National Coffee Day.. Just kidding, Tuesday.

Haha! National Coffee Day has to be my favorite made up holiday.. right next to National Donut day of course!

Well after my third coffee (I decided to try that new toasted gram at Starbucks, nom nom) I am ready to tell you what I was up to today!

I never ate that donut by the way... I was too worried about today's sprints workout. And it was almost as bad as I expected. 3's and X's which consist of running around a soccer field, then once at the original corner sprint across, walk to the next corner and sprint back to the other side... hence the X's. That may not make much sense, its hard to explain but its a lot... What I explained is just ONE. We did FOUR, which isn't absolute death but it was definitely not a fun time.

Today was upper body, yay. Well not actually yay because I have been so tight in my shoulders, especially my right side. That's okay because I caved and called my favorite pain reliever/ pain enforcer/ muscle destroyer/ magic worker to fix me tomorrow. Its mind boggling how sports massages can hurt so much but feel so good.. they put me out of commission for a good day or two.

Any way back to today.. sorry... coffee....

Arm circles 3 sets of

20 forwards

20 backwards 

I skipped bench... yea no thank you. So I traded for some core (of course) because what else would I do? When in doubt do... core?

3 sets of 20 reverse rolling crunches

4 way pull ups- 3 sets of 4 each way

Kettle bell Bosu 1 arm press 3 sets of 8 

I am still figuring out that drill but probably just need to use a heavier KB.

DB 1 arm row- 3 sets of 6 at 65lbs 

DB runners 3 sets of 20 seconds with 10 lb DB

And lastlyyyyy ABS! MoneyMakers to be more specific 3 sets of 20. Those are another one I have trouble with.. It is hard to get into the right position. Its pretty terrible when I can get it right but its a love hate thing.

I added a few more side planks and twists because I didn't feel like I worked hard enough..

I haven't quite figured out how to know when to push harder and when to back off. Its difficult with my sport because I wont compete till March/ April and its only September..But then I tell myself this is the time to be pushing myself but I also don't want to burn out or get hurt...Back and forth back and forth, you see my dilemma? So I am learning, its a process. Ok I am done. Too much coffee.

Quest Banana hazelnut coffee....magically deliciousness

Heyyy Monday

I have to admit I was extremely worried about todays workout.. I heard this week would be a rough one. I pictured myself laying face first in the turf and the barbell stuck to the ground during deadlifts.. which absolutely sucks. I always dread that first deadlift, you know... the one that always takes forever to get off the damn ground.

A always forget to add that I do a 15-30 minute warmup before I do anything. Its super important to be warmed up!!

Sprints kicked off practice today with timed 40's.
We started back about 30 more yards so we were at full acceleration through the 40's.
I didn't expect these to be too bad but boy was I wrong, I only made it through 4 before I moved on to 6 backward sprints. Once your times get worse you stop.. I declined by .1 every attempt so like I said I ended it at 4. I just was not feeling it... definitely the monday blues.

Lifts

Deadlifts were only 3x6 today so I should have pushed it but because of the way I felt during the sprints I kept it "doable". My sets were 295, 305 and 315. I thought I might die during these but was pleasantly surprised and kind of wished I went a little heavier.

Depth jump 3x6

Dumbbell Bulgarian split squats 3x6 where I got to 40 lbs. I may or may not have been able to go a little heavier, those are always hard to tell because I want to push it but I also want to be able to finish practice and most importantly be able to walk tomorrow.

Next was some manual quad and hamstring work, each at 3x8 which took FOREVERRRR and burn but are always fun -_-
Oh and also 3x8 reverse raises

We ended with 3 sets of some hip work each at 20 reps. These include several lovely leg raises!

Practice took quite a while but I made it out alive and hopeeeeee that I wont be sore tomorrow (figures crossed).

P.S I have a Strawberry frosted donut waiting for meeeeee! What.. It's Monday 😏 and I did Deadlifts 🍩🍩 donut judge me 😝

Whats up Fridayyyy

Last day of deload week was lovely!! I have to say I took it pretty easy this week seeing as thought the next month may be absolute hell💀 I took yesterday off and was so miserable and sore for some reason.. But it was a much needed break. You have to remember to listen to your body.. I did.

Started with 20 yard sprints
- 3 with a bungee
- 2 without

20 yard side shuffle
- 1 with a bungee
- 1 wihtout

20 yard backwards
- 1 with bungee
- 1 without

Light squatting for 3 sets of 8

Depth box jumps for 3 sets of 8 too

Bench press 3 sets of 8 but i stayed on the lighter side as I've been irritating my shoulder. I used 95 lbs.

Pull ups 3 sets of 5 (phewwwwww)

I did 1 set of curls with a 20 lb dumbell
And 1 set of band pull downs

AND FINALLY ABS but only 1 set of my favorite ab twists!! (I actually added some reverse crunches bc why not) 

Have a wonderful weekenddddd!!

Anyone else see what Quest didddddd 😁🎃 I'm pump-kined 😍

Deloading week!

A quick recap of Tuesday

Sprints and core.

I worked on 20y sprints- forwards backwards and side shuffles.. Alternating with a bungee.

4 sets of 10 squat jumps and jump tucks

Core involved my favorite.. the TRX (its a lot of fun) as well as reverse crunches and planks. I did 5 different exercises 2x20

It was a rough day for me, I should of lifted but I was surprised I made it that far honestly.

Today I was feeling a lot better.. I went early to get in a lot of shoulder work, to make sure I am really loosening my back/shoulders/ arm up. I make sure to do this before because I am always so tired at the end of practice I dread doing it if I even do it at all. Its a good tip!

We started today with 100's and abs!!! 16 this time..thankfully, although it still sucked.

Our lifts went like this..

2 way band touches - 3 sets of 15 

Dumbbell step ups - 3 sets of 6 I used 40 lbs

DB 1 arm row - 3 sets of 6 at 65lbs

Bulgarian split squat with the bar 3 sets of 6 I did 65 lbs, 85 lbs, 105 lbs

Step downs/ SL holds 1 set of 30

Back extension 2 sets of 10

I worked on some hip movement drills

And finished with some abs!!!

Its nice to be able to come home and not feel like I cant interact with the rest of the world because I am so exhausted I just want to have a no plants party with Khaleesi on the couch with a box of donuts and a strong iced coffee #BecauseNoPantsAreTheBestPants and Coffee&Donuts solve all problems.

Happy Hump Day.

Monday

Monday morning I went down to Anaheim with USATF Southern California to teach track and field to some of the local elementary schools. It is always so much fun to work with kids at this age because they really are clueless on the events...nothing like working with a clean slate! On the other hand it is pretty sad to see the lack of knowledge most of these kids have towards the sport. Good or bad they always seem to fall in love with the Turbojav, my favorite eventtttt!

We spend about a half hour with each and rotated them between stations... They learned to sprint, jump and throw. We teach them the Turbojav (of course) and the shot put. Depending on the number of people we have teaching at each station determines the amount of stations (events) we have... The amount of time also determines a lot.  I could honestly work with the kids all day.. They have so much fun learning track and field and it does so much for our sport. If we could only do this for every school/organization imagine what our sport could turn into!

I added a tidbit into my #MakeAChamp campaign about trying to put together more of these "Track and Field Days" to help the younger generations learn our sport. The amazing thing about Track and field is that it teaches the fundamentals to every sport; Track events are the building blocks of most other sports..
Ill say it here again.. to please help spread the word! Being able to collaborate with local schools and organizations can do WONDERS for our sport! Hopefully one day it can create jobs for athletes like me trying to make it to the Olympics but take the stress of constantly searching for jobs to keep us on our feet.

As for training I went home and did some killer rehab and core, my tight shoulder/back needs some major TLC. Whenever I decide to do core I pick 5-10 exercises and do 10 to 20 depending on the difficulty. Because I missed out on a normal practice I ended up doing a harder core workout.

Does this ever happen to anyone trying to workout at home?

Some of my favorite go-to abs are..
Reverse crunch
Side planks
Lemon Squeezers (with and without a twist)
Mountain climbers
Side twists
V ups

TGIF

Somehow these workouts keeps getting longer... 💀 or at least feel like it.

Friday started out like any other day.

Sprints.

4x40yard bungee sprints 

Then we worked on normal sprints still running the 40+ yards but we only timed the last 10 yards. I believe my best was 1.15 s.

Those were 5x50y sprints

6x40y backwards sprints ended the running section of the workout.

The day looked like this..

Deadlift 3x6 295 305 315 325

(315 absolutely sucked let alone 325.. Outer body experience 👽 I should thank my supporters here because they definitely helped push me with all the amazing donations to my MakeAChamp) 

Depth bounding 3 each leg 3x2

DB step ups 4x6 40lb

Lunge jumps 4x12

Hip thrusts 4x6 155lb

2 way toe touch/step up 3x20

Lastlyyyyy ended with some hip work!

I immediately got a very large very strong pumpkin iced coffee then went home and took a nap 👀 

Should of made this decision 😳 anyone else agree???

Helllooooo Friday

Morninggggggg. I am a day behind, I'm sorry.. its been a rough couple weeks of training.

Thursday was rough.

We started out with 22 100m sprints!!! with abs. I honestly didn't think I would make it through all 22. I was so drained from Tuesdays practice and taking Wednesday off was genius.. although I was still a zombie when I got to the park to run.

The rest of the workout looked like this..
 IYTL 3x15

DB bench 4x6 I worked my way up to 50lb  DB but I am still battling a sore shoulder/arm/scapula so I am taking it easy and really pushing myself to roll it out.

DB 1 arm row 4x6 Got up to 70 lbs on this one

Next was some glute work (3x15) which I am growing to love, I never did much of it before but I think I like it a lot! ( I hope I don't regret saying that)

A curl mix was next.. this unfortunately bothered my arm so I used 15 lbs and took it easy. I have to say my arms look pretty diesel.............don't know how I feel about that.

And FINALLY some band work and coreeeee
Band pull downs 3x15
Ab twists 3x8 e

I wonder what today brings ( monkey covering his eyes emoji here)
Im pretty sure its Leg day again.
If I don't post again.. you know the drill.