Salty's log

Alright guys gave up on the blog, this is way easier and I can do one every day. Anyways I'll give you an update of my situation, been out of action for a while due to niggling hamstring injury, just did my first complete tabata for long time which didn't involve me grabbing for my hamstring at some point, so I'm guessing it is all good. In this time I stacked on the weights focusing on upper body (mainly shoulders and upper back) and put on a few kilo's although have lost a bit of fat that I put on so right now I am at 74Kg's and never been this big. Basically when I come back from snowboarding I want to dominate the speed and improve my balance. I'll list what I find to be my current weaknesses based on bagwork today...

Things to improve upon...

• Handspeed
• Footwork (speed of movement)
• Slipping/ bob and weaving
• Balance

Other

• Improve lower back strength and overall core
• Be able to walk on hands
• Flexibility (comes with improved slipping)

Ok now I'm trying to design a plan to work on all of these so here are excerises I have found in the past to improve each section.

Handspeed

• Elastic rope to drag the hands out quicker
• Shaddow Boxing with small weights alternating with no weights
• Clap Pushups
• Medicine ball throws

Footwork

• Skipping
• Shadow Boxing
• Cross drills (forward back left right then reverse)

Slipping

• Stretching Routine every day
• Practising in front of mirror every day
• Slip Bag
• Incorporating it into heavy bag work
• String and weeve underwards

Balance

• Elastic around the ancles when shadowboxing
• Probably improve when i'm snowboarding
• Purchase a wobble board (or make one)
• Purchase a fitball

Lower Back

• Plank with variations
• Superman
• Deadlift
• Slipping drills should improve this too

If anyone has some ideas on ways to improve these few things, especially flexibility and balance that would be sweet. As right now I'm pretty lost on what stretches to do and different stretching techniques but also how to improve my boxing balance.

Oh and if anyone has any ways to improve the strength in my hamstrings i would greatly appreciate it, as I don't want to injure them again.

Heres a few articles on stretching:

Bodybuilding.com - Stretching And Flexibility Articles!

The Bruce Lee book, The Art of Expressing The Human Body, has a good section on stretching, but i cant seem to find a pdf version. You could also look into doing a few yoga positions. They could help with balance and flexibility.

Ok just got my copy of Infinite Intensity today by Ross Enamit and it is packed full of information and training tips. Really looking forward to doing the 50 day guide set out for me, but will have to buy some free weights first so might do that tomorrow morning or this afternoon if I can. But hell can't wait to get into this and get myself conditioned like never before (again :P), but this time without the injuries I hope. Anyways I'll let you all know how I go with it and the improvements I make thanks to this book.

Ok here's my routine, the gym is stopped being opened on friday's so I'm going monday, wednesday's and thursday's now.

Monday: Interval Training & Gym

Tuesday: Strength Workout/ Warrior Challenge & Finisher

Wednesday: GPP session & Gym

Thursday: Interval Training & Gym

Friday: Tabata & Finisher

Saturday: Strength Workout/ Warrior Challenge & Finisher

Sunday: Rest

• Each week swap each conditioning and Boxing set to a different one to avoid adaptation.
• Core workouts are done Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (do them at gym as well)
• Stay active on rest day, but don’t do too much, need body to recover.
• All rest should be active rest (walking/jogging)
• Every 4th week settle down on the strength workout
• Exercise on gym days are done in the morning before uni.

Don't really want to post the actual workouts I'm doing on here as they are from the book. Although I'll say they are much different to the strength exercises I am used to doing. A lot less it seems, but really intense so I'm liking it a lot so far. Did a bit of sparring last night, first time in a while. I have to clean up my diet, I got lazy and started eating shit like cookies which pushed my weight up a bit. However I can see it coming off already. Another thing is that I have dropped long road work completely from my routine, instead doing intervals and the warrior challenges/GPP sessions provide more than enough conditioning activities for my body.

Sparring went well today, but everything is still going fast in there. Kind of annoying, need to get the rust out big time. One of the blokes has a fight this friday so we were sparring him, we both got each other with good left hooks to the body, but need to make sure I keep that elbow digged in. I don't want to have to take a knee in sparring.

Also I have noticed myself closing my eyes, this pisses me off as I never used too. Have been close to eating a few rights and hooks because of it. But glad to get back in there, fitness is picking up dramatically. I feel fresh, strong and quick and punches seem to have a bit of power behind them. Now just need to get the skill back, which I guess only sparring and shadow boxing will do for me. Anyways I have a long time till I fight (next year) so don't have to lose weight any time soon and instead focus on getting better. I love starting a new program, gives you something to aim for :)

This week sparring was so much better, was seeing punches coming and parrying/slipping and countering. So i'm glad it's coming back to me, fitness is coming along nicely as well. Following the plan I set out for myself, but sometimes drop the stuff in the mornings of training days as we do an hour's circuit at the gym anyways. Don't want to do too much too soon, but the strength work seems to be working nicely as well as the conditioning. Going to do some intervals today instead of Tabata's as I did them yesterday as I didn't have much time. Going to time myself on the first 400m interval to see how I compare to when I did little athletics. I think my best time when I was 14 was around 1.02 mins, so should hopefully beat that comfortably when I go to the track :)

Did a nice quick session last night, about half an hour on a core circuit and then sweet 16 (tabatas punching with 3lb weights, squats, punching with 3lb weights and pushups) and then a tabata sprint to finish off. This morning, woke up and did a nice long jog (7km I think) as it was really nice and sunny, couldn't pass up on that. Tonight i'll time myself doing 100 burpees, my last time was 7.52, so i'll see if I can beat that, although it will be after a strength workout, so we shall see :)

Yesterday got attacked by a bunch of seagulls, would have been a funny site for people to see but it was raining a bit so no one was out. I was down on the beach sand, enjoying my tabata's as you do and at the 3 min mark, 2 seagulls swooped me one after the other. They then proceeded to squark above my head, I shat myself and sprinted the 200m or so to the stairs so I could get away from the bastards. I was buggered after that, so wasn't too bad in the end. Although next time I think i'll do it somewhere else.

Today did an ab circuit, GPP workout and a nice jog in the morning, anyways give this workout a try...

Do 10 circuits as quickly as possible:
100 Rope jumps
10 Burpees
10 Pushups
10 Squats

You get pretty exhausted by the end of it, but this is one of my favourite conditioning circuits from infinite intensity as when you get better you just do harder variations, instantly making it more difficult. Anyways that's about it for now.

Alright it has been quite a long time since my last update, so here's a basic rundown of what has been happening in the world of Salty.

Finished exams finally, I'm hoping they went alright, one of them I bombed out of pretty badly, I'm just hoping to pass that unit as I feel it has little importance to what my career is likely to be. First day back into the gym today and it feels great to get back and getting punched in the face.

I didn't waste any time getting back into the workouts. So Saturday was rather intense, I did my first set of dragon flags and my abs are still hurting. I underestimated them a bit, and should have done them at the start instead of the end :-X

Did an exercise scrap suggested to me which was great, did a few more exercises that I found on here. Then hit up a quick strength session with just 1 arm snatch and 2 arm clean and press, while also trying some new one handed pushups. It seems I have outgrown the weights though and need to invest in longer handles to fit on more plates. Finished it off with timing myself doing 100 burpees, but I cheated a bit and didn't do the pushups or tuck jumps at the end. Although was pretty happy with my time at 5.47 which is just over 3 seconds a burpee.

I've also come across a few new goals; full planche pushups and one arm pushups with the feet together rather than a mile wide. So that brings my log up to date ;D

keep with it buddy, im curious to see how fast you will start seeing results. Careful with that hamstring too.

Bout time ya updated. :p

Get back at it Salty, you got too much share to not apply it. You got me into the tabatas sprints dude...stuff was borderline miracle.

When you get use to doing it Salty, Ill give you the other bit that goes with it. ;D its magic.

I'm soooo curious about what Scrap has you doing! Perhaps if I'm meant to know then I'd recognize it with a key word hint like perhaps - horizontal?

Of course if it's something I haven't heard of you'd better not describe it to me because it's Scrap's thing and I think he'd tell me as much as i should know at the moment.

Wondering how it's all going in general too.

I update my log no matter how damn slack it is - keeps me semi honest ........... except for a multitude of excuses I make to myself! Therefore I expect you to stay current on here aswell! :mad:;D

Now exams are over you'd be back into wouldn't you? New ideas happening perhaps?

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Originally Posted by Sharla

I'm soooo curious about what Scrap has you doing! Perhaps if I'm meant to know then I'd recognize it with a key word hint like perhaps - horizontal?

Of course if it's something I haven't heard of you'd better not describe it to me because it's Scrap's thing and I think he'd tell me as much as i should know at the moment.

Wondering how it's all going in general too.

I update my log no matter how damn slack it is - keeps me semi honest ........... except for a multitude of excuses I make to myself! Therefore I expect you to stay current on here aswell! :mad:;D

Now exams are over you'd be back into wouldn't you? New ideas happening perhaps?

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Thanks for reminding me Sharla, I do need to keep this up to date and I will be as honest as possible.

Firstly my diet has been slipping as of late, wind down of end of season has put me into bad habits. No fast food, but too many of mothers home made cookies and nights out with mate does not help, so I definitely need to address that situation.

Secondly I need to make more time for practicing technique, after all boxing is not just a fitness contest sometimes I think I forget that facet. But that is where the main aim of my research has been going into as of late, maybe when these summer holidays I'll make a thread on here about what I have tried/learnt.

But yep Scrap's exercise clues are horizontal and crash mat ;)

I've also started training a few of my mates a couple of nights a week, so that's been good as I can see improvement already. Although I keep telling them they aren't going to see great results with 2 nights a week, but hey at least I will get them some good conditioning in before footy preseason ;D

Tonights session was pretty good, made up a new routine for you all to try, so give it a go and let me know how it goes for you. There is 4 sets, 30 second intervals for each exercise and 1 mins rest between sets for a total time of 15 mins (so you have no excuses :p)

Burpees
One arm Dumbell swings (right)
One arm Dumbell swings (left)
Split jumps
clap pushups
squat jumps

Basically the first half is designed to tire you out and get your heat beating madly, while the second half is for you to be explosive while tired. Don't get lazy with the swings though or you could bugger your back badly, remember straight back and drive up with your hips and you will be fine.

Other than that did 4 rounds of ab work which was really good, range of things there, all of which are in the bodyweight thread. I always start or finish each set with the extended plank for 1 min + depending how game I am feeling.

Finished the workout off with scrap's thing and then with some elastic band complex training and some footwork practise to stop myself from stepping too far. Seemed to work pretty well so I might keep that up and see how it goes for me.

My running has been slack lately, only a few tabata's and not much interval training. But that is going to change, getting back into it as the track has been repainted for the little athletic season.

That's just about it, I think that's just about the longest post i've ever written :p

All sounds good :) - I think you've chosen a difficult season to expect your mum to stop giving you tasty treats though! ;D

With the dumbell swings what direction do you swing in - is it to work your obliques or a sport specific movement?

Also is there a reason you are doing it with dumbells as opposed to bands?

I mean i think bands are likely to be less jarring on the joints although i'm not really sure of what kind of motion this is so perhaps they don't provide resistance where you need it?

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Originally Posted by Sharla

All sounds good :) - I think you've chosen a difficult season to expect your mum to stop giving you tasty treats though! ;D

With the dumbell swings what direction do you swing in - is it to work your obliques or a sport specific movement?

Also is there a reason you are doing it with dumbells as opposed to bands?

I mean i think bands are likely to be less jarring on the joints although i'm not really sure of what kind of motion this is so perhaps they don't provide resistance where you need it?

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Haha your telling me, I think i'll have to be extra good in the next few weeks to make up for christmas day. It's at our house this year and I love ham ;)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=B9hk9z1YVcE

It's at 3.09 in, It's like an explosive deadlift while raising a dumbbell above your head. It's used a lot in kettlebell training and works many muscle groups at once, which is why I like it a lot. Plus as long as you have the technique correct and drive with your hips its a rather smooth motion.

I've never tried it with elastic at all but I don't think they would work very well with this movement, plus by adding weight you increase the intensity of the exercise and allows you to measure improvements. You could always substitute this for the one arm dumbbell snatch or maybe even pullups/burpee combo instead if you don't have weights. But just two exercises in there which will fatigue the whole body.

That vid is just INSANE! :o

Thanks for posting it Salty - i found the website it came from and i suspect I will have fun digging through it a bit and report back on what I find useful.

I don't exactly imagine myself pushing any big 4 wheel drives or doing half of the stuff on the vid but there is a lot af creative stuff in there!

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Originally Posted by Sharla

That vid is just INSANE! :o

Thanks for posting it Salty - i found the website it came from and i suspect I will have fun digging through it a bit and report back on what I find useful.

I don't exactly imagine myself pushing any big 4 wheel drives or doing half of the stuff on the vid but there is a lot af creative stuff in there!

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Yeah the guy is legendary, I have his book infinite intensity and it is just that. Try out some of his routines on there, it will change the way you train, I know it has for me ;D

Alright guys, christmas time is coming up the gym is away on break so I have been keeping up the fitness. This week was all about intervals for me.

Monday I worked pretty late but fitted in a small routine of conditioning and abs, pretty decent.

Tuesday was the first set of intervals, 250m with 30 seconds rest along the beach. The wind was horrible one way I got sand blasted for about 100m of my journey and nearly ran straight into a woman as she walked past me haha. But I toughed it out and did 8 of those so 2km isn't too bad at that pace.

Wednesday was the gym, tough session and i'm still a bit sore from it.

Tonight I hit the intervals again, this time on the running track, 200m with 30 seconds rest, did that 6 times. Then did 8 50m sprints with 10 seconds rest between sprints. Since my shoulders were sore when I got back decided to do an ab circuit then showered up and enjoyed some dinner.

Tomorrow I'll be working again, could be a 12 hour day again which hurts me, but I need the money, either way I'll try fit something in, probably scrap's thing with an ab ciruit as I'm usually pretty dead after those long days working.

After christmas hopefully be starting a new regime which has a lot more structure and forward thinking behind it, but we shall see how we go.

Well this week's training has been non-existant pretty much, this is not from laziness but a bloody pinched nerve/ buggered up lower back which just wont go away it seems. So I tried keeping my diet in check until christmas day, then I splurged on ham, chicken, gravy, roast veggies, it was delicious ;D

Hopefully I'll do a good workout tomorrow before a music festival I'm going to, tonight I just hope i'll be able to sleep without the aid of mersyndol :mad:

Have you been doing that little thing I talked about Salty if so Ill add the good bit.

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Originally Posted by Salty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sharla

That vid is just INSANE! :o

Thanks for posting it Salty - i found the website it came from and i suspect I will have fun digging through it a bit and report back on what I find useful.

I don't exactly imagine myself pushing any big 4 wheel drives or doing half of the stuff on the vid but there is a lot af creative stuff in there!

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Yeah the guy is legendary, I have his book infinite intensity and it is just that. Try out some of his routines on there, it will change the way you train, I know it has for me ;D

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Im thinking about getting Infinite Intensity.

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Originally Posted by Scrap

Have you been doing that little thing I talked about Salty if so Ill add the good bit.

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Sure have Scrap, been doing it religiously, has gotten a lot easier. Sorry I haven't checked this in a while.

One thing which has been annoying me lately is that the days after a running session my lower back is extremely tight. It almost feels like I re-pinch the nerve everytime, now this is extremely frustrating and not sure what could be causing it? Poor running style is the only thing I can think of other than a possible hotspot (stress fracture developing). Last week it got pretty bad and was noticably swollen, so u rested it and it went away pretty quickly. I want to keep up 3 or 4 running sessions a weeks though, which at the moment is impossible to do :( I seem to get all the luck.

Do you do any stretches for your lower back Salty? I'd recommend it. Lot's of stretching! I also find it hard to maintain many running sessions but upping my stretching and cross training with swims has helped.

Just now I'm starting to do some long intense walks and I notice my legs fatigue considerably but using different muscles - less quads, much more of everything else including the smaller muscles.

My theory at the moment is that perhaps I over-use my quads when I run and this will help because it will develop other muscles in my legs to a healthier level.

I think people were built to walk a lot more than often do and perhaps without that walking base it's easy to develop damaging running form. Quad tightness is associated with both lower back and knee pain.

Even if they don't get tight from fatigue perhaps they can over-develop compared to other muscles and cause an imbalance which is prone to putting stress on everything else?!?!

I tend to think hamstrings and most muscles in your legs and hips will get tight if the smallest thing is out of whack because of their compensation effect and the impact of running.

I'm hoping that more intense, long walks will reduce the tightness I tend to get in my lower back. I'll let you know how it goes since you sound like you have a similar problem! :)

I do think you will be able to mange it though - it might take a while to find the stretches which are going to be most effective for you and I know it's frustrating but I think you have the smarts to work it out and work up to the amount of running you want to do! ;)

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Originally Posted by Sharla

Do you do any stretches for your lower back Salty? I'd recommend it. Lot's of stretching! I also find it hard to maintain many running sessions but upping my stretching and cross training with swims has helped.

Just now I'm starting to do some long intense walks and I notice my legs fatigue considerably but using different muscles - less quads, much more of everything else including the smaller muscles.

My theory at the moment is that perhaps I over-use my quads when I run and this will help because it will develop other muscles in my legs to a healthier level.

I think people were built to walk a lot more than often do and perhaps without that walking base it's easy to develop damaging running form. Quad tightness is associated with both lower back and knee pain.

Even if they don't get tight from fatigue perhaps they can over-develop compared to other muscles and cause an imbalance which is prone to putting stress on everything else?!?!

I tend to think hamstrings and most muscles in your legs and hips will get tight if the smallest thing is out of whack because of their compensation effect and the impact of running.

I'm hoping that more intense, long walks will reduce the tightness I tend to get in my lower back. I'll let you know how it goes since you sound like you have a similar problem! :)

I do think you will be able to mange it though - it might take a while to find the stretches which are going to be most effective for you and I know it's frustrating but I think you have the smarts to work it out and work up to the amount of running you want to do! ;)

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Thanks very much for the input sharla, I have found the source of my problem, it may very well be my legs out of whack as I do tend to do a lot of quad work (mainly burpees). But I pretty much always used to be on saddos/internet just before I went for runs or my workouts. I then realised that the chair I was using pretty much put me in a very awkward position. So basically I changed chairs and the pain dissappeared. I feel like quite the idiot though, I'm checking out a new gym on saturday so hopefully its good :)

I also volunteered to be a guinea pig for uni for someones masters degree on the impact of various carbs for post workout nutrition. SO hopefully i'll be able to get some data of my own blood lactate and fat oxidisation after workouts at various intensities, should be rather interesting ;D

Could the burpees be bothering your back?? Ive noticed that after i do them (not right after but at work that night and a few days after) i seem to have a sore back. I dont know if its coincidence though cuz i lift boxes at work so that could be it too.

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Originally Posted by wesrman

Could the burpees be bothering your back?? Ive noticed that after i do them (not right after but at work that night and a few days after) i seem to have a sore back. I dont know if its coincidence though cuz i lift boxes at work so that could be it too.

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I don't think so, but I usually do my run after abs (a lot of plank and rollouts) and burpees so that could very well play a part. I did some VO2 max test yesterday involving me riding a bike for 3 mins at a time at different watts, increasing 30 watts every section after a minutes break between section, can't wait till I get my results back. I also get a free body composition thing in a couple of weeks time so looking forward to exact figure :) Now i'll just have to volunteer for another one of these in a few months to see if I have improved.