Headed down to the gym over lunch again today to do the second session of the GB Open Beach weights fitness program. It's pretty similar to the first session but a few exercises have changed between the two. I upped the weights on most of the exercises today:
Warm up:
1 * 15 internal shoulder rotations (9kg *increase*) on each arm
1 * 15 external shoulder rotations (9kg *increase*) on each arm
2 * 15 Glute bridges
1 * 15 PGM on each leg
1 * 12 Press up and hold (3s hold when down)
1 * 30s single leg balance on each leg
Main workout:
4 * 15 Single leg squats (25kg *increase*) with 10 body weight squats in between
4 * 15 Split squats (body weight whilst I work out the range of motion) (instead of Lat Lunges from session 1)
4 * 15 Lat pull down (32kg) (instead of Single Arm Dumbell Bench Press from session 1)
4 * 15 Seated Narrow Row (41kg *increase*)
3 * 15 calf raise (Full range of motion) (2.5kg dumbells in each hand *increase*)
2 * 15 Swiss Ball Hamstring curls
2 * 12 straight leg ab curls (instead of Hanging Knee raises from session 1)
Foam rolling and stretching to warm down
Interestingly, I found the Full range of motion calf raises with the added weight to be the hardest. The dumbells weren't heavy in my hands but they affected my balance a lot whilst doing that exercise.
Again, I found the GB session worked mostly the same muscles as my routine, but I liked that it has more variation and works more muscles on top of those worked in mine. Some of the exercises from mine I still prefer, I just didn't have to add them on to the end of my workout today as my lunch break wasn't long enough.
Got a good weekend to look forward to now:
Herd AGM and end of season social on Saturday and NFL in London Fan Rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday and watching the New England Patriots take on the St Louis Rams at Wembley Stadium on Sunday!
Friday 26 October 2012
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Wednesday night Track
400m warmup then stretch
was feeling a bit stiff in my legs so I didn't do too long a session
On the straight
4 * 10m sprint-turn-10m sprint-turn-50m sprint-50m jog-turn-10m sprint-turn-10m sprint-turn-50m sprint-50m jog (1 minute rest in between each)
2 * 100m sprint-walk back-100m sprint-jog back-100m sprint-run back-100m sprint
400m warm down and stretch
Won't be doing any fitness tomorrow as I will be leaving early/getting home late because I will be at my company's annual conference.
Then gym Friday.
Thundering Herd's AGM and end of season social is this weekend. (2 weekends in a row with ultimate end of season social)
was feeling a bit stiff in my legs so I didn't do too long a session
On the straight
4 * 10m sprint-turn-10m sprint-turn-50m sprint-50m jog-turn-10m sprint-turn-10m sprint-turn-50m sprint-50m jog (1 minute rest in between each)
2 * 100m sprint-walk back-100m sprint-jog back-100m sprint-run back-100m sprint
400m warm down and stretch
Won't be doing any fitness tomorrow as I will be leaving early/getting home late because I will be at my company's annual conference.
Then gym Friday.
Thundering Herd's AGM and end of season social is this weekend. (2 weekends in a row with ultimate end of season social)
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Monday Night Indoors and Tuesday Gym
Headed to indoors again last night.
The warm up was good and then we did drills, ten pull games focusing on zone defense and then regular games.
Since I won't be playing club indoors with Disconduct I'm using the training sessions to get game (-like) practice and to work on the fundementals of the transferrable skills for outdoors (the real sport). So my focus last night was on a strong mark on the disc, putting in a strong aerial presence when the disc went up and throwing good choices and good discs. In the first drill we were running a handler weave pattern that I used to make good turns/cuts and throw the continuation pass before the cutter had completed his turn, a skill which is part of the Ka-Pow offense.
Went up for a big grab in one of the last points and had my legs taken from under me. Got the grab and didn't call the foul as could throw the assist from lying on the floor but did go off with a dead leg afterwards.
Still had a dead leg all of today, but did go to the gym today over lunch.
Did the GB Open Beach weights session for the first time today. It's a good set of exercises. I don't claim to be an expert but there were a couple of things that surprised me and I thought I might have done differently:
- The warmup featured no cardio (running/cycling/whatever) at all, which I found to be a bit strange. Instead it focussed on warming up arms and upper body, core and specific leg muscles and joints.
- The first part of the program features a prescribed session of cardio to do each week. It seems like it's going to take ages and be easy. I understand that they want everyone to start at the same base level, but considering everyone on the list has just come off a full season of Ultimate and training, I would have expected them to be content with the base level of fitness of all participants. My theory behind starting track (and sprints) early was that if I started with easy sprints and built them up then I would be training at full speed (and increasing my top speed) early and it would become easier. Training at less than 100% isn't conducive to the movements found in ultimate, which is why I didn't feel like I was gaining anything from Herd's prescribed weekly 3 mile run in their pre-season training regimen. Admittedly, it does ramp up the speed pretty well after a while, but I'd prefer to be doing sprints than running at 70% for a prescribed amount of time, even with the season months away.
- I haven't seen the 3rd or 4th part of the program yet, but program 2 on first look seems pretty similar to program 1. I liked the program I did, and most of the exercises in my program have similar exercises feature on the GB program, but I don't like them as much. Will be working in my exercises when I have time and ramping up the weights on the GB exercises quickly. The loads on each exercise weren't prescribed in the regimen so there was a bit of experimentation with good starting points and I started slow for the first session as I still had a dead leg from last night and didn't want to go in too hard with exercises I had only seen on a video (most I haven't done before).
Having said that, there was plenty I enjoyed about the GB regime. It's more varied than my program and is very prescribed, and it's obvious a lot of thought and research has gone into it. I also thought that some of the exercises worked some areas of my body that, whilst they haven't been ignored, they've never been focussed on, so it's probably good to get in some work on them. I also liked the higher number of sets and reps on some of the exercises.
I don't know how private the workouts are supposed to be, so this is just between you and me, internet...
Here's the GB workout it did:
Warmup:
1 * 15 internal shoulder rotations (7kg) on each arm
1 * 15 external shoulder rotations (7kg) on each arm
2 * 15 Glute bridges
1 * 15 PGM
1 * 12 Press up and hold (3s hold when down)
1 * 30s single leg balance on each leg
Main workout:
4 * 15 Single leg squats (20kg) with 10 body weight squats in between
4 * 15 Lat Lunges (25kg)
4 * 15 Single Arm Dumbell Bench Press (7.5kg / arm) (I prefer barbell bench press, but like doing more sets and reps)
4 * 15 Seated Narrow Row (36kg)
3 * 15 calf raise (Full range of motion)
2 * 15 Swiss Ball Hamstring curls
2 * 12 Hanging Knee raises (I prefer pull ups and prefer doing more sets and lower reps)
I then added in double leg squats as I had time after I finished.
4 * 15 double leg squats (50kg) (I like the higher number of reps and sets)
I then warmed down with a 2 minute jog and some foam rolling.
I will continue the weights sessions prescribed by GB, and mix in exercises from my own program, trying to do all the exercises from both regimes during the week.
I will also continue my 3 miles a day cycling for cardio (which is how I get to/from work anyway) and Yoga and track. Will work in the GB cardio routines into the track work and will count the cycling for the other cardio session. Then everything else is for extra fun.
The warm up was good and then we did drills, ten pull games focusing on zone defense and then regular games.
Since I won't be playing club indoors with Disconduct I'm using the training sessions to get game (-like) practice and to work on the fundementals of the transferrable skills for outdoors (the real sport). So my focus last night was on a strong mark on the disc, putting in a strong aerial presence when the disc went up and throwing good choices and good discs. In the first drill we were running a handler weave pattern that I used to make good turns/cuts and throw the continuation pass before the cutter had completed his turn, a skill which is part of the Ka-Pow offense.
Went up for a big grab in one of the last points and had my legs taken from under me. Got the grab and didn't call the foul as could throw the assist from lying on the floor but did go off with a dead leg afterwards.
Still had a dead leg all of today, but did go to the gym today over lunch.
Did the GB Open Beach weights session for the first time today. It's a good set of exercises. I don't claim to be an expert but there were a couple of things that surprised me and I thought I might have done differently:
- The warmup featured no cardio (running/cycling/whatever) at all, which I found to be a bit strange. Instead it focussed on warming up arms and upper body, core and specific leg muscles and joints.
- The first part of the program features a prescribed session of cardio to do each week. It seems like it's going to take ages and be easy. I understand that they want everyone to start at the same base level, but considering everyone on the list has just come off a full season of Ultimate and training, I would have expected them to be content with the base level of fitness of all participants. My theory behind starting track (and sprints) early was that if I started with easy sprints and built them up then I would be training at full speed (and increasing my top speed) early and it would become easier. Training at less than 100% isn't conducive to the movements found in ultimate, which is why I didn't feel like I was gaining anything from Herd's prescribed weekly 3 mile run in their pre-season training regimen. Admittedly, it does ramp up the speed pretty well after a while, but I'd prefer to be doing sprints than running at 70% for a prescribed amount of time, even with the season months away.
- I haven't seen the 3rd or 4th part of the program yet, but program 2 on first look seems pretty similar to program 1. I liked the program I did, and most of the exercises in my program have similar exercises feature on the GB program, but I don't like them as much. Will be working in my exercises when I have time and ramping up the weights on the GB exercises quickly. The loads on each exercise weren't prescribed in the regimen so there was a bit of experimentation with good starting points and I started slow for the first session as I still had a dead leg from last night and didn't want to go in too hard with exercises I had only seen on a video (most I haven't done before).
Having said that, there was plenty I enjoyed about the GB regime. It's more varied than my program and is very prescribed, and it's obvious a lot of thought and research has gone into it. I also thought that some of the exercises worked some areas of my body that, whilst they haven't been ignored, they've never been focussed on, so it's probably good to get in some work on them. I also liked the higher number of sets and reps on some of the exercises.
I don't know how private the workouts are supposed to be, so this is just between you and me, internet...
Here's the GB workout it did:
Warmup:
1 * 15 internal shoulder rotations (7kg) on each arm
1 * 15 external shoulder rotations (7kg) on each arm
2 * 15 Glute bridges
1 * 15 PGM
1 * 12 Press up and hold (3s hold when down)
1 * 30s single leg balance on each leg
Main workout:
4 * 15 Single leg squats (20kg) with 10 body weight squats in between
4 * 15 Lat Lunges (25kg)
4 * 15 Single Arm Dumbell Bench Press (7.5kg / arm) (I prefer barbell bench press, but like doing more sets and reps)
4 * 15 Seated Narrow Row (36kg)
3 * 15 calf raise (Full range of motion)
2 * 15 Swiss Ball Hamstring curls
2 * 12 Hanging Knee raises (I prefer pull ups and prefer doing more sets and lower reps)
I then added in double leg squats as I had time after I finished.
4 * 15 double leg squats (50kg) (I like the higher number of reps and sets)
I then warmed down with a 2 minute jog and some foam rolling.
I will continue the weights sessions prescribed by GB, and mix in exercises from my own program, trying to do all the exercises from both regimes during the week.
I will also continue my 3 miles a day cycling for cardio (which is how I get to/from work anyway) and Yoga and track. Will work in the GB cardio routines into the track work and will count the cycling for the other cardio session. Then everything else is for extra fun.
Monday 22 October 2012
Ka-Pow! End of Season social!
Headed into London (then out of London to Maggers' house) for the Ka-Pow! end of season social.
Started with some Micro Machines on his Mega Drive, which, as it turns out, I'm pretty good at.
Then when everyone had turned up, we moved on to the End of Season awards.
The Awards (inspired by our trip to Belgium for Tom's Tourney) were personalised bottles of Leffe:
Most Valuable Player was won by Dave Tyler, and his award was graciously accepted by Pichler as DT wasn't there.
Most Improved Player was won by Timmy
Most Spirited Player was won by Si Dathan
Ryu of the year (or Most Dedicated Player) was won by Maggers for his sustained attendance despite being unable to play for most of the year through injury.
The Smatt's Blog Media Campaign of the Year Award went to this blog. It was nice of Pichler to get me a beer for this. He mentioned that people have spoken to him about it at tournaments, which means they must read it... who knew!
EDIT: Almost forgot... for services to Ka-Pow! ultimate, Pichler was awarded a hoody with his idol Ryu emblazoned on the back!
After that we headed to Clapham for a bit of Inferno's action!
I also got a sneaky peek at the list of trialists for next year. Should be great competition at the trials and a great second year for Ka-Pow!
Started with some Micro Machines on his Mega Drive, which, as it turns out, I'm pretty good at.
Then when everyone had turned up, we moved on to the End of Season awards.
The Awards (inspired by our trip to Belgium for Tom's Tourney) were personalised bottles of Leffe:
Most Valuable Player was won by Dave Tyler, and his award was graciously accepted by Pichler as DT wasn't there.
Most Improved Player was won by Timmy
Most Spirited Player was won by Si Dathan
Ryu of the year (or Most Dedicated Player) was won by Maggers for his sustained attendance despite being unable to play for most of the year through injury.
The Smatt's Blog Media Campaign of the Year Award went to this blog. It was nice of Pichler to get me a beer for this. He mentioned that people have spoken to him about it at tournaments, which means they must read it... who knew!
EDIT: Almost forgot... for services to Ka-Pow! ultimate, Pichler was awarded a hoody with his idol Ryu emblazoned on the back!
"Ryu lives only for the fight and seeks opponents stronger than himself. He fights using the art of Ansatsuken as taught to him by his master, Gouken.
Ever working to improve on the techniques learned from his master, Ryu is the hardest training Street Fighter of all."
A message that all Ka-Pow! players strive to live by!
After that we headed to Clapham for a bit of Inferno's action!
I also got a sneaky peek at the list of trialists for next year. Should be great competition at the trials and a great second year for Ka-Pow!
Friday 19 October 2012
All the small things...
Over the two and a half year's I've been out of University, I've developed some habits which I think help my fitness despite my job involving 9 to 5 sitting at a desk.
Getting up from my desk at least once an hour, usually more to keep myself moving
Keeping myself well hydrated all day by always having a cup of water on my desk in front of me
Stretching any areas of my body which feel stiff or strained whilst sat at my desk
Walking up the stairs in the office instead of taking the lift, and taking the stairs 2 at a time
Excluding the 50 minute train journey I have to take every day, I avoid public transport when I can, and cycle and walk to and from the train station as much as possible. When forced to take public transport, I will take the tube station stairs two at a time rather than use lifts and escalators.
I never eat junk food for lunch any more
I have my psych up playlist on repeat at work the day before a tournament and for the hours before practices
If anyone has any daily bits that they like to do which are small things but make a difference, share!
Getting up from my desk at least once an hour, usually more to keep myself moving
Keeping myself well hydrated all day by always having a cup of water on my desk in front of me
Stretching any areas of my body which feel stiff or strained whilst sat at my desk
Walking up the stairs in the office instead of taking the lift, and taking the stairs 2 at a time
Excluding the 50 minute train journey I have to take every day, I avoid public transport when I can, and cycle and walk to and from the train station as much as possible. When forced to take public transport, I will take the tube station stairs two at a time rather than use lifts and escalators.
I never eat junk food for lunch any more
I have my psych up playlist on repeat at work the day before a tournament and for the hours before practices
If anyone has any daily bits that they like to do which are small things but make a difference, share!
Friday Gym
Wanted to put in a good session today, but the squat rack was in use for the entire time I was at the gym... Substituted some other stuff instead and was still a good session.
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 press ups with toes balanced on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg medicine ball on chest
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 lateral lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 5 hanging leg raises (tucking knees) + 5 hanging leg raises (legs straight/pike)
2 mins 30s rowing machine highest resistance
Warm down
Ka-Pow! end of season social tomorrow! Gonna be epic!
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 press ups with toes balanced on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg medicine ball on chest
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 lateral lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 5 hanging leg raises (tucking knees) + 5 hanging leg raises (legs straight/pike)
2 mins 30s rowing machine highest resistance
Warm down
Ka-Pow! end of season social tomorrow! Gonna be epic!
Thursday 18 October 2012
Thursday Yoga
Good yoga session today. For once I was one of the most flexible during some of the poses. We worked the groin area quite a lot which I have quite a bit of flexibility in. But then some of the other poses were focussing on hamstrings which I have pretty bad flexibility in. Still it's all good for me and I can feeling it working during the sessions and on a week to week basis. Haven't felt as much overall benefit as the gym and track but I wonder if it's just because it's kind of working with the other fitness I'm doing.
Will head to the gym tomorrow and may do my rescheduled track session during the day on Saturday before heading to the Ka-Pow end of season social, agm and classic video games tournament.
Rumour is, if you beat Pichler best two out of three in Street Fighter then you gain his special power of being a longer human being than everyone else.
Will head to the gym tomorrow and may do my rescheduled track session during the day on Saturday before heading to the Ka-Pow end of season social, agm and classic video games tournament.
Rumour is, if you beat Pichler best two out of three in Street Fighter then you gain his special power of being a longer human being than everyone else.
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Was going to go to track tonight...
Got back to the train station and it was raining. Got disappointed thinking I would have to go to track in the rain for the fourth time in a row, then saw this:
Convinced me that it was ok to postpone my track session by a bit.
Convinced me that it was ok to postpone my track session by a bit.
Tuesday 16 October 2012
Tuesday Gym
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 press ups with feet balancing on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight
3 * 10 lunges (35kg)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
Warm down and stretching
Nice bit of leftover frittata for post gym lunch with plenty of protein!
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 press ups with feet balancing on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight
3 * 10 lunges (35kg)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
Warm down and stretching
Nice bit of leftover frittata for post gym lunch with plenty of protein!
Friday 12 October 2012
Caption competition
This handsome picture of yours truly:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=373491072727127&set=a.136101956466041.34262.134600843282819&type=1&ref=nf
was recently featured in a caption competition on the Everything Ultimate Page, run by Ultimate's biggest celebrity, Brodie Smith.
The page is "Liked" by over 15,000 people and the picture has been liked 54 times and 186 captions have been entered.
Plus all those people got a look at the sweet Kapow Ultimate kit! Lucky them!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=373491072727127&set=a.136101956466041.34262.134600843282819&type=1&ref=nf
was recently featured in a caption competition on the Everything Ultimate Page, run by Ultimate's biggest celebrity, Brodie Smith.
The page is "Liked" by over 15,000 people and the picture has been liked 54 times and 186 captions have been entered.
Plus all those people got a look at the sweet Kapow Ultimate kit! Lucky them!
Friday Gym
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 push ups with toes on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 lunges (35kg)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squat (90kg)
warm down
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 push ups with toes on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 lunges (35kg)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squat (90kg)
warm down
Thursday 11 October 2012
Thursday Yoga
Good yoga today, plenty of good stretches, but it was very similar to last week.
Strange thing happened during 'final relaxation' phase though. Kind of "woke up" and was instantly aware of things going on the room like people breathing heavily (someone snoring) and someones stomach rumbling. I've never noticed this kind of thing happening before and it's strange to think that I actually could be doing something close to meditation. Either that or I am just having a cheeky nap.
Anyway, good yoga. Missed track yesterday but will be hitting the gym tomorrow.
Strange thing happened during 'final relaxation' phase though. Kind of "woke up" and was instantly aware of things going on the room like people breathing heavily (someone snoring) and someones stomach rumbling. I've never noticed this kind of thing happening before and it's strange to think that I actually could be doing something close to meditation. Either that or I am just having a cheeky nap.
Anyway, good yoga. Missed track yesterday but will be hitting the gym tomorrow.
Tuesday 9 October 2012
Tuesday Gym
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 sit ups w/ 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 push ups with toes on 10kg medicine ball (thought this would be harder than the swiss ball as the surface area was about 5 times smaller, but the density actually made it easier as it was more stable, will switch back to the swiss ball next week)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squats (90kg)
3 * 10 lunges (35kg *increase*)
foam rolling to warm down
Not going to track tomorrow as I'm driving to a course for work that's two hours away and therefore will be late back.
Yoga on Thursday and gym Friday.
3 miles cycling yesterday, 2 miles today, 0 miles tomorrow and hopefully 3 miles Thursday and Friday if the weather's ok.
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 sit ups w/ 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 push ups with toes on 10kg medicine ball (thought this would be harder than the swiss ball as the surface area was about 5 times smaller, but the density actually made it easier as it was more stable, will switch back to the swiss ball next week)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squats (90kg)
3 * 10 lunges (35kg *increase*)
foam rolling to warm down
Not going to track tomorrow as I'm driving to a course for work that's two hours away and therefore will be late back.
Yoga on Thursday and gym Friday.
3 miles cycling yesterday, 2 miles today, 0 miles tomorrow and hopefully 3 miles Thursday and Friday if the weather's ok.
Monday night Indoors
Went down to an indoors training session last night.
Started out with throwing and a warmup.
Did a handler weave drill to get people moving then a coat hanger cut drill to get people throwing hammers and blade then just played games for an hour and a half.
It was good fun getting back into playing and throwing and catching. I had a few nice points and was generally playing pretty well.
The standard was pretty good and there were a good number of people there so I think I'll go back every week I can make it.
I've always found indoors harder to play in a good way. I usually rely being a handler or just skying a whole bunch of people. I like to play as a continuation cutter but indoors doesn't really lend itself to that role with not much space.
I played hard and layed out once for a grab so next week I'll have to dig out my knee pads from the bottom of my frisbee kit trunk, and generally enjoyed it (for indoors).
Started out with throwing and a warmup.
Did a handler weave drill to get people moving then a coat hanger cut drill to get people throwing hammers and blade then just played games for an hour and a half.
It was good fun getting back into playing and throwing and catching. I had a few nice points and was generally playing pretty well.
The standard was pretty good and there were a good number of people there so I think I'll go back every week I can make it.
I've always found indoors harder to play in a good way. I usually rely being a handler or just skying a whole bunch of people. I like to play as a continuation cutter but indoors doesn't really lend itself to that role with not much space.
I played hard and layed out once for a grab so next week I'll have to dig out my knee pads from the bottom of my frisbee kit trunk, and generally enjoyed it (for indoors).
Friday 5 October 2012
Friday Gym
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warm up
3 * 10 press ups with toes on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg *increase*)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squats (90kg)
Warm down and stretch
Checked me weight after my workout:
13 stone 1 lb
which is the heaviest I can ever remember weighing (I'm hoping it's because I'm building muscle!) and means I'm squatting more than my body weight!
Nothing planned this weekend, may do something Sunday if I'm not too hungover, but next organised fitness is indoor practice on Monday! Looking forward to some "actual" ultimate... ok it's just indoors...
3 * 10 press ups with toes on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 sit ups with 10kg weight on chest
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg *increase*)
3 * 10 bench press (60kg)
3 * 5 squats (90kg)
Warm down and stretch
Checked me weight after my workout:
13 stone 1 lb
which is the heaviest I can ever remember weighing (I'm hoping it's because I'm building muscle!) and means I'm squatting more than my body weight!
Nothing planned this weekend, may do something Sunday if I'm not too hungover, but next organised fitness is indoor practice on Monday! Looking forward to some "actual" ultimate... ok it's just indoors...
Thursday 4 October 2012
Thursday Yoga
Good session today. Really felt it in my abs and legs and arms. Starting to get to the stage where I don't have to think about moving into and between the various poses and can focus on the muscles I'm supposed to be working meaning that it's an even better workout and I can feel the benefits better and that happened today.
Really feel like it's doing something good for toning muscles rather than building them which is what I am aiming to do in the gym and that's why I keep going. Also, I can feel it working my tendons and joints, especially in my hamstrings where I've always been pretty tight.
It's a nice, no impact compliment for my other training and it's cheap with the gym membership in my offices which is also nice. Legs weren't sore at all from track last night which was nice and means I'm getting back into that!
Will finish today's cycling this afternoon and the gym tomorrow with cycling.
No exercise this weekend, but will be going to an Indoor ultimate session on Monday with Surrey based team Disconduct. I think it's mostly Guildford Ultimate players and they only compete as Disconduct at indoor tournaments. I know indoors is pretty high impact and not great training for outdoors, but I really think it will be beneficial for me to get back into throwing, catching, cutting, skying discy action!
Really feel like it's doing something good for toning muscles rather than building them which is what I am aiming to do in the gym and that's why I keep going. Also, I can feel it working my tendons and joints, especially in my hamstrings where I've always been pretty tight.
It's a nice, no impact compliment for my other training and it's cheap with the gym membership in my offices which is also nice. Legs weren't sore at all from track last night which was nice and means I'm getting back into that!
Will finish today's cycling this afternoon and the gym tomorrow with cycling.
No exercise this weekend, but will be going to an Indoor ultimate session on Monday with Surrey based team Disconduct. I think it's mostly Guildford Ultimate players and they only compete as Disconduct at indoor tournaments. I know indoors is pretty high impact and not great training for outdoors, but I really think it will be beneficial for me to get back into throwing, catching, cutting, skying discy action!
Wednesday Track
Been lucky with weather with cycling, 3 miles on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Though that weather luck ran out last night when we headed to track and as we left the flat it started raining.
Good session though, being joined by Tom was good as some healthy machismo meant that we were both pushing each other to go faster/not slow down. We did:
400m jog to warm up
1 * 1600m fartlek (50m sprint - 50m jog) - 6minutes 32 seconds on a wet track! Good time.
5 minutes to recover
4 * 50m sprint - 50m jog with no break
1 minute rest
100m sprint - 1 minute rest * 4
400m warm down
Yoga (and 3 miles cycling) today then Gym (and 3 miles cycling) tomorrow!
Though that weather luck ran out last night when we headed to track and as we left the flat it started raining.
Good session though, being joined by Tom was good as some healthy machismo meant that we were both pushing each other to go faster/not slow down. We did:
400m jog to warm up
1 * 1600m fartlek (50m sprint - 50m jog) - 6minutes 32 seconds on a wet track! Good time.
5 minutes to recover
4 * 50m sprint - 50m jog with no break
1 minute rest
100m sprint - 1 minute rest * 4
400m warm down
Yoga (and 3 miles cycling) today then Gym (and 3 miles cycling) tomorrow!
Tuesday 2 October 2012
Tuesday Gym
5 minute run + stretching + foam rolling to warmup
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 sit ups (10kg barbell weight on chest)
3 * 10 Dumbell push up and row (info here)
3 * 10 lunges (25kg)
warm down and stretching
Didn't have much time today for the gym at lunch but did a difficult session, really got my upper body feeling it.
Track tomorrow, yoga Thursday and then gym again Friday.
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 sit ups (10kg barbell weight on chest)
3 * 10 Dumbell push up and row (info here)
3 * 10 lunges (25kg)
warm down and stretching
Didn't have much time today for the gym at lunch but did a difficult session, really got my upper body feeling it.
Track tomorrow, yoga Thursday and then gym again Friday.
Monday 1 October 2012
EUCF 2012 and bids for xeucf2013
The European Ultimate Club Championships took place this weekend in Frankfurt, Germany. It was the aim of Ka-Pow! Ultimate, in our first season, to qualify for this tournament, and unfortunately we fell short. Still, it was good to watch it being streamed live and was an entertaining final between Clapham Ultimate and Chevron Action Flash.
The great thing about having UK teams finishing 1st and 2nd (as well as good results for the other three teams who qualified) is that it points to the UK (the west region) as the strongest european region, guaranteeing that UK teams will be competitive and that the UK scene should continue to improve. This is also backed by Team GB's recent success at the World championships.
This should also mean that in future, the UK might get more bids to the European club championships. The bids for this year's championships were decided on regional tournaments with the regions containing the following countries and being allocated the following numbers of bids:
West (UK): 5
South (Ireland - France - Switzerland - Italy - Spain - Portugal - Israel): 6 (took the bid from the North team that did not attend)
Central (Denmark - Germany - Holland - Belgium - Luxembourg): 6
East (Poland - Czech Rep - Austria - Slovakia - Slovenia - Croatia - Belarus - Ukraine - Hungary): 4
North (Norway - Sweden - Finland - Russia - Latvia - Estonia - Lithuania): 3 (Had 4 bids but one qualified team didn't attend)
Now I'm not sure I deciphered the algorithm to allocating bids for next year completely correct (here) but as far as I can tell the bid allocation for next year should be:
West: 6
South: 5
Central: 5
East: 4
North: 4
which would accurately represent the strength of the regions according to average finishing position (lower is better):
West (1st, 2nd, 6th, 11th, 13th): 6.6
Central (3rd, 5th, 8th, 14th, 18th, 19th): 11.2
South (4th, 9th, 12th, 17th, 22nd, 24th): 14.7
East (7th, 15th, 20th, 21st): 15.8
North (10th, 16th, 23rd): 16.3
Interestingly, the north didn't send it's 3rd highest qualifier (of 4), however, this team would have had to finish 15th (with all teams below this point assumed to just finish 1 place lower) for the North region to finish above the East.
The great thing about having UK teams finishing 1st and 2nd (as well as good results for the other three teams who qualified) is that it points to the UK (the west region) as the strongest european region, guaranteeing that UK teams will be competitive and that the UK scene should continue to improve. This is also backed by Team GB's recent success at the World championships.
This should also mean that in future, the UK might get more bids to the European club championships. The bids for this year's championships were decided on regional tournaments with the regions containing the following countries and being allocated the following numbers of bids:
West (UK): 5
South (Ireland - France - Switzerland - Italy - Spain - Portugal - Israel): 6 (took the bid from the North team that did not attend)
Central (Denmark - Germany - Holland - Belgium - Luxembourg): 6
East (Poland - Czech Rep - Austria - Slovakia - Slovenia - Croatia - Belarus - Ukraine - Hungary): 4
North (Norway - Sweden - Finland - Russia - Latvia - Estonia - Lithuania): 3 (Had 4 bids but one qualified team didn't attend)
Now I'm not sure I deciphered the algorithm to allocating bids for next year completely correct (here) but as far as I can tell the bid allocation for next year should be:
West: 6
South: 5
Central: 5
East: 4
North: 4
which would accurately represent the strength of the regions according to average finishing position (lower is better):
West (1st, 2nd, 6th, 11th, 13th): 6.6
Central (3rd, 5th, 8th, 14th, 18th, 19th): 11.2
South (4th, 9th, 12th, 17th, 22nd, 24th): 14.7
East (7th, 15th, 20th, 21st): 15.8
North (10th, 16th, 23rd): 16.3
Interestingly, the north didn't send it's 3rd highest qualifier (of 4), however, this team would have had to finish 15th (with all teams below this point assumed to just finish 1 place lower) for the North region to finish above the East.
Saturday Flag Football
I headed to the playing fields local to me to try my hand at flag american football on Saturday. Felt weird going to a practice with cleats but no disc.
Got there a bit early and sat around waiting for a little while.
When the others started turning up it immediately felt like an ultimate practice.
People were late, the whole team didn't turn up but the atmosphere was friendly and it was an enjoyable practice.
We started with some throwing and catching, just like ultimate, a short warmup (not long enough for me) and then running routes. I watch a lot of NFL and play a lot of Madden so I knew the routes but it was interesting to learn some stuff that I didn't know before, like putting the inside foot on the line of scrimmage. I started catching a few and dropping a few and it felt pretty difficult catching the ball, until I was leant a pair of wide receiver gloves. They are INCREDIBLE! I caught almost every ball thrown my way for the rest of the session. I am going to find a pair for ultimate if only to see how good they can be.
After running routes we played bulldog with the flag belts on. Pretty fun and a good drill for learning the basics of tackling (pulling the flags) on defense.
After that we did a drill/practice game with 4 defenders, 2 receivers and a quarterback to practice the basics of zone defense and some more route running on offense. The qb changed between a couple of guys as there were a few new guys including myself and some of the other players never played qb for their team but the defenders and receivers switched around after every drive.
Then we moved on to 3 defenders, 3 receivers to practice man defense in another practice game.
All in all I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be going to all the practices I can get to and if it's possible with timings I will try and play both flag football and ultimate next season (though I will focus on ultimate).
I think I impressed as well. I got 2 Interceptions in the practices, one in the zone defense scrimmage, one in the man defense scrimmage and was close to another couple. I also caught 2 touchdowns and was close to another.
I think I impressed as with my experience with ultimate and all it's transferrable skills I felt really confident (as soon as I had the gloves on and was catching the ball). I think they were quite eager to get me back and were asking about the ultimate season and trying to work out whether it overlapped with their season at all.
They went to the playoffs last year so it seems like they'd be at a pretty good level and this practice was without their #1 qb so it will probably get better from here.
I really felt it on Sunday though, I already said I thought the warmup wasn't long enough and I haven't played any ultimate in a couple of weeks so Sunday I felt pretty stiff in my groin and my arms. I'm wondering if my arms were stiff because a football is that much heavier to throw and catch and also uses a different range of motion on throws. Just goes to show how much actual practice and running cuts does for fitness as opposed to just gym/track etc.
Back to fitness this week.
Got there a bit early and sat around waiting for a little while.
When the others started turning up it immediately felt like an ultimate practice.
People were late, the whole team didn't turn up but the atmosphere was friendly and it was an enjoyable practice.
We started with some throwing and catching, just like ultimate, a short warmup (not long enough for me) and then running routes. I watch a lot of NFL and play a lot of Madden so I knew the routes but it was interesting to learn some stuff that I didn't know before, like putting the inside foot on the line of scrimmage. I started catching a few and dropping a few and it felt pretty difficult catching the ball, until I was leant a pair of wide receiver gloves. They are INCREDIBLE! I caught almost every ball thrown my way for the rest of the session. I am going to find a pair for ultimate if only to see how good they can be.
After running routes we played bulldog with the flag belts on. Pretty fun and a good drill for learning the basics of tackling (pulling the flags) on defense.
After that we did a drill/practice game with 4 defenders, 2 receivers and a quarterback to practice the basics of zone defense and some more route running on offense. The qb changed between a couple of guys as there were a few new guys including myself and some of the other players never played qb for their team but the defenders and receivers switched around after every drive.
Then we moved on to 3 defenders, 3 receivers to practice man defense in another practice game.
All in all I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be going to all the practices I can get to and if it's possible with timings I will try and play both flag football and ultimate next season (though I will focus on ultimate).
I think I impressed as well. I got 2 Interceptions in the practices, one in the zone defense scrimmage, one in the man defense scrimmage and was close to another couple. I also caught 2 touchdowns and was close to another.
I think I impressed as with my experience with ultimate and all it's transferrable skills I felt really confident (as soon as I had the gloves on and was catching the ball). I think they were quite eager to get me back and were asking about the ultimate season and trying to work out whether it overlapped with their season at all.
They went to the playoffs last year so it seems like they'd be at a pretty good level and this practice was without their #1 qb so it will probably get better from here.
I really felt it on Sunday though, I already said I thought the warmup wasn't long enough and I haven't played any ultimate in a couple of weeks so Sunday I felt pretty stiff in my groin and my arms. I'm wondering if my arms were stiff because a football is that much heavier to throw and catch and also uses a different range of motion on throws. Just goes to show how much actual practice and running cuts does for fitness as opposed to just gym/track etc.
Back to fitness this week.
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