Ho ho hum.

Still nothing too exciting happening in my part of the neighborhood, unless you count going to a great-uncle's funeral as exciting (I don't).

Eased up a bit from my initial pace after doing 5 consecutive days of workouts; yesterday was more or less completely off, and today was pretty light. I'll likely keep tomorrow light too and get working again once the week starts.

I've started doing some gymnastic bodyweight exercises in an effort to improve my core strength further/because it's quick to do and a good long-term project. I was heartened by the fact that I could go straight to the tuck planche without needing to build strength; I lack the pullup bar to work the front lever, but've been doing a position similar to the leg raise we do (think dips with legs fully extended) to at least work some of the same muscles for now.

Planning to give running another try by mid-week, depending on the weather (it'll be nice to be able to feel my ankle to know how it's progressing); in the meantime I've been doing lots of alphabet spelling with my left foot and toe raises as well (for some reason the top of my foot/bottom-front shin muscle is pretty tight) in an effort to rehab. It's been pretty good just walking around and working out, but it's still obviously not at 100% when I put weight on the side of my foot the way I rolled it (which is to be expected, I guess).

Also, if you're looking for extra reading and aren't Seigs (I know he already reads these blogs), I'd reccomend checking out Art De Vany's blog. The stuff on evolutionary fitness is really interesting, relatively practical, and a time-consuming read (he's been blogging since March, there're lots of long entries). That and this site have been my main sources of inspiration/general workout structure thus far for the break along with a book I have chronicling the training methods of Bruce Lee. Knowledge is power!

So I'll start with the bad new first, and that's that I haven't done any of the frisbee workouts yet. My bad. I'm hoping to have week 1 taken care of by the start of winter term. I have been getting some exercise though. I've gone running a couple times. Once where I failed, but today was good. I ran my 'hill' route, hill being in quotes because I doubt what Oklahomans would call a hill qualifies under your definitions. Still, it was 3.5 miles with some inclines. Not bad. I've also been playing some basketball, getting myself ready to dominate in IM this winter.

The big news is that I spent 4 days recently skiing in Utah with my dad. It was fun, and helped a lot with ultimate skills I think. You have to have quick reflexes to ski moguls, and I hit the steep and deep as often as I could and so got in some good leg work. This also brings up a point I'd like to make about training, a little tongue in cheek though. And that is to always keep ultimate on your mind whatever you're doing athleticly. For example, while skiing from top to bottom at Alta my legs began to burn, but I kept telling myself that it was universe point, and you don't get to rest on universe point. So I held myself together and finished the run. This may or may not be actually healthy, and is possibly borderline obsessive, but I found it entertaining. Another example, and hence this ramble, would be that even while doing a mapping assignment during the stretch, I managed to find the time to work in some layout practice. Don't worry, a large shrub broke my fall, and the snow didn't hurt either.

No-weight workout today.

A bit longer than the other days. More muscle groups to work, and more reps per set. Lots of notes follow.

Clock jumps both/single legs
Hindu Squats 20, 20
Step-ups w/ 10, 10, 10 each leg
Pec (wide) pushups 20, 20, 20
Leg curls w/ 15, 15, 15 each leg
Tricep (close to hip) pushups 15, 15, 15
Supermans 20, 20, 20 ea
Thrustups w/ 20, 20
Handstand pushups 5, 6
Burnouts 125, 125
Bicycle situps 80, 30 two breaths after

-Clock jumps: like the square jumps we do to warmup for day 3, only instead of jumping in a 4-pointed box, you jump in 8 points around a clock--12, 1/2, 3, 4/5, 6, etc, and then back counterclockwise. make sure you face forward the entire time.
-hindu squats(scroll to the bottom for a step-by-step description): I like these a lot, just tried them out today. Need to up the reps, but they're a surprisingly good workout for the lower body. The toes are essential to making it work. Definitely give it a try if you've no weight and want to get a good workout. I might start doing these daily, we'll see.
-leg curls: I did these lying on my stomach and slowly contracting the hamstrings until my calf reached my thigh, contracting very tightly at the end of the motion. I didn't find these very worthwhile; I think I might replace some sort of bridge (similar to the sb leg curls only without the ball) next time through.
-supermans: alternate lifting your right arm and left leg or left arm and right leg. good for the back, I could've upped the reps a bit I think.
-Thrustups and Burnouts: both are described here. All of the things there are solid exercises, these two are really good for the calves, which the ultimate workout doesn't do much for. I probably could stand another set of thrustups with some more reps.

lower body today...

I also went for my first run in a while. Pretty short, maybe 1.5-2 miles, picked up the pace several times, though it wasn't that fast and the lactic acid came pretty fast. I need lots of conditioning, still.

Anyways, here's the workout I did for any of you following at home:

Day 3 warmup w/out abs (I do lots of ab work separately)
Jumping squats 3x12 @ 80 lbs
Lunges 3x10 @ 40 lbs
sl RDLs 2x10 @ 16 lbs, 10@20 lbs
sl Calf Raises w/ 10, 12, 15 reps
Leg Curls 3x10 @ 40 lbs
Turkish Get-up* 2x10 @ 10 lbs
Clean and Press 8@60 lbs, 12 @40 lbs

*check here for a good description of the exercise. Decent shoulder/side of torso workout, though I think I need more weight/reps and another set to really get the benefit of it.

I know there's a bit of upper body work in there, but it's nothing too exceptional, some shoulder/chest stuff. Focus on hamstrings (pairing leg curls with calf raises really works the area). Thinking I should add some half-squats for my knees, though I usually do the rehab-type stuff (for my knee, ankle, thumb, and to a lesser extent, achilles) separately.

Ankle's holding up okay. It took a few minutes before it felt halfway decent when I went to run, but wasn't a deal-breaker, which is good. Planning to take tomorrow off from running and do weds-thurs back-to-back and see how the ankle responds.

Sunshine makes something for his workouts.

Yeah, I'm horrible at making titles.

"i'm still alive, and working really long hours with my dad doing construction, and coming home exhausted, so i haven't been working out much in addition to that. i did get a few runs in over the three day weekend (silly dc had a snow day friday, despite getting approximately zero inches of snow), which is good because stamina is probably where i'm weakest right now.
peace"

Socks actually does work out!

at least, as much as his nubix will allow:

"i've been sticking to what i consider to be the core of my training process (which ironically has remained constant for cross country, discus, and ultimate disc):

-plyometrics: working on turnover by running stairs, harvard two-steps, jumping, and shuffling.
why? plyometrics make you a dynamic and squirrly person. which i aspire to be. turnover is where alot of sprinting power comes from. besides, plyometrics are perhaps the most universal of all sports skills- long jumping, sprinting, capture the flag, whatever. its good to be able to jump and move the body quickly.

-core: sit-ups, elbow holds, murph-ups, trunk twists, super-mans (for back)
why? having a strong core is important for balance and speed, as well as upper body strength. you don't notice it as much, so its often forgotten, but good core strenght is key.

-leg stength: horse stances, rocket jumpes, leg lifts, lunges, toe raises
why? it makes your legs stronger. duuuuuuuuuh.

note that all of these are done without weights or equipment. you can workout anywhere- at home, your brother's dorm, a hotel."

Bruce Lee is my fitness hero.

Upper body set today, with a few exercises borrowed from The Man. Emphasis placed on the back and shoulders. Used my crappy barbell/bench set and the plates by themselves instead of a dumbell; I'll put some weightless substitutes in parinthesis where applicable for anybody looking for workout ideas.

Day 1 warm-up
Decline Bench Press 2x12, 1x10 @ 60
(wide-armed pushups)
Bent-over Row 1x20, 1x12 @40
(maybe pushups, to an extent. nowhere near as good a workout for the back though)
Lateral Dumbell raise 1x12, 1x10 @10 each arm
(you can probably get a good workout with two nalgenes full of water)
Deadlift paired w/ 3x6 @ 40
(RDLs come close; this is more of a back workout though)
Clapper Push-ups 3x10
Handstand Push-ups w/ 1x6, 1x2
Flat-footed situp 1x15, 1x20

A few notes about the exercises:
-generally, I try to do the exercises with maximal exertion and solid form. the beginning and ending of the motions should be slow to avoid the bouncing effect, but accelerate as fast as you can through the middle of the motions to work the muscles as much as possible. You'll be surprised how quickly you tire doing this (a large part of declining reps in several of the exercises I did). Try not to do reps with poor form, as that increases injury risk, especially when tired.
-I also do the exercises with minimal rest. I might work in more pairings to cut down on sit-around time, but generally speaking I'm trying to condition as well as improve strength. More than a minute is too much for my goals.
-bent-over row: bend at the hips 'til the torso is parallel with the ground, keep your legs and back straight and as still as possible through the motion. pull the bar up to your chest, lower back down, repeat.
-lateral dumbell raise: keep the arms straight, lift the arms straight out to the side without rotation up to horizontal. lower, repeat.
-deadlift: difficult to explain. try looking it up online, it's a solid full-body motion with emphasis on the lower back (my main target) and glutes/hammies.

Planning to do upper body w/weight, lower body w/weight, full body weightless in 3-day increments with Saturdays off for now, working runs in on upper and weightless days soon. We'll see how well I can stick to these goals. Ankle's doing a lot better, getting the blood flowing regularly and loosening up the tissue with lots of rotational movements and a bit of massage as well.

I'll post the other two workouts as I do them. Let me know if you have any questions/suggestions.