Becoming an Athlete

I've been working far too much this week. yesterday was 12.5 hours. That much sitting at a computer screen sucks the life right out of me. I skipped yesterday's conditioning workout and just hope I have enough discipline to do it today.

I worked a 12 hour day, and didn't get much to eat, but my workout was still fair 1) Pistol squat: 10 each leg, at about 3/4 range of motion 2) Squat: 205 x 12 3) 3-position calves raise off step: 17-17-20 4) 1-arm t-bar row: 60 x 13 each arm 5) Chin-up: 9 6) EZ-bar reverse curl: 85 x 15 (ready to increase weight) 7) Incline bench press: 165 x 15 (ready to increase weight) 8) Skull crushers: 75 x 20 (ready to increase weight)

Complete three rounds, for time of: A) Hanging kneed to elbows: 12, 9, 6 B) Pushup with trunk twist: 14, 12, 8 C) Dumbbell swing: 35lbs x 21, 18, 15 D) 450 yard run: 1, 1, 1 my time: 18:30 CAUTION: DO NOT TRY THIS UNLESS YOU ARE A MASOCHIST ! I thought I was going to pass out on the last ~100 yards of the last run. My head tingled, my arms were numb, and I was seeing blue spots.

We went to Town Lake (I'll never call it Lady bird Lake) and walked/jogged 4 miles, then rented kayaks and went for about 3 miles. It rained on us the whole time we were kayaking, which kept us nice and cool.

Holy cow! Did I really get that many reps with that sort of weight??? 1) Deadlift: 245 x 12 2) Front squat 155 x 12 3) Standing calves raise: 275 x 15 4) Overhead press: 115 x 14 5) Dips: 13 6) Bench press: 175 x 16 7) High wide-grip bent row: 115 x 14 8) Barbell curls: 95 x 11!!!!!!

3 rounds for time of: a) Diagonal medicine ball (25 lbs) slam: 10 b) Burpee: 15 c) Leg raise off bench: 20 d) Box jump: 20 e) Ab wheel: 20 my time: 20:44 Burpees suck!!!!!!!!!!! That was by far the hardest movement of the 5. I'm glad that the conditioning workouts focus so much on mobility. That's the reason the burpees are so much harder for me than the other movements. After 4 of these workouts over 8 weeks, I should be much more adept at burpees. In particular, I'm hoping to be better at exploding into the jump. I'll do this workout again in 2 weeks, and can hopefully shave off 44 seconds!!!! But I'd be happy with 20:15

I've done tons of workouts since my last post and don't feel like writing them all up. But here is the latest observations and course corrections. Observations: I'm bigger and stronger, but have less sport-specific endurance I'm fatter Training like a body-builder is fun from time to time, but not right for me as a primary focus of my training CrossFit style conditioning exercises are the best bang for your buck way to increase anaerobic endurance Training exclusively with CrossFit WODs isn't right for me either Too much variety makes me lose focus on progression Too little variety makes me lose enthusiasm for training, even when I'm making progress To fix all the issues, I've come up with a framework that allows for a balance of conditioning and strength build workouts; variety and consistent progression. Here's the framework I came up with for meeting my athletic objectives. I've modified the 2-week, ABA-BAB framework to balance my needs for MMA...

No sparring, just a whole bunch of drilling the clinch and sweeping from the clinch. The heavy bag work about killed me.

I can't even begin to explain the logic on this plan. It'd take many many pages to fully understand. The schedule allows for my fiance and I to do our crazy endurance playing every other Saturday (when I don't have the kids). Wheter its kayaking, hiking, or rock climbing, I built it into the schedule. 1st workout: 1) incline bench press: 135 x 10; 165 x 8; 115 x 17 2) 1-arm shoulder press: 25 x 15, 15 each arm 3) skull crusher: 75 x 12, 6 4) wide grip pullups: 4, 4, 2 5) 1-arm T-bar row: 35 x 12, 12 each 6) 3-position calves raise: 12-12-12; 15-15-15

1A) single led deadlift: 30 x 10 1B) split squat: 30 x 5 1C) step-up: bodyweight x 10 (all three movements for left, then all three for right leg) 2) Squat: 185 x 10; 205 x 10 3) Hindu squat: 50 4A) 1-arm plank row: 20 x 12 4B) 1-arm prone fly: 15 x 12 4C) 1-arm t-bar row: 50 x 10 (all three movements for left, then all three for right arm) 5) bent row: 95 x 10; 115 x 9; 65 x 20

I just didn't have enough steam for a full body workout. 1) circle press: 45 x 30 2) Side raise: 15 x 6, 8, 7 3) Constantant tension alternating front raise: 15 x 4; 10 x 10, 8 4) Shoulder tri-set (overhead press - push press - push jerk) 65 x 16 - 9 - 2 5) Squeeze press fly: 30 x 8, 10 6) bench press strip-set: 175x8-165x4-155x4-135x3