Session 8 of ASA Baseball's April MVP program.

Arrived just on time, which meant I was late because I had to go to the bathroom. We started off slowly as Ryan and I stretched before starting. Ryan's a junior in high school, and 17. I asked. G is starting to get excited about planning a workout for ultimate. He stopped by a game (not sure if it was pickup or team), watched for an hour or so, then talked to some of the players. I'm excited he's interested in planning more workouts for me.

Cabrillo Jr. College is just south of Santa Cruz where G is a coach for the baseball team. This is a building year for the team (they cut 14 players and have only 14 on the team, which is pretty low, according to G). Ryan seemed interested in the program.

Started out on the ladders for warm up. LRL-RLR (or however I described them before - LR-RL?); Outside - two feet inside - out - in; LR in - LR out - LR in - LR out (I think, I couldn't get the rhythm of this one); rip R - rip L; R-L-together; two feet in - two feet R outside - advance two feet in - two feet L outside. Might have been another one or two, don't recall.

The first exercise after warming up used the 12" boxes. Starting behind one, we jumped onto one back, off the front, onto the next box, off the front of the second box, landing on two feet, then sprinted forward. We did this a few times to work on arm movements: helping us spring up, as well as accelerate into the sprint. After we did a few of these, we hopped on the first box with one foot, landed between the two boxes with both feet, hopped onto the second box with the same single foot, landed with two feet then sprinted. We did this a few times, then switched the single foot.

Next, holding the weighted medicine balls (I used the 6#), we stepped up onto a box, then lifted the other knee up to chest level touching the ball, then stepped back down, both feet. Each leg was done 10 times, then switched legs. We followed this by walking, twisting lunges with weights. My first set was with a 10# plate. The second set was the step ups facing sideways, followed by walking lunges. G asked how the 10# was for me. When I answered, "Light." I received a 25# plate. That was heavy. The third set was 2 sets of 10 (alternating feet) step ups stepping backward onto the box, followed by walking lunges.

Our last exercise with the weights were holding them. We sat, resting our elbows on our knees, and held the weights (25#!) from the top of the plate. Yes, our hands started to sweat. 30 seconds is a long time when you figure the weight is going to land on your toes (especially the toe with no nail!). The response was: hold tighter. Next was pivoting the weight front and back along the axis between the hands. That one was hard, but not too bad. The next one was hard. Basically, like driving a bus, rotate the plate back and forth (sufficient that at the end of the turn, one hand is on top and the other is on the bottom). We had a short grip-the-plate exercise like the first exercise to finish the forearm workout.

Continuing the upper body workout theme, we had 3 sets of 3 exercises: clapping pushups, traverse the ball, and wheelbarrow. I had 10 clapping pushups. I managed one from my feet, the rest from my knees. The ball traverse is similar to the LR-LR balance onto the ball, but we traverse across the ball instead: RL onto the ball, RL off the ball on the right side, LR onto the ball, LR off the ball on the left side - that's two, do 10. Next was 30 seconds of wheelbarrow.

In these three sets of three exercises, I did okay. The trick on the wheelbarrow is to keep a straight back. The first time through I managed only 17 seconds. The second time through I managed 25 seconds. The third was a heartbreaking 29 seconds (so close!). My wrists definitely hurt after the last set.

The last was the usual ab workout: V ups (did well), Russian crunches (with the addition of moving to the sides), bicycle, balanced side to side (this time with no weights), back lifts (didn't lift very far), throw downs (which I did okay on: my feet touched only on the last throwdown - I had a death grip on G's ankles and was grunting like mad, but I did okay), another bicycle while Ryan got his throwdowns, 6" lifts (complete with the 2# ball dropped on my stomach a few times and the 2# weight put on my feet). The ball drop is often a welcome distraction with the 6" leg lifts since I can concentrate on the ball instead of how tired my stomach is.

Friday's workout is a 2 mile run, and 15 minutes of jumprope. The jumprope is 45 seconds of jumping, 15 seconds of rest: that's one minute. Continue for 15. Friday is going to be hard.

I'm not going next Sunday. I'm going to see how well I can play ultimate when I'm not tired before I play. I also signed up for May. I'll miss three Sundays (practice, wedding and tournament), but G said I can apply them to June.

I also convinced Kris to sign up. I think it'll change the dynamics of the class. According to G, there are three other guys coming to the class next month, so the dynamics will already be changed. But Kris has told me he's a bit jealous of the workouts I have (and the results!), so I'll sign him up, too. Should be fun.