Topic: Elet's Training Log. Woodland adventures.

[Elet ET]

Saturday began a month-long Barefoot/five-fingers training block.
-Started with a morning at raven rock, and the second day of the Frederick jam (gym then downtown workouts)
-Sunday was a rest day(except for water treading workout at night).
-Monday ended up a rest day(devoted to reflection and reshaping my views on copious alcohol consumption)

-Today either the hike to chimney rocks(~2mi 1-way, all steep incline), the run to Annapolis rocks(4mi+ Rnd trip, gentler grades), or rock scramble to black rock(ridiculous all-around).

This will coincide with my running and water treading goals.

Im hoping this type of training will help me:
Correct/limit damage to my knees(dad had both replaced at 60) and other joints by strengthening stabilizing muscles and improving running form.
Force improvement on landings/precision.
Increase reaction time/reflexes due to less protection on my feet.
Make me more adaptable.
Correct poor toe positioning from 15+ years of soccer cleats.
Help me emphasize endurance training(something i will miss since i'm not playing soccer for my college this year)

Workouts will commonly include interval sprints, distance runs, rock scrambles/climbing, jams/training, hikes, or barefoot oly. lift circuits.
And ridiculous amounts of water treading thrown in for fun...

I realize my goals aren't necessarily quantifiable, but I'll stay motivated.

[Elet ET]

Tuesday, started with some climbing, then i did a trail/road run, and some balance/precision work on the R/R tracks.
Also a bit of KB work(need to up it a bit) and worked L-sit, iron cross,  and handstand progressions on the rings.

Wednesday, i headed up to black rock.
Ended up working out on the rock field/cliffs for 3+ hours.
Found spots for great cat leaps/top outs, precisions, QM, vaults, and scrambles.
Nothing works your reflexes balance precision and explosive strength like sprinting 100 yds up a boulder field, it incorporates almost every aspect of movement.
Afterwards i practiced planche work, climbed, and played on my rings a bit.

Well on the way down from black rock i usually top out the cliffs then run down the A.T.(Appalachian trail) back to the Thurston Griggs trail head where the car is parked, approx. 1.5 mi. So on the way down i clipped a rock with the last 2 toes on my right foot, cutting the inside one, and i believe jamming my smallest toe. My small toe is swollen red with a large purple splotch behind the knuckle. The swelling extends beyond the toe onto my foot a little. Jammed or broken, it sucks, and it ended up taking me a LONG time getting down since wearing the 5-fingers hurt from that point on(but barefoot was worse on the rocky trail). They(5-fingers) were already giving me slight amounts of discomfort from the toe separation, i guess i should have taken the acclimation process slower.

So today was rest and recreation, went to the rope swings on the river and played around with a few friends.

[Elet ET]

Played soccer 2 times today morning and night.
Random climbing, OAC, and throughout the day.
Went for a run after nighttime soccer sesh, about a mile, high pace, finished with sprints.
All the running today was shod.
My toe is hurting less, but the seam on the big toe of my 5-fingers split yesterday as well so i need to return them for a new pair.

[Ian Boyer]

holy shit is this elet hall? if so i know you from smithsburg. i didnt know you did parkour though. we have to get together sometime. see if you remember me  www.myspace.com/chainedsoul
we had gym together. i was the puerto rican/brown kid.

[David Ivey]

Ian reminds me of mark.

[Spencer B]

Why haven't I posted in here? I've been training barefoot for about 16 years of my life! First thing I will say, never train around those little white flowers that only come off the ground maybe three inches. Why? BEES! Bees love those little flowers and if you step on even one of them, you risk getting stung. They're like landmines!

[Elet ET]

Yeah i remember you Ian, back when i was in weightlifting....
We jam every weekend in frederick dude you should come to that or we can set something up around here.

Very true, David.

You're talking about clover flowers, my mom used to keep honeybees. I've been hit a few times...

[Elet ET]

So over the weekend i went to the whitewater rafting national championship race at ASCI(Adventure Sports Center International) in Garret County MD.
My brother was competing, his team took second after the USA national team, and me and another brother officiated the downriver race.
Overall a very cool experience and I'm proud as hell of my bro and his team.
Got a bit of training in and was introduced to the Indo Balance Board.

Well it was alot of fun, so i decided to build my own.
I'll be making a thread about it in Consumer whores, or pics and vids.

So ill start again, slow, with the 5-fingers.
New balance training with the board.
Running will pick up here soon, and i think there's some surfing planned this week.
Also MMA and BJJ classes will be starting for me soon.

[Elet ET]

Trained from 10am until 3pm today.
Conditioned for well over an hour in the latter parts, lots of bar work.
Went for a barefoot run, need to run MORE, im still in sucky shape.
Pinky toe was slightly swollen after training.

Went home cooled down and ate.
Then showed my brother and his friend some workout ideas

They ended up running this circuit:
2 rounds of:
10xpull-ups
30xpush-ups
40xKB swings (10xright,left,both,alternating)
30xKB CCP
2nd round with 40lb weight vest.
Filled in the gaps with heavy bag work.

Working on planche progressions and KB lifts on the Balance board.
Tomorrow i want to do some swimming training. We'll Probably go cliffjumping as well(and again friday)

[Bryan Augstein]

good stuff elet. hiking barefoot is the way to go.
i WILL make it out to frederick (someday) and we can go on barefoot adventures

[Ian Boyer]

what MMA gym are you going to. You should go to Hagerstown Brazilian Jujitsu Academy. Its great.

[Elet ET]

good stuff elet. hiking barefoot is the way to go.
i WILL make it out to frederick (someday) and we can go on barefoot adventures

Good deal, you n lyle should come out n we'll go cliffjumping after a good days training....

what MMA gym are you going to. You should go to Hagerstown Brazilian Jujitsu Academy. Its great.

Im looking at Clinch Academy in frederick, ill check this place out to though.

[Elet ET]

Today, an active rest day.
Went for a hike to Chimney rocks in the 5-fingers.
Toe didn't hurt at all until the descent, so thats a big plus.
Switched to shoes on the way down, but my toe is still swollen and tender afterward.
Stretched well when i got home.

Maybe open gym tomorrow.
Then cliffjumping tomorrow night(cliffjumping in the dark is AMAZING), ill do a 20 minute water tread as well.

Then saturday, sunday, and monday morning...HURRICANE BILL IS UPON US!!!!!
Best swell this coast has seen all season, !!3ft overhead!! on saturday night(im gonna get worked!!!)
Sunday and monday should still be good, and a bit more in my normal range.

Then monday night if im still alive, ive got my first lesson at Clinch, see how i like it there.

[David Ivey]

You're not planning on going cliff jumping during the hurricane are you?

[Elet ET]

Depends on what happens with it today/tonight.
It looks like its going to stay off the coast as of this morning, but who knows...
Last year i hiked through Hurricane Hannah, to the top of this one mountain, i got to the top of the ridge and could barely stand due to the wind being so strong. It was a really fun experience.
At the Top

[Elet ET]

Just got back from cliffjumping.
Used the 5-fingers, they felt a little interesting in the water at first but i got used to it.
Got my flips more consistent.
Was too busy working on flips, i didn't remember to do the water treading.
Ill get one while im out surfing Bill....

Trained in the Tree area today.
Lots of ring work, and cat balance across the branches.
Did some OAC training. Need to pick that up more.

[Elet ET]

Had my first MMA class on monday, the day i got back from surfing.(think copious amounts of overhead waves and the sunburn that ensued...)
monday woke up at 6, hit the sunrise surf, then ditched town for home.
Got home around 12, slept for a bit, then got ready for MMA.
MMA class was good, poor teacher to student ratio however.
Then went out to the park for some 5-fingers training.
trained a good kong2precision-underbar-vault to drop combo...
Ran through it lots of times, alternating landing the precision on the left, right, and both feet.

Today, tuesday woke up, had lots of work to do at home.
Did some heavy bag work, and movement training.
Went to a soccer game then down to Gateway park for a jam.
Used 5-fingers at the jam, working out well now, no pain and they just are so much more fun...
Met a bunch of new DC/VA guys

Wednesday i've got MMA again then out to the park to jam it out with some people.
will use 5-fingers...

Thursday got the b-more jam then to Earth Treks climbing gym...

Friday going cliffjumping and whitewater kayaking!

Saturday is weekly frederick jam, should have some new faces i hope.

Sunday, rest...

Monday, CLASS starts...eff
also rest...

Wow i actually have a planned week, this is the first time ever, thankfully it all includes good movement and training...

[Elet ET]

Retitled the thread as i didnt want to keep updating 2 threads or fill that much space.
SO now i will just have sections in each entry, and bolded out subjects of each paragraph


Todays work
MMA and a jam afterwards.
MMA is going well i like the class so far.
Today we did stand up combos, guard passes and north/south pos escapes.

***Im having some elbow area connective tissue/muscle pain from shadow boxing***
Common sense says: Ice, rest, and water?

The jam was good, Trick's last before school.

Did some planche training.

Barefoot progress
MMA is barefoot, and all other training today was in 5-fingers or barefoot.

Planche Progress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGezpf5BG-k
I achieved the straddle planche position on sunday while surfing...

So from what i know (which is little) my feet need to come down towards level and i need to tighten my legs and point my toes.
When i try to lower my feet it kills my wrists, is this something that will pass with conditioning or is there a trick to hand pos.
I honestly dont know much about planche training, i watched one video about it a few months ago but have never trained it seriously.
Tips, tricks,advice would all be greatly appreciated.

I suppose gtg with 1 push-up would help, and i've seen to do them against a wall, could gtg with sets of those as well.

OAC
No work today.
Avoiding pulling work; elbows.

Swimming
Surf trip was a lot of that, more to come...cliffjumping/kayaking on friday

Running
Im adding this now, because i NEED to.
W/O soccer this year my running is kinda sad...

[Elet ET]

When classes start again, workout blocks will replace mid-week jams mostly, so i feel i will be able to balance more aspects of training without overtraining...

Will most likely go:
Run in the AM (2.2 mi loop, 3 times a week)

Mon&Wed
Then MMA in the afternoon
Followed by movement training
or
Tues&thurs
School's Gym to lift(Clean, i miss it...)
Concept II (if i didnt run)

Saturdays will be jams
And swimming will be throughout.

Mon/wed and saturdays are only set days due to scheduled events, others are at my discretion/scheduling/body needs

[Bryan Augstein]

can you describe your elbow pain a little bit more? where and what it feels like? tendinitis is usually synonymous heavy OAC work, and in that case you definitely want to lay low for a while.

planche: some people do it with wrists turned out, or backwards but there is no real set way, find which way works for you. parallets might also help. and no offense, but that isn't even close to a straddle planche

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu5ikO0UFjE arms straight body horizontal