Becoming an Athlete

I started at about 9:00 PM, and it felt great. 10 rounds on the heavy bag; 2 mins work, 1 min rest I started with basic straight punch combos, working on speed of hand, head movement, and footing. After 2 rounds of that, I worked on power, throwing combos of no more than 4 punches. My hooks are still great!!! Then I did 2 rounds of just leg kicks. 5 lead kicks with left, then 5 round kicks with right, continuously alternating through the round. For the last 3 rounds, I really killed myself. I decided to focus on work output. "Can I get 15 kicks with each leg, and 30 punches with each hand in 2 minutes?" "What about 20/20 and 40/40?" My break point was 25 kicks with each leg in 2 mins: NOT HAPPENING THIS WEEK!!!!

GASP! The garage was cold today, so the warm-up was long. Warm-up: single leg jump rope: 100 on each leg; alternated as required jumping jacks: 100 lateral drop stance: 3 x 15 each leg 1. Split squat: 20s x 10, 12, 13 each leg 2. Hindu squat: 60 (feet were in serious pain, but legs were fine) 3. Deadlift: 205 x [1,5], [1,5]; 135 x 15 4. Front squat: 135 x 10, 10, 13 5. Back squat: 115 x 28

Since I'm getting hernia surgery in a week, I'm going to work single joint exercises and try to isolate the working muscle from my core as much as possible. 1. 5 min warm-up 2. Cuban press: 10s x 15; 15s x 10 3. Overhead press: 115 x [1,5]; 125 x [1,5], [1,5] Do a single rep with as much force as possible to get your nervous system as activated as possible, then do 5 reps after a short 20-30second rest. All 5 reps should be as forceful as possible. 4. Compund shoulder set (back to back without ever dropping the dumbbells) a. Prone raise: 15s: x 8, 8 b. Side raise: 15s: x 8, 8 c. Bent arm side raise: 15s: x 8, 8 d. Front raise: 15s: x 8, 8 5. Close grip barbell curl: 75 x 6, 6, 6, 6 6. Supinating dumbbell curl: 25s x 9, 12, 10, 9 7. Skull crusher: 75 x 12, 12, 12, 10

I can't believe it! I was minding my own business, had a little cough and ended up giving myself a hernia. I'm scheduled for surgery on 3 MAR. Six weeks of recovery after that. Talk about a bummer!!!! Saturday 20 FEB. My buddy Brian was SUPPOSED to come over for a conditioning workout, but opted out. No worries. Even with my hernia I put up a good effort. 1. Jump rope: 5 minutes 2. Burpees: 6 (hurt my hernia!) 3. Single arm dumbbell complex: (all sets for left side, then right side. 6 total sets) a. Swing: 3 x 10 b. High pull: 3 x 9 c. Snatch: 3 x 9 d. Alt lunge: 3 x 8 4. Heavy bag work: 5 rounds: 3 min work, 1 min rest DONE! 21 FEB: Sunday morning bike ride with the whole family. 6 miles total. The kids are getting so big! This is twice as far as they had gone in the past. My 6 yr old boy was wiped out when we got back.

The workout got interrupted shortly right after the warm-up. better than nothing I suppose Barbell complex: 4 sets a) Supine grip bent row: x 10 b) Upright row: x 9 c) Thruster (Squat + Press): x 8 d) Reverse lunge: x 5 each leg

This was my best ride in years. We went all over the place. Along the way, I found some nice dirt jumps and did my best. I'm not the daredevil that I was at 20, but I can still catch a little air and drop in on a vertical dirt ramp, the latter being the scarier!

I didn't get started till 10:30, so I ended up cutting this short: 1. jump rope: 3 mins 2A. overhead press: 110 x 10, 10, 14 2B: pullup: 4, 5, 6 3. bench press: 155 x 10, 10, 12 too damn tired to do anything else.

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Between walking and jogging, I covered slightly over 5 miles today. My feet hate me.

1. Deadlift: 135 x 10; 185 x 10, 10, 16 2A. Incline bench press: 125 x 10, 10, 13 2B. Wide grip horizontal row: 95 x 10, 10, 15 3A. Dip: 5, 6, 6 3B. Upright row: 70 x 10, 10, 4. Close grip curl: 70 x 12, 10, 10

Like I said, my calves have always held back my running (with respect to endurance, not speed), so I hammered them again today. Saturday is a much needed day off 1. Jump rope: 2 x 2min work/1 min rest; 2 x 1min w / 30sec r 2. Leg press calves raise: (4 sec stretch / 4 sec contracted hold) 140x12; 160x12; 18-x12; 200x12; 220x12; 240x12; 220x15; 200x15; 180x13 3. Recumbant bike: 20 minutes; intervals of 2 min high / 2 min low effort

In case I haven't mentioned this in a while, my wife and I have a bet next month. A race to the top of Enchanted Rock . Its about 1/2 miles if laid flat but covers maybe 200 ft of vertical climb. The loser has to buy the winner a G. Loomis GL3 fishing rod. The sdtakes are high in my book. Jaime is a juggernaut when it comes to work output. She might not be faster than me, but she can sustain a pace damn near indefinitely. I'm all about speed and explosiveness, but that won't win this particular race. So here was what I did on Thursday: 1) Jump rope: ~8 mins all together. My shins and calves were on fire 2) Box jumps: 5, 6 6, 8, 7, 8, 4 (30 inch platform) 3) Jump rope: another ~4-5 minutes 4) Treadmill: 1/2 mile at 5mph @ 10 degrees incline

I have a hard time waiting. I did this workout on Wednesday instead of Monday 8 FEB. As long as I'm recovering, faster progress is a good thing. This workout was odd in that my kids REALLY wanted to training with us. We did lots of squat jumps, lateral drop stances, planks, plank walk-ups, pullups, chin ups, and flex arm hangs. After about 20 minutes, we got the kids off to bed and started our workout. 1) Jump rope: 2 min 2) ab wheel: 30 3A) Pullup: 6 6 5 3B) OH Press: 95x10 10 15 4A) Supine grip row: 145x10 10 17 4B) Bench press: 145 x 12 10 12 5A) Reverse grip curl: 65 x 12 12 - 12 5B) Hammer curl: 25s x 6 6 6 8 5C) Supinating curl: 25s x 4 4 8 1 Since we got such a late start, I didn't have the motivation or energy for squats. That's on deck for a combined squat / cardio workout today, 4 FEB

2:00 Pm workout: 30 minutes on treadmill at 15 degree incline. I would maintain 5.5 mph as long as I could then reduce to 3.5mph till I was able to run again. 7:30 workout: 1 arm combination lift with 40lb dumbell a) high pull b) snatch c) overhead squat d) overhead lunge 2 x 6 reps per side 2) neutral grip pullup: 9, 7, 6 3) rvs grip dumbbel curl: 30 x 9, 9, 11 4) hammer curls: 40 x 8, 8, 6 5) cross body hammer curls: 40 x 6, 6, 5