Patrick D's Training Log

Fri 1.27.12: HBal, Rings Strength, Manna

2012-01-28T20:32:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs awesome
Diet: great
Stress: great

The blackout curtains are one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Evening Workout - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Handbalancing:
OAHS Practice:
- 20 minutes, pretty good
Straddle Planche Practice:
- 10 minutes, pressing from straddle L, decent
- hitting the proper height, but for only fractions of a second

Strength:
Rings PPPU: 5x5, as before
Rings ICPO: 4x3, with a block 3/4th down the calves
Tuck FL Holds: 3x(max)
OA Ring Rows: (lots)x(lots), with a good incline to make it easier
Manna Progressions: 3x(max)
Curls: 3x(several) with a band wrapped around a dumbbell handle

Thu 1.26.12: IMF Performance; MXP, Chairs

2012-01-26T22:45:00.005-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: decent
Stress: good

Sleep was amazing. Those blackout curtains really work.

Dinner was too large tonight, even though my breakfast was small. I'm fine-tuning this.

Gymkana Performance: the International Monetary Fund
This was a quick 5 minute performance in Washington D.C., with one of our MXP acts and Chairs. Both acts kicked ass, and that's really all there is to say about it.

Gymkana Practice - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- calisthenics and stretching

Handbalancing:
A bit of OAHS practice.

MXP:
Ran the routine a bit; needs the rust brushed off.

Chairs:
Pressed a five-high stack for the first time.

Cool-down:
Some active straddle flexibility work.

At home, I spent about ten minutes working push-ups, hollow circles, and wrist/finger mobility. Very light conditioning, didn't even break a sweat.

Sun 1.22.12 - Wed 1.25.12: Quick Update

2012-01-25T17:35:00.003-05:00

Sunday was a strength workout, run of the mill.

Monday was a short Gymkana practice, nothing too serious. Then visited the Acro Airs again (for the first time since April 2011) and did a bit of stunting there. Those guys kick so much ass.

Tuesday was some open-gym time in the early afternoon (working some p-bars and rings) then a short practice in the evening. Again, nothing too serious.

Wednesday (today), is the Duke/MD basketball game vaulting performance. No practice, and I'm taking it as a rest day. I might do 10-20 minutes of stretching and conditioning when I get back home, but that depends on the hour. Tomorrow is a Chairs performance in Washington D.C. and then a 3hr evening practice, so I want to be at my peak for both.

Diet has been great the entire time.

Stress, what?

Sleep has been fairly crappy for the past while, as mentioned in the 1.14.12 post. The cold makes it difficult to get comfortable, and if I use a space heater, then it gets too hot and I wake up at 3AM with the heater shut off, my blankets fallen off, my shirt taken off, and my ass freezing off. Go figure.

Last night, I installed some thermal blackout curtains, however, and they seem to have done the trick. Time will tell.

Sat 1.21.12: Quick strength workout.

2012-01-22T09:27:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs + 1hr evening nap
Diet: good
Stress: good

Started this around 1am. Made it quick so I could get everything in before dozing off. Went surprisingly well, considering the hour and my fatigue.

Late Night Workout - 70min:
Warm-up:
- none

Handbalancing:
- 15 minutes OAHS practice, getting better

Strength:
Rings PPPU: 3x5, as usual
FL Progression: 3x2x(max) with a flat tuck, semi-extended
Wall HSPU: 3x4, three reps partial ROM, last rep eccentric, with hands on 3" raisers
- interspersed these with rice bucket work for the fingers
Manna progressions: 2x2(max)
- interspersed with curls

Fri 1.20.12: Stretching, SMR, Conditioning

2012-01-22T09:25:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: good
Stress: good

Spent an hour doing some pretty intense stretching, followed by 2hrs of light foam rolling/SMR, wrapped up by 5x20 push-ups done at a sweat-breaking pace.

Thu 1.19.12: Messing around.

2012-01-22T09:23:00.003-05:00

Sleep: I forget
Diet: good
Stress: good

An abbreviated Gymkana practice today, about 75 minutes. Mostly just messed around and got used to being back on the equipment, but it was still a good workout. Started working on p-bars again, as well, since I might want to get back in on that act. Dunno.

Wed 1.18.12: PL, PPPU, Rows, FL, Cond.

2012-01-18T12:25:00.001-05:00

Sleep: 7.5hrs solid
Diet: great
Stress: good

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- 2 cups of coffee
- some bands and stuff
- couple of OAHS (decent)

Handbalancing:
Planche Practice:
- about 20 minutes of messing around with presses/lowers to planche
- I can support a good lean forward now in PPPU, but can't break off the floor
- problems seem to be hip flexibility, low back strength, and wrist flexibility/strength

Strength:
Rings PPPU: 3x5 (4 reps + 1 eccentric, as before)
Ring Rows: lots
Rings FL -> MU -> PL -> FL: 5x1 (flat tuck position)
Manna progressions.

Conditioning:
- wrist and hip mobility throughout the workout
- about 100 push-ups at the end, done in a few sets at a pace to break a sweat

Tue 1.17.12: PPPU, ICPO, HSPU

2012-01-18T12:22:00.002-05:00

Sleep: mediocre
Diet: great
Stress: good

Got around to this workout too late in the evening. I was already beginning to doze off a bit when I started, and I had to cut it short before doing the manna and conditioning work I had planned. On the upside, the fatigue helped me get a solid night of sleep.

Workout went slowly because of side work I had to take care of during the rest breaks and the general fatigue.

Late Night Workout - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Strength:
Ring Supports: 7x(max)
Rings PPPU: 5x5, as before
Cross Pulls: 5x3, as before

Mon 1.16.12: Handstands/Recovery

2012-01-18T00:32:00.000-05:00

Sleep: mediocre
Diet: great
Stress: good

Easy day today, in order to rest up for what I was hoping would be a good Chairs practice/rehearsal tomorrow. That ended up getting cancelled, actually, but whatever. It's still good to get some additional forearm/wrist/hand recovery work in there.

Workout was a bit of light practice on OAHS, several long HS holds, about ten minutes of rice bucket work, then contrast baths for the forearms.

Sun 1.15.12: Heavy day

2012-01-16T20:59:00.003-05:00

Sleep: broken/floaty overnight sleep + short evening nap
Diet: great
Stress: great

Evening Workout - 2.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Handbalancing:
OAHS:
- 20 minutes of practice
- on canes, double stag
- some decent holds

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- 4 to horizontal, 1 eccentric, as before
- these are coming along
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x3, L position with an assist
- block placed halfway down the calves
Front Lever Progressions:
- 4x(max) flat/adv. tuck
Wall HSPU ROM+:
- 4x4, hands on 3" raisers
- first 4 partial ROM, last rep eccentric to floor

Conditioning:
- stretching/SMR throughout
- push-ups, rows, hollow rocks, and curls at the end for conditioning
- 5 minutes of rice bucket for fingers

Sat 1.14.12: Rest

2012-01-16T20:57:00.003-05:00

I forget how much I slept, but it was crappy quality, I'm sure. My sleep has been all jacked up the past couple of days. The weather finally got cold outside, and since I live on the basement floor, I get to freeze my ass off. For f's sake.

I stretched and did SMR. Also knocked out a few handstand holds.

Friday 1.13.12 - OAHS, PPPU, ICPO, Presses, Stretches

2012-01-14T21:46:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs floaty
Diet: great
Stress: great

Finally had the chance to get a full night of sleep last night, but falling asleep was difficult and then the quality was poor. No idea why.

Evening Workout - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff
- a short run

Handbalancing:
OAHS:
- 20 minutes of practice
- on hbal canes, double stag position
- same as before

Strength:
Rings Supports:
- 5x(max)
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- 4th day of these in a row - starting to feel it
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x3, with a block halfway down the calves
- mad difficult; had a few half-reps
Standing Pike Press:
- 5x(2-3)
- had some half reps in here as well, but overall they were good

Conditioning:
- stretching/SMR throughout the workout (for the hips)
- 5 min of rice bucket work at the end for the fingers

Mockshow 2011 Videos

2012-01-13T10:19:00.002-05:00

From Friday 12.9.11

All the routines are a bit shaky, but it's pretty good for Mockshow. Got all the framework lined up, so it's time to start nailin' it! (That was a housebuilding reference.)

MXP:

Chairs:

Rings:

Thu 1.12.12: OAHS, PPPU, Rows, RHSPU, Manna, Stretch

2012-01-13T10:03:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs decent
Diet: great
Stress: good
Biked: 4mi round-trip commute

Evening Workout - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Handbalancing:
OA Handstands:
- about 20 minutes of practice on hbal canes
- using a double stag position (low ceilings)
- went pretty well

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max), good RTO
- lasting 30-45s when keeping the rings turned out
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- 4 reps horizontal + 1 eccentric, as before
OA Rows:
- 4x(3/3), with assist
- emphasized eccentrics
Rings HSPU:
- 3x5
- w/ rings nearby floor
- tuck press to HS
- wrap feet on straps
- HSPU with wide hand position
Manna Progressions:
- 5x(max)
- managed to bust out a couple of solid V-seats; 2 second holds, legs vertical, elbows straight (on video)

Cool-down:
- stretching throughout the workout

Wed 1.11.12: PPPU, FL/PL/BL, Misc., Chairs

2012-01-12T00:32:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs overnight + 2hr nap
Diet: great, but probably too much
Stress: great

Easier workout today.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max)
Rings PPPU:
- 3x5
- first four reps w/ lean forward and to horizontal
- last rep eccentric all the way down
Rings Sequence: Adv. Tuck FL -> MU -> Flat Tuck PL -> Half-lay BL
- 3x1, iffy

Conditioning:
Rings Misc.:
- about 30 minutes of messing around, just TRYING to imitate some of the stuff in this video
- verdict: holy s', that chick's a boss
- still, it made for good conditioning work
Chairs:
- about a dozen presses each side, with a single stack
- for each press, put one corner of the chair about 1/8th of an inch higher than the rest, making the chair wobble
Handstands:
- 2x(max) on parallettes

Cool-down:
- some SMR for the hips in between sets

Tue 1.10.12: PPPU, ICPO, HSPU, FL, Manna

2012-01-11T02:17:00.005-05:00

Sleep: 9hrs overnight + 3hrs evening nap
Diet: great
Stress: great

Finally got some solid sleep overnight. Added more during the day. Started my workout late due to overnapping - just finished a moment ago, and it's past 2am. It went kind of slow because of some work I was doing on the computer during the rest breaks.

Late Night Workout - 3hrs:
Warm-up:
- band and stuff

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max), full RTO
- ~30-40s a pop
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- first four reps with good RTO, lean forward, and only until horizontal
- last rep to horizontal with a pause, then eccentric all the way down
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x3, with a block placed at the belly of the calf muscle
Wall HSPU:
- 4x4, last rep eccentric, all reps head-to-floor
Flat Tuck Front Lever:
- 4x(max) on pull-up bar
Straddle Manna Progression:
- 8x(max), on p-bars
- need to start lowering out of it slowly, but this move is stressful on the elbows

Fri 1.6.12 - Mon 1.9.12: Quick Update

2012-01-11T02:05:00.002-05:00

In short:

Sleep was pretty crappy the entire time. Only ~6hrs nightly, since I've been working on projects for the majority of each day. Sleep quality has also been crappy, since the neighbors next door decided to leave their exterior lights on again. After it went on for days in a row again, I spoke with them about it and it should solve the problem for a while, at least. Honestly, f' compact fluorescent lightbulbs. The damn things just never burn out.

Diet was good, aside from Saturday night where I was at a dinner with my family and had pecan pie. At Christmas, the pie was "good," but nothing to get excited over. Now, only another two weeks later, it almost wasn't even good. Too sweet.

Stress was fine. I've been busy, but by my own choosing. The only real downer I've had lately has been my sleep, which has been leaving me tired as hell during some days. First world problems, right?

For workouts, Friday was just handbalancing and stretching for about 90 minutes. Saturday was a rest day. Sunday I did about 20 minutes of simple conditioning plus some foam rolling. Monday was also a rest day since I was tired as hell.

Weighing in at about 205-210lbs right now, which is getting heavier still, though now I've got some veins starting to show on the delts, so I guess I'm doing something right.

Thu 1.5.12: PPPU, ICPO, FL, Manna, Cond.

2012-01-05T23:52:00.012-05:00

Sleep: sporadic (from yesterday) but good
Diet: great
Stress: great

Took this workout at a slow pace. I spent the rest intervals drilling holes in some steel tubing. Lots of holes.

Evening Workout - 2.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- 2 cups coffee.

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max)
- timed one of them to 61 seconds
- could be more stringent on the RTO
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5, last rep eccentric
- first two sets focused on depth
- last three sets focused on keeping the hands back and leaning forward, but only going to level depth on the first four reps
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x(3-6)
- in an L, with a block underneath the belly of the calf muscle
Front Lever:
- 3x2 one-leg tucked attempts, lowering and holding from inverted hang
- 1x1 straddle attempt

Conditioning:
Manna Progressions:
- 6x(max), as before
- interspersed with p-bar handstands
Calisthenics Circuit:
- a quick loop of push-ups, band curls, hollow rock circles, and band rows
- did this until I broke a decent sweat
- a few minutes at RPE 6 or so

Wed 1.4.12: Ladders Performance

2012-01-05T23:52:00.009-05:00

Sleep: sporadic
Diet: great
Stress: great

Had a Gymkana performance in NYC today, during the half-time show for the Knickerbockers/Bobcats game. It was a damn good time.

Slept sporadically throughout the day (no idea how much). Ate a good breakfast before leaving and packed a good dinner. No workout, aside from the few runs of the routine that we did, and some misc. handstands, push-ups, and stretching during the day.

Tue 1.3.12: Rest (Conditioning)

2012-01-05T23:52:00.008-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

In the evening, did a very quick warm-up and followed it by some fast-paced callisthenics. The whole thing was under ten minutes - just until I broke a sweat and got some blood pumping.

Mon 1.2.12: I forget.

2012-01-05T23:52:00.005-05:00

It was a strength workout this day, but I forget what I actually did.

I do remember deciding to take the next two days as rest day though, because my right shoulder was having some mild pain and my strength was starting to drop off. Finished this workout as scheduled, though - whatever it was.

Sun 1.1.12: SRope, Rings, HSPU, Manna, Curls

2012-01-02T21:11:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs overnight + 4hr nap
Diet: great
Stress: great
Biked: 4mi round-trip commute

Finally got caught up in sleep with that nap.

Hips are feeling tight and sore today from stretching during yesterday's workout.

Went slackrope walking for about an hour in the afternoon. F'ing amazing weather today - couldn't stay indoors.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and mobility

Strength:
Rings Sequence: FL -> MU -> PL -> BL
- 6x1
- adv. tuck for FL, flat tuck for PL, half lay for BL
- generally fell out of the planche to back lever once hitting ring height
- letting my hands ride up too far along the sides; need to keep them by the waist
Rings HS:
- 4x(max)
- in a tuckstand, legs gently against the straps
- doing this on low-rings underneath my pull-up bar
Wall HSPU:
- 4x4, last rep eccentric
- full ROM on the first three reps
Straddle Manna:
- 6x(max), tuck press, extend, hold
Curls:
- 4x7 w/ 45lb barbell and a band

Cool-down:
- stretching/massage throughout the workout

Sat 12.31.11: OAHS, General S&C

2012-01-01T00:26:00.006-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

I keep forcing myself to get up early (good), but not forcing myself to get to bed early (bad).

Evening Workout - 2.0hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and mobility stuff

Handbalancing:
OAHS:
- about 20 minutes of practice
- left arm keeps getting better; right arm not so much

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max)
- full RTO, good tension throughout the body, long holds
RTO Dips:
- 5x5
- about 45 degree RTO
- too much pushing the elbows into the straps on the way up
Wall HSPU:
- tried this, couldn't even do half-ROM well after those dips, so moved on
Manna Progressions:
- 6x(max)
- press to tuck V-seat
- extend to straddle V-seat
- bring legs together to full vertical V-seat
- drop out after about half a second
- but a solid half second, with straight elbows!

Conditioning:
HS and Active Stretching:
- 4x max straddle HS on p-bars followed by active pike hold
Conditioning Circuit:
- 100 push-ups, 50 curls with a 32kg KB and a strap, 10 hollow rock circles
- did reps to near failure in each, then moved on to the next, cycling until I got all the reps in
- managed 35 push-ups on the first set
- RPE: ~7

Cool-down:
PNF Stretching:
- hip flexors
- straddle splits

Fri 12.30.11: Simple Strength Work

2012-01-01T00:22:00.005-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Workout was felt kind of slow tonight - going through the motions, but it was good to do.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5, last rep eccentric
- too much cheating on these ones
Adv. Tuck FL Eccentrics:
- 5x2x(8s)
ROM+ Pull-ups:
- 3x3
Manna Progressions:
- a bit of practice, was decent enough

Thu 12.29.11: PPPU, Rows, Crosses, Cond.

2011-12-29T23:48:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good enough

Even a couple of days in a row without consistent sleep, strength-based workouts, and power tools leaves you in a bit of a funk. Fortunately, the stand for my Makita table saw arrived today and the saw body will arrive on Tuesday. 15 amps, 4800rpm, 3-5/8" vertical capacity, and 25" rip capacity. Daaahhhh!

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- bands and stuff

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 3x5
- decent RTO, decent depth, but it's been better
Ring Rows:
- 3x(3/3)
- up with both arms, then "archer" style eccentric on the down part
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x(4-7)
- full ROM, block just behind the knees

Conditioning:
Parallette Routines:
- 3x1: jump to tuckstand, 2 straddle cycles, 1 overarch, left arm OAHS lean, right arm OAHS lean, eccentric full HSPU, left-side crocodile, right-side crocodile, straddle L
- fell numerous times
- really f'ing difficult; these parallettes wobble practically as much as rings when placed on a (highly) uneven concrete surface

Can't wait for my table s'aahhhhhhh!

Week of Thu 12.22.11: Christmas

2011-12-29T22:23:00.003-05:00

Vacation with my family at home following exam week.

Sleep: Lots. Heavy. Restful. Sporadic timing.

Stress: None whatsoever.

Diet: Pretty damn clean, all things considered. Had dessert with dinner on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - cookies, pie, and ice cream, respectively. Also had some bread, milk, white rice, white potatoes, and jell-o with various meals while I was home, but nothing else out of the ordinary. (Nothing.) Took it lightly with the gluten and lactose. Arrived home weighing 206lbs, left weighing 212lbs - once again, it's mostly water weight. Not too shabby.

Workouts: Let me try to piece this back together again. It was a strength workout Thursday, rest day Friday, handbalancing and intense stretching Saturday morning, more stretching Sunday, parallel bar handbalancing routines on Monday afternoon, callisthenics conditioning and stretching on Tuesday night, then more conditioning Wednesday.

Vacation's over. Time to get productive.

Sat 12.17.11 - Wed 12.21.11: Quick Update

2011-12-22T12:22:00.002-05:00

So, I made it through finals week just fine, but I'm not disappointed that I'll have to wait until May to experience it again.

Worked out on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Saturday was something I can't remember, at home. Monday and Tuesday were Gymkana practices. Rings stuff and MXP balancing on Monday. Rings stuff and general nonsense on Tuesday. Also did a bit of ropewalking on Tuesday; good stuff. Wednesday was another workout at home. 80 minutes of warm-up, rings PPPU, rings biceps rows, manna progressions, stretching, and conditioning (pulling-based calisthenics).

Didn't get much sleep going in to Saturday. Got a full night's worth going into Sunday, then 3-4hrs each night Monday and Tuesday, then got 10hrs going into Wednesday.

Diet was great the entire time. I ate a lot, especially snacking, while pulling those all nighters, but they were all good snacks. Imported cheese, fruit, vegetables, nuts, meat, eggs, coffee. The standard fare. My bodyweight is up to around 203lbs now after being at 200lbs for a while, but I'm still showing signs of getting leaner, which is good. Still, now that I'm on break it's time to buckle down and cut weight to that planche-able 185lb range. It'll take longer than the five weeks of vacation I have, but I still intend to make some damn good progress in the meanwhile.

Stress was fine and dandy. Just rollin' with the punches.

Fri 12.16.11 - OAHS, Strength

2011-12-17T12:20:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 2hrs overnight + 2hr nap
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Exams, pfft. No biggie.

I can now hold the OAHS long enough to feel (and fight!) the rotation through the shoulder. Solid.

11pm Workout - 2hrs:
* warm-up (bands and stuff)
* OAHS practice for a good while
* rings PPPU, 5x(3 + 1 eccentric)
* RTO dips, 3x3
* assisted cross pull-outs 5x5, full ROM with a block just behind the knees
* rings bicep rows, 4x8
* manna progressions

Thu 12.15.11 - A bit of Chairs

2011-12-17T12:18:00.001-05:00

Sleep: 4hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Got in the gym for 30 minutes and worked a bit of Chairs before going to an exam. Climbed five-high; didn't manage to press it, but I managed to hold an elevated pike well enough on both sides.

Wed 12.14.11 - Strength

2011-12-17T12:09:00.002-05:00

Sleep: standard, full night
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Had an 80 minute Gk workout. I forget what I worked on, but it was strength stuff. Rings PPPU, rope climbs,... Other stuff?

Tue 12.13.11: SRope, Pumping Iron

2011-12-14T13:00:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 3hrs + 1hr nap
Diet: great
Stress: dandy

Went ropewalking for about 30 or 40 minutes in the evening. Basically until my feet got cold - I've had to wear shoes unfortunately often this semester, and thus haven't gotten the chance to let my feet adapt to the winter weather. I've regressed a bit, since this is only the fourth time I had the chance to work on it this semester, but it's still as relaxing as ever.

Next, I went over to the weight room to pump some iron. S'ahhhh! The workout was deadlifts, low rows, tricep push-downs, assisted OAC's, and pull-overs. On the deadlifts, managed to pull 385lbs for a single. Twice failed to break 405lbs off the floor. The weakness there was definitely in the legs. So, it looks like I've regressed a bit there as well (my PR's being 3x405lbs and 1x430lbs, roughly two years ago), but I also weighed about 25lbs more when I set my PR's, and I was actually lifting! For not having touched a barbell in two years, this is pretty good. Everything else in the workout was pretty standard.

Sat 12.10.11 - Mon 12.12.11: All Nighters, Workouts, Etc..

2011-12-13T03:45:00.003-05:00

Ok, here's the skinny.

Sleep's been shit these past few days - kind of my own fault. Lost track of time on Friday night (after my late-night workout) and wrote what was quite possibly the longest thing I've composed since high school. Got to bed around 7 or 8am. Whoops. Woke up in the early afternoon.

Saturday night, I went to bed around 2am (actually Sunday morning), which wasn't half bad.

Sunday night, I was working on a coding project - finished around 8am. Then I slept until about 1pm.

Now it's about 4am Monday, after finishing some homework sets and a workout, and I'm going off to bed. Not tired at all though; the workout got me pumped. Dammit. Anyway, I'll be getting up again in roughly 3hrs. No biggie. Exams start Thursday, so I'm pretty much home free.

My diet has been fantastic these past few days, though I've simply been eating too much. I still have that habit of snacking when I pull all nighters, but I haven't touched any junk food whatsoever since Thanksgiving. (The idea of "cheat meals" is starting to lose its charm as well. I can go without.) Still weighing in about 200lbs though, simply because the overall caloric intake hasn't had a deficit. It hasn't been too high either, but it needs that 500 cal/day deficit to make progress.

Stress is fine - got to keep on dancin', keep on dancin'. Boogie nights. (Damn, that's a good song.)

Now, workouts. There was that one at 12AM Saturday I already logged. Did another workout around 11pm, which was mostly pushing stuff. Can't remember the specifics, but I do remember that I can now do full-form RTO dips on short straps. There's no excess depth or horizontal lean, but I Got the basic dip solid, which is new.

Sunday wasn't a rest day (coding), but I didn't work out.

Monday, I got around to my workout at 2am Tuesday. It was about 90 minutes, and here we are. Rings PPPU, and progressions for front lever, straddle planche, and manna. Also, stretching, foam rolling, and hollow rock circles. Those PPPU are really coming along.

Tue 12.6.11 - Fri 12.9.11: Gk Mockshow & Workouts

2011-12-10T01:39:00.004-05:00

All right, a quick update to include up to and just beyond our 2011 Gymkana Mockshow.

Tuesday:
That's a bit in the past now, but I remember the Gk practice started with about 90 minutes of handstand work on parallettes, then there was some rings and chairs work. Also, balancing practice with an invisible flyer, since Ingrid wasn't around. Can't forget that. I do forget the rest of the specifics though, but it was a good workout.

Wednesday:
Practice this evening was a test-run of our show, addressing things from almost purely an equipment standpoint. We only ran about half the acts, though that did include Ingrid/me for balancing, Chairs, and Ladders (my freebie act). No rings. The practice was mentally fatiguing since I'm sort of in charge of coordinating the equipment transitions this year. Resisted the urge to workout when I got home.

Thursday:
No practice. Fought the urge to work out.

Friday:
Mockshow! Whaaa'?! Performed in MXP, Chairs, Rings, and Ladders. Nailed them all, including the handstand and the elbow lever -> back lever on rings. Honestly, the rings HS could have been more solid (elbows felt pretty damn bent), but I stayed off the straps. Videos of this will be forthcoming.

After this, a midnight workout at home. Spent some time working on kettlebell get-ups for the first time in a while. Basically, someone sent me a link of some CrossFit/Kettlekook douche doing one, saying I could incorporate something like that in Ingrid's and my balancing routine. My response was I could pull it off with one hand tied behind my back, and sure enough, I could.

All right. After that nonsense, I got around to a real workout. One-arm HS practice w/ fingertips supporting. Ring supports, 3x(max) guesstimating >40s each. Ring PPPU 3x5, decent form/depth. Ring tows 3x6, standard style. Ring inverted pull-ups 3x5, short ROM. Active compressions and manna progressions. Some SMR for the hips. Good workout.

Mon 12.5.11 PM: MXP, Some Rings

2011-12-06T00:29:00.003-05:00

Napped for 2x7min in addition to what I had overnight. Ate a small dinner at home.

5pm Gymkana practice was mostly MXP balancing. About 90 minutes worth of it. Got a lot accomplished. Ended with a bit of work on rings and handstand holds.

Mon 12.5.11 AM: Chairs

2011-12-06T00:27:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

6am Gymkana. Worked a ton of Chairs presses, then ended with some manna progressions and handstand holds.

Sun 12.4.11: Quick Workout

2011-12-06T00:24:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

More welding, etc. to do today. Got a quick workout in during the afternoon. 3x5 each of rings PPPU and flat tuck FL pull-ups, then 3x1x(max) ring support holds.

Still weighing in at about 200lbs, but I'm starting to get the ridge forming between the obliques and abs. Another week or two and I should start seeing divisions in the quads and distinct veins in the lower abs. I need to drop that weight though, not just the body fat percentage, but the absolute number.

Sat 12.3.11: Rest

2011-12-04T01:20:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Spent all day welding. Hell yeah!

(This was the first time I got a chance to weld since September.)

Fri 12.2.11: Blood Donation, Mobility Work

2011-12-04T01:10:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Blood drive in the afternoon. Ate lunch beforehand with two bananas; I was fine. This was my first donation in a while due to scheduling constraints; time to start keeping track of them again so I can get going more regularly.

In the evening, worked on mobility stuff for an hour. Stretching, foam rolling, active stretches, and some Ido Portal-esque handbalancing/flow/mobility stuff. Broke a decent sweat, but it wasn't strenuous.

Thu 12.1.11: Chairs, Abs, and I forget

2011-12-04T01:05:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6.5
Diet: great
Stress: great

Lagged behind on the updates, so now I sort of forget this workout. It was the standard 3hr Gymkana practice, and one that I felt particularly tired both during and after. Worked Chairs for a large portion of the time, both practicing miscellaneous presses and running through the routine. Turns out I've been pike pressing all my poses, so I got that fixed to a tuck and now a three-high is substantially easier. I might even go for five-high after Mockshow.

Worked a lot of abs this workout. Hanging leg raises, hollow rock circles, hollow-arch rolls, V-ups, and active compression stretches. There was something else I did between Chairs and abs too, but I can't remember what it was. It remember that it wasn't MXP, but that's about it.

Wed PM2 11.30.11: Light Strength, Coordination Drills

2011-12-01T03:47:00.004-05:00

Ate a dinner (+2 cups coffee) prior to this workout.

It's nearly 4am now, and I'm not even tired, but I figure I'll go to bed in a minute anyway. It's not even the coffee keeping me up - the caffeine doesn't do anything for my energy levels. I drink it primarily for (in order): the taste, the testosterone boost*, colon health** the antioxidants, the overall metabolism boost (improved body composition), and the diuretic effects. I don't get a direct pick-me-up from it though, and never really have.

*This is a side effect of doing manly shit (like drinking black coffee) but not a result of the coffee itself. It's same reason I shave with a straight razor, use contractor-grade power tools, and cook with cast iron. In contrast, that pansy-ass Starbucks "grande double espresso with cinnamon and whip cream" nonsense packs plenty of caffeine, but still lowers your testosterone and overall man-points.

**Hell yeah. My colon's so damn clean you could eat off it.

1am Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- jumping jacks
- band stuff

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 3x5
- decent RTO and depth
RTO Push-up Circles:
- 3x(lots, both cw and ccw)
Cross Pull-outs:
- 3x5
- with leg-assist, as elbow conditioning
Wall HSPU:
- 1x3
- wasn't feeling hot
- only hit the first rep full ROM
Rings Biceps Rows
- 3x8

Conditioning:
- stretching and coordination drills between every set
- some manna progressions at the end

Wed PM1 11.30.11: Practice Show

2011-12-01T03:33:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Finally getting back to where I was pre-Thanksgiving, in terms of leanness and bodyweight. Still 5lbs over my old weight, but I'm about as lean as I was before. The way I see it, this is about a three week loss. I'll be another 3-4 days before I'm full back to where I was. That means I lose 1.5 weeks in a set-back, and I lose 1.5 weeks of what could have been progress.

That's three weeks lost from two cheat days, after three weeks of work. In reality, the math doesn't work out quite that cleanly, but f' it. I'm staying off the junk, period. It doesn't do anything good for me, and at worst, it's going to raise my genetic predisposition for prostate cancer, which is some s' I seriously don't want. A Hershey bar doesn't even taste that good compared to a nice chunk of Jarlsberg anyway.

7pm Gymkana - 3hrs:
This was just a practice show in our gym. There was a brief warm-up, then we got to it. So, I was in MXP balancing, Chairs, Rings, and Ladders. Honestly, I botched all of them, but my mind was consumed by trying to think out the equipment changes that had to take place.

Tues PM2 11.29.11: Pulling Strength, Foam Rolling

2011-11-30T17:52:00.004-05:00

Sleep: same as before
Diet: dinner between practice and this workout
Stress: fine

Making up for the "not much" in the last workout.

Foam rolled the thighs and hips between every set. Every one.

11pm Workout - 120min:
Warm-up:
- jumping jacks and band exercises

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- good RTO, decent depth
Ring Rows:
- 5x8, regular style
Ring Supports:
- 5x1x(max)
- holding the rings wide, ~20s holds
L-Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x(3-6)
- feet on a box, very partial ROM
- as elbow conditioning
Rings Biceps Rows:
- 3x8
Hollow Rock Circles:
- 2x(1.5cw, 1.5ccw)

Tues PM1 11.29.11: Rings, Not Much

2011-11-30T17:24:00.005-05:00

Sleep: 4.5hrs overnight + 1hr nap
Diet: fine, but a bit sparse
Stress: fine

Late night homework.

My slacks are fitting more tightly now - I think that the jogging I've been doing lately caused some sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Screw that. I'm only doing calisthenics for cardio for the foreseeable future.

Gymkana practice was cut short today at about 90 minutes. I didn't feel like I used the time I had very well either, so I ended up doing a second workout later on that night. (There'll be another post for that.)

5pm Gymkana - 90min:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

Rings:
- shoulder mobility warm-up
- practiced shoulder turn
- practiced shoulder turn -> muscle-up -> press HS -> straddle-L -> back lever
- the shoulder turns were killer on my flexibility
- didn't land any of the back levers; kept falling down through the last portion and putting the impact unevenly on my elbows; sucked; on a few I managed to fall past the back lever, and pull back into it, but only for a short while due to the elbow stress

General:
- a bit of chairs
- rear delt work, shoulder prehab
- biceps work, elbow prehab

Mon PM 11.28.11: OAHS, More Strength, MXP

2011-11-29T12:41:00.007-05:00

Sleep, diet, stress: same as AM

5pm Gymkana - 2hrshrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up
- some extra back stretches

Handbalancing:
- spent about 20 minutes practicing OAHS
- getting there with the left side, but my hips aren't staying aligned with the rest of the spine
- need to get everything locked tight from the wrist upward

Strength:
Ring Rows:
- 3x(3/3), "archer" style
Cross Pull-outs:
- 3x(max)
- band assisted, partial ROM
- lots of elbow stress on these

MXP:
- practiced H2F stand-up and some other skills
- practiced pitch to pique (got it down now)
- started working on americana from pitch to pique
- Josh helped spot, which made things easier
- this won't be a pose for Mockshow, but it's definitely doable
- let the wrist bend back on the skill hand and use it to help bring the pose to horizontal; bring the supporting out up and to the front to help rotate the skill 180* and bring it down to horizontal, though the skill-side hand will have to finish up the movement
- practiced the full routine twice; went all right, but the two of us were bit tired by that point

Mon AM 11.19.11: Some Strength Work

2011-11-28T09:32:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Got to use my slow cooker for the first time. There's nothing like waking up at 4am and having breakfast ready and waiting for you, cooked to perfection. I actually got done with my routine about 20min early because of it, actually.

Lost a good deal of practice time this morning due to meeting with Coach to discuss equipment plans for this year's shows. Need to make it up tonight.

I can tell I'm feeling stronger today due to the deload, but I've still got 8lbs extra on my frame, which negates the majority of that strength gain. As soon as I get back down to ~195lbs, I'm going to be kicking some serious ass.

6am Gymkana - 80min:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

Strength:
General:
- several individual attempts at rings press HS (fairly successful)
- several individual attempts at dip to back lever (not as successful)
Rings PPPU:
- 4x5
- good depth, mediocre RTO
- rings kept swinging out around front, not staying by the hips (I later realized this was due to positioning the mat stack poorly)
Ring Rows:
- 2x(3/3), "archer" style

Then there was the meeting interrupt. Cooled off during it, but managed to get back into practice as soon as it ended and made use of the time.

Wall HSPU:
- 3x5, last rep eccentric on each set
- hitting 2 full ROM reps on each set
Rope Climbs:
- 3x(half) in an L-seat variation
- feeling the Thanksgiving weight still
Hollow Rock Circles:
- 2x(1cw, 1ccw)

Wed 11.23.11 - Sun 11.27.11: Thanksgiving Break Deload

2011-11-28T08:42:00.003-05:00

Took a few days easy to deload.

Got plenty of sleep each day, though the hours were a bit erratic, since I'm kind of the only diurnal one my family. I've had some serious trouble getting up in the morning (or afternoon) though, and I think this is a side effect of the ZMA. With all the beef I eat each day, plus a 15mg zinc tablet (half a tablet, actually), I'm probably getting a bit too much, so I'll be cutting back either the frequency or the amount of zinc.

Stress was fine. Vacation!

Diet was pretty crappy on Wednesday and Thursday, the two days I spent at my family's house. Ended up gaining 20lbs over the course of 48hrs (from 195lbs to 215lbs), though I imagine most of that was water from abnormally high carb consumption (including a gallon of milk - water and carbs!). It's Monday morning now, and I'm back down to around 203lbs, so it's coming back off. When it comes time for Christmas though, I'll just keep it off this time. It's easier that way, and after having gone three straight weeks without any cheats at all, I wasn't too enamored with the junk food I finally did have over break. I could do without.

Wednesday and Thursday were rest days.

Friday, I went for a jog, something a bit longer than 2.5mi. Untimed. Broke a good sweat. Got my IT band on my left thigh acting up. Foam rolled and stretched.

Saturday, I went for another jog, this time only about 0.75mi. Also untimed, but at a good pace. This time, when I got back, I worked on rings supports, a few wall HSPU sets, then foam rolling and stretching.

Sunday, I was running errands all day, ended up taking a rest day.

Mon AM & PM 11.21.11, Tue 11.22.11: Misc. and MXP

2011-11-23T14:45:00.005-05:00

A brief overview of the past two days of training.

Sleep was good for both days. Diet remained on-point, though I ended up being very hungry in the evening both days and needing a decent-sized dinner. Three full weeks now without any junk food, and the results are good. Stress was fine, as usual.

Had Gymkana practice on Monday morning, Monday evening, and Tuesday evening. Had lots of energy at all the practices, but not much strength. It was kind of whack. I'll be taking a bit of a rest/deload over the Thanksgiving break. C'mon supercompensation phase!

I worked a bit of strength at the practices (HSPU, some rings presses, weighted dips, rows - that I can remember). Did a bit of Chairs at one of them as well. Climbed up to 5 high and did some L-straddle holds there. Went back down to 3 high, and could press to tuck, but couldn't find the full hold in me.

Made a lot of progress in MXP balancing. On Monday, we learned how to pitch to pique, with Ingrid standing with her right foot on my left hand (which is pinned against my chest) while my left hand spots her by her hip. Next up is to get the americana. On Tuesday, we practiced hand-to-foot stuff from a seated and standing position, which gave us a chance to really make it solid, so that we can now to the full sit-up deal with good consistency. Also, we got the pitch to pique without a spotter, and worked a few full, clean routines.

Also, I did some aerobic interval training on Monday evening and went for a good-length run on Tuesday night. Trying to get rid of that excess energy!

Sun 11.20.11: More Strength (Crosses)

2011-11-20T20:25:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 7h20m overnight + 30m afternoon nap
Diet: great
Stress: great

The cross work was the meat and potatoes of this workout. Limited my work on everything else so I can be prepped for double workouts tomorrow, training again on Tuesday, then whatever I can manage on the Thanksgiving holiday (hopefully a lot).

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- black coffee x2
- mobility warm-up

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 2x6
- didn't push the ROM below level, but kept technique good
Straight-Arm Rings Push-up Circles:
- 2x(several rotation each way)
- basically, with RTO in a push-up position, sweep the arms through circles in both directions
L-Cross Pull-outs:
- about 5x6
- feet on a block
- ROM about halfway, but feeling solid
Rings Bicep Rows:
- 3x8
Manna Progressions:
- a bit of practice here

Conditioning:
Between sets:
- isometric strengthening for glutes and spinal erectors
- stretching for hip flexors
- SMR for hip flexors w/ lacrosse ball

Sat 11.19.11: Strength Work

2011-11-20T17:09:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6h35m overnight + 2hr afternoon nap
Diet: great
Stress: great

Got around to this workout a little earlier than I did for the last one. 11:50pm! At least it's before midnight..?

Took it a bit lighter today than yesterday; a good workout overall.

Evening Workout - 1.25hrs:
Warm-up:
- none

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x1x(max)
- roughly 40s each
Wall HSPU:
- 5x4, last rep eccentric
- first two reps of first two sets were full ROM; rest were short
- even full ROM reps could be cleaner
Dip to Back Lever:
- about 10x1 attempts
- trying full-body, one-leg tucked, full tuck, etc.
- consistently falling out of it just after the forearms hit horizontal
Rings Bicep Rows:
- 5x8
- da puuuhmp!
Manna Progressions:
- still struggling with the hands turned backwards, but getting by
- weakness is obviously rear delts/tris; not abs or flexibility

Conditioning:
- passive stretches between sets (not too much of this)

Fri 11.18.11: Strength Work

2011-11-19T13:38:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 8h20m
Diet: great
Stress: won't stand no foolin' round

Slept like a rock, and it rocked. I'm loving this ZMA.

Finally got around to doing my workout around 12:30am, so it was actually Saturday, but whatever. I'll work out again on Saturday too.

Focused on strength today, even though that's not in the training plan, because I didn't manage to get any strength work done at practice Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. This one went a bit slow since I took some time to record about half of my sets and check my form on each movement. It's satisfactory, but I'll have to improve it as my strength improves.

I had my jerky dehydrator running in the same room throughout this workout, which really helped keep that part of the basement warm, and it made the air smell like beef jerky. Needless to say, this was an awesome workout.

Late Night Workout - 130min:
Warm-up:
- two cups of black coffee
- mobility warm-up

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5
- decent RTO and depth a good bit below level
- I'm letting my hands flare out on the way up
- also need to push the rings down and back (not down and forward) on the ascent, so I don't lean into the straps
Ring Rows:
- 3x(3/3)
- both arms to go up, then one arm goes out straight, and lower down slowly
L-Cross Pull-outs:
- 6x8
- half ROM, feet on a box
- done as elbow conditioning
Wall HSPU:
- 4x4, last rep eccentric
- not getting full ROM tonight

Conditioning:
- V-seat/manna progressions
- hollow rock circles, 1 rotation each direction
- static stretching throughout the workout (biased towards hip flexors and middle splits

Thu 11.17.11: MXP, Chairs

2011-11-18T09:38:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 1hr overnight + 3x1hr naps
Diet: pretty much nothing until I got back home after practice
Stress: chill

3hr Gymkana practice in the evening. Thirty minutes of warm-up/announcements, thirty minutes of MXP, two hours of chairs. Mostly just planned transition motions for MXP. Chairs practice was fairly productive. Did a few runs of the routine, which took far longer than it should have, but we did improve as a result. Then there was some general Chairs practice after the routines.

Wed 11.16.11: Not much.

2011-11-16T14:13:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 9h15m
Diet: great
Stress: good

Will probably not sleep much tonight, but I slept great last night. Breakfast was good this morning, but a bit lighter because of the dinner I had the night before.

Didn't get much done at practice today due to general Wednesday nonsense. This practice even went an hour overtime, but I still didn't get time to work on strength. Bah.

I did, however, have time after getting home for that all-nighter I was planning.

Gymkana - 3hrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

MXP:
- ran through our routine once

Chairs:
- ran through the routine once
- a bit of extra press work

Rings:
- a bit of practice on routine components
- one run of the routine

Tue 11.15.11: MXP, Rings, Chairs

2011-11-15T11:06:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 4.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: get that groove

Homework last night.

I felt damn sore during my workout. I figured it was a combination of the poor sleep and my lack of carbs in the past two weeks (from eating clean), so when I got back home I corrected both of those things. Had another dinner of the following: 1 quart lemonade (sugar), 1 whey shake (50g protein), 2 sweet potatoes, >1lb of beef heart, an apple, some Dubliner cheese, and almond butter. The cheese and butter came at the tail end of the meal to void the insulin spike from the lemonade and potatoes.

Then I got a good night's sleep.

Gymkana - 3hrs:
Warm-up:
- mobility and stretching

MXP:
- worked on some wall handstands together
- ran through our prototype routine a few times (see Mon PM for that)
- didn't go to smoothly, but I know it will tomorrow

Rings:
- worked supports and Montfort levers
- a bit of press work

Chairs:
- came up with a four person routine, didn't actually practice it in full, though

Conditioning:
A bit of misc. handbalancy stuff:
- can now old a left-arm OAEL well, with a straight body and the right arm behind the back
- can nearly sit in a vertical active pike, then backroll-kip to handstand (just a bit sloppy on holding the handstand)

Mon PM 11.14.11: FL, HSPU, Abs, MXP

2011-11-15T01:50:00.004-05:00

Sleep: added 2x7min naps
Diet: added a dinner after practice (will sleep in tomorrow and skip some breakfast)

Meant to work more abs and biceps this workout, to complement the HS/pressing work I'm doing, but didn't get around to it. The sit-ups during balancing however, seem to have taken care of that for me... Keeping the elbows in the right position is getting easier, though.

Gymkana - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

Strength:
Front Lever Pulls:
- 5x3, from hang to skin-the-cat and back
- minimizing pike, but still using a good bit
Wall HSPU:
- 5x4
- last rep of each set eccentric
- full ROM (head to floor), but a bit sloppy
OA HLR's to Meathook:
- 3x(1/1)
- prolonged hold in the position
- left side needed an assist to get in position and to hold

MXP Balancing:
About 45 minutes of practice.
- got the sit-up to all the way standing, multiple times
- worked backswan and stand on chest

MXP routine to work tomorrow and show on Wednesday:
- front vwoosh to straddle L
- full turn and present
- lean back on shoulders
- pop down, ankle flag
- H2F sit-up to standing (to overhead?)
- come down (make it schnazzy somehow)
- backswan to stand on chest w/ heel stretch

Mon AM 11.14.11: Rings, PPPU, Rows, Stretching

2011-11-14T04:50:00.004-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs, poor quality, very lucid
Diet: great
Stress: good

Not sure what was up with my sleep. The neighbor's light outside my window is still on, but it's been on every night for the past week and I think I've already adapted to that.

Only about 15 minutes of wasted time this practice, but I managed to waste enough of it myself. There needs to be somebody on rings, all practice, every practice! And not just holding the rings while talking and prepping to go, but actually on the rings.

Shot a quick vid this morning to check my form on PPPU. I gotta say - dayum, my bicep veins are getting hyooge! This whole "no-cheat-food" thing is pretty awesome. I was in Shopper's yesterday, holding a thaw & serve pie in my hands (only $6!) and trying to balance the value of the pie against the value of a planche. I even had that f'er in my cart and had pulled out of the aisle when I reconsidered and put it back.

That thing had 3120 calories of junk in it, and if I bought it, I'd have to eat it all. Even if I managed to spread it out as one slice a week for 8 weeks (unlikely), it's still going to be 3120 calories of junk. That's an entire day's worth of healthy food or nearly a full week of fat-loss progress. Like hell am I'm giving either of those things up, so it's good-bye for the pie!

6AM GymkanAHHHH! - 2hrs
Warm-up:
- team mobility warm-up

Rings
Some practice routine/skill practice.
- can now false grip hang and kick-pop to false grip skin-the-cat (easy)
- press HS needs more pike compression, less planche
- elbow lever -> back lever needs more strength; I got it by Homeshow
- need Josh's help getting a full-body straight Montfort lever, backrolling to dismount

Strength:
Rings PPPU:
- 5x(4-5)
- last rep of each set was eccentric
- getting to at least level on each rep, below on others
- half decent RTO
- need to keep RTO while coming up and in between reps
Ring Rows:
- 5x(3/3 + 3)
- alternating arm archer rows + two arm rows

Conditioning:
- some hip flexor stretches between sets

Sun 11.13.11: Rest

2011-11-14T04:48:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

When I was working through my warm-up and realized I could only do five pull-ups in a set, I knew it was time for a rest day. I still finished the warm-up and broke a good sweat, but I kept the rest of my gas in the tank for the two acro practices the next day.

Getting my shit straight (pt. 2 of 2)

2011-11-13T16:43:00.007-05:00

All right, now for the actual plan:

Mon AM: Gymkana. Possibly balancing; otherwise Rings/Chairs. Strength work.
Mon PM: Gymkana. Definitely balancing. Strength work.
Tues PM: Gymkana. Some balancing. Rings/Chairs? Strength? Time wasting.
Wed PM: Gymkana. Running routines. Time wasting. No strength.
Thu PM: Gymkana. Some balancing. Rings/Chairs. Strength? Time wasting.
Fri: At home. Rest or remedial work.
Sat: At home. Rest, or remedial work, or strength work.
Sun: At home. Rest, or strength work.

Yes, I am allocating time for wasting in my workouts (not on my account, though). If time doesn't get wasted, then I'll be working on those healies, back extension rolls, and general handbalancing.

Any act work will be practicing the skills mentioned in pt. 1 of this post, adding additional skills, and chaining them together in routines. On Rings and Chairs, this may also be a sort of conditioning work (done after the strength work, rather than before).

Strength work will use the following exercises:
===
* ring supports
* rings psuedo-planche push-ups
* ring rows
* weighted dips
* front lever work
* weighted chins
===
* wall HSPU (including eccentrics for improving ROM)
* rings cross pull-outs (assisted to get full/near-full ROM)
* rings presses and handstands
===
* wall handstands (both one-arm and two-arm)
* HLR's/meathooks
* flags
* ring bicep rows
* manna progressions
* hollow circles
* rope climbs
===
* PNF stretches
* active stretches
* static stretches (throughout session)
===
* shoulder/wrist prehab/rehab specific

Those are listed roughly by order of execution and sub-listed by order of importance. The selection will be done on a day-to-day basis. Volume will be roughly a (3-5)x5 on each, where applicable. Key things will be to ensure:
* that there's enough repetition for progress
* not enough repetition to cause burn-out
* pushing and pulling are roughly balanced
* strength sessions will have to be 60-90min, tops

Remedial work will basically be catching up on some of the strength stuff I didn't do enough in the week prior.

All right, that's enough time on the log. I've got a better idea of what I'm doing now, so time to get it done.

Getting my shit straight. (pt. 1 of 2)

2011-11-13T14:57:00.003-05:00

This is an overdue follow-up from this post.

Maybe a week after that last post, I got the planned practice schedule, but the last few weeks have shown me that the schedule doesn't mean much and that practice is really going to be a crapshoot. Things are starting to creep back towards what they were last year, as far as time-wasting goes, and by the time we hit the Spring semester, I'm expecting things to be even worse than last year. So, we'll see how that works out.

Anyway, goals:
* Acts: MXP balancing, Rings, Chairs, Ladders, Contortion.
* Strength Skills: OAHS, planche, cross.
* Other Skills (low priority): Back extension roll, kip to straight legs, kip from handstand, healy, English handstand, pirouette.

Details:
Acts: We had our first mini-show this past weekend, and our first big show is December 9th. Final evaluations for things to be in the December 9th show are on November 30th.

MXP balancing: Ingrid and I are doing well here. Our current big skills are:
* one-arm backswan -> stand on chest
* supine hand-to-foot -> sit-up to kneeling
* overhead hand-to-hand straddle-L, with a rotation
* two-person planche
* calf pop over to stand on thighs
* miscellaneous smaller stuff
If, by March, we could clean up the above, and add a:
* pitch -> Arabesque -> Americana,
* Cupie
* stag handstand on my forearm (other hand spotting; this one is a stretch)
* cleanly choreographed transitions
I'd be very pleased with the act. No doubt in my mind that we'll make it this year.

Rings: My routine for this year is looking like:
* false grip hang pull to skin the cat
* muscle-up, forward-roll, L-seat, press handstand
* lower to straddle-L
* elbow lever, drop to back lever
* kip to support
* Montfort lever
* backroll flip off
Now, I haven't done this sequence yet, and I know I need more strength for a good lever transition, but aside from that and the dismount (trivial), I at least have the skills individually. Now for potential improvements:
* change the pull to skin-the-cat out for a shoulder dislocate (sick flexibility)
* change the forward roll to shoulder stand, press to handstand
* throw in a meathook somewhere
* iron cross?! (that'd be a stretch)
So, I've just got to keep training rings strength and throwing in routines kind of as conditioning.

Chairs: I'm in this act. I couldn't perform this past weekend since we didn't have a four-person routine put together yet, but we will by November 30th. Right now, I should be working pretty much nothing here but illusions, three-stacks, and conditioning.

Ladders: I'm in. I'm basing. My job is to look swole, and that's basically it.

Contortion: I'm throwing this around in my head as a possibility. A handbalancing act is going to happen, and my skills really don't have a place in the current group p-bars act anyway. So contortion/handbalancing could be pretty cool, especially since at 6'1, 200lbs, and male, I'm about as far removed from the average contortionist sas possible. I dunno. If this doesn't happen, no biggie.

Dropped acts: P-bars, handbalancing, slackrope. Not going to happen this year, and I'm cool with that.

Strength:
One-arm handstand: I still lack shoulder push-out strength, and while working OAHS wasn't getting it for me, either is working TAHS. Hm.

Planche: I'm not working this directly, but the psuedo-planche push-ups on rings should are building the right muscles. I'm currently halfway between a flat-back tuck and an advanced tuck progression. I'd rather get to the 180* straddle.

Cross: I can now hold supports on rings for 40+ seconds routinely, so it's about time I begin working this in earnest.

Other Skills:
These are really low-priority. If I got something like a healy or back extension roll, that could easily be incorporated into MXP, but if I don't get it, it's not like the act won't happen. My ability to learn these things depends on how much BS cut into practice time. Acts and strength work are on about equal priority (because I need to get stronger to get good at the acts), then these things are there assuming I get through everything else with remaining gym time.

Sat 11.12.11 - Rings Strength

2011-11-13T00:38:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 7h25m
Diet: great
Stress: ain't no half-steppin'

2hr evening workout at home. Did about five sets each of the following strength work:
* warm-up
* rings supports
* rings assisted cross pull-outs (half ROM)
* rings psuedoplanche push-ups
* ring rows
* ring bicep rows
* PNF stretching for hip flexors, hip adductors
* active stretching for the same
* static stretching for the same, between most strength sets

Fri 11.11.11 - Remedial Strength

2011-11-13T00:36:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs great
Diet: great
Stress: posin' 'till closin'

A fairly brief workout in the evening, catching up on some things. Ring supports, wall handstands, abs (hollow circles), stretching, and contrast baths for the hands/forearms.

Quick Update: Tue 11.8.11 - Thu 11.10.11

2011-11-11T15:47:00.003-05:00

Sleep, diet, and stress were good all three days.

I began taking ZMA on Tuesday night. This combo makes me sleep like a m'f'ing log. I haven't been out like that since I blacked out the windows in my old house.

My diet has kept super-strict lately. I'm actually kind of craving some ice cream at this very moment, but I'm craving a straddle planche more, so that settles that. I'm looking a bit leaner, and I'm slowly dropping from the "just over 200lbs" range to the "just at/below 200lbs" range, so I'm happy. I simply need to stop eating so much food to pick up the pace of progress, even if it is healthy food. I'm still eating like a 220lb guy.

Tuesday's 3hr practice was about 60 minutes of strength work, 90 minutes of balancing, and 30 minutes of BS (warm-up and announcements, which are progressively taking longer and accomplishing less). Still a good workout overall.

Wedneday's practice was basically a rest day. Also, it's official that I won't be in Chairs for this weekend's mini-show, because we couldn't make the jump from a 2-person act to a 4-person one, so both myself and the other new guy are out for this week. I'm not exactly happy about that but I'll still be in every roadshow.

Thursday's practice was balancing then some strength work. Then, right when I was getting to the general conditioning though (wall handstands, abs, etc.), we had our practice cut short by more than 30 minutes by more of that general BS (after having the 30 minutes at the start too). When you call together all fifty people in the gym to do a five person job, not only are you wasting the time of 45 people, but the whole task is going to take longer too. And that doesn't mean you ought to make up pointless work to keep the rest occupied! Some of us are actually trying to work out!

Mon PM 11.7.11 - MXP

2011-11-07T22:38:00.003-05:00

Sleep: an additional 21 minute nap and a 7 minute nap
Diet: ate a dinner when getting home to help me pull an approximate all-nighter
Stress: fine and dandy

Two hour Gymkana practice that was strictly acrobalancing with Ingrid. We have a semblance of a routine put together now, with at least semi-fluid transitions, and a badass song to boot. She's written down the gist of the routine and is supposed to email it to me, so I'll copy that down here once I get it. Of course, it's subject to change as we get more advanced skills and work on the choreography more, but it's a good start. Tomorrow, we'll run through this prototype routine as many times as we can before she has to leave practice around 6pm. Wednesday we'll be showing the routine again for the coaches, and maybe I'll get that one on video to establish a baseline for comparison.

Mon AM 11.7.11 - Ring Strength

2011-11-07T08:13:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 5.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Timed the sleep with my REMs, so it worked out well. Also, I began taking a magnesium supplement last night (I'll pick up zinc later, but they didn't stock it at Costco). 400mg, just a bit before bed, on an empty stomach. My dreams last night were particularly vivid, which is a common side effect of Z&Ma, but I don't know if there's a direct link there for me yet, especially since I only had half of the combo. I've also noticed that when the neighbors have their outdoor light on overnight, the bit that shines in through my blinds keeps me on the boundary of wakefulness, and that light was on last night. I really ought to get some blackout curtains for my room.

MXP balancing tonight, no exceptions.

6am Gymkana - 2hrs
Warm-up:
- team mobility warm-up

Strength:
Rings Handstands:
- about (8-10)x1, muscle up, press handstand, hold, lower to support, attempt a Montfort
- rings kept swaying today, made the handstands difficult
- sometimes had to use the feet on the straps to gain balance before coming off
- twice dropped down before getting to try the Montfort
- that skill was more difficult on the ring tower; swaying made it hard to lean back properly
Rings PPPU:
- 5x5 w/ last rep eccentric
- semi-sloppy RTO
- rings not far enough back, but getting good depth on reps
Ring Rows:
- 4x(3/3), both arms bend going up, then one arm straight going down
- these are getting easier

Conditioning:
- 1 max handstand on p-bars, loosey-goosey style, 1:15 (weaksauce)
- some active pike holds

Sun 11.6.11 - Easy Stuff

2011-11-06T21:20:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs + 2x21min naps
Diet: great
Stress: great

Doing fine and dandy. Got in a good afternoon workout; kept it brief because of the double practices tomorrow.

Afternoon Workout - 60min:
Warm-up:
- jumping jacks
- stuff with bands
- a few quick sledgehammer levers

Conditioning:
Ring Supports:
- 5x1x(max)
- each 30-50s
- on short straps
Rings Misc.:
- messed around for about 20 minutes on rings
- finally got around to learning how to do the Montfort (named for Coach Josh)
- goes like this: support hold, move both hands behind the back, palms facing back, grab both rings with the left hand (using index and middle finger to hook around the right ring) while depressing the shoulders to lift the body up and sit on the rings, simultaneously arch and bend the knees to a half lay so you rotate back to horizontal, letting go with the right hand and extending it overhead, and extending the legs straight so you lay parallel to the ground
- so far, I have to keep one leg tucked still, in order to get the proper balance
Wall Handstands:
- 5x1x(max)
OA HLR's:
- 5x(1/1) to meathook w/ static hold
- using the other hand to provide a bit of an assist on each rep
Active Stretches:
- glute/straddle

Sat 11.5.11 - Remedial Strength Work

2011-11-06T12:52:00.002-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Hitting up some exercises I've been slacking on lately. Got around to this fairly late though, around 11pm.

Late Night Workout - 90min:
Warm-up:
- jumping jacks
- stuff with bands
- sledgehammer wrist strength/prehab work

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x1x(max)
- 30-50s each
- on short straps
Wall Handstands:
- 5x1x(max)
- not particularly long holds, but straight and tight
Ring Bicep Rows:
- 3x5

Cool-down:
- passive stretching between each set
- active stretching at the end

Fri 11.4.11 - Handstands Across Campus, Stretching

2011-11-06T12:21:00.003-05:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Went around campus with some friends and did handstands for about three hours.

Stretched for about half an hour in the evening.

Thu 11.3.11 - Chairs, Rings Strength

2011-11-03T22:06:00.005-04:00

Sleep: 7hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

Overslept by 3hrs today. Best decision of my life.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up (mostly balance drills)

Chairs:
- a good deal of time here
- practicing presses
- hashing out details on the group routine

Strength:
Ring Supports:
- 5x(max), roughly 40s
Rings Press Handstands:
- about 8x1
- cheat presses, decent holds
- sometimes had to wrap feet on straps to catch myself after the press
Roughly (3-5)x5 each on these:
- Rings PPPU.
- Ring Rows.
- Wall HSPU (ending each set with a 10sec eccentric).

Conditioning:
- lots of passive, PNF, and active stretching
- OAHLR's - finally able to pull to meathook on the right side!

Wed 11.2.11 - Rehearsal performance.

2011-11-03T21:55:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 9hrs
Diet: good
Stress: meh

Tonight's Gk practice was a test show. There wasn't much practice time, and the little I had was spent on rings handstands and a few run throughs of a slapped-together partner acro routine, and an even more slapped-together Chairs routine. Then we got to the actual performance part of things, and I did the MXP, Chairs, and Ladders; we never got around to doing rings.

The MXP routine was good, especially considering that we just picked a couple of poses out of our current repertoire and strung 'em together. The same goes for Chairs.

After practice, Ingrid and I picked a song for our acro (a really damn good song), and that'll help things come together there. The following day Kyle and I discussed some ways to spruce up Chairs too, before we perform it (for real) next Saturday.

Tue 11.1.11 - Strength, handbalancing, stretching.

2011-11-03T21:50:00.003-04:00

Sleep: 3hrs
Diet: good
Stress: meh

Practice was standard fare. Just worked on strength stuff, handbalancing, and stretching (I remember some parts specifically, but not enough to warrant a full write-up); wasn't feeling terribly hot after the sleep the night before, but got a good workout in regardless.

Also, got a minor case of the sniffles.

My memory really does go to shit when my sleep does the same.

Mon AM 10.31.11 - Floor, Rings Strength

2011-10-31T08:38:00.004-04:00

Sleep: 4.5hrs + 2h50m post workout nap
Diet: shit
Stress: meh

Not looking forward to this week.

After three days of crappy eating this weekend, I'm back up to 210lbs, from 200lbs. Let's hear it for water weight. That made the workout particularly tough this morning.

6am Gymkana - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- some calisthenics
- team warm-up

Skill Work:
Floor:
- worked backward rolls for ~20 minutes
- getting better at going to handstand, but consistently falling off to one side
- the direction of fall changes with each attempt

Strength:
Rings:
Support Holds:
- 3x(max), ~30s
PPPU:
- 3x(3 reps + 1 full eccentric)
- having trouble getting well below parallel and keeping the rings out
Ring Rows
- 3x(3/3)
- using both arms to get up, then biasing to one side on the eccentric

Cool-down:
- handstand leans on handbalancing canes
- active pike compressions
- stretching during the workout

Sun 10.30.11 - Rest day. (Hah.)

2011-10-31T08:36:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 3.5hrs
Diet: shit
Stress: ok

Spent all day volunteering at a gymnastics meet. Roughly 15hrs.

Sat 10.29.11 - Some Strength Work

2011-10-31T08:30:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 11-13hrs
Diet: good
Stress: good

Not sure how long I slept. Got back late last night, went to work on my computer, woke up in my bed around 2pm. I imagine it was at least 11hrs, possibly up to 13hrs.

Got a brief workout in late in the evening, around 10pm. On rings: supports, PPPU, rows. Wall handstands. Some stretching. Overall a good workout.

Fri 10.28.11 - Rest

2011-10-29T21:51:00.001-04:00

Sleep: 4.5
Diet: cheat day
Stress: good

A workout rest day and dietary cheat day.

Thu 10.27.11 - Forgetting again. Strength work, stretches.

2011-10-27T14:41:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 5.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Need to get more sleep. It's only Saturday evening now and I already can't recall my workout.

I specifically remember working strength stuff for the last 90 minutes. Wall HSPU, then rows, PPPU, and supports on rings. It was about 5x5 for each (or 5x(max) for supports). Then cool down stuff with wall handstands, active stretches, and PNF stretches.

As for the first half of practice, I can't really remember. Did I work on balancing? I don't think so. P-bars, chairs, or tramp? Hell if I know.

Wed 10.26.11 - MXP, Chairs, Rings, Stretching

2011-10-27T14:18:00.004-04:00

Sleep: 9hrs + 2x21min naps
Diet: great
Stress: great

Turns out that I can get in a full REM cycle in a 7 minute nap, and I can get in three using a 21 minute nap. That's pretty f'd up... Thank you, undergraduate studies, for screwing with my circadian rhythm.

Practice today was truncated due to a Halloween pizza party. A tornado cutting practice short is something I can understand - pizza? Not so much. I didn't have any of that or the candy. Stuck with the clean eating. Gotta get that planche!

During much of the practice time we did have, the team was called together to watch some of the acts run. I made use of that time for stretching.

In brief:
MXP: Got another cool pose today where we go to a one-arm backswan, then I grab the flyer's feet with my free hand and pull them to my chest as I lean backwards and as she stands up off the backswan hand, standing on my torso as I lean horizontal.

Chairs: Evaluations were tonight. I got the hi-lo presses on both sides and the center press, but failed to get the three-high full-stack. I made two attempts, got both of them to handstand for 2-3 (very, very long) seconds (Coach was counting), but lowered before receiving the "down" command. Maybe it'll still pass? If not, I'll have it very soon.

Rings: More work on HS Presses, PPPU, and rows. Got the rings HS held with my feet off the straps now for several seconds. My arms are bent and it isn't pretty, but it's a start.

Also, ring supports and wall handstands.

Tue 10.25.11 - MXP, Chairs, P-bars, Tramp, Rings

2011-10-27T14:09:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

Workout included all the above, though I'm fuzzy on some of the specifics. Need to get a concrete plan down so I have a guide to follow. Here are the remnants I can bring to mind:

MXP: getting good at going from a supine hand-to-foot to sitting up, then going to a lunge. Also got this nifty thing that's like a Mongolian lever, but with the flyer sitting on my hands (rather than feet) and with me standing up (rather than supine).

Chairs: worked lots of regular presses, then three-high's with a half-stack.

P-bars: got some instruction from Steve Low on kips. Apparently, I'm not gliding close enough to the ground, which makes turning over difficult, limiting the amount of force I can get out of my kip.

Trampoline: more back pull-over practice. Still botching up a few of these and landing it not-so-nice ways.

Rings: Had some good discussion with Steve about the importance of strength work and the stuff that I should have been working from day 1. So, this was kind of day 1. Beginning to work psuedo-planche push-ups and rows on rings in earnest. Also continued working handstand presses on rings.

Then there were wall handstands, of course.

Week of Tue 10.18.11

2011-10-18T13:29:00.005-04:00

Filling in gaps from the past week quickly. It's Monday afternoon now, but I'll include the Gk practice from tonight in this post as well.

Here's the skinny:

In terms of injuries, I got three to mention:
1. That fall down a stairway and forearm gash from the night of Mon 10.17.11. It turns out the bigger issue there was the way I landed and slid down the stairs on my side; the forearm gash still looks nasty a week later, but it's scabbing over well enough. Now, my right thigh... There's no bruising on the surface because I got an ice pack on it so quickly, but there was a good bit of tenderness during the days after the fall, and my quad muscle kept seizing up throughout the day. On Wednesday, I had the idea of wearing my old spandex leggings back from when I used to run in the winter, and I've been wearing them throughout the day since then. The heat definitely helps.
2. Bruised coccyx. It's fairly minor this time, but I did a lot of ropewalking work on Friday, focusing on going from seated to standing, and I put too much weight on the tailbone in doing so. I barely notice it at all now.
3. Ankle sprain. This is an injury from about eight weeks back. My right ankle is still swollen and bothering me a little bit, so I've finally begun doing some rehab work with bands. If it's not going to fix itself, then I'm going to fix it.

Tue 10.18.11:
Sleep: ~6hrs (partial differential equations exam)
Diet: can't remember
Stress: whatever
Workout: Can't remember the specifics, but it was crap. Very sleepy and my right quad made it difficult to do much without cramping like a mo'fo. Left about 90 minutes into practice.

Wed 10.19.11:
Sleep: I forget, but lots
Diet: I forget
Stress: whatever
Workout: Basically a rest day. Gymkana practice was cut to about 90 minutes, of which I spent about 60 minutes doing equipment moves and set-ups. The only exercises I got in where maybe half a dozen rings handstands.

Thu 10.20.11:
Sleep: ~3hrs (thermo homework)
Diet: good + 3hr carb-up time in the evening
Stress: meh
Workout: I remember it was a good workout overall, but I can't remember everything from it. Specifically, I do recall working MXP balancing and trampoline both for a good period of time. Just working on backdrops on trampoline, with the eventual plan being a flipping dismount from p-bars

Fri 10.21.11:
Sleep: lots
Diet: good, though I did go back and finish a half-cup of ice cream I had left over; there's no more in the house now
Stress: ok
Workout: Slackrope for just over an hour in the afternoon. As mentioned, worked a lot on sitting/standing moves. Nearly to the point where I can do a one leg squat on the rope, with the other leg pressing along the side of the rope for stabilization. I get a few inches up from the bottom of the movement, then I hit a sticking point where I can't push any harder without causing the thing to wobble more than I can handle. In the evening, I stretched for a solid hour and did a few wall handstands; I'm starting to get pretty damn bendy, especially for a 6'1, 200lb college guy.

Sat 10.22.11:
Sleep: lots
Diet: great
Stress: good
Workout: Worked on various projects throughout the day. Got around to working out around 11pm, when I was already damn tired. At that point in time I was working on a programming project too, so I warmed-up with band exercises for the shoulders/elbows, then sledgehammer levers for the wrists. Then I started working on weighted chins, 3x24kg per set, but never made it past that during the workout. I was so focused on the programming project that I couldn't really focus on training, so I just continued doing triples of 24kg chins every so often until around 3AM. Probably got ~20 sets in.

Sun 10.23.11:
Sleep: 3.5hrs + 45min afternoon nap
Diet: great + evening dinner with the family at a nice restaurant (it was over all a good and healthy dinner, but included some bread and a slice of cheesecake for dessert.)
Stress: fine
Workout: about 15 minutes of active stretches and wall handstands in the evening

Mon AM 10.24.11:
Sleep: 5.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine
Workout: This one was decent, but feeling a bit sleep.y. Rings handstands, handstand presses, chairs, trampoline (back pull-overs, belt spotted back tucks).

Mon PM 10.24.11:
Workout: I'm updating this now on Thursday afternoon, and I can't recall this workout. There was MXP and trampoline, but the rest was standard.

Mon PM 10.17.11 - Flips! MXP, Rope Climbs, Rings HS

2011-10-18T01:29:00.004-04:00

S/D/S: Same as from earlier today.

Okay, the junk food from Saturday hit me. Good thing to know I'm still sensitive to gluten!

Also, pulling a low-sleep night tonight studying for partial diff. In unrelated news, the banister to the basement stairs decided to snap just a little while ago. Don't worry though, I got the coffee and the blood cleaned up just fine, and I have some ice for my thigh, so that's doing okay too. The only thing that concerns me is the gash on my forearm - about 1.25" long, 3/16" wide, shallow, and about 1.5" from the wrist. It's one of the ones where the skin flaps kind of pull away from each other, leaving it really open and oozy.

It's bandaged up now (has been for 2hrs), but still seems to be be bleeding a lil' bit. It might need stitches, which would be a bummer, since that'd keep me off of handstands for probably ~2wks. I'm going to see if the guys at the Med. Center can just give it a decent dressing and leave it at that. The ghetto bandage I gave it won't last much beyond the night.

Practice was short tonight since we had to pick up the equipment from the vault show last Friday.

Will fill this in later.

5pm Gk - 1.5hrs
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

Rebound:
- working backflips to prep for flyaways from p-bars
- started on DMT, with jumps up to backward roll on a high stack of mats
- moved on to backflips on trampoline with a spotting belt
- (aside: Thank you, Angie and Josh, for the help.)

MXP Balancing:
- practicing the same moves as before, for ~45min
- we were sort of klutzing it up today, but not too badly; it was standard deviation

Conditioning:
- rope climbs (no feet) and rings handstands (feet on straps, but holding for 1-3s free also)

Mon AM 10.17.11 - P-bars, HBal, Rolls, Wall HS. Ring Supports

2011-10-18T01:27:00.004-04:00

Sleep: 6hrs
Diet: good
Stress: good

Will fill this in later. Just getting the title down so I don't forget the content.

6am Gk - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

P-bars:
- some work on basic passes for the group act
- need a flyaway off the end of the bars to actually get in the act

Handbalancing/Floor:
- practicing press handstands, planches w/ feet on a block, one-arm straddle L's
- interspersed this with forward and backward roll practice on the floor
- getting the rolls to be pretty smooth; able to forward roll to standing, then backward roll immediately to standing, and back and forth

Conditioning:
- wall handstands and wide-hold ring supports

Sun 10.16.11 - Wall HS, Stretching

2011-10-18T01:26:00.003-04:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: great

Broke out the power tools again today for some more fun.

Found a little bit of time in the evening to work on wall handstands and active stretches. Feeling solid.

Sat 10.15.11 - SRope/Rest

2011-10-15T23:27:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: cheat day
Stress: fine

Had planned on going to a cookout today. It didn't even register with me until I got there how deleterious that would be for my attempts at eating healthy. So screw it, it's a cheat day.

Slackroped for an hour afterwards. Good stuff. No other workout.

Fri 10.14.11 - Rings HS, HBal, RTO Dips

2011-10-15T10:47:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 9.25hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

The workout went slowly because I was working on cleaning the basement between sets, and it was already past 11pm by the time I started. I had just gotten back from a very good vaulting performance with the team.

Evening Workout - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- stuff with bands for elbows/shoulders
- stuff with sledgehammers for wrists

Handbalancing:
Rings HS:
- 8x1x(max)
- had rings hanging on low straps from the pull-up bar
- jump to wrap feet around straps, then move them so only toes were teetering against the bar
- managed to balance these decently well, with the light assist
- need to practice shoulder rolls for a better way to fall over out of these! (got lucky the one time, but don't count on klutzing it up that well again)
Backbend HS Practice:
- about twenty minutes worth
- hesitant to do anything too serious because of space limitations

Strength:
RTO Dips:
- 6x6, pretty good form

Conditioning:
- tried a calisthenic cardio circuit, but realized very quickly it was far too late at night for that
- wall handstands
- active pike compression stretches

Thu 10.13.11 - Rings HS, Misc., and Tornado Cancels Practice

2011-10-14T20:08:00.002-04:00

Sleep: ~3hrs
Diet: mediocre + cheat food
Stress: meh

Pulled a mild all-nighter. After getting back from Gk practice Wednesday night, I went and ate a small breakfast (coffee, eggs, etc.), in order to make sure I got it done. I did succumb though, later on, and had some ice cream while studying. It was pretty damn good ice cream too. Nothing special about it, but it was good.

That night, I had pasta at a party for the first time in a long time. The gluten didn't fully agree with me, but it was worth it regardless. I also did have a bit more ice cream when I got back, but now that's all for another week or so.

Oh, and practice got stopped after about an hour because of a severe tornado warning. The whole team had to go hang out in one of the lower rooms of the building, and by the time the coast was clear, the coach decided to cancel the rest of practice. I took the chance to get home and sleep.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- team warm-up

Rings:
- about 10x1 press HS and hold
- start using feet on straps for a little while on each rep
- then took feet off straps, would balance it for 1-3 seconds, then fall over

Misc:
- worked some p-bars skills
- practiced one-arm straddle L's
- practiced back handsprings with the pac-man mat

Wed 10.12.11 - MXP balancing, and I forget.

2011-10-14T19:31:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 5.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

Spent a lot of time during this practice with the vaulting act holding the ring of fire, for runs both lit and unlit. Can't remember much else of what I did, except for mixed pair balancing. Covered a lot of ground there. One sequence to continue practicing is: calf pop over the shoulder to stand on thighs, flyer forward rolls to the floor, grabs hand to hand, backward rolls up, grabbing around my torso, and then gets pressed to an L-seat. A long description, but it's a long sequence, and a cool one I don't want to forget like the rest of my workout.

Tue 10.11.11 - P-bars, HBal, & Misc.

2011-10-11T21:49:00.002-04:00

Sleep: ~8hrs
Diet: great
Stress: good

Tried waking up after some amount of sleep just below eight hours. Didn't work at all; had to hit the snooze. I really do need to hit the 55 minute multiples (eg: 8hrs, 15min).

Gymkana Practice - 3hrs:
Warm-up:
- quick team warm-up (thanks, Steve!)

Handbalancing:
About 10 minutes of practice:
- general handstands, weight leans, etc.

P-bars:
Over an hour here.
- lots of: kip -> straddle cut -> straddle press -> HS -> down to support swings
- most kips were using only a little bend; getting better at the rapid compression
- a bit of work on flyaways; not going to happen - need a coach

Ladders/More HBal:
- holding the ladders for a good while
- waaaay too much L-seat work involved in that
- during the down times, worked on the one-arm straddle L
- made my triceps really damn tired

Misc./Conditioning:
Floor Work:
- lots of practice on basic backwards rolls
- aiming for a smooth movement
Hollow Rocks:
- Steve put me up to it; damn those are tough
Rings Supports:
- by this point, I had no control over the rings; too much ab work already
Wall Handstands:
- five of these, but they were short-ish

Mon PM 10.10.11 - HBal, Planche work, MXP

2011-10-10T21:00:00.003-04:00

Sleep, Diet, Stress: Same as earlier today.

Gymkana Practice - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- team mobility warm-up

Handbalancing:
30min of practice:
- weight leans
- walking
- one-arm handstands

Strength:
Pseudoplanche Push-ups:
- 3x(6-8), on p-bars
P-bars:
- a few minutes of kip -> L-seat -> press HS work

MXP Balancing:
About 45min of practice:
- practicing mounts and stuff on shoulders
- lots of practice going from supine hand-to-foot to standing
- working with one of the coaches and a spotting belt
- three times managed to get my flyer all the way to an overhead hand-to-foot
- need to work on keeping the wrist extended
- need to work calf pops to back support (work on timing, use less knee dip)
- don't forget the backward roll mount Josh demonstrated

Conditioning:
- some wall handstands

Tomorrow I need to put in some serious work on p-bars and other floor skills. Also, wall handstands and active compression stretches.

Mon AM 10.10.11 - Rings HS, Presses, Crosses

2011-10-10T08:29:00.002-04:00

Sleep: ~6hrs?
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Sleep was a bit wacky last night; had to wake up once in the middle of the night to put down a second coat of paint in the bathroom, then had to wake up at 4am to put on the finishing touches and get ready for practice.

I was a bit late to practice, but got there right as it was starting. After the warm-up, I checked the clock and it was 6:35am - late compared to the norm for this year. That, in combination with the fact that I was holding the fire hoop for vaulting this morning meant I probably only had an hour of actual practice time.

Gymkana Practice - 1hr:
Warm-up:
- team mobility warm-up

Handbalancing:
Rings HS:
- 5x1x(max)
- included a press for each set, but cheated severely on two of them
Straddle Presses:
- 4x(1-2), on p-bars
- compression is feeling stronger now
L-Seat -> Straddle Press -> Pike Press Negative:
- 3x1, on hbal canes
- including a pike press negative

Strength:
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x(max), with band assist
- used a varying amount of assist from set to set
- with 2-4" of excess band on each side, I can get to ~45 degrees
- with ~10" of excess, I can get down to about a full rep

Conditioning:
Interspersed with the handbalancing stuff:
- bench dips w/ extension, 3x(~10)
- one-arm L-straddle practice

Sun 10.9.11 - Rest/Stretching

2011-10-10T00:16:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine 'n dandy

Rest day. Just stretching.

Also, had my cholesterol checked at a health screening today. Apparently, if I had a dollar for every point of cholesterol, I'd have two hundred and fifty-two dollars.

The last time I got it checked at one of these screenings, it was 202, where <200 is good, and >220 is bad. I'm really not sure if I can trust this latest reading then, since if anything, my diet has been better lately than it was back then. I'm thinking it has to do with the fasting requirements prior to testing. They said 4hrs, and it had just barely been 4hrs for me when I got tested, and directly prior to that period, I had eaten my entire day's fare, as I normally do.

I'll keep on the lookout for another chance to get tested when I'm fully fasted. Until then, I won't worry about it too much, but I will keep on the lookout.

Sat 10.8.11 - Chairs, Misc., Conditioning

2011-10-08T23:45:00.003-04:00

Sleep: 6.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: fine

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Warm-up:
- band stuff for joints
- stretching (continued throughout workout)

Handbalancing:
Chairs:
- 5x(1/1) press and hold, and hold, and hold...
- maximum holds making sure to set the chairs up in a particularly wobbly spot
Back bend handstands:
- 3x1 holds against the wall
- the movement felt a bit funny and very difficult; not sure if this is the best way to train it

Skill Work:
Floor Circle Walk-throughs:
- 2x(5/5)
- when you do these slowly, this work your delts suprisingly hard

Conditioning:
Supersets of:
- wide-hold rings supports
- active pike compressions
Supersets of:
- wall handstands
- straddle compressions
Supersets of:
- one-arm hanging L's (10lb chain as weight on ankles)
- active straddle holds

Fri 10.7.11 - SRope, Conditioning

2011-10-08T23:38:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 13hrs
Diet: great
Stress: I got 13hrs of sleep. How could I not be happy?

Evening relaxation. And in other news, it turns out that I'm decent at one-arm push-ups now. Cool.

Evening Workout - 1.5hrs:
Slackrope:
Spent about 60 minutes working on this in the nearby park. Just getting back in the groove. Also, did some work specifically trying to control the rope when in the bottom of a one-legged squat, by keeping my second foot on the ground to take as much weight as necessary to control the rope. Worked on some upper body control of the rope too (mounts and L-seats).

Conditioning:
Semi-random supersets of the following:
- wall handstands
- pike compressions
- wide-hold ring supports
- active straddle stretches
- passive stretches

Notes on exercises.

2011-10-07T22:48:00.004-04:00

Some notes on the exercises I've been working lately, either as part of my planned workouts, or as extra things I've been incorporating. The idea is that writing out all of this nonsense will help me make better exercise selections in the coming weeks to improve my rate of progress.

OA Wall Handstands: These are good for getting a chance to extend your shoulder, but they don't do jack for balance, and they seem to introduce some bad habits. For me, that'd be piking the hips when in a straddle HS. I can tell that I arch too much when all the wall too. I'm actually going to go back to doing more two-arm wall handstands again, seeing if I can't work up to doing 2-3 minute holds. I'll reinforce a much better body position that way, and while that means there's less weight for my shoulders and fingers to control, I think the additional time spent on both arms could compensate for that. I never should have stopped the wall handstands.

OA Handstand Attempts: I began working these too early, the same way I began working freestanding handstands too early, originally. I'm getting there with them, but I should already be there. I should be doing more weight leans, with an emphasis on only leaning as much weight as I can handle while keeping an extended shoulder, and keeping the balance correct. I find my arm going at all sorts of funny angles when on handbalancing canes and throwing my body around to reach the balance point; using the floor might be a better bet. Also, these should never be trained directly from a straddle handstand; that leads to too much piking. Going to a full HS, then taking only a minor straddle makes things much cleaner.

Shoulder Taps: Never found the balance point for doing these freestanding and they seem very silly against the wall. All that shifting back and forth gets you moving out of the body positions you want to train. I'd rather just keep working on simple wall handstands for longer durations.

Handstand Presses: Should I be doing more of these..? I don't know. I know I should be trying to get ~10 consecutive straddle presses, where I'm now around 3 (up from 2.5 earlier this year), but they always feel so damn difficult, or at least they have in recent months. I'm going to keep working these, chalking up the difficulties to recovery problems more than problems with the exercise itself.

Wall HSPU: Progress has been slow here, but it's been happening. I'm thinking weighted dips (for triceps) and HS presses (for delts) makes for a pairing, though. The fastest progress I saw with these was around the time my bodyweight dropped from 210lbs to 195lbs... and that really doesn't have anything to do with the exercise itself. Perhaps it's the fact that I've been working partial ROM (and trying to increase it over time), but during a time where my workouts have been overall ineffective, these were one of the even lesser effective parts.

OAC Negatives: Strength on these seems to come and go. It's f'd up. Some weeks, I'll be able to hold one of these at lockout until I get bored. Other weeks, I won't even be able to pick my second hand up off the bar. I like 'em when they work, but it's too inconsistent, and that inconsistency suggests it doesn't help with much else.

Weighted Chins: Haven't done these enough recently to comment on their efficacy. They get a bunch of good muscles strong, but I don't know if they do it in the right way for gymnastics. Besides, there are plenty of other exercises that get the lats, traps, and scaps strong, just not much else in terms of biceps, and that's important if you want to develop tricep strength. Hell, maybe I'll just throw in a few sets of heavy-ass curls each week.

Weighted Dips: I still think these things are great, I just haven't gotten the chance to work them as often as I'd like. Also, I need a couple of small plates for increments between the 30lb ones I currently have.

Ring Supports: I stopped doing these over the summer when I didn't have access to rings, but they're something I ought to focus on again. In particular, I've found that I like doing them either on short straps with the straps set wide (forcing you to pull in very hard) or on longer straps, holding the rings far away from the body (which works the cross muscles and preps the elbows). With just a bit of practice on the wide-hold ring supports, I've noticed my elbows have got a lot better at taking the stress, and that'll help a lot with training for the cross. Steve says to shoot for a minute solid on these, so I'll work for hitting at least 30s, but if I hit a plateau like I did with the L-seats, I'm not going to sweat it.

Cross Pull-outs w/ Bands: I'm only in the beginning stages with these, but they seem to work. Only time will tell if they can actually get me below a 45 degree arm angle, then down past 30... 15... and finally that 0 degree sweetspot. These, of course, ought to be paired with support holds. The biggest difficulties with them right now are the elbow stress, and the fact that you can't set your shoulders properly or make use of the false grip in the top part of the movement. Those things only come into play below 30 degrees or so.

Rings Handstands: The jury's out on these. On the one hand, they at least give me an excuse to practice my cheat-press on rings (leaning into the straps), but I don't think I'm close to being able to balance it freely, and the way I'm doing it (with my feet gently on the straps) may or may not get me there. I dunno. I know I arch my back more when doing these, but I also know the wobbliness has lessened substantially as I've been doing these more.

Front Lever Work: I haven't done these enough to be definite either. I do still like the FL <- MU -> PL work on rings, though, in spite of how pathetic my planche progression might be up there. It works a lot of muscle real well.

RTO Dips: Another thing that got lost this summer when I didn't have access to rings. Probably ought to bring these back, but I'm not sure. They're damn difficult, I can say that, but I don't ever feel like I worked after finishing them. I feel like I just struggled.

Manna Progressions: Takes more compression strength than I thought. If I can manage to get the strength and flexibility to keep my fingers pointed backwards, these just might be worth it. Otherwise, no.

Rope Climbs: These should be done more often, since I have a strong bias towards pushing exercises in my workouts, and not enough pulling. Probably better to work on these rather than weighted chins, since you can get the volume easier with these.

L-Seats: If there was one consistent thing about my workouts over the summer, it was the L-seat, and I can now say for certain that was a mistake. These things are a great demonstration of ab strength and endurance, but they don't seem to build it at all. I worked them with good technique every time (straight arms, tall shoulders, proud chest), but never seemed to make it much past thirty seconds. Now Steve tells me that active compression stretches are a better way to build that strength (particularly for getting a V-seat), and I'll trust that advice. The only L-seats I'll be doing now are as part of press handstand work, or on the floor with my fingers pointing backwards as a strength builder for the rear delts, triceps, and wrist joints.

Other Ab Stuff: Ab wheels, OA HLR's, stahl bar drills, dragon flags - it's all good. Just not L-seats.

Passive Stretching: Of course it's good. Tried and true.

PNF Stretching: I had only remembered this stuff even existed very recently, but it has shown me some obscene gains in my middle splits and hip flexor flexibility already. I'll keep it up.

Active Compression Stretches: At Steve's recommendation, I'm working these now instead of L-seats. They make me cramp like a mofo, so while I don't yet know how well they work, they certainly do make me work.

More rambling; new training guidelines.

2011-10-07T16:19:00.004-04:00

Taking into account my post from Tuesday morning, I actually am coming up with some new training guidelines.

For one thing, training has been has been one of the few things in my life lately that I've been able to enjoy. With that in mind, I want to maximize both the amount and the quality of the training I do. This semester, I have the option of attending up to 13hrs of gymnastics practice between Monday and Thursday (an unprecedented amount), and then three off days each weekend. So, I'm going to see if I can't manage to get some sort of workout in every day now. That's five team practices during the week, then three of my own workouts on the weekend. Given my horrendous class load this semester, I know right now that I don't have time for that, but if I really work for it, I can make the time.

Now - goals! I'd like to be in the same acts as I listed backed in April: Chairs, Rings, P-bars, and MXP Acro. Maybe there's still a chance at Slackrope getting in there, but if not, that's no big deal. I'll continue to work it on my own just for the hell of it - in fact, it might even be better to keep that as a solo activity of mine. I had considered doing Vault, but I still think I'll pass. Rebound just isn't my thing.

If I had to pick three big things to work on right now, they'd be the one-arm handstand, straddle planche, and iron cross. The first two are things I'd hope to showcase during either MXP or p-bars, and the last would obviously be for rings. However, from the looks of how things are going so far this year, if I want to be in any of the shows, I'm going to have to step-up my all around gymnastic abilities. After a few our team members were selected to compete on America's Got Talent this summer, the head coach has really stepped up his expectations from all of us. (Honestly, it's about time.) Furthermore, if I'm going to spend so much time training, I really can't spend it all doing strength work either (it just wouldn't be possible to recover), so it makes sense to pick some skill-based items to work on too.

Tumbling/Floor: back handspring, circles, back bend handstand, backward extension roll, healy, kip to straight legs, kip from handstand
P-bars: straight arm kip, English handstand, pirouette, swing to handstand
Chairs: just need more general practice to get acclimated to the grip and the wobble
Rings: swings (hahaha)

My holdbacks for the main goals:
* OAHS: shoulder strength, finger strength, balance, being sure to not mess myself up by training it so often with anything less than perfect technique
* Straddle Planche: strength, straddle flexibility, being heavy
* Iron Cross: strength, joint health, being heavy

Now, I hesitate to come out with an exact schedule just yet, but I'll update this post later to include one. The head coach is currently coming out with a schedule for which days he wants the group acts to meet, and I want to have that incorporated here. I know that I'll also be working in MXP acro at one of the Monday practices, and on Thursday evenings, since I do know who I'm balancing with now.

Thu 10.6.11 - Easy stuff. Stretching.

2011-10-07T15:58:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 0hrs overnight, 2hr afternoon nap
Diet: good overnight; 3hr carb-up in the evening after working out
Stress: eh

Had to pull an all-nighter again. Had an amazing nap in the afternoon before Gk practice.

My workout was kept easy. Mostly just stretching and some Chairs/handbalancing stuff. Left early.

When I got home, I had a 3hr dietary "cheat window" so I could carb up again for the next week of workouts and strict eating. Started off with a quart of lemonade and a quart of whey protein shakes, then moved on to sweet potatoes and beef, and a bunch of other high starch, high protein foods. Didn't really have any junk food though, except for a bit of ice cream near the end, even that was the "all natural" stuff.

Afterwards, I collapsed on my bed.

Wed 10.5.11 - I kinda forget.

2011-10-07T15:42:00.003-04:00

Sleep: ~9hrs
Diet: great
Stress: eh

Managed to get a good night's sleep, but did so knowing that it would cost me an all-nighter the following evening. The way I see it, it was better to get a good workout Wednesday and a crappy one Thursday than to get only half a night's sleep both nights and get two mediocre workouts.

That being said, I can't really remember what I did on Wednesday night's practice, except for working on some MXP balancing. It was a good workout, I remember, but with the pursuing all-nighter, the influx of technical science information kind of wiped it all out of my mind.

When I finally got around to taking a nap Thursday afternoon, I fell asleep pondering analogies between dreams and psuedorandom number generation schemes. You fall asleep with a couple of thoughts in your conscious and subconscious mind (essentially a secret randomized seed) and during your dreams, these thoughts expand (to a size determined by a polynomial, I suppose) to encompass all sorts of semi-related nonsense (a psuedorandomized stream). Now, of course, is that stream indistinguishable from a truly random thought stream? Perhaps. It's interesting to think about.

Tue 10.4.11 - HBal, Dips, Crosses, Stretching

2011-10-04T21:06:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 5.5hrs
Diet: great
Stress: eh

Pretty good workout.

Evening Gymkana - 3hrs:
Warm-up:
- long mobility warm-up with the team

Handbalancing:
- worked on OA HS, rings handstands, and handstand walking, as before
- spent about an hour between the three things

Strength:
P-Bar Dips:
- 3x8x60lbs, 2x6x60lbs
Wall HSPU:
- 3x5, partial ROM on the wall
- ROM was on the short side today; feeling fatigued
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x3, band assisted, partial ROM
- getting more used to the movement and getting more depth now

Cool-down:
- stretching throughout the workout
- wide support holds on rings
- PNF stretching for hip aductors
- active straddle compression stretches

Some comments on recent training.

2011-10-04T09:27:00.004-04:00

So, I got three minutes before class. Time to make use of them.

Lately, I haven't been fully pleased with my training. That's going back to pretty much the end of May. Immediately following this past Homeshow, I had some real good workouts, but as soon as the summer got underway, I've kind of been stuck on a plateau.

Pretty much every time I get into a workout, I know what I ought to be doing, and it's stuff that I normally should be able to do, but I just haven't had the energy to do it. This leads to me doing some alternative, which invariably leads to a disorganized workout, or if I do the planned work, it always feels far tougher than it should. This makes me wonder if I'm actually getting weaker than I was before, or if I'm just never at 100%. I'm leading towards the latter, since I still have a few gauges that suggest my strength is around the same point as it's been since May, but it also hasn't improved at all and that's bullshit I can't tolerate.

In short, it seems that I have to get my sleep and diet in order.

My diet has been variable these past few months. Generally, it's been good, but that's "good" taking the context into account. Those contexts include things like living out of my car for a few days this summer (at one point, going nearly 40hrs without having the chance to eat), and also going for 30hr+ periods on anywhere from 30min or 4hrs of sleep. So, I've been doing well, but not the best.

Around last week, I started doing some things to change that. I'm going pretty hardcore with eating clean - no sugars, no grains, and no general junk. I've already begun to notice some slight improvements in my weight and bodycomp, thought that's probably related to water loss from low-carbin' it. I do hate to give up ice cream, but it's honestly not worth it. If my diet is one thing I can generally control (unlike my work schedule, which is intimately tied to my sleep schedule), then that's one thing I'm going fine-tune.

As for sleep, that's been consistently crappy for the past four months. Check the log for examples. I was hoping that the school year would provide me with some reprieve from the chaos, but no dice. Things are equally hectic now. Regardless, I have got to start getting some m'f'ing sleep. The plain and simple fact that I can't recall half of my workouts testifies to this. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to accomplish this, but I'm at least going to acknowledge it as a serious problem that's f'ing with my s'.

Anyway, enough rambling. Both from me and from the professor going on about AES encryption. I've got some partial diff. homework to finish now, and I probably won't manage to complete it anyway, but at least I got some sleep last night.

Addendum:
Yep, didn't finish the partial diff. Reflectivity principle and d'Alembert's law for solving systems of wave equations by hand. Those are not fun computations, especially when the book loves using fractions. Oh well. It seems like no one else finished well either, so I'm glad I didn't spend the extra four hours on those two problems. Pareto's law.

Anyway, I think I should comment on the actual training things that might be holding up my progress too:

* I don't have a good push/pull balance in my workouts. Previously, my weighted chin-up exceeded my weighted dip, now it's the other way around, and by a decent margin. I've been hitting the pressing work very hard, but without counterbalancing pulling work, it's possible that there's some nervous system work in play to prevent imbalances.

* I'm not getting the little things in consistently enough. All that stuff that's "do this for 60 seconds total each day" - it's actually important. While 60 seconds isn't a lot either, it is when you're trying to do 60 seconds of some 8-10 different movements, needing multiple sets for each. But yeah, active stretching in particular ought to be important. Wide ring supports also.

* I'm not approaching the OAHS in the proper way. I'm still making progress, but I should have nailed it by now. I've got some hip alignment issues that need to be worked out, along with a lack of shoulder extension strength. I might just keep working on two-arm handstands against the wall and on the floor until I can hit a solid 2:00 hold. This would be alongside training the OAHS, but I need practice keeping the shoulder at the very end of its extension.

* I'm not taking full advantage of every minute of practice. I get plenty of hours in the gym now, but I do spent a bit more time than I'd like either slacking off or getting distracted. That's a personal problem (as Steve would say). If I could get things done a bit faster, than I'd have time to work on some more general gymnastics too - things like misc. handbalancing poses (English handstand, anyone?), handsprings, and circles. Things that'd contribute to my being an overall better gymnast.

So, my workout plan is going to stay generally the same, but I just wanted to throw these ideas out there before I forget them (due to sleep deprivation).

Mon PM 10.3.11 - HBal, P-bars, Misc.

2011-10-04T09:22:00.004-04:00

Sleep: added about 1hr of napping in the afternoon

Gymkana practice; back for seconds. Kinda having trouble remembering what I did, though. In particular, I can remember that my straddle press had improved marginally, that my shoulders were feeling pretty f'd up so I worked on p-bar swings (which helped dramatically), and that I did some wall handstands and active pike compression stretches.

Mon AM 10.3.11 - HBal, Iron Cross Progressions

2011-10-04T09:14:00.003-04:00

Sleep: 6hrs
Diet: good
Stress: eh

Morning practice.

6am Gymkana - 2hrs:
Warm-up:
- team mobility warm-up
- some band stuff for joints

Handbalancing:
OA Handstands:
- practicing these on hbal canes
Rings Handstands:
- 6x1x(max) w/ tuck press
- feet on the straps for a bit of balance
Handstand Walking:
- practicing walking figure 8's on the floor
- trying to control momentum and turning
- working on fairly slow movements
- by the time I finished this, it was 1hr into practice, for a rough idea of how much time I spent on each thing

Strength:
P-bar Dips:
- worked up to 1x120lbs and then (0+F)x120lbs
Cross Pull-outs:
- 5x3 (roughly)
- band assisted, partial ROM
- killer on the elbows, but better than it was a few weeks ago
Wide Ring Supports:
- 3x(max)

Cool-down:
- passive stretching throughout the workout
- some flag work on stahl bars
- PNF stretching for hamstrings and hip flexors

Sun 10.2.11 - Rest (Hah.) and light stretching

2011-10-02T16:56:00.004-04:00

Sleep: 0 overnight + 2hrs afternoon nap
Diet: good
Stress: meh/bleh

That's right, goose egg. My day began around 2:30pm when I woke up from a nap.

I'm not sure what my workout will be today, given that there's Gk practice tomorrow morning, but I'll wing it.

Evening Workout:
* three long handstand holds
* PNF stretching: hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, hip adductors
* active stretching: pike, straddle pike, straddle hollow

Beddy-bye time.

Sat 10.1.11 - Rest (Hah.)

2011-10-02T16:49:00.002-04:00

Sleep: 4.5hrs
Diet: crap
Stress: bleh

I was up late working on business related projects. Got up early for a personal training session. Ran a few errands. Had lunch. Began working on a programming assignment around 1pm. Finished at 10am. Sunday.

F' that s'. At the very least, they could have us programming something useful, but they'd rather just have us piss away our time in exchange for an letter grade. No offence, but I'd prefer a paycheck. Thanks.