hard times week 1

It’s a mighty long ways from the Golden Gate
To Rockefeller Plaza n’ the Empire State.
Mister Rockefeller sets up as high as a bird,
Old Mister Empire never says a word.
It’s hard times from the country,
Livin’ down in New York town.

– Bob Dylan

I thought I would keep a brief record of training through these surreal times we are facing…

I have a large network of people that train fairly seriously and consistently. Many of these folks train in various gyms and other facilities, and they are now figuring out ways to train at home. I am fortunate in that I have been doing this for decades now, so no real adjustment needed for me.

It’s also interesting to note how bike sales are way up across the country.

March 22 2020

Every day starts with Tai-Chi and today is no different. It’s a wonderful pre-dawn time with the intoxicating scent of citrus blossoms in the air. The sky is cloudless and a few owls are hoot, hoot hooting…

We haven’t cancelled our club rides yet, but based on the turnout we might as well have. Streetcar Bob is the only guy who shows, and he ends up bailing early, so it ends up being a solo ride. Fine by me. No one to shepherd. No one to try and keep up with, or one up. All told, ended up doing 85 kilometers and about 850 meters of elevation gain. Three nice climbs, and I was able to keep my heart rate within reasonable limits.

March 23 2020

Tai-Chi

Pull-up day. Who doesn’t like pull-ups. When I do this at home I do them Grease the Groove style. Every half hour or so I go out a do anywhere from 1 to 5 reps. All day long. Remember, strength is a skill.

Went for a nice recovery ride mid morning. About 40 kilometers. Lots of people out on the loop path. Paranoid maybe, but I’m envisioning riding through invisible clouds of covid-19. Hard to maintain recommended social distancing, so I got off and got on the roads as soon as I could. Heart rate all Zone R and Zone 1

Mid-day was Kettlebell training. After a brief warm-up where I eschewed the usual goblet squats I got straight to work, doing a little routine called Simple & Sinister. Only two exercises. Very minimal. Very effective.

One armed swings:

• 24kg
• 5 sets of 10 swings per side

Going to keep this as the working weight for probably a month. I might do a light day every now and then of 16kg. I will see how it goes.

Turkish get-ups:

• 16kg
• 5 per side

The 16kg is pretty easy so maybe in a week or so, I will start to pepper in the 24kg a bit

I finished off the day in late afternoon with my standard mobility routine. I’ll probably just list it out here the one time and from now on just refer to it as Mobility.

• Rocking
• Tactical Frog
• Crocodile Breathing
• Cobra Stretch
• Segmental Rolling
• QL Stretch using RIS
• 60 / 90 Stretch using RIS
• Twist Hold using RIS
• Shin Boxes
• High Step Drills
• Tea Cup Drills
• Band Shoulder Dislocates

That sounds like a lot but it really only takes about 30 minutes or so, and does a world of good for you.

March 24 2020

Tai-Chi

Today is grip day. I can’t go to the climbing gym, and I’m too lazy to go bouldering outside… hence Grip Day.

This is also done in Grease the Groove style. I go out and bang out some reps every half hour or so. Give or take…

I will also most likely only list this out once and henceforth refer to it as Grip Day, unless I add something unique, or have something specific to say about it.

Grip Day starts with 3 sets of 12 wrist pronators for each hand. This is a really good exercise to protect the elbows from the rigors of grip training and pull-ups.

The Grease the Groove portion consists of:

• Fingerboard hangs
• One Arm Rolling Thunder Dead-Lifts
• Captains of Crush Grippers

After lunch I had a great kettlebell Simple and Sinister session. Abundant sunshine, lots of hummingbirds, good times.

Mid-afternoon session was: Mobility

A good day all in all. Trying to limit my news exposure, but it’s hard.

March 25 2020

Cool and clear at 0400, but I hear that it’s gonna hit 28C later on.

Tai-Chi

GTG Pull-ups

Cycling:

Nice long road ride with some hills thrown in for good measure. 95 kilometers. Traffic was pretty light, much like a Sunday morning. I passed a women heading up to the Ritz. She was wearing a surgical mask. She tried to pass me on the last climb, and she might have without the mask. Beauty day. 28C

Mobility in the afternoon

March 26, 2020

Tai-Chi

Grip day. But I am doing some GTG Evil Wheel mixed in with the grip sets.

I love riding singletrack in the desert. I am really fortunate in that I have a series of trails really close to my house. They are short, and sandy in spots, but convenient fun nonetheless. So I saddled up and off I went. I’ve been riding a ‘new’ bike. Actually it’s a pretty old bike. It’s a late 70’s Cannondale MTB that I recently converted to a sort of gravel bike. I put on drop bars and ‘brifters’, upgraded the brakes, and installed some monster 2.3 tires. Yeah, it’s a bit heavy, but it’s big fun to ride. Big fun. I took to calling it Dr. Manhattan.

Dr Manhattan

Good ride. Couple of laps; about 25km. Definitely rattlesnake season though.

Got home, ate a bit, then launched straight into my Kettlebell Simple and Sinister session.

March 27, 2020

Tai-Chi 0400 as usual.

Uncharacteristically cool this morning at 8C.

Pull-up day! GTG style. It even rained a bit today.

I once knew a man who signed autographs in the rain…

– Kinky Friedman

Also went out and foraged for food today. Got a few beers and a bottle of whiskey too.

Simple and Sinister in the afternoon, followed by a mobility session and a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub.

March 28, 2020

Tai-Chi

I dug out my Jo and practiced what very little I remember (which is almost nothing) of Shindo Muso Ryu.

Went for a casual 45 minute walk through the desert.

So mostly a rest day, and the end of a weeks worth of training in the early days of covid-19