from the ground comes up to replace hand on ball which goes to the ground.
6 ball tosses
10 get down, get up: start standing drop into pushup position and immediately fire yourself back up so you can get your legs under you, but dont stand up completely. Drop right back down to pushup position

There are these things hanging from the cieling that look like the ends of a 45 lb bar. There are two of them about shoulder width apart and they hang straight down so it is like gripping a thick street sign pole.

3 sets:
5 pullups on street pole thing
5 shoulder press (50, 50, 55)
5 hanging straight leg raises

Giddy Up: 05/19/09

No more hamstring talk.  It will either get better or it won't.

One Monday's they have a million little kids boxing upstairs so no heavy bag. Instead I got right into  a circuit.

4 times: 2 minutes between reps

12 sledge hammer slams: 6 each side
10 alt hand med ball push ups: legs spread left hand on the ground, righthand on ball, pushup!, and in one motion hand from the ground comes up to replace hand on ball which goes to the ground.
6 ball tosses
10 get down, get up: start standing drop into pushup position and immediately fire yourself back up so you can get your legs under you, but dont stand up completely.  Drop right back down to pushup position

There are these things hanging from the cieling that look like the ends of a 45 lb bar.  There are two of them about shoulder width apart and they hang straight down so it is like gripping a thick street sign pole. 
 
3 sets:
5 pullups on street pole thing
5 shoulder press (50, 50, 55)
5 hanging straight leg raises

back to blogging,

back to being frustrated. My hamstring is gonna be broken forever. Im going to get another doctor to look at it.

heavy bag:
3 x's 2 min on 1 min off

circuit:
3 times
1 min heavy bag
10 med ball pushups (med ball at center of chest, hands on the ground, explode up onto the ball, full push up, back down to the ground, push up = 2)
10 lateral blast strap pull ups
1 min off

heavy: full weight vest
5 pull ups/5 blast strap push ups
4/6
3/8
no vest - 5/10

planks:
alternating 45 secs; left, right, l, r

poop

I am way behind on posting. Get into some heavy leg lifts and lots of massage for my hamstring. It might be getting better.

heavy day: 04/04/09

I wanted to go heavy for the first time in a while. Low reps and heavy. It also helped that I had a poop load of time.

active

(3) 3 min on 1 min off jump rope
on my last one I got to about 270 without f'n up
50 regular
25 reg faster
25 reg fastest
50 alt feet
25 alt feet faster
25 alt feet fastest
25 left, left, right, right
25 l,l,r,r faster
then i go out wide alternating feet till time goes

(2) 2 min, 30 secs heavy bag
somewhere in here I was kicking the kickboxing bag (at least it looks like a kickboxing bag), which is at waist level, and wondered how high i could kick effectively. They have a long bag that is well over 6 feet tall so I kicked it high a few times and then I laid into it low. It felt like I kicked a cement pillar. I was pretty sure I had broken my shin. I think I'm allright, but Ill check things out before I kick them for now on. Good life lesson.

A1 bench
6 @ 135
6 @ 185
6 @ 205
2 @ 225
2 @ 225
2 @ 225
2 @ 235
0 @ 245
1 @ 240

A2 chest supported row
(3) 6 @ 70
(3) 6 @ 80

B1 pull up
4 @ 12 kg
4 @ 18 kg
3 @ 22 kg
3 @ 22 kg
2 @ 24 kg
2 @ 24 kg = 52 lbs

B2 push press
(2) 5 @ 55
(2) 5 @ 60
(1) 5 @ 65

C1 sledge hammer
(3) 8 @ 18

C2 ball toss
(3) 8 @ 30

leg workout: 04/02/09

I am starting to get excited. It's been about a week now with limited pain, which is the longest stretch of success I've had in 4 months. It will take a while to build up my strength but it is something I look forward to.

front squat: im so pumped that i did this
(4) 6 @ 135, so little weight

45 degree raises: these weren't feeling that hard so I hopped on the GHR. Bad mistake. Almost set myself back 3 months.
(3) 8

leg curls with bands: they don't have a leg curl machine. i harp hard against hamstring curls and especially knee extensions (which are still the most worthless exercise in the world next to smith machine squats) but I need some hamstring curls!
(3) 8

1 legged RDL
(3) 8 @ 25
I am so weak!

Thurs: PT
Friday: Russ
Sat: off
Sun: sled drags

gym: 03/31/09

jump rope: i had something stretching weird in my foot so i stopped

heavy bag:
(4) 2 min on 30 secs off

A1 alt med ball push! ups: these are hard. start with one hand on a med ball and explode up so that the arm on the med ball straightens almost completely. at the peak, flip the ball towards your other hand and land on it. repeat
3 x's
10 alternating hand
5 both hands just diamonds
5 regular

A2 lateral blast strap raises
(3) 10

B1 pull ups
(1) 8
(1) 8
(1) 9

B2 band push ups
(3) 20

C1 1 armed DB shoulder press
8 @ 35
8 @ 40
8 @ 45

C2 hanging leg raises
(3) 10

03/29/09

jump rope

hills sprints
(3) 10

sled pulls
(3) 40 yards there and 40 yards back

leg curls

gym: 03/27/09

I got in an early morning workout cause I knew I wouldn't have time Saturday or Sunday.

Friday, Friday. What the f did I do.

I am pretty sure I jumped rope and hit the bag, but more as warmup than workout.

A1 thick grip pull ups: these were really hard. i put the thick grip thingies around the pull up bar handles. Basically I was pulling only with my fingers.
(3) 6

A2 med ball push ups: little ball, back and forth, exploding off each rep
(3) 10

B1 tire smacks
(3) 20 @ 18

B2 stiff leg ball throws
(3) 8 @ 35

C1 twists
(3) 8 @ 50

C2 pallof press
(3) 8 with blue band\

03/26/09

Started in the gym, but ended up outside.

jump rope
(3) 3 min x 1 min off

shadow box
2 min, 30 secs

heavy bag
(2) 2 min, 30 secs

sled drag
(3) 2 x 40 yards

These were real bad. Getting my cardio back will be a slow process.

Seeing Russ tomorrow. Hopefully a combo of Russ, PT and working out will get me good to go for tryouts.

outside: 03/22/09

A small victory being outside.

Warmed up with some jump rope and an active.

Did some sled pulls and some very small hill runs, which was pretty tiring.

Split squats with an elevated front foot to take some of the pressure off my hammy.

Here is where it got interesting. I need to do hamstring curls, but my gym doesn't have that machine and it was closed anyways so I couldn't cobble some bands or cables together to create a makeshift one. So here is what I did. The straps that I pull my tire sled with are really long so I tied them to my feet/heel. I set the tire up as far away as it could reach from the end of a aluminum baseball bench. I laid chest down on the bench with the straps taut and did a hamstring curl. I then pulled myself forward with my hands till the straps were taut again and then curled it. I averaged about 6 curls before the tire got blocked by the bench. I was really getting into this especially for the last one. Curl, slide, slide, curl, slide, slide, curl and when I finished I thought how ridiculous I must look, looked around and sure enough their were two guys, about 20 feet away, chins resting on their arms which were resting on the top of chain link fence that surrounded the field just staring at me. They were latino so i quickly mumbled something in Spanish about how my gym was closed and i didn't have the equipment, etc. They repeated gym or something to me to show that they understood, but it was like a sane person responding to a crazy person, "Oh flying t-rexes using an easy bake oven, of course".

That was my workout.

gym: 03/19/09

active

jump rope
3 x 3 min on 1 min off (on the first set I only messed up twice. top ten on my athletic accomplishment list right between winning an Ecuadorian tennis tournament against cripples and 8 year old girls and beating alexis at skiball)

heavy bag
2 x 2 min on 30 secs off

sled drags
2 x 2 lengths at 185
2 x 4 lengths at 185
1 x 4 lengths at 135

A1 90 degree raises (will get proper name)
3 x 10

A2 split squats
3 x 10

band hamstring curls
3 x 10

gym: 03/17/09

jump rope

heavy bag

A1 weighted pull ups
(3) 6 @ half the weight vest

A2 weighted blast strap
(3) 10 @ half weight vest

B1 sledgehammer
(3) 20 alt side

B2 ball throws
(3) 10 @ 30

gym: 03/15/09

Well, for better or for worse, I am back on leg rehab.

active

jump rope: 3 x 2 min on, 30 secs off
i try to go through something like this
50 reg
50 reg increasing speed every 10 reps
25 reg
25 alt feet
25ish 2 reps alt feet
the rest double dutch style, just joking, i just kind of wing it for the rest

heavy bag: 2 x 2 min on, 30 secs off
This is as hard as I make it. I made it hard early and I didn't finish strong at all.

sled drag
forward
backward

leg curls: the pt guy loves the leg curls so I can't really argue. My new gym is to tough for leg curls though so I have to McGyver it.

split squats no weight

gym: 03/12/09

Why didn't I do this on Thursday?

I think I did bench and pull up clusters and then smacked the shit out of a tractor tire with a 20 lb sledge hammer followed by some pushups and situps

If I remember correctly I my meals were pretty typical with:

eggs and ham for breakfast and maybe a half a bagel
smoothie

pb and j

left over fish and salad for lunch

stayed away from pizza at a late meeting and made chicken with a white wine mustard sauce with broccoli over brown rice.

food: 03/11/09

8:00 am
ham and eggs/egg white
smoothie

10:30 am
pb and j

1:00 pm
last of the indian

4:00 pm
tuna sandwich with pirates booty

8:00 pm
baked haddock over a salad of carrots and red peppers and a little goat cheese
1 scoop of low fat ice cream

snacks throughout the day:
peanuts and carrots

gym: 03/10/09

I wanted to hit the bag and jump rope, but the stupid pilates class got in the way.

jump rope
3 x 3 min on 1 min off

heavy bag
1 x 2 minutes then right into a minute of jumping rope fast

pilates class

circuit
4 x
10 @ 35 lb med ball throws
20 alt hand med ball pushups
10 med ball slams
10 row sit ups with med ball between legs


food:

8:00 am
2 eggs, egg whites, 3 pieces of thin and trim ham

11:00 am
pb and j

1:00 pm
last nights indian

4:00 pm
last nights indian

6:45 pm
post work out shake

8:15 pm
pasta, red sauce, sausage

gym: 03/09/09

no time for much of a warm up

A1 cluster pull ups: do 2, rest 10 seconds, do 2 more rest 10 seconds
(4) 4 sets of 2 @ 20

B1 cluster bench
(2) 4 sets of 2 @ 165
(2) 4 sets of 2 @ 185

C1 inverted row
(3) 8 @ 70

C2 band push ups
(3) 10 @ green band

D1 pulling motion
(3) 8 @ 50

D2 knees to ee's
(3) 10

what i ate:

7:00 am 2 eggs, egg whites and ham
smoothie

11:00 am
pb and j

1:30 pm
tuna sandwich carrots, itty bitty piece of cake for a co-workers bday

5:00
peanuts and balance bar with peanut butter on it

9:00 pm
indian (tomato based sauce with chicken, chick peas and green beans) rice

weekend food

went out to NY this weekend and definitely was not on a good food schedule:

sat:
7:00
smoothie
1.5 bagels w/ cream cheese

12:00 pm
potato leek soup w/ bacon (not ideal, but most of this was out of my control)
2 turkey sandwiches


7:30 pm
fried calamari
chicken parm
brownie sundae (at this point I realize this weekend is a lost cause)


Sunday
9:00 am
turkey sausage
fritata
taters

12:00 pm
salad
turkey sandwich

afternoon
peanuts

7:00 pm
pizza

What a terrible food weekend. What is good is that I avoided being even worse knowing that I had to make this all public knowledge. There might have been as many as 2 mcflurry's added. It is pretty hard to be "good" when you are traveling or visiting friends. Hard in that it takes work. I didn't put that work in. I have some wedding/coaching weekends coming up and I will make sure to put more effort into setting myself up to eat right.

I did not include all the beer and wine I drank too, I will start remembering to add it this week. The only other things I drink are coffee and water, which I am proud of. I even gave up OJ when I started drinking smoothies.

physical therapy: 03/06/09

Another month another physical therapist. This one specializes in weird electrodes that are supposedly the reason TO recovered so quickly from that ankle "break" to play in the Pats v Eagles super bowl. I'll get back with some more information next week.

Had the day off so my meals are weird

7:30 am
2 eggs, egg whites
smoothie

12:00 pm
fish stew (mahimahi, celery, onions, garlic, red peppers)

2:00 pm
dunkin donuts coffee cake muffin (this happens about once every 2 weeks)

5:00 pm
balance bar

7:00 pm
more fish stew

8:30 pm
nuts, nuts, nuts (mixed, not sure what kind)

12:00 am
kelly's roast beef sandwich (so good)

gym: 03/05/09

Back to "gym". I know, I also wish it was something different, but if I continue down my boxing path, expect to see such titles as "sparing", "street fight", "assassin mission" etc.

Jumped rope for a warm up.

A1 pull ups
(2) 6 @ 15
(1) 5 @ 20ish (stupid kilos)

A2 t pushups
(3) 10 @ 15

B1 1 armed db flat bench
(3) 8 @ 65

B2 1 armed row
(3) 8 @ 50

C1 face pull
(3) 8 @ 40

C2 dips
(3) 8

D1 roll outs
D2 grip

People are always asking me, "Ben, what do you eat?" Well maybe not always. And it's usually my mom making sure I am eating right, but guess whose blog it is? That's right so if you don't want to know what I am eating these days move along. This does mean I will have to post almost every day. Yuck.

today:
8:00 am
3 scrambled eggs, no salt
half a bagel w cream cheese
smoothie: carrots, blue berries, water, 2 scoops of myolean

11:00 am
low fat yogurt, pineapple, blueberries

2:00 pm
pineapple fried rice with shrimp (i had to buy lunch, which i hate to do)

5:00 pm
peanuts and a balance bar

6:30 pm
post workout, whey protein

7:30 pm
some sort of fish stew (i am still making it)

I just read a rule I like. The 90% rule. 90% of what you eat should be nutritional and eat what you want for the other 10%. I only had 4 meals today. Usually I eat lunch at 1 pm and another meal around 3:30 or 4. So I average 5 meals a day. That means every 2 days I can splurge on a fatty dinner or a good dessert assuming that I did real well for 9 meals, which is still tough to do. Just something to think about.

boxing: 03/04/09

That's right a new title! Everyone was expecting gym and I go and drop boxing on you. I am full of surprises. You know what else is full of surprises? Something in the steak and redwine sauce I made for myself last night which has seemingly been sitting right above the "point of no return" if you will since 3 am this morning when it was deliberating which way it was going to come out. It chose not to come out, which is always an interesting option and left my stomach feeling cramped all day. Perfect for boxing/farting class.

(3) 3 min jump rope, 1 min off
(3) 3 min shadow box, 1 min off
prance around the gym for a while
work on hand speed

I think i've posted before how we tend to finish this class, but let me refresh memories. You get a partner. You face away from your partner and kneel down in front. Partner puts his hands straight out-ish, you hit up at his hands till your arms fall off then you switch. All the while the real boxing kids and coaches come around punching you in the stomach to make it interesting. I guess they thought it was pay back time for us so they lined up and we were supposed to hit them in the stomach with gloves on. 1,2,3. Whack, whack, whack. I felt bad and went about 50%, maybe 75% at the most on the big kid. One of the kids was about 12 one of the coaches was about 95 lbs. Pretty entertaining in general, but then we have to do our thing and they are a little fired up from having the pain train laid on them for 3 minutes straight. I definitely took some whacks, but I withstood the need to block, I farted a lot, but I didn't block. I then had the kid who I probably hit the hardest, hit me in the stomach just for fun. In college some marines were at a party someone had. One marine would hold his fist out in front of him and brace himself and the other marine would take a crow hop and slam his face into the fist. This is probably as close as I've come to that. He hit me pretty hard. I have a mark, but I took it pretty well.

3 minutes heavy bag
3 minutes jump rope

John Cena was at the gym last night. I did not recognize him. Should I of?

gym: 03/03/09

jump rope
(3) 2 minutes on 30 secs off

hit the bag
(3) 2 minute on 30 secs off

circuit 3 x 2 min on 1 min off of the following
10 x 35 lb med ball toss
20 mtn climbers
10 med ball pushups alt hand, 5 both on ball
10 crunches

brutal

back on the wagon

Took some time off from blogging as I decided the best approach to take towards my hamstring.

Sunday:

A1 blast strap pushups w/ full vest
(3) 6

A2 kb raises
(3) 8 @ 24 kilos

B1 rows
(3) 8 @ 135

B2 bar swings (ill get the real name in a sec)
(3) 8 @ 75

C1 dips
(3) 8

C2 grip pull ups
(3)

gym: 02/11/09

Keeping up with the upper body while I take it easy on the lower body.

A1 strap pushups
A2 pull ups

B1 lateral rows
B2 db shoulder press

C1 face pulls
C2 med ball push ups, 5 left, 5 right, 5 both hands on ball

gym: 02/10/09

Did my rehab leg stuff.

pull throughs
split squats
lunges

abs
roll outs with bands
1 min each of side plank, side plank, front plank

gym: 02/09/09

Missed a post, maybe two. I am continuing to do upper body exercising and am just starting to do some lower body stuff. My lower body day consisted of some slide board side lunges, pull throughs, and step ups. I will continue with body weight stuff until I start to feel a little better and then I'll start with the weights.

I switched gyms, heading back to the strongman gym. One of the reasons for the switch, besides the fact that at my old gym guys go shirtless, nobody racks the weights and everything is broken, is that the new gym offers free boxing classes. It's from 7-8pm which is kind of awkward. 6:30 to 7:30 or 6 to 7 would be better, but I'll deal with it. The late start time forced me out of the Friday class, which would have been nice because I would have gotten a 1 to 1 intro with one of the trainers. Instead I waited till Monday and there was more beginners than just me: Two 18ish kids who were not that athletic and two 14 year old girls. The class lasted an hour. For the 1st 20 minutes we worked on stepping forward. For the second 20 minutes I worked on stepping with a left jab. For the last 20 minutes I did stepping with a left right jab. The 14 year old's never progressed past stepping forward. An hour of, "why aren't I doing it right?", "no, don't look at me when I do it (when the trainer would try to help)", "I can't do it", which invariably drew the dudes attention away from me and the other guys and onto the girls. He would take 1 minute to move me on to something else and then not talk to me for 15 minutes or so while he tried to get the other 4 stepping right. I'm doing this for cardio so if I have to do this like 3 or 4 more times till I have all the punches and foot work down I'm not sure it's worth it. That being said I think at the end of the training session I get to fight one of the girls.

gym: 02/03/09

Lex had to get home to call some teachers.

circuit:
8 inverted rows
8 stepup pushups: one step up vertical at the chest. one push up on the ground (touch chest to step), explode from the ground to the step for a close grip push up = 1 rep
1/3 of the alphabet with 25 lb weight

heavy bag:
3 x 30 secs on 30 secs off

my hamstring feels better and i'm starting more strengthening exercises week by week. last week it was sliding lateral lunges on a slide board and also some great core work on the slide board by doing mountain climbers while always maintaining foot contact with the board.

gym: 01/30/09

2 x 1:30 heavy bag
tried to really take it to that thing and in doing so realized I hadn't been pushing it on the bag yet. im in the market for some training gloves, anybody know where to find them?

A1 row
A2 pushups, step up by my chest, alternating hands on the step up (left hand on the ground, right hand on the step, left hand goes to the step, right hand goes to the ground and try to make motions explosive

B1 pull up
B2 1 db shoulder press

C1 bar roll outs
C2 knees to ee's

injury status:
had a good day today. every other day or so I do band pull throughs, step ups, 30 secs of balancing and then 30 secs of squats on an angled step that i made and some drinking birds. i have a couple more visits to the Dr. before my insurance runs out and I am hoping to start increasing the weight in my leg exercises towards mid Feb and hopefully should be starting some light running by the end of Feb, 4 months after nationals.

gym: 01/26/08

stupid work

circuit:
30 side to side toe taps on step up (med ball overhead)
8 lateral body pull ups
30 toe taps on step
med ball push ups (10 left, 10 right), 10 reg
30 toe taps on bench
pulls ups, 6 @ 0, 4 @ 25, 5 @ 25

plank workout
1 min reg
1 min right*
1 min left
25 sec, pause, 30 sec reg

Something is wrong with my right oblique. I can only do 15 seconds at a time because it hurts. No other symptoms. Weird. Still did better than last time. I think Ill get the whole 4 minutes in February.

gym: 01/21/09

I went to gw ultimate's alumni weekend. Unfortunately it takes place MLK weekend so playing conditions aren't ideal and they also had a little something else going down in our nation's capital that weekend, which made field space somewhat of an issue. I actually got out there and jogged around. I did not get up above 50% and threw a bunch of turnovers, which pretty much sums up every summer league experience I have ever had.

I know my rehab will go up and down in terms of how I am feeling day to day, but I had a great day Tuesday after my Monday treatment. Dr. Morgan worked on me for way longer than he was supposed to including showing me a bunch of exercises to do. It is the benefit of going at 6 pm when he doesn't have anyone else waiting for him. I hope that this is the start of some marked improvement over the next couple weeks.

Finally had time to hit the gym on Wednesday night.

upper body circuit: picked up a plate and got inspired.
10 45lb plate trap raises
10 plate raises from behind head to arms locked
10 platform push!ups
6 pull ups flat grip
10 pull throughs to arms locked

heavy bag circuit: that upper body thing crushed my shoulders
times 3
1 min on the bag
30 seconds of med ball slams
30 seconds of front squats with med ball
1 min rest

abs:
pallov press
(3) 10 @ 45

knees to ee's
(3) 12

gym: 01/14/09

circuit:
1 min heavy bag hard
30 seconds mountain climbers
30 seconds body weight squats

plank trial run: tried to remember what the northeastern kids are doing, almost figured it out.
1 min front
1 min side
1 min side
30 secs front

eww. I think i strained both obliques and I still missed the last 30 seconds and it was supposed to be front, side, front, side, front.

A1 pull up
(3) 6 @ 20

A2 1 db shoulder press
(3) 6 @ 55

A3 plate alphabet: hold a plate out in front of you and draw letters
a-f @ 25
g-l @ 25
o-z @ 25

B1 flat bench
(2) 6 @ 185

B2 bent over DB row
(2) 8 @ 75

B3 zottman curls
(2) 8 @ 20

gym: 01/11/09

heavy bag:
(4) 2 min on/1 0ff: 30 seconds sticking and moving, 30 seconds laying the hurt

I'm getting bored. The "boxing" room in the gym has a steep, slightly off vertical set of stairs to the attic that is just wooden slats for steps. So I climbed up the back, 3 steps up, 3 steps down, let go, deep breath, back on, 3 up, 3

A1 stair climb
(3) 3 x 3 up 3 down

A2 1 armed db shoulder press
8 @ 45

B1 row
(2) 8 @ 135

B2 med ball pushups
(2) 10 left, 10 right, 5 center

B3 knees to e's
(2) 10

gym: 01/08/09

I feel like I'm suffering in a workout purgatory where I can do 1/4 of the stuff I want to do and I have no idea how to get the most out of that 1/4. My hamstring hurts, well aches, constantly, but it doesn't hurt to lift. That being the case I am still severely limiting my lifting, but I am a little confused as to what I should leave out completely as my cardio diminishes with each passing day. If anyone has any ideas for cardio where you dont really put a huge strain on your hamstring, let me know.

circuit: didn't like the 1st exercise, but I wanted to do back
bent over rows
8 @ 105

step toe taps
30

push!ups to platform: two steps with some space in between. regular, deep push up with a hand on each step so your chest comes down between the steps, at the top of that push up let your hands drop down into the space between the steps for a diamondish pushup at the top of which you push your hands back up to the step.
15

bench toe taps
30

I did it once through took a break and then did the circuit twice through with no rest two more times. My chest was dying

A1 incline press 1 DB
6 @ 45
6 @ 50
6 @ 60

A2 bent over db row
8 @ 55
8 @ 65
8 @ 65

Hit the heavy bag and then did some 30 second side planks and front with phyzio ball planks

circuit: 01/04/09

The shortest workout ever.

30 step toe taps
6 flat pull ups: I used the cage so I was gripping a flat surface, like if the world was flat and you were hanging off the edge and doing pull ups on the edge of the world
30 bench toe taps
10 T pushups @ 15
10 burpees

I finally got my hamstring diagnosed by a professional. Tim Morgan, of Marchese Sports Therapy in Woburn, did the evaluation and I was very impressed by the thoroughness of his examination. We talked about all the injuries that I have had in the past couple year starting with my hamstring (he thinks there is inflammation where the muscles meet with the ____ tuberosity and they might be pulling away from the bone a bit) my ankle (tendinitis) and my achilles (tendonosis in the ankle, not necessarily the achilles) and a big imbalance in my left hip. He combines correction with deep tissue massage and active release along with strengthening.

Even though I came in for the hamstring he will treat all of my injuries, which makes me very hopeful for an even healthier season than last year. The best thing is that he is a chiropractor so $500 in visits is covered by Harvard Pilgrim. Touchdown! Bad part is he is going to be digging around deep into my muscles, which hurts like hell.

Climbing: 01/02/09

I snuck in some rock climbing before I rocked out to karokee that night. I went to metrorock in Everett with Kevin. It was my first time, but I love to climb stuff and I lift weights so I must be good right!

Wrong!

I started with a .8 or whatever and couldn't handle it. I got about halfway up and my grip just gave out. I know I was expanding way to much energy at the start, but it was my first time and I couldn't figure out how to get up without simply using brute strength. I scaled it back down and took on a 7+, which I needed one break on. I then took on an 8 with an overhang that was really fun. I needed a couple breaks during that one. We tried some bouldering, but I failed miserably at that. For my last hurrah I wanted one more crack at the first .8 with my new found expertise. It didn't go well. In fact I couldn't even get up to where I did the first time. My grip was just spent. It was depressing, but I had a lot of fun.