June 13 2006 Workout

Alrighty, I'm through floundering around toying with exercises and workouts and now have a five-week plan hybridized from Never Gymless and Infinite Intensity and some friendly advice from Ross himself on how to build the weekly cycle around two days of pickup. The next five weeks plus a light week will take me right up to Log Jam, our next tourney. Anyway, yesterday was an "explosive strength" and core day that left me pretty sore in the hamstrings, entire back, and shoulders, so that's good and bad. Good in that I worked, bad in that I think I've lost a bit by just doing a la carte workouts for quite awhile rather than having an actual program. It allowed me to slack rather than push myself to do what I'd planned. The soreness is also bad because I'll be hitting my defacto benchmark workout, The Magic 50 today, which I haven't done since April. I'm thinking I'll have to cut the weight a bit. Anyway, yesteday's workout, which I had to tailor a bit around some achilles tendinitis (yes, another injury post is forthcoming) I've been flirting with since the bad ankle sprain last year, and which Easterns threw into full effect:

  • Flag, 4 reps, 4 sets: Probably should go at the end with the core work, but it's really a strength move so I stuck it at the beginning. It's that thing you've probably seen Bruce Lee do where basically you cantilever your body out horizontally, with only your shoulders on a bench, and your hands gripping the bench behind your head. I do it on the floor, gripping the underside of a closed door (and wearing thick gloves). I haven't trained this movement in awhile, and it really shows. Starting with body vertical, probably only got down to like 45 degrees, so I've lost at least 15 degrees.
  • Mini-circuit, 4 sets: 1-DB High Pull, 8 reps, Knee Tucks, 10 reps: See the Crossfit Exercises for the High Pull demo ("Sumo Dead Lift High Pull"). I do it one arm at a time with a dumbell, and my legs are bit closer together, but you get the idea. Knee Tucks are basically jumps where you try to get as high as you can, bring your knees to your chest, and explode again upon landing, minimizing ground contact (like you're doing them on a hot plate). Only did two sets of these because I could feel it starting to bother the achilles, which I've done an admirable job of resting (i.e. not playing). I'd hate to torpedo that. I really like the High Pulls.
  • Mini-circuit, 4 sets: Clap Pushups, 8 reps, Lunge Jumps, 10 reps (5/leg): Start the Clap Pushups with a 5-second static hold in a halfway-down pushup position, get a little static-dynamic protocol action going. Let one pushup flow into the other, stop early if you start breaking form. Quality over quantity. For the lunge jumps, go into a lunge, spring out of it, scissor your legs in the air, land in another lunge, spring out of it. Again, one lunge should flow into the next. My back leg doesn't go back very far, as it bothers my back knee when I do. Instead, as I flex down into the lunge, my back knee ends up pretty close to my front foot, if you can picture that. One of the few high-impact exercises my knees will tolerate, if I get the position right. Experiment with what's comfortable to you. This will shred your hamstrings, be careful. First time I tried these I came very close to pulling one in a big way. Could be I'm just weak, but I can do these pretty comfortably and still be sore as hell the next day. Also, these don't bother the achilles at all, happily.
  • Mini-circuit, 4 sets: 1-DB Push Press, 5 reps, Ankle Hops, 20 reps: See the Crossfit exercises page again for the Push Press (again, I'm doing a single dumbell variation). Ankle hops are just jumps with ankles only (just enough knees to absorb the shock). Skipped these because of the achilles.

Okay, on to the core. A meager three circuits of the following:

  • 15 Knee Hugs:: Lie on your back, arms stretched overhead. Heels just off the floor. Pull your knees to your chest as you crunch and loop your arms over your knees (without touching your knees - no cheating). Extend out, returning arms to overhead and heels just off the floor (basically no part of your legs except your butt should ever touch the ground). That's one. I believe it's a good sign if your low back stays pressed to the floor. Arching means a weak something, somewhere, I vaguely recall reading. Don't hold me to that, though.
  • 16 Lying Hip Swings (8/side): Lie on your back, raise your legs to upright (12:00). Arms out to your sides. Keeping your legs straight, rotate your hips/waist to bring your legs to 3:00 (more like 2:30 for me). Then back to the other side (9:00), like a metronome.
  • 15 Supermans: Lie on your stomach, arms stretched overhead. Simultaneously raise your arms and your legs such that you're arched and as little of your torso is on the ground as possible (ideally just your hips). Careful about your back on this one.
  • 10 Unstable Rows (5/side): Special equipment for this one. Set up a single gymnastic ring as close to the floor as you can (or some kind of strap/handle kludge. Put a dumbell next to it. Now assume a pushup position with one hand on the ring and the other hand on the DB. Pull (row) the DB to your chest. The closer together your feet, the harder this is. My feet are pretty damn far apart, even with just a 20# DB.

I do not think this should have laid waste to me as badly as it did. I felt okay throughout, but basically my entire backside from just above my knees to the tops of my shoulders are sore today. And to think I have to hit The Magic 50 next, which is all 1-DB swings and snatches, and burpees. Yowch. More on that in a moment...

Tue, Jun 13, 2006