Thursday Gym

Yoga was cancelled today and since I won't be at work tomorrow I hit the gym today. I was pretty tired this morning and felt tired throughout the session, but I managed to get through it all.


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:


{4 * Max Pull ups (16, 16, 12, 11)
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 12.5kg)}

{3 * 8 Squats (80kg)
3 * 8 Bulgarian Split squats (20 kg) - per leg}

{3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12.5kg *increase*) - per leg}
4 * Max  weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 30, 26, 20)
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Changed out regular split squats for the Bulgarian split squats using a dumbell (not a barbell on my back) and  felt it working me harder despite the lower weight. Think I'll be doing the Bulgarian form from now on. It helps that it's easier to transition between the back squats and Bulgarian splits.

Wednesday Night Track

Track routine was the same as last week, but changes up next week again.

Warmup:

400m jog and full stretching routine + Muscle rolling

Main:

3 * (20m sprint - 1 minute rest - 40m sprint - 1 minute rest - 60m sprint - 3 minute rest)

Backhand hucking practice

Full warm down with stretching routine to finish off.

Today I'll be hitting the gym.

Tuesday Gym

Got to the gym over lunch today. I like the ordering of the session that I did today, it felt tough throughout but I managed to get all the power exercises done first. Took a bit longer than usual, but I went to the gym at a busy time and was doing harder/more reps for most exercises.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:


{4 * Max Pull ups (19, 15, 11, 11)
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 12.5kg *increase*)}

{3 * 8 Squats (80kg *increase*)

3 * 8 Split squats (70 kg *increase*) - per leg}

{3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
4 * Max  weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 30, 24, 20)
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Track tomorrow. And a combination of Yoga being cancelled on Thursday and Friday been a bank holiday means I'll hit the gym for the second time this week on Thursday. Will also try and get out on Friday and do some cardio, but in general this 4 day weekend is for chillaxing.

Also, in case you missed my earlier retweet or you don't follow @KapowUltimate on twitter or Like Ka-Pow! Ultimate on Facebook, then the roster for the 2013 season has been announced.

And the horse you rode in on...

Small cycling update:
My boris bike subscription ran out on Saturday, meaning that any cycling I do from now on will be on a proper bike. It also means that I will be cycling an extra mile every day (roughly 6.5 miles). It was really useful whilst I didn't have a bike of my own, but the difference in performance is ridiculous and it's more practical as well.

Ka-pow! Weekend

Apparently, this year the weather is deciding to make it difficult for teams to get reps before the season starts. It snowed on both Saturday and Sunday whilst we were training, which means that it's a great job we have the 3G pitches booked for our trainings.

With it being the worst year for Winter League cancellations and the snow in MARCH it means that the fact that we've been taking advantage of quality training facilities and hopefully it should give us an edge come the season.

Saturday:

We were learning an offensive system that we will occasionally throw at opponents to mix it up in a game. It's a good system and we definitely have players who can excel in it. We also ran some practice on a pull play and continuation cutting after a completed deep huck. We then scrimmaged to try and put this into practice.

Cracking on. twitter.com/KaPowUltimate/…
— Ka-Pow! (@KaPowUltimate) March 23, 2013

Having started on a pitch covered in snow by the end of the session it had mostly been cleared from 4 hours play.

Sunday:

We were focussing on our Endzone offenses and again looked at continuation play after a deep completion, and hucking practice. We also played games and "Sudden Death Endzone" where the O and D line compete to score from just outside the end zone in a sudden death penalty shoot out type competition, with the losers doing a minute of dynamic plank. The O line did a good job of scoring, but the D-line was pressuring well even though the D line earned themselves more plank time overall.

It was a pretty good turnout on both days despite the weather with some good team building and song writing at the meal in the evening.


This coming weekend, I will not be playing ultimate for the first time since the start of the year, and honestly I'm looking forward to it. Even with injuries, it's been pretty non-stop and it'll be nice to have a break, especially around the 4 day easter weekend and before the first main tournament of the season.

Friday Gym

Today I managed to get back to a full session in the gym after doing reduced sessions since injuring my knee.


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats

Main routine:


{4 * Max Pull ups (18, 14, 12, 11)

3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)}

3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
{3 * 8 Squats (70kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
3 * 8 Split squats (60 kg *increase*) - per leg
4 * Max  weighted press ups (15kg) (26, 24, 21, 18)
3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Looking forward to the Ka-Pow! full roster training this weekend on Saturday and Sunday!

Thursday Yoga

Today's yoga involved quite a lot of poses which were working the glutes, hamstrings and calves, but also included a pose which would appear to be easy to someone looking on, but in actuality was pretty taxing on the arms and finished with some bridge and a nice pose which stretches the thoracic spine.

Pretty happy that my knee didn't hurt at all throughout the Yoga session and overall quite happy with the fact that I'm probably one of the best regulars at Yoga. It feels weird to be competitive at yoga, but I was definitely consistently the best at all the balancing poses, even though my hamstring flexibility is awful...

Gym tomorrow then a Ka-pow! full squad weekend this weekend.
The Ka-Pow! roster for this season is close to being finalized and will be released on the Website, Facebook and Twitter. Looking like a strong season with a good challenge for a Euros spot this year and a Worlds spot for next year.

Wednesday night track

The track routine has changed again, back to the same session as we started with:

Warmup:

400m jog and full stretching routine + Muscle rolling

Main:

3 * (20m sprint - 1 minute rest - 40m sprint - 1 minute rest - 60m sprint - 3 minute rest)

I had also taken a couple of discs and seeing as the field inside the track was completely empty I did fifteen minutes of throwing after the sprints. My weakest throw by far is my backhand huck, so I almost entirely worked on that, and I think I made some progress. I will continue to work on it at future track sessions and in general.

Felt good, with only a little bit of knee stiffness after the warm up and through the first couple of sprints.

Full warm down with stretching routine to finish off.

Tuesday Gym

Had to work through lunch again, but managed to hit the gym later in the afternoon. Going at 2:10 instead of between 12-1 is so nice, the gym was practically empty! Started the main part with squats in order to test out my knee, and I didn't do all of the other lower body exercises as I didn't want to push it too soon, but my knee feels fine so I'll be back to the full session on Friday and I'll hit the track tomorrow. In other gym related news, I managed 18 pull ups on my first set which is the most I've done in one go, and I was quite surprised by this as I didn't do the pull ups first like I usually do, however I couldn't carry on the higher reps than usual. Also, pretty proud of my loaded press up numbers as I increased the load to 15kg.


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats

Main routine:

3 * 8 Squats (50kg, 60kg, 70kg) (increased slowly to test my knee)
4 * Max Pull ups (18, 10, 10, 11)
{3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)
3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)}
{4 * Max  weighted press ups (15kg *increase*) (23, 20, 15, 19)
4 * 8 Double Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball) (*1 more set, double legs instead of single*)}
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Friday Gym

Finally managed to do a bit of fitness this week.

Like I've mentioned, I've got a bruised knee from last weeks training so I was doing an upper body only session this week. It felt like a tough session even though I cut out half the exercises. I also lowered the weights on those activities that were mostly upper body but required some leg work as well, but I did add in weighted sit ups to bulk out the session. Pushed myself hard and happy with this session. Also, did lots of foam rolling before and after and my knee has felt less stiff than it had all morning (and I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to train tomorrow based on how stiff it was this morning). Did a full warm up just to loosen up my legs with low intensity stuff. Anyway...


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

4 * Max Pull ups (17, 14, 12, 10)
3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 5kg *decrease*)
4 * Max  weighted press ups (5kg *decrease*) (30, 30, 30, 30)
3 * 8 weighted sit ups (5kg)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Training tomorrow. Will be wearing my old knee pad from indoors to protect my knee from further knocks and will be taking it easy as the Mixed season starts in a couple of weeks.

New plan for this week

Didn't go to the track last night, won't be going to Yoga today. Will be going to the gym on Friday but will be only doing upper body stuff.
My knee bruise is blooming quite well, but is still stiff and a little sore. I just want to be fine for training on Saturday, but will take it easy and try to avoid laying out and knocking it again.

No gym today...

Work today was busy and I was in a meeting all morning, so I didn't get to the gym. However, it might have been for the best as my knee has broken out in quite a bruise:



It's not sore at all, but it just might be better if I don't rush back. Will head to the track tomorrow night, which will have given me 4 days since it was bruised, with plenty of icing and ibuprofen gel.

Saturday Kapow! Training

Slightly lower attendance at Saturday's training, but in comparison to some of the sessions we had last year and with people having legitimate reasons for not attending (GB Under 23 training, Student Outdoor Regionals...) combined with the fact that we still had our great 3G training field, meant that the session was still productive and tough work.

After starting with a game of 3 Defense v 4 Offense, we worked again on the off line system that we had practiced last week and the endzone play systems that we introduced in February, with a hucking drill thrown in as well. The endzone system seems to be a tough learn, with a pretty low success rate against a defense which knows exactly what is happening. It's theory is really sound and when it worked it was so easy, but it definitely require more practice, especially in game situations rather than in a structured drill so the defense doesn't have as much opportunity to set up the exact set to defend it. I am confident in this system as I remember it being very effective when played in scrimmage games in February.

The mood at the end was mostly positive despite the lower turnout and it was another good session as we start to gather momentum towards the season.

Unfortunately, my knee took a knock at some point during the training, and whilst it didn't stop me playing/walking/ice skating Saturday evening, it has purpled out in a bruise and become a little stiff. I will continue to ice it and take anti-inflammatories and see how it goes for this week. I will hit the gym, even if I can't do leg stuff and should still be fine doing track by Wednesday.

Thursday Yoga and Friday Gym

Yoga was good yesterday. Pretty similar to previous weeks except we worked in bridge with feet up the wall working into a shoulder stand instead of the standard bridge pose work we usually do.

Gym today and I felt tired and it was pretty hard for the entire session. But I got it all done and I'm feeling good now! Again I moved around the order of exercises, but this time it was mostly about which areas of the gym were free.


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats

Main routine:

{4 * Max Pull ups (12, 13, 13, 10)
3 * 12 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
3 * 8 Seated row (64kg *increase*)
{3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)
3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)}
{4 * Max  weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 20, 22, 20)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}
{3 * 8 Squats (70kg)
3 * 8 Split squats (52.5kg) - per leg}

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

This weekend, I've only got Kapow training on Saturday in what looks to be not great weather conditions. Unless you count Ice skating... Going to watch the Basingstoke Bison (local ice hockey team) face the Guildford Flames (the local team where I grew up) which should be exciting! The cost of the ticket covers skate hire and time on the rink afterwards so I'll be doing a bit of Ice skating as well on Saturday night. Not many people know this, but I actually learned to Ice Skate at 2 years old! I never did it regularly, but I've always been competent at it. Will be careful and wear some good socks though, as, in the past, I've had trouble with hire skates giving me pretty bad blisters and I don't want to have to take time out next week because of this.

Wednesday Track

Nice night for the track tonight. First track session that I've not had to wear my hoodie and gloves.

400m warmup plus full stretching routine

4*
         20s @ 50-60%, 10s @ 85-90%, 30s @50-60%, 15s @ 85-90%,  30s @50-60%, 15s @ 85-90%, 20s @ 50-60%, 10s @ 85-90% + 5 minutes off

400m warmdown plus full stretching routine


Other stuff... Making a couple of changes to the blog.
Weekly cycle mileage page which will be updated weekly rather than including it in other posts.

Gonna add a few other pages as well. Also, will be helping out with the Kapow website and we will be revealing the roster soon. I have also been having input into the Kapow kit.

Tuesday Gym

Same session, with a slightly different order. Also, because I wasn't concentrating properly (somehow I still seem to be mentally tired from the weekend) I did 3 * 12 lateral step ups instead of 3 * 8 per leg.


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats

Main routine:

{4 * Max Pull ups (13, 13, 11, 10)
3 * 12 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (65cm swiss ball *change*)
4 * Max  weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 26, 19, 13)}
{3 * 8 Squats (70kg)
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)}
3 * 8 Split squats (52.5kg) - per leg
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank
3 * 8 Seated row (55kg)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Ultimate Weekend Part 2: Herd vs Scarecrew (Sat), Herd Party and Herd Training (Sun)

Saturday: Herd scrimmage vs Scarecrew (Herd 1 win 13-10 ish)

I managed to get to the Herd afternoon session with an hour left, which just happened to be just as the Herd 1 team were getting ready to play a pre-season friendly against Scarecrew. We've had games against Scarecrew in previous seasons and whilst we've always come out on top, it's a new season with a new squad for us. Regardless, we had a greater squad size and came out strong early to start the game and started feeling good. Our defense put them under pressure and whilst our offense wasn't always flawless, we kept possession of the disc and reset it well. We had a bit of a lapse during the middle of the game and let Scarecrew back into the game, but turned it on again at the end of the game to close out the win.

Scarecrew have a good team with a couple of playmakers that at times we struggled to shut down, and they liked to attack on the break side which we weren't always able to stop with forces getting broken a little too easily. However, we forced them to be more one dimensional than perhaps they would have liked by not allowing them much of a deep game. Our offense at times looked a mess and at other times looked like scoring at will so we'll need a little more consistency with the season closing in on us, especially since we will be facing tougher competition through the season. But a win is a win is a win and overall we played well.

That evening a private room in Verve bar in Leicester Square had been organised with a Herd Pub quiz to be followed by dancing the night away. The pub quiz was good fun and included rounds where the questions/answers were based on answers provided by club members. The night was fantastic as all Herd parties seem to be and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Sunday's practice saw a reduced turnout from Saturday's and people turned up a little worse for wear, but was still good fun. An issue with our offense had been identified by the captains during the game against Scarecrew and so a new play which is an adaptation to one of the existing plays, had been drawn up. I love that the captains are spotting areas for improvement and are so adaptive, but it remains to be seen whether it can be fully implemented before the start of the season. Even so, I liked the adaptation and it seemed to work when we scrimmaged the first team vs the second team to end the session.

I had a fantastic weekend and luckily, despite all the ultimate I played I don't have any aching muscles to start the working week, even though mentally I'm still a little tired from the Saturday night party.

Ultimate weekend Part 1: Kapow! Session

Saturday - Kapow!

Really good session this week. Intensity has slowly been ramping up since the start of the new year and this weekend everyone was bringing it. There were still some mental lapses which caused a couple of drops, but instead of singing, this weekend the punishment was press-ups, sit ups and burpees in equal measure. Despite this, I think the training was the best we've had since the end of last season.

Our focusses in what was the last session before our roster is finalised focussed on offense again, both in endzone/redzone situations and from our split stack formation.
Since the majority of our squad has been selected, most of the attendees of this session had already been assigned a place on either the O-Line or the D-Line. In our trainings the scrimmages and play run throughs will mostly be split O vs D.
This year I will be aiming to transition from O-line to D-line. Whilst I loved playing O-line last year, I'm really keen to make a contribution to the defense. I'm also liking the changes that we're implementing to the D lines offensive pace and strategy.
Psyching ourselves up before the game against the O-line to finish the session was fun. It's going to be a great season if we can push our O-line to better last year's production as well as getting more conversions from the D-line and the only way either of these aims is going to be achieved is if everyone pushes themselves at trainings from a personal perspective and also from an O vs D line perspective.

The games had altered rules to try and put a focus on endzone offense from both a slow start and quick start scenario. We played that whenever a possession for either team advanced the disc into the redzone (endzone line up to the just before the brick) then they got a timeout which would allow the endzone structure to be set from a slow start. The other alteration that was implemented was double score, which meant that even if you scored off a huck, it would only count if the disc was brought out again and scored again without a turnover. This meant that two games to three points took a while, but they were productive and our alterations to our endzone offense are looking really good. The split stack play we had been drilling wasn't used as effectively during the games as it could have been, but it's situational and so we didn't get many reps of it in.

Overall it was a great session though. Looking forward to hearing the final roster at some point this week and get to the rest of the season started.

Finally, I have been really enjoying having the use of 3G fields for all our sessions. Though they have been a little on the pricey side, having seen someone at the Sunday herd session who had come from Clapham's session who was really complaining about the mud-bath they had been playing in, I can say they've been totally worth it.

Friday Gym

Another gym session where I wanted to go hard. Was really tired by the end.

Tried to encorporate the ordering of exercises principles from Coops' blog post, but it was difficult as strangely the Gym was really busy on a Friday. Exercises below are listed by the order I did them. Where I did sets alternating between two different exercises I have {} bracketed the exercises


Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats

Main routine:

{4 * Max Pull ups (16, 13, 10, 0)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)
3 * 8 Seated row (55kg)
{3 * 8 Squats (70kg)
3 * 8 Split squats (52.5kg) - per leg}
{4 * 30s Dynamic Plank
3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)}
4 * Max  weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 19, 14, 16)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Really looking forward to a full weekend of Ultimate this weekend. Schedule looks like this:

Saturday 10-1: Kapow! Training

Saturday Whenever I get there-4: Herd Training including scrimmage against Scarecrew

Saturday Evening: Herd Festivities!

Sunday 12-2: Herd Training