health

Session 8 of ASA's MVP class.

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 21:17 on 26 May 2004

Another day of good old-fashioned ass kickin'.

Started with the ladder drills (with a twist!). LR-RL-LR-RL (my favorite!); L inside, R on top of ladder, L inside, R on bottom of ladder; R inside, L on top of ladder, R inside, L on bottom of ladder; L outside R, outside L; scissors; L foot out/in; R foot out/in; going backwards, outside, both feet inside, outside, both feet inside; going backwards, L, outside, R, outside, together.

G put the two ladders together, then had us do quick feet: every square (for several runs), then every other square (for several runs).

Today's workout was a leg workout. The first exercise was the long-short shuttle runs. The course was laid out from one corner of the room (opposite the equipment corner), run to about the middle of the room, turn back to the back corner (still facing forward), to a cone about 1/2 way back to the corner. At that point, turn to go forward to the next cone 45° up at the box. At the first cone, a disc gets thrown for catching.

We did several of these, then switched and did the run in reverse.

Next came side to side runs for time. A cone was placed in the middle of the room with another cone five steps from it, and another five steps from that one (for three cones, each five steps apart). Starting at the middle cone, run to the cone to the left, then back to the cone on the far right, then back to the middle. G predicted 4.8 for me, 4.2 for Kris and Ryan.

All of us slipped on the turns for the first few times we did the run. Kris' times were around 4.2 - 4.4. Mine were like 5.0, 4.8, 6.0 (I slipped) and 4.3 (Kris raced me. I suspect I cheated a bit, but no one said anything). Kris said when I stayed low, I did well, but that I seemed to be running tall for the most part.

Then we were back to leg exercises. We did duck walks from one side of the room to the other (the long way), while pushing a ball along between our legs. Kris had an elastic band between his ankles that he had to keep taut, which made the walk harder. I just had to squat walk. After walking down, turning around and walking back, we had 20 squat jumps. We did both of these twice through.

Next was the side to side "ice-skating" bounding, but instead of just side to side, we went forward the length of the room. There were cones spaced in a diagonal pattern, and we bounded from one to the next. After bounding a few times (maybe 4 or 5), we bounded with pausing at each cone where we sank into the position and held it. We looked like ice skaters bounding along. My butt hurt a lot after this.

The ab workout was even harder than all the other ones. We went through the whole set twice: bicycles, russian crunches, R elbow to left knee, L elbow to right knee, V-ups, back arches and twists with a weighted ball. The first set was hard, the second was even harder. I had to stop a number of times in the beginning of the second set, but was determined at the end of the second set. I did okay.

Friday's workout is 3x30, 3x60, 3x90, 3x90, 3x60, 3x30 at 85%.

My ass is tired.

Session 6 of ASA's May MVP class

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 00:02 on 20 May 2004

Or, how Kitt got her ass kicked.

Started with the usual ladders

...
We learned a new one:

This was a leg workout and it showed. Man, did it show. We started with the T drill for times. My times were 10.3, 10.5, 10.7, all of which were faster than my 11.3, 11.5 and 10.8 from a month or so ago. Obviously, we did three timed runs. Kris did 3.5, since his first run was an L, not a T.

Next came shuttle runs, which G calls I of pain. Run forward to the cone, run backwards back to the starting cone, run forwards to the next cone, which is about 1-2 yards farther than the previous cone. We did 5 sets of 6 cone shuttles. Kris and I ran against each other: best of 5 wins, loser gets an extra minute of abs. Not surprising, that was I. I was close on two, but the whole exercise wiped me out. The rest of the workout was hard.

Following the shuttle runs were the frog hops. We hopped on both for five jumps then landed on one leg for the last jump. We paused, sinking low, then accelerated out of the stance. We did about 10 of these, because we just kept going. G would call out R or L when we were jumping on the last hop, and we'd have to land on that foot. If we were correctly balanced, this wasn't a problem. If we were favoring one side, it was difficult.

Next came three leg drills done per set: 20 squat jumps, 10 lunge jumps and 10 side to side over a cone + acceleration. I started with the side to sides plus acceleration. The first jump was hard, but then I started moving and was okay. The 20 squats were so hard. And the lunge jumps? I found them close to impossible.

And we had two sets. Ugh.

The first abs set next was facing the wall, throw the ball at the partner 10 feet away, also facing the wall. The goal is to use a lot of hip power. I was using the 8# ball, which is more than I usually use, so I had to use hip, or risk tiring out my arms. Unfortunately, I didn't learn this until I had pretty much tired out my arms. 20 throws facing each direction. Kris and Ryan used the 10# and looked like they were struggling.

Somehow, I finished early, because G started working abs with me. First was the weighted ball rotational transfer. First was R hip to L shoulder 10 times. Then L hip to R shoulder 10 times. Then R hip to L hip. Then L hip to R hip. The goal with these is to keep the hips facing forward, as well as the head, and rotate only the torso.

Most embarrassing moment number two came next: situps with the weighted ball thrown at the chest. 10 of these, followed immediately by the ball being thrown over head: for 20 situps total. Tragically, I had to fart really really bad 1/2 way through the first set. I tried to hold it in, but gave up after a few situps. It stunk. Bad. In a dead skunk, sewage treatment plant kind of way. I was sooooooooo embarrassed! And I had two sets of these. Ugh.

Next came bicycles, russian crunches, lower back lifts, crunches, V ups, twists with a 4# ball (need to remember to touch the ground with these). I was allowed to choose the last abs set, and succumbed to Ryan's 6" leg lift chants. I did those, with 20 poundings on the top, and 10 each to the sides with the 4# ball. Entertaining that. My bonus abs workout was the leg pushdown, in which my legs touched 3 times.

Yeah. this session kicked my ass.

G's wife had a baby girl last Thursday. Her name is Ella Renae. 7# somtthing.

Migraines winning 4-2

Blog kitt decided around 13:29 on 18 May 2004 to publish this:

Another migraine last night. I was at Office Depot when I noticed I could see really, really clearly. Unfortunately, visual acuity is a harbinger of migraines. I speculate the partial loss of vision on one side of my visual field results in the increased acuity in the remaining field space. Regardless, I made it home before full loss of vision.

I didn't try codeine this time. I'd like not to down hard-core painkillers if I don't need to down them. Unfortunately, today is very bright, very loud and quite painful as a result. It's not too late to have a codeine, but I think I'd prefer not to need one.

I hate these headaches. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

I'm going to help the development of portable, personal PET scanners so that migraines and other disorders can be better analyzed and understood. This just is not tolerable.

Session 4 of ASA's May MVP class.

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 00:29 on 13 May 2004

Today's focus in ASA's MVP class was upper body. Suffice it to say, it worked.

Starting with the ladder drills, we did LR-RL-LR-RL; rip L, rip R; scissor L foot first, scissors R foot first; L out, L in; R out, R in; hop in, hop out R, hop in, hop out L; out in out in; out, L in square 2 with R in square 1, out, L in square 3 with R in square 2, out; out, R in square 2 with L in square 1, out, R in square 3 with L in square 2. I think that's all of them.

The upper body started after the ladder drills. From our knees, we threw the medicine balls (I had the 6# one) forward to the other person kneeling about 8 feet away. 3 sets of 8. Repeat standing up, 3 sets of 8. Then 'sledge-hammer' the ball down, by bending at the waist, starting with the ball overhead and using the abs to explode downward, bouncing the ball high-high-high. 3 sets of 8.

Next, using a medicine ball balanced under one hand, we tried explosive pushups, switching the hand under the ball (i.e. balancing on the ball with the left hand, explode up from a push up to the right hand balancing on the ball). 3 sets of 8. I was allowed to traverse the ball instead, when I couldn't do any more pushups. I managed 2.

Next came more pushups. These with two claps. Kris managed maybe 6 of the first set with two claps. I managed all of 2 single claps. I'm not sure how many Ryan managed. Three sets of 8.

Next was the wheelbarrows. I managed 3 wheelbarrows of more than 30 seconds each! Yay! I think I was 35, 35 and 32 seconds. I was quite impressed, though the last one was really hard: I arched my lower back a lot and it hurt afterward.

Killer abs started next. Instead of doing them for 45 seconds, we did them for 90 seconds. Zoiks! Bicycles, crunches, V ups (next to impossible at this point), side to sides (no weights), partner pushdowns, roll over for lower back lifts, and 6" leg lifts. Oh joy.

I had difficulty with the lower back lifts - I was getting it only on my right side. G suggested doing twisting ones: lying flat, lift up at a 45° angle (both in looking, and the horizontal), to isolate each side. It worked well.

On the personal side, G is married, his wife is due with their third child (a girl) on the 18th.

Finally! Muscle ache!

Blog Instead of being asleep at 12:25 on 10 May 2004, kitt created this:

At yesterday's workout, I commented to G that I hadn't pushed myself hard enough, as I wasn't sore the next day.

Well, I'm happy to say that isn't a problem today! I am sore, sore, sore. Mostly along the sides of my ribs, the ab muscles. But, something hurts and I'm happy I pushed myself enough.

Now if I could find the time to do an upper body workout, I'd be golden.

Session 3 of ASA Baseball's May MVP class

Blog Instead of being asleep at 18:52 on 9 May 2004, kitt created this:

Started off with ladders. Good warmups, they are. The usual LR-RL-RL-RL; scissors L first, R first; L-in L-out; R-in R-out; two footed hop in, R outside, in, L outside, continue; rip R foot in, two outside, rip L foot in, two outside. Might have been a few more in there, I don't recall.

We had hurdles next: 5 6" hurdles followed by 5 12" hurdles. We did each run three times. The first run was two footed hops. The second was sideways hops with left foot first, then sideways hops with right foot first. The next set of runs were each foot between the hurdles, left foot first; then the same with the right foot first. The last run was one foot between each hurdle, keep knees high (so that the foot comes through straight and not cocked to the side.

The next exercise was jumping box drills. We jumped onto the 24" box with a weighted ball in hand. I did 8 jumps onto the box with the ball in hands, then 8 more jumps sans ball. Next we jumped up onto the box facing sideways, 8 with a ball, then 8 without a ball. With these sideways jumps, we landed on the box sideways. We did these with the left foot near the box, then the right foot near the box. The last set was a 180° jump onto the boxes without the weighted ball. I did the 10 from a 90° instead. I did do one from a 180°.

With our legs partially tired, we did the box sprint. Given a box with corners numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 counter-clockwise from 1, start at 4. Run to 3, turn 90° with the left foot swinging outside, facing back to the 1-4 side, shuffle sideways back to 2. From 3, pump the arms and sprint back to 4. At 4, pump the arms really fast and shuffle from 4 to 1. Run backwards to 2. At 2, pump the arms really fast and sprint diagonally back to 4. We did three of these box sprints - Kris did four, the last one for time.

I thought the next drill was ultimate specific, but I saw the next class doing it, too, so I guess it wasn't. Four cones were set up in a zig-zag pattern: the first cone was 4 yards away, the next three 2 yards apart in about 90° angles if you zig-zag. The drill was sprint to a cone, pump the arms really fast and drop the waist and accelerate to the next cone, facing the forward wall the whole time. I'm not sure how many we did. I pushed myself as hard as I could. Not sure if I did well or not.

The next two drills were medicine-ball based. The first was a sideways shot put, R foot first, then left foot first. 10 throws each. Then we did the ball pass (twisting L to get the ball low, passing it to the R, repeat for 10). Reverse passing the ball R to L. Then pass from L low to R high, then R low then L high. Each was for 10 times. Fairly simple.

The next exercise was Chasing the Chicken. I can't stand that one. Kris chased me the first time. Ryan chased Kris the second time. Then I chased Ryan the last time. I didn't give Ryan any rest, which worked well. Then I chased Kris. I was so tired after that! Once again, Ryan didn't do too well. Kris totally kicked Ryan's butt. Or, as he says, "They don't call him Mr. Squirrelly for nothing!" Kris faked left, Ryan bit, and Kris sprinted right. Kris was really good. I tried really hard, but couldn't quite keep up. I did pretty well with Kris until he broke past me and sprinted to the opposite corner.

The last exercise was abs, of course. Bicycles, V ups, Russian crunches, side-to-side with weighted ball, rollups with the large exercise ball, partner pushdowns, partner leg tosses and finally, 6" leg lifts (with karate chops!).

We went to play ultimate afterward. It was exhausting. I'm happy to say I played hard. I was quite hungry, too. I was able to sprint the last point of the last game, so I think I did well. I'm mostly pleased with my play.