Sunday was my squat day, and after doing a yoga class before my singles the week before, I decided that it would be better to lift first and then attend yoga. (As a side note, I love the flexibility, balance, and isometric aspects of yoga, but I really go to the classes for Shavasana, a.k.a. the time at the end of the class when you lie on your back and go into a deep relaxation.) My lift went really well that day as I hit triples at 405, which is the most I have done for triples without using a belt. Last summer I did triples at 415, but I was using a belt then. My weights for all of my supplemental lifts went up as well. After a very relaxing yoga session I spent some time in the steam room. The weekends are my time when I study for the CSCS exam, so I spent the afternoon reading for that.
Monday was bench day, and my bench struggled a little bit that day. I don't know if struggled is really the right word as I was hitting the weight easier than I was two weeks prior, but I was unable to complete my bench workout at a higher weight than I had used for three reps in week one. My dips felt really strong though, so I can still feel myself improving. I had a few sessions on Monday as well, and I was finally able to get a client to commit to buying a package, which felt really good.
Tuesday I had sessions in the morning and then did plyos after that. I really enjoy doing plyometric workouts because I see a direct transfer between how often I do them and how well I am able to move during pickup games. The sessions are short and intense, and also serve as a good conditioning tool for myself. The Self Made Plyo Program is still in the works, but the tentative release date is early to mid 2011.
Wednesday was my deadlift and back day. Do to circumstances two weeks prior I didn't feel it was appropriate for myself to deadlift heavy during the day without the assistance of a Smith machine. Now, let's get one thing straight, I hate Smith machines. I hate the feeling of being locked into a pattern when I use them and my mechanics always get messed up when I use them. But, being allowed to deadlift in a Smith machine is better than not being allowed to deadlift at all, so I used the Smith machine. Well, actually I didn't use it until Thursday because my schedule was pretty booked on Wednesday so I just did my back work. That part of my lift went really well though and all of my weights went up from the week before.
Thursday, like I said, was my actual deadlift day, and after hitting my sets in the Smith machine I did a bike sprint workout for 10 minutes. I was considering going for 15 minutes, but my legs were burning after 10 so clearly I need to keep working on my conditioning haha. Thursday evening I also began working with a new client.
Friday I had my second plyo workout of the week and then immediately followed that with Day 4 of SMS 10. Whatever rut my military press had been in for the past couple months, I think I have broken out of it. My presses felt GREAT on Friday and I was doing triples and weights that I don't know if I could have hit singles at during the first weeks of summer. After my lift I had another session and then went back to my apartment and read.
Saturday I had sessions all morning but afterwards I went to the beach and ran sprints in the sand. I got there around 2:00 in the afternoon and the sand and sun were hot. Nonetheless, I decided to run barefoot in the sand and planned on going for 20 minutes. Well after minute 15 I thought there was something stuck in my big toe so I looked down and my feet had two huge blisters on them. Tough. So, I washed my feet off and walked back to my apartment where I stayed inside and read the rest of the day.
My blistered feet didn't stop me from timing my pushups this week, however, so early in the evening I cranked off 100 pushups in 1 minute and 56 seconds. The previous Saturday I posted a time of 3 minutes and 20 seconds, so that is some serious improvement after 1 week of training. This would probably make a lot more sense if I had actually informed you all last week what was happening. So, my new thing is that every Saturday I time myself to see how fast I can do 100 pushups. My ultimate goal with this is to do it under 60 seconds and to be able to do 1,000 pushups in under an hour. Monday through Friday I train for this by doing two sets of 100 pushups each day. Each sets consists of smaller sets of 20, and I do the 100 over a 5 minute period. I figure this is a good pace to shoot for when training for the 1,00o in an hour. So yeah, that's my new training thing. Feel free to post your times here or on the Self Made Facebook Page if you want to join in!
One other thing that I forgot to tell you all last week is that I posted a new article to the site. Check out"The Big Three" in the articles section of the site!
Well, that's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.
