Training for X

Passive recovery today. One thing to note, audio might sound little different. I had to pack up my gear tonight. Actually going to be headed out tomorrow to go West. Lining up a week long trip to go cross country skiiing, some hiking. Not high intensity activity, but good movement. Purposely going to be out of the gym. Do a little bit of deloading, and get in Nature and soak it up. Excited to be in the mountains. Other thing today that was really interesting, that I wasn't expecting, I had an opportunity to get my first vaccine dose of the Pfizer shot. So definitely going to pay attention to how I feel. I don't anticipate any weird effects. I haven't had anything with other shots I've done in years prior. Who knows, I'll take it day by day and check in tomorrow.

39th training session. Overall felt great. RPE 7. Today was a lot of whole body movements. Doing a lot of jumping. For example, did hex bar jumps. You're just holding a hex bar, driving straight up, going for height. Land it, reset your feet, then do that again. Did a lot of other movements that are simple, but very good for jumping higher. For example, did max height jumps. Take a 2 or 3 step approach. You really drive, use a penultimate step, try to get up quick and hang. Overall felt great today to get back to some of that movement. I don't really have to taper back that much. Curious to see how my body recovers. Throughout this week it's held up pretty well. Only troublesome spot is probably that left hip or lower back. I'll pay attention to that. Going into next week, I'm not going to be training in the gym. That should be a nice deloading week, get some recovery, and then check in and see how I feel on Monday and go from there.

Got in the pool today for 25 minutes over my lunchbreak. Similar to Tuesday, tread water for 5 minutes, then swam a few laps up and down. Put on the acquajogger belt, ran a few laps back and forth, then finished with a front crawl. I do notice, when I do the front crawl. My shoulders are good, my legs are good, the strength isn't an issue. My technique must be lacking a little, because after doing 1 or 2 laps I feel winded. And I know that I don't have the endurance of a swimmer or the capacity to breathe like that, but it would be nice to go like at least 2 laps without having to stop. Maybe that's a good challenge for 2021. Swim 3 consecutive laps on a front crawl. Anyway, for tomorrow's workout, expecting a pretty good intensity again. My hip has continued to give me a little pain. I actually went in for a check-in with the chiropractor yesterday and they pointed out my TFL area is something that can use some work. I'm sure a lot of muscles can use work. I'm going to be taking a lacrosse ball, doing some gentle stretching on the TFL, then hopefully see if I can loosen that up a little bit. So as I continue to jump and do more weights in the gym, things don't get super tight on me.

38th training session in the gym. RPE 7 or even an 8. Second circuit is where I started to feel it. Did a lot of jumping movements today. Felt really good overall. Only had one movement that was bothersome with my hip. More about the depth of the squat that I was doing with the weight. Adjusted it to where I was going a little higher and it was fine. Some of the movements I did today. Kettlebell elevated squats on 12 or 14" boxes. Then I did that where I added a jumping movement to it. That was really interesting. I haven't done that before. It was a wide leg jump and you have to counter the movement going down and explode back up. Did a few other things, where, what got me at the very end was doing a single arm push up. I can't do it completely, especially on my left hand side, it's a little weaker than my right. Took a wide leg stance, go down, and push back up. Tendency is your hips don't come with you if you're not strong enough, so you kind of pop your butt up in the air and it doesn't look very good. I was able to rep those out pretty well on my 1st set, but after going through on the 3rd time that really pushed up the intensity of finishing out my workout. Overall great day today. Feeling good. We'll see how I recover tomorrow. 

Got in the pool for 20 minutes over lunch. Really nice, able to warmup with treading water for 5 minutes. Then took the kickboard and did 2 laps of flutterkicks up and down. Felt pretty warm. Took the aquajogger belt and actually did some light running and a few sprint sessions in the water. When I say sprint, I'm talking 10-15 seconds. That felt great. Finished with doing a breaststroke for a few laps. Overall can tell being in the water the resistance is really nice. It's challenging, but doesn't have any pain associated with it when it comes to my hips, back, or my shoulders. Feels good to continue to be in the water. Looking at tomorrow, get back in the gym, anticipating this week will be more intensity, especially with the impact. Curious to see how my body is prepared for that. So far, so good. I'll check in tomorrow. 

37th training session in the gym. Overall RPE 5 or 6. Did some movements with weights. Power cleans from the blocks. Another thing I really enjoyed was getting back to doing some light jumping. Hurdle hops. Set of 6 going on my right leg, then go right back around and do it with my left leg. First circuit, did that 4 times through. Then second circuit finished with some good movements that were more upper body focused. Really want to work on my thoracic spine strength and mobility. For example, did a movement where you go underneath the bar and you're pulling your chest up to it. Then just doing pull-ups and things like that. Overall a good day. I can still tell with my left hip, especially in that left side where it wraps around, having some persistent pain. So I don't want to push that any further. After it was warmed up it felt pretty good. I'll continue to pay attention to it throughout the week and see how it goes.

36th training session in the gym. Rate of perceived effort a 7, maybe even an 8. What bumped up the intensity was doing single leg step ups with a weighted barbell. The type of barbell is a safety barbell. It has padding, and wraps around your shoulders. So there's a little more movement to it, and you hold it with your hands. The movement that I did with my legs, was one leg at a time stepping up onto the box and then the opposite leg you're driving your knee up to parallel, to where your knee would be at least waist height. Doing that motion really enforces the idea that your body has to move as a unit, and stay stable in your core. I did 3 cycles through on it and on the 3rd set I could tell I was fatiguing a little bit, but I was keeping my form really well. That's why you have a trainer to spot and to see. Tonight as I'm recording this, I can tell I pushed as far as I'd want to go, especially with how I've been progressing back into movements. Another nice thing about today's workout, I actually did jumping. Just double-legged bunny hops over hurdles. Emphasis was being on explosive. Then did some light pulls from the rack. Really feels like a precursor to a good month for March. It's a lot like I was doing in December. Really want to make sure as I ramp this up I match it with the right recovery. Feeling good right now. Definitely going to sleep well tonight. Then check back in on Monday. 

Did some light active recovery at home today. Looking forward to getting back into the pool. Might have the opportunity to use their training pool. Instead of it being actual lap swim, I could get to where I'd be in a shallow depth area where it's 3 feet progressing to 5, then I could do some movements with my hips. And some things that maybe I'd do on dryland in the water, and challenge myself a little that way. Looking at yesterday, I did get into the chiropractor as a checkup. Everything continues to feel better. Always pair it, so far, where I get the adjustment and therapy and ice my back. I did the psoas muscle again. I'll call it a psoas muscle release. It went better, especially on my right side it wasn't as intense or painful. I wasn't gasping. The area on the my left front hip, there's a muscle that's wrapping around. I'm sure this stuff is all connected, so not sure what to call it. That muscle was tender on the psoas exercise when we were pushing down on it and moving my leg. It's encouraging to see the progress despite some of the pain and setbacks that I've had in the last month, month and a half. Really looking forward tomorrow to take a little extra time to warm up, jump around a bit, see how I do.

35th training session in the gym. Definitely a leg day, no doubt about it. Started with some movements on the agility ladder, then progressed that by taking bands that went around my ankles that acted as resistance. Really hard to stay coordinated in your movements when you have that jerking motion on your legs as you're running through. I got used to it. Third time through I was sweating. Wouldn't be surprised if I'm feeling it a little bit tomorrow in my legs. Did another movement that was just a simple deadlift with a hex bar on an elevated surface. I wasn't going all the way down to the ground. Just paying attention to how my back felt. That movement, you really have to stay activated and strong, felt like my legs were really getting good work. That was nice. Then probably my favorite movement was doing a kettlebell walk overhead. Took a bar, and then had bands tied to kettlebells where I had to balance as I walked. Definitely a shoulder stability movement. I did some marching over tiny little hurdles as I was doing that. Overall felt like I hit a lot of good areas today. Probably more stimulating in the fact of being coordinated in what I was doing, then actually pushing heavy weights or things like that. Feels nice to get back to some more movement on the turf. Think on Friday, when I get back in the gym, I'll do some light plyometrics and see how things feel.

Did a little light recovery at home today. Took 15 minutes to work on mobility with my hips and lower back. Really just took my time with the foam roller, worked a few different angles, stretched out. Not a lot to talk about there. Looking at tomorrow, get back in the gym for my 35th training session and I'm starting to turn the corner a little bit. With my back, I certainly feel it, and I know that for every area that opens up it leads to another one that's tight. I'm battling with some of those imbalances, but overall I can tell I'm getting back to better movement. I think tomorrow we're going to do some drills on the agility ladder, add some resistance to the movements, and just start trying to challenge the intensity of my workout where I'm not doing all out explosive movements. But I'm definitely doing something where I'm not just maintaining. Excited to get back at it and I'll check in tomorrow.

34th training session. Pretty fun today. Rate of perceived effort around a 6 or 7. Pushed a little bit. Most of it had to with my shoulders, with my core and stability. Favorite movement of mine was doing basically like a push up. But suspended on bands, so you're not on the ground. If you can imagine, you're putting a big stretchy band in between the rack and do pushups on that. My trainer had another band connected to that, that he was shaking as I would go down and up. For as much as it worked the shoulders, it probably worked my core even more because what I found is if I got off balance my shoulders were fine because I was holding onto the band. But my core is what was really shaky. It took a set to get used to it. I did 15 reps, and 4 cycles of it. I was pressing it out, and keeping that stability throughout the whole movement. Then I did another one that was a single leg hyper. I wasn't doing it explosively or anything like that. Really focusing on pulling my shoulders back so my hands were behind my back. Then using all my posterior chain muscles to go down and up. I just did what was comfortable. It was a good day today. I continue to feel better week over week. Going back to January when I had sprained my back. We'll see what this week holds, but hopefully I can get back to some light jumping.

33rd training session in the gym this morning. It was awesome, being on the turf, able to move around a lot. My back continues to feel pretty good. I still, whatever is going on in my left hip, I feel that, so I want to really respect and not push it. But it seems when I warm up it improves. And even after I'm cooled down it feels pretty good. Just want to do the right things to make sure that heals properly as I continue to train. Getting to today's workout, did all the movements on the turf. Just a circuit of 5 different movements. Lot of it involved, did more lunging today than I did all year. Mostly bodyweight. Did have a light medball that was like 12 lbs. I was doing overhead presses as I was lunging. And doing some twisting as I was lunging. Then I progressed into taking the ball and bending down slowly to do a hamstring stretch. I don't know what to call it. There's a name for it in yoga. The half moon pose I think? You're on one leg, titling forward, and hinging at the hips. That felt fine, no issues there. I also did a sled push with marching knee drive. That's a hard movement. If you fatigue, can tell things start to give. My body right now feels pretty strong, looking forward to seeing how I recover this weekend, and next week getting back in the gym. 

Just did some light stretching today. Wanted to go swimming tonight, but found out all the lanes were full. If you do the night swim you have to reserve a lane online and all of that. By the time I got to it, it was too late. So early bird gets the worm. Good reminder. Do it in the morning. I prefer that. This morning I had the intent of going, but when I woke up I was pretty tired. Decided to sleep a little extra and that felt great. Energy level right now is good. I can tell I'm a little sore from Wednesday. Not in a bad way. It's been a lot of repetition with core movement, shoulder openers, hip openers. I say it like it's boring because sometimes it is, but it's starting to feel better which is awesome. Despite some of the setbacks I've had with the pain in my lower back, and even coming around, I'll call it the psoas muscle. My chiropractor pointed that out, too. Collectively things are improving. Excited tomorrow to continue to test the waters and hopefully next week get into a rhythm where I can get the pacing back into a little more intensity.

32nd training session in the gym. First time being back in the gym in about 10 days. Paid attention in the warm up, talked to my trainer, caught up a little bit. What we focused on today was progressing back into what I was doing in December. Just with a lot lighter weights and less repetition. And we did the agility ladder today. That was fun. I haven't done agility movements in a while. We did probably 20 minutes combined of agility and movements on the turf. Then, as for weights, the two exercises that I did that were weighted. One was a Bulgarian split squat. Instead of putting your foot on a bench behind you, I had it on these bands. Worked some of the stabilization there. The other movement that I did was straight pulls out of the rack. The height was a little higher. With my back positioning I was really making sure my core was braced and positioned right so I that I wasn't overreaching or straining. That felt good. Right now getting a lot of good signals to keep progressing. Scheduled for Friday to get back in the gym. Tomorrow see if I can make it to the pool. 

Went swimming this morning. Same as usual. Got about 10 laps in. In the water for about 25 minutes. After the water, felt really good. Hips are feeling better than yesterday, so that's nice. And tonight I'll be getting to be around 9. So should clock in a good 8.5 hours of sleep and be back in the gym. I'm still going to progress bit by bit. Not going to be doing intense jumping tomorrow. If anything I'll be doing some of what I did would have been 8 days ago now, or even longer. A lot of core movements and a few rotational things in the mix, too.

Feeling alright. Last week was not what I expected. I wanted to get out and go skiing but that did not happen. Welcome to puppyhood 101. When you think you've got a week and you can go, you're met with a double ear infection and eye infection. And you can't leave your dog hanging. Spent a lot of time last week at home. This weekend was really long. Subzero weather. -20, -30 with wind chill. Didn't do any real activities outside. Feeling excited to get back moving. Tomorrow morning I'm going to get in the pool to go swimming. It'll be a nice fresh start. I've been kind of getting the habit of going over lunch, but I prefer the mornings. Going to get back in that routine. Then looking at Wednesday I'll be back in the gym. Just taking stock of how I feel. My left lower hip is still tender. Hopefully the water will help some of that. My left lower back, I go back to January 1st how painful that was, that's improved a ton. I feel like I'm on the right track but want to accelerate this more. Tonight I took 15 minutes to do some gentle stretching and yoga. I just use that down dog app, set the time to 15 minutes. Pick hamstring openers or shoulder openers and combine them. Feeling good and ready for a good week. 

Did some light stretching tonight. Nothing fancy. Just doing child's pose and transitioning to cat/cow. Just taking stock of how I feel. I'd say the most noticeable discomfort is still in my back, and lower back, front of the hip. It is getting better. Maybe it is just some of the after effects of going to the chiropractor and doing that therapy. I wouldn't think so, but these are some muscles that are a little more ignored in the day to day. So when they do get attention, maybe it wakes things up a bit. Looking at next week, I'll see where I land. If things go according to plan might be out West. A lot of things are dependent on how stuff goes this weekend. I'll check in on Monday and go from there.

Did some light foam rolling today with some light stretching. 10 hours of sleep, that felt good. Haven't been waking up to an alarm, just letting myself rest. It's been awesome. Really just paying attention to how I feel in my back. Felt really nice after my session yesterday doing some of the therapy. Getting on the foam roller I can tell that it's tender. Don't want to push it too much. I can probably ice it again and do a hot cold shower just to get some blood flow moving through. Overall, we'll see what tomorrow holds, don't have anything planned in the gym and keeping it pretty light this week.

Went to the chiropractor today. Found out what the psoas muscle feels like. Wow. Never really have had work done directly on that, but had my adjustment and did therapy and light massage afterward. Explained how the sensation that I feel is less in my lower back and more wrapping around the front of my left hip. Got the doctor's order to do a little work on the psoas. Really had to breathe through it. I was on my back, knees were up, and just sliding my foot out as the person was pressing and pushing into the psoas. Like right on your hip joint. It's such an intense feeling. Definitely not something that you could do yourself. Really nice. I iced my back afterward. Took my time today just in recovery. Haven't done any stretching today aside from what I did at the chiropractor with my back and a few pressups. Tomorrow I think I'll take a good hour or half an hour chunk just to do some light movement. Really continue to focus on my spine this week and recovery. With the weather right now, haven't been able to go out West yet and it's brutually cold. I don't think it'll be above 0 degrees for the next few days. Might limit some of what I can do outside. I've got a puppy. I can go to Lowe's and walk around and exercise that way.

It was a great day today. I didn't have to wake up for work which is always nice. Have been letting myself sleep. I've noticed I've been sleeping pretty long hours. Like the 9-10 hour range. It feels good when I wake up. I'm feeling awake and not super groggy. Today I went swimming for half an hour in the water. Body overall is feeling good. I can tell my hip, my back, and that area, like my midriff has always kind of been there. Sometimes it ebbs and flows. I've got a chiropractor appointment tomorrow which will be nice. Really want to take this week and give myself the right amount of time and the right environment to ease into doing some things. When I get back in the gym, right now I think that'll be next week Wednesday (about a week from today), really want to be at a point that I can be doing some light jogging and light jumping. Really progressing back into training to dunk a basketball. It's a very holistic approach that I'm taking. I don't want to wreck myself in the pursuit of jumping higher, but at the same time this is exciting to have that break and rest that I know I need. Not going to set the alarm clock this week. That's probably the best feeling. I'll continue to check in this week and see how things go.