Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Go Play a Sport

Workout of the Day:

In the AM…

2 hours pickup basketball

In the PM…

15 minutes EDD’s

Consecutive Tabata rounds of:

DB walking lunge

BW Squat jumps

Butterfly situps

3 sets of hanging L-sits for time

Things were a bit stiff today, especially across my chest and shoulders. My core was not nearly as sore as it was last week after the longer distance, slower paced sandbag run, so I think constantly supporting the weight is the key to really taxing that area. Still, going for speed last night was a good variation on the exercise.

One of the girls in my apartment building picked up a basketball earlier this week and organized a game at the park across the street. We were between 6-8 people, depending at what point during the 2 hours you choose to look at, and we were mixed between girls and guys fairly evenly. This was not high level basketball, but it was fast-paced and of high enough quality to be very enjoyable. It reminded me of two things: I love warm weather, and I miss playing sports. It felt great to move without a plan, to react rather than pre-designate. Jumping, sprinting, and changing direction are key elements in developing agility, coordination, and balance, and they’re best utilized as fluid parts of games like basketball, tennis, or football. We played for 2 hours, almost without a break, and we certainly felt it afterwards. At least 4 that I know of (myself included) went home and crashed for 1-2 hour naps. Hopefully with the weather starting to turn I can get out and do this more often.

In the evening I was back at the Cite gym with Niels and Eva (new addition) to do some Tabata interval work. For the lunges, I used 32 kg dumbbells—heavy. I was able to tally 88 total steps during the 4 minutes, and was surprised to note that my forearms and traps were feeling things almost as much as my legs. Going to the squat jumps next was a little brutal, but things shook out by the second set. I tried to get full depth, the same as I would need for a clean or snatch, and clear at least 10 inches with each jump. I finished with 105 repetitions here, certainly the most challenging cardiovascularly. I did the situps with butterflied knees to try and disengage the hip flexors. This makes it much harder to string repetitions together, but much more effective at challenging the rectus abdominus. I got 78 repetitions, falling just short of 10 per round.

Afterwards, we attached ourselves to pullup bars and did max time hangs. I held an L-sit for as long as I could, then bent the knees for the remainder. The first set I kept the L for just over 30 seconds, the second set just under 30 seconds, and the third barely 20 seconds. Each set, however, I was able to keep myself on the bar for at least 60 seconds of total time. Not terribly impressive, but not bad either.

Resting tomorrow, and I need it. Really exhausted from these past few days. Going to a matinee to re-watch the Hurt Locker. Saw it back in DC last summer and loved it. Now that the whole world is on board, figured it’s time to check it out again and contribute to its growing popularity.

4 comments:

  1. Just discovered your site - very inspiring. Do you have any trainer recommendations in DC? I'm female, have a few years on you, and have had ACL replacement in both knees (not recent). I'm a seasoned fitness-type, but I need to drop a few pounds of fat and re-invigorate my workouts - trying to take it to the next level before I hit 40!
    Love your workouts. I'll be stealing some for myself!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for the nice comment. As far as trainers in DC, Graham King is a great one who has dealt with ACL tears and other knee issues for a number of years. He's the best that I know in the city at training functional movements aggressively while staying smart with old injuries. He's the co-owner of Balance Gym and can be found through their site.
    Let me know how the workouts go when you steal them!

    Blair

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks! If I get *brave* enough to steal a workout, I'll let you know how it goes :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a fun day. Glad you got to play. Watch the ankles. It seems like everyone sprains an ankle playing b-ball. xoxo

    ReplyDelete