Thursday: Illness, still. Grip training and some light conditioning to keep me occupied.
Friday: Actually felt worse than thursday, couldn't face up to the thought of waterpolo fitness, had an easy night.
Saturday: Where to start, hmm. Got out of bed to see that it was grey but dry outside. Fortunate considering the rain of friday. Got up as normal, had the choice of sprinting for the early train or waiting 30 mins more and walking for the later train. Of course I sprinted for the early train, extremely grateful that my trusty Berghaus 640 bag actually lets me do parkour movements whilst staying pinned to my back. Parkour applied practically I suppose. Anyhow, got into Leeds, arrived at the Art Gallery. None of the people I normally train with were there so I just got busy training on my own whilst the others seemed to prefer sitting around doing nothing. Got absolutley loads done, still finding new movements at the Art Gallery, also conquered a few of them that previously scared me including armjumping onto a corner and the precision back (mental challenges rather than physical). Interupted this briefly to patch up "Sonic" who'd put a lovely hole in his leg on the exact same precision Scott put one in his leg on (though Scott's was worse I have to say). Cleaned it up, covered it up with a self-adhesive dressing and he was up and running again. Toby and Pete were both there, both on their second ever training session. Really enjoyed teaching them new stuff and the speed they're progressing is fantastic. They're both really well motivated and prepared to listen and try which is pretty much all you could wish for in pupils. Ed and Jamie turned up after a bit and joined in with the teaching. They also joined in with coming up with new movements, culminating in a tic-tac crane which is a very quick and previously unthought of route up part of the Art Gallery. Failed miserably at persuading Ed and Jamie to try the running variation of the bollard armjump. I suppose having my height makes the step-up takeoff easier to handle for me. Before too long I need to have a look at doing it from the next bollard which will require much more commitment in the takeoff. I think I spent a good 3 hours just at that end of the Art Gallery, training pretty much everything under the sun, all the time feeling more confident and more proficient than I ever have done before.
Next up was Morrisons with a brief stopoff at the semi-famous muscle up bar. Failed miserably at planche en strength but not really very surprising, didn't feel at all strong on saturday, illness really saps your strength and energy. As ever, more training required, looks like this illness has nicely derailed my planche progress, having managed planche en strength before I was a bit gutted about this, certainly puts me a long way away from planche en force in my current state.
Anyhow, enough of my muscle up woes, back to parkour and Morrisons. Knocked off some other stuff that fear used to stop me from doing there. Did the armjump from the sculpture to the rail instead of to the wall. Did a fairly nice climbup and flicked straight over. Was pleased about that, had never even flicked over that before. Repeated it a few times to make sure I was comfortable with it. In reality I should've done that ages ago but it was satisfying to get it done and remind myself I can do much more in the armjump department. Next up, I stuck the big flowerbed precision, it's been a few weeks since I first made that and I failed miserably last week when I tried it. Stuck it twice and had plenty more near-misses. Still playing with my technique but I think I have a pretty effective one now. 10 foot distance with a drop of around half a foot makes it a fair challenge, hope to get it consistent before too long. Next up was another thing that fear had prevented me from doing for ages, I'd had plenty of aborted runs at it in the past. The running armjump there. It took me too many attempts to sort my runup out so that I could just sprint flat out at it but once I had that, I had a quick trial run and then went for it. Thankfully I landed fine despite getting surprised in the air that I was actually going to hit the target haha. Spent a fair while working on ambidextirity on passements. I then worked on my splitfoot catpasses, in particular clearing high obstacles, something again I used to mentally struggle with. Before long I found myself clearing walls higher than my shoulders with catpasses, I think my technique has finally matured into something truely effective. Again, stuff that would've terrified me up until today. Rounded it off by introducing Ed and Jamie to the crane jumps we did on tuesday, I was pleased to see that I'd improved at them, got straight up first attempt without resorting to using my hands for balance which is good. Scott joined us midway through the Morrisons session, however his back injury was severely limiting him, get well soon Scott!
Next up Scott took us to an overlooked spot on the way to the Playhouse. There wasn't a huge amount of stuff but there were some fun things to do. There was a fairly large running armjump that I underestimated on my first attempt, somehow rescuing it with a surprise one handed armjump landing. Glad to see my instincts work in that sort of situation. Did it a few more times, two and one handed. Dan and myself then worked on a big running jump up a couple of feet from a bench across a 9 foot gap. Another commitment and mental test, required a very fast runup and an explosive takeoff. Dan landed it first with a crane and with his encouragement I follwed him up with a crane of my own. However, I didn't get my trailing leg far enough forward to allow it to absorb the impact properly meaning I got a nice dose of shock in my ankle. So next time I do the jump I either need to land it two footed or bring my trailing leg further forwards if I crane it. Also did a catpass armjump there which Scott picked out. Involved catpassing a high rail, flying across a pavement and then grabbing a slippery wall. Catpassing high rails is yet another thing I used to hate. Took one go at it just to check I was happy with the catpass and then sprinted at it and made the armjump easily. Irritatingly the wall was slippery enough that I did the transition in the climbup phase and then fell straight off the wall!
We then arrived at the Playhouse which we haven't visited for a good few weeks. The thing with the Playhouse is it doesn't have a huge amount of things to do, however there are some fantastic things there. First on the agenda was repeating the tricky standing armjump from the rail. Quickly despatched that and felt very comfortable with it, good since that was an achievement a month and a bit ago. Next up was to do the same armjump but this time in the style of Owen, from the wall. Took a while to mentally prepare, first attempt didn't quite come off, slightly underjumped it so I couldn't hold onto the landing. Second time I was even more determined, gave it everything I had and landed it properly. The wall has a huge rounded edge and is slippery on top making it pretty damn awkward. So I was really glad to do the armjump and climbup. By this point my energy levels were getting low so I decided to break my usual policy and not force myself to repeat it. Instead I moved onto what for me is the most psychologically challenging precision in the entire of Leeds, the "River Gap". Just over 9 foot and completely level. It must've taken me about 10 minutes of preparation but I repeated it, the main difference to the only other time I did it being that I stuck it this time, last time I was actually overshooting and so not able to stop myself!
We then headed on to the Royal Armouries but by this point I was basically too exhausted to do anything much. Tried the catpass armjump a few times, made it only to somehow hit the rail rather than grip it with one of my hands. I then tried a standing crane, making it but overcomitting at my ankle's expense again. At this point I realised that my exhaustion was getting the better of me and to continue was risking serious injury. Decided to quit whilst I was ahead. I suddenly felt like a very tired and ill human being again rather than a traceur with the world at his feet. Ah well, can't detract from what was still an incredibly productive day. Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening messing around with Ed, Scott and Jamie, not much more training got done unsurprisingly.
Saturday was amazing for me, it made me realise that with the correct mental state, I can achieve some incredible things. I need to keep this momentum and apply my abilities and confidence to some of the other areas in Leeds. I have some big challenges indeed lined up for myself. It was also nice for me to be the one trying to get Ed and Jamie to do things rather than the other way around. I wouldn't say we're competitive but for so long I've always been that bit behind these two and it's nice to be making a contribution to pushing our boundaries as a group. Will have to hope for good weather and lots of trainings for the easter holidays! I also really need to go climbing again.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Alistair Goes To Leeds... Trainings Ensue
Didn't all work out quite as planned...
Sunday: Rested, friday and saturday caught up with me in a big way. Got plenty of sleep.
Monday: Mostly rest again, did some grip exercises and some leg work.
Tuesday: Good ol' super tuesday when my lessons finish at 10:35am. Used the first two free periods to do all my maths, handed it in, changed into my training clothes, sprinted down to the station near school only to find they'd rudely cancelled my train. Oh well, got another train to Shipley and karma obviously owed me one as the Leeds train from Skipton was delayed, allowing me to sprint across and get on it, cutting my delay down majorly. Arrived in Leeds, left the station right as some snowfall began. Met Scott and Jim at the Art Gallery, snow soon stopped and the wind dried everything off quickly. Spent a few hours training around the Art Gallery finding new movements, becoming more proficient at existing ones and generally training our asses off. Extended our traversing challenges even further with some creative thinking. Dan turned up after a while and joined in as well. Scott finally found a way into the tree above the red railings and made his way up to the top from where you can see onto the roof of the Art Gallery. Tried the armjump from the midpoint of the stair rail to the wall again, still can't get my feet up enough to stick it, that's a mental rather than a physical problem though. Will have to devote some serious time and focus to that one sometime soon. We visited the church briefly, there's an awkward armjump that goes sideways from a staircase to a narrowish column. Ages ago when Jim from Lincoln visited, inspired by him I did the armjump from the second to top step of the stairs. I'd never had the courage to repeat it since. Did it 4 times this time, felt far easier than previously which is progress I guess. Will be trying to take it up another step before too long I guess. Finished up at Morrisons, did some cranes I'd never tried before. Thanks to the third snowfall of the day, bits of it were too wet to use. My precision distance seemed down a little on my peak a few weeks ago, will have to get training to sort that out, particularly if I'm going to go beyond where I got to at my peak. And we finished off with a mini Hell Night which was good stuff and a reminder that we really need to get Hell Night going again in Leeds. All in all a pretty awesome session. Walking home from the station as the sun went down I felt tired but satisfied, times like that you're exstatic just to be alive.
Wednesday: Illness. Fantastic. Woke up with a sore throat, no appetite and stomach pains. Took the day off school. Pity because I was planning on doing my 12 mile circuit today. Anyway, feeling better now, will go back to school tomorrow just because I can't afford to miss anymore. Hopefully will be up to strength again by the weekend.
Sunday: Rested, friday and saturday caught up with me in a big way. Got plenty of sleep.
Monday: Mostly rest again, did some grip exercises and some leg work.
Tuesday: Good ol' super tuesday when my lessons finish at 10:35am. Used the first two free periods to do all my maths, handed it in, changed into my training clothes, sprinted down to the station near school only to find they'd rudely cancelled my train. Oh well, got another train to Shipley and karma obviously owed me one as the Leeds train from Skipton was delayed, allowing me to sprint across and get on it, cutting my delay down majorly. Arrived in Leeds, left the station right as some snowfall began. Met Scott and Jim at the Art Gallery, snow soon stopped and the wind dried everything off quickly. Spent a few hours training around the Art Gallery finding new movements, becoming more proficient at existing ones and generally training our asses off. Extended our traversing challenges even further with some creative thinking. Dan turned up after a while and joined in as well. Scott finally found a way into the tree above the red railings and made his way up to the top from where you can see onto the roof of the Art Gallery. Tried the armjump from the midpoint of the stair rail to the wall again, still can't get my feet up enough to stick it, that's a mental rather than a physical problem though. Will have to devote some serious time and focus to that one sometime soon. We visited the church briefly, there's an awkward armjump that goes sideways from a staircase to a narrowish column. Ages ago when Jim from Lincoln visited, inspired by him I did the armjump from the second to top step of the stairs. I'd never had the courage to repeat it since. Did it 4 times this time, felt far easier than previously which is progress I guess. Will be trying to take it up another step before too long I guess. Finished up at Morrisons, did some cranes I'd never tried before. Thanks to the third snowfall of the day, bits of it were too wet to use. My precision distance seemed down a little on my peak a few weeks ago, will have to get training to sort that out, particularly if I'm going to go beyond where I got to at my peak. And we finished off with a mini Hell Night which was good stuff and a reminder that we really need to get Hell Night going again in Leeds. All in all a pretty awesome session. Walking home from the station as the sun went down I felt tired but satisfied, times like that you're exstatic just to be alive.
Wednesday: Illness. Fantastic. Woke up with a sore throat, no appetite and stomach pains. Took the day off school. Pity because I was planning on doing my 12 mile circuit today. Anyway, feeling better now, will go back to school tomorrow just because I can't afford to miss anymore. Hopefully will be up to strength again by the weekend.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Fence + Scott + Hypergravity = Hilarity?
Thursday: Thursday I went in the gym at school which is something I haven't done in ages. Funny watching all the muscle-heads gawping at me doing pistols, muscle ups and negatives (they'd never seen any of them before!). It has a silly split pullup bar which I can't describe but is pretty crap for muscle ups, did planche en momentum on it a while ago, this time I focused entirely on planche en force. Did 10 reps with a friend gently pushing me through the transition. I still feel really, really weak during one little phase of the transition, I guess I'll just have to keep on doing it until it goes away. About a year and a half ago in the gym I tried to lift 40kg overhead from the floor, did one rep and dropped it. For fun, I did the same weight again this time, did 10 reps with good technique. So I suppose that's progress. Worked more on my squatting technique, going deep with 80kg. Focused very heavily on upper body stuff because that's my current priority. Also realised that finally I'm consistent with pistols, did 10 reps on each leg unsupported with no balance issues. Which is cool since a month ago I couldn't even do them on my left leg because of my history of knee troubles.
Friday: Friday night was a mate's 17th at a bar so I knew the evening was a writeoff for training. Fortunatley there was still good ol' after school waterpolo fitness so I did an hour of that. Did loads of evil swimming stuff designed to trash your stamina. Felt really good afterwards. Realised that I need to re-learn racing turns and improve my head-up front crawl technique. We did ballwork after that to cool down, it's amazing just how good our passing is as a team now, very accurate, controlled and fast. Oh and I came up with yet another method of training for planche en force. People suggest doing muscle ups on the edge of a pool to train for them. Well the ends of our pool are raised about 30cm above the water level for the starting blocks and I can happily do en force on it and not really feel anything. However, I realised that I could simply use collumns of floats on the poolside to raise my arms and increase the resistance. I guess by the end the tower was about 1 meter tall, perhaps a bit lower. Varied the height and did lots of planche en force and momentum on all sorts of different heights. It's actually amazingly good training and as part of my drive to get en force, I'm going to be doing it as often as possible. So at least I made something of the evening training-wise.
Saturday: Had to be up at 6:00am on saturday for the first of the sessions I need to do (20 hours total) over the next two years to renew my NPLQ. Actually felt surprisingly good but was annoyed to see everything looking rather wet. Got into Leeds about 11 after the lifeguarding session and in those hours, everything had dried up majorly! So that was pretty cool. Did the same sort of stuff as usual, for me it was more a day of watching other people achieve their goals rather than doing anything new of my own. But congrats to Ben for doing two armjumps he's been wanting to do for ages in the same day and also to Hollie for her first ever muscle up other than on a springy gymanstics bar. I love seeing other people progress. We also did a bit of tricking and buildering, I'm an aweful tricker and I know it but I'm trying to improve and everyone is being really helpful with trying to teach me. Worked mostly on b-kicks, having difficulty keeping my upper body horizontal. Whilst doing this apparently I did a surprisingly good 360 crescent by accident. Did some stuff that should help me build up to the 540 kick as well. I've got a long way to go but I'm having fun. Buildering was fun, how much stronger both Hollie and myself are now is amazing, the court wall seemed like a stroll in the park when previously it was an achievement for me to make it across it once. Ben Anderson the amature photographer who shoots a fair bit with us was out for a
bit with us today during the tricking and buildering. He captured this incredibly surreal one of me on the court wall doing the "corner" problem which seemed like a massive achievement 6 months ago. There's a fisheye lens and a remotley triggered flash gun being used which is why it looks so crazy. He's an awesome guy to work with and he's talking about doing some more focused sessions in the future which should produce some incredible results. The rest of the set (including two more of me) is here. So yeah, the day went pretty much as normal. There seems to be a new trend for clearing off early in Leeds which is a shame. But fortunatley Scott can never say no to some more training so after everyone else had gone we did some fantastic stuff at a covered place in the university (by now it was raining again). There was a big set of low bike rails we experimented loads with finding new movements on. As ever, Scott managed to push me a bit to try stuff I struggle with mentally, this is why for me training with Scott is great, he makes me push harder. We did some fun little plyometrics drills over the rails as well. Oh and as for the title, earlier on in the day, Scott was giving me a piggy back (in the style of part of our Hell Night), came to a lowish fence and of course being Scott decided to try to running jump it. He clipped a foot and went flying, good stuff. Now I have some idea why Hollie hates it so much when I do precisions with her on my back!
Hopefully I'll get into Leeds sometime during the week with Scott and we can have a really, really focused session like the tuesday one ages ago. There's stuff I can physically do in Leeds that I've let my underconfidence stop me from doing. And somehow with Ed, Jamie and Hollie all wanting to film stuff for videos at the moment, people wanting to visit different spots than me and other stuff that I won't go into, I haven't found the mental focus on a saturday to go get big stuff done. With Scott there shouting "Get it done!" at me and reduced distractions, I think that's exactly what I need right now.
Oh and I forgot to mention, I discovered the Leeds Half Marathon is at the start of May. I think I might enter it just for the experience, I know my time will be pretty poor, currently I can run a long way, just not very fast. It would be interesting to see how I cope with it. Planned out a very hilly 12 mile circuit locally, will try that asap, if I survive it I know I'm up for the half marathon haha!
Over and out.
Friday: Friday night was a mate's 17th at a bar so I knew the evening was a writeoff for training. Fortunatley there was still good ol' after school waterpolo fitness so I did an hour of that. Did loads of evil swimming stuff designed to trash your stamina. Felt really good afterwards. Realised that I need to re-learn racing turns and improve my head-up front crawl technique. We did ballwork after that to cool down, it's amazing just how good our passing is as a team now, very accurate, controlled and fast. Oh and I came up with yet another method of training for planche en force. People suggest doing muscle ups on the edge of a pool to train for them. Well the ends of our pool are raised about 30cm above the water level for the starting blocks and I can happily do en force on it and not really feel anything. However, I realised that I could simply use collumns of floats on the poolside to raise my arms and increase the resistance. I guess by the end the tower was about 1 meter tall, perhaps a bit lower. Varied the height and did lots of planche en force and momentum on all sorts of different heights. It's actually amazingly good training and as part of my drive to get en force, I'm going to be doing it as often as possible. So at least I made something of the evening training-wise.
Saturday: Had to be up at 6:00am on saturday for the first of the sessions I need to do (20 hours total) over the next two years to renew my NPLQ. Actually felt surprisingly good but was annoyed to see everything looking rather wet. Got into Leeds about 11 after the lifeguarding session and in those hours, everything had dried up majorly! So that was pretty cool. Did the same sort of stuff as usual, for me it was more a day of watching other people achieve their goals rather than doing anything new of my own. But congrats to Ben for doing two armjumps he's been wanting to do for ages in the same day and also to Hollie for her first ever muscle up other than on a springy gymanstics bar. I love seeing other people progress. We also did a bit of tricking and buildering, I'm an aweful tricker and I know it but I'm trying to improve and everyone is being really helpful with trying to teach me. Worked mostly on b-kicks, having difficulty keeping my upper body horizontal. Whilst doing this apparently I did a surprisingly good 360 crescent by accident. Did some stuff that should help me build up to the 540 kick as well. I've got a long way to go but I'm having fun. Buildering was fun, how much stronger both Hollie and myself are now is amazing, the court wall seemed like a stroll in the park when previously it was an achievement for me to make it across it once. Ben Anderson the amature photographer who shoots a fair bit with us was out for a
bit with us today during the tricking and buildering. He captured this incredibly surreal one of me on the court wall doing the "corner" problem which seemed like a massive achievement 6 months ago. There's a fisheye lens and a remotley triggered flash gun being used which is why it looks so crazy. He's an awesome guy to work with and he's talking about doing some more focused sessions in the future which should produce some incredible results. The rest of the set (including two more of me) is here. So yeah, the day went pretty much as normal. There seems to be a new trend for clearing off early in Leeds which is a shame. But fortunatley Scott can never say no to some more training so after everyone else had gone we did some fantastic stuff at a covered place in the university (by now it was raining again). There was a big set of low bike rails we experimented loads with finding new movements on. As ever, Scott managed to push me a bit to try stuff I struggle with mentally, this is why for me training with Scott is great, he makes me push harder. We did some fun little plyometrics drills over the rails as well. Oh and as for the title, earlier on in the day, Scott was giving me a piggy back (in the style of part of our Hell Night), came to a lowish fence and of course being Scott decided to try to running jump it. He clipped a foot and went flying, good stuff. Now I have some idea why Hollie hates it so much when I do precisions with her on my back!Hopefully I'll get into Leeds sometime during the week with Scott and we can have a really, really focused session like the tuesday one ages ago. There's stuff I can physically do in Leeds that I've let my underconfidence stop me from doing. And somehow with Ed, Jamie and Hollie all wanting to film stuff for videos at the moment, people wanting to visit different spots than me and other stuff that I won't go into, I haven't found the mental focus on a saturday to go get big stuff done. With Scott there shouting "Get it done!" at me and reduced distractions, I think that's exactly what I need right now.
Oh and I forgot to mention, I discovered the Leeds Half Marathon is at the start of May. I think I might enter it just for the experience, I know my time will be pretty poor, currently I can run a long way, just not very fast. It would be interesting to see how I cope with it. Planned out a very hilly 12 mile circuit locally, will try that asap, if I survive it I know I'm up for the half marathon haha!
Over and out.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Walking Barefoot On Summer... Well Almost
After my abortive attempt at blogging 6 months ago, I feel ready to give it a try again now. So anyway, I suppose I'll start from the previous weekend.
Saturday: Saturday was Ed's birthday so we all headed off to Barnsley Metrodome, hoping to go do some tricking into the diving pool. Unfortunatley the 1m springboard had vanished and for non-divers the 3m springboard and 5m platform were a fairly intimidating thought. Plus they seem to have introduced a total flip ban there. Full marks to Scott for doing a backtuck off the 3m anyway and getting one of the reddest backs I've ever seen. Ended up spending most of the time in the main pool diving off the side and generally pissing around which was fun. I got to show off my lifeguarding skills as well haha. After giving up on this we looked around Barnsley for anywhere to train, failed completely other than finding a precision too big for any of us to stick and some half-decent scaffolding. Attempted a planche en force on the scaffolding, still getting stuck in the transition. More training required. Went back into Leeds afterwards, trained a bit, I couldn't commit to the rail armjump at the Art Gallery since I felt too tired, definatley a short term goal though since I now feel certain I can make it. Did a traversing challenge on a church (and got informed it wasn't a climbing wall by a CSO). Then after most people had gone Scott, Boydo and I did some challenges involving not touching the ground at the Art Gallery. Also had some fun in the tree by the library and I finally stuck some of the dynos there. Taught Boydo how to land softer and use the sideways landings that have become fashionable in Leeds (with good reason!) thanks to Scott. Oh and I introduced Scott to the joys of cardio, something we've resolved to make the rest of the Leeds guys do a lot more of. It was good to see Ed happy anyway, even if it didn't quite turn out as planned.
Sunday: Sunday is usually a day when I either do some more movement training or have a rest. Tried to get Scott to go to Leeds but he was too knackered from previous training so I decided to do something I haven't done for a while, go running. Covered ~5 very hilly miles up to the tarn and back again at a fair pace (took ~40 mins), running entirely using Erwan's technique of striking with the balls of the feet, touching the heel down and then onto the balls of the feet again. Seems a more pleasant way to run than thudding around heel striking. Plus, it had my calves in a right state for a couple of days afterwards, gotta be good stuff!
Monday: I won't go into the reasons why because that's not what this blog's for but Monday was pretty much a disaster. Everything spiraled out of control (work, music, other commitments etc.) and the shit hit the fan as it were on sunday night./monday and so I was tired, underslept and felt aweful. Had an easy evening, did my shoulder conditioning program and then some assorted pullups and muscle ups. Got to bed earlyish.
Tuesday: Felt much, much better having actually got some sleep and cleared out my schedule. Tuesday night was waterpolo training as ever, with our coach away on a swimming gala most of the team used it as the perfect excuse to skive off. However, me and Sam turned up and both being lifeguards were able to run our own session. Sam had to go early so we only had around 40 mins of pool time so we decided to do our usual circuit session and cut back on the swimming. After a quick 8 width warmup and some burst training we got going into the usual circuit which goes as follows with sprint swimming inbetween stations positioned as far apart as possible in the pool:
10 x Elevated feet pressups (chest to floor and at a slowish pace to get maximum benefit)
10 x Reverse dips on the raised bit of the poolside (absolutley killer by the later circuits)
30 x Squats (I would replace this bit with pistols but the rest of the team can't do them)
10 x Burpees with two pressups per rep
10 x 3 second ab holds, going from 45 degrees to about 70 to just off the floor and back up again.
10 x 3 second hyperextension holds (going as high as possible)
We completed three whole circuits which when added on to the swimming and the rest made for a good workout. Did some more shoulder exercises later on and some more assorted pullups.
Wednesday: Here's where the title comes into things. Not being one to waste some vaguely summerish weather, I put on my beloved Nike running shorts and my pro vent sleeveless and decided to pretend it was a lot warmer than it actually was! Did the entire session barefoot as part of my efforts to ensure I always run, land and move with biomechanically correct footwork and also as part of my efforts to toughen my feet up. Did lots of precisions on the rocks in my garden and lots of balancing. Did some climbups which are progressing reasonably. Just generally enjoyed moving around barefoot, did a bit of quad as well. I love being barefoot, it's a whole area of sensations we miss out on normally and means we can avoid being dependant on footwear. Played around in the trees a bit, there's some stuff I can tell would be amazing to do but I simply need more upper body strength for (dynos and awkward laches). For the first time this year I felt slightly tricking-inclined so had a bit of fun playing around on the lawn with cartwheels, roundoffs and other stuff (Hollie always mocked me for not being able to cartwheel, I think I've sorted it and my roundoffs now hahaha). Still can't handspring fluently on flat ground which is really starting to annoy me. Messed around with 540 kicks and b kicks, not that I can do either very well. I promise myself now I will actually overcome my fear of flips this summer and get some proper tricking abilities outside. I really, really want to start tumbling well but I need to sort out my handsprings first. I imagine I'll have to get Ed and/or Jamie to help with this. Later on tonight I'll probably do a cardio session since it's been a few days.
All in all not too bad, I feel like I'm becoming a lot more confident with my current level and my body is really starting to give me the strength to do what I want to do. I have a very good base to work with and now it's really time to push things up a step, hopefully we'll get a sunny day in Leeds on saturday and I can push myself. Oh and Planche En Force by the end of the month is still most definatley a goal and I'm working really, really hard to achieve it.
Saturday: Saturday was Ed's birthday so we all headed off to Barnsley Metrodome, hoping to go do some tricking into the diving pool. Unfortunatley the 1m springboard had vanished and for non-divers the 3m springboard and 5m platform were a fairly intimidating thought. Plus they seem to have introduced a total flip ban there. Full marks to Scott for doing a backtuck off the 3m anyway and getting one of the reddest backs I've ever seen. Ended up spending most of the time in the main pool diving off the side and generally pissing around which was fun. I got to show off my lifeguarding skills as well haha. After giving up on this we looked around Barnsley for anywhere to train, failed completely other than finding a precision too big for any of us to stick and some half-decent scaffolding. Attempted a planche en force on the scaffolding, still getting stuck in the transition. More training required. Went back into Leeds afterwards, trained a bit, I couldn't commit to the rail armjump at the Art Gallery since I felt too tired, definatley a short term goal though since I now feel certain I can make it. Did a traversing challenge on a church (and got informed it wasn't a climbing wall by a CSO). Then after most people had gone Scott, Boydo and I did some challenges involving not touching the ground at the Art Gallery. Also had some fun in the tree by the library and I finally stuck some of the dynos there. Taught Boydo how to land softer and use the sideways landings that have become fashionable in Leeds (with good reason!) thanks to Scott. Oh and I introduced Scott to the joys of cardio, something we've resolved to make the rest of the Leeds guys do a lot more of. It was good to see Ed happy anyway, even if it didn't quite turn out as planned.
Sunday: Sunday is usually a day when I either do some more movement training or have a rest. Tried to get Scott to go to Leeds but he was too knackered from previous training so I decided to do something I haven't done for a while, go running. Covered ~5 very hilly miles up to the tarn and back again at a fair pace (took ~40 mins), running entirely using Erwan's technique of striking with the balls of the feet, touching the heel down and then onto the balls of the feet again. Seems a more pleasant way to run than thudding around heel striking. Plus, it had my calves in a right state for a couple of days afterwards, gotta be good stuff!
Monday: I won't go into the reasons why because that's not what this blog's for but Monday was pretty much a disaster. Everything spiraled out of control (work, music, other commitments etc.) and the shit hit the fan as it were on sunday night./monday and so I was tired, underslept and felt aweful. Had an easy evening, did my shoulder conditioning program and then some assorted pullups and muscle ups. Got to bed earlyish.
Tuesday: Felt much, much better having actually got some sleep and cleared out my schedule. Tuesday night was waterpolo training as ever, with our coach away on a swimming gala most of the team used it as the perfect excuse to skive off. However, me and Sam turned up and both being lifeguards were able to run our own session. Sam had to go early so we only had around 40 mins of pool time so we decided to do our usual circuit session and cut back on the swimming. After a quick 8 width warmup and some burst training we got going into the usual circuit which goes as follows with sprint swimming inbetween stations positioned as far apart as possible in the pool:
10 x Elevated feet pressups (chest to floor and at a slowish pace to get maximum benefit)
10 x Reverse dips on the raised bit of the poolside (absolutley killer by the later circuits)
30 x Squats (I would replace this bit with pistols but the rest of the team can't do them)
10 x Burpees with two pressups per rep
10 x 3 second ab holds, going from 45 degrees to about 70 to just off the floor and back up again.
10 x 3 second hyperextension holds (going as high as possible)
We completed three whole circuits which when added on to the swimming and the rest made for a good workout. Did some more shoulder exercises later on and some more assorted pullups.
Wednesday: Here's where the title comes into things. Not being one to waste some vaguely summerish weather, I put on my beloved Nike running shorts and my pro vent sleeveless and decided to pretend it was a lot warmer than it actually was! Did the entire session barefoot as part of my efforts to ensure I always run, land and move with biomechanically correct footwork and also as part of my efforts to toughen my feet up. Did lots of precisions on the rocks in my garden and lots of balancing. Did some climbups which are progressing reasonably. Just generally enjoyed moving around barefoot, did a bit of quad as well. I love being barefoot, it's a whole area of sensations we miss out on normally and means we can avoid being dependant on footwear. Played around in the trees a bit, there's some stuff I can tell would be amazing to do but I simply need more upper body strength for (dynos and awkward laches). For the first time this year I felt slightly tricking-inclined so had a bit of fun playing around on the lawn with cartwheels, roundoffs and other stuff (Hollie always mocked me for not being able to cartwheel, I think I've sorted it and my roundoffs now hahaha). Still can't handspring fluently on flat ground which is really starting to annoy me. Messed around with 540 kicks and b kicks, not that I can do either very well. I promise myself now I will actually overcome my fear of flips this summer and get some proper tricking abilities outside. I really, really want to start tumbling well but I need to sort out my handsprings first. I imagine I'll have to get Ed and/or Jamie to help with this. Later on tonight I'll probably do a cardio session since it's been a few days.
All in all not too bad, I feel like I'm becoming a lot more confident with my current level and my body is really starting to give me the strength to do what I want to do. I have a very good base to work with and now it's really time to push things up a step, hopefully we'll get a sunny day in Leeds on saturday and I can push myself. Oh and Planche En Force by the end of the month is still most definatley a goal and I'm working really, really hard to achieve it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
