AM...PM

Workout of the Day:

In the morning...

90 minutes pickup soccer

In the afternoon...

5 x max full ROM handstand pushups

Finish each set with 3 x 6-second eccentrics

A couple of the European guys in my building organized a game of soccer today, pitting Europe against the Americas. At its biggest, this game was 8 on 7, and we played on a field probably about 1/3 the size of an ordinary field. Therefore there were no sprints longer than 20 meters or so, which was just fine by me after the beating my legs have taken this week. It was fun to run around and try to make my feet do what they have not been trained to do since the 7th grade: control a soccer ball. The same principles that I mentioned earlier this week regarding coordination, agility, balance, and reaction in basketball certainly applied here as well. For the record, the Americas won. But not because of my meager contributions. I managed to net 3 goals, but there were a few guys on my side who really knew what they were doing and largely facilitated my opportunities. Bottom line, it was fun and it got me moving around.

This afternoon I went to the Cite gym strictly to work on full range of motion handstand pushups (see above). I set up two stacks of bumper plates so that, when at the bottom of the press, my shoulders touched the plates before my head touched the ground. In previous attempts at this depth I had only been able to get 3 repetitions, and it was an ugly 3. Today, I got 4 on my first set, 3 on my second, and 1 the rest of the way. Very happy with this result, I definitely seem to be getting stronger with everything overhead. The eccentric negatives were a critical piece as well. This is the best way to build strength in a movement, especially movements where you tend to stick at a certain point in the exercise. Fighting through that point during an eccentric negative will fire the moto-neurons you need to get that area stronger.

Next week is going to be shortened due to my program's self-organized road trip through southern France. Hopefully that means I'll get the chance to do a couple workouts on the road. Plenty of battlefields, castles, and countryside between Paris and Nice so there really aren't any excuses.

Below is a clip of me doing that first set, getting 4 then failing on 5. Didn't tape the eccentrics.