Sunday March 30

Humbling

I was going to be busy today - but I had a window of about an hour in the middle of the day.

So I got busy.

With my "new" sled.

I put it in the van with the two 16 kilo bells and the parts to my old 80 lb sand bag. When I got to where I was training ... I put the sand bag back together and did one start run with it. I put it away and got this done for six rounds:

20 kb cleans
20 kb natches
sled push 20 yards with both 16 kilo bells x 2

Why six rounds? Someone said they were coming to try out the sled and see how it worked, but they were busy doing something and would come as soon as I was done .... riiiiiight ;)

I discovered that the sled is a humbling experience and one which I'll have to adjust into my training for the summer. It's all good, man.

Saturday March 29

I had to get myself going today... I had a big day with my family set up. So, I cleaned and I got stuff ready ... and then realized I had about 35 minutes to get a training session in.

I put the timer on at about 30 minutes on my iPhone and got to work for as many rounds as I could:

10 kb swings
20 step ups
6-8 overhead presses with a 50-70 lbs on a barbell
6-8 deep squats

At the end, I didnt have time to put stuff away, so I left it:

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday March 28

Not going to sugar coat it. I've done nothing these three days.

I hate this time of year at work. It's hard to get any training done.

Tuesday March 25

I don't know about today. I'm glad it's over and I'm at home setting this post up at my dining room table and with my brains still inside my head. There were a few moments there that I wasn't sure that was going to stay that way.

In any case, I recovered from forgetting my laptop at home, recovered from a laptop crash and from several other things that happened today to make it one of "those days". I was also sore from last night's rugby session for most of the day. I should have taken some time to stretch but I had to plow onwards through a mess of a day.

Later on, got a chance to sit with my wife and talk.

After that, she went to bed and I got this done for four rounds:

10 kb cleans

That hole wasn't there before

10 kb snatches
10 step ups on a 12 inch step
10 hanging knee tucks
20 bw squats.

During the workout, I managed to drop a bell on the mats covering my floor. A nice loud thump and then nothing. No screaming children. Yet another reason why I love these puzzle piece mats.

Monday March 24

So ... I was back at rugby training on Monday.

This time I missed the cardio session during the day. Instead I figured to focus on the evening rugby. Well, if that was the plan, it was a stupid plan. I need as much cardio as I can get these days.

I don't thnk I'm out of shape. I'm chubby, but that is a requirement of being a prop in Union rugby. I have to be able to catch the ball - which I can. I have to be able to lift and scrum. My main duties after that are to hit ruck and try and steal ball, if I can. I have to be close to the ruck as often as I can and try to help win possession. For that I need muscular endurance and power.

I also need to be able to keep doing those things over 80 minutes of a game.

In any case, I got a fairly good rugby technical session done in the evening with about 50 other players. The last 40 minutes was specializing in League rugby. I think we'll have a pretty good team this year, if the numbers keep up and the people who are training show up to games...

In any case, it was 2 hours of rugby training.

March 23 and a pause for a shout out.

I can just make out the name of Kanye West on the Cup ... ;)

I don't do these shout outs nearly enough, to be frank. It's usually a chance for me to get a workout done and do some writing about things that work and things that I can see being positive.

What could be better than that?

I got to train today at the Wayne Gretsky Centre in Brantford, Ontario. I was there for an event two of my children was participating in and I had a few hours on my hands, so I brought my stuff to get things done. Well, I brought most of my stuff. I had to buy a tee shirt to work out in at the facility. So now I have an XL tee that says "Synchronized Swimming West Region." I looked awesome in it.

In the end, it was a city run centre, so there was lots to appeal to many people. Hockey arenas, lots of gyms and two pools, and at least two weight rooms. The one I went into, pictured on the right, was a haven, at least for a bit.

It had cardio machines, and a free weight section, along with two or three squat racks and weight machines. A nicely tricked out centre, done with public money. It was clean and well kept and safe. A few older people were in the gym, along with one or two meaheads and a few people who needed a safe place to shed a few pounds. Nothing to really turn me off of the place, but I still like working out at my house the best.

I started on one of the three nice Concept II rowing machines, and got at least a kilometer done in the 5 minutes I'd wanted to use to just get warmed up.

Well, let me give you the workout I did:

5 minutes on the rowing machine

then for four rounds:
 8-10 seated bench overhead presses 35lb x 2 db used
lying flies 35 x 2 db used
bench row 35 lb db used
seated knee tucks

then did four rounds of
6-8 deep squats - about 90 lbs on the bar. Nothing special.
10 hanging knee tucks with the odd hanging leg raise to mix things up.

In any case, I liked the place. I had about 50 minutes to get this done, and in that time, had no one cop an attitude or act like an idiot in front of me. It would have been better with a few more squat racks and few less cardio machines, but I was there on a Sunday morning. Perhaps on a Saturday morning, there are a lot more people. Still, a community centre that has staff that cares is always a positive.

I'd go back for sure.

Friday and Saturday March 22

Friday was too sore to do much beyond stretching and recovery work. I did manage to pick up a rather cool sled on Kijiji. It retailed for 500, on sale for 300, but I paid 160. I also did a back up of this Macbook, as it is not working very well at the moment, suggesting something awful is about to happen. I'm looking for a replacement as I type this.

Saturday I had my boy for the day, and so we went to train, he had a great idea for us to try, as pictured on the right.

We got this done together for 4 rounds:

20 kb swings
30 step ups
10 hanging knee tucks
20 bw squats
5 sled push and drags with 40 lb sand bag and 30 lb boy

The rest of the day was also active - he is little boy, after all. Lots of sprinting after him, puling him out of harm's way and generally being a guardian angel. That, my friends is exhausting.