WordPress isn’t loving how big this page is… so I’ve moved to individual daily posts here:
Adam Waring Daily Ninja Warrior Training Journal
Sunday 21st of May 2017
I used to work on this little flow routine on Saturday mornings at Planet Granite, where I’d do a muscle-up, roll over the bar, lache to a rope and climb the rope. I’d also use the ladder bar thing (this thing).
I used to love it, but I haven’t done any of that since the Competitive Ninja class started on Friday nights just because my tendonitis in my elbows wouldn’t let me,
For the last month or so, I’ve basically taken Saturday and Sunday as unscheduled rest days and then Monday as my scheduled rest day… basically because after Friday night my tendonitis would be super sketchy.
A few weeks ago I attempted a Parkour class on Saturday, and even though my arms felt okay going into the class, about half-way through they literally felt like they were on fire. That was actually the last time I went to Parkour.
So, yesterday I still didn’t do much… my knee was crapola all day and my forearms were, well, not sore, like, uncomfortable or tired. It’s hard to explain.
Today though I thought I’d gingerly try something forearm related to see how they’d hold up. I wanted to get something in before taking a full proper rest day tomorrow.
I did some hang board exercises (my hands were surprisingly tough, but I wasn’t so strong with the pull-ups), worked on the ladder thing linked above and did some pull-ups on some balls and some nunchucks.
Overall, my arms held up okay. They’re back to being slightly uncomfortable, but they aren’t on fire, so I think there is some improvement there. It’s hard because I’m not doing things exactly like I used to so it’s tricky to compare to gauge for improvement.
Labels: Planet Granite
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Immediately as soon as I awake up these days, I’m doing a little diagnostics routine in my head…
Knee…..beep beep beep………. still feels weird
Left elbow….. booop…………….status : fine.
Right elbow…….beep beep…….sore as hell.
My knee was definitely holding me back last night, I was really uncomfortable climbing with it and doing the most simple gymnastics movements. It didn’t cost me any strength, but every now and then I’d use it in a way that it wasn’t happy with and it would definitely let me know.
Cody switched out the super hard cannonballs for easier ones, so I was able to make a bit more progress, but my right elbow was on fire the whole night last night and as soon as I woke this morning. I can’t get over how disruptive this whole thing is, broken bones have held me back less than this guy.
Last night I ate about two hours before class, and must not had enough, or didn’t have enough protein and fats because I was distractedly super hungry during class… like a massive empty hole in my stomach that I tried to fill with water (which never ever works). PDX Meal Prep has been amazing but I need to put more thought into my pre-training intake.
One good thing about yesterday was that my grip strength training went way better than it did on Tuesday, way strongerer. No idea why there was any difference at all… but there you do, so many mysteries.
Labels: Grip Strength Workout, injuries, PDX Meal Prep, Tendonitis
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Friday, May 19, 2017
I realise I’ve been a bit of a superjerk to ol’ Skyhook Ninja Fitness, so super critical but only because I love it so much and I want it to be perfect which was really unfair because they built me the funnest place ever. I had such a great time tonight, Friday nights are legitimately the highlight of my week (which I’m sure most people say, but for far more drinky reasons). Tell you what, Cody has grown so much over the last couple of months since opening, he’s gotten so good as a leader of the class, I mean, coach is probably the better word, but I really totally enjoyed the way he led tonight’s class.
The pacing of tonight’s class was spot on for me… Fearless Leader of Ninjas Coach Cody took us through some drills to help develop some skillage and then towards the end we did a little obstacle course, which I just couldn’t quite get, but we all loved trying.
I’m still struggling a lot with fear and mentally committing to an obstacle. The last kind of thing we were working on was a lache to two hanging balls, and my lache was fairly constantly perfect for it, I would put myself in a great position to grab and hang onto the balls, and then just wouldn’t quite commit. Annoyingly, from any distance I could jump from the ground and grab them perfectly, but from a lache my brain just wouldn’t commit. Another thing to work on.
I probably get the most out of watching other people attempt the same thing I’m doing… I spend so much time training by myself, I forget just how much I learn from other people’s successes and unsuccessful attempts. I do love how different the skill levels are in the class, it really helps me.
I would strongly encourage anyone to come along to Skyhook Ninja Fitness, I would love to train with you, and the care that Cody puts into each ninja, big or small, smashing them with heaps of knowledge is amazing.
Labels: Competitive Ninja Warrior, Skyhook Ninja Fitness
Location: Tigard, OR, USA
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Thursdays are Yoga days, but my knee is still super playing up. Hurts to put weight on it and to keep it straight… still going to do my Yoga session though, I’m hoping it’ll help.
There is a puffiness under my left knee that the right knee doesn’t have. Not ideal.
Not only do I really want my knee to be in top working order for Friday’s Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness, but there is a Parkour Speed competition at Forge Parkour on Saturday. I’m not so good at the Parkour-ing, but I am quick, so I’d love to enter… just gotta get this knee right first.
Did Yoga X3 at lunchtime. Wasn’t great for the knee but it really did seem pretty nice for everything else. I’m terrible at it, but I’m slowly starting to understand the benefits.
After Yoga I stretched for a good while and then iced my knee where the puffiness was. Hopefully that’ll help settle it.
Did my ab workout for the first time in a while and it wasn’t really that hard… I think the calisthenics stuff I’ve been doing has been helping even though I’m not doing abs specifically.
Iced my knee a couple of times, had an Epsom salt bath, but no real difference… bit worried it’s not going to be right by tomorrow. It’s tough, I already stress that I’m not doing enough, not getting good enough quickly enough and then injuries just slow the whole thing right down. I just want to be amazing, is that too much to ask?
Labels: injuries, X3 Yoga
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Wednesday – Injury awareness day
I’ve noticed that the last few times I’ve worked on the quad steps (or the warped wall, I’m not 100%) that my left knee has had some pain afterwards or the next day. I didn’t think too much of it but today it’s been crazy bad. It hasn’t been this bad for years.
Last time it was like this was when I was playing indoor soccer and doing weights and stuff, and I think the quad was just really tight… I’m hoping that’s all it is this time too. I’ve been using the roller and had an Epsom salt bath and trying to stretch it as much as possible.
Still hurt all day, can’t quite straighten it.
Wednesdays are for the Dynamix and Agility X workouts on P90X3.. although I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as far as the Agility X. I didn’t do either today because Dynamix has a lot of lunges which I thought my knee would struggle with. Instead I did 35 minutes on the cross trainer, which I guess is better than nothing, but only just.
While I’m loving the meals that PDX Meal Prep provides, I’ve noticed that I’m get those hunger pangs that I never used to get on the Maffetone Method. I might just need more fat in my diet… definitely bears more thinking about.
Pretty sore in the lats all day from Tuesday’s workout, which I was super pleased with… not sure if it’s the right way to feel, but I’m always worried that I’m not working hard enough, so I’m always a bit relieved when I’m sore.
Labels: injuries, Unscheduled rest day
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
P90X3 – Eccentric Upper + Grip Strength + Ninja Obstacles
Tuesdays are a big day for me… so it’s super weird that all morning my triceps were super tight… I’ve literally done nothing that’s used them in like 4 days. The acupuncturist said they were really tight… but I’m not super sure what’s causing that. It’s definitely not helping the tendonitis though.
Still a bit sore from the acupuncture, top of the hands and back of the elbows mainly.
Usually I do the Upper Eccentric workout from P90X3 at lunchtime, and grip strength after work, but I totally spaced, forgot about the Upper and did the grip strength… it was total struggletown, wasn’t feeling strong at all. Finished it, but it wasn’t great. My dead hangs have gone to crap.
Did the P90X3 Eccentric Upper workout after work and it was challenging. I think doing the grip strength training at lunch really did not help. I’m feeling slightly stronger than last week, but I’m still not getting to 10 reps.
P90X3 Eccentric Upper is 30 minutes of pull-ups with a 3 second negative, pushups with a 3 second negative and a heap of different shoulder press type things with a 3 second negative. I really should write all these exercises down one day…
Went to Skyhook at around 8:20pm (they close at 9pm) to work on some skills and get some video. There was a small family there and I was trying hard not to get in their way, but it’s amazing how I still struggle with the warped wall, even though I’ve now done it so many times.
Deadpool’s catchcry of “Maximum Effort” always made me laugh because it’s so literal… but it’s seriously the only way to get up the wall. You can only fully commit, there is no other way. I got video of myself doing the Warped Wall, a big lache, the keylock thingo and the quad steps. I didn’t feel super worked out afterwards, it was late and I hadn’t had dinner yet but I’m sure I’ll still be sore tomorrow.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Actually kind of annoyed at myself… I let yesterday get away from me without any training… I kinda thought I could catch it up today, but it won’t work.
I really wanted to do my jump squats yesterday… they kill me and I love them.
I can’t do them today because I might be going to Parkour tonight (a friend is in town and might want to go) and also I want to do some quad steps training tomorrow night so I’d be destroyed if I did them today.
It just goes to prove to myself (again) that I just can’t miss workouts. My week is a finely-tuned, minutely organised beast with not a lot of wiggle room. So I’m bummed that I’ve missed out on one of my favourite workouts of the week.
Didn’t do much on the weekend at all… even though Friday night wasn’t so huge, it did take a bit of recovery. I think there is something about laches that mucks up my neck. I keep having these moments for a few days afterwards where my neck locks up for a second.. it’s weird but I’m sure it’s just my body coping with the roughness of big laches.
Used the sauna, Epsom bath and acupuncture to work on my tendonitis. The tendonitis had flared up pretty bad on Friday, but was feeling good today… so the acupuncturist got right in there, hurt like a mofo. I actually had claw hands for a good few hours afterwards. As such, didn’t go to Parkour at 7pm, even though my mate got out of his thing in time… so he just came over for a drink. First beer I’ve had in like a year… Not so active but fun nonetheless.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Australian Ninja Warrior Events Calendar
Not going to be a big active day for me today, so I whipped up the Australian Ninja Warrior Events Calendar page on my Australian Ninja Warrior website. I just wanted to have one spot where we could easily see what is coming up to train for… and I’ll include all the dates for the Australian Ninja Warrior application process when they’re announced.
Woke up with small fires in my elbows from last night. I don’t know how to feel… I’m a little bit annoyed that I pushed myself that far… but how else am I going to improve… but but can I improve if I’m always injured.
Started the day with an Epsom salt bath, and a heap of self-massage (I’ll never not think of that dirtily) to try and heal up as quickly as possible.
Labels: Australian Ninja Warrior Events Calendar
Friday, May 12, 2017
Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness
Still full of energy which is amazing-great. Really happy with this whole PDX Meal Prep situation. First week trial was a huge success so we’ll be going again for the next 2 weeks.
At lunchtime I did my grip strength workout.
It’s still pretty great. I still find it a massive struggle, it’s hard and exhausting to get through, I find myself breathing like a maniac just to get through, but the exercises are definitely getting easier. I don’t exactly know if that’ll translate into being great at obstacles, but surely it helps.
Did the Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness. Some new dudes came along which made for an epic class of awesomeness. I’m just, so not in the same league as most of these guys. I have to remember they’ve all been training for a while now.
Tendonitis Scorecard:
Acupuncture – Monday
Massage – Thursday
No parkour or bouldering all week
Pullups on Tuesday didn’t hurt, but we’re comfortable
Definitely hurting after Competitive Ninja Class
I actually got through the class without any issues… but I haven’t had any success whatsoever on Cannonball alley. It’s very different to this one I did Chicago Ninja Academy, there isn’t any room to swing and the cannonballs are super hard. So… after the class I went to practise on them.
I didn’t even really know how to practise, because any attempt would have me just instantly fall off… so one of the guys suggested just hanging onto them for as long as I can, build up the strength that way.
(I did wonder if doing a grip strength workout earlier in the day was helping or hindering at this point)
I did the exercise once, twice, no problems, but on the third time, my best effort, both elbows came away on fire… and continued being all firey the whole way home until I massaged them out.
In other news, I missed a lache for the first time ever, and it truly does come down to effort. When I really go for it, I make it so easily, but when I don’t… crashing.
I only visited the ninja gym once this week, to see how my elbows would go, but it’s really not enough, there is so much skillage to gain I really need to be hittin’ it on Tuesday as well.
Labels: Competitive Ninja Warrior, Ninja Training, PDX Meal Prep, Skyhook Ninja Fitness, Tendonitis
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Thursday is yoga day. Last week I was so desperate to scrapily crawl into Yoga Day, and this week I’m just sliding in like it ain’t a thing. I don’t feel like I’ve been working enough this week.
I find it hard to do the Yoga X3 workout on P90X3… it just seems like such a lame. With the harder workouts, I’m super gunho, because I don’t want to miss out on any strength gains and be Ninja de Superweak.. but Yoga Day, I just can’t get excited about it. I realise that flexibility and balance are as essential as strength, but it’s hard to pumped.
I did it regardless and I have to say I enjoyed it more than I ever have… maybe cos I forced myself and was set to hate it but get it done regardless, maybe because my partner walked in half-way through and was impressed, maybe I’m just more flexible and so I’m less uncomfortable.
Either way, super interested to see how I go next week.
Labels: X3 Yoga
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Weird Day – P90X3 – Eccentrix Upper
For the first time in a long time, I finished the day with way way too much energy. I don’t know if it’s because of all the rest days I’ve had lately to try and wrestle control of my tendonitis back, or the manic energy that comes with trying to buy a house, the USANA Healthpak or the meals from PDX Meal Prep.
The whole Meal Prep thing is great, basically you order a heap of meals that are all correctly measured in terms of carbs, protein and veggies. I spend so much time organising meals, and I often don’t eat as much as I should because it’s hard to fit in training, work, cooking and rest… so I’ve outsourced the cooking part and it might be the best decision ever.
It basically comes out to about $9 a meal, which seems expensive, but I honestly think that’s about what we were spending anyway (between cheap meals and then going out because we’re exhausted)… we have a grocery budget of $1000 a month, which we usually come fairly close to, so it’ll be interesting to see how that works out over the next couple of months. Time-wise it’s just amazing. The food is just ready to go… and it’s not massed produced, it kinda seems like our own leftovers.
Today I did the P90X3 session Eccentrix Upper, which is basically 30 minutes of pullups, pushups and shoulder presses. The kicker is that you only do 10 at a time, but slow it right down to a count of 3. So, for a pushup you start at the top, take 3 seconds to lower yourself and then explode up.
It freakin’ kicks me. I’m actually terrible at this workout. Even though I was smashing out 80 pullups in 20 minutes in previous workouts, I can’t even do 10 of these slow ones. I’m a mess by 7.
After work I did my grip strength workout which I love. I mean I hate. I mean I love afterwards but hate doing it… but I kinda love doing it. I dunno, it’s still really hard. But good. But it sucks.
Cara came home late after her Barre class and we had to talk house things (blurgh) and then it was a bit late to go to Skyhook Ninja or Revolution Parkour Gresham but I was still super energetic, so I went to Planet Granite to do the hangboard exercises that I used to do 3 times a week but haven’t done for ages. Of course I was terrible. It’s disturbing how quickly you lose hand toughness.
Finished the night with an ab workout just cos of energies.
I really do feel like I’m way behind where I should be strength and skill-wise for ninja warrior, but if I keep having energetic days like today I’ll hopefully catch back up in no time.
Labels: Abs, Grip Strength Workout, Hangboard exercises, P90X3 Eccentric Upper, PDX Meal Prep, USANA Health Pak, www.pdxmealprep.com
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Monday, May 8, 2017
Today was my rest day, but I honestly didn’t feel like I had earnt it.
In the past I’ve barely managed to drag myself to my rest day with my broken, sore body. The last few weeks though, I’ve been trying to find the balance that allows my tendonitis to heal, but I’m also progressing in my training. The Wolfpack Ninja Tour taught me once again, that I can’t do consecutive forearm days without a whole lot of pain in my elbows.
This week just past, I took it easy. I took Monday, Thursday and Saturday as rest days. On Sunday I only did a third of the training I normally would. I trained on ninja obstacles on Tuesday and Friday, but never for long enough, or hard enough to bring on the tendonitis. My elbows felt good the whole week, and my acupuncture session today didn’t hurt as badly as it normally would… and the aftermath didn’t hurt as badly as it normally does.
The problem is that I didn’t really progress this week. I tried my rope climbing exercise on Sunday (I haven’t done it for a while) and it was harder than it’s been. I don’t really have time to be treading water, I’m aiming to compete on Australian Ninja Warrior in December. I need to get a whole lot stronger and faster if I’m really going to bring it.
Finding a balance is all about the pendulum swings, but the balance is always moving, that’s the tricky part. I’m trying to find that write level of training (duration and intensity) where I can improve and get stronger and tougher, but still heal my overuse injuries. It may not exist, but if it does I need to find it.
Last week I rested, had acupuncture and a massage for my tendonitis. This week I’m going to have acupuncture, massage, stretch my forearms and triceps every day and strengthen my grip strength/forearms to see how that goes.
Labels: Acupuncture, Golfers Elbow, Rest Day, Tendonitis, Tennis Elbow
Friday, April 28, 2017
Wolfpack Ninja Tour in Denver, Colorado
I’ve been lucky enough to be close enough to go to the first Wolfpack Ninja Tour in Denver, Colorado.
I have to say, so far, it’s been a bit of a mess. I got the $200 VIP ticket, I figured I might as well get the very most out of the experience.. but I think everyone is struggling with the lack of communication. I don’t blame the organisers at all, I think the whole thing might have been bigger than they realised, and hopefully for the next tour they get a stack of volunteers to provide information and direction.
I think the best way to look at it is more like a convention like ComicCon rather than an event. Going into it I wasn’t at all sure what I signed up for, but I’ve kinda worked things out talking to people.
There is a big course in the middle of the arena where people could race side-by-side. Around it is a heap of stations. These stations have simple obstacles on them. If you complete a station you get your card ticked off… once you’ve completed 25 of the 30 stations, you get a medallion. A medallion lets you run the course once. If you’re in the top 16 of fastest times then you get into the finals.
If you want to run the course again, I think it costs $25, you don’t have to go through the stations again. The different ticket types give different access to things, but it’s not really clear what.
So, what was my experience like:
– Meet & Greet changed from 7-9pm to 1-3pm. Informed at 12pm.
– Meet & Greet super awks, super cliquey
– Catered, but only carrot sticks and celery
– Ninjas late, removed from the event, late again.
– See the pro course from 7-9pm
– Again only carrots and celery
– Super cliquey
– Really hard to find venue.
– No information on what time I should be there. Am I running at a particular time?
I’m not great at meet & greets anyway, I tend to find one person to spend the whole time with… but I think they should have had the Ninjas mingle or set up at stations or whatever. Basically they stuck together the whole time until little kids forced them to be in photos.
It does make me wonder if the Ninjas are getting paid for this or not, I’m not super sure that they are.
Geoff Brittan, Evan Dollard and Nathan Coolridge were definitely putting in a massive effort to be friendly and inviting, everyone else was just super not interested. I get that… but as a paying customer it’s not really what was promised.
They’ve developed an app, but it doesn’t really have any further information, and is crazy to look at and use. I think it was built by a Myspace developer. Bright blue on black background is not the best for reading and junk.
Now that I’ve learnt a bit more about it, it really is a fantastic idea. Everything does seem set to get the most money out of you as possible, but the logistics also look super super expensive. I think some extra volunteers would really make a massive difference.
Labels: #wpnt, Wolfpack Ninja Tour, Wolfpack NInja Tour Denver Colorado
Thursday, April 27, 2017
P90X3 – Day 3 – X3 Yoga
Thanks to the ninja gods for Yoga day.
Yesterday I mentioned that I took the USANA Healthpak at dinner time instead of bedtime and work up bright, early and uselessly at 4am.
Learning from my mistake, and dead tired from all the ninja-ing, I took it at bedtime (went to bed at 9:30pm because I was so wreaked). 1:52am I woke up. Wide awake. Yikes.
Part of the problem is that mattresses in America have these fire retardant materials, required by law. These materials give off gases for the first few years of the mattresses life… and for that reason those materials are banned in Europe, Australia and a heap of other countries.
I bring this up because I am super allergic to those gases… we went through eight (8!!!!!) mattresses when we first moved here. Most sleepless 10 months ever. It cost us heaps, I basically woke up feeling sick and terrible every morning, and took us ages to figure out the problem. I thought it was diet and/or altitude for the longest time.
Hotels were fine because they usually have older mattresses (2007 these laws came in) so I only got sick when sleeping at home.
As a result I had to get a medical certificate to get a special mattress made… which is great… but this mattress is like 100% natural latex.. it doesn’t have any springs or anything… and so it totally traps the heat under you… so if I go to bed warm… I wake up hot… I basically wake up real hot and dehydrated all the time.
I guess I can’t blame the USANA Healthpak all the time.. sometimes I might just be crazy hot, but yeah, it does make it hard to figure out cause and effect.
Pretty sore this morning… pretty much sore everywhere… perfect for yoga day.
Half way through my online X3 Yoga session, my computer just cracked it… and I pretty much just left it at that. My discipline is not the greatest when I’m exhausted and sore. I’ve always struggled with knowing where that balance is of ‘pushing yourself too hard when your body needs to rest’ and ‘being lazy when you should be out there grindin’ – I’m honestly not sure about any of that.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
P90X3 – Day 2 – Triometrics & Dynamix
I mentioned to my acupuncturist that during my first 10 days on the USANA Healthpak that I probably woke up really early in the morning about 4 or 5 times. I’d be completely wide awake but not quite ready to take on the world… and a little bit headachey from not getting enough sleep.
It’s been a while since that was an issue, but she recommended taking the PM vitamins at dinner time instead of before bed… BOOM, this morning I was wide awake at 4am. Gonna go back to having them at bedtime, waking up that early is not that fun.
Woke up pretty freakin’ sore from yesterday’s workout. Definitely sore in the chest from the slo-mo pushups but I’m sore in weird places too like the hips and lower back. There was a lot of movement yesterday so not super surprised.
I did Dynamix first… to stretch this sore body out a little bit and just to get up and moving… and I have to say that it was a joy to do this workout. It wasn’t easy, but it was exactly what I needed.
I actually didn’t do the Triometrics because I went to the Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness. Coach Vu was there so he always makes it a great experience, we worked on double kongs which I’ve still yet to get… but I’m close.
We also worked on the double salmon ladder transfer, which Coach Vu was the first person to ever get, which includes the staff. Again I was close… my problem is my brain… I decide what I want to do but my brain shuts down during the actual movement… so I burst out of the first salmon ladder okay but I need to do an extra little pump to get the landing. Sooooooon.
I also worked on my laches and the warped wall. They’ve really got to finish that warped wall, it honestly cuts the hands up pretty good when you get to the top. Really happy with my laches at the moment.
Had a heap of fun on the trampolines. Did I mention that Skyhook Ninja Fitness has a heap of trampolines and a big inflatable thingamigo to fall into. It’s incredible, and kind of addictive. I had a huge go on it tonight… might not be able to walk tomorrow, but tonight was amazing.
Hands feeling pretty rough right about now.
Labels: Competitive Ninja Warrior, P90X3, Skyhook Ninja Fitness, So sore, training hard
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
P90X3 – Day 1 – Eccentric Upper & Accelerator
Holy Moley, this was ridiculously hard.
I know I’ve kind of been taking it easy the last couple of weeks to get some ol’ healin’ happenin’ – but wow did I feel like a new born foal attempting these workouts. I had intended to do some bouldering today but I was destroyed.
I did the Eccentric Upper workout at lunch-time. I thought I’d be alright at pull-ups and push-ups… I’ve done a few in my time… but wow. Everything in this workout was slow motion… take 3 seconds to go down, then explode up. It was pretty much 10 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 shoulder presses, rinse, repeat for 30 minutes… and I was terrible. Most times I could barely get to 10. It was tough.
Full on had the shakes for ages after.
After work I did the Accelerator which is a high intensity cardio workout. At the start I was really happy that there was finally a workout where I could actually do the exercises (I do feel like I’ve been bungling my way through these workouts) but I got destroyed pretty quickly.. and again struggled to do anywhere near as much as the peeps on the video. This ninja needs a lot more work.
Monday 24th of April 2017
Today is my official rest day, and upon waking, my tendonitis-y elbows are still quite sore from the Friday/Saturday combo.
I need to plan my week because the weekend we’ll be hanging out at the Wolfpack Ninja Tour. So I’ll need to be relatively fresh and un-tendonitis-y for that. Wednesday I’ve been asked to be in a photoshoot/demo for Travel Oregon so that’ll be amazing but I’ll need to be in good shape for that guy. Which hopefully will lead me nicely into the weekend.
P90X3 calender: Weeks 5-7 (tomorrow is the start of week 5)
Day 1 – Eccentric Upper & Accelerator
Day 2 – Triometrics & Dynamix
Day 3 – X3 Yoga
Day 4 – Eccentric Lower & CVX
Day 5 – Incinerator & Isometrix
Day 6 – MMX & Dynamix
Day 7 – Rest
I think I’ll do some bouldering on Tuesday (Day 1) to keep my hands strong, Skyhook on Wednesday (Day 2) , Yin Yoga on Thursday (Day 3), and then Wolfpack Ninja Tour in all it’s glory over the weekend.
Today is all about saunas, Epsom salt baths and acupuncture.
Sunday 23rd of April 2017
Took today as an unscheduled rest day again, just to make sure my elbows get some time to heal, still not feeling the greatest today.
Saturday 22nd of April 2017
Happy Birthday me.
Alright I have to be more scientific about this process.
Last week:
Wednesday Skyhook
Friday Skyhook
Sunday pullups
Wednesday okay. Tendonitis bad on Friday, only got halfway through pullups on Sunday.
This week:
Friday Skyhook
Saturday Parkour
Tendonitis fine on Friday, real bad at Parkour… halfway through the class I wanted to quit. I was in a lot of pain. Tried icing after Parkour, not sure it made any real difference.
So, I really have to manage my elbows around Ninja Warrior class. I obviously can’t do two classes in the same week, nor can I do much for a day or two afterwards. I also can’t do much on Monday nights or Tuesdays after acupuncture.
I’ll figure this out.
Friday 21st of April 2017
Had hoped that Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness would break me out of the funk I’ve been in all week.
I think I was actually sick, because I’ve had headaches all week and then a killer headache during the class. It was brutal but I stuck it through… the elbows were actually okay all class. A little bit tight, and probs pretty sore on the way home but overall okay.
Although, I did have someone tell me that it really could be the result of having sugar on Sunday for the first time in a real long time.
I was the fastest up the rope climb… mainly because I’ve never learnt how to do it and didn’t use my legs at all… but then didn’t know how to get down once my arms were spent. It was all a bit scary really, but my grip was super strong… happy with how that is progressing.
Not too many people there tonight, but I still love this class.
Thursday 20th of April 2017
Still super lethargic and not excited. Slept a total full night last night without doing any exercise. I don’t think I’ve actually really worked out hard since Saturday.
I tried porridge for breakfast in case I wasn’t getting enough carbs and then felt gluggly and a bit nauseous afterwards. Need to remember that’s a thing.
Still didn’t do any exercise. Had a massage though, the masseuse was happy that she could get into the muscles that had been way too tight for her to get anywhere near previously. So I guess some good can come out of my week of letharg.
Wednesday 19th of April 2017
This just hasn’t really been my week. I’m still feeling super lethargic and lazy.
Not really sure what the story is… I’m drinking plenty of water, slept 7 1/2 hours last night, eating alright, having all the vitamins. Could I still be feeling Sunday’s diet diversion?
I also forgot about lunchtime… just totally forgot that it was a thing. Ugh.
I’m behind on pretty much everything in life. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
Didn’t go to Competitive Ninja Warrior at Skyhook Ninja Fitness tonight. My elbows can’t handle both a Wednesday and Friday class in the same week, so Friday is by far the funner one.
Tuesday 18th of April 2017
Super lethargic all day. Didn’t do nuthin’
Monday 17th of April 2017
Today was my rest day, so sauna, Epsom salt bath and acupuncture.
Tendonitis has been worse today than ever… so the acupuncturist got right into the elbows to get the blood flowing. They freakin’ hurt like a mofo now. I can barely use them. I’m typing with my shoulders.
The acupuncturist was pretty concerned with how bad my elbows were, and asked if I regretted pushing myself as hard as I did. Of course I didn’t, because the ninja class is really where I need to be to develop the strength and skill-set that I need.
It’s a tough balance… I can’t really rest to heal my elbows because there is so much of my body that I need to strenghten and toughen to be competitive. If I rested then I would definitely be at a net loss. It just means that recovery is going to be super slow but that’s just the way it needs to be.
This week is a transition week in terms of my training… so this is the agenda.
DAY 1 ISOMETRIX
DAY 2 DYNAMIX or P90X2 Recovery and Mobility
DAY 3 ACCELERATOR or Parkour Class
DAY 4 PILATESX or PG Yoga
DAY 5 AGILITYX or Parkour Class
DAY 6 X3 YOGA or PG Yoga
DAY 7 REST OR DYNAMIX or P90X2 Recovery and Mobility
Sunday 16th of April 2017
I didn’t do The Challenge (30 minutes of push ups and pull ups) on Friday in order to be fresh for the Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness so I tried it today and my elbow tendonitis stopped me half way through, I was in a heap of pain.
Usually the tendonitis doesn’t flare up at all during pullups or pushups, but it was nuts today. It’s all a bit scary, I thought I was improving and I’m not really sure if I’ve done some serious damage here. It’s all a bit frustrating.
Saturday 15th of April 2017
Unscheduled rest day because Ninja class broke all of my body.
Friday 14th of April 2017
Given that it was the Easter weekend and parkour was closed for 4 days, a heap of Portland ninjas landed at the Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Ninja Fitness and it was amazing. There was like 7 or 8 of us and it was awesome.
While Cody’s teaching is really super helpful, probably the thing I get most out of the class is the advice from all sorts of different people from different backgrounds… One of the girls totally fixed up my lache, and suddenly a lache that I had been struggling with for weeks was more than easy… I can’t even tell you how grateful I was, it was an incredible class. Everyone is so strong, it was very inspiring. I really struggled with the cannonball alley.
The tendonitis in my elbows was mega pain. Towards the end of the class I was almost shaking, it wasn’t good.
Thursday 13th of April 2017
Woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep… this is now the 4th time since starting the USANA Healthpak that I’ve been wide-awake from the middle of the night with no chance of getting back to sleep. It’s weird, I feel energetic enough to get up and do stuff, which is very different to jetlag. I travel quite a lot so jetlag is a pretty regular thing in my life… with jetlag you’re exhausted and sleepy, but you just won’t sleep. With this it’s like my body is fully awake and ready to get up and play, but my head and brain are still pretty asleep. I’ll keep an eye on this. 4 days into my 1st pack USANA already billed and sent me my second pack… so I’ll give it at least a month, but at the moment I’m seeing way more cons than pros.
Started the day pretty sore. The back of my neck where it meets my shoulders seems to have copped a beating the last week or so. Stretching my head back is pretty painful. Elbow Tendonitis was pretty bad this morning too.
Wednesday 12th of April 2017
Wednesdays are a big day. I was terrible at lunch and didn’t do any of my exercises so I had to smash everything after work.
Did the P90X3 courses Dynamix and Agility X – followed immediately by heading out to the Competitive Ninja Warrior class at Skyhook Fitness in Tigard. It was tough to get to, for some reason Uber was surging and traffic was awful so it took ages and cost 5 times more than the actual class.
I’m still not super sure on these classes either. Still doing a lot of beginner gymnastics which… I dunno, I get that it’s useful, I’m just not sure if it’s the best use of my limited time at Skyhook. Cara arrived half way through and was super hungry so again didn’t feel like I could really play around after the class.
I’m struggling with some of my movements… my knees wobble with both my squat and my lunges, we were doing some in the class and the alarm on Cody’s face when I did a terrible terrible squat isn’t good. I think I need to spend some time in front of the mirror and just retrain my body to do these movements properly. I can’t even tell you the benefit I get out of having someone else watch these basic movements. So much work to do!
I’m starting to enjoy the Dynamix and Agility X workouts a bit more… I still feel like a lunatic, and I know my form is terrible… but I can see some improvement already.
In the Competitive Ninja class, we were the first peeps to try the Cliffhanger that they set up. I’m still no where near as good at that as I’d like to be. The tendonitis is definitely holding me back in terms to training on something like it regularly… and it is tricky to find things to cliffhanger off. I need to spend way more time in the air, staying in the air, it’s a whole time-under-tension thing. Pull-ups help, for sure, but really I need to spend more time staying in the air, as opposed to jumping up, knocking out 10 pull-ups and jumping down.
Got another Competitive on Friday night with a big gang, really looking forward to that. Really hope I’m much better at the cliffhanger by then.
Tuesday 11th of April 2017
So I’ve had basically 3 rest days now… and I was still sore and terrible. I did the P90X3 workout called ‘Total Synergystics’ and accomplished it entirely as the Major of Struggletown. I wasn’t sore at all when I woke up… but as soon as I had to do some pull-ups, I was in trouble. My triceps was burning as soon as I was hanging from the bar… and the tendonitis in both elbows flared as soon as I touched that bar too. Yikes.
I was pretty much terrible and weak and flappy during everything. Not quite the epic ninja I’d like to be.
Today was the first time I tried the pre-workout stuff from the Beach Body crew. It almost immediately made my face feel hot and spiky. I felt a bit queasy and still hours later I still don’t feel right. It does seem weird to me that I eat so naturally and then I’m taking a chemical cocktail that resembles dish-washing detergent. I’ve never actually had coffee before so I’m not surprised my body reacted so badly to something with caffeine in it.
It kicked it like it was supposed to though… only 13 hours after I took it. Found myself at the gym at 11pm trying to wear myself out so I’d be able to sleep. Not sure pre-workout is for me.
Monday 10th of April 2017
Tendonitis has been a theme of this week… and today is the day to get it sorted.
I went to the sauna during lunch, and then drunk all the waters to make sure I didn’t get a headache and to prepare for acupuncture. My acupuncturist went in deeper to the joint in my right hand elbow, it hurt a lot but no pain no gain….. I hope. Getting needled wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for no pain no gain.
My arms were pretty ruined after all the stabbage so didn’t really do much for the rest of the day. Hopefully will be all good tomoz.
Sunday 9th of April 2017
Woke up at 6:30am feeling pretty battered. My neck and back feel super tight and my ankles and heels just feel a bit messed up. The lower body is from Friday night’s Parcours and the upper body from Friday’s The Challenge. I can’t wait until my body is a bit more durable… recovery times feel like they’re robbing me of epic weekend funness.
Tendonitis is being a bit of a cow this morning though… I think Saturday morning’s rope climb stuff did a bit of a number on them. Dagnammit. Neck and shoulders are super tight… it’s like they need one big crack to come good. Basically just lazed around and did some rollering… recovery is borzo.
Saturday 8th of April 2017
First thing this morning I creaked my body out of bed and went down to Planet Granite to get there as soon as they opened. Once a week I like to work on a little move and work on the flow of it. I basically muscle up a bar, somersault it, hang and then lache to a rope and climb up the rope. I’ve only successfully done it once or twice, but I rarely work on getting a flow of movements down right. The trick is that I’m taking up a lot of space so I have to hit the gym when no one is there… which is never.
That said, I had the section I needed to myself… and just couldn’t get it.
Super frustrating.. it took me some time to realise that in the lache to the rope I wasn’t trusting myself and keeping my feet up – this is a problem I have a lot. Been with my partner for 15 years… yet still have commitment issues. Just wasn’t committing to grabbing the rope and trusting that I won’t let myself fall. I eventually got the rope part but left before I could string all the bits together… anything involving ropes is super tough on the tendonitis.. and while I hadn’t really felt it too much this week, it was seriously unhappy with me after this.
Once I cooled down from working on that flow… I was useless for the rest of the day.
It wasn’t that my body was sore… it was that I felt like I was once small movement away from my whole body locking up.
I’m sure it’s a conditioning thing but yeah, not super pleasant. I took a bath in Epsom salts which I’m sure helped, but not enough to get me to go to the Intermediate class at Revolution Parkour Beaverton nor the Competitive Ninja class at Skyhook. Super bummed about missing both.
Also supposed to do the P90X3 courses Dynamix and CVX, but skipped those as well. Instead I just did a bit of foam rollering (I know that isn’t a word… but surely Oxford has it in it’s sights) and took it easy.
Friday 7th of April 2017
Today beat me up.
Today was a jerk.
I loved today.
I probably attempted too much, I definitely did more today than I think I’ve ever done on any other exercise day ever.
At lunchtime I did my grip strength workout… which is tough, and I hate it at the time, but I love the feeling of getting slightly stronger each week. It’s always just getting microscopically easier.
After work I did The Challenge, the P90X3 course that has been doing 92 pullups and 132 pushups in 30 minutes. I just did the exact same numbers as last week since that exercise messed me up for like 3 days afterwards… I actually think my chest was still a bit tight from last Friday when I first did The Challenge.
My body was definitely breaking down during the pushups… but during the pullups I felt strong. The last 3 minutes are a burnout set… where you do as many pairs of 3 pullups and 3 pushups as you can. I could do 4, but the pullups were still feeling good even at that stage.
Two hours later I was doing Parcours at Revolution Parkour in Beaverton. That is brutal in itself.
I was kind of a big scareycat with all the high stuff, not doing jumps I could easily smash on the ground, but the session definitely felt easier than ever energy-wise. I was still sweating like a monster and nearly dead… but I was less nearly-dead than the previous weeks. They also have a cliff hanger like thing where your feet brace the wall, but I did that way easier than I’ve ever done it before – proof that my grip is definitely improving.
I had the protein shake thing like 3 times today, and then took Cara out for dinner where we both had fish… expensive but amazingly delicious and healthy. A pretty great day.
Thursday 6th of April 2017
Yesterday was my first day trying the USANA Healthpack.
I was already taking a swag of vitamins; Multivitamin, Turmeric, Glucloseamin, D3, Fish Oil and a Calcuim/Magnesium… and after checking with the nutritionist on Tuesday that I couldn’t OD on vitamins, I took the USANA Healthpack along with my usual gang… and promptly got pretty awful stomach toilet issues. I had that really uncomfortable moment where I had to call into a conference meeting… and had to decide whether to risk getting off the toilet but being super professional, or trying to not sound like I was in a bathroom.
It took a few hours to recover, but I’ve now shelved the Magnesium, the multivitamin and the D3… since they’re covered in the USANA Healthpack.
The healthpack has an AM and a PM. I took the PM just before bed… fell asleep okay but totally woke up at 3:30am. I’ve now spent the morning in a weird tired zombie daze. I’m not sure if it’s related to the healthpack… guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Wait… I just remembered that I also started using the protein that the P90X3 course sent me… so that might have caused my stomach issues. I haven’t had any protein shakes for a long time, and I do recall every time I’d try a new brand I’d have stomach issues the first couple of uses.
Arrgh, I always do this… I never just try one thing at a time.
I’m really sore in my glutes, hips, hammies and side stomach (ribs?) from yesterday. Pretty excited that today is just yoga day.
. . .
I did forget when I wrote that how hard yoga is. I’ve been doing it on and off for years… and I’m still so terrible at it. I don’t at all enjoy it, but like most things I complain about, I can definitely see the value in it.
Today I did the X3 Yoga and P90X2 recovery sessions from Club Beach Body. Tough stuff.
Wednesday 5th of April 2017
Wednesdays are all about dynamic movement and agility. I followed the P90X3 workouts Dynamix and Agility X… which are both easy to do at home… and I can see how useful they’ll be for Ninja Warrior, but I honestly feel like a disoriented lunatic. It’s worse than that time I got tricked into doing a Zumba class, it’s a whole lotta fumbling from this guy. I’m wreaked afterwards, but I honestly don’t really enjoy them… I pretty much spend the whole time being terrible and waiting for it all to be over.
I actually mistimed my workouts yesterday, I thought I could go bouldering after dinner… but Planet Granite just gets so super packed, especially now that the weather is finally starting to pick up. I went to Planet Granite, tried to find a spot, gave up and went home. So I bouldered today, which worked out okay, it just meant that I had to do Dynamix and Agility X directly after each other. It was a long hour for me.
After work I went to the very first class of Competitive Ninja Warrior at Skyhook Ninja Fitness in Tigard. It looked like it was just going to be me… which is some super cheap personal training right there, but it was training with other Ninjas that I was really excited about. At the last moment a dude and his teenage stepdaughter rocked up, they were fit but not really experienced enough for this particular class. I was glad to have them there though.
We started off with some exercises on the spring floor, basically trying to strengthen our core and bounce off the ground. We moved onto trying some somersaults on the trampoline track… with the end goal of getting to a front flip onto the pads at the end.
Cody made the point that there is a lot of trampoline work on Ninja Warrior which always trips up a whole lot of competitors… which is absolutely true. For his first class, Cody was pretty great. I was pretty terrible at quite a lot of the exercises which is a big eye-opener for me… I thought my training had been going okay, but the amazing thing about Ninja Warrior is just the sheer amount of skills and strength people need to compete. My massive takeaway was that I had a lot of work to do.
We did some exercises on the rock climbing wall, then some grip strength exercises and finally finished with a small obstacle course.
I’m still very unsure about this class. The logistics of it are a bit tricky for me. I have to Uber out there and then my wife Cara can pick me up after she’s finished at her gym…. which also means she’s waiting around for the class to finish – so I didn’t really get a chance to play on obstacles afterwards.
I was destroyed though… by the time we went to dinner I could hardly move my stomach. Dynamix and Agility X, combined with this class totally did a number on me.
Normally on a Wednesday night I go out to Revolution Parkour in Gresham and work on my laches, do some warped wall runs and try to get another couple of centimeters on their cliffhanger. I can see I’m making some progression of skillz each week. I’ll give this class another couple of shots before I decide which is a best way to train on a Wednesday night.
Tuesday 4th of April 2017
Had a skype date with my dietitian today. It was great to check in with her… I had forgotten all about the meal I’m supposed to have before bedtime… She did contradict a few of the foods that my acupuncturist told me to avoid (like oatmeal) so I’m a bit confused about that…
Monday 3rd of April 2017
Today is my official rest day and I’m actually feeling alright. I could work out… but I won’t because I’ve got acupuncture. With the routine change, I actually haven’t done any bouldering or my grip strength workouts for a week, so my acupuncturist will get to see my elbow tendonitis in a rested state.
. . .
Just got back from the acupuncturist… my arms were a lot better than usual, so she had a chance to dig right into the elbow with all sorts of hardcore pin action. Hurt like a mofo. My arms are going to hurt all night, but that’s cool. It was my favourite class, but I’m going to drop Monday night Beginner II parkour… I was struggling to get there logistically anyway, and was often going with sore elbows, so it makes sense to drop it and rest for a full 24 hours.
Might not sleep so well tonight, I’m actually feelin’ jumpy from taking 2 rest days.
Sunday 2nd of April 2017
So…. my rest day is tomorrow… but I’m exhausted and crazy old man sore today. So, dagnammit, I’m taking a day off training. So tired.
Saturday 1st of April 2017
Pretty sore from The Challenge. Chest and Lats are really really sore. Probs didn’t help that I did another 20 pullups in Parcours… making a nice round 100 for the day.
Today was the Grand Opening of Skyhook Ninja.
I ran straight from this to Intermediate Parkour. Luckily, no upper body stuff, we worked on strides… which is exactly perfect for me. All the balance stuff that has knocked me out of various ninja comps, are all helped by strides. The very last exercise was 3 balance beams to run across… surprisingly hard, but it’s something I’m going to have to set up and train on regularly. If I can start to tackle balance obstacles at speed, that’ll close a glaring gap in my Ninja Skillset.
Friday 31st of March 2017
So, somehow Friday has become my hardest workout day… I’m not sure how I feel about that given that the weekend is kind of when I get to do all the fun stuff.
Firstly I did the P90X3 course called The Challenge… you basically do pushups and pullups for 30 minutes. The pushups and pullups have variations every 2nd round (wide grip, close grip, staggered, etc). I chose 10 and 15… so 10 pullups and 15 pushups each time. It was really tough, I actually felt like I was going to hurl for the entire last 5 minutes.
The weird thing is, in my old schedule I did 20 minutes of burpees and pullups… and did around the same number over a longer time… and this kicked way harder. I honestly don’t understand.
The aim is to pick higher numbers next week, and so forth.
Later that night I did Parcours, which is the Parkour class where you’ve given a few different courses and you’re just continually going through them for 45 minutes. Tonight was a bit different, we did something called 200s… In this you’re given a list, and you do the drills on that list (20 precision jumps, 20 wall climbs, etc). You aim to fit 200 repetitions in the time. I got to 180. It was good though, I did love drilling something over and over while other people did their own things. Often in Parkour we do an exercise one at a time, I’m pretty introverted… and sometimes a show off. I’m complex.
It was a big day and I was pretty rooted afterwards. Gonna be pretty sore tomoz.
I was struggling to get my head around my new schedule until I basically translated Vu’s workout program into days:
Monday : Rest, Sauna and Acupuncture
Tuesday : Cold Start, Total Synergystics, Grip Strength and Bouldering
Wednesday : Dynamix, Agility X and Parkour Gresham (ninja obstacles)
Thursday : X3 Yoga, P90X2 Recovery and Yin Yoga at PG
Friday : Cold Start, The Challenge and Parcours
Saturday : Dynamix, CVX, Intermediate Parkour and Competitive Ninja Warrior
Sunday : Cold Start, The Warrior and Bouldering
Coach Vu was worried that The Challenge and Parcours on the same day would be trouble… it was okay though, I got through. I’m hoping that as I get used to these workouts my recovery gets a lot quicker.
Thursday 30th of March 2017
Woke up this morning very very sore. It’s so weird… following these video workouts in my study has been brutal. They’re really clever in the way they are continually varying the exercises every 30 seconds or so. My legs, back and shoulders are all sore. Very glad day 3 is Yoga day.
Wednesday 29th of March 2017
So this is the workout schedule for the next 3 weeks for me. I’m basically following the videos on http://club.teambeachbody.com/
Doubles Schedule: (1st 3 weeks)
Day 1 is Cold Start and Total Synergystics (full body workout)
Day 2 is Dynamix and AgilityX (Plyometrics/agility workout)
Day 3 is X3 Yoga
Day 4 is Cold Start and The Challenge (Chest/Back workout)
Day 5 is Dynamix and CVX (HIIT Cardio, shoulders)
Day 6 is The Warrior. (Cold Start optional) (full body HIIT cardio)
Day 7 is Dynamix or Rest
Options for evening workout: (see how your body feels the first week and play it by ear)
Day1: Parcours or Grip Strength
Day2: Parkour class or Bouldering
Day3: P90X2 Recovery/Mobility workout or Sub in Yoga at PG
Day4: Parkour class or rest
Day5: Light Bouldering/Grip Strength
Day6: Parkour/Ninja or Bouldering
Day7: Rest
Given that today is day 2, I did the Dynamix and AgillityX workout at home… and they bashed me hard. I am so bad at pretty much all of the movements… but I can totally see how it’ll help me get stronger for Ninja Warrior… one of the reasons I contacted Coach Vu in the first place is that I felt I was spinning my wheels a touch, not quite seeing the progress I was hoping for. I really do think this will help make my whole body stronger and more flexible.
Later I went to Revolution Parkour in Gresham and had a ball. It’s still full of screaming teenagers and kids, but I was able to work on the warped wall, ultimate cliffhanger and some laches. Laches still need a lot of work, I still don’t think I’m getting enough power off the release. The ultimate cliffhanger is so hard, the progress is real slow… but I do think my hands are getting stronger for it.
The warped wall still scares me and I’m trying to repeat it enough times to make it unterrifying. With my current run up I’m easily grabbing the top… so I want to start reducing my run up. The reason it scares me so much is I don’t quite understand what is going to happen if I miss the top, all I can see if just a whole heap of crashing.
Tuesday 28th of March 2017
Woke up energetic and pretty much had to bounce straight into a hectic work day.
Still trying to determine exactly what my workout schedule is. It’s so weird that when I know what I’m doing, I keen to get into my workouts… but all this uncertainty has made me a bit lethergic. Also, I think I’m pretty sore from yesterday’s acupuncture and the fitness test.
So, today as my first day I did the P90X3 workouts Cold Start and Total Syngergitics. Basically you have to follow these workout videos…. I feel pretty silly to be honest. I’ve been doing workouts at the gym for years… 3 x 12 reps of this or that, take a minute break… now I’m doing all this plyometric stuff, which I am super terrible at and feel like I’m dancing in the middle of the gym… watching my video workout stories with my headphones on. I’d rather do these sort of things at home… but guess where I don’t have a pullup bar.
Monday 27th of March 2017
Did the Beachbody fit test as requested by Coach Vu to see where I’m at. Here is a PDF with the fit test.
I kind of stuffed up the bicep curls, I was supposed to use 20 pound barbells, but I thought the 10s at the gym were 10 kgs (22 pounds) buuuut they weren’t. There wasn’t a tiny little ‘lb’ or ‘kg’ anywhere, I had to put one on the scales to figure it out, but by then I had already done the exercises. (Edit : biceps were still sore for like 3 days though).
I also feel like I was strong enough to do more pullups, but I was actually pretty sore in the back and lats from testing obstacles at Skyhook yesterday.
Resting heart rate: 62 bpm
Pullups: 23 reps
Vertical leap standing arm up : 6’1”
Jump: 8’4”
Vertical leap: 8’4 – 6’11” = 15”
Push ups: 35
Toe Touch: +3’5”
Wall Squat: 5:14:66
Bicep curls with 10LB: 60 reps
In & Outs: 100 reps
Heart rate after 2 minutes of jumping jacks: 124bpm
+ 1 minute : 100bpm
+ 2 minutes: 86bpm
+ 3 minutes: 82bpm
+ 4 minutes: 84bpm
I’ll do another test in 90 days from now. I better be betterer.
Sunday 26th of March
Coach Cody from Skyhook Ninja Fitness cancelled our session… which was totally fine because 1.) I didn’t know we had a session and 2.) I thought I had used up all my sessions.
He did instead invite me to test some obstacles with a whole big group later that day… which sounded awesome…. but when I got there literally everyone else had cancelled except one other person… Luckily for me, that one other person was awesome and I had a great time. I honestly have no idea what Cody wanted us there for, we just played on a couple of things he had up… we didn’t really ask us for any suggestions or changes. Actually, honestly, now that I’m writing about it, I think he actually just got us there so we could share things on social media to advertise for him… which we totally didn’t do. The whole thing was weird BUT playing on the circuit board was super fun.
I need to get a whole lot stronger when it comes to traversing the upper body obstacles. It’s such a weird skill to train for… you don’t actually use it all that often in rock climbing. I need to figure out a way to train those Ls!
Thursday 23rd of March 2017
Woke up to the roughest hands in the world. Not injured, just very sore and tired. I have tired hands.
Today I did my grip strength exercises at lunchtime… and then my box jumps/squat jumps exercises after work. I also intended to go to Yin Yoga but it didn’t happen. Instead I took an Epsom salt bath… my first one ever. I was super confused reading the instructions… it was all about the laxative affects of the salts… which is not something I was emotionally ready for. Turns out it’s a laxative if you drink it, not bathe in it.
My grip strength training was tough, I still felt pretty tired from the previous days training… but I can tell I’m definitely getting stronger. The farmers carries were difficult, but not impossibly difficult like they’ve been pretty much every single other time. Same with the jumping exercises, they used to kill me and I could hardly walk out… but now I’m doing much harder stuff and bouncing back really quick.
I was struggling with the volume of workouts I was doing… but I’m actually feeling that finally I’m starting to condition myself to deal with the load. It’s pretty exciting, it’s been a long time coming because every other time I’d get close… I’d then have to travel for weeks for work, and would come back pretty much needing to start again.
This time however, I’ve asked Coach Vu to look at my schedule… and he wants to make a lot of changes… which excites and terrifies me. I don’t want to lose all the good work I’ve been putting in… but on the other hand, he’s pretty amazing so I’d be lucky to improve to anywhere near his level.
The thing I struggle with is that to train for Ninja Warrior, I have to get stronger, get tougher and get more skilled… and I feel like those 3 things often are at odds with each other when it comes to rest and recovery. Which is why I got Coach Vu involved… but at the same time I’m started to get good at my routine. Classic.
Wednesday 22nd of March 2017
Not a great start to the day… went to bed last night with a headache, and woke up with that same headache… with some nausea added in to keep things spicy. Not really sure what’s going on there, didn’t do any outrageous exercises or anything, was fairly normally hydrated.. bit of a mystery really. I might have had super bad slouchy posture which watching TV towards the end of the night.. but surely sleep should have been a reset button for that guy.
Also, my tennis elbow was worse than it’s been in a long long time. If I put my right arm out it definitely comes on straight away, so weird. I didn’t even have a big workout day yesterday. I ran out of the Turmeric vitamin a few days ago and haven’t replaced it… could that be it?
At lunchtime did some quick bouldering, hang-board exercises and handstands… and the tendonitis was an issue the whole way through.
After work I did my 20 minutes of pullups and burpees, but considering I hurt my back last time, this time I thought I’d forget about how many I can do and just concentrate on form… it was good, I think I was only 20 or so behind my usual amount, but felt much better about it… still freakin’ exhausting though – still need to work on my fitness. I’m not sure… but I think I was still sore from Sunday’s workout… those muscles behind the shoulders that link up to the triceps, were not having a great time.
Later I went to Revolution Parkour in Gresham and basically only worked on 3 things… Ultimate Cliffhanger, Spider Jump and the 9 foot lache. I did better on the Ultimate Cliffhanger than I ever have… I still can’t hold all my weight and it’s definitely a work in progress, but I am seeing improvement. The Spider Jump is just an awful obstacle… it bends you in all the wrong ways but it’s great to work on whenever I can. After a heap of tries… still couldn’t get the 9 foot lache… I think I tapped it with both hands once. I think the problem is my hands, they’re so sore and rough from everything else… and I need to properly commit and throw myself forward when I let go. So much to learn!
Tuesday 21st of March 2017
Took today as a semi-rest day to give my forearms a break after the acupuncture… so only did a bit of cardio. Just punched out some of this:
Session 1 : Ninja HIIT workout.
Session 2 : 30 minutes of elliptical with 5 minutes cool down.
I was intending to do the HIIT class at Planet Granite at 6pm… but I just got sidetracked with work and then wanted to do a big grocery shop to act on the advice of the acupuncturist, so it didn’t happen. It takes so much organisation and action to be a ninja!
Monday 20th of March 2017
Ugh, I’m really starting to struggle with the whole acupuncture thing. Instead of getting better at it, I’m getting more and more jumpy each time. Haven’t seen any improvement in the tendonitis yet… but he’s a tricky guy to get rid of.
The acupuncturist asked about my diet, and suggested getting rid of all the gluteny or starchy carbs and basically only having sweet potato as my carb. She said that a lot of gluteny carbs create inflammation which is what tendonitis is. It’s really hard to measure any improvement with the tendonitis, I don’t remember it hurting as much as it does these days… but firstly memories are the least scientific means to test something, and my training was probably quite different.
I was on a no sugar no carbs diet for about 7 months, which I really liked… but without carbs I wasn’t getting any stronger. So I’m willing to try the acupuncturists dietary suggestions on this.
I did some bouldering, some handstands and some hang board exercises. I honestly don’t feel like my grip strength is improving at all. So annoying. I deliberately tried to max out my forearms in the days leading up to the acupuncture appointment so I could then rest them in the days after. We’ll see if that works out.
Intended to go to Parkour tonight… but my forearms were pretty sore… and my right knee was feeling wonky as after Cody’s quad step drills yesterday.
Sunday 19th of March 2017
I went to train with Cody at Skyhook Ninja Fitness today, using that last session I had already paid for… it was pretty good
I’m pretty sore after our one hour session though, my right arm has all the tendonitises flaring up… both tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow. That’s always been the case with Cody’s sessions. I didn’t do the 4arm strong thing beforehand because I’m scared of it, but I’ll work it into my week.
Later in the day I did my box jumps and my grip strength workout… these two workouts I usually never get around to on Sundays so I was really happy with myself for smashing them out. I was also pretty sore so I found a dodgy massage place… this 80 year old Chinese lady basically destroyed me. She’d put all her weight on her elbows and just launch in, she also said because I was young she could do some Thai massage, which basically meant she tried to pull twist my arms out of my sockets. I was pretty sure I was going to be killed on that table, but I survived.. I may or may not have the bruises to prove it.
Saturday 18th of March 2017
Early Saturday mornings I like to get into Planet Granite the very second that it opens and do the following little flowy routine:
Muscle up to the bar, somersault into a lache to the rope and then climb up the rope.
Totally inspired by Brin here:
I can’t do the backwards somersault but I still really like the flow… I’ve only managed it like 2 times, but it’s really fun to work on. I have to do it first thing because I’m swinging around, having pretty much anyone else in that space totally puts me off.
I really struggled this morning though… entirely because my hands were a little rough from Parcours last night. We didn’t do much stuff on the bars, but obviously enough to make things uncomfortable this morning. Otherwise I felt strong and energetic, but yeah, really held back by my hands.
When I got home I tried my brand new 4arm strong device:
It’s supposed to help tendonitis, but I realised afterwards that you’re supposed to use it before the activity not afterwards.
I might not have used it correctly, because my right arm felt super tired all day afterwards… you know when you move house and your arms & back are just dead… that’s how it felt, but only in the right arm. I’ll try and do more research and contact the company to get more information.
I had never heard of or seen this device before Shaun mentioned it on the forum so I’ll been keen to give a report back after a week or so.
I played host to a family of Aussies today so didn’t really get much time to train… my abs and core were still pretty sore from Parcours last night. We went to Skyzone trampoline park and I bounced around a bit but nothing to hectic. Totally KB’d from Trampoline Dodge Ball due to my adult status… ripped off.
A new Parkour place opened today :
https://www.facebook.com/forgeparkour/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf
I love their video so much… especially that first bit that’s all one shot.
They had a free grand opening today from 2pm to 6pm but I didn’t get to it today unfortunately… hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it tomorrow.
Friday 17th of March 2017
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Woke up and my back is still very much a thing.
It’s worrying because I’ve actually organised to meet my (hopefully) new Ninja Coach at the Parcours class at Revolution Parkour in Beaverton. I’ve never done this class, and it scares the crap out of me. From what I hear, they set a couple of courses and you just run that repeatedly forever. I’ve come in for the following class a few times and everyone seems nearly dead. Apparently it improves your fitness and your technique out of sight… but surely you need to have some of those things first to be able to survive the class.
Later….
Parcours was great!
I really enjoyed it, I don’t know what I was so scared about. Basically Mike divided the group into 3 groups, and had laid out 3 different parkour courses within the space… and you continually run that course for 10 minutes. I really liked it. I was in the slowest group, which was completely fine for my first time. I never felt like I was holding anyone up and probably didn’t do nearly as many repetitions as I would have in a faster group… but I’m very confident I could handle a faster group, so that’s good. Was not expecting an unrelenting full on 5 minute ab workout at the end… one of those sessions that is so brutal in the moment but you feel great afterwards.
The best part of the session though, was 2 American Ninja Warriors had just got back from filming in LA, so very excited to talk to them both. They couldn’t let any results or obstacles out, which I totally understand, but talking about the general feeling of the experience was really exciting to listen to.
Not sure if the new Ninja Coach will work out exactly how I was thinking. I knew he had a family but didn’t realise he worked full time in not-fitness. He’s really great though, so we’ll see where it takes us. Exciting times! (P.S – my back was fine… so relieved.)
Thursday 16th of March 2017
My back is not good. Suddenly tying shoes is a massive endeavour.
I didn’t do any of my usual Thursday training, instead used the sauna at lunchtime, and after sitting in there for 10 minutes, I turned to adjust a towel and my back when into a weird spasm… glad I was alone cos the weird spontaneous zombie dance with swearing and self-massage probably wouldn’t endear me to any other towel-wearing sweat dudes.
Called my masseuse to try to stop my body from completely rejecting me. Luckily she was able to see me and I don’t know if my back felt much better or not, but I’m hopeful it’ll help in the long run. She’s also a personal trainer, and she did say something interesting… she was all ‘do you want to do pullups and burpees well, or do you just want to do lots of them… cos that’s very different’
She was right. I’ve just been focusing on trying to pump out as many as possible to try and get in 200… but that seemingly-impossible goal would be so much easier if I was actually great at them.
Next Wednesday I’m not going to worry about how many (I won’t even count)… I’m just going to do perfect pullups and burpees for 20 minutes.
Wednesday 15th of March 2017
Not a great day.
At lunchtime I went to Planet Granite, my most favourite place in America and did some bouldering, some handstands (kind of, I’m getting a maximum of about 3 seconds), some hang board exercises, etc.
After work I did my hardest workout of the week:
In 20 minutes I have to do as many pull-ups and burpees as I can.
It absolutely kills me. It’s all about conditioning and it comes from here… Sam Sann managed to do 200… which has been my goal for a long time.
I usually just sneak in 160 before the timer rings out. Even though I was feeling stronger with the pull-ups than usual, I only got to 150. My fitness has a way to go… I also caught myself towards the end with terrible terrible burpee form… my pelvis was almost the last thing to rise when really my back, hips and chest should have been super tight. Once I caught myself the pushup out of the burpee was way easier.
Afterwards, my lower back was in a bit of pain… not just tight, just worked out sore, but like I pulled or tweaked something. Painful reminder of why technique is so important.
Possibly foolishly I still did my ab workout:
3 x 25 situps, 12 leg raises, 40 crunches and 40 toe touches.
and my subluxation shoulder exercises… and then was feeling pretty not-great so didn’t go to Revolution Parkour Gresham, which is a massive shame because I love that place. Hope I haven’t done anything serious to my back. I use that guy all the time.
Tuesday 14th of March 2017
Today was my cardio day. I really need to work on improving my stamina. It is not great.
When I first started training for Ninja Warrior, I was coming off 4 years of 3 times a week indoor soccer, and I thought that my fitness was my strongest weapon against the course. Now, it’s by far my weakest. Really disappointed with myself today.
I’m supposed to do this:
Session 1 : Ninja HIIT workout.
Session 2 : 30 minutes of elliptical with 5 minutes cool down.
Session 3 : 30 minutes of HIIT workout at local gym.
but what I did was:
Session 1 : Ninja HIIT workout.
Session 2 : 30 minutes of elliptical with 5 minutes cool down.
I just totally spaced on the time (I was working and just totally messed up the timings). I do feel like I worked out today, but not hard enough to be pushing forward. Pretty disappointing.
Monday 13th of March 2017
At lunchtime I did some bouldering and some hang-board exercises… and the elbow tendonitis pretty much came on straight away… which is somewhat alarming considering I pretty much took 3 days off. It’s kind of a major hassle too, I really want to strengthen my hands… but that’s hard to do when the elbows cry out at the slightest effort.
Going to see the acupuncturist again tonight for my 3rd session… hopefully it’ll set me up for a good week of training.
Sunday 12th of March 2017
Cara and I went for a run/hike/bush walk/got lost in Forest Park which is really really rad. It’s a park that is super foresty… so lots of uneven ground and rocks, roots, fallen down trees to traverse. Really nice to get out into nature and just go. I don’t run much so I found it super hard.
I also did my grip strength workout… but to add to the chaos of the day I forgot all about it until about 25 minutes until the gym closed…. so I didn’t get the full workout it. Forearms still pretty pumped though.
Saturday 11th of March 2017
Saturday isn’t supposed to be a rest day… but I just really couldn’t be bozed. I was all lethargic and weird.
In these sorts of situations, I don’t honestly know if I should listen to my body and just lounge around on a couch resting up for a big week of exercises or if I should be more disciplined and force myself to get up and Adam. The 1pm Intermediate Parkour class at Revolution Parkour in Beaverton is usually my favourite class of the week… and in the past when I’ve forced myself to go I’ve always enjoyed it… but the couch well and truly ate me up and I couldn’t escape it’s warm soothing sleep-inducing caress.
Friday 10th of March 2017
Friday rest day couldn’t come soon enough.
I don’t know if it’s a thing that is true or not, but my acupuncturist told me that heat and warmth help move blood around the body which helps the recovery and healing process. So I went to the sauna at lunchtime and took a bath with Dead Sea Salt after work. The acupuncturist really recommended Epsom salts for the magnesium but I was pretty much just trying to use up the last of the Dead Sea salt I already had.
I really struggle with heat… I already run pretty hot and find that being too hot gives me headaches. I was useless when we holidayed in Spain in Summer. So, after the sauna and bath I was hanging out with headaches for the rest of the day and night. I don’t know if it’s something I need to get my body used to, the sauna doesn’t always give me a headache, or if it’s a time thing, like am I okay with 15 minutes in the sauna but not okay with 20 minutes. Need more science!
Thursday 9th of March 2017
I am exhausted. Body and soul… just done… and Thursdays are a big training day for me too.
I pretty much stumbled through my lunchtime grip strength/forearm exercises at lunchtime today, and I’m defo the major of struggletown at work.
My hands just feel really tired.
After work I went to the gym fully expecting to totally phone my workout in… only to totally realise that my vertical leap exercises still freak me out and wake me the hell up. I leap up onto a metal thingamigo about belly button height. I never think I’m gonna make it and bang my shins, and fear gets me up there.
4 sets of 8 onto the metal thingy and 3 sets of 8 squat jumps. This is like maybe the 5th time I’ve done this routine… the first few times I could barely walk home, I’m much tougher now… still gonna feel it over the next two days though.
Did 3 L-sit rope climbs afterwards and my elbows were done after that, pretty sore behind the elbow, like if you continue the back to the furthest point.
So so so done by then. Did Yin Yoga which is the most gentle relaxing thing in the world and I was still too tired for it.
Wednesday 8th March 2017
Had to cut short one of the week’s hardest training sessions today to make it to my acupuncture appointment. I left enough time between work and the appt to train, but work got in the way… hate that. You can really tell where my passions lie.
It was my 2nd acupuncture appointment ever and it hurt way more than the first. After the first session my forearms were completely dead for the rest of the night… which wasn’t a huge problem this time… but it hurt way more. The initial tapping of the needle doesn’t hurt, it’s the moving around the needle afterwards that is super not fun. I nearly kicked my accupuncturist in the face twice – so not manly.
Afterwards I took my Seattle and Perth friends to Revolution Parkour Gresham. I still didn’t get the 9 foot lache this time, but I’m so close. They have a 14ft warped wall there… that I do so easily… when I convince myself to absolutely commit. It’s so weird that someone that I actually have no problems doing right takes me so long to psych myself up for.
I nowhere near lasted the full hour of the open gym, between Skyhook and parkour on Monday and the acupuncture I was pretty toast pretty quick.
Really looking forward to seeing if the acupuncture helps my elbow tendonitis and plantar fascitis though! The elbows really do slow down my training.
Tuesday 7th March 2017
Due to my hardcore workouts on Sunday and Monday, Tuesday has become my cardio day, really to give my arms a bit of a break.
I realised that my cardio was not great after this debacle. After I crashed and burned the 3rd time, I went to try and do the course after the comp had finished, and I was continually smoked after 2 or 3 obstacles. My tank isn’t anywhere near good enough, and that’s mainly because I forgot about cardio the last few months as I concentrated on getting stronger and learning skills. You actually need a huge tank to tackle obstacle after obstacle, so that’s what Tuesdays are all about for me.
Session 1 : Ninja HIIT workout.
Session 2 : 30 minutes of elliptical with 5 minutes cool down.
Session 3 : 30 minutes of HIIT workout at local gym.
I’ve only been to the HIIT workout twice so far, and both times it has completely, well and truly, absolutely devastated me. The first time I had to leave the gym straight away because I needed to get outside to breathe and surpress any throwingupness. Today was a less intense session but I was pretty useless afterwards. Pro tip : You can’t go grocery shopping when your legs, arms or brain no longer work.
6th March 2017
Today I trained with a girl from Perth and a guy from Seattle who wanted to see what Portland had to offer.
I took them to Skyhook Ninja Fitness out in Tigard. They had a few things up but still a lot of work to do.
After training with my buddies at Skyhook, I later went to do the Beginner II class at Revolution Parkour Beaverton. The staff there are just so nice, it’s a really welcoming and encouraging place. We worked on leaps, working up towards an 8 foot leap that was 11 feet up in the air… (completely utterly totally padded, but still slightly terrifying). I’ve got a good leap on me and after I held down the nerves and smothered them with a pillow, I was making all the leaps. Such a good night.
My tendonitis was real bad after Skyhook, so much so I was going to skip Revolution Parkour… but I went anyway and the tendonitis went away. Such a mystery.
18th February 2017
I’ve been seriously looking at my training, my diet and my recovery after this debacle.
I feel like I already had a full training regime, and now I want to add a whole heap of other things in… at the same time, after competing in that last comp, the tendonitis in both elbows came back with a vengeance (not because of the comp, I think it was from playing on the obstacles afterwards). So, I want to change things up, just I’ll list what I’m currently doing for records sake:
I’ve actually scheduled a nutritionist for early next week, so I’m hoping I can change my diet a touch to give it a bit more of a recovery and performance focus. Here is my current diet:
Cup of oatmeal with a banana around 6:30am
4 eggs with baby spinach and cucumber around 8:30am
A big salad at 11am consisting of chicken, eggs, tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, almonds, sweet corn, peas and lettuce.
2 or 3 rice crackers with peanut butter about 4pm.
Pork chops with steam vegetables around 6pm.
I’m also taking fish oil 2400mg, D3 2000 iu, Glucosamine 2000mg, Turmeric 500mg and a Centrum multivitamin once a day.
Glucosamine and Turmeric are for arthritis in my big toes and elbow tendonitis.
22nd July 2016 : An interview by blogger Simandan
I was recently interviewed by the supernice Mihnea of the Simandan blog (www.simandan.com) Mihnea has been running a really quite successful blog about his travels around Asia and his passion for archery. He also has a huge interest in a whole heap of sporting adventures which is where I came into the picture.
The interview talks about my excitement for Australian Ninja Warrior, my plans and intentions to try and become a community leader in this growing, new and exciting sport and my efforts to train for American Ninja Warrior. I have a whole heap of goals for 2017, with a lot of moving pieces so I have to say, interviews like this really do help get everything clear in my mind.
I’m a massive fan of the blogging community, they are so incredibly supportive and interested in what I’m trying to do. I give the blogging community two thumbs up for being grouse.
Links to the article can be found here.
21st July 2016 : An Interview on the VSL website
Another blog post by me… must mean another blogger interviewy thing. I’m trying to smash these out to get the word out. I’m not sure how successful it all is, but I have to say that I’m very much enjoying the process. It’s been really fun thinking back to why I created Aussie Ninja Warrior and why I started on this little adventure.
Anywho, here is the link to this interview by VSL :
http://www.visahotline.co.uk/aussie-ninja-warrior-things-need-know/
20th July 2016 : Quick little rad interview with The Crazy Mind website.
I was recently interviewed by the website The Crazy Mind who seems to interview pretty much any old thing (a category I totally rock) and they seem to have a million, trillion followers… so that’s pretty ace.
Given the amount of articles this website pumps out, I’m probably only going to stay on that front page for a minute longer, an hour tops. Still 15 seconds of fame is better than -15 seconds of fame, which is not great but also a paradox but also just kind of un-rad.
Link to the article can be found here. I’m pretty interesting.
11th June 2016 : Training for ANW but also the rest of life.
One thing I’ve been struggling with for quite some time is how to fit in the rest of life, with my training. I’m sure it’s literally what every competitor, every athlete, every musician, everyone who is trying to upskill themselves to the exclusion of pretty much all else.
I struggle, not for my own benefit, but for my partners. I honestly don’t care for fancy food, I don’t crave deliciousness nor partyingness or ever really need to drink. Honestly, I’m happiest when I’m training hard, resting well and eating properly. All the things that make a great athlete.
However, my partner is not wired that way at all, she doesn’t care about what she can or can’t do, she cares about what she can experience. She loves amazing food, it’s almost orgasmic for her, she loves a great white wine, she’s very social and loves to be out, to see bands, to experience restaurants and bars.
Since moving to America, she easily put on 20 pounds from sampling all the new cuisine available to us, and is now working hard to get back to her pre-America weight. I try and be supportive and take her out to nice places, but it so feels like a huge waste of time, money, energy and calories. Not only that, but because I see my trainer on Sunday mornings, I train my hardest on Thursdays so I’m recovered for Sunday. Saturday is my rest day so I work hard on Fridays too, which means by Friday night (tonight!) I’m totally beat.
We’ve been invited out by some of my partner’s work friends, that she really does want to be close to, but one of them won’t arrive in town until 9pm, so the funness doesn’t really start by then. It’s barely midday now and I’m already ready for bed. I’ve always laughed at party-girls that really want to hook up with professional athletes, who probably don’t quite understand that their lives are diametrically opposed.
I can see why athletes often end up marrying other athletes, because they both understand the sacrifices required. I want to be a good partner, but I’m also really worried that compromising just leads to mediocrity. It’s a tough call…
1st June 2016 : Training – Taking a few days off
How do you know when it’s time to rest?
Due to a variety of reasons I haven’t seen my personal trainer for a few weeks, and so eventually when I caught up with him over the phone, he was concerned that I had taken on all his recent exercises plus my usual exercises plus a new rock climbing course… I was kinda complaining that my hands were always tired and sore, and when he mentioned it was way way too much, it totally dawned on me that I was heading thick and fast towards injury.
I always do this, I get so involved with what I’m doing and making progress, that I don’t really let my body heal. And the whole mattress thing hasn’t helped. I tend to only take breaks from training when I get sick and I’m forced to take breaks.
Part of the reason is that I don’t see myself even close to being ready for American Ninja Warrior and so I’m pushing pushing pushing to get to a good place. I need to remember that I’ve still got 9 months or so before I have to actually prove myself… and so I have time to progress without pushing myself to injury. It’s hard, my enthusiasm is probably my best skill and my most dangerous quality.
I always struggle with the concept of resting, ‘cos, that’s what everyone else is doing all the time right?
The coast be callin’
So… with my personal trainer totally alarmed, we decided that I would take 5 days off over the Memorial Weekend (30th of May). I was going away with some friends down to the coast of Oregon over the long weekend, so it all worked out perfectly.
In the few times I’ve taken a break from training for reasons of injury, after about the 2nd day I’m raring to go, and my back hurts from lying around and my legs are jumpy just crying out for some jumping. This time (somewhat alarmingly to me) I’ve hit day 5 and I still don’t feel ready to get back into exercising. Did I get fat and lazy? I totally took a break from my diet, so I might just be feeling the effects of Sudden Carbs and Secret Sugar, but yeah, weird.
I hope my body has enjoyed rest time, because mentally, I am ready to punch it again… especially with ANW kicking off tonight. Yeewwwwwwwwww!
22nd March 2016: American Ninja Warrior – Parkour Update
Parkour is so good
So I’ve graduated myself from the Beginner class to the Beginner 2 Parkour class, and am much happier for it. The Monday night Beginner 2 class is for ages 16+ so it’s a bit less rambuncuous but also it’s way more technical. I’ve actually discovered I don’t know how to jump with my left foot. So far, no matter the exercise I’ve always found a way to kick off with my right… it’s terrible. I actually have an amazing leap with my right, (maybe because it’s always done all the work) but I’m now going to have to put some work in to un-program my brain and teach myself how to jump with my left. So weird!
I actually think I’ve got enough natural talent to join the intermediate class… except, it’s really taking my 2 full days to recover from the beginner 2 class. That balance between striving forward vs acclimatizing your body is something I’ve always struggled with.
12th March 2016: American Ninja Warrior – Things that are holding me back – #1 Update
Plantar Fasciitis, what a freakin’ jerk
The update is that there is no real update. It still hurts like a jerk most days. I’ve given the physio the flick since he either didn’t know how to tackle it or was stringing me along. I only get 15 visits a year so I didn’t want to waste too many. I’m now trying to strengthen my feet by working on my balance, and doing the exact opposite to what the podiatrist said, and spending as much time in bare feet as possible, and wearing different shoes all the time. Previous advice hasn’t worked so I’m trying something new. I’m hoping the foot, being a miraculous feat of evolutionary engineering will figure itself out. I’m also massaging it with a golf ball and rolling out my calves every chance I get. I’ve got some Fish Oil that I’ll be taking daily and I’m starting hot yoga to try and help as well.
1st March 2016 : American Ninja Warrior – 4 steps to training – Endurance
I had a shoulder injury last Thursday, so during the recovery it was a good time to start the Maffetone Method. Summed up, it basically gets you to stop using the anaerobic fibers in your body so you can train your aerobic fibers instead… basically transforming me from a sprinter to a marathoner. I know American Ninja Warrior is about short bursts of action, but I think the really great guys have a crap ton of endurance in their tank. A lot of guys go out because they get so tired, they then don’t tackle obstacles properly and fall. I’m trying to prevent that from happening to me… like everything else on this journey, I have to go back a heap of steps to start from the start in something brand new to me. It’s been challenging the last few days, especially the no carbs or sugars for 2 weeks thing… but I think it’ll be worth it.
15th February 2016 : American Ninja Warrior – 4 steps to training – Rock Climbing
The gym that I joined is also an indoor rock climbing centre, which is very lucky that it’s so close. I did the beginner rock climbing course which was great and I learnt a ton. The only friends I have in Portland are the two girls I did that beginner course with. So, I basically go twice a week to do some bouldering by myself and then do a rock climbing session with the girls once a week. It’s weird how different in skill level we are. The girls have great balance and leg strength, so they can do climbs I can’t, whereas I’m a bit more upper body so I can get through spots they don’t even want to attempt. It’s great. At the moment I can do V0 & V1 climbs. I haven’t finished any V2 bouldering climbs yet. In rock climbing I’m kinda sticking to the 5.8 & 5.9. Haven’t completed a 5.10a yet.
10th February 2016 : American Ninja Warrior – 4 steps to training – Parkour
At the moment, I’m doing one beginner class of Parkour a week, and I’m usually sore for at least 2 days afterwards. It’s really fun though and I’m really not that bad at it. I’ve got a good leap and I’m strong, I can usually muscle my way through things (not ideal) if my technique isn’t great. Some of the other dudes in the beginner class are just amazing, it’s very inspiring. I actually can’t wait until I’m conditioned enough to go more than once a week.
5th February 2016 : American Ninja Warrior – 4 steps to training
One of the reasons I love Ninja Warrior is that no one type of athlete, body type, age or discipline is perfect for it. The rock climbing guys are usually great at Stage 3, but there is a heap of balance obstacles to trip them up before then. I have no real background, I did competitive dancing in my early 30s, then played a heap of indoor soccer, and gym it up a lot, but I’ve overhauled everything to train for Ninja Warrior. Basically, my thinking is that the four areas I’m training are: Parkour, Rock Climbing, Calisthenics and Endurance. I am brand new to all of these things, but it’s fun.
2nd February 2016 : Strategy – Progression
I know it seems obvious, but slow progression is going to be key. Currently, I can’t do a single thing that I’ll need to bring to American Ninja Warrior, so it’s all about progression. Start off small, master that, build on it, advance. Rinse and repeat. It’s extremely tedious, but starting small helps condition my old bod, which’ll open a whole heap of doors for me. I’ll actually be going backwards for quite a while, doing exercises I can totally easily do… all in order to build up the tendons and supporting muscles. Usually I jump into everything as hard as I can, and usually end up injured along the way… slow and steady and driving myself crazy… that’s my approach.
31st January 2016 – Things that are holding me back… golfer’s elbow
All my problems are tendonitis-y, I also have RSI but that doesn’t really affect this new crazy goal of mine. Golfers Elbow in my right arm is a big problem though, it started when we were touring around Spain. I had been going to the gym heaps before we left, and then while we were bouncing around that crazy hot country, I’d only sporadically get to a gym… I tried my normal pull-ups and my elbow did not like it one bit. It’s been a problem for nearly 10 years now. Basically Hammer Curls are impossible, and pull-ups develop an ache pretty quickly.
Dagnammit.
29th January 2016 – Things that are holding me back… plantar fascitis.
This came outta nowhere about 8 months ago. I was playing indoor soccer like 4 times a week and everything was fine for ages.. then I wanted to get better so I started training twice a week and my heal very quickly started to hurt a lot. I’ve now been to 2 podiatrists (and paid through the nose for orthotics) and will still no end in sight I’m now working with a physio. He thinks it’s because of my tight calves. Which have always been crazy tight, but I’ve basically done no cardio for 8 months to heal this sucker so they really shouldn’t be tight at all.
Damn old man calves.
27th January 2016
I’m basically working my way through the book Convict Conditioning. It’s really, really good. It’s been frustrating basically starting over with almost literal baby steps… but I always go too far too fast and end up injuring myself… so I’m trying to do the exercises exactly as the book dictates.
27th January 2016
I wanted to take a serious of measurements before I started in order to see if there were any changes along the way. I honestly don’t know what to expect… but I do know that it’s hard to see how far you’ve come if you don’t know where you started.
24th January 2016
This one is a little out of my hands, but I’m chasing it regardless. My partner and I moved to America seeking change and adventure, and this show was a big reason for me for picking the United States. We could have moved to Japan or Malaysia or the UK to compete on their shows, but I’ve loved the American version of Ninja Warrior for years now. I am slightly worried that while I’m attempting to be on American Ninja Warrior that Australia launches it’s own version (which would be epic, the weather allows Aussies to be ridiculously fit and sporty) but I’m chasing more of a sure thing here.
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