The Bird Cage 2. Aviar Dreams

Training Training Logs
241

Friday, 3rd August 2012.

TRAINING

AM

Upper body at the gym.

Agile 8, glute activation and shoulder warm-up.

3 sets of 20 of squats, bar only. I then did 5 reps of 50kg, 60kg,and 70kg. Glutes felt a bit tight. Will make an effort to stretch them out sometime this weekend.

Barbell bench
Ramped up to my working sets
3 x 100kg
3 x 105kg
3 x 110kg (last rep was slow, but I got it up! Lightweight!)

Pull-ups.
3 sets of 6 with one minute break in between. And then max number of chin ups for fun. I got about 10. Next week I think I should start aiming for 7 reps on the pull-ups.

dB rows
3 sets of 8 using 32.5kg dB

3 rounds of;
1 minute plank, 10 leg raises, 12 face pulls.

I then spent 10 minutes skipping like a madman. You should of seen my fast feet, rpm to the max baby!!

tweet

242

Saturday, 4th August 2012.

No game this weekend. Spending some “quality time” with Miss Bird. Training has been cut back.

TRAINING

PM

Did a quick foam roll and a mini agile 8 workout. Finished with a moderate 2km run. Got home and ate a delicious roast and drank lots of wine, followed by beer.

tweet

243

Monday, 6th August 2012.

Girlfriend left town this morning. Its great having her around, but when she is over it really disrupts my eating and training. I suppose “bitches be crazy”.

TRAINING

PM

Went for a spin on my bike. I did a very short 10km ride. Didn’t even sweat. Haven’t been on the bike for months and I just went for a ride to make sure the bike was in order. Over the next few weeks Im going to try and get a few extra K’s in, and eventually Im going to join a riding group and go for an early morning spin 2-3 times a week. Looking forward to legs tomorrow morning at the gym.

tweet

244

[quote]

TRAINING

PM

Went for a spin on my bike. I did a very short 10km ride. Didn’t even sweat. Haven’t been on the bike for months and I just went for a ride to make sure the bike was in order. Over the next few weeks Im going to try and get a few extra K’s in, and eventually Im going to join a riding group and go for an early morning spin 2-3 times a week. Looking forward to legs tomorrow morning at the gym.

tweet[/quote]

Do you ride in lycra and if so what is your opinion of it?

245

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Do you ride in lycra and if so what is your opinion of it?
[/quote]

Yes I do.

When I first started riding I was a bit hesitant about the whole lycra thing. But then once i started riding more regularly it just made sense to wear lycra. No loose bits to get caught in chain, more aero dynamic and the sweat dries off easily.

No underwear is allowed under the lycra by the way.

tweet

246

[quote]theBird wrote:

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Do you ride in lycra and if so what is your opinion of it?
[/quote]

Yes I do.

When I first started riding I was a bit hesitant about the whole lycra thing. But then once i started riding more regularly it just made sense to wear lycra. No loose bits to get caught in chain, more aero dynamic and the sweat dries off easily.

No underwear is allowed under the lycra by the way.

tweet[/quote]

Nice one, I agree. It takes a brave man to wear lycra shorts in the depths of winter! Although, I’m guessing wherever you are in Oz doesn’t get that cold??

247

[quote]Jaice wrote:

[quote]theBird wrote:

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Do you ride in lycra and if so what is your opinion of it?
[/quote]

Yes I do.

When I first started riding I was a bit hesitant about the whole lycra thing. But then once i started riding more regularly it just made sense to wear lycra. No loose bits to get caught in chain, more aero dynamic and the sweat dries off easily.

No underwear is allowed under the lycra by the way.
tweet[/quote]

Nice one, I agree. It takes a brave man to wear lycra shorts in the depths of winter! Although, I’m guessing wherever you are in Oz doesn’t get that cold??

[/quote]

Yer, not that cold, but it still gets to about 5 degrees celcius in the mornings. In the winter I don’t ride my bike. I take a break form the bike and concentrate on my football skills. As the weather gets warmer I slowly transition back to more bike work, and it becomes an important tool for me in the offseason.

You can get cold gear to wear on the bike, such as booties, leg warmers, arm warmers… although I still find the cold and rain can make riding unbearable.

tweet

248

Tuesday, 7th August 2012.

TRAINING

AM

Legs at the gym.

Agile 8 etc.

Squats.
3 reps of 20 of bar only. Then did 5 reps of 50kg, 60kg and then 80kg. Im going to start doing more reps on the heavier sets. Maybe 7.

Bulgarian split squats
7 x 50kg
7 x 60kg
7 x 60kg
5 x 60kg (these felt good. noticing Im lacking glute activation on my left side. Will have to work on this. Going to be a long process.)

Single leg deadlifts
8 x 30kg
8 x 35kg
8 x 35kg

Walking dB lunges
3 sets of 10 steps each leg using 25kg dBs(new pb). On the last set I broke down on about the 15th step. Next week ill nail it.

Finished with 3 rounds of;
1 minute and 10 seconds of front plank, 10 leg raises, and 12 face pulls.

Was a good session. Feeling strong. Progression with a capital P. Had a gatorade straight after the session which proved beneficial in making me feel fresh for my PM session…

PM

Usually after my AM leg session, my evening soccer training suffers as I find it hard to move my legs. This morning after my session I had some fast carbs in the form of a gatorade and I feel it made a big difference, as I felt my legs felt better than usual. Team soccer training was pretty standard, we did some passing drills, some running(500m, 500m, 300m, 200m, and 100m), and finished off with a small sided game. I treated it almost like a recovery session from my leg session this morning, didn’t push myself too hard, but I kept up with the younger kids in the running.

tweet

249

Wednesday, 8th August 2012.

Well I woke up today with the DOMs from hell. My super effort at the gym yesterday morning has taken its toll, and I was walking around very gingerly today.

TRAINING

AM

Went for a 30 minute deep tissue massage of my legs and glutes. Would of preferred a 60 minute session, but my masseuse has some sore hands and is only doing 30 minutes appointments.

PM

Went for a very light 20km cycle to get some blood flowing in the legs.

tweet

250

Thursday, 9th August 2012.

I had planned to hit the gym this morning but I slept in. So this afternoon I did a double whammy session…

TRAINING

PM

Part a.

Went to the gym for upper body.

Agile 8 and shoulder warm-up

Squats
3 sets of 20, bar only. I then did 6 reps of the following; 60kg, 80kg and 90kg. Did heaps of single leg thrusts in between sets and some hip flexor stretching.

Barbell bench
Ramped up to my working set
5 x 95kg
5 x 95kg
5 x 95kg
5 x 95kg
5 x 95kg (the last 2 sets I had to pause at the top before the final rep… slow reps but I did it)

dB rows
3 sets of 10 using 32.5kg dBs (will go for 35kg next week)

pull-ups
3 sets of 5 with 1 minute break in between, and then a set of max chin-ups(only managed 6)

3 rounds of:
1 minute and 10 plank, 10 leg raises, and some X-band walks.

I then went home, drank a gatorade and a protein shake. I had time to cook my ‘egg, spinach and feta pie’ and also prepared my salmon for tonights dinner. I then headed to team soccer training…

Part b.

Went to team soccer training. Head coach wasn’t there as his wife was sick so we had the assistant coach. Started slow, but then picked up and was a decent session with a bit of passing, shooting and finished off with a half sized game. i thought I might struggle with training after the gym, but I was fine. Having some post-workout sugar saved me I think.

tweet

251

Friday, 10th August 2012.

Hi ducklings.

This weeks game is an away game in the city this Sunday. Im leaving tomorrow morning to head to the city, as I like to get there a day early and avoid and travel-lag. This weeks game is against a team we have previously beaten. Currently we are sitting 3rd on the ladder, 7 points behind 2nd place. The top 2 teams in the league are promoted to the next division, and its in out best interest to win the majority of the 8 games remaining to give us the best chance of stealing 2nd spot.

TRAINING

PM

Went for a 25km bike ride at a moderate pace. Feeling more comfortable on the bike. Came home and cooked some salmon, snow peas and a sweet potato. What a feast!!

tweet

252

Sunday, 12th August 2012.

GAMEDAY

We lost 4-1.

The pitch was flooded(Ill post pictures soon) and it looked like the game would be cancelled. I was happy for it to be cancelled as my joints were feeling a bit achy for some reason and wasn’t in the mood for a game. Unfortunately in the last minute the ref decided that the conditions were good enough and let the game start.

Its hard for big guys to play on wet conditions. My feet sink deep into the turf and I find it hard to make sharp turns and manoeuvres. The ball darts and bounces funny, and often stops in the turf unexpectedly.

We scored first in the first minute of the game. Things were looking good. They equalised in the last minute of the first half. In the second half we played poorly and the opposition finished 3 of their 3 chances. Very disappointing. Th 4 hour road trip that most of the boys did that day obviously had an effect.

Personally I didn’t play very well. A sliding tackle that I made could of prevented the 2nd goal if I went in a bit harder. It was alway going to be crap game for me considering the conditions. It was one of those games that you have to accept happened, forget about it, and move on. Things don’t look good for promotion.

tweet

253

[quote]theBird wrote:
Sunday, 12th August 2012.

GAMEDAY

We lost 4-1.

The pitch was flooded(Ill post pictures soon) and it looked like the game would be cancelled. I was happy for it to be cancelled as my joints were feeling a bit achy for some reason and wasn’t in the mood for a game. Unfortunately in the last minute the ref decided that the conditions were good enough and let the game start.

Its hard for big guys to play on wet conditions. My feet sink deep into the turf and I find it hard to make sharp turns and manoeuvres. The ball darts and bounces funny, and often stops in the turf unexpectedly.

We scored first in the first minute of the game. Things were looking good. They equalised in the last minute of the first half. In the second half we played poorly and the opposition finished 3 of their 3 chances. Very disappointing. Th 4 hour road trip that most of the boys did that day obviously had an effect.

Personally I didn’t play very well. A sliding tackle that I made could of prevented the 2nd goal if I went in a bit harder. It was alway going to be crap game for me considering the conditions. It was one of those games that you have to accept happened, forget about it, and move on. Things don’t look good for promotion.

tweet
[/quote]

Didn’t you mention something in one of your previous posts about your team always struggling in the second half? Why do you think that is the case?

Oh, and training is looking good. Squats are getting heavier I see?

254

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Didn’t you mention something in one of your previous posts about your team always struggling in the second half? Why do you think that is the case?

Oh, and training is looking good. Squats are getting heavier I see?
[/quote]

Yer, we do struggle in the second half. I suppose our fitness is lacking, even though we have a relatively young team. The younger players are a little inexperienced and don’t seem to know when to put in max effort and when to sit back and recover. Also this season has been inconsistent in terms of games played. It feel like every 3rd week we have a bye or a cancelled game etc etc. Its hard to get into the swing of things and get a run going. Also doesn’t help as we are lacking quality and 1-2 injuries can make all the difference for us.

Yer squats are going well. Im slowly increasing things, considering my previous lower back injuries. Hopefully within 4-5 weeks I think I will be ready to make a full on assault on my squats. My short term aim is to video tape 20 reps of squats at 95kg and post it in caveman’s 20 rep squat challenge thread.

tweet

255

Tuesday, 14th August 2012.

Was planning to go to the gym this morning, but I needed the extra couple hours of sleep this morning. Still recovering from the weekend.

TRAINING

PM

Went to team soccer training. Surprisingly it was more upbeat than normal. The problem with this inconsistency with training is that some players turn up to training not expecting a tough session, and then there is a mix of players training at different intensities. Anyway i have noticed i have let a few players get passed me a bit too easy. From now on, no more Mr nice guy.

tweet

256

Wednesday, 15th August 2012.

Cliff notes for the following training session;

-went to gym for lower body work-out
-knee started to hurt
-lower back “twinged”, had to abort squats
-groin started to hurt (previous history of groin tendinopathy?)
-FUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!

TRAINING

AM

This morning I headed to the gym for my lower body workout. After last weeks record breaking effort, I was keen to have another good session. Well first my right knee tendonitis started to bother me during my warm-up with the bar. I ignored it and proceeded to my “heavy set”. During my heavy set I felt my lower back twinge. I panicked, sometimes the twinge in my back leads me to be stuck on my back for the next 10 days. Fortunatley the irritaion wasn’t that severe, although I did abandon squats. I started to do my split squats, only to feel a sharp dull pain in my right adductor… I had the same injury last year and I failed to ignore it, trained on it, and made it worse, making me miss 2 months of training. The whole morning was a failure…

Barbell squats
3 sets of 20 using the bar only. Felt ok. Then did 5 reps at 70kg… on the 5th rep my lower back “twinged” and I aborted.

Bulgarian split squats
Ramped up to…
7 x 40kg (I could feel my groin issue return… should of stopped here)
10 x 40kg
10 x 40kg

Single leg barbell deadliest
3 sets of 6 using 30kg (suprsingly these didn’t bother my lower back… must be using decent form)

Walking dB lunges
Dropped the weight way back for these
3 sets of 20 steps using 20kg dBs.

3 rounds of the following;
1 minute and 15 seconds of front planking and 12 face pulls (I usually do leg raises swell, but these bothered my adductors).

PM

I planned a 25km bike ride, but I have decided to abort it and play on the safe side. I don’t want to irritate my left adductor anymore. I will re-assess tomorrow, but Im hoping that it will recover itself within a few days with the aid of heat packs and Ill be cutting back training.

This afternoon I cooked myself another batch of chilli and ‘spinach and fetta’ pie. That should cover me for lunch for the next week.

tweet

257

Chin up, Bird - we’ve all been there man. How often do you go to the physio/do prehab and such?

258

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Chin up, Bird - we’ve all been there man. How often do you go to the physio/do prehab and such?[/quote]

I only go to the physio when Im desperate. Haven’t had any good experiences with them… same old story; “rest for 2 weeks, and visit me every week for some magic 10 minutes of ultrasound thats going to cost you a million dollars”.

What do you mean by prehab? The only prehab stuff i do is when I’m coming back from an injury.

tweet

259

[quote]theBird wrote:

[quote]Jaice wrote:
Chin up, Bird - we’ve all been there man. How often do you go to the physio/do prehab and such?[/quote]

What do you mean by prehab? The only prehab stuff i do is when I’m coming back from an injury.

[/quote]

I mean do you roll stuff out with a ball ( I think you mentioned you do ), stretch, cooldown i.e. go out of your way to reduce the risk of injuries before they happen. This is what prehab is, right?

And yeah, the physio is expensive but I find the ultrasound really helps. It makes sure the scar tissue all forms in the same directional plane to reduce the chance of reinjury.

260

[quote]Jaice wrote:
I mean do you roll stuff out with a ball ( I think you mentioned you do ), stretch, cooldown i.e. go out of your way to reduce the risk of injuries before they happen. This is what prehab is, right?

And yeah, the physio is expensive but I find the ultrasound really helps. It makes sure the scar tissue all forms in the same directional plane to reduce the chance of reinjury.
[/quote]

Yer I do foam roll, but when things are feeling good, I often neglect my foam rolling. Have to remind myself to keep at it and have atleast 1-2 decent foam rolling sessions a week. My massuere(former bodybuilding champion) says that my tight hips probably contribute to my groin issues.

I read somewhere on these forums that there is no evidence that ultrasound makes any significant difference. Most of my injuries are more chronic/overuse in nature, and I dont think that kind of treatment is going to help much at all.

tweet