Vegan machine never break...

[wannalift]

9/14/11:

Great gym session. Almost back to my 1-leg press max (for 20 reps). So glad I dropped down as I hope to continue to have better form & depth. SLDL went really well too. Practiced again with the Hornets. It was a little more intense than the previous practice, but I'm very pleased with my fitness level.


9/15/11:

Got some extra reps on pull ups. Climbed for a little over an hour and made that V2 that eluded me last time. Went to another Hornets practice and got another good workout there. Hands/arms are pretty sore, but I know I quit with a little something left so I hope they are not as sore as they have been tomorrow. Still have that weird thing with my chest, but I dont' notice it as much. In fact, it may be almost gone. I have been able to crack that area at least a little.

[Frostfire]

Hey, seems like things are on the up and up all around for you with training lately!

Practiced again with the Hornets.

That just sounds fun!

[wannalift]

9/16/11:

Got an extra rep on dips. Went pretty light on the shoulder raises. At the gym I got some extra reps on the incline db bench. Skipped the heavy overhead and finished strong with some additional shoulder and tricep work. Rear shoulders are a little sore which I suspect is from some rotational forces I'm getting on the rock climibing. I'll have to be more mindful of that in the future. Weight is up as well to 167.5. My upper back, arms and legs are starting to get their size back.

Got a ride in, but I kept it short as I have a big ride planned for tomorrow. Additionally, it has gotten a lot colder and it's getting dark early. Considered extending my ride to my regular training route, but visibility was becoming an issue.

[wannalift]

Hey, seems like things are on the up and up all around for you with training lately!

Yeah, I'm quite pleased with how things are going. I'm getting a really synergistic effect with all of the activity I'm doing. Still have to keep my focus on staying injury-free. I also have to start thinknig about how I'll alter my training when the weather gets too bad for mtn biking. I can't lose this fitness level I'm at now.

Practiced again with the Hornets.

That just sounds fun!

Yeah, it's a pretty great experience. If I could do things all over again (and my parents were rich) I would have been goaltending at a young age. I'm hoping when I have to go back to school full-time for a semester (next fall?) I'll try out for the D1 club team at my university. I still have my eligibility!

[wannalift]

9/17/11:

Almost a 4-hour ride at Boyce (~3 hours of riding) this morning. It was very muddy and I crashed quite a few times. Nothing too serious, but the most crashes I have had in a long time. I was really running out of energy during the last hour. I need to start packing a clif bar or equivalent. Went to the walls later for a climb (where do I find the energy?). Climbed for about 1.5 hours. Didn't make it to the top of any new routes, but I made some progress on both. I still have a long way to go in terms of basic technique, but I'm getting there. Finished off with some grip work at home. Now I just have to catch up on all the calories I burned.

[wannalift]

9/18/11:

Another strong gym session. Nothing special, just strong. Was going to go for a ride, but it was such a nice day I decided to just go for a long walk in the other park by my house.

[wannalift]

9/19/11:

Was down a rep on the pull ups, but maintained on the chin ups. Wrist work went well. Was going to ride after work, but wasn't feeling great and also needed to put some time into studying. Went to the wall later and got some climbing in. No real progress, but I climbed some of older routes a lot better. Looking forward to giving my hands a couple days off from climbing. They could use it.

[wannalift]

Sorry I fell behind. My left shoulder is hurting, presumably from the climbing, so I had to shut some things down this week:

9/20/11: Shoulder started feeling tweaked so I had to cut things a little short on the pressing.
9/21/11: Decided to just skip this entire workout.
9/22/11: See above
9/23/11: Got a modified pressing workout in. Bamboo bench, light shoulder raises, heavy abs. Wanted to ride my bike, but conditions were not great outside. Rode indoors on my trainer and it was actually a good workout. Just did 1-legged pedaling at various resitance levels. Basically I 'climb the ladder' until I get to a resistance level in which I can only do 10-12 strokes in good from.
9/24/11: 2-hour bike ride. Ride went well, but I had a crash and of course I came down on my left hand and that placed additiona strain on my bad shoulder. Nothing that bad though, just annoying.
9/25/11: Good lower body & upper back workout. My 1-leg press is officially back to where I left off. I wish it was a little easier on my left leg as my hip flexor really bothers me on my left side. I just can't get the same form an range of motion in my left leg, sigh. I actually opted out of a chance to ride outdoors to ride indoors on my trainer (didn't want to put any stress on my shoulder). The indoor session went really well. Went up the ladder to some heavy 1-legged pedaling. I was sweating like crazy. Also did some 2-legged heavy sprints and the end and I'm really pleased with the power that I'm putting out. I actually think I maxed out the resistance on the trainer and will have to find a way to add more resitance. Perhaps I'll finally build that ergometer?

[wannalift]

9/26/11: Was able to do bodyweight pull/chin ups at work with no shoulder pain. Great sign. Got some wrist work in too.
9/27/11: Unfortunately the dips didn't work out so well. Starting to think my shoulder issue is related to pressing movements because those are the only things that bother it.
9/28/11: Did some shrug rows and rhomboid pushups at work. Also did some 1-leg press and SLDL at the gym. Turned into a good workout. Did a half hour on the trainer at home. Warmed up witn 1-legged intervals and then did some HIIT. I was very pleased to get 120+ rpms for 15+ seconds with a 4.82 gear ratio. I swear earlier this year, before I started mtn biking, I was only able to hit 80-90 max (and even then it was sloppy). I ordered a new trainer today. Here it is: http://www.1upusa.com/bike_trainer.html. It operates off of centrifugal pressure resistance and it is just totally awesome. The resistance curve is from 4 to 3000 watts (42 mph). I am so anxious for it's arrival! I think I'm in love

[Frostfire]

Good stuff, so diverse! I love that you are working out at work, too

[wannalift]

9/29/11: Added 10 lbs to the pull/chin ups. Still going light and working my way back up. Shoudler felt fine though. Finally got back to the climbing wall after 10 days off. Felt really good. Almost made one of the routes I left off on. I tried to pace myself and also to watch my shoulder. Seems okay. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. Playing a late hockey game tonight. Hoping to have a good game.

[wannalift]

Good stuff, so diverse!

Thanks. Yeah, I think it's better this way. So many different things to experience in life, why just specialize in being good at the gym.

I love that you are working out at work, too

Yeah, it has worked out really well. Saves me a ton of time. I get paid for an hour lunch break so why not use it as productively as possible? Sucks now that my dips are affected by my shoulder. Such a great lift I'll be missing for a while.

[wannalift]

9/29/11 (late evening): One of my worst hockey games ever. Team I was subbing for played very bad defensively. There was very little I could do on any of the 12 (not a typo) goals against. Of course there was one that went in and out of my glove to boot. Just lousy.

9/30/11: Did a ton of light shoulder raises at work. Bamboo bench went well at the gym. Did some more raises, ab work and triceps. At home I did some more work on the trainer since it was raining outside, again. Went up the ladder on heavy 1-legged pedaling. Pretty good pace and my technique held up well. Really looking forward to getting the new trainer though.

[wannalift]

10/1/11: Did some heavy sprints (HIIT) on my trainer. 16 second intervals where I go ALL OUT (120+ RPM on the hardest settings) followed by 90-120 seconds of light spinning. I only made it to 6 intervals and I was dead. Felt very sick (like I had altitude sickness) for almost 30 minutes after. Then I felt great! Going to have to work my way back up to 10 intervals. Goal is when I get my new trainer to work at heavier resistance and break 2000 watts over a 5-second interval someday. I think I'm good for about 1500+ watts right now. The one-legged spinning on the trainer and 1-legged presses at the gym should help.

10/2/11: Great session at the gym. Went up in weight on everything. Did some light shoulder raises as well. Also, I switched to reverse hypers instead of back hypers. Doing them in a slightly different way that makes them more tolerable. After I went to vegan buffet brunch. I think I put away 1700 calories or so. I did some very light spinning at home for 20 minutes. Really concentrated on my 1-legged pedaling technique and went nice and easy. I always hear people do their hard days too light and their light days too hard. Going to try to keep from falling into that pattern.

[wannalift]

10/3/11: Still going light(er), but went up in weight on pull/chin ups. Wrist work was solid too. Went climbing and had a very good session. Finished off all the v2's and v2+. On to the v3's now which are noticeably harder. Hoping to get at least 1 before they reset the routes in a couple weeks. I'm going to hold off climbing again until Saturday. Plan is to give myself 3-5 days between each climb for now until my hands/forearms become properly acclimated.

10/4/11: Various light shoulder raises at work. Skipped my gym workout, but did some tricep work at home. The new trainer arrived and I tried it out for the first time. Well, it is MUCH different than my old magnetic resistance unit. It's much smoother, but the resistance is deceptive. At the toughest gearing setting, pedaling at a light to moderate cadence is not bad. Trying to sprint feels like you are pedaling underwater. I was only able to get up to 85 rpm's over a 10 second period which, assuming the chart I have is correct, averaged out to a little under 1300 watts. Strange thing is that although I felt like I could not pedal any faster, I wasn't wearing myself out like I usually do on the magnetic trainer (other than only being able to go for 10 seconds per interval). Afterwards I was not as tired too. I know I can go harder, but I really have to learn this resistance curve because it is so much different than what I am used to. I'll need to get to 100 rpm to get 2000 watts. Seems close, but I know it is very very far away.