Becoming an Athlete

I have a minor cold. Nothing like the Avian Hoof and Mouth SARS that Plieb caught, thank God!!!! I may do a small workout today (10 DEC). I find taxing my metabolic systems to be more demanding /draining than taxing a few muscle groups. That being said, I'll have a good excuse to do 4 sets of 12 of stupid body builder movements. It'll be a nice change and something I can easily recover from.

Spiderman walks: 17 (getting easier!!!) Deadlift: 205 x 10, 10 10 Jump lunge: 27, 23 Wall squat: 10 Pullup: 3, 3, 3 Support prone raise: 10s x 15, 13, 10 Overhead press: 105 x 10, 10, 8 pushup w/trunk twist: 12, 10, 2 I was gassed! I skipped biceps and abs.

After an 8 mile hike, I had enough in the gas-tank to do some lifting: Spiderman walks: 9 Hindu squat: 40 Back squat: 205 x 6, 6, 6 3-position claf raises off a step: 20-20-10 (one set with no rest between positions) Dips: 8 Pushup w/trunk twist: 7 each Incline bench press: 155 x 6, 6, 6 Support prone fly: 10s x 17, 15, 12 Chin-up: 3, 4, 3

My girlfriend and I walked 8 miles through Barton Creek Greenbelt. My feet and ankles were SORE!!!

Spiderman crawl: 9 :( Bulgarian (AKA Split) squat: bodyweight x 10, 10 (each leg, so 4 sets total) Front squat: 135 x 15, 7 Standing calves raise: 185 x 30, 30 Upright row: 75 x 9; 65 x 12, 12 Inverted row: bodyweight x 12, 6 Bench press: 185 x 8, 8, 8 Hindu pushup: 4, 5 Incline dumbbell curl*: 20s x 12, 12, 6 * Going light till my right elbow feels better. The pain in my right bicep / forearm is pretty bad.

I read an article called Core Training for Smart Folks yesterday. Since it was so damn cold outside, I figured I'd just do a little of this inside instead of my planned workout. The basic synopsis of this article is that lower abdominal and transverse abdominal strength lead to a stronger back and can help correct or prevent excessive lordosis in the lumbar region of the spine, as well as pelvic tilt. A suggested test is to see how well you can lower both legs without allowing your lower back to come off the floor. I got to about 5 inches off the ground, but doubt I could do any better unless I lost some 'backside'. Of all the suggested exercise, the only one that offered a degree of difficulty was the single leg lowering. The off-balance nature of this seemed to target an injury I sustained to my groin last year during jiu jitsu sparring. Prior to this injury, I was doing "dragon flys" as well. Hopefully I can progress back to that level in 4-5 months of eff...

Ramblings: I was very sore from Monday's workout, but after a few rounds of a boxing workout, the soreness went away. I can tell my overall power is up from from any point in the past, but I feel glued to the ground. My foot speed is atrocious. I'm hoping that doing more agility drills will help, but the bigger issue are my calves. They tire quickly. My Wednesday workouts will push calve endurance, but unless I get in sore serious roadwork, I don't think they'll get to the level of stamina I want. The Workout: 12 rounds total: Each round set at 3 minute work, 1 minute rest My girlfriend and I performed a 4 round circuit, and repeated it 3 times 2 rounds of heavy bag 2 rounds of double end bag We finished off the workout with a 1 minute burnout drill. That's basically punching as fast as you possibly can for one minute without any rest. Instead of double end bag, my girlfriend was doing one round each of shadow boxing and jump rope. My legs were so shot from Monday...

Ramblings First: I've noticed my training has been focused on the sagittal plane of movement. This is basically a plane in which forward and backward movement takes place, such as squats, deadlifts , lunges, etc. As a result, my lateral speed and kicking speeds have started to suffer. So I'm incorporating a lot of rotational and otherwise odd movement drills for the next 4 weeks. For the next 4 weeks, each workout starts with " Spiderman Crawling". This is INSANELY difficult. I could feel my lower adbominals , my hips, my spine, and my pushing muscles firing in patterns I'm unused to. I lifted this from Men's health Urbanathlon training program ; courtesy of The Crunch . I'm not doing their workout, just this movement. The workout - 01 DEC 2008: 1) Spiderman crawls: 8 :( 2) Deadlift : 205 x 8, 8, 8 3) Bodyweight Jump lunges: 20, 24 4) Skier Squat (1 & 1/2 reps): bodyweight x 5 5) Pullup : bodyweight x 5, 5, 4 6) Supported prone fly; 10s x 10, 10...