Monday – Gym
Tuesday – Gym
Wednesday – Foam Rolling/Stretchin
Thursday - Rest
Friday – Yoga
Saturday/Sunday – Mixed Tour 1
Started the week changing up my gym routine a little. Wanted to add a bit of progression in some areas. Will continue with these routines for two more weeks and will then progress a bit further again.
Monday Gym:
Warm up:
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 / arm internal + external @ 10kg)
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)
Strength band exercises
4 way hip stretching
Main Session
A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 15kg)
2. Medicine ball Russian Twists (3 * 10 on each side @ 9kg *new*)
3. Straight Arm Plank Row (3 * 5/arm @ 5kg *new*)
B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 5 / leg @ 18kg)
2. Dumbell Y Press (3 * 10 @ 5kg/arm *new*)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 10 / leg / movement)
C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 30kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Single Arm Kettlebell Curl to Overhead Press (3 * 5 / arm @ 8kg)
Warm Down
4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR
Tuesday Gym
Warm up
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 10kg)
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)
Strength band exercises
4 way hip stretching
Main Session
A
1. Single arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 10 / arm @ 18kg)
2. Medicine Ball Russian Twists (3 * 10/side @ 9kg *new*)
3. Swiss Ball Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths)
B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 5 / leg @ 18kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)
C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 4kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Dumbell Y Press (3 * 10 @ 5kg /arm *new*)
Warm Down
4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR
Friday Yoga
Getting used to doing weekly Yoga again, but this was a tough session with lots of poses focussed on the legs and some balances with twists. A good session but which left my legs tired.
Mixed Tour 1
Perhaps it was a mistake to go to Yoga the day before Mixed tour, but Worlds is going to be a 5 day tournament so I’m going to have to get used to multiple days of exercise in a row. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep particularly well the night before either and had to drive up in the morning. All this combined to make my legs feel particularly heavy from point 1. I felt my performance slightly suffering throughout the first day with tired legs leading to mental tiredness and mistakes. I still felt like my defence was quite strong, but I didn't feel at full capacity. As a team we went undefeated and handled our games fairly easily on the day though.
My personal performance on Sunday was a different story though. With the chance to properly stretch and warm down after Saturday, followed by further smr in my hotel room, a good dinner and an early night, come Sunday morning I felt refreshed. It also helped that we would only have two games on the day and didn’t have to start until midday.
The first game of the day would be our semi final against one of the Cambridge teams (the D line) and would be our toughest game of the weekend. Cambridge would be (if I remember rightly) the first team of the weekend to get a break on our O line, and played tough defence throughout, as you would expect for a team full of defensive players. However, the Bear Cavalry defence made plenty of plays as well and managed to get enough of breaks of our own, especially late to close out the game. I personally was switched late in the game to be assigned to the tall guy from the states who plays with Cambridge, and I really enjoyed that. It was the toughest coverage assignment I’d been given on the weekend and after watching him for a while from the sideline I was able to figure out what he wanted to do and put plenty of pressure on him. The first point I covered him I started deep and backed off a little as he ran towards me. I knew he wanted the deep shot but I kept in my vision the person on the disc and when I saw him turn to go under I knew the disc was going to him. I was able to lay past him to get the block and, though we didn’t score in one possession, I was able to catch the goal to end that point. I covered him a couple more times and felt I did a pretty good job throughout. He wasn’t my toughest assignment of the weekend though.
The final was against my old team, Thundering Herd. They had put in some great performances throughout the weekend, winning their group over Worlds qualifiers RGS and won a tight semi final against Bristol. They came in undefeated and confident, and during the first half really kept the pressure up, taking the first break of the game. Bear Cav were able to break back and trade out to take the half 8-7. In the second half, I was told to cover Cian as he had been controlling the Herd offense for most of the first half, both going deep and sending it deep. In the first point I was covering him, I didn’t adjust properly and he ran straight past me to catch a deep shot just outside the endzone. I was able to redeem myself by stopping the goal with a fingertip point block, and we took the first break of the second half. From there on I felt I adjusted nicely, and the rest of the d line tightened up as, when Cian did get the disc, the stall got to 9 on two occasions. Herd were not exclusively running their offense through him, and whilst they were able to move the disc still, the goals eluded them and the Bears ran in break after break. In the end we didn’t concede a point in the second half and the game finished 15-7. Whilst it was tough on me, I loved covering someone like that and will continue to relish opportunities to do so throughout the season as it can only continue my development. The season and the road to worlds has properly started now, and my next opportunity to play ultimate can’t come soon enough.
Plan for this week:
Monday – Core + Stretching + SMR – Done
Tuesday – Gym – Done
Wednesday – Gym
Thursday – Rest (edited)
Friday – Yoga
Saturday – Track + Throwing
Sunday – Ka-Pow! training
A full week this week, but I’m looking forward to it. I need to be doing everything I can to improve myself for my teams.
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