STS 7-11-07 and what could've been

"You don't win the fight in the ring; you win it in the gym"- Muhammad Ali


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vL19q8yL54


Rumor on the street is that Adrian Wilson once jumped over Beau while Beau was jumping over some other guy. Just what I heard.

Did another Xfit-style workout again. And I do mean WORKout. Tried to stick to the time allotment as best as possible this time around which turned an already fatiguing set of activities into a completely gut-busting session. Seriously, at one point during the front-squat-to-push-presses I thought I was going to throw-up cuz I was so fatigued. Guess that means it's working...that and the fact the I am sore in every large muscle group today. And I thought I was in shape.

Movement Prep:

Same great stuff, different day.
Jump-rope TF
lunges w/weight overhead
hand-stand pushups
Squats w/weight overhead
Jump-rope TF

Did two sets of that with no rest in between then switched lunges for side-lunges, squats for 1-leg'd squats, and handstand pushups for plyo pushups w/one hand on a medicine ball, switching everytime. Also added hanging leg raises. Performed 4 sets total.

Functional lifts:

Hang-cleans 4 sets of 4

I then moved into the crossfit activity which consisted of a front-squat-to-push-press for 20 reps, then immediately move to 20 pullups. That's 1 set and you're supposed to perform 3 sets without rest. I still needed a solid 30 seconds rest after the first set, and a full minute after the second because I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest...followed by my lunch. Always humbling to find out you're not as tough as you think you are. Sigh.

The front-squat-to-push-press is a great exercise that adds an extra lil' twist because you're holding the bar in a push-press position instead of a regular front-squat position (elbows extended forward, bar on shoulder) which forces your core to be even more activated and the stabilizer muscles in the shoulder and upper & middle-back are working in overdrive to keep the bar centered and stable.

Once my Central Nervous System calmed itself down enough I moved into Tabata intervals for pushups and pullups. Tabata intervals are 20 seconds of as many pushups you can do, followed by 10 seconds of rest, then 20 seconds again to failure, 10 seconds rest...etc. Perform 8 sets which means that you're only working for 4 minutes total, but it is the most crushing 4 minutes, believe me. Immediately followed with pullups, and by the end I could barely grip the bar my hands and forearms were so fatigued. Great stuff all around.

After I moved back over to regular back squats and went heavy. I also followed each set with a set of medium-weight russian deadlifts to hit the hammy's even more. I had to do medium-weight because I literally couldn't hold the heavy bar as my grip was completely shot.

3 sets @ 8 reps for squats
3 sets @ 10 reps for russian dead-lifts

Moved directly into a Pillar Strength circuit that consisted of:

incline-situps w/weight
back extensions
Swiss-ball pikes
Swiss ball twists

Performed two circuits with no rest.

Finished with Powerband walks and calf raises. Workout took an hour and 10 minutes and I think I sweated 4 gallons of water out of my system. Note to self: bring 3 shirts next you work out, you're going to need 'em.

On a side note, I realized today that I've missed out on 5 seperate tournament finals this year alone because I either couldn't make the tourney or had previously committed to another team. That sucks, as I need all the big-game experience I can get. But just for chuckles:

-Fools Fest-unable to attend. But no regrets there as Bogle's birthday in Vegas was so much ridiculous fun it would require it's own blog to fully explain. Where else can you meet Neil Patrick Harris and Travis Barker in the same club? well, LA, but you know what I mean.
-SB Classic- a local tourney, but still a tourney. Committed early to a team that lost in the semi's instead of playing with one of the 'Dor squads.
-Kaimana- Played with Voltron instead of Ono and lost to them in the semi's. But absolutely no regrets there as playing with Voltron was one of the top 3 frisbee experiences of my career thus far. It really is just SO much better in the future. And we will be back. Yeah, you heard me Ono.
-Potlatch- had an invite by both teams in the finals. Sigh. Shoulda made it happen but $700+ for a non-open tourney is a tough pill to swallow, especially when you're saving for a new car (my truck is at 120K and counting).
- Huck it Long Beach- another local tourney, but I missed the chance to play/party with Husak & Tommy again, damien, Brent Russel and some goofy guy named Corey.

But so it goes. Guess I'll just have do my darnest to make sure my team is every other tourney finals from here on out. That should even things up quite nicely. :)

On saturday I'll be participating in a Crossfit session in a studio out in the valley followed by a grappling class immediately after. (They've got a Xfit & grappling combo for $20, hard to turn that down). Never done grappling before so I'm excited & curious to see how I'll hold up. Like Fight Club says "you never really know who you are until you've been in a fight." We'll see if that applies to a training class as well.

Train hard kids, and keep that 'Dorsiflexion.

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