The Bird Cage 2. Aviar Dreams

Training Training Logs
161

[quote]theBird wrote:
Wednesday, 13th June 2012.

TRAINING

AM

After reading the latest article regarding fasted training I decided to train in a fasted state this morning. All I had was my morning short mach.
I headed to the park, warmed up with a run, did some dribbling, practiced some turns, and then finished off with 6 x 50m sprints. Was easier than expected. Next time I should attempt 10… or maybe I will increase the distance to about 70m. I can feel myself getting fitter, and my ball skills are slowly getting better.

Stay tuned, as I promised, soon I will have some videos up of my training.

tweet[/quote]

Sweet, videos!!

And yeah, I love waking up and going for a run or shooting basketball on an empty stomach. Just feels right.

162

Thursday, 14th June 2012.

TRAINING

AM

Hit the gym for my weekly upper body session

Agile 8 and shoulder warm-up

3 sets of 20 reps of squats, bar only.
As mentioned before, Im doing high rep squats with bar only to get into the groove again. Hopefully start adding the weight in 2-3 weeks time. Feeling some irritation on my left SI joint, but nothing to be alarmed about.

Barbell bench
Ramped up to my working set
5 x 90kg
5 x 90kg
5 x 90kg
5 x 90kg
5 x 90kg (feeling stronger than last week! Yer buddy!)

Pull-up
3 sets of 5

Supersetted dB rows with dB overhead press
3 sets of 10 using 30kg dBs for the rows, and 3 sets of 12 using 15kg dBs for the overhead.

seated rows
3 sets of 12

supersetted facepulls with push-ups
2 sets of 12 each

Skipping
skipped for 12 minutes (slowly getting better and easier)

PM

Went to team soccer training. We havent played for 2 weeks and this was only our 2nd training session for those 2 weeks. Training was good, although I did feel a bit rusty. I could train by myself “until the cows come home”, although only training with the team is going to improve my awareness and positional play. Have to remember to keep to the basics for this weekends game and not expect to perform miracles.

And a special mention to my beloved Croatia. Tonight we play Italy at the Euros. I dont think I will get much sleep tonight, win or draw. U boj, u boj! Za narod svoj! (Translation: To war, to war! For your people!)

tweet

163

Friday, 15th June 2012.

Hi ducklings!!!

Well, due to last nights game where Croatia and Italy drew, Ihardly got any sleep, woke up late from work, and didnt really eat that well today. So I missed my AM session, but managed to get out there in the PM…

TRAINING

Went for a 30 minute run in the park. I did plan to do some intervals, but due to my tiredness I decided not to. Im assuming my tiredness is due to my lack of sleep, but I am also wondering if it is due to my modified diet. I have cut out 99% of refined sugar and have reduced my carb intake. Why you ask? Well alot of you might not like this, but my fitness goals have slightly been changed towards maximising conditioning/endurance, and at 95kg, I believe I need to lose 3-4 kg to get the results I want.

Tomorrow morning Im flying down to the city. This weeks game is an away game on Sunday against a middle of the table team, who are renowed for their physical toughness. My team has to remember that we havent played for 2 weeks so we might be rusty. Have to remember to keep to the basics.

tweet

164

Sunday, 17th June 2012.

GAMEDAY

We won 3-1. Pretty good considering that we havent played a game for 2 weeks and have only trained twice as a team in those 2 weeks. Our strikers did have some difficulties finding the net, and our last 2 goals were scored in the final 10 minutes of the game. We really should have won by 5 goals… the opposition team really played some ordinary football.

Personally I played ok, but not aswell as I would like. All defenders in the squad are fit and in form, so I will have to make extra effort at training this week to keep my spot in the team. For whatever reason I am feeling unmotivated at the moment. Maybe its the cold weather? Maybe its the lack of team training? Its like I have lost my mojo. Anyway I am going to rest up for a day or two and then hopefully get back into it from there.

tweet

165

Birdbrah how’s sleep quality?

166

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Birdbrah how’s sleep quality?[/quote]

Not too good spar4tee-brah.

And tonight I will eb waking up at 3 in the morning to watch Croatia smash Spain.

tweet

167

Tuesday, 19th June 2012.

PM

Went to team soccer training. Intensity was better than usual. Probably because it was raining. Rain seems to make people more urgent. Now that Croatia have been knocked out of Euro 2012 I can get some sleep and resume my normal training schedule.

tweet

168

I’ve noticed sometimes when I train in the rain it makes me feel more “epic”. It can definitely help if you have the right mindset.

169

Wednesday, 20th June 2012.

TRAINING

AM

Legs at the gym

Agile 8 etc.

Barbell back squats
3 sets of 20 reps of barbell only(I think I have figured out my problem: lack of flexibility in my left ankle. Its screwing up my form and I making me right leg dominant. Plan is to foam roll that mofo and get some serious knee to wall drills going daily)

Bulgarian split squats
Ramped up to my working set
7 x 40kg
7 x 50kg
7 x 50kg
7 x 50kg (form and balance was terrible on the last set)

Single leg deadlifts
10 x bar
8 x 30kg
8 x 30kg (balance all over the place… will I ever be able to do these?)

Supersetted walking lunges and goblet squats
2 rounds of 20 steps using 20kg dBs with 12 goblet squats using 32kg dB.

Skipping
Skipped for 10 minutes, wasnt very good, I think my leg work-out fried my legs)

PM

Went to the park to kick the ball. Hit the ball against the wall for awhile to practice my shooting and passing, and receiving and turning with the ball. I then practiced a couple of moves. And then I finished off with 7 x 70m sprints, walking back inbetween for recovery.

tweet

170

Thurday, 21st June 2012.

TRAINING

PM

Went to team soccer training. Intensity was good. Got some good touches in, and I have finally convinced my team to approach defending corners in a zonal manner, opposed to the man marking that we were doing before.
This weeks game is against a middle of the table team, and we have been told to expect a tough physical game.

Bring it on.

tweet

171

glad to hear you’re back squatting again, best do it multiple times a week till your body programs it in

172

[quote]caveman101 wrote:
glad to hear you’re back squatting again, best do it multiple times a week till your body programs it in[/quote]

Cheers buddy. I still have a long way to go, but even if it takes me 6 months of squatting the bar only then Im prepared to go through it.

I still have some very minor lower back pain on my left side(SI joint I think?), but not enough to stop me from doing anything. I think I will add some planking and more core work into my routine and hopefully get my core up to where it needs to be to squat heavy again.

Bird-style.

tweet

173

Friday, 22nd June 2012.

Well its that time of the week again, where we sit back and analyse this weeks proceedings. Training is back on track and I am excited about getting back into squatting… even if it is only the bar.

Team training has improved in intensity and team morale is good, which is encouraging as we reach the half way mark of the season. My team is sitting second on the ladder, in a good position to make a challenge for the top spot.

I have been incoorperating more track work and started to start on some core work. Im feeling good, although the track work has had a negative impact on some of my lifting numbers.

Diet has almost been spot on, except for today when I gave in and smashed some chicken and cashew(see MSG thread in “supplements and nutrition”). I have to remind myself, especially towards the end of the week to stay strong and eat clean!

Anyway, enough dribble, lets get into what you came here for…

TRAINING

AM

Went to the park to kick the ball. Warmed up with kicking the ball against the wall. Practiced some turns, dribbled through some cones, practiced some moves and then finished off with 4 x 400m runs with 90 seconds rest inbetween.

PM

Upper body at the gym.

Agile 8 and shoulder mobility.

3 sets of 20 reps of box squats. Bar only. Squats are starting to feel normal again… I think in a few weeks I will be able to start adding some weight.

Barbell bench press
Ramped up to my working set
5 x 85kg
5 x 85kg
5 x 85kg
5 x 80kg
4 x 80kg

Pull-ups
3 sets of 5 with 1 minute rest inbetween each set.

dB rows
3 sets of 10 using 30kg dBs (this was feeling heavy, especially ont he last set)

Skipping
Skipped for 10 minutes

Supersetted leg raises with planks
3 sets of 10 raises, followed by 40 seconds of planking.

Face-pulls
3 sets of 12.

Thanks for visiting Ducklings!

tweet

174

roll your piriformis with a lacrosse ball (do you have that down there? any kind of small hard rubber ball would work)

See if that helps.

mobilitywod.com/2010/12/episode-118-si-area-pain-basics.html

175

[quote]hastalles wrote:
roll your piriformis with a lacrosse ball (do you have that down there? any kind of small hard rubber ball would work)
See if that helps.
mobilitywod.com/2010/12/episode-118-si-area-pain-basics.html[/quote]

Thanks for that buddy.
I havent visited mobilitywod for awhile. Im confident that my core work and mobility work will get me through this.
And yes we have lacrosse down under. But I use a baseball.

tweet

176

Saturday, 23rd July 2012.

GAMEDAY

Tonights game was against a middle of the table team. The boys were all in a good mood before the game and there was a decent crowd up on the terraces. The game started with it been all about us. We controlled possesion and had the majority of the chances. Our first goal came in on the 15th minute mark, followed by 3 others. At half time we were 4-0 up and in total control of the game. In the second half the opposition team changed their formation and came out much harder than they did in the first. We struggled to keep possesion of the ball and werent really moving as well as we did in the first half. They scored a 2 sloppy goals in the last 10 minutes of the game. We are really going to have to improve on our second half performances.

Personally I played ok. I played in the back 3 and I was responsible for marking their main striker, who didnt really impress me. He was too slow to make any real threat to the game. He did not score any of their 2 goals. The second half was strange and I didnt feel like I was really getting involved. After the game I did my traditional “re-feed” ; one whole pizza, one whole garlic bread, 1 gatorade, 3 jacks and coke, and a bar of chocolate. Beat that caveman!!!

tweet

177

Monday, 25th June 2012.

TRAINING

AM

Woke up this morning with the intention of going to the gym to do some legs. Made it to the gym but during “agile 8” I just wasnt “feeling it”, so I aborted my leg workout and decided to do a rehab workout instead. This is what happened…

Agile 8

3 sets of 20 rep box squats with bar only. Heaps of 3rd world squatting in-between sets.

Skipped for 12 minutes.

3 rounds of front planks and side planks, holding for 1 minute each.

Supersetted 10 leg raises with 20 “gladiator rows”.

Stretched my hammies, and then finished off with some more 3rd world squat holds.

Due to not “feeling it”, I had decided to have my PM session off. Im going to cook a juicy steak tonight and hopefully get some extra sleep. Tomorrow morning Im planning some fasted skill work and sprints.

tweet

178

What are gladiator rows?

Steak sounds good.

179

[quote]theBird wrote:
After the game I did my traditional “re-feed” ; one whole pizza, one whole garlic bread, 1 gatorade, 3 jacks and coke, and a bar of chocolate. Beat that caveman!!!

[/quote]

I LOL’d

So my best friend plays college soccer, so his family loves watching the games. So this weekend I stayed with him and ended up watching a few games. It’s hard for me get into. Just… ‘slower’ then other sports I guess. But damn, I respect the amount of endurance ya’ll have to have to play for the 90+ minutes, while still having to be able to have short bursts of explosion.

180

Jab1-brah; Gladiator rows; While in the plank/push-up position with arms out straight, with a dumbell in each hand, you perform a single arm row with the aim of keeping your torso straight, and then repeat with the other hand. Does that make sense? Its a core move, really works the adductors and core.

Spidey22-brah; Yer, I suppose its a cultural thing. When you dont really understand the skills involved in a sport, then its hard to appreciate the sport. Soccer is an extremely skillfull and tactical game, that if one does not understand the skill, then they might not enjoy the game. I dont like basketball or any other code of football, but maybe thats because I dont appreciate the skills?

tweet