Footie

Arsenal's Tony Adams, the best English defender ever.

I've been taking it easy this week as I'd been training solidly for the past three months, so it was time for a break. I wasn't feeling any physical symptoms of overtraining, although I did have a dip in my enthusiasm. I typically look forward to the challenging workouts that I do with Cosmo, but for the past couple of weeks I've been lacking in motivation. On top of that, my sinuses have been causing me more discomfort than I've felt in many years, and have been a major distraction. For this week I haven't done anything more punishing than some pretty easy cardio on a couple of days, until yesterday.

I've joined a local over-45s football team and played in my first match on Friday. The last time I played on a team, three years ago, I was well out of my depth in terms of skill and conditioning. Most of the other players - and our opponents - were half my age or even younger; our striker was still attending Waterloo-Oxford high school! This time, I'm one of the younger players and while the game was challenging, I didn't feel like I struggled. In the first half I played in midfield, which means supporting both the defence and forwards, thus a lot of running. Yeah, I was often out of breath, but the natural breaks in the game allowed me to rest when necessary.

Although I wasn't as embarrassingly bad as I had feared I might be, there was plenty of room for improvement. Things improved greatly in the second half when I moved back into a defensive right-back position. My role was to mark one of the opposition's attacking players and thus make him a less attractive target to whom his team mates could pass. For the most part I think I was pretty successful.

Unlike the Wilmot Men's team I played on a few years ago, this team play once a week (Friday evenings) and have no training sessions. This means less of a time commitment from me, and less punishment for my aging body.

Even though I played - and ran - for 80 out of the game's 90 minutes (it's normal for players to be substituted and reinstated throughout), I actually feel pretty good today (I'm writing this the morning after). There are very few aches, other than slightly stiff hamstrings. Lots of recent stretching and mobility work certainly paid off.

Conditioning

Gave it another shot...

3 circuits:
2 minutes skipping
15 inverted rows off parallettes
15 kettlebell lateral swings per arm
2 minutes lateral jumps over small bench
15 dips off parallettes
20 ball squats (lifting ball to top of punch bag)
25 burpees

Oly lifts

Stacy Tovar

I wanted to do some Olympic lifting this morning, albeit light-weight, just to work on the movements. It's been months since I did any of these, but I wanted to see how it felt. About halfway through the first workout, my fucking sinuses flared up again; my head and left eye were throbbing in pain, and I felt a bit nauseous. That slowed me down, but didn't stop me completely. Still, I felt - and still feel - like crap.

Lots of warming up and stretches before I started this.

Power snatches @ 65lb - 5 x 6 reps

Yeah, this is really light, but in the past I've started upping the weight much too soon, to the detriment of my form and technique. Every rep today was pretty much flawless, with no press-out required. My elbows stayed locked straight, and my external rotation felt flexible enough for me to hold the bar slightly behind the line of my head.

Clean and presses @ 75lb - 5 x 6 reps

Again, very light, but perfect form.

100 sit-ups

Chest and triceps

Bench press - 95lb x 12, 10, 8

Incline dumbbell bench press - 35lb x 10, 8, 8

Dips - 12, 8, 7

Cable flies - 30lb x 12, 9, 7

Chest press (machine) @ 80lb - 5 minute burn

EZ bar skull crushers - 55lb x 10, 9, 8

Dumbbell extensions - 20lb x 15; 25 x 12, 10

Cable tricep extensions - 5 minute burn

Back and biceps

Deadlifts - 185lb x 10, 10

One arm dumbbell rows - 60lb x 10, 8, 7 per side

Lateral pull-downs - 90lb x 11, 8, 8

Barbell row - 65lb x 12; 70lb x 11, 10

Wide cable rows - 5 minute burn

EZ standing barbell curls - 50lb x 13, 9, 9

Concentration curls - 22lb x 8, 6, 5

Seated alternating dumbbell curls - 5 minute burn

Got a serious vein-popping pump in my arms today!

Conditioning

Very poor performance in my personal training session today, due to a throbbing headache caused by my sinuses. While I was training, I felt like my left eye was going to explode as the pressure built up in my nose had spread. The discomfort today might have been caused by the humid weather and/or a shitload of water entering my nose while swimming yesterday. I took a decongestant a couple of hours before my workout, but it had no effect whatsoever. Nothing I could do about it, but I'm always disappointed when I can't give 100%, especially in a PT session. That being said, it's been a long time since I've been unable to give it everything.

Circuits:
2 minutes skipping
15 inverted rows off parallettes
15 kettlebell lateral swings per arm
2 minutes lateral jumps over small bench
15 dips off parallettes
20 ball squats (lifting ball to top of punch bag)
25 burpees

I'm not sure how many sets Cosmo wanted me to do, but I was only able to finish two. The burpees were a bit of a challenge because I kept slipping in my own sweat!

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2 sets:
20 barbell twists @ 80lb
20 leg raises

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2 sets:
20 sit-ups/ball throws (straight sit-ups and alternate sides)

Swimming

He's baaack!

Umm... I swam. For an hour. That's it.

Conditioning

4 circuits:
12 x parallette jumps
15 x clapping push-ups
20 x figure of 8 shuttle runs
30 x kettlebell swings
90 seconds skipping

Tried to do some snatches to finish off, but I simply had no energy left. This is probably due to the conditioning routine today, as well as all the shoulder work yesterday.

Shoulders, traps and forearms

Farewell, Becks.

Time to increase the weight on some of these moves, as I was starting to hit the target number of reps consistently.

Military press @ 55lb - 11, 8, 7

Seated Arnold press @ 22.5lb - 12, 9, 8

Dumbbell lateral raises @ 17.5lb - 12, 11, 9

Shoulder press (machine) @ 40lb - 5 minute burn

Vertical row @ 70lb - 11, 9, 8

Barbell shrug @ 95lb - 5 minute burn

Barbell wrist curls @ 45lb - 12, 9, 8

Static barbell hold @ 95lb - 5 minute burn

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Kettlebell crunches - 3 x 30

Quads, hamstrings and calves

Very warm day, hence a bloody sweaty workout.

3 x back squats: pyramid sets - 95lb x 10, 115lb x 8, 135lb x 6

30 mountain climbers

Traveling lunges @ 50lb - 3 x 10

30 mountain climbers

Leg extensions @ 80lb - 5 minute burn

30 mountain climbers

Stiff leg deadlifts @ 135lb - 10, 10, 10

30 mountain climbers

Standing calf raises on a step @ 105lb - 10, 10, 10

30 mountain climbers

1 mile run

Back and biceps

Deadlifts - 225lb x 5, 5

One arm dumbbell rows - 55lb x 12, 11, 8 per side

Lateral pull-downs - 90lb x 10, 8, 8

Vertical rows (machine) - 5 minute burn

Standing barbell curls - 45lb x 11, 9, 6

Concentration curls - 20lb x 9, 7, 6

Standing cable curls (2 handed) - 5 minute burn

Conditioning and upper body

Christie Phillips

Another ass-kicking conditioning session to start the workout. Cosmo reckons I probably burned about 700 calories. Only 700?!

Circuit x 3; 60 seconds rest in between each
15 x inverted rows off parallettes
90 seconds skipping
10 x kettlebell swings per arm (alternating each rep)
12 x box jumps
2 x lengths of the yoga room, traveling lunges with 75lb barbell
2 minutes shuttle runs, starting from push up position

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Pyramid bench presses:
2 sets of 10 x 115lb, 8 x 125lb, 6 x 135lb, 10 x push-ups
30 seconds rest between each weight change; 1 minute rest between sets.

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Pyramid dips: 10, 8, 6
30 seconds rest between each round.

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Cosmo gave me a body fat test after today's session, and mine came out at 15.3%. That places me in the "Fitness" category, so I need to drop another 1.3% to sneak into "Athlete". That's a little bit higher than I expected, based on previous measurements and my regular "mirror test". I don't think I've put on any unwanted fat, so perhaps the discrepancy might be due to different measuring techniques (like weighing yourself on different scales). I'm not too bothered, as I feel great and I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger and fitter.

Conditioning and upper body

Cooking day!

4 circuits; 90 seconds rest in between each
12 x parallette jumps
20 x 30lb ballslams
10 x ladder shuttle runs
15 x kettlebell lateral raises per side
20 x kettlebell crunches

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Seated dumbbell shoulder presses - 25lb x 12, 10, 7

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3 supersets:
10 x lateral raises @ 20lb
12 x front raises @ 15lb

New Hamburg Classic Race: 5k

My third annual New Hamburg Classic, and my second consecutive crappy time. However, this time I'm less pissed at myself, for three reasons.

1. Last year, I over-prepared and over-thought the run, rather than simply going out and having a good time. I'm not an experienced runner, so why get upset about a slow run? This year, I felt relaxed before and during the run, and I just enjoyed the whole community-focused event.

2. This year, I started the race too slowly, and that cost me some time. The second half of my run was 98 seconds quicker than the first 2.5k, whereas I would have expected that to be the other way around. I ran up Hamburger Hill pretty quickly, and that was on the return part of the run. I think all the plyo leg work I've been doing paid off there. When I crossed the finish line, I was sprinting my ass off and I still had plenty of gas in the tank.

3. Despite a slower time, I somehow finished 3rd in my age category (40-49). Last year, a quicker time gave me a 10th place finish. No idea why there was a discrepancy this year.

Chest and triceps

Bench press (laying on the ground) - 95lb x 12, 8, 6

Decline dumbbell bench press - 35lb x 12, 10, 10

Dips - 12, 8, 7

Dumbbell flies - 25lb x 17; 30 x 9, 9

Push-ups, feet elevated on a Swiss ball - 5 minute burn

Barbell skull crushers - 50lb x 8, 6, 5

Dumbbell extensions - 17.5lb x 16, 12, 12

Cable tricep extensions - 5 minute burn

Been a while since I did one of these...

May 2013

Back and biceps

Oops.

I'd planned on doing a regular leg day, but I had nothing left after yesterday's PT session. I did plenty of stretching and warming up of my legs, but nope - nothing doing. I opted for a back and biceps day instead.

Deadlifts - 185lb x 10, 10, 10

Dumbbell rows - 55lb x 12, 10, 8

Wide grip pull-ups - 8, 6, 5

Cable rows - 5 minute burn

Standing barbell curls - 55lb x 8, 6, 4

Concentration curls - 20lb x 9, 8, 6 per arm

Incline neutral grip dumbbell curls @ 17.5lb - 5 minute burn

And to finish off, just because I had some time to spare...

Power cleans, touch and go:
95lb x 3, 115lb x3, 125lb x 3, 130lb x 1

Conditioning

Another punishing conditioning routine, this time in the hot sun, as we trained in the parking lot.

4 circuits with roughly 90 seconds rest in between:
30 x kettlebell swings and squats
20 x kettlebell deadlifts and presses
15 x kettlebell lateral raises per side
20 x kettlebell crunches
Run around the block

When I looked in the mirror afterward, the combination of exercise and the hot sun made it look like my head was going to pop.

Chest and triceps

Bench press (rack) - 105lb x 11, 8, 7

Incline dumbbell bench press - 37.5lb x 9, 7, 7

Dips - 12, 9, 7

Cable flies - 30lb x 11, 9, 9

Chest press (machine) @ 80lb - 5 minute burn

EZ bar skull crushers - 55lb x 11, 8, 7

Bench dips - 15 (feet on the ground), 17, 14 (feet elevated on last two sets)

Cable tricep extensions - 5 minute burn

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And just because the weather was gorgeous...

1 mile run

One hour of mowing the lawn with a manual mower - perfect for a chest and tris day!

Back and biceps

Deadlifts @ 225lb - 5, 5

One arm dumbbell rows @ 55lb - 12, 10, 9 per side

Lateral pull-downs @ 90lb - 10, 8, 7

Inverted rows - 13, 9, 8

Machine row @ 70lb - 5 minute burn

Standing curls @ 45lb - 10, 8, 6

Concentration curls @ 20lb - 9, 7, 6 per arm

Standing cable curls @ 50lb - 5 minute burn

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Abs

Shoulders, traps and forearms

Shoulder press drop sets @ 65lb/45lb - 8/5, 6/6, 3/4

Seated Arnold press @ 22.5lb - 10, 8, 6

Dumbbell lateral raises @ 17.5s - 13, 11, 8

Shoulder press (machine) @ 40lb - 5 minute burn

Vertical row @ 65lb - 13, 10, 10

Barbell shrug @ 85lb - 5 minute burn

Static barbell hold @ 85lb - 5 minute burn

My right wrist felt a bit sore today, so I skipped the wrist curls before the barbell hold.