Rival Training

The week before sectionals

2009-09-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

This week we are going to be concentrating on footwork and hip placement. The exercises we are doing are not to be at 100% but at an increase so you have time to concentrate on you movement during the drill, and the intensity has also been lowered so you will be rested and ready to go for this weekend. So for each exercise you are going to do 4 of each and increasing the speed a little at a time. The first rep will be at 50%, then 75%, then 90%, and the last rep will be 100%.

Hard S & Soft S-Concentrate on getting the outside foot planted when you turn and drop the hips as you are turning. The term push you ass down has been used to describe this hip movement. This movement does a couple of things, lowers your center of gravity (helps you to turn sharper), and the downward force helps your cleats to grip the ground better (less slipping).

30 yard run,stop,turn, & backs- the important thing here is to use small choppy steps to slow down to a stop. The more steps you can get in there quickly the faster you will stop. Also pump your arms while you stop, since your arms are pumping with every step, faster arm pumps = more steps. On the turn same as above you are dropping you hips to turn around.

Warm-up
3xStrides
4xHard S walk back to the start-1 min rest (after all 4)
4xSoft S walk back to the start-1 min rest (after all 4)
4x30 yard run stop turn and 10 yards back.

Stretching routine from a couple of weeks ago. I really like doing this, i felt it helped out in getting my loose. You could also do some kind of yoga for stretching but I would not do this any later then Thursday afternoon.

This week In track (Sectionals)

2009-09-08T15:22:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder, run extra hard this week the results will show up to sectionals with you.

It's the eye of the tiger, it's
the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Endurance

Warm up

This week is a circuit. You are going to be jogging around the track at as fast a pace as you can handle. It is okay to start out fast then have to slow down if necessary. Or you can speed up if you feel like you have recovered some. At the beginning and end of each turn is a "station". At each station you will do one of the exercises below then move on to the next exercise at each turn. Start with a jog then the first exercise. Then a 70 yard sprint at the end. So try to plan on finishing at a straight away. These can be really great if you do them with people and race them. Bring WATER to this track workout, you are going to need it. Work your tail off so you dont get your tail worked off. So at "station 1" you will start with 10 scissor jumps and then jog to station 2 for pushups.

Split squat jumps- start from a forward lunge position ( you want you knee to touch the ground) and jump. While in the air you are going to switch which foot was forward and land in the forward lunge position and jump switching your foward foot again. This is one rep.

Warm up
3 sets of stirdes 50-70 yards

Track and core are included together.

2-4 sets of the following circuit

1·10 each leg -Split squat jumps (scissor jumps)
2· 15 push ups
3· 10 lunges each leg
4· 1 Shuttle cones 10 yards apart from the middle
5· 10 burpees
6· 30 crunches
7·10 squat jumps
8· Forward planks 30sec
finish ·70yard sprint
3 mintues rest

First week in september

2009-09-02T11:00:00.001-07:00

With the exception of this weekend the next few weeks are going to involve some sort of rival on the weekends. So if you are not playing in Shawn Adams I recommend doing something wed fri sun. For example Wed-this track workout, Fri-3 mile jog. Sunday do a previous weeks workout.

This week is core first:

Warm up
3 strides

Core 30s Work 15s Rest 2-3 sets 3 minutes rest between sets

1. Canoes with or without weight
2. Squat Hops with reach
3. Mermaids/Mermens
4. Push-ups
5. Front Planks
6. Jumping jacks or Jumping rope
7. Pelvic twists

Track
8x20/10's 20 sec sprint as fast as you can 10 secs walk for a total of 30 seconds per rep 8 reps only 1 set required.

--

Non-Training Week

2009-08-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Warm-up
Stretching workout (below)
One mile jog

Phase 1: General Warm-up (5 minutes)
Light aerobic activity. Any thing can be performed here as long as you are gradually increasing your heart rate and body temperature. Jog, jump rope,get on a piece or stationary equipment at the gym, do pushups,sit-ups, or lift light weights. Any or all of these activities may be performed for 5 minutes to increase your body temperature until you break a light sweat.

Remember: Hold stretches for 15 to 20 seconds. Do NOT bounce. Stretch to the point of discomfort, NOT pain.

Phase 2: Stretching (25 - 30 minutes)
Static Stretch (Pause 5 seconds in between stretches and repeat)
1. Neck stretch. Forward,back and side

• To stretch the neck, lower your chin to your chest and gently pull on the back of your head to stretch the back of your neck.
• Lift your chin to the sky to stretch the front of your neck.
• To stretch the sides of your neck, lower your chin to your chest and gently pull your head to each side

2. Open shoulder blades

• Place your hands in front of you, chest height; interlock fingers with palms facing you.
• Lower chin to chest and open shoulder blades.
• Feel this stretch across your entire back.

3. Chest (Arm on wall)

• Place your right hand on the wall shoulder height.
• Keep your right arm straight.
• Gently twist your body away from the wall stretching the chest muscle.
• Switch and stretch other side.

4. Tricep (Hand behind head )

• Point your right elbow to the sky above your head.
• Place your left hand on your right elbow and gently push.
• Try and reach your right hand down your back.

5. Arm Across Body

• With your left hand, gently pull your right arm across your body.
• Keep you right shoulder down.
• Right arm remains straight.

6. Hands on Wall Lat Stretch

• Place both hands on wall, shoulder height.
• Walk back while lowering head between arms.
• Do not move your hands.
• This stretches your sides (lats.)

7. Forearm/Wrist Stretch

• Place your right hand down to your side.
• With your left hand, pull back on your right hand fingers,keeping your right palm pointed towards the ground.
• To stretch the wrist, place your left hand on top of your right hand and gently bend your right hand towards your forearm.

8. Humped Back , Arched Back

• While standing, bend at the waist and hump your back as far as possible.
• Round your back and shoulders.
• Arched back is the same as above, just opposite.
• Arch your back as far as possible.
• Open chest and squeeze shoulder blades together.

9. Standing Quads

• While standing,place your right foot in your right hand.
• While keeping your legs together and right knee pointed at the ground, gently try and move your right leg forward while resisting with your right hand.

10. Standing Hamstrings

• Use your bike for this one. While standing, place your right foot on the seat of your bike (or a chair or table).
• Rotate your torso forward by pivoting at the hips and reaching for your toes.
• Keep your right knee soft (do NOT lock it out).
• Do not hump your back to try and extend the stretch. Again, pivot at your hips keeping your head up and back straight.
• Imagine trying to lower your chest to your thigh.

11. Calf Stretch

• Place both hands on wall for support.
• Place one or both feet about 5 feet from wall and force your heel to the ground.
• You should be able to draw a straight line from your heel to you head.
• To help increase this stretch, flex your quad and then relax.

12. Inner Thigh and Hip Stretch

• Place feet much wider than shoulders width.
• Place both hands on the right knee and slowly move to the right.
• Keep your left knee straight, and NEVER let your right knee go past 90 degrees.

13. Standing Aerobic Style Hamstrings

• This one is hard to explain so look at the picture.
• Keep your back straight and pivot at your hips.
• Imagine moving your chest towards your thigh.
• Place both hands on the leg you are NOT stretching.
• Keep you knee soft (do NOT lock out).

14. Runners Stretch (Right leg forward then Left leg forward)

• While facing to the side, move one leg as far back as possible.
• Lower your hips toward the ground.
• Rear leg remains straight, front leg goes to 90 degrees.
• NEVER go past 90 degrees on front leg.

15. One knee hamstring stretch (Left foot forward)

• From the advanced runner's position, drop your rear knee to the ground.
• Front foot should have heel on ground with toes pointed up (the farther the better).
• Pivot at the hips keeping your back as straight as possible.
• Again try and lower your chest to your thigh.

16. Side Splits

• From the "One Knee Hamstring" stretch position, move the leg that you were sitting on as far back as possible.
• Use your hands for support, and assume the side split position.
• This is an extremely advanced position and should be used with caution.
• Remember, you should only feel slight discomfort, NOT pain!

17. One knee hamstring stretch (Right foot forward)

• See above

18. Side Splits

• See above

19. Ankle to Knee Hip Flexor (Right then Left)

• While lying on your back, place your right ankle on your left knee.
• Place both hands on the back of your left leg and gently pull, rolling your hips off the ground.
• Head can either be lifted or resting on the floor.

20. Leg Overs

• Lay flat on back with arms out to each side.
• Take one leg and cross it over your body stretching the lower and middle back.
• Keep shoulder blades pressed to floor.
• If you feel ANY discomfort in your lower back, STOP.

21. Back Roles

• While lying on your back, tuck your knees to your chest, wrap your arms around your knees and rock yourself back-and-forth messaging your back.
• You can also rock side-to-side.
• When complete, rock yourself to a sitting position.

22. Sitting Legs forward,Hamstring/Hip Flexor Stretch

• Place both legs straight out in front of you.
• With your knees slightly bent and back straight, pivot at your hips and move your chest towards your thighs.
• Do NOT round your back to increase the stretch.
• Look straight ahead and reach for your toes.

week after glazed days

2009-08-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Now that summer league is over I want to encourage people to have at least one other extra activity outside of track/practice the goal is to be doing some kind of physical activity 4-5 days out of the week. So that you are not only maintaining thing strength developed, but building on top of that. You can workout at a gym, go for a run, or ride a bike. Do something that gets a good sweat going.

On another note, this is a slightly more strenuous workout, if you are not healthy this may not be the best workout for you. Don’t overdo it, get healthy it sucks nursing and injury all season do what needs to be done to get back to 100%.

Last the workout is more of an explosive workout so keep that in mind when you are doing the exercises and accelerating explode like a stick of dynamite.

Depth Jumps- You are going to need something that is about 18-30 inches off the ground that you can stand on.

Plyo-pushups- do a push up to lift your hands of the ground clap while in the air. If you have to regular pushups are fine.

Side plank with leg raise-do a side plank and continually raise and lower your top leg while staying balanced.

Single Leg Romanian Dead lift (bodyweight) if you have weight and feel comfortable using it feel free

Warm-up (either one is fine)-I do want to add one thing for the new warm-up do the hip-flexor stretch where you go on one knee and lean away from your back leg.

3 strides
10 Depth jumps 2 sets 1-2 minutes rest
5 Soft S 2 sets 2 minutes rest
4 suicides 0-10-20-30-40

Core (The main idea here is to be explosive with the exercises except the Romanian Dead Lifts) 20 work 10 rest. 3 minutes rest 2-3 sets
Squat jumps for height
Jack-knife sit ups
Plyo-pushups
Side-plank with leg raises left
Side plank with leg raises right
One leg ankle hops left
One leg ankle hops right
One leg Romanian dead lifts right
One leg Romanian dead lifts left

WEEK OF GLAZED DAYS!

2009-08-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

New Warm-up (the following stuff is the warm up)
Lunge walk with body twist towards front leg
high knee walk pull your knee to your chest with your hands
Toe walk
heel walk
Ballerina walk
Sideways skip (both sides)
Backward skip
Power skips for height
Arm Circles
Butt kicks
3 strides

Shuttle runs -have 3 cones in a line ten yards between cones start in the middle facing so that you have a cone on each side. You are going to turn and sprint to one cone stop at that cone and sprint to the other end cone then stop and sprint back to the middle cone. When you are turning at the end cones make sure you turn to the left for one and the right for the other.

Series Stops- place cones at 0-10-25-40 yards you are going to sprint each cone and stopping completely at each cone they are just like the regular stops just more of them.

5xW's 2 sets 1 minute rest
3xShuttle runs 10 yards runs 3 sets 1-2 minutes rest
3xSeries Stops 3 sets 2-3 mins rest

Core (Enter Tabata)

Pick one of the following 3 exercises depending on what equipment you have available. The core is very short but effective this week you are going to repeat the exercise for 20 secs then you get 10 seconds rest you will repeat this cycle 8 times totaling 4 minutes. You will need a stop watch or a clock with a second hand. For this there are some watches you can program and i have even seen some computer programs that do this. Google "wod timer"

Thrusters (you will need two dumbbells of the same weight 8,10, or 15 lbs. for the women and 15,20, or 25 for men) this is mostly a guess with the weight I may be a little on the lite side. These are great so if you can give them a shot.

kettle bell high pull (you probably can use a dumbbell I just wanted to get options probably something in the 45 lb wight for men and 30 for women)

burpees Imagine most people are going to have to do these they are a tough great workout.

week 6

2009-08-05T09:38:00.001-07:00

The important thing to remember in this workout is that this is the workout that is going to show up at glazed days. What I mean by that is that it takes about 10 days for the effects of a track workout to show up. So doing a hard workout this weeks means that the results will be there at glazed days with you when you are taring up the field. See you guys on the Field.

30 yard sprints w/ 10 yard backpedal- start by slowly accelerating so that you are at about 90 percent of your top speed when you get to the 30 yard cone and instead of stopping you are going to backpedal for ten yards instead of stopping.

Warm -up
3 Strides & extra streching
3x Hard "S" 3 sets 1-2 min rest
5x30 yard stops w/ back pedal 10 yards 3 sets 1-2 min rest
3x70 yard sprints 3 sets 2 min rest

Core Circuit 30 sec Work 15 sec Rest 2-3 sets w/ 2 mins rest between sets
1. Left Plank
2. Right Plank
3. Squat Hops
4. Pushups
5. Bicycles
6. jumping jacks or Jumping rope
7. Front Planks
8. Pelvic twists

Track Week 5

2009-07-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Fox says it's a light week, to go for a 2 mile run. If you've missed one of the previous weeks, you can make it up this week.

Track Week 4

2009-07-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hey team we have a really good track workout this week that I am really excited to get into. Every workout I do consistently I know that I am a better player afterward!

Here is a cool article for those of you who want to learn stuff about sprinting. Keep in mind this is a track article and cant always be used on the field. Cause they dont have to change direction or stop suddenly.

http://www.criticalbench.com/sprint-technique.htm

The exercises

Split Squat Jump-Start from a forward lunge position chest upright and tall shoulders back slightly you are going to repeatedly jump from this position for the required time.

Jack-knife Sit ups- this one is thanks to the wii lay on your back legs straight and arms on the floor above your head your are going to do a sit up bringing your arms and your legs ups the goal is to tough your toes with your hands but if the best you can do is a V thats okay also.

Floor Wipers- Watch this video and ignore the bar bell and the 90 lbs sitting on it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQLtfH9clx4

Back planks- lay on the floor facing up you are going to raise your body while resting on the back of your shoulders and heels.

Tuck Jumps- Jump while driving your knees to your chest and then back down to the floor. Jump agains as soon as your toes hit the ground. you are aimming for speed here not height.

Warm-up
3x40 yard strides 1 set 1-5 minutes rest for stretching if necessary
5xW's 2 sets do all 5 reps starting from the same cone, on the second set start from the other side 1 minute rest
3x Soft S's 3 sets 1-2 minutes rest
4x40 yard sprints 3 sets walk back to the start cone (use this time for a short rest between reps)2-3 minutes rest

Core workout 30 s work 15 secs rest 2-3 sets
1. Split Squat Jump Left leg front
2. Push-ups
3. Jack Knife sit-ups
4. Split Squat jump right leg front
5. Floor Wipers
6. Back Planks
7. Tuck Jumps

Track week of 7/13

2009-07-13T18:26:00.001-07:00

Week 3
This week we are going to do things a little different. We are going to do the core workout first then the track workout.

Front planks with moving object- on your forearms and toes like a regular front plank, have a water bottle in front of you. You are going to pick up and move the object 1 foot or so to the right with your right hand put it down then pick it back up with your right hand and put in back in front of you. Then do the same with your left hand. While you are moving the object you should have 3 points of contact with the ground, One forearm and 2 feet.

Wall pushups- are to be done with one hand at what ever angle you can handle, other hand behind your back or at your side.

hour glasses-place 4 cones in a 10 yard square and run the following pattern

Burpees-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M

Reverse lunges- like a regular lunge but your stepping backwards.

10 yard starts- just like the first week except you will do one set at the start facing forward, backward, facing left, and facing right. You turn to foward then sprint on the sets you are not facing forward. (These have gotten me in trouble so be careful where you do these, people might think you are attacking them.

Warm-up (I am going to put together an new one for workouts for those of you tired of oatmeal)

Core circuit2-3 sets w/ 3 minutes rest
1. Tricept Bench Dip
2. Body weight squats
3. Front planks with moving object
4. Reverse lunges
5. Burpees w/o push-up
6. Pelvic Twist
7. Left arm wall pushups
8.Right arm wall pushups

3x 40 yard strides
5x10 yard starts 4 sets (one facing each direction at the start) 1 min rest
3x10 yard hour glasses 3 sets 1-2 min rest
8x20/10's 1 set

Track Workouts7/5-11

2009-07-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

Many of us have AFDC mid-season this weekend so I recommend doing the workout Tuesday or Wednesday, if you have to Thursday at the latest. To give you time to rest and get ready for this weekend, and for those of you who were wondering T.O. does show up to AFDC tournaments.

AT- Training for this week, for the people not going to league, is to run 400's. A little different though, warm up like normal. Then you are going to sprint the first 100 and jog, not walk, the 300 at your recovery speed. Not sure of you recovery speed? Jog the 300 as fast as your body will let you, if you have to slow down, do so. Do this for about 6-8 400's.

30 yard sprint and backs with push-up starts, you will need to cones one at 0 yards and one at 30 yards. start as if you were in the bottom of a push-up then do a push up and begin sprinting from that position. Sprint to 30 yards and stop quickly at the cone and sprint back to the start, just like a cut hmmmm...... when you get back to the start decelerate at a moderate pace (after the cone) and walk to the cone then, repeat.

canoes- sit with you legs bent and in the air and back as straight as possible, the only thing that should be touching the floor is your butt. Either put your hands together or hold a weight and twist your body placing the weight/hands by your hips in a semicircular motion. You will preform the side to side motion by twisting your core side to side (more body movement than arm movement).

Squat Hops with reach feet shoulder width apart, quickly bend knees to 90 degrees and jump as high as you can, be sure to use your arms when you jump. Arms should be at 90 degrees and swing them backward as you are squatting down then froward and up while you are jumping. While in the air reach one hand up (alternate between jumps) as if to catch a disc hmmmm again....... When you land quickly squat down again and repeat.

mermaids- lay on your back with you feet 6 inches off the ground raise them to like 12 from there (18" from the ground) like you are a dolphin swimming in a sea of pain which you will project on to your opponents.

Warm up (The usual Rival warm-up plus what ever stretching you want to do)

3- 40 yard strides-1 set
5-10 yard starts-2 sets w/ 1 min rest between sets
5-Stops- 3 sets w/ 1 min rest
3-30 yard "sprint and backs" with push-up starts -3 sets 2-3 mins rest between sets
Core Circuit 30 sec Work 15 sec Rest 2-3 sets w/ 2 mins rest between sets
1. Canoes with or without weight
2. Squat Hops with reach
3. Mermaids/Mermens
4. Push-ups
5. Front Planks
6. Jumping jacks or Jumping rope
7. Pelvic twists
--

NOOOOOOOO!

2008-02-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

It can't be! It . . . just . . . can't!

Infringement! Make it stoooooop!

What's Your Cardio?

2007-02-08T11:21:00.001-08:00

I am convinced that half to two-thirds of the getting in shape battle is disciplining oneself to get up off the couch and go do something. We can probably all come up with various reasons for why this seemingly simple act is so difficult for us sometimes. But if you can get in the habit of incorporating exercise in your day, I believe the other pieces (basically whatever you need to be exercising the "right" way and maximizing your time/energy spent) will fall into place much more easily.

With that in mind, I'm finding that my cardio workouts have sort of taken a back seat to weight training. This trend is actually sort of surprising to me- I usually hate weight training. But I guess now I'm paying more attention to it and realizing that, suddenly, I've spent an hour on legs and hips and I'm hungry and my cat is getting very lonely at home alone and I should probably go now.

I think my weight training time will start to go down a little as I get more comfortable with the levers and pulleys and incline benches and the meatheads perpetually attached to them, so maybe I'll be able to squeeze in some more cardio in the near future. Also, once the weather warms up, I can definitely do some morning track workouts like I did with Quisty last year.

BUT- all this to say that I'm still having trouble planning weekly cardio. I have access to everything I could possibly need at this point, but I'm just not sure how to make efficient use of my time. So I'm curious as to what others are doing/would recommend in terms of what to do, how often to do it, for how long, etc. I know Erin was sort of looking at the following after meeting with her trainer:

Do cardio 3-4 times a week – 2-3 times do intervals before or after strength, plus 1 long run/other cross-training activity such as running, jump ropes (3 sets of 100, 1-leg 2 sets of 50), spin class, racquetball. Make sure that you have at least 4-7 intervals of whatever intensity/speed you are doing.

What do you guys consider "long"? Longer than 30 minutes? Longer than an hour? Do you really think the jumping program is enough cardio (whatever that means)? I have questions! Who has answers?

VB Alert Week 3?

2007-01-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

Just after finishing week 2 of VB Alert, I sprained my big toe (Note: big toes are surprising important for jumping/running) so I had to take some time off. The toe still hurts some, but I've been able to play and resume working out. One of the week 1-2 exercises (square jumping) aggravates the toe and may be why I injured it to begin with. Luckily, there are several exercises to choose from, so I've avoided that one.

I started over with VB Alert, and yesterday finally got to move on to week 3 which has new exercises. For weeks 3 and 4, you continue doing 2 exercises from weeks 1 and 2, and you add 2 new exercises. Yesterday, Fox and I did jump rope and jump and reach from week 1-2 and added no arm jumps and laundry jumps. According to VB Alert, no arm jumps will make you puke, but we didn't find them to be that bad, I wonder if we're doing them wrong. The laundry jumps (jump back and forth over object, perhaps a laundry basket) hurt my toe a little, but overall the workout was not as bad as I feared, though my hams and calves are quite sore today. For the laundry jumps, VB Alert suggests using a "very collapsible" object to jump over. We didn't have a laundry basket, so we stacked up some of those blue yoga bricks. Fox completely wiped out on the first set and almost took me out with him (even though we set up about 6 feet apart). It was hilarious, I don't know how the 4 other random people in the room kept a straight face.

We've also gotten several other Rivalers doing VB Alert at the Saturday track workouts. The jumping rope is a big hit. One thing I like about the program is that it is very easy to do anywhere really, you just need a jump rope and enough room to jump up. That, and it doesn't take very long, so there is really no excuse for not doing it 3 times a week. Unless you have a bad toe. Seriously, it's debilitating, who da thunk?

Last thing, I re-measured my vertical prior to my second week 2. I've gained about 1-1.5 inches. However, I had done nothing for about a month before the first time I measured, so doing any workout probably would have shown some improvement.

Speed

2007-01-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

I know several players have already talked to me about wanting to be faster. I followed a link from Lean and Hungry to this article about sprinting form. Strengthening is important, but improving your sprinting form will probably show more improvement in overall speed.

VB Alert Week 1

2007-01-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

After hurting myself doing Air Alert, I decided to try the Volley Ball Alert (not it's real name). I started on Sunday doing the jumping rope and square jumping exercises. Jumping rope sucks, it's very hard, the square jumping was fairly easy, I wonder about doing it one-legged. I was a little sore the next day, mostly butt, groin, and hamstring. All Air Alert ever did was make my calves sore. Jumping rope and square jumping both seem pretty calf intensive, but the one-legged jumping rope definitely works the whole leg.

I did the same exercises on Tuesday, when Fox joined me, giving up on Air Alert as well. He looks like Vanilla Ice when he does the one legged jumping rope. On Thursday, we went to the gym and did the jump and reach and pool jumps. The jump and reaches are fairly tough, and I think they worked my abs. Weird. The pool jumps make you look like a complete idiot. They're fun though. For the first set of exercises, I would rank their difficulty from hardest to easiest as: Jumping rope, jump and reach, pool jumping, square jumping.

Again, I like that the total reps are lower, and that the intensity is higher (particularly for the one legged jumping rope). There is still a fair amount of endurance involved, 5x15 jump and reaches will make you tired.

Well, I Did It

2007-01-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

And I did it in December, thanks, NOT January, so you can stop with your "let's see where you are in March" jokes right now, thanks.

I joined a gym. I actually used to be a member of a gym, but it was close to my house. After a while, I realized part of the reason I rarely went was because I felt most inclined to work out in the middle of the day. Thus, I need to join a gym close to work. As it turns out, LA Fitness (gah!) is close to work. AND close to home (you can go to multiple locations, yo!).

I'm actually excited about the one near me because it has a lap pool, so I've already been a-swimmin' in it. I'm not sure swimming is really going to improve my Ultimate game, but it sure does wear me out.

I also tried out the StairMaster Stair Mill (that's just an awful name, isn't it?) today. EQC and Wood were talking about this recently- it really is brutal! It's not the traditional StairMaster but the moving staircase one. HARD. I'm pretty psyched to try this out for intervals and possibly even for working on speed. Wood (or anyone else), what do you think? Could that be an adequate substitute for running stadiums/hills as fast as possible?

Air Alert done

2006-12-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, I did my final Air Alert workout. I will no longer be doing Air Alert. On the very last jump of the day, the full jump on the last set of squat hops, I hurt my back. I think I was tired from all the reps, and my form slipped and for the next 3 days I was pretty much confined to bed. I'm much better now, though I'm taking this whole week off to try and get back to 100%. Next week, I plan on starting the volleyball program I talked about in the last post. It's a 3 day a week program, I'll keep doing my upper body workout, and I'll add in some cardio, probably just 15 min of running on days I'm not doing plyos.

I had added about an inch after just one week to my vertical, but I'm pretty sure that was just because I had done nothing for the previous month. I guess we'll see how Fox does with it. Has anyone started the volleyball workout yet?

Alternate vertical leap program

2006-12-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Week one of Air Alert is done. Not too bad, certainly not as bad as week one last year. I've had some people asking me about the other jump program I found. It's a volleyball program. It doesn't have near as many reps, and has a progression in intensity of exercise-type, which I think is a better way to approach a vertical leap program. It still doesn't have any lifting involved though. I hope to get some info on other vertical leap programs up here soon. As I said, I'm giving Air Alert six weeks to see how it does. If it's not showing me some improvement, I'm going to try the volleyball program. Even if I am happy with Air Alert and go all the way through, I may do the volleyball program after a bit of a break, I think they'll be complimentary.

Also, I moved the blog to the beta blogger. Not sure what that means yet...

Pre-Season Workouts

2006-12-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

The off-season is over. The pre-season starts today. I'm asking Rivalers to post their workouts and questions here. I'll get the ball rolling.

Fox and I started Air Alert yesterday. I'm not really sold on Air Alert, too many reps if you ask me, but I'm going to give it 6 weeks. If I don't see any improvement in my vertical by then, I'm going to switch to a different program. Because Air Alert is so hard on the legs (3 days a week and literally hundreds to thousands of reps), Fox and I aren't doing any other leg work, or even any cardio (I may sneak in some light cardio now and then). To supplement, I'm doing some upper body work and core work.

Twice a week I do a core workout. It consists of:

Bridges - Front (plank with elbows and toes only on the ground), side (forearm and side of foot), and back (on back, shoulders/head and heels). I do 3 sets of 30 seconds for the front, and 3 sets of 20 seconds for the (each)side and back.
Upper abs - 2 sets of 15 of an upper ab exercise - swiss ball crunches, incline bench crunches, cable pulldown crunches.
Lower abs - 2 sets of 15 of a lower ab exercise - leg lifts, hanging knee lifts
Obliques - 2 sets of 15 of an oblique exercise - medicine ball twists (sit with knees bent, feet off the ground, hold the medicine ball above stomach then move it from side to side), side bends, various oblique machines.

Make sure when you are doing your ab work that you try to keep your belly button pulled in the whole time. This well help with your form, posture, and make it so that your muscular abs don't make you look fat. Note: Lots of ab work is not good if you are trying to get a thinner stomach/waist area.

For my upper body routine, I split it up into two days. I'm trying to develop strength to prevent injury (my shoulders are in bad shape). I also don't want to add much size (I'm so big already), so I do high weight and low reps. I also do some rotator cuff exercises twice a week.

Day 1

5x5 Pullups
4x5 Bent over rows
2x5 Dips
2x5 Bicep curls
3x10 external shoulder rotation
3x10 45 degree one straight-armed rows

Day 2

5x5 bench press
4x5 military press
2x5 wrist curls
2x5 reverse wrist curls
3x10 external shoulder rotation
3x10 45 degree one straight-armed rows

If anyone is interested in doing this workout, let me know, there are some details that I don't want to have to get into right now.

Other than that, get out and play. Try and throw at least once a week. Work on your weak throws. If possible, get a couple of people to join you so that you can throw against a mark. Once a week I plan on running and throwing (throw, run away 5 yards, cut back, catch, throw...).

Caffiene - Yes. Alcohol - No

2006-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Due to the recent conversations on the Rival mailing list concerning giving up caffiene (specifically soda) and alcohol, I wanted to pass along an article I read recently.

The article discusses caffiene and alcohol, specifically their diuretic effects and implications for atheletes. Interestingly, caffiene provides several ergogenic effects. It enhances endurance performance, and stimulates the release of adrenaline and dopamine. Adrenaline allows for stronger muscle contraction, and dopamine increases alertness.

What about the hydration issues though? Well, several studies have shown that caffienated beverages do not have a significant impact on hydration, particularly in atheletes. The one study that did suggest problems was when participants were required to not have caffiene for an extended period, then take caffiene. In this situation there was a mild diuretic effect. So, if you plan on drinking caffiene at Nationals, you might want to reconsider abstaining beforehand.

That said, soda is very sugary, and not good for you in general. As per my previous post on the glycemic index, you should avoid sugary drinks. So if you want to cut out sodas, it's a good thing.

As for alcohol, the news is bad. Alcohol can reduce the body's ability to recover from exercise for up to 22 hours. It does act as a diuretic (at least anything over 4% alcohol), and because it stays in your body for a while, you shouldn't drink alcohol for at least 48 hours before playing. So that's 48 hours before, and long enough after that you're able to rehydrate, say, 24 hours. Alcohol is also calorie high, so it has the same problems as sugary soda drinks.

Great Nutritional article

2006-09-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

I came across a great nutritional article discussing glycemic index and load.

Enjoy.

Crazy Cores

2006-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

So I've always been a strong believer that if you core/abs are strong then your body benefits greatly!
So, because I have a fat tummy now, I have started doing my ab work-outs after track and in my limited free time...
This workout is what I used to do when I was swimming and sparing for martial arts.

I. Single Bikes-
*There are two very effective ways to do these. Hands on the floor and hands off. Both will create a different work out so I usually do both. (If you know about these, forgive me for the explanation)
1. With your hands on the floor (not elbows, but palms flat, usually a little bit behind you) pull your legs up with your knees bent to your chest. This is considered a starting position. With single bikes you are going to extend one leg at a time pointing your toes as straight as possible. Follow then with your other leg while pulling the other one back to your chest. Like riding a bike. To really get your sides involved with this, swing your shoulders, opposite shoulder to opposite knee. (Does this make sense? I'm bad at explanations sometimes)
2. Hands off the floor. Usually its good to cross your arms close to your chest. Again, swinging motion helps sides.
So the work out:
Single Bikes- Repeat two times
1. Hands on the floor: 40 seconds
2. Hands off: 20 seconds
3. Hands on floor: 30 seconds
4. Hands off: 15 seconds

(Obviously you can change the times needed for these...)

2. Double Bikes-
1. Same as single but your are keeping your legs together. Be careful because this one can hurt your back. If your back starts to hurt, stop =)
1. Hands on the floor - 30 seconds
2. Off the Floor- 20 seconds
3. Hands on the floor - 25 seconds
4. Off the floor-15 seconds
Repeat if desired

Crunches-
Its good to do crunches, but I usually do mine differently.
I do 90 degree crunches and pikes.
90 degree- While laying down, make yourself look like you are sitting in a chair. Your legs should be bent, but your knees should be at a 90 degree angle. Don't let your feet fall down, keep them straight, too. (Putting your feet on a living room table is usually good).
Then there is the pike position. All the divers make the pretty pike dives, where there legs are straight in the air. So in these crunches- your legs are together and straight in the air. Point your toes and you are going to try and push your body to make your finger tips go up past your knees. (Eventually, you want to be able to touch your toes. Crazy hard, but not impossible. I can't do it anymore, but it should be fun to try!) Be careful with these, they can hurt your back, too.
1. 90 degree- 2 x 40
2. Pikes - 2 x 15
3. 90 degree - 2 x 20
4. Pikes 2 x 10

Finally, the famous 6 inches! Or Leg Raises =)

Lay flat on your back and raise your legs 6 inches
Be sure to do these properly!
Hold for 40; 30; 25; 20; 10
between each, rest for 5-8 seconds

Feel free to change the times, but those are what Im going to really start doing as often as possible!!!

Hope this helps. If anyone wants to see exactly what they look like, find me at the fields or something!

Outtie!
Sam

Improving top speed

2006-07-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

K.Russ writes,

"My workout buddy is looking for a program to work more on top speed and less on endurance. Any ideas?"

First, here is an article with some basics from bodybuilding.com.

Second, our track workouts are really geared more towards develloping speed and quickness than they are towards endurance. The intervals we'll end up doing, the 20/10s are much better than most endurance running for speed because the intervals are recruiting your fast twitch fibers as well as your slow twitch fibers, while most long distance endurance running just uses your slow twitch fibers. Because the intervals don't take very long, and work equally well (perhaps better) if you are a little fatigued, I'm scheduling speed and quickness drills in addition to the intervals.

As pointed out in the article above, speed is about form and strength. Form can be tough to work on by yourself (or without someone who knows how you should be running to begin with), but there are some things you can do. The falling starts we're doing work on form. For more info on falling starts and some discussion on form, check this post out. The swinging arm drills can be helpful, though they'll make you feel goofy. Also, running hills can help with form and strength, not big hills, just 15 degrees or so. And don't run down hill. The bodybuilding.com article talks about jogging down the hill to increase stride length, but I read recently (somewhere on this site) that downhill running can cause hamstring injuries.

The plyos we're doing will increase strength, you can do them 2-3 times a week. Running stadiums is a great way to increase strength and may help increase your stride length as well. If you're interested in lifting weights at all, that can obviously help with strength as well. The consensus seems to be that more weight, lower reps, lots of rest is better for develloping power. I go back and forth on what I think is good for ultimate. Currently I'm leaning towards 3 sets of 8 reps with 30 seconds rest between sets. I keep planning on posting my workout but I keep tweaking it. I also do a longer plyo routine, which I also keep tweaking.

If you'd like me to expand on a particular point, let me know.

Daddy D'z - A Good Reason To Do Your Track Workout At Phoenix Park

2006-07-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

I don't have too much to report here, other than 1) Amy runs with her elbows out, 2) Fox looks better from the back when he's doing groin stretches, 3) Wood has excellently executed frog jumps, and 4) you should allow extra time when doing the "dot drill" using puddles of water to try to interpret the Rorschach-esque final product. Mine looked like North America with a giant tumor coming out of Canada!

Anyhow- falling starts were started, with extra attention paid to arms (90 degree angles people), plus the above mentioned drills. We finished off with intervals which have not gotten any easier thanks to my 5 week break. Ha!

And, yes, we did reward ourselves with a nice helping of Daddy D'z afterwards. Mmmm . . . BBQ.

Lactic Acid good for you? A non-story.

2006-05-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

I read this a few weeks ago, and basically pushed it aside as a non-story. Then I came across another story about it, so I figured I'd post. Basically, scientists have realized that lactic acid isn't really bad for your muscles. Lactic acid is actually a very potent fuel for muscles. On the surface, it seems pretty crazy and very much a story. We thought lactic acid buildup is what made you hit the wall, now it turns out it's one of the most efficient fuel sources for muscles?

Here's why it doesn't matter. It won't change how we train. You still want to increase the lactic acid threshold, only it doesn't mean you aren't producing lactic acid, it means your muscles are better able to use lactic acid. Endurance training increases mitochondria in muscle cells. Mitochondria burn lactic acid to produce energy for your muscles.

The scientists don't seem to know yet why you hit the wall, and why it coincides with that burning sensation in your muscles. And why, if you increase your lactic acid threshold (by increasing mitochondria), your muscles take longer to burn and you hit the wall later. My suspicion is that lactic acid is good, so long as you've got the mitochondria to burn it. Once you get too much you start getting the negative side-effects. I've got nothing to back that up but a hunch though.

FYI, the first story, by way of Lean & Hungry Fitness does mention that interval training is a good way of building up mitochondria.

Track Sunday

2006-05-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I won't be there Sunday for the workout probably. Nursing a sore left hamstring and going to Div III Nationals next weekend so I'm resting. For those that go, here is the plan, it's basically the same as last week.

Warmup
3x15 ankle hops
2x20 1 or 2 leg side-to-side jumps
10 falling starts (10 yards)
Stadiums
Intervals

For the stadiums - Last week we did 10 big, walking down, then 10 small, walking down. This was enough to wear us out so well that we decided to skip intervals. I'd suggest maybe 5 big and 5 small + intervals. Or, if you're more concerned with strengthening, you can do the 10/10 (or 2-3 sets of the 5/5s).

Good luck.

Laying Off the Quads

2006-05-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

So the saying goes (Michael Wood, you are the stuff of LEGENDS, I tell you!): No one in Atlanta Ultimate is in danger of overtraining.

I'm sure we could find a few exceptions, but this is probably true (assuming that we are doing exercises correctly and all that stuff).

However, I have heard and read a lot over the years about general over training of the quads. I'm not sure if this is primarily a female issue, but I think it has less to do with straining the quads and more with underdevelopment of other leg muscles.

In that spirit, I decided that while none of my muscles are currenlty being overused, I should probably take care to focus specifically on other muscle groups. Thus, I dipped back into the Ozone library for some hammy, glute, and posterior chain exercises.

The result? My quads still felt the most sore at the end of the day!

However, I do know that my glutes and hammies did get a workout cause I can feel it. But I think I must still be relying heavily on my quads to get through some of these exercises. Anyone else having this problem? Anyone have any ideas on how to really isolate these muscle groups- that don't involve machines not mentioned below (since that's about all I have!)?

For anyone who is interested, here's what I tried:

Hip Ab/Adductor machine - 3 x 12 each way

I love these, although the range of the machine in my condo workout room is awful. And somewhat off center. I have long legs, dammit!

Hamstring leg curl machine - 3 x 10 on each leg

This machine is also sort of craptacular and especially wobbly because it doubles as a leg extension machine as well, but hell- it gets the job done.

Romanian (stiff-legged) dead lifts - 1 x 10 (3 sec lower; 2 sec hold; 3 sec return)
This is performed with barbell in hand, legs greater than hip width apart. The first movement is initiation of anterior pelvic tilt. This is performed by thinking about ‘sticking your butt out’ and then sitting back. Keeping a straight back and the knees flexed to 10-30 degrees, the weight is lowered to knee level. The lifter will feel a sensation of the hamstrings stretching. The position is held and then the body position is returned to the start.

I did these incorrectly last time, so I'm looking forward to doing them again now that I understand the motion (it only took reading through it 8 times).

Reverse dumbbell lunge - 2 x 12 per leg
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with arms at sides, palms facing in. Step your right foot back 2 to 3 feet, keeping your weight on your left foot. Lower right knee until it’s just above the floor; press up with left leg to return to starting position.

I had a really hard time doing these without feeling like all of the work was being done by my quads. Anyone have any suggestions?

Ball leg curl - 2 x 10
Lie face up on the floor with heels centered on a stability ball, arms out to sides with palms down. Lift your pelvis up until your body forms a straight line from hells to shoulders. Use your heels to pull the ball toward you as you bend knees toward chest. When you can’t bring the ball any closer to your butt, return to starting position.

I have no idea how this is working lower rear muscles, at least the way I was doing it, but I may keep doing it just because it's so hard to stay balanced (maybe that's how it works? Hell if I know). I love a challenge!

Bi-planar lunge with overhead press - 2 x 6 per leg
Stand erect holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides. Lunge forward with your right leg, then curl the dumbbells to your shoulders. From there, flip your wrists and press the weights overhead. While still in the lunge position, lower the dumbbells down to your sides (reversing the press and curl along the same path). Push through your right leg to return to the start. Then perform a lateral lunge with your right leg and reach over to touch the dumbbells to the floor, one on either side of your foot. Return to the start position, then alternate legs.

These were awesome. But again- I feel like I'm doing too much work with my quads when I'm supposed to be working the stuff in the back.

Sprint Training

2006-05-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

I came across an article in the NSCA's Perfromance Training Journal about taking the first few steps explosively. It's where I got the falling starts drill and a few other things we're going to be doing this year. It's on page 19 and has descriptions of the different drills.

Edelman Has Too Many Blogs

2006-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Someone else post- I'm starting to feel like I'm on the AFDC forum. :)

Edelman linked this article on his other blog, and although I guess most of it is pretty common sense, I found it very interesting. It's about the Glycogen Window and what and when to consume after a workout.

Sorry if this is posted somewhere on this site. Maybe it warrants reposting anyway!

Eileen's Abs Workout

2006-05-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Eileen posted this on the women's league forum a million years ago. It's quick and . . . well, quick. I don't know if this needs to be modified for men, so if you do it and it's too easy guys- increase the reps or something.

Also, for the push-ups, you can alternate in some tricep pushups (where your hands are closer together) or whatever sort of torture you prefer in the push-up family.

One quick note- from my limited pilates experience, I would say that it is probably a good idea to observe the following posture (someone can correct me if I'm wrong) when doing these:

a) When flat on your back, keep your neck long (out of the top of your head, as they say) and your shoulders on the ground. In other words, don't scrunch your shoulders up or sway from side to side.

b) When your abs are engaged (so, generally speaking, your head is off the ground), make sure that your lower back is pressing into the ground. Moreover, you want to "hollow out" so that you are holding your abs in, not pushing them out- so your shoulders are down, your rib cage is lifted, your tummy sucked in (I think my instructor always said to pull it "under your rib cage"), and again- long back and neck. You sort of want to be a C shape in your core.

c) Don't roll from one hip to the other when you're doing side to side exercises. This is really hard sometimes, too. I'm pretty sure it's ok and even necessary to shift weight a bit (especially on toe touches), but if you're rolling around, you're losing the benefit of the exercise. Thinking about keeping your lower back pressed down can help with this, though.

Ok, so this is the workout:

Lie on your back, knees bent. Raise your head off the floor until your trunk is at about a 45-degree angle. Twist from side to side rapidly 100 times. (KQ Note- arms crossed over chest is the way I've been doing these and seen them done)

Flip right over and do 5 push-ups.

Next, do 25 crunches.

6 push-ups.

Then do 30 toe-touches. Lift your legs in the air at a 90-degree angle to your body, raise your torso, and reach with one hand for the opposite leg. Do 15 each leg.

7 push-ups.

Do 50 “Rocky Balboas”, or twist crunches. One knee bent, other straight, hands behind your head. Reach one elbow towards the opposite knee. Alternate sides. (KQ Note- I prefer hands to ears so you don't pull on your neck. And really try to keep your shoulders down, away from your ears)

8 push-ups.

Next, do 50 high-speed bicycles. (KQ Note- on back, arms at side. Lift legs up at 90 degree angle, then lift pelvis up off the ground. Arms can help balance. Move legs in a bicycle-y way!)

9 push-ups.

50 crunches.

10 push-ups.

UPDATE: See some great additional notes on these exercises from Jim over on Lean and Hungry Fitness. Awesome!

Pre-Season, Voluntary Track Workouts

2006-05-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Don't worry Teddy, the workouts aren't mandatory...yet. I had just gotten a few requests from people who wanted to start getting in shape for the in-season track workouts. Some people are hoping to lose some weight, others just want to get their endurance up. We'll also be working on strengthening so that we've got a good base for the track workouts later and to avoid injury. I like the intervals for endurance, and they take very little time and can be done after other work, so we will be doing those all year probably (although we will probably shift towards speedwork as we get close to regionals). We'll be doing plyos and stadiums for strengthening. I also want to do a little speedwork, so that we can be working on our form all year long. It sounds like a lot but it moves pretty quickly, should keep you from getting bored, and doesn't take too long overall.

Here's the plan for Sunday at Grady at 3pm. Should take around 30-45 minutes I'd guess.

Warmup
3x15 ankle hops
2x20 1 or 2 leg side-to-side jumps
10 falling starts (10 yards)
Stadiums
Intervals

Stadiums

2006-05-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

I ran stadiums this morning with Quistypants at Grady. The workout we did was specific to Grady since, as many of you know, the top steps are bigger than the bottom ones. We did four sets, intending to jog half the track in between each set so that we ended up doing two sets on the home side and two sets on the away side.

In the end, we ended up doing one set, jogging a 200 to the other side, doing the second set, jogging another 200 back to the other side, doing the third set, and then just resting for about 30-60 seconds before completing the 4th set (we were a little pressed for time).

Anyway, in case anyone is interested, this was the format for each set:

1 full stadium
walk all the way down
1 full stadium
walk halfway down to where the little steps end (that people would use to get down during an event)
1 half stadium on the little steps
walk halfway down to where the little steps end
1 half stadium on the little steps
walk all the way down

Quisty McCoker says you should walk down because it's bad for your knees. She also says when taking the big stairs at the bottom (and even on the little stairs at the top) down, you should switch feet. For optimal knee health.

We started with a 1/2 mile jog warmup, followed by some agility exercises (with the ladder dealie- Wood, is this what you're talking about with the "running form stuff" for the Rival track practices? If not, what are you talking about?). We finished off with Eileen's infamous ab/push-up workout. I can post that if people want, but I'd have to go back and find my list from a long time ago.

Intervals in the Park

2006-04-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

JJ and I headed to Grady yesterday to run the 4x90/90s. Unfortunately, and somewhat suprisingly, it turns out that Grady High School sometimes actually uses their field for school athletic events. Is it normal to have women's soccer in the spring?

Not wanting to pay to get in and then have people watch me loafing pitifully, I suggested we move across the street to Piedmont Park.

We did a 10 minute warm up jog, followed by stretching, followed by Really Ugly Running (Sometimes Uphill), by Kathleen Quinlen. And Jenn ran intervals.

Just kidding- we both ran them, but I couldn't believe a) how slow I was actually running by the third interval and b) how looooong 90 seconds became by the third interval. We found a pretty flat area to run them on, but it was a little hilly, so I am looking forward to running these on an actual track.

Needless to say, I did succeed in being totally exhausted by the end, so I guess that counts for something.

On that note- Ned? Can you post directions to Phoenix Park here?

I am one step closer to awesomeness!

Air Alert Update: 2 months later

2006-04-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I played basketball at the gym for 3 hours. My jumping height is still at the same point it was 1 week after finishing the program (where they say you will achieve your maximum height).

I have not done week 8 as a maintenance program. Not once. However, every once in a while, usually about once or twice a day or so (and sometimes at work in my office), i will do a full-out jump. I guess it's working, because I can still touch the same spot on the rim that I could 2 months ago.

Still at 27" (+10" increase)

My notes on Intervals

2006-04-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

This past college season, with SPSU, we had only 13 players, 6 of which were wet-behind-the-ears rookies. I knew endurance was going to be a huge factor for us this year, so I decided our track workouts were going to consist mainly of high intensity intervals. We started out doing 4 sets of 90/90s, 90 seconds running, 90 seconds walking. The goal is to run as fast as you are able to maintain for 90 seconds (I've talked about it here before, but hopefully we've got some new Rival eyes coming who want to get in shape for the season). After a few weeks of 4x90/90s, we moved to 5x60/50s, then 6x45/30s, 7x30/20s, 8x20/10s and finally 10x20/10s. We did these 2-3 times a week, usually running them after practice.

I can safely say, I'm in the best shape of my life. At Sectionals I played almost every point (all but one point on Sunday), and still felt fairly fresh afterwards. I would be dog tired by the end of a point, but I easily recovered in time for the next point. Hopefully Fox will reply with how effective he thought the program was. (Also, Edelman is on the 60/50s and has been happy, hopefully he won't post though).

For Rival, I'd like to continue the intervals. Maybe let people work at their own pace moving through the different intervals, so Fox and I could keep running 20/10s while everyone else would be able to start the 90/90s whenever and move along every couple of weeks. The nice thing is that the intervals don't take very long, about 5 minutes of actual running. It's also ok to be tired when you start, so you can do other stuff before hand. My basic plan for our track workouts is going to be:

warmup
running form stuff
plyos/speedwork
intervals

We'll probably substitute some conventional long distance running (400s, 800s, etc.) for the intervals now and then. I'm also hopeful that Rivalers will be able to run intervals once a week outside of the track workouts (after summer league games maybe, or at the weekend practices).

Lastly, thanks to Lean and Hungry Fitness for finding this article that talks about interval training. Some quotes:

In the overall scheme of training for athletes participating in stop and go power sports (e.g., football, basketball, ice hockey and gymnastics) short-intense interval work has a major role to play in maximizing performance.

By maintaining the high level of training over a 5 or 6 week period one would expect a significant increase in the ratio of lean body mass to fat.

Getting back on the horse

2006-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ned and I are going to start having track workouts for anyone who is interested. If you wanna try to get into shape before tryouts or the season, or before track workouts start for real, you should come out. We're meeting at a track near Ned's this Sunday at 11am (I'll post directions later). We'll be working on a variety of things besides endurance. If there is something specific you would like to work on, just lemme know.

I'm meeting Fox and Sando for a workout at the Cobb County Civic Center Thursday at 6pm. I know that's not too close for most of you, but you're welcome to join us. Here is what we're going to be doing (Sunday's workout will be similar).

Warmup
2x15 knee tuck jump
10 falling starts (10 yards)
60 second arm swings
5 starts (15 yards)
2x5 Standing Broad Jump
2x5 Toss-Squat-Jump-Throw
10x20/10 intervals

Fatty McFatterton

2006-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

So since I'm the only girl posting (but certainly not reading, right ladies?), I won't bore all the men with my sob story about how I don't fit into my clothes and yet nice people insist that I shouldn't be dieting because we now give skinny people are harder time than we do morbidly obese people. Or that I've never even been within 10 pounds of the weight I'm currently carrying in my entire life until very recently. Cause that's girl talk.

What I am trying to find are the following:

1) Good core strengthening exercises. This would be a lot of ab work, but more than just situps. I know some pilates, and that's good stuff, but I'm wondering what else people have found that works best. I have access to a medicine ball, free weights, and one a' them big fitness ball things.

2) Good quad/hammy/and glute strengthening . . . plyos, I guess. I quit my gym membership, so I'm working out of my condo fitness room now, and we have a dearth of leg machines. I'm not too torn up about it, but I don't want to waste my time on lunges if they're not really worth the time. Etc.

Even book recommendations would be welcome. I know Evil mentioned the Verstegen book- what was the final verdict? Is there something folks would recommend more highly?

And just so we're clear- my current BMI is 23.6. Underweight? Not even close.

AA Problems

2006-03-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a few weeks because I've been having some problems with the Air Alert program, and I wanted to get as many details as possible before posting about it. First, I measured at week 7 and had gained only 2 inches. 2 inches is nice and all, but considering all the time and effort it takes, I was hoping for something more. Still, if that had been the only problem I would still be doing Air Alert now (more later).

There are a few reasons why I may not have experienced the same results that Edelman did. I've also been doing intervals after the air alert, about 3 times a week, not always on the same day as AA (especially t,w,th weeks). I wish AA gave more info about how to schedule your other workouts. I did basically no lifting, but my legs always felt tired. Perhaps they weren't getting the recovery time necessary to build back up. My other explanation is maybe the huge number of reps means AA will work better for an individual with more slow twitch muscles (ie better natural endurance). I've always had horrible endurance. There are probably other reasons as well. Ultimately, I would suggest trying the program and make sure you measure your improvements. If it's working, continue, if not, it's probably not worth it, especially if you are noticing other drawbacks...

More worrisome than my lack of gains was that I as having extreme pain in my calves, and tingling and numbness in my feet when I tried to play. This would last for about the first 30 minutes of play. I would try to play through it at first, but eventually it'd be too painful, and I'd have to stop for a few minutes and hobble around/take more ibu. After it eventually went away, I could resume playing with no problems for the rest of the day. Still, it had me a bit worried. I developed "Chronic Compartment Syndrome". Basically, the calf muscle has a sheath that is inflexible, during activity, blood flows into the muscle making it bigger. If the muscles gets too big for the sheath, it cuts off the bloodflow, causing pain and numbness. Chronic Compartment Syndrome isn't too severe, but unpleasant enough for me to want to make it stop. I believe that because AA is so calf-intensive, it aggravated my CCS (which I have had before a couple of times, usually when I started playing again after extended time off). I stopped AA over a week ago, and was able to play this past weekend with no symptoms. Fox also had problems, he got shin splints. I think the step-ups are particularly tough on shin splints.

I have not given up my pursuit for an increased vertical, however. I'm currently developing my own program, that's not so calf intensive. It focuses less on reps, and more on intensity. There are some AA concepts that I really like and plan on implementing. AA does a good job of varying the workouts, even though the exercises are almost all the same. It does this by changing the number of sets and reps each week. This helps keep you from plateauing. I plan on switching between 1 and 2 sets (or 2 and 3 sets) each workout. AA also really ramps up the reps, so that your always pushing yourself. I'm going to use this as well, adding reps/weight to my exercises every other workout. I'll post the workout here after I get a few weeks under my belt.

Training Results

2006-02-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

It appears that I must be doing something right.

I point blocked Josh "Bestest Thrower in Atlanta" Marquette no less than thrice in a recent goaltimate match.

That'll show him to be born on the same day as me.

Core Performance overview

2006-02-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

Core Performance by Mark Verstegen is one of the better total workout programs I've ever seen. Being a total workout program (which according to the book will transform your body and life) means that it has many facets, too many to cover in depth in one post. So, I'm going to hit the highlights here, then go into detail on the specific parts I'm going to use myself in later posts. First though, I'm skipping all the life changing crap. He talks a bit about using the workout lessons and applying them to your life decisions etc. Whatever...

The actual workouts are broken down into 7 sections.

Movement prep, which is basically an active warmup, similar to things we've done on Rival before. It's supposed to warm your muscles, tendons, and ligaments, preparing them for exercise. This section could be a little deeper in my opinion (there is no upper body stuff), but there are some quality stretches in there.

Prehab is an interesting section which is supposed to build up your weaknesses, helping prevent injury. It's also supposed to help fix posture problems. It works on core strength a bit as well. It's important to note, however, that this is "Prehab", not rehab. If you have a specific injury you are trying to recover from, simply doing these exercises is not enough. Rehab is a requirement if you've had an injury, because it makes you strengthen (and stretch) the particular areas that are weak (tight). This keeps you from compensating with other muscles, which can lead to greater muscle imbalance, prolonging pain and possibly causing further injury.

Physioball Routine is what I really came to the book looking for. It works your core exclusively. Again, I wouldn't have minded a few more exercises though.

Elasticity is basically plyometrics. There is also some basic agility stuff in there. These exercises are pretty basic in my opinion, the kind of stuff we would do in the first couple of weeks in Rival's plyo program. Certainly not as taxing as Air Alert, which I am substituting for Elasticity right now.

Strength is a weight training program that focuses on exercises that work multiple muscles groups, and puts them into supersets. I like how the program varies tempo and uses the supersets to keep the workouts fresh and helps keep you from plateauing. The workouts hit most of the key muscle groups. I'll probably add some of the exercises to my current workout, and one day maybe I'll add the supersets and tempo stuff.

Energy System Development is the endurance section. It seems like a reasonable endurance program, rarely working you for more than 20 minutes. I prefer the high intensity interval training over it, but I don't think you'll lose much with this program.

Regeneration is the last section, and focuses on stretching mainly. It's supposed to aid workout recovery, getting your muscles ready for the next workout more quickly, avoiding injury, etc. It looks pretty solid, but I don't know how much of a gain you'll get over normal static stretching (although the author has some anecdotes that show amazing flexibility gains with the program).

You're supposed to workout 6 days a week, the book lists workout plans for you that are very well laid out. You'll average probably 40 minutes a day working out. That's a good bit for most people, but not unreasonable for a complete workout program like this. You should see gains in many different areas (strength, flexibility, explosiveness, weightloss, endurance, etc.)

The thing I like about the book best, though, is the nutrition section. It's got the best, most logical 'diet' plan I've seen. Basically, it stresses smaller, more frequent meals, 'good' carbs, and moderation. It's a lot more in depth than that, but those are the most important points I think. The great thing about smaller, more frequent meals is that it makes it so much easier to actually eat healthier (I'm eating lots of fruit now).

Overall, I plan on using the Prehab and Physioball stuff on a regular basis. I like the movement prep stuff, I'll probably add some of the exercises to my normal warmup. Aside from that, I'll probably use my own exercises to replace the Core Performance sections. I definitely plan on posting something on the nutrition plan down the road.

Pre-Tournament Week

2006-01-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last week went ok. Did intervals only twice, but did all the Air Alerts. The burnouts are hurting but overall I wasn't too sore. I have a tournament this weekend, and am supposed to do Air Alert on MWF, trying to decide if I want to move Friday's Air Alert to Thursday. Any thoughts Edelman?

At practice Thursday, we ran intervals. I always rely on Fox to set the pace, but afterwards, he mentioned that he was able to hit the same spot every time when we started running again. I had to explain that you're not supposed to run each interval at the same pace. The first one should probably be considerably faster than the second. It doesn't matter how fast your legs are moving, it's all about how fast the heart is beating. If you run the first couple slower than you can, you're wasting those runs, you don't get the full benefit unless you're running all out. You should NOT be able to recover completely in the rest periods. On Saturday, I went out to the track and ran the intervals myself, really pushing myself on the first runs. I was very slow by the end (and very, very tired), but I made it through. Next week is 7x30/20s.

For Rival this summer, I'm thinking of just having people start witht he 8x20/10s so everyone is doing the same thing. The people who haven't been running will be a lot slower initially, but I think that's ok.

Last thing, I'm reading this Core Performance book. It's very good, very balanced. Has the best nutrition/diet system I've seen. I hope to give a full review later this week (or next week), but then again I'm still hoping to get my philosophy post up sometime...

Trying not to be a pansy

2006-01-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

I'm still hoping to get my philosophic post up, until then, an update. Savage 7 this weekend went pretty well. The wind/weather Saturday was horrible, but Sunday was reasonable and I had a good time and never really felt tired. My hamstrings were a bit sore Monday, and my knee was a little sore (no idea what from), but other than that I feel good. Oh, I did get elbowed in the nose, but I don't think it did any real damage.

I took Monday off (boo) to rest the knee and nose, but got back at it today. Already did Air Alert week 2/day 1. Didn't seem too bad except the 200 burnouts were rough. Also, I gave myself whiplash on the thrustups, got my head a little too involved. Again, I'm hoping it's not too bad. A little stiff and sore right now, but I plan on pushing through (I'm a fucking soldier).

Intervals tonight with the SPSU, 6 sets of 45 sec running, 30 sec walking. This will be my first time doing this set of intervals, I'm expecting them to be pretty tough since I haven't run intervals for about a month.

Other than that, I'm still trying to put together a core workout, I'll post it here when I get it done. It's good to be working out/playing again.

Air Alert Week 15 Mid Week Update

2006-01-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

Ow.

Getting back into the swing of things

2006-01-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

Did my first physical activity in almost 3 weeks last night (although I'm still not really supposed to be exercising yet). Southern Poly started the Air Alert program. We did our base measurements (my 21.5" wasn't good enough to beat Fox's 24") , and the first exercises. The 2x20 leapups were tough, on week 15 we've gotta do 4x100. That seems beyond reason to me right now. My quads are a little sore today, but nothing too bad. I'm taking it easy this week, hope to be completely healed by this weekend for Savage 7. The doc gave me the ok, but keep your fingers crossed for me anyway.

I've got another post I'm gonna try and put up this week. It's going to be boring, I'm calling it The Philosophy of Fast-twitch muscle fiber recruitment during extending inactivity. You guys have got to start posting more often...

Rachel Ray's 30 minute interval training

2005-12-29T11:28:00.001-08:00

For some reason I can never quite muster the energy to go to an "actual" track to do "actual" interval training. However, I've found this bike workout to be pretty amazing as well as easy on the body.

You can do this on a regular cardio bike or an upright.

5 Mins - Low cycle(lvl 3 for me) 80 RPM

Then do 6 sets of the following:

1 Min - Highest Cycle(lvl 12 for me) 100+ RPM
2 Min - Low Cycle(3 for me) 60-80 RPM

Then Cooldown:

2 Mins - Low Cycle(3 for me) 100 RPM
5 Mins - Low Cycle(3 for me) 60-70

This is a great workout.. and seems to improve my quickness off the first step. It requires some explosiveness and then maintaining speed. You can do the same workout on the treadmill but i find the impact hurts my knees. You'd be surprised how hard this workout is. If you have difficulty I find that keeping track of how many people look at you funny during the high speeds helps.

My record is 6 ... Have at it.

Intervals and Exhaustion

2005-12-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks, so I probably won't be posting much. You guys will have to pick up the slack...Hah!

Anyway, wanted to make a post before my hiatus. Last week, Fox and I went to the track and did the 5x60/50 intervals. I thought I was going to die. We ran each one as hard as we could, but the last one was no where near as fast as the first. I had to lay down on the track after the last one. I didn't throw up though. When we were done, we had planned on throwing a little bit. Our legs were so tired, it was like we were drunk. Completely uncoordinated. This is how I think you should feel after running these intervals.

When I've done the intervals on the stairmaster, I've set a level (15) for the first one, and then tried to keep it up for the rest (usually failing). If you're going to try and run these on a treadmill or stairmaster, something that sets your speed, then you've got to remember to go all out each rep. So the first one should be as fast as you can go, and the last one should be as fast as you can go, but the last one is not going to be as fast as the first. I've done them on the bike too, and although you can regulate your own speed, I still feel like I'm not getting the workout that I get when running at a track.

So, my suggestion would be to run the intervals at a track (or around a field, whatever), and you should be about to pass out afterwards.

Air Alert Week 12 Recap

2005-12-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know, you've had it with the updates. "Finish the stupid thing already," you say. Well, that's my plan. Wednesday of week 12 was killer, with the added squat hops that are par for the Wednesday course, and I got through all but the last 15 leap ups in the last set before I had to pause because my legs simply shut down. The rest of the workout was fine, though, and on Thursday, while not a walk in the park by any means, I completed all the leap ups without pausing. Thursday took me 45 mins to complete, while Monday took about an hour and Wednesday took about an hour and 15 mins.

So, per my last post, as I have completed Day Three of Week 12 without pausing, my legs are going into recovery mode for the sabbatical that is week 13. I plan on going to the gym anyways to play some basketball (which I am TERRIBLE at) so I don't show up not being able to complete week 14, which is the sissiest week of them all. "It's prepping you for week 15!" Right. I'll get to Monday of week 15 not able to even FINISH the first exercise, let alone pause to complete them all. I hope that's not the case. There will definitely be a week 15 recap, and I will warn you ahead of time, there will be some tears.

Air Alert III update

2005-12-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

So because every single person in my office has left and I'm the only one here, I will take a few moments to give an update on Air Alert III.

It is hard. Really really hard. I started week 12 yesterday, and for the first time, could not actually complete a set for an exercise without stopping for a few seconds. Four sets of 75 leapups is killer, even coming off of six sets of 50 from the previous week. My feeling is this: if, by the end of the week, I still cannot complete the leapups without pausing in the middle of a set, I am going to repeat week 12 until I can (week 13 is a rest week, so I figure it can only help me prepare for the W15D (Week 15 of Death, which has 4 sets of 100 leapups. yeah.)

A couple of things I've learned from doing this program:

Do the program EXACTLY as prescribed
Early on, do the exercises as hard as you can (ie, for the burnouts, really do get as high on your toes as you possibly can and really go as fast as you can) because you need this foundation for later on
Actually time yourself between sets, because if you just guess your rest, you're either guessing too high or too low most of the time. If no clock is available, I've found that my cellphone comes in handy
DO NOT CHEAT. You really are just cheating yourself. No pain really does equal no gain
Be active on Air Alert days (usually following the workout) and be even more active on the off days. Really do jump your highest and test your range.
Always cool down and stretch afterwards
Always massage the muscle you are working on during your rest
DO NOT eat Mexican food on the day of or the day prior to performing these exercises, especially in the later weeks.

This program starts somewhat easy. With some of my Emory kids starting out when I'm on week 10 or 11, they are done with the whole routine before I'm even done with the first exercise. However, it takes a lot longer the further in you get. Yesterday took me 45 mins, but the week before took me 1 hr and 15 min (week 11 = fewer reps, more sets, week 12 = more reps, fewer sets). Week 15, which you're supposed to do four days that week, will probably take about an hour and a half or more, and none of these numbers have included warm-up and stretch and cool-down and stretch.

I applaud those of you that make it to week 12, and who can do it without having to rest in the middle of the 3rd and 4th sets of leapups, at least on the first day. I will give a week 15 report, but I'm sure it will go something like, "Wah wah wah my legs hurt wah wah I'll sky you, bitch."

Bad Wood

2005-12-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

I can hear Parham (...oops Mrs. Ewald) now, "There's no such thing as bad wood." Perhaps I'm mis-remembering. Anyway, I was bad last week. I worked out and did intervals on Monday, played pickup Tuesday, and then did nothing! It was pathetic.

I had another discussion with Erin C. online the other day (I sure hope Mr. C. isn't reading this). I mentioned that I don't think anyone in Atlanta Ultimate is in danger of overtraining. So, don't worry about taking time off to 'recover'. Laziness is your 'recovery' time.

Plan for this week:
Monday - legs/intervals
Tuesday - pickup/intervals
Wednesday - legs
Thursday - intervals
Friday - med ball/plyos workout

There, I posted it, hopefully I'll actually do it.

Reader Mail

2005-12-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

So, not so much mail as instant messaging. This is the internet afterall. Everyone should get google talk. Anyway, reader Erin C. from Atlanta asks (I summarized):

I tend to get tired after a couple of games. I'm interested in the intervals, but wonder if repeating the interval sessions after a rest period would show more benefit for me, as it is more like our sport (a set of intervals being like 1 game).

The first thought I had was that if you do the intervals to exhaustion, you probably aren't going to get much from the second set of intervals. So the question becomes, is it better to do a set of intervals at a lower intensity, so that you can do subsequent intervals and maintain a high level (ie, not speedwalking the intervals). I didn't have the answer right off, I wanted to do some digging.

It seems perfectly logical that the longer you workout, the more gains (particularly aerobic) you'll see. In fact, the whole idea of the Tabata Intervals is a bit counter-intuitive. I get to train for very little time (5 minutes excluding warmup and cooldown) and I get better results than running for an hour (or whatever).

First question, how do you measure fitness, specifically the kind of fitness we're trying to develop for Ultimate? First, we can break it down to aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness allows us to run at a moderate pace for a long time, anaerobic fitness allows us to run very fast (or jump). Anaerobic fitness, as I am describing it now, does not allow us to run faster, it simply allows us to run as fast as we can for a longer period. Ultimate relies on both of these systems. I need to be able to run fast as long as possible (anaerobic), but I'd like to use my aerobic system as much as possible because it's far more efficient than my anaerobic system.

Ok, that's great, but how do you actually quantify aerobic or anaerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness is almost universally described as an individual's VO2 max. Basically how much oxygen you're able to get into your bloodstream. Anaerobic fitness is much harder to quantify, Dr. Tabata apparentally is one of the first to use the particular method he used, it's a little too complicated to try and describe here (but you can read about it in this summary). Other factors that go into aerobic and anaerobic health are how efficiently your muscles are able to use oxygen (to perform aerobically), and how quickly your muscles are able to recover from working anaerobically.

That's all great, but what does it mean? Well, looking at a summary of Dr. Tabata's study give us some interesting information. Tabata had two exercise groups. One did the intervals I've mentioned before, where you're going all out for 20 seconds and resting for 10. The other group went all out for 30 seconds, and rested for 2 minutes. What he found was that the 20/10 intervals maxed out the aerobic and anaerobic systems while the 30/2min intervals were not able to provide the same intensity. So, even though you're actually doing more work in the 30/2min intervals, you get a 'better' aerobic and anaerobic workout in the 20/10 intervals. It appears to be all about the rest. Check out this quote supposedly from Dr. Tabata that I found here:

Dr. Tabata told Dick Winett in a personal communication:"The rate of increase in VO2max [14% in only 6 weeks] is one of the highest ever reported in exercise science." What’s more, anaerobic capacity increased by a whopping 28%.

However, we know that VO2 max isn't everything. Even if we throw out the whole concern that 20/10 intervals don't train the fast twitch explosiveness we want to get faster and jump higher, there are still aerobic and anaerobic fitness demands that aren't measured by VO2. Specifically, it appears from the Tabata study that the 30/2min intervals do a better job of improving the rate your muscles recover from working anaerobically, a very important factor for Ultimate in my opinion. The 30/2min intervals also show greater improvements in the maximum amount of power you're able to generate (the running fast and jumping thing). That's why, the program I've developed for SPSU this year has bi-weekly speed work where we are sprinting all out, but have 2-4 minutes of rest in between. This should help us keep improving our speed, and help improve our recovery.

In summary, Erin C. from Atlanta:

It appears you are best rewarded by going all out and having short rest periods. I hypothesize that if your rest period between sets of intervals is long enough for you to maintain a very high level of intensity, that you would see further improvements. Dr. Tabata had his subjects do the intervals 6 days a week. I would think it would be better to have a day off in between for your muscles to recover, but you could possibly do one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with a day off in between. I have found no data to back that up though, it's just a hypothesis.

So although it seems illogical, you're actually training your endurance more by doing the short intervals with short rest, and training your power more by doing short intervals with long rest. Long intervals come in last with just working your aerobic system.

Ultimately, my suggestion would be to do the Tabata Intervals 3-6 times a week. Throw in some speedwork once or twice every couple of weeks (possibly more as you're looking to peak), and lay off the long distances.

For an alternate viewpoint, you should check out SERIOUS Training for Endurance Atheletes which stresses a lot of longer distance running, particularly in the offseason. Personally, I worry about losing my speed with that kind of workout, but what's right for you depends on what your goals are.

Updates

2005-12-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

So I did my legs workout yesterday, and finally got through all 5 intervals on the stairmaster at level 15. I've got cardio info on the intervals that I'm going to try and figure out how to post. What are the rest of you doing though? Lee? Ned? Fox? Lee bet me a steak dinner he'd have his body fat down to 11% by July. A quick search in gmail for 'Lee steak' found me this from October 11...

Let it be known that this morning I weighed in at 200.3 and 22.8%, by July 1st I will be down to 182.3 and 11.7% or better. If not, I owe you a steak dinner.

So, how's the progress Lee?

Fox, what are you doing other than ripping on fat chicks at FedEx?

Ned, tell us about those fancy machines at your YMCA. Do they give you a printout of your progress?

Medicine Ball/Plyo Workout

2005-12-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

I firmly believe that it is important to mix up your workouts. If you do the same thing every time you workout, your body gets really good at doing that workout, but you're not necessarily going to keep getting the on-the-field improvements. Even changing the order that you workout in can be helpful. So, once a week I try to do a different kind of workout. On Fridays I usually try to do medicine ball/plyos workout. Here's what I'm doing tomorrow:

Lying Med Ball Obliques - 3x10
Outside Rotation Pass - 10 each direction
Inside Rotation Pass - 10 each direction
Underhand Pass - 20
Seated Side Pass - 10 each direction
Situp and Throw - 2x10
Overhead Toss - 15
Lying Trunk Twist - 10
1 Leg Full Squats - to failure
Medicine Ball Pushups - 10
Medicine Ball Toss-Squat-Jump - 2x10
Medicine Ball Pushups - 10
Ankle Hops w/medicine ball - 3x15
Medicine Ball Pushups - 10
Alternating Leg Pushoffs - 2x10
Medicine Ball Pushups - 10
Depth Jump to Rim Jump - 5
30 Second Step Drills - 3

I really like the Medicine Ball Toss-Squat-Jumps. I read about some MLB player, base-stealer who did Medicine Ball Squat-Jump-Throws to increase his speed. I added the toss. You toss the ball straight up, catch it and immediately go into a crouch position (the toss helps load your muscles), then explode up and Throw the medicine ball as far as you can back over your head. I have to take the throw part out at the gym though, I don't think they'd take too kindly to me throwing around their medicine balls.

I don't feel like writing out descriptions to all the exercises. I got most of them from either The Great Medicine Ball Handbook or Jumping into Plyometrics (a great book).

Legs Workout

2005-12-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here is the legs workout I've been doing. I've been able to do it a twice a week for the last few weeks. Not sure what I'm going to do when I start Air Alert, perhaps I can do Air Alert and legs on the same days, talk about tired legs!

I start out with a core workout (same whether I'm doing lower or upper body)
Incline crunches w/ med ball: 2 sets of 10 (10lbs)
Incline obliques w/ med ball: 1 set of 20 (6 lbs) - I haven't gotten up to 20 yet.
Hanging Leg Raises: 3 sets of 10
Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets of 10 (5lbs) - Today will be the first time I've added weight to these.

I'm not thrilled with the abs workout. The gym I go to has an oblique machine but I hate it. The incline obliques I do work my abs a lot too so I am limited to 3 sets of the two exercises total. Any suggestions for an exercise that isolates the obliques more?

On to the legs:
Leg Press: 3 sets of 8 (360lbs) - I recently maxed out the leg press machine at the gym (500lbs) so I had to switch to a different machine. It feels completely different, still getting used to it, hopefully I'll be able to up my load quickly.
Lying Leg Curl: 3 sets of 8 (110)
Lunges: 3 sets of 8 per leg (80) - Done with barbell on shoulders. I tried holding dumbells but my arms get incredibly fatigued doing 3 sets of 8 on each leg. I like these better than the leg extensions as they're easier on my knees.
One Legged Squats: 3 sets of 8 per leg (100) - Like regular squats, but you put a bench a foot or two behind you, and put one foot on the bench allowing you to isolate one leg.
Hip Adductor: 2 sets of 15 (135) - Maintaining the groin, pull it once and you never want to again.
Hip Abductor: 2 sets of 15 (140)
Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets of 8 (135) - These almost cramped me up last time.
Standing Calf Raises: 2 sets of 20 (100) - I can't go over 100 lbs on this thing without hurting my back. So I do these for endurance which I need 'cause my calves are always the first to cramp.

I have two different basic approaches to leg exercises. For most exercises I do 3 sets of 8. You don't want to do too many reps if you're trying to build power and explosiveness. I do this for most of the big muscle groups. For support muscles I try to go for more endurance, so I'll do more reps (15-20). I do leg press instead of squats simply because I've never learned proper squat form and squats scare me. Maybe if I continue to enjoy the one legged squats I'll try some regular squats. I should probably be doing both leg press and squats. Someday.

Air Alert III

2005-12-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I admit to participating in the verbal intercourse that bore this blog. That said, Air Alert III has worked wonders for me and the Emory kids participating in it with me. I am finishing week nine on Friday, and already my vertical has gone from 17.5" to 25", a whopping 7.5" increase. Some of the kids have experienced similar gains. The best part is, the program goes 15 weeks and it promises between 8" and 14".

However, the program is not easy, by any stretch of the word. Your legs will hurt. There will be sets that you think that you simply cannot complete because your legs hurt so bad. There are times where you compromise form for future reps. When this happens, you have to push yourself, and sometimes you really don't think you can. For me, it's the calf raises. I hit around 35 and the last 15 are absolute death. But, a good part about this program is, while it ramps up quickly, the preceding week definitely preps you for its successor. When you get to about week six, you begin to look down on those who are on week, say, three as sissies because they have half as many to do as you and they're whining.

Another pitfall to this program is that you must re-learn how to read the disc. "Whatever, I read so well now that nothing could alter my super-human reading skills." Picture this: you read very well, you jump at full strength at the right moment and get the disc at your full extension at your highest point every time. Now, imagine adding 4" to your jump. Or imagine adding even 1" to your jump. You are going to start doinking discs because even though you are up there, your hand is way above where the disc is. This is why even if you choose to do this program, you MUST still go out there and play. In fact, the program instructs that you do so. You have to learn your new highest point, and man is it not easy. This goes doubly for during the week when your legs are shot from the workout and your vertical is actually lower than where it would be if you would wait a day or two. Essentially, your vertical leap is in flux the whole time you're doing this program, so reading becomes a chore. Also, whenever a disc goes up and it's you against someone not on the program, everyone who knows this fact chants simultaneously, "Oooh, let's see if that jump program's working!" or, "Air Alert!" which kind of puts you on the spot and forces you to get the D or catch or succumb to indefinite haranguing.

I do highly suggest this program, although it is not for the unmotivated or the faint of heart. If you truly wish to see results, you must follow the program to the letter and really focus on your form as opposed to the reps you're doing. I missed the Friday of week seven and the Friday of week eight (Turkey Tourney all day travel, and family Thanksgiving travel to FuttBuck, IN, respectively) and came back to measure at the beginning of week nine to see that I'd lost four inches to my vertical. Also, aside from being the most mentally painful day, it was also the most physically painful since day one, week one. Yesterday wasn't that bad, giving me hope that I will gain those 4" back and maybe some come next Tuesday.

It also makes your legs ridiculously buff, which ladies like.

Cardio - Interval Training basics

2005-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

This year, for cardio, I plan on doing Taku's intervals. Taku's intervals are based on the findings of Dr. Tabata. Dr. Tabata describes an ideal interval rate as being 10 sets of 20 seconds all out, and 10 seconds of rest between sets. Taku altered the program to build up slowly to the 10 sets of 20/10. My current program ramps up even slower than Taku's. For the past month and a half I've been doing 4x90/90, 3 times a week. That is, 4 sets of 90 seconds running, with 90 seconds of rest(walking) between sets. This week I just started doing 5x60/50s 3 times a week. I plan on continue the 5x60/50s for December, then, starting in January, moving on. I originally planned on continuing to ramp up slowly, here are the steps involved:

4x90/90
5x60/50
6x45/30
7x30/20
8x20/10
10x20/10

Currently, though, I'm thinking I'll spend a max of 2 weeks on any one step (after this month of 5x60/50s) so that we (my SPSU team will be doing the same workouts) can get to the 10x20/10s faster.

A quick explanation of why High Intensity Interval Training works: Your muscles have 2 (basic) types of muscle fibers. Slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch are the marathon fibers, and fast-twitch are the sprint fibers. Your body activates the slow-twitch muscles first, because they are more energy efficient. If the slow-twitch muscle fibers are insufficient to get the force your need, your body will start activating fast-twitch muscle fibers. So, if you're doing your standard 15-30 minutes of running at a steady pace, you're probably never going to activate your fast-twitch muscles (in fact, you'll train your body to use more slow-twitch muscles, making it harder for you to develop power in a game when you need it). You may still be taxing your aerobic system, but a large percentage of your muscles are being unused. If you do a high intensity exercise, you're going have to recruit both muscle fiber types to get the force you need. This is going to put a higher tax on your aerobic system, and work all of your muscle fibers (and you should see a much lower conversion of fast to slow-twitch fibers, more on that later). Anecdotally, this seems much more like a game of Ultimate than running a steady pace for even just 10 minutes.

One thing I like about the intervals is that you can do them in many different ways. Just straight running is the obvious choice, and it's what we primarily do at practices now, but you can also do them on a bike, elliptical, jump rope or even stairmaster (I did my 5x60/50s on the stairmaster this week and it's brutal). As the intervals get smaller, I envision doing suicides/shuttles/cutting drills etc.

You've got to remember that you should be working as hard as you possibly can over the period of the interval. That doesn't mean I'm sprinting for 90 seconds, it just means I'm running as fast as I can possibly maintain for 90 seconds. You should be exhausted at the end of the workout. Dr. Tabata's subjects were professional cyclists and apparentally they laid on the floor gasping for air after the workouts. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I've got a goal!

Because I want to be exhausted afterwards, I do my intervals after everything else I have planned. If I'm lifting at the gym, I do my intervals afterwards, if I have practice, we do our intervals at the end of practice. It doesn't matter how fast you do them, simply that you're working as hard as possible. If you've been doing legs at the gym, then do the intervals, you'll probably reach exhaustion at a lower level than normal, but you should be getting the same benefit (and I read somewhere, though I can't find it now, that it's even better to do after a workout).

Tabata intervals may have a drawback however. There seems to be some evidence that you can lose some fast-twitch muscle fiber by doing short rest intervals. It's all rather confusing, check out this post on Lean and Hungry Fitness for more details if you're interested. To combat this, I've decided to replace one set of intervals every other week with a speed workout. For instance, if it's a speed week, I'll do a set of intervals on Monday, on Tuesday I'll do 5 40 yard sprints with 4 minutes rest between sprints, then on Thursday I'll do another set of intervals.

So, this week I did 5x60/50s on Monday on the stairmaster, after I did a legs workout.
On Wednesday, I did another legs workout followed by a 5x60/50s on the stairmaster again. It's definitely rough. I'm hitting level 15 for the first two, then having to drop down to 13 so I don't fall off and get sucked into the machine. I don't feel like I'm getting quite as good an aerobic workout as if I was running, but my legs are definitely getting killed. My calves almost cramped up Wednesday. Tonight I plan on running the 5x60/50s after practice with the team, I'll comment here and let you all know how it goes.

Mission Statement

2005-12-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this blog is to give members of the Ultimate team Rival an opportunity to share their workouts and help motivate one another to keep up with their workouts. I'll be posting my workouts (cardio, weight lifting, plyos, etc.) and encourage other Rivalers to do the same. We can discuss different exercises, workout theory, whatever. A discussion I had with Edelman over the benefit of the Norwegian Hamstring exercise (good for injury prevention but not necessarily great for improving vertical or speed) is basically what prompted me to start this blog. Drop me an email if you'd like to post.