Out of shape

Wow, so I've been out of it for the past week, and I can definitely feel how much weaker I've gotten just from that. This whole needing to sleep thing is really interfering with my training, though that'll have to change. Show dedication, right?

Warm-up:
20m QM
20m Backwards QM
20m QM

Work-out:
3x12 Kettlebell swings
3x20m Walking lunges (50lb vest)
3x5 Pull-ups (20lb vest)
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It was light today because the QM wiped me out (out of shape), and so did everything else. LoL. And there's another Xtreme session tomorrow, so I need to save my energy. The last set of pull-ups, I did jumping from one leg because otherwise, I wouldn't have completed it.

Night at Xtreme

Tonight was a somewhat unexpected trip to Xtreme in Rockville. I took my friend Mel up with me. Nick and Katie also came up. we warmed up with some quads and burpees, jumped around for a bit, did some tricks and whatnot. As lightly as I might be describing this, it was rather intensive, particularly when we were doing the conditioning exercises. Many L-sits, handstand presses, handstands, plyo push-ups, pull-ups, etc. And lots of jumps. It has left me extremely sore. Especially with what I ended up with... The plyo push-ups to the one-armed holds on the wall. Oi... That was death.

Themed Training - Agility

I finally got to do my agility theme! Trey and the others were late, so the beginning just had Raquel and I. After goofing off a bit, I warmed her up with some QMs, reverse QMs, and forward burpees. The arrival of the others brought in the tripedals, purposefully blocking one limb from movement, before we got into some light conditioning. This really just consisted of the ab press-ups and walking pistols. The agility segment consisted of a run involving some vaults and quick turns through a short path, ending in a landing that immediately took off into a broad jump diagonally. Then we had some shuttle runs and ended the agility segment with a series of broad jumps that required taking off in a different direction immediately upon landing. Eugene had ridiculously far side jumps compared to the rest of us, which brings me to the understanding that there's a capacity of jumping that I haven't trained so intently.

From there, we moved to a set of dense rails where the agility theme unofficially continued. This was in the form of some continuity runs, but it was nothing outside of my comfort zone, so it doesn't quite count so much. I helped Raquel with her turn vaults, among other things, played around a bit, and we played this game where we tried to each do 5 consecutive squats on the rail. No one succeeded. Eugene got closest with three. Raquel and I both topped off at two. But it worked the foot muscles a hell of a lot just trying to do that and my balance probably improved if ever so slightly just from that.

From here, we went onward to the fountain where we basically played around with jumps until the wind down. Eugene talked me through getting the courage to jump between the furthest concrete slabs. I can just barely make it, and certainly not well. Give me two weeks. That's my goal... to get that jump cleanly.

Back to the weight room.

Warm-up:
1mi run
Joint rotation

Work-out:
5x5 Deadlifts (150lbs)
2x7 Pull-ups
5x5 Bench press (130lbs)

Cool-down:
Overhead ab press-up hold 1:00 (x4)
Stretch
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Lmao... Okay, you'll notice that this workout is incredibly short. Basically, I woke up ridiculously late yesterday and I also only ate twice... minimally. I didn't process that when I went into the weight room today, so the DLs went without an issue, and on the second set of pull-ups, I just fatigued really early. Okay, so I took a few minutes of rest... and hit the bench press since I didn't think doing squats or anything of that sort would be a good idea. This is about 10lbs lighter than usual for a few reasons, namely that it's been awhile since I've hit the weights and I was feeling the fatigue pretty early.. On the fifth set of the bench, my arms just gave out and the bar fell to my chest. I was trapped! Someone noticed and pulled it off of me.

I kept thinking in my head, "I have to push harder. I can't let myself off easy. One more set. I know you're tired, but just one more set. Think of who you need to protect. Do it for her." And after that bar collapsed on me, I remembered how little I had eaten... So I decided enough was enough.. Fix the diet. Keep training later.

Knox and I at GMU

What's normally scheduled for Themed Training just ended up with Knox and I in about 20 degree weather (-10 for you centigraders). People are afraid of the cold, I suppose. In any case, it was nice in its own way because Knox has the ability to keep up (and outdo) me, which pushed me harder. More than that, we could do things like do continuous runs without getting bored or running out of ideas, testing our endurance to its ability as well as our agility, among other things. These are things that wouldn't have been capable with the presence of others who just wouldn't be able to keep up. For instnace, we spent what seemed like the whole of an hour at this one spot with very dense railwork, and all we were doing was running through it over and over again as quickly and fluidly as possible and not stopping. It's nice to just try to work your endurance like that.

In addition, I got the fountain precision jump and the Robinson Hall precision jump... both of which have scared the crap out of me for months. I knew I had the distance, but just getting over that mental block is a great relief. Also, I got the massive wall. Pretty happy about that, but it was only once. I'll need to go back and get it a few more times to really consider it nailed. Good training, if only it was the two of us.

Utility and Strength

Warm-up:
2:00 Hindu squats
Joint rotation

work-out:
3x12 Squats (70lbs; 50lb vest, 30lb dumbbell on shoulders)
3x12 kneeling abwheels (20lb vest)
3x12 wide-stance push-ups (20lb vest)
3x3 pull-ups (20lb vest)

Cool-down:
Jog around block
Stretch
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Something has happened in my life recently that has made me ever the more determined to dedicate myself. My biggest flaw is that I don't train often enough. I don't condition nearly as much as I should, and I need to step that up. Severely. In the real world, strength means shit. But in that off chance where it's necessary, where it's useful... I need to know I can keep up. Right now, I'm the furthest thing from it. That needs to change. I need to be able to protect the ones I care about. The ones I love.

I will remember my failure last night every day. Chant it to myself over and over. And I can only hope that allows me to train harder and harder. I cannot allow myself to become as complacent as I have. This is unacceptable.

Themed Training - Precision/Balance

Today was a bit different. We had a larger group than normal and I brought my weighted vest and stuffed it inside of a bag. I tied two ropes to each strap and used the bag as a pull-sled. So after an extremely light warm-up, we began a short and minor explosive strength conditioning session. It consisted of sprinting while pulling the weighted bag behind us a distance, then proceeding to do plyo-push-ups to a wall, back to the bag to drag it while running backwards a distance, overhead ab press-ups, split squat jumps, box jumps, thrusting ham-glute raises and climb-ups. Most people were winded. Including myself. A newcomer Sean looked bored. It was easy-peasy for him. Definitely a man in peak shape.... at least in comparison to the rest of us.

When we began the jump training, it also became evident that Sean had much more explosive power than either of the two guys who had the most in the rest of the group (myself and Will). Without being that much taller than us, his long jump was easily 1.5 or 2 feet longer than either Will or I (who are about the same distance, with Will being able to cover a slightly longer distance). Of course, this isn't a competition. I merely record all of this because I was so thoroughly impressed by sean. Ultimately, he had to leave early. Or maybe he was just bored, I don't know. I suppose the appropriate action was to ask him if there was anything HE wanted to work on. Hadn't Dan taught us that much? But alas, it slipped my mind.

We moved onto railings afterwards to practice balance walking and quading. With Raquel and her boyfriend Alex, I later went over the basics of vaulting. After Eugene showed up, we moved on to the infamous wall from some of the first sessions back with Wolf. Yes, the wall that I've never been able to surmount. To get to the wall, I sprinted with the weighted bag dragged behind. Just for fun.

In any case, we practiced some precision jumps by the curbs and then moved on to the wall. It resulted in some blood on my part... A scrape of the hand agaisnt the wall that bled immensely. That's the picture up there, if you hadn't guessed. But the good news is that I fully finger-curled the highest distance of the wall. That means, in more ideal and less slippery conditions, I've got it. That also means that my wall run has gotten higher. I'm not sure which muscles were worked out to get that much more distnace.. whether it was the hams or the quads.. But i'm grateful nonetheless.

After soem wall-run training, it all winded down as the wind picked up and made everyone super uncomfortable. We stretched, and then I donned on the weighted vest and walked back to the car.. not an easy ordeal, especially when leaving a trail of blood behind. Overall, a great session.

Weighted vest!

So I finally got my vest! Here was today's workout:

Warm-up:
2:00 jumping jacks
2:00 knee-highs
Joint rotation

Work-out:
3x12 kettlebell swings
3x8 split-squat jumps (50lb vest, each leg)
3x8 kneeling abwheels (15lb vest)
1x4 pull-ups (15xlb)

Cool-down:
2:00 knee-highs
Stretch
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So the summary is... this was a lot less than I expected to get done, and it killed me a LOT more than expected. Partly because I'm out of shape, partly because I didn't expect the vest to take its toll so much. For instance, I expected to be able to do 3x5 pull-ups with the 15lbs. Didn't happen. I also expected to do 12 split-squat jumps, but decided through the first set to stop at 8. It was a good decision.

Either way, this was a good investment, I can tell. I look forward to continued training with it.

Xtreme Acro

So tonight was a wonderful night in which Leon, Knoxfel, Spyder and I traveled up to Rockville, Maryland for training in a gymanstics facility. It'd been a long time for Leon and I, and the place had changed quite a bit. The nicest thing, really, is just seeing old friends again, some that I hadn't seen for over a year. My intention going to the gym was to work on my backflips. Some kind of mental fear returned, though, and I didn't manage to do a single one the entire time! However, I did work on a lot of other stuff, so I'm not too disappointed.

I did my normal run of things. A light warm-up, joint rotation, some hopping and jumping, with the more intense stuff after I was properly warmed. There was much vaulting and jumping and underbarring.. Balance work, control work, etc. I worked on my butterfly kick a lot and my b-twist a little.

Most importantly, I discovered I already have a 10-rep maximum on pull-ups, which means I'm set for adding weights. Just in time, really. I'll need to check the dips later. I also did a rope climb, which tired my fingers out severely, and at the end of it all, I was working on my handstands and trying to press. It may not sound like too much, but there were a LOT of random conditioning things thrown in as a test of muscular endurance, and everyone was super sore coming out of it. A VERY productive night, I think, if even not super structured. I'll definitely be feeling this one tomorrow.

Themed Training - Technical Endurance

I didn't bother to post up last night namely because I was way too tired, but we had a pretty chilly training session to kick in the new year. We warmed up with some QM and reverse lunging, and proceeded to do a small endurance exercise. down the long hill with rails, we did the first two sets of rails with an "over-over" approach to both sides (vaulting both), the next two being an "over-under" approach, and the last two being an "under-under" approach.

Ultimately, it was the unders that took the most amount of effort and tired us out super quickly. The original plan was to quad all the way back up, but it was much more tiring than expected, so we jogged up instead. The rest was just playing around and a few conditioning things here and there. Nothing too serious. I suppose I've gotten a bit lax with this group lately, but I am for whatever reason out of shape.

When I get myself back into a decent shape, we can start hitting it harder again. Tonight should be a session at Xtreme Acro, so I'll post up again later.