Becoming an Athlete

I jogged at an easy pace for about 15 minutes. I suppose I covered somewhere between 1.5 to 1.75 miles.

1) Complex of: a) high-pull: x 4 b) Hang snatch x 4 c) Overhead squat x 4 - 3 sets of 105 lbs 2) deadlift: 275 x 5, 1, 1, 1, 4, 1 3) 4-position pullup-chinup a) wide pullup: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 b) medium pullup: 2, 2, 2 c) medium chinup: 3, 3, 3 d) close chinup: 4, 4, 3

After a long flight, I was itching to do some simple movements in the hotel to get the stiffness out. I did tons of lat pulldowns. i opted for pulldowns because I was too tired for chinups or pullups. A few sets of machine flyes, and leg curls and leg extensions finished the brief workout. It wasn't so much of a workout as just something to take the stiffness out.

Last week I 'aquired' another sandbag courtesy of the Pflugerville road crew. :) This one is a bit heavier, weighing in at 48lbs. Last night and today, I threw the bag as hard as I could. I did three sets of about 5 throws to the left, as if shovelling and an equal number of sets throwing to the right. I lost count of my unberhand throws, mimicking the Scottish Weight Over Bar event. Today, I did this while I had my kids at a playground. I was able to use a swingset with no swings as my bar. 9 feet seems to be my limit right now. And no, there weren't any kids running around. It was barely 5:00 and the park was empty except for me, my kids, and our dog. My traps are sore, but my lower back and hips feel great! its as if they have been 'opened' or something. I'm much more flexible and looser about the hips.

I was bored, and more recovered than I thought I'd be, so I just did some incline presses. 125 x 15, 15 145 x 10, 4, 6, 6 rest intervals timed at 1 minute. This wasn't so much of a workout as "There isn't anything good on TV." My upper chest feels it today. Tonight will be back to the regularly scheduled training plan.

A good workout, but still using lighter weights than I'd like. 1) Hange snatch: 95x5; 105x5; 115x5 2) Deadlift: 195x10, 10; 205x10 3) single leg goodmorning : 45x7, 7 (each leg) 4) Pullups: 8, 8, 8 5) Single arm t-bar row: 30x10, 10 (each arm) 6) Ab wheel: 10, 10

I was out of state 8-11 October. I got back to lifting on Sunday night. I kept it light but compensated by keeping the rest intervals to 90 seconds th entire workout. 1) Squat clean + press: 95x5; 105x5; 115x5 2) Front squat: 115x10, 10; 155x10 3) Bulragian squats: bodyweight x 12, 12 (each leg) 4) Overhead press: 75x10; 95x10; 105x10 5) Incline bench press: 135x8, 10 6) swiss ball twist: 10 x 10, 10

Not sure why but I've been very unmotivated the last 7-10 days 1) hang snatch: 115 x 5, 4, 5 2) deadlift: 225 x 8, 2 that was it. I quit and it pisses me off. I'm going to get Wednsday right!

Since the highland games doesn't require any degree of anaerobic endurance or what fighters call 'conditioning', I'm switching to a more purpose-driven workout plan. To make the best use of time, I'm not structuring my workouts on a weekly rotation, but a 5-day rotation. Day 1: Knee dominant & Pushing movements, rotational strength Day 2: Hip dominant & Pulling movements, abdominal strength (mostly ab wheel) Day 3: Off Day 4: Sport Specific Training and plyometrics Day 5: Randomized running Days 1 and 2 will start with some variety of explosive olympic lift. Day 4 will be practicing the events, and ending with full body plyometrics. Day 5 is just to give my body a break without totally sitting still; sort of an active recovery day. Training starts this Sunday