Saturday and Sunday Sept 11

I pause on days like this.

Yeah, fifteen years ago. Like yesterday. A single event that had a profound impact on my life.

Saturday I got a boxing session done ... still not sure I should be calling it a "boxing" session, as I'm not really sure what I'm doing, other than working up a sweat. I was at home for this one and had my son in the garage with me for "help" ... yeah, that's what we'll call it.

In any case, it was 7 rounds of this:

1:40 throwing punches at a stand-up bag
1:40 of kettlebell snatches

after that was done, I did three rounds of step ups and seated knee tucks to take the session to just over a half hour.

I was pretty stoked after this session; the garage door was open and the heat was pretty decent at that time of day. I checked weight after and I was 267.

Sunday I was all ready to start my training session and I was called away to be a dad for the day. I did end up going for a swim and two walks with my family. It seems that I'm just going to have to get my workouts done earlier in the day on the weekends from now on.

I did decide that on what a reward should be when I get to 20 or 25 pounds of weight loss. I'm going to book myself a session at a new floating place called Zee Float in Hamilton.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Sept 9

Yeah, starting a new schedule is killer to my fitness.

At least I'm getting some stretching and walking in the evenings done.

Meh, I'm healing and recovering from the rugby season.

I also did evening recovery sessions at my club each of these nights, too.

Thursday I had a physio session and it was very helpful.

Friday I spent about an hour in the evening working on getting my legs back in gear. It all seems to be working.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday September 6

Sunday and Monday were stretching in the morning, then water stretch in the afternoon days. I'm walking with my wife in the evenings, too.

I mean, I'm trying to help my body recover from the rugby season. I'm good with just trying to get through these days without complicating things.

Tuesday I went to a new job. I had a lot of coffee during the day and didn't eat very much. I got home and ate like an idiot.

After I got the youngest down for his sleep, I got this done for six rounds:

1:50 hitting a heavy bag
1:50 dumb bell swings (used either a 25 or a 35 lb)

I should have gone a bit longer, but I chose to cut it short so that I could go for a walk with my wife before it got too dark. I got comfortable after that and had a decent quiet evening.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday Sept 3

Thursday was a rugby day. Last game of the regular season and I was selected to play first team rugby. Not a big deal as most of the other props are either away or injured. Regardless, I played another season of up and down with the first team and second team at prop.

Really, I'm not too happy with this season, but at least I got out there and stayed playing this summer. I really do need to prepare for the rugby season from now onwards. I didn't think about what shape I was in this past spring. I wasn't ready to play come May and I certainly paid the price.

My body is really sore. Ankles and knees are just not happy at all. My stomach is not liking it when I eat crap and act stupid. I need to fix a number of issues with my head space and my legs.

I had intended to transfer clubs and keep playing until Halloween this year. But, I'm just going to forget that noise and focus on that which needs solving around me this fall. Work and daycare and fitness and health are all on the list of items which need my attention.

I did an icing day on Friday and Saturday. Also got stretching, both on land and in water, done too.

Stretching in the water let me focus on that which is truly hurting. I'm pretty sure I can continue to stretch and roll muscles but it is the joints that need to heal these days.

Saturday I got signed up for the same club that I joined for the summer - which means I have access to a pretty good gym for the winter. No kettlebells, regretfully, but I can manage. At least I can get into a hot tub until 10:30pm most days. Which may mean nothing to my readers, but at least I can melt my mental health back with hot water rather than cold beer.

nowhatimsayin?

Tuesday and Wednesday August 31

Tuesday I had to use my time more wisely. I got a nice sweet 30-minute session in on the heavy bag:

Eight rounds of punching and kettlebells. I tried to stay away from too many twists on my ankle, and for the most part was pretty solid. I tweaked it a little in the pool later, though.

Ice all around, man.

It was after this workout I checked my weight - 271.4. I'm still a fat pig, and a steady daily screaming at my reflection in the mirror usually helps me stay away from carbs. Also, my stomach hurts less when I don't eat crappy food all day.

Wednesday was a day I tried to put out as many fires as I could. Daycare isn't helping ... that is trying to find day care, even emergency day care in the last few minutes before school starts next week is a drag.

I took it off and got to bed early. No naps as I was too stressed to close my eyes.

Sunday and Monday Aug 29

Sunday was a rest day - ice on the ankle and stretching on a mat and in a pool.

Monday I got a good cardio session done - a 40-minute session of bodyweight and kettlebells.

Man I like my Polar HR monitor

It was a decent warm up and I liked the kettlebells. My ankle liked the fact that I didn't have to move or twist at all. It's amazing what you can do for cardio of your injured.

The highlight for me was the kettlebell ladder I did - 12 two handed swings, 11 push ups, 12 kb swings then 10 push ups .... 12 swings, 1 push up .... glory!

Later on did a stretching session in the hot tub, too. Perhaps not the best for the ankle, but everything else really thought that was a great idea.

Friday and Saturday Aug 27

This should be a happy time of year - things should be going right and I should be winding down vacation time and winding up work time.

Ain't happening - there are so many things up in the air at the moment.

Friday was a rest and stretching day. I rested, I stretched but things are just not stretched and rested.

Saturday was the last home game of the year. It was disappointing, to say the least. I wasn't starting, which is fine. This has not been a good season for me. I got on and promptly got someone stomping and twisting on my ankle. Scrums were ok - I firmed up the tight head spot, replacing one of the two loose head props we had on for the first half.

You really can't play an entire season at loose head or lock and then try to play a tight head position against quality opposition out of the blue. In any case, I lasted about 30 minutes before the hobbling around the pitch got to be too much.

I spent Saturday night on my couch with ice all over me - ankles, knees and hips.