100 kg

So this week on friday during my lift I did a clean dead lift with a total weight of 100 kg. In case you don't know what that is, the bar sits on the floor and you essentially grab it with a clean grip and stand up.

I was more than a little proud of myself, especially since last week when I got to my last set I could barely get 100 kg off the ground, but this week...I did a whole set.

Okay so some of you aren't impressed by those numbers but since I'm 5'9'' 166 pounds, and for me that means that I'm getting stronger. Even if its a little bit, I'm starting to crank up the weight on nearly all my exercises. On top of that I'm losing inches in my waist, and I can tell I'm gaining muscle. So after 6 weeks....I'm not displeased.

Other than that I'm meeting with my strength/conditioning coach and one of the nutritionists to make a plan to meet my weight goal. Tentatively I want to be 180 by the start of my season (mid October). This meeting is going to 1) see if that's realistic 2) get a plan to make it happen. It's going to be fun to put together a plan to become a chizzled man-panther.

-Tired n Hungry

JP

Restful Weekend

Today begins the sixth week here at the OTC and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't feeling it. No joke there was a knot the size of a small squirrel in my left hamstring last week; it took some serious stretching and some not-so-gentle help from the massage therapist to ease it up.

Needless to say I spent the entire weekend sleeping and eating...it was great. All the rest is well needed because tomorrow it's back to the grind: lifting, fencing, and sprint drills. The rest of the fencers return from Sydney on tuesday...but leave for Montreal in ten days. So it'll sweet to fence them at the end of the week but I'm going to be doing a lot of lifting by myself and practicing with the pentathletes, which is cool with me.

That's pretty much it for now. I'm just beginning the whole "get back into shape and prepare for next season" thing so tomorrow just kicks off another wonder week in Colorado Springs.

Going back to watching ATHF

-JP

Still Survivin....

Been a while since my last post, but things have been absolutely great here. The other guys returned from Guam and the fencing practice has been intense. On top of that we've jumped to a new workout in strength and conditioning...my favorite part of monday's workout were the three sets of max pull ups.

Besides that, last friday I got a body comp from our nutritionist (who just got a gig being the head of US ski and snowboarding nutrition) before he left. The body comp basically entailed measuring my fat in the magic spots (waist, biceps, triceps, thighs, etc) and then he measured the distance around those same spots. This way they can track how my body changes over the coming months. This way they can see where I'm gaining/losing weight and what areas to target in the workouts. I thought I'd just get a percentage of my body fat, but turns out that doesn't really tell you where the fat is, or how much of your body is lean or where you should focus.

Well anyway tomorrow's full of an early lift, and a demo for some darling kids in the afternoon. Can't wait.

-i love sleep

JP

2 weeks down!

Last week was great; there was fencing, got a massage, and a whole bunch of upper body weight lifting goodness. So I've spent most of the weekend letting my shoulders and triceps recover while eating my own weight in pasta. Good times.

But ah, no worries. The rest of the fencers return from the North American Cup (NAC) and then we kick off a brand spankin new week of training. I personally can't wait to feel the subtle burn of an overhead squat. Other than that I've started doing track practices, which consist of a bunch of sprinting exercises for around an hour. Which in and of itself isn't bad, but since I'm still getting used to breathing what these Coloradians (?) call air when I got finished with the workout I was literally lightheaded and seeing sparkly things in the air above the mountains in the distance.

But hey, in another week I should be all about this elevation so bring on the training like another serving of omelette....cause I really like omelets.

-Still Survivin JP