Training summer 2011/12
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First day of the new programme today. 3 sets of bench supposed to be 10/8/6 however I only managed 90/10 - 95/5 - 95/5. Next exercise was 3 sets of 5 of power clean with a front squat at the top of the clean. Got up to 85 kgs. I found the cleans not to bad but the front squats burnt. I then had dead lifts 4 sets of 6 and tricep rope pull down 3 sets of 10.<br />
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It was good to do something different, especially after the last training block being lighter weights but high reps/endurance. -
Last night had a line out session to sort out the calls for our first game this weekend. In order to kill to birds with one stone I ran to and from training which worked out to be about a 4.5 km run all up.<br />
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This morning I did the second session of my gym programme. Started off with squats. 2 sets of 12 for warm up, followed by 3 sets of 10/8/6. Did the first 2 sets at 110kg but failled on the 3rd set. Im still surprised how much the deep squats wreck me.<br />
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I followed squats with high pulls (50kg) and push press (80kg) both of 3 sets of 5 reps. Finished off the weights with 3 sets of 10 bicep curls.<br />
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Went straight into a spin class to finish myself off. -
Training last night. Starting to finally do unit work and patterns. Makes for some longer trainings but its nice for a change. We have our first preseason this weekend which I'm looking forward to.<br />
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Tonight I was given some plyometric exercises to start doing once a week. Bounding, knee tucks and vertical jumps. Each will be 4 sets of 30 seconds with a 1 minute rest. Its amazing how tiring it will be.<br />
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Tonight was also my second beep test. I thought I had gotten an 11.2 last time but he was thought that I had only got a 9.2. I had 11.2 written down but either way Ive improved. I scored an 11.6 today. I have definitely noticed running getting a little easier now that I have started contact training etc. -
I don't think I ever broke ten on that cursed 'beep' test, and I seem to recall Carl Hoeft as an 18 year old lapping me in the 12 minute run thing we used to do 20 years ago!! Good days, I don't think!!<br />
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What is the 'standard' expected for props on the beep?? NPC level? -
Not sure because they do the yo-yo test now which is a variation of the beep test but at the same time is significantly different. For the yo-yo test I think they have to crack level 17 which I think is roughly a level 13ish in the beep.<br />
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Did my day 3 gym session in the new programme for the first time yesterday. For a programme that looked relatively low key it still managed to do a number on me and have me leaving the gym sweating from head to toe. 4 sets of 8 deep front squats, 2 sets of 4 snatch with overhead squats, 3 sets of 5 B/B bent over row, and 3 sets of 10 seated db press.<br />
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Its been a nice change up from the heaps of super sets and endurance work to have 4 exercises and be in and out in 45 mins. With saying that though they've still managed to do a number on me. Switching from supersets to 3 days of pretty much full body sessions is a different type of tiring. I have enjoyed (if thats the right word, ask me again next week) having variations of squats every day of the programme, as well as having the power exercises power cleans with front squats, push press and snatch with over head squats. -
First game of preseason yesterday. Went really well. Played against the defending champions and lost by 10 points I think. Playing quarters we played pretty much a different forward back for the first 3 quarters to give everyone some game time, then finished off the last quarter with basically our top team. I played 30 mins (the first quarter and 10 mins of the last quarter). Fitness held up really well, got some good contact work in and scrummed well considering we've done no scrum work at all this year. There was a lot of promising stuff come out of the game, only early days but we seemed to have grown a lot. Last year we had a million dollar backline with a forward pack which was up and down, but this year we've got a forward pack which is fitter and stronger and looks like we should be able to bully a few teams. It will give us a bit of variety so we can change up the style of play which we will be able to. Bring on next week for the next preseason and hopefully a bit more game time to get some more game fitness.
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First week with a saturday rugby game and a 40 hour week at work has been good so far. Im still trying to get the balance of my trainings right but so far it's not to bad. Monday morning was Bench, deadlifts, power cleans/front squats and triceps. I had increases in all exercises. I hit my rep ranges for bench this time and got up to 120 kg x 6 in dead lifts. Monday night was spin class. After my first day back at work after a fortnight on holiday I was pretty tired before hand but it actually worked to wake me up.<br />
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Tuesday morning was squats, high pulls, push press and bicep curls. I wore my weights belt for the squats just to help with the stability at the bottom of the range. It definitely helped me maintain my form and protect my back. Im starting to notice my form improve for all of the exercises now and it feels good to be making gains again. Last night was club training. Contact drills and a bit of pattern work. Low key session but valuable.<br />
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Today was a rest day. Always going to be my sleep in. But I pulled the pin on the plyometric session planned for tonight. Body needed a rest. Might try get to training a little bit earlier tomorrow to get it in. -
it gets bloody hard to work, do weights, run, train and play rugby. Weights has to end up maintenance, aim at the core exercises, and try not to lose too much strength (in my past experience anyway)!! Supplements important, are you using any? Ness can now get Horley's too, I am sure we can give you a bit of a discount if you want to use any - also some other proteins that I can't remember the name of but are bloody good, and taste good too, whcih helps!
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yeah gym might have to end up being maintenance. Im doing three sessions which over the 3 I do bench, deadlifts, back squats and front squats. These are mixed in with power exercises and back/shoulder exercises. I have noticed this week that Ive lost a lot of opportunities to do conditioning. It wasnt to bad the last month or two when club trainings had a lot of fitness involved but this week was basically all handling skills and pattern work. Im tossing up on whether to get a RPM session done on wednesday, or to do RPM on thursday morning and switch that gym session to friday morning. Time will tell.<br />
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I presently used Myofusion protein. Find it really nice but I do find that Ive started my annual drop in weight which is tied in to the season starting. I was contemplating on whether it would be worth while trying the mass protein range? What proteins do you find the most effective? And how much would it cost me to get protein through you guys? -
Out of all my sessions my thursday morning session seems to wreck me. The deep front squats wrecks the glutes and the hammies. its crazy what 4 sets of 105kg x 10 does.<br />
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Saturdays game was good. Normal scrappy preseason and the team prep was shit but there was some good parts when we stuck to our structure. Its awesome having the x factor in the backs which can pull something out of there arse when the play breaks down as well. Played 60 mins. Wasnt overly happy with my first 40. Fealt sloppy, and wasnt doing enough of the good stuff at the right times. I think my lack of game fitness really shone through during that time. the last 20 mins though I managed to finally hit my 2nd wind and it was like a completely different game. had some good runs and was back to my old 'annoying bastard self', come the rucks and mauls by getting annoying hands into everything just to mess with their ball. I wasnt meant to play that last 20 mins but was so glad that I got it.<br />
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This morning was gym. A good hard session and got a good sweet up. Noticing some nice small gains. Eg for dead lifts I went from the last set last week at 120x6, to the last 2 sets today at 120x 6. Its not much but Im picking away at it. -
Wow its been a couple weeks since Ive posted. My bad. Had a week off of gym last week. Body was buggered and needed a rest after the previous 4 weeks. Add on the effects of the first game of the season and it was a well timed break. Back into the gym today. Pushing the same weights as I did the week before last so havent lost anything. Was a little bit rusty movement and stiffnesswise for the first set on most exercises. Was so good to get back into the gym.<br />
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Having the afternoon off tonight, and will be up early for a 6 am spin class tomorrow morning. Im going to spread the trainings out a little bit more than usual, and add a couple spin classes this week as we have a bye this weekend.<br />
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Rugby has been good. Two games into the season and picked up 80mins both times. Im totally noticing the difference from having done the extra training. The fitness is amazing. Im still dead come the last 10-20 mins, but am getting around the field so much easier than what I normally do this time of the season. Challenge now is to keep it up. -
Spin class Tuesday and Thursday morning, followed by club trainings on both nights. Starting to get some good contact in at the club trainings. Play against the Bs each week which is good. They go all guns blazing and we have to start learning not to fuck around otherwise we get made to look like idiots.<br />
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Did my squats session on Wednesday night after tea about 8pm. Was surprised how good I fealt come Wednesday night. Pushed some good weight to. used my push press and upright row as warm up for my squats. Had a double benefit of allowing me to push/pull more weight in the 2 exercises as well as warm me up for the squats where I got up to 125 kgs for the parallel squats. I know it doesnt seem like a lot, but its taking me a while to build up the strength in my lower back to handle the added depth of the squats. Ive also decided to stick with the weights belt. Having the extra support for my lower back is simply to important to me, and is allowing me to keep my form which other wise Ild probably struggle with. -
Changed up my programme slightly this week. I wasnt getting the work on my upper body and was loosing to much size. Ive seperated the exercises back into one lower body and two upper body. I still have the power exercises in there though.<br />
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Because i had Saturday off of rugby I went to the gym yesterday. Bench 90/10, 95/8, 97.5/6. I was pumped after hitting that 6th rep. Ive been trying to hit it for the last 6-7 weeks and it was the first time Ive completed the reps. Finished the session with incline bench, explosive bench, some cable work then tricep dips. Starting to get some good gains on a couple of those exercises which I did the programme before last.<br />
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Today was legs. Did squats 115/10, 120/8, 125/6, followed by jump squats 115/5 x 3 sets, finished off with dead lifts 110/6, 115/6, 120/6, 120/6, and biceps.<br />
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Ive got spin class tomorrow morning then team training. After this week Im going to make an effort to do spin classes every tuesday and thursday mornings. Wont do it this week because we're playing friday evening as the curtain raiser to the hurricanes game. -
Not looking forward to work on Tuesday. Had rugby on Friday. Got dropped down to the bench for A's so went and started for the Bs because they were short of players. Was only meant to play 40mins but the other prop got injuried so ended up playing 70mins. Had an absolute blast. Score my first hatrick in years. Had a four hour wait after the game then got on for the As in the curtain raiser for the Hurricanes. Got about 25 mins. Lungs handled it really well, but the muscles were quite stiff. Woke up Saturday morning sore from head to toe. Pool session loosened every up a bit, but the shoulder is still a bit tender.<br />
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To make things more entertaining we have the defending club champions for the last two years tomorrow as the second half of the easter double header. Looking forward to the opportunity to have a go at them. Tuesday morning at work will suck though. Considering maybe a spin class Tuesday morning. -
Have had a light week this week after the 2 games over the long weekend. Had a pool session last night, and physio tonight. Ive strained the rotator cuff in my shoulder. Will be back into the gym tomorrow. It will be the only one for this week due to the game on Saturday, so Ill do a full body session. Was told today to avoid over head exercises, so will stick to squats, deadlifts, and will try bench. Will throw in a couple other exercises, but will see how the shoulder goes.