Topic: Carolyn's Training Log (TraceuseDS)

[TraceuseDS]

I started doing parkour this summer, but I've already noticed that there are definitely days when I feel like I can do anything, and other days when I feel like I haven't learned anything at all. I figure that's pretty normal; so as long as I keep them about 50%/50%, I should be OK. The primary purpose of this training log is going to be to help me keep track of what I'm doing, so that I can see what works and what doesn't (and so that I can reassure myself that I am indeed making progress). I'm learning as I go, but if anyone more experienced wants to take a look, any advice would be appreciated. 

Tuesday:
Prolly not the best day to start recording my training habits, b/c orchestra practice takes up most of the evening after work, but I play the cello, so I figure that's like a 2.5 hour mini-endurance workout for my deltoids and triceps. And I've got to start somewhere. Most of my actual training took place at the park on the way home from work. I had about 20 minutes, so it consisted of about 10 minutes practicing my vertical jump (from the ground to a ledge that slowly increases in height as you go along) and 10 minutes doing negative pullups.


Goals:
1) Do 1 complete pullup.
2) Precision 5' 10'' 4' 2'' (there's a particular bench-to-bench jump that's been bugging me).
3) Do 10 good rolls w/o hurting myself (i.e., NOT bruising my leading shoulder).
4) Hold a handstand (8 seconds).
5) Run 1 mile in under 10 minutes (sad, I know...but it's still my goal).
6) Hold a single frogstand for 60 seconds (on my way to doing a planche).

[Eli Kurtz]

Welcome, and I'm glad you've set up a training log!  In regards to your goals, don't worry so much about how grand they are: everyone has to start somewhere.    I only just recently ran my first mile EVER without stopping (I'm 21), and it was a wimpy 9:10.

In regards to your training, it sounds like you're on the right track to accomplish some of your goals.  Negative push ups are a great intro workout.

[TraceuseDS]

Thanks! Congrats on the mile! 9:10 still sounds pretty good to me...I have yet to run a mile below ~11 minutes, and I haven't done that in a *really* long time, lol.


Wednesday:
I trained with a bunch of people at a park downtown for about 3 hours, which was awesome. Did a little bit of work on cats and balance, the latter of which is feeling better since I realized that it works better to focus on how the rail feels against my shoe rather than how the rest of my body is balanced. However, most of the time was spent working on precisions of various sorts: a short (~3 ft across, ~1.5 ft up) jump (these are getting quieter and easier, which is a major improvement); a jump down that's approximately the same size as the one I've been trying to get (increased my distance by a few inches since last week); and then a lot of time looking at my Nemesis Jump (I felt it needed a name; also, I remeasured it and have no idea where I got 4' 2'', since it's actually 5' 10'' if I'm doing the math right [length of my shoe (10'') x 7 = 5' 10'']), followed by many failed attempts to do the Jump itself.

Not really sure why I can't do this, since I can actually jump farther than that if I'm starting from a standstill on the ground. I'm pretty sure I'm just psyching myself out. Majorly. Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately for the well-being of my shins - I'm stubborn. I want to get this before it gets too cold to train outside anymore!

Other important info: My calf muscles were cramping (they've been doing this lately) whenever I stayed in the bottom of a squat for too long, but I'm partially attributing that to the 55 degree temps. Grr. I have also decided that I need to continue getting 9 hours of sleep and eating tons of protein and veggies on days when I train hard - it really seems to help! First time EVER I haven't burnt out by the end of a session. This is, however, bad news for my desire to be eating sugar and/or bread-type products 24/7, lol.

[ZacharyCohn]

You did a great job with your goals - defining them with numbers is the best way to set them. That being said... how long do you want to hold a handstand?

I have the same goal (handstands), and for a while, I had it worded the same way you do (Hold a handstand).

I completely understand what you mean though, there's definitely a point where you think "Okay, that wasnt' really a handstand, that was just me falling really really slowly." And then there's a point where you realize that you're actually holding it.. but get specific!

My (initial) goal is 8 seconds, because if you're holding it for 8 seconds, it definitely proves control, and not just being really good at not falling down immediately.

[edit - Actually, just reread. Get a specific time for your mile. If it's 9:59, great. But now it's specific.]

[Chris Salvato]

Goals:
1) Do 1 complete pullup.
2) Precision 5' 10'' 4' 2'' (there's a particular bench-to-bench jump that's been bugging me).
3) Do 10 good rolls w/o hurting myself (i.e., NOT bruising my leading shoulder).
4) Hold a handstand.
5) Run 1 mile in under 10 minutes (sad, I know...but it's still my goal).

Plan of Action for each goal:
1) GTG pullup negatives
2) How tall are you?  Jump specific skill work would probably be the quickest way to achieve this goal for you.  Plyos will help but the best way to increase jumping is to lift heavy things...not sure if you are up for this yet?
3) Gotta just keep practicing rolls and trying new things.  Focus on tucking your chin more, and try different methods like sweeping your leading hand under you like "threading a needle".
4) Handstand holds against a wall.  For form, walk up the wall so that your belly faces the wall when in handstand.  Roll out of it when tired.  For overcoming the fear of throwing your body over itself, kick up against the wall with your belly away from the wall.  Make sure to keep tight abs, pointed toes, squeeze your butt muscles and have your nose touch the wall.
5) Get into running intervals.  Run 4x400 m with 1 minute rest between intervals.  Each 400m run should be ALL OUT - feelings of nausea are normal and actually desired.  This will get your mile times down in a jiffy.

[TraceuseDS]

how long do you want to hold a handstand?

Get a specific time for your mile.

Good call on timing the handstand. For lack of a better idea, 8 seconds sounds like a good goal. I'll get my mile time up as soon as I do the next one for time - lately I've just been saying "I'm going to run for 30 minutes today" and then jogging as far as that gets me. Or does that just mean "set a specific goal?" As far as I'm concerned, anything under 10:00 = win. Less would be better, but that's what I'm going for right now.

Goals:
1) Do 1 complete pullup.
2) Precision 5' 10'' 4' 2'' (there's a particular bench-to-bench jump that's been bugging me).
3) Do 10 good rolls w/o hurting myself (i.e., NOT bruising my leading shoulder).
4) Hold a handstand.
5) Run 1 mile in under 10 minutes (sad, I know...but it's still my goal).

Plan of Action for each goal:
1) GTG pullup negatives
2) How tall are you?  Jump specific skill work would probably be the quickest way to achieve this goal for you.  Plyos will help but the best way to increase jumping is to lift heavy things...not sure if you are up for this yet?
3) Gotta just keep practicing rolls and trying new things.  Focus on tucking your chin more, and try different methods like sweeping your leading hand under you like "threading a needle".
4) Handstand holds against a wall.  For form, walk up the wall so that your belly faces the wall when in handstand.  Roll out of it when tired.  For overcoming the fear of throwing your body over itself, kick up against the wall with your belly away from the wall.  Make sure to keep tight abs, pointed toes, squeeze your butt muscles and have your nose touch the wall.
5) Get into running intervals.  Run 4x400 m with 1 minute rest between intervals.  Each 400m run should be ALL OUT - feelings of nausea are normal and actually desired.  This will get your mile times down in a jiffy.

1) Will do. I may have to substitute jumping pullups from time to time when the bar is too high...
2) I'm 5' 7.5''. Plyometrics = what I was doing with the short wall, yes? As long as I'm moving fast? As far as "lifting heavy things" is concerned, though, I actually really like weight lifting. I've been doing a *little* bit maybe twice a week, but at the moment I'm limited to what's in the fitness room at my apartment complex. There isn't a real bar to put weights on, so I'm kind of improvising and holding a couple of dumbells up on my shoulders while I do squats...is there anything else I can do that would help here? (Also doing lat pulls, rows, and simulated bench press on one of those lovely combo-machines, but that's more relevant to goals 1 and 4 than to goal 2.)
3) OK
4) OK
5) 400 m = 1/4 mile, right?

[ZacharyCohn]

@ #5 - Yup. 1600m = mile.

[Chris Salvato]

I read your log again and have no idea what you did on the wall.  Jumping onto and off of a wall along with max effort broad jump skill work will hep your jumping technique.  Make sure you THROW your arms.

As for this...

Other important info: My calf muscles were cramping (they've been doing this lately) whenever I stayed in the bottom of a squat for too long, but I'm partially attributing that to the 55 degree temps. Grr. I have also decided that I need to continue getting 9 hours of sleep and eating tons of protein and veggies on days when I train hard - it really seems to help! First time EVER I haven't burnt out by the end of a session. This is, however, bad news for my desire to be eating sugar and/or bread-type products 24/7, lol.

Your squats shouldn't be bothering your calves.  Are you on your toes?  Your heels should be firmly planted on the ground  If your calves hurt at the bottom of a squat, rock bottom or otherwise, you need to fix your form.

[TraceuseDS]

Whoops! I checked and you're right, I have been letting my heels come up a bit lately on the squats. Hafta fix that. And I guess I'm just trying to figure out what plyometrics ARE. I did a little research, but I'm still kinda foggy on it. I guess I'll look some more...

Thursday:
Nothing really

Friday:
Some extra work on negative pullups on my way home from work (in addition to GTG). Got home and headed over to the teensy gym. Weight training was just upper body. Most of my goals seem strength-related rather than endurance-related, so I've recently switched from doing 3 sets of 10+ of each of these to 3 sets of 5; I'm still working on adjusting to an appropriate new weight for each so those numbers will be sliding around a bit. Friday I did 3 sets of 5 at 60 lbs. on the lat pull-down, and 40 lbs. on the row (warmup for each 1 set of 5, 10 lbs. lighter than whatever the real weight was). Messed around a lot with the weight on the "bench press": 5 at 20 lbs., 5 at 40 lbs., and 5 at 30 lbs. (gonna try just starting at 30 lbs. next time). Timed my mile so that I have a starting number to work from: 11:43. Ugh. Will start doing intervals tomorrow or Monday, depending on how my legs feel.

Today (Saturday):
Mini-jam! Yay! Spent about half an hour training broadjumps and precisions on my own. A friend who's much more experienced helped me out A LOT with them after that for another half an hour (possibly more). At that point my legs were trying to stage a mutiny, so I went and worked on balancing for a bit. I'm trying to get better at changing direction while I'm balancing...

[TraceuseDS]

Sunday:
I got back late from rehearsal for a gig, so it was getting dark, but I was feeling pretty good and decided to start the interval training. First 400 m was pretty good. Second 400 m was OK...slowed down about 3/4 of the way through. Third 400 m was nasty; I ended up going pretty slow for most of that one. Kept reminding myself that nausea is good. Check. I'll try to get four 400 m sprints in next time so that I'm doing a whole mile.

Monday:
I was feeling antsy at work today, and my quads were starting to feel tight from Saturday, so I ended up running up and down the stairs during my lunch break to get myself moving. 3 x 4 flights of stairs = 12 floors up and down. Got home and did 20 minutes of handstand/headstand practice. I'm not sure which would be better for learning to do a handstand: practicing doing headstands away from a wall, or practicing doing handstands next to a wall, so I did a little of both. Started to practice rolls in my living room - got 15 minutes or thereabouts done before my cat decided to run behind me in the middle of a roll. I totally rolled on top of her... (sorry, Ginny...)

EDIT - Yes, she's OK. It took me about 10 minutes to find her hiding under the couch, though.

[TraceuseDS]

Tuesday:
Orchestra + evil rush-hour traffic + rain = no working out. 

[TraceuseDS]

Wednesday:
Weekly jam/training session thingie at the park downtown. It was wet, b/c it rained earlier in the day, but things were starting to dry out...a little...by the time we got there. I worked on getting my NJ, but still can't quite bring myself to land on the bench. Spent some time jumping from next to Bench 1 to next to Bench 2 on the ground, and I don't really have a problem getting the distance (it's far, but not THAT far), but for some reason I just can't bring myself to land on the bench itself. Whenever I try I freak out about in midair about a foot before the bench, twist, and land on the ground *right* in front of it. And usually bruise my shins on the bench. Apparently this still needs work. Plan of action: practice jumping that distance until I feel confident in my precision landings; I need to KNOW that my feet will land where I want them to land, and that they won't slide out from under me. I especially need to practice tucking my knees up when I jump - I think this may help in consistently sticking the landings.

There's a nice cushiony surface there, so I practiced kicking up into a handstand for a while (about 15 minutes?) and did a few rolls. Mostly we played a lot of parkour tag.

[TraceuseDS]

Thursday:
I got my new shoes today! This is a Very Good Thing, b/c the shoes I've been wearing are now sans tread, and the fabric on top is shredding. I guess a couple months of PK will do that. So! Hopefully I can stop sliding around (quite) so much when I land. We'll see.

The weather was beautiful, and I wanted to try the new shoes, so most of my training was outside. Yay! I did a lot of random climbing and/or jumping for 30 minutes or so. Worked on underbars (I think that's what they're called) for 20 minutes on the jungle gym (jump/swing over one bar and under another simultaneously...). I also got some extra negative pullups in - doing these as a GTG exercise is actually a bit harder than I expected, b/c it's tricky to find something low enough for me to maneuver into the top of the pullup, but high enough that I can fully extend my arms on the way down. Still working on that. I also did about 20 minutes of balance work (this seems to be my default cooldown movement when I start getting tired, lol).

Later on I ended up at the mini-gym at home and did 3 sets of 10 squats (making sure I kept my heels on the floor!) with a couple of 15# dumbells. I'm trying to figure out how to proceed with this one; I'll be ready soon (next time, or the time after) to add more weight, but the existing DBs jump from 15# up to 35# with nothing in between. If I swap out my 15# DBs for the 35# ones, that's a total of 40 extra pounds I'd be adding in one giant step. Yikes! I may have to get creative here...I thought of using a backpack or something so that I could combine smaller weights, but that'd probably make my form all kinds of messed up (not to mention the fact that it'd give the ladies in the rental office apoplexy if they saw me loading pieces of gym equipment into a bag).

[TraceuseDS]

Friday:
Took a couple of get-up-and-move type breaks at work today (did sets of 15 BW squats), just to get myself up out of my cubicle chair and wake up a bit. At lunch I walked across the street to some huge granite paving stones that are almost exactly the size of the NJ. I practiced trying to jump over them, but I couldn't seem to make it much past 60" (need 70") today; my legs are abnormally tired for some reason. I had only been doing that for about 10 or 15 minutes before a bunch of kids from a nearby school all spilled out and started playing right where I was practicing. One of them wanted to know if I was a diver, lol. Not quite...

I was planning on doing some 400m sprint intervals again today, but when I saw that the WOD was finally something I could actually do and that it was related (at least tangentially) to one of my goals, I decided to try it instead. Technically, 5 km = 3.1 miles, but MY version of the WOD tends to be scaled back a bit...for now. So, today was the second time in my entire life that I ran 2 miles for time (the last time I did was in high school gym class). I ended up doing a run-walk-run type of thing, but I finished. Time = 25:46.

Much later, and back in my apartment, I practiced handstands and headstands for about 15 minutes before my arms started getting so wobbly they were next to useless. I'm working on learning to kick up into a freestanding headstand right now (against a wall is fine). I still can't kick up into a handstand anywhere, wall or otherwise, so I'm still practicing them in the hall by walking my feet up the wall.

[TraceuseDS]

Saturday:
I had a gig today, so I wasn't home in time to do anything outside. Instead, I decided to head over to the mini-gym at the rental office. I really need to get a more focused routine in place for the weights, but since I'll be stuck inside most of the winter anyway I figure I may as well take advantage of the nice weather while it's still here.

My workout consisted of the following (3 sets, 5 reps of each, unless otherwise noted, with a warmup set of 5 at 10# lighter - oh, and I'm changing the format on weight days, to make things a bit easier to read when I'm looking back later on):

• Captain's chair: 3 sets of 10, BW (not sure this is actually related to ANYTHING I'm trying to accomplish, but it's fun )
• Lat pulldown: 60#
• Leg curl: 30# (last set was only 3; I need to find a way to adjust the machine so that there isn't anything in unfortunate proximity to my kneecap - either that or find a free-weight replacement for this one - because it just doesn't seem right that my hamstrings and quads would be SO different)
• Low row: 40# (last set was 10 reps, just for fun - need to try 50# next time)
• Leg extension: 1 set each at 20#, 30#, 40#, and 50# (need to start at 50# next time)
• Bench press: 30#

Plan of action: I'd like to see how many of these I can replace with free weights, rather than just relying on the machines that are available.

[TraceuseDS]

Sunday:
Spent the entire day moving some furniture I'm refinishing/repairing from my parents garage, where it spent the summer, to my apartment. So, physical exertion consisted of moving several pieces of large, heavy wooden furniture into/out of a truck and up to a second-floor apartment, and then installing it in the kitchen. Ended up eating out with my parents, so food was questionable...which may explain why I was SO out of by the time we finished.

On a side note, I'm still having issues with my calves cramping (it was happening a lot yesterday while I was on the floor hammering and otherwise fussing with the cabinet). I noticed that it tends to happen whenever I'm kneeling or otherwise bend my knees past a 90 degree angle for more than a few seconds, regardless of foot position. I'm really not sure what's causing this; stretching seems to help, but then the next time I kneel or bend it happens again. I'm not having problems with any other muscle groups that way, so I'm really not sure what's going on. Weird...

[Charles Moreland]

Saturday:
I had a gig today, so I wasn't home in time to do anything outside. Instead, I decided to head over to the mini-gym at the rental office. I really need to get a more focused routine in place for the weights, but since I'll be stuck inside most of the winter anyway I figure I may as well take advantage of the nice weather while it's still here.

My workout consisted of the following (3 sets, 5 reps of each, unless otherwise noted, with a warmup set of 5 at 10# lighter - oh, and I'm changing the format on weight days, to make things a bit easier to read when I'm looking back later on):

• Captain's chair: 3 sets of 10, BW (not sure this is actually related to ANYTHING I'm trying to accomplish, but it's fun )

I have no idea what a captain's chair is 

• Lat pulldown: 60#

Lat pulldowns are only decent substitutes for actual pull ups. And yet gravitrons are only slightly better. You could try negatives (eccentrics) and see how you do with those or you could look into some rubber band assistance to allow for BW pull ups.

• Leg curl: 30# (last set was only 3; I need to find a way to adjust the machine so that there isn't anything in unfortunate proximity to my kneecap - either that or find a free-weight replacement for this one - because it just doesn't seem right that my hamstrings and quads would be SO different)

Yeah this has got to go. I'll touch this a few lines down.

• Low row: 40# (last set was 10 reps, just for fun - need to try 50# next time)
• Leg extension: 1 set each at 20#, 30#, 40#, and 50# (need to start at 50# next time)

hate these

• Bench press: 30#

good keep this up
[/list]

Plan of action: I'd like to see how many of these I can replace with free weights, rather than just relying on the machines that are available.

Stop the leg curls and extensions. Put a 45# bar on your back and start learning how to do a proper squat. A proper squat will continue to work your quads, but will also hit most of your posterior chain (something you are lacking); meaning it will hit your lower back, glutes, and will if done correctly  recruit the hamstrings.

Also start deadlifting. These two take away most of those "exercises" and place them all into two amazingly efficient movements that target multiple muscle groups and forces them to move in unison.

[TraceuseDS]

Saturday:
I had a gig today, so I wasn't home in time to do anything outside. Instead, I decided to head over to the mini-gym at the rental office. I really need to get a more focused routine in place for the weights, but since I'll be stuck inside most of the winter anyway I figure I may as well take advantage of the nice weather while it's still here.

My workout consisted of the following (3 sets, 5 reps of each, unless otherwise noted, with a warmup set of 5 at 10# lighter - oh, and I'm changing the format on weight days, to make things a bit easier to read when I'm looking back later on):

• Captain's chair: 3 sets of 10, BW (not sure this is actually related to ANYTHING I'm trying to accomplish, but it's fun )

I have no idea what a captain's chair is 

• Lat pulldown: 60#

Lat pulldowns are only decent substitutes for actual pull ups. And yet gravitrons are only slightly better. You could try negatives (eccentrics) and see how you do with those or you could look into some rubber band assistance to allow for BW pull ups.

• Leg curl: 30# (last set was only 3; I need to find a way to adjust the machine so that there isn't anything in unfortunate proximity to my kneecap - either that or find a free-weight replacement for this one - because it just doesn't seem right that my hamstrings and quads would be SO different)

Yeah this has got to go. I'll touch this a few lines down.

• Low row: 40# (last set was 10 reps, just for fun - need to try 50# next time)
• Leg extension: 1 set each at 20#, 30#, 40#, and 50# (need to start at 50# next time)

hate these

• Bench press: 30#

good keep this up
[/list]

Plan of action: I'd like to see how many of these I can replace with free weights, rather than just relying on the machines that are available.

Stop the leg curls and extensions. Put a 45# bar on your back and start learning how to do a proper squat. A proper squat will continue to work your quads, but will also hit most of your posterior chain (something you are lacking); meaning it will hit your lower back, glutes, and will if done correctly  recruit the hamstrings.

Also start deadlifting. These two take away most of those "exercises" and place them all into two amazingly efficient movements that target multiple muscle groups and forces them to move in unison.

CM: Captain's chair = http://weighttraining.about.com/od/exercisegallery/tp/captains_chair.htm (according to a Google search). I think it's also called a "knee raise" by some people. Like I said, it probably doesn't do much beyond amusing me while I'm warming up.

Thanks for reminding me about the pull-ups. I've been doing some GTG pull-up negatives, but I haven't been noting it in my logs. I'll have to start remembering to do that.

I'm willing to learn how to deadlift/squat with a bar, but at the moment I'm stuck using a poorly equipped fitness room maintained by my apartment complex (my department at work is closing in November, so a "real" gym membership is out of the question until I find another job). There are dumbells (the one-handed variety), but no bars or plates. The "bench press" I've been doing is actually with a machine. I've been doing a modification of the squats using a couple of dumbells (one on each shoulder), but I'm limited by the fact that some of the dumbells seem to be missing. Would it be worthwhile for me to try picking up an Olympic-type lifting bar or something? Is it even possible to find one that's fairly inexpensive?






Monday:
Ran 4x400m intervals. I decided to take 2 minutes between intervals, which seems to help as far as getting them done is concerned. I'll gradually cut back until I'm just waiting 1 minute between sprints. My 4th 400m was about on par with my 3rd (and final) 400m from last time, so I think I'm doing better. Sort of. Did GTG pull-up negatives.

[Charles Moreland]

Ouch sorry to hear that. I'd say in the meantime transition from what you're doing into a more CF style workout and transition back into the strength O-lifts once you get your life situated again.


http://www.crossfit.com

[Chris Salvato]

to learn how to squat and deadlift properly pick up a copy of Starting Strength.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0976805421

Either that book or Greg Everett's book is supposed to be very good too for learning proper squat/DL form...
http://www.performancemenu.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=155

Plenty of women do these lifts, btw...