Slapshotz' SST journal

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(Slapshotz @ Nov. 18 2008,7:30)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">well, we won our playoff game sunday....and *knock on wood* no injuries!!!!</div>
Good deal! You don't want a knee that bends four ways...
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Update:

Today, my personal training session effort was top notch.

After quitting halfway through my last session (after 15 minutes of suicide work, I was done...literally couldn't get off the floor. I did rebound in about 10 minutes to do some verticals, but overall, I was at my absolute worst) I managed to have a great effort today, and according to my trainer, my best effort yet.

I did two 300s, followed by one 100, followed by 2 more 300s, followed by another 100, then went into suicide sprints, where at least I got to run out to various cones and catch a pass, which made it *fun*, at least a little bit.

I was definitely sucking wind and on all 4s by the end, but for the first 3/4 of the workout, I was actually doing light joggingfor recovery instead of the walking I normally did. It's a small difference, but worth noting only because my trainer said it's a telltale sign my cardiovascular condition is continuing to improve.

Only downside...I have sore hip flexors, which took my by surprise, because I thought it was a quad thing. Apparently, pain at the upper upper region of the quad is a sign of hip flexor tightness, and happens commonly to schmos like me who do lots of speed training work/sports. I learned a couple new stretches to add to my arsenal, but they require hardware. So it's off to the sporing goods store for a roller and a band so that I can stretch those flexors properly.

The journey continues this sunday...at least if we lose, I'll have about 4 weeks until the start of the winter league. Those 8:15 games when it's 10 degrees out are gonna be all kinds of fun!
 
Update:

Well, the offseason is now here.  We went out in the 2nd round.  Not too shabby, considering there were many new guys on the team, including myself.

I have had a recent setback, and it's a little disappointing, though I must trudge on.  My hip flexor/quad injury continues to be troublesome.  Recently, I added additional stretches for this region, as well as instituting self-massage with a foam roller...and lemme tell you, that is some of the WORST pain I've ever had in my life!  When your IT bands are tight, that roller massage hurts like a sonofabit$h!

I talked to my trainer, and he basically told me that I'm re-training my body to do things it hasn't done in 20 years, and that setbacks are inevitable.  In my mind, I realize that, but it's still bumming me out when injuries that used to take days to get over now take weeks.

Adding insult to injury is that I've been fighting a nasty chest/sinus cold for the last couple of weeks, and it's made for some really lousy sleeping at night. Good thing I don't appear to need too much of it, b/c I'm not getting it right now.

So, I'm skipping my PT appointment this Friday (first time in 2 months), and will just focus on stationary bike cardio and light lifting to keep my wind up.  Other than that, it's lots &amp; lots of stretching, massage &amp; rehab work.  The next season starts 1/4, and by God, I'm going to be ready.  


But for sure, this journey has been 2 steps forward, 1 step back.  Keep on keepin' on, I guess.

Slapz
 
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(Slapshotz @ Dec. 03 2008,11:16)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I talked to my trainer, and he basically told me that I'm re-training my body to do things it hasn't done in 20 years, and that setbacks are inevitable.  In my mind, I realize that, but it's still bumming me out when injuries that used to take days to get over now take weeks.</div>
It's supposed to be hard. That's a big part of what makes it worthwhile. If pussies could do it, why would you want to bother?
 
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(TunnelRat @ Dec. 03 2008,11:47)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Slapshotz @ Dec. 03 2008,11:16)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I talked to my trainer, and he basically told me that I'm re-training my body to do things it hasn't done in 20 years, and that setbacks are inevitable.  In my mind, I realize that, but it's still bumming me out when injuries that used to take days to get over now take weeks.</div>
It's supposed to be hard. That's a big part of what makes it worthwhile. If pussies could do it, why would you want to bother?</div>
TR, that comment of yours might just be the best comment I've seen in my whole frigging journal!!!!!!

It almost sounds like a corporate mission statement...
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Update:

Well, I'm midway through the offseason, and I'm happy to report that my quad/flexor/IT band injury(s) are at or near 100%, and the 6-week lingering cold is finally at an end.

Been stretching every day, hitting the weights 2x/week, and slowly working myself up to 100% acceleration off the line in sprinting &amp; other running drills. That foam roller massage thingy has been a Godsend. I can finally use it without crying out in agony.

I guess the only real achievement I've had during this time is that I managed to take off nearly 2 seconds off of my 200 meter runs, down from a PB of 29 to 27 seconds, and with any luck, that number will drop to about 25 in the next few weeks. Just gotta stay healthy enough to get there.

Can't believe the new season starts in 3 weeks.
 
Well, it's been a LOOOOONG time in between posts, but another football season is almost to completion. I'm in absolutely wicked shape, at least in terms of cardiovascular speed &amp; endurance.

My routine for the last 2 months has been as follows: I have a PT appointment on Saturday mornings, where I run a variety of sprinting drills (pass patterns, defensive drills, suicide sprints). It's considered a &quot;pre game&quot; warmup. I'm crawling out of there at the end, but I get to enjoy the &quot;rebound&quot; effect for Sunday's game. I hardly ever lose my wind, and fatigue is a nonfactor.

And there's something about playing outside in 9 degree weather that's just so fricking fun......

Anyhoo, in addition to Saturday pre-game training and Sunday's game, I go to the gym twice during the week, once for basic &quot;lactic acid&quot; removal in my legs combined with serious stretching, and one strength training day. I wish I could lift more often, but I tried doing some heavy lifting midweek and was seriously hampered with fatigue on gameday. I'll have a good month of offseason time to lift some heavy weights.

All the stretching I do is paying dividends, as well...I haven't suffered a quad/IT band strain at all this season. Now that we're playing on artificial turf, I have less of a chance of rolling my ankles on bad or uneven ground (knock on wood, please!!!!)

My resting heart rate has dropped about 12 beats since I started all this cardio stuff, as well. In addition, I'm eating like an absolute pig...I can't believe how many calories are going into my pie hole. I'm just so frigging HUNGRY all the time. The cold temps here may have something to do with that, but my weight is pretty much unchanged from 2 months ago.

After this season, there's the &quot;spring&quot; season, and then the league closes down for the summer and restarts in the fall. I'm sure I'll be doing some serious weight training then...maybe even an HST cycle
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Hope all is well with the regulars around here, and I hope the pursuits of your goals has been as fruitful as mine over the past couple months!

Slapz
 
Hey Slapz, sounds like you are having a ball! Glad things are going well and you haven't suffered any more injuries. How's that toe of yours? I'm getting into the foam roller stuff a bit too now; it works wonders on my rhomboids after a heavy row/deadlift session.
 
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(Lol @ Feb. 22 2009,4:41)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey Slapz, sounds like you are having a ball! Glad things are going well and you haven't suffered any more injuries. How's that toe of yours? I'm getting into the foam roller stuff a bit too now; it works wonders on my rhomboids after a heavy row/deadlift session.</div>
LOL, funny you mention the toe. The nail grew back all warped, and just as I was ready to go to the podiatrist to check it out, I could see a semblence of a regular nail poking through at the bottom, and now only the top half of my new nail is warped, and the bottom half is completely normal.

I can't believe how long that injury is taking to heal, though...pretty fraky that it'll take a good 5 months to regrow a normal toenail
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The foam roller is really a Godsend of a device. Most of us can't afford to run out and get deep tissue massages after every workout, but the foam roller emulates them quite nicely. I've noticed a big difference in my quads/hams/IT bands. The constant break-up of tissue has caused a lengthening of the muscle bellies, and the sky is the limit on the use of it, limited only by your imagination.

So, LOL, how goes the goals? Have you posted any pics recently?
 
I lost my left big toe nail many moons ago after a judo mishap. It didn't grow back properly for a year. Even now, although it's fully formed and smooth again, it isn't fully attached to the nail bed. Still, it doesn't give me any trouble.

Agree about the foam roller. Have you seen this too? Theracane

It's used for trigger point therapy. Here's the book I'm planning on adding to my library soon (from recommendations here):

<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ref=pd_sim_b_1
" target="_blank">The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook</a>

As for my goals: I'm now back to working towards a 400lb squat and 500lb dead. I've had to shelve the 300lb bench for now, due to my current left AC joint inflammation. It's improving slowly and I can still do presses and dips but bench flares it up again right away. I dieted right down to 182lb at the beginning of Jan. I haven't got a pic at my lowest bf level in January (which was about 7.5%) but I took this one in mid-December 08 when I was at around 9%: Lol 16-12-08

After using Lyle's UD2 for many weeks, I had a week off dieting at the end of December and then experimented with Lyle's modified PSMF for the first eleven days of Jan this year; I dropped around another 3lbs of fat which is what got me to ~7.5% bodyfat. In total I dropped around 40lb in bw from April 08 to Jan 09. Since then I've been eating and lifting to gain. I'm now back up to around 200lb and my lifts are almost back to where they were when I was 220+. I've started hitting PRs again, which is always nice.

I look forward to the return of the Slapz log.
 
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(Lol @ Feb. 22 2009,11:27)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I look forward to the return of the Slapz log.</div>
Yup, ol' Slapz has been piddling away too much time on the gridiron. It's time to get back to the real iron...
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