Warm Up II

18:30 Home

warm up II

3 rounds of
1o halos
1o windmills
10 goblet squats



KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16k
1 min jogging
KB swings 20x16kg
min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg
1 minutes fencing footwork

Stretch.
SMR.

18:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

18:30 Fencing

Warmup

Bouts

1. (A) 15-7
2. (C) 15-7
3. (C) 15-7
4. (A+) 7-15
5. (A+) 7-15


Pullups 10,5,3,2

Kettlebell snatches 2z12x12kg
KB Clean press 3x5x12kg.

Stretch

My first training session in nearly three week. It was good to be back but even a short hiatus leaves you a little less sharp. I rushed a little on the tougher bouts. Using the line to set up counters worked well and distance control was OK.

19:00 Home

Standard warmup.

KB swings 30x16kg.
90 sec mountain climbers.
KB swings 30x16kg.
90 sec jumping jacks
KB swings 30x16kg.
90 sec pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 30x16kg.
90 sec fencing footwork and jogging

Stretch

The Turkish Get Up.

A nice step by step breakdown of the Turkish Get Up. Time for me to reassess my form.

12:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 7kg dumbbell.
Ab pullin 3x8x 5second hold
Stretch
SMR

17:00 home

25 minutes run.

Stretch

1:30 Home


Standard warmup.

KB swings 30x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 30x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 30x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 30x16kg.
3.5 minutes fencing footwork and jogging

Stretch

13:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 7kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

Building a better pullup bar.

I bought a cheap cantilever style doorway pullup bar from Modells. It fits doors up to 32'', mine happens to be 33". Inspired by this review I decided a little fitness DIY was needed. A quick visit to Home Depot secured me the 12" pipes. A few minutes of work and some gaffa tape and I had a bar that fit my door way. Total cost $16. The home gym is coming along nicely

I tested the bar out with a few pullups and it's surprisingly sturdy. Budding gymnast Annabelle also had to have a go so 14KG shoulder presses for me.

19:30 Home


Standard warmup.

KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg.
3.5 minutes fencing footwork and jogging

Stretch

13:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

10:30 Home


Standard warmup.

KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg.
3.5 minutes fencing footwork

Stretch

My form on the swing is starting to come together. Two important pointers.

Push the hips back further and get a good back swing.
All the swing should come from the hip and nothing from the shoulders.

16:00

Ice skating 40 minutes.

I took my daughter skating and then stayed on the rink for another 20 minutes. Maybe some day I'll play a little rec hockey again.

18:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

I really don't recommend this workout after a large dinner and a few glasses of wine.

18:30 Home

Yoga primary series. 25 min,
Practiced kettlebell swings, cleans and presses.

I'm tensing too much at the top of the lift and shrugging my shoulder rather than pulling them back. Focusing on the hip snap help to alleviate this.

18:30 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch
SMR

The importance of a second pair of eyes.

My wife works in the fitness industry. One of her most outstanding skills is her eye for human movement. She can look at a perspective client and quickly discover any issues with alignment.

I was doing my sets of kettlebell swings last night and trying to follow good form. I was thinking "swing to plank" and tensing my abs and lats at the top of the movement. It still didn't feel quite right.

Mel was observing me and noticed my shoulder were being pulled forward by the bell. She instructed me to pull my shoulders back and down. She also notice I was initiating the swing with a slight rounding of my lower back which I then corrected.

Bam, suddely everything fell into place. I felt stronger and tighter and the exercise felt, and looked, right

I normally train alone, but times like this illustrate the advantage of some oversight. While I was aware of the form pointers, in the heat of the moment it's can be difficult to pull it all together. This is especially true when learning a new exercise.

This year I hope to train with Mel more often. I also hope to attend a few training workshops, especially kettlebell related one.

Of course this goes doubly for fencing. The more skill focused a sport is, and the more esoteric the skills are, the more important coaching becomes. When I return to regular fencing I also need to return to receiving regular coaching.

21:00 Home

Standard warmup.

KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min mountain climbers.
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min jumping jacks
KB swings 20x16kg.
1 min pushups to squat thrust.
KB swings 20x16kg.
2.5 minutes fencing footwork

Stretch.
SMR.

14:00 Home

25 minutes yoga.

14:00 Home

Standard warmup.

5 minutes of TGU with 5kg dumbbell.

Stretch

18:00 Home

My standard warmup will be as many round in 10 minutes of:

Wall squat
Halo
Pumps

I also do a little foam rolling and trigger point and stretch my piriformis and stretch my hip flexors.

12 minutes of

Kettlebell swings 1 minute.
Then one minute of either jumping jacks, jogging on the spot or fencing footwork.

Quick stretch.

This was a nice introductory seeion but I'll probably start a little easier with 2 minutes of active rest and work on my form.

My routine for the coming months will be as follows.

Kettle Bell Program Minimum

Two days per week.
Alternating kettlebell swings with 1-2 minutes of active rest for 12 minutes

Two days per week.
Five minutes of Turkish Get Ups, alternating sides.

At least one hour of yoga a week.

One short run or skipping session.

As much fencing as I can attend.

18:30 Fencing

Warmup

Bouts

1. (A) 14-15
2. (4) 14-15
3. (A+) 8 -15
4. (C) 15-3
5. (A) 15 -14
6. (A) 13 -15

Pullups 2x10

Stretch

A good night all around. I fenced well. I kept mobile. I still lost points when I rushed but in bout 5 I really took my time to set up the distance. I used a nice mix of timing and scored on my attacks and set up nice remises. This fencer has good compound attacks so I really worked to dirupt them. The line worked especially well.

19:00 Home

Joint mobilisation.
General warmup.

3 rounds of 10 of.
Wall squat
Halo
Pumps

Each minute for 10 minutes:
5 pushups
One Leg RDL left
one Leg RDL left

Ab wheel 2x10

Stretch

This was my first workout since I was sick. I decided to take it very easy. I felt pretty good afterwards.

My training has really slipped in thr last week. I moved apartment and then came down with an ear infection. Combined this left me with little energy or time for training.

Over the past week I did a short run, some stretching and form roller work as well as some pressup's and situps. I worked on my Turkish get up form and did some fencing footwork.

I'm planning on vising the gym tomorrow. My lease ends on my old apartment in 10 days and after that I will be training from home. I looked at a few local gyms but saw nothing that seemed to be worth the price.

I will fence on Wednesday. I'll love to get back to training at least twice a week and competing once a month but that seems unlikely at present.

My plan is to start with a kettlebell and work on Program Minimum for a few month. I will do yoga twice a week. I'll also fence once a week and include one run or a skipping workout. I ordered the kettlebell today. I also want to get some additional weight plates for my dumbbells and a doorway gym. My doors are slightly too wide for most of the standard models. But I have enough equipment to get started.

This is the plan but my wife is also due to go into labour any day now so this could all change.