All the cool people seem to be doing this, so I thought I'd give it a go. Don't expect anything amazing. And don't expect any kind of regimented plan in terms of days I do things! I'm still getting over and regaining confidence in my knee, so that might affect some things. I'm going to attempt to log all the training I do, being karate, rugby and the gym. So, without further ado: Tuesday 6th Sept - Rugby Training Started off with 10 mins of touch quick jog round the pitch Agility work (avoiding the tackler/closing space as the tackler) Ball work (passes, running moves - hand-eye co-ordination and all that) Sprint/acceleration work (starting from diff. positions - left foot forward, right foot forward, press-up position, prone, sprint ready position - and over varying distances. All uphill) Bag work (driving in to bag, offloading the ball, placing ball down and rucking out of way) Core work (BW squats x 24, BW squats with twists x 24, V ups x 24, pelvic thrust things (left leg crossed/right leg crossed) x 24 each side, pelvic thrust side things x 24 each side, that one where you start in a pressup and bring your arm up to the side x 24, pressups x24) Jog to warm down This was the first bit of cardio/endurance I've properly done for a while on account of laziness, bad knee and a cold, so I felt my performance was lacking, but I didn't seem to be lagging behind anyone else. And nothing exploded, which is always good. I need to work on my acceleration, but at the moment I think it might be a case of body position. I won't be able to get to the gym this week as I'm too busy organising and running a conference, but next week I'll be at karate, the gym and rugby training hopefully...
Rugby! Man... we've had a kid from rugby come to my cap class fairly regularly some time ago. 5' 6'' if that, probably 130 lbs soaking wet - nearly flung my sorry ass over his shoulder going for a double leg. It's just about the only team sport I have time for. Well, that and handball - neither of which I've actually played all that much. Best of luck!
If this section is for the cool people, should we be allowing you in here?! Good to see you aiming to be cool and joining us with your log!
I just want to fit in, damnit! I thought I might as well chuck in a few figures to see how I'm improving. Again, nothing too methodical. So - things I can remember: Front Squat somewhere around 50kg (I intend to start doing this more now with my knee issue - haven't done these properly for months) Back Squat 80kg (Managed one to two reps, so I won't be using this weight much when I finally get back to doing them) Bench Press 60kg (can just about do 3 reps, so my working weight for now will probably by 50kg) DB shoulder press is usually around 15kg each side I do other exercises, but I'll be buggered if I can remember what I usually lift... At the moment I seem to be walking around at 12st 10/12lbs. Not sure how much of that is fat, and how much is muscle, although I think some of it must be, as my lifts have improved and my chest seems bigger, at least. My cardio has been right down though, so I'm sure some of it (i.e. too much!) is fat. I'm going to start adding deadlifts (maybe Romanian) back in, and possibly anterior lunges
In the interests of putting down everything I do: Karate grading tonight. Just helping out, but I was the senior grade, so I took the warm up (the examiners being in suits) Jumping on the spot - 10 high tuck jumps left/right kamae, bouncing back and forth (only time I'll bounce!!) 10 reverse punches each side some stretching 10 whole pushups!!! (on knuckles) 40 crunches 10 solid punches in kiba dachi Then a few rounds of jiyu ippon. Rugby training tomorrow, planned gym session for Wednesday, then a rugby match on Saturday.
Missing rugby training tonight on account of my cough and blocked nose. Managed it last week, but I figure I should rest if I want to play the match on saturday, and there's training on Thursday if I want to. Still planning on getting to the gym tomorrow. In general I think I'm having real motivation issues at the moment. The past few months have not been kind to me on that front. I usually put it down to laziness, but I think it's a mix of other responsibilities, my knee and this cold which has been dormant in me for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to get some kind of routine down again soon...
Right, really up for the gym today, despite my very annoying cough and blocked nose. Upper body today - hoping to do bench, military press, lat pulldowns and rows. One of the last two might get knocked off depending, and the military press might get changed to DB press, but I'd quite like to get back doing them with the bar again for a bit. Will post up the results later.
First gym day for my log! Very happy today: Bench Press 3x8 @ 50kg 1x12 (exhaustion, give or take a rep) @ 40kg Military Press 3x8 @ 25kg Lat Pulldown 1x8 @ 7th plate (no idea of the weight of this!) 2x8 @ 6th plate Dumbbell bent-over Rows 1x10 @ 18kg 2x10 @ 20kg In general I was really pleased with this today. Nothing hurt, and I felt that with the exception of the lat pulldowns (easily my worst exercise in this lot) I could have added more weight quite happily. Nothing felt out of my range. I might experiment next time with adding more weight, but it'll probably just be 5 here and 2.5 there, so nothing to write home about. I feel tired, but not so tired I can't use my arms or whatever, but still hoping for a little bit of soreness. Tomorrow will hopefully be a leg day, but going to go light on the weight and maybe experiment with light squats and lunges to see if my knee can take it. btw, any comments or suggestions, criticisms or **** taking welcome!
I have a question: What would happen with my lat pulldowns if I gripped the bar like I was doing chin ups, so my palms are facing towards me? I only say this because I think I might find it easier to keep my elbows tucked in then.
It'll be about the same as the difference between chinups and pullups. Can you do bodyweight chins/pulls? These are generally better as an exercise, unless you're looking for higher rep work or a finisher/pump/drop down exercise after chins/pulls.
To my shame I can only manage a few reps of pull ups, and about 10 chin ups, so I thought I'd use the lat stuff for a while to strengthen that area. What I don't really understand is that my lats aren't exactly weak (my upper back is probably one of the more developed areas) but I've never been able to do an adequate amount of pull ups...
It might be a good idea to do chins first for whatever you can manage, then get more volume in on the pulldowns. BW chins are pretty quick to develop with a bit of consistency and way more manly than pulldowns anyway, especially when you start moving on to using a dipping belt or weighted vest.
Cheers - I might have a go at that. I have a pull up bar I can set up in any door frame, so maybe I'll stop being lazy and start using that again...
If you have access to a bar at home then find an article called Grease the Groove by Pavel Tatsouline, I think there's a copy at Dragon Door. Pretty easy and effective way to impove your pullups.
Another thing to think about when doing lat pulldowns is to make sure you feel them in your back. A lot of people do them using more arm strength than back strength, so really concentrate on getting a squeeze with your lats/shoulder blades whilst pulling.
