pain

Pain is a dashboard warning light blinking. Usually it signals something is wrong. My elbow hurts. It's been sore for about two weeks. I expected soreness. A combination of high rep burpees, weighted pull-ups and dips is bound to elicit pain eventually. Massage is an active way to deal with the pain.

The photo shows my favorite anti-pain medication: self massage gadgets all. At the extreme left are the two most frequently used tools: a hard plastic Indo Board cylinder and the Stick. Whenever I refer to the foam roller, I am actually talking about the Indo Board cylinder. The cylinder has proven useful in treating my back pain and plantar fasciitis. Runners should be familiar with the Stick. It's great for shin splints, calf and IT band issues, and elbow tendinitis. I've been using the Stick on my triceps. It greatly reduces the soreness in my elbow.

Further right are various sized balls. A ball placed between a trigger point and a wall or the floor brings almost instantaneous relief. I recovered from a whiplash injury using a golfball in this manner. The Knobble (mushroom shaped device) and the blue caltrop looking thingy are handy trigger point release tools. I am currently using these for massaging the extensor and supinator muscles in my forearms.

Friday's workout:
-27 squat cleans

Saturday:
-10 minutes of burpees
-1 minute tuck front lever (4x15 secs)
-12 sec hand stand
-10 minutes of kb high pulls

2,550/11,xxx

summer doldrums

I've been lazy the past few days; no work-outs, nuthin. A couple times I stood right in front of the dumbbells psyching myself to pick them up, only to walk away defeated. There's this annoying pain behind my right hip-it feels as if someone were digging a knuckle in my back. It makes it hard to sleep and saps me of any will to train. Bleh.

Enough already:
-weighted pull-ups (8x4, 3x9)
-bent arm hang (6x10 secs)
-24 squat cleans

Knocking off a weighted pull-up session from the week has not yielded any discernible results. I am still struggling with 4 reps per set. The next progression on the squat clean plan was 8x3 on the minute. For variety, I tried to complete 24 reps before 8 minutes and finished in 7'08".

wisdom from Bas

When I grow up, I want to have the presence of mind of Bas Rutten.

summer of love

It's Friday and I'm rockin' my Capezios. Not really, but I love the remix of this Donna Summer classic.

Today's workout:
-VB51
-squat cleans on the minute (7x3)
-push press on the minute (5x5)
-Tabata row!

I started out with a leisurely 51 burpees-no timer and lots of rest. I then added a set to the squat cleans and push-presses and finished with a Tabata row. As with all of the exercises, I used nasal breathing to recover and get the heart rate down quickly. Following the row, which again sent up a small cloud of dust, I got a little congested, which made nasal breathing very difficult; almost sent me into a panic attack (danger, danger, no oxygen).

2,460/11,xxx

spicy hot

Today's workout went like this:
-squat cleans on the minute (6x2,2x3)
-VB50 (3'53")
-25 lbs windmills (2x5)

One of my long term objectives is to build up the strength to do Crossfit's Fran with 2x30kg dbs. The squat cleans and push presses are stepping stones. I didn't do any push-press today though. The burpees weren't easier today, but I expected that as I'd just finished the squat cleans. While I was a little too tired for heavy shoulder work, I wanted to do something. Windmills, like a shot of chili pepper, were just the thing.

2,459/11,xxx

no pain, no gain

You've heard this mentioned before. I thought I'd bring it up to remind you with an example. In my quest to build up my burpee numbers, I've taken to doing burpee breathing ladders. The ladders enable me to crank out more than 100 reps, in relative ease. Therein lies the problem. A 1-15 breathing ladder is strenuous, but is not as painful as 50 burpees for time.

The price of low cost burpee ladders is decreased anaerobic efficiency. I know this because I just clocked 50 burpees at 3'50". Before the burpee breathing ladders, I was closing in on 3 minutes flat. I felt out of condition.

Today's workout:
-day 14 of the weighted density pull-up plan (7x4, 4x3)
-3x10 sec bent arm hangs
-5x10 weighted dips
-VB50 (3'50")

I feel like I'm stuck at this level (7x4, 4x3) on the pull-ups. I'm incorporating bent-arm hangs to bust through this resistance level.

2,409/11,xxx

wnba

Sunday was a day of firsts for my family. We attended a WNBA game between the New York Liberty and Chicago Sky at Madison Square Garden (click the title for a report of the basketball game). The last time I was at the Garden, New York's other basketball team, the Knicks, got smoked by the Utah Jazz. This time around, the ladies' team did New York proud by winning the match-up against Chicago.

Unlike the ill-fated Knicks game, which took place on a school night, this WNBA game started at 4:00PM on a Sunday afternoon and ended while it was still light out. The arena was filled, it seemed to me, with families. Young girls were in abundance. This was a perfect event for my daughters, who took great pleasure in watching the big girls play hoops.

Today's workout:
-20 burpees
-squat cleans on the minute (6x3)
-push-press on the minute (4x5)

2,359/11,xxx