Happy Festivus

Happy Festivus, ya'll. My toe foot is feeling better but I have the most brutal dry cough. Because of my illness, multiple Christmas gatherings with family, and the fact taht my sister and best friend (two different people) are visiting from London this week equals me not going to the gym. The New Year marks the one-third mark of this project and I feel like I only recently figured out where I am headed and what I need to do. I'm stronger, faster, and have more endurance than I did three months ago. Conversely, my body is breaking down and I feel like the more I learn the more I realize I don't know.

Toe-jammin'

Woo-eee! Walkin' sucks! The picture below fails to accurately illustrate the bruising, swelling, and weird grey hue of the skin on my toes, but it's a start. I'm icing my dogs right now and I am calling in broken to my Shok and Throwbacks workouts tomorrow. Today's non-sequiter: I need to work on getting no less than seven hours of sleep each night.



Diet 8 a.m. Strawberries and pineapple. 12:45 p.m. Two slices of cheese pizza, two breadsticks, soda. 7 p.m. Chicken breast over black beans and rice, steamed vegetables, water. Busy at work the last two days, my eating has been less than ideal. Work in progress.

Conditioning Nada.

Skills Nada.

Toe-jammed

I outweigh Chris Frayer by 100 pounds, but the dude goes hard. We started drilling takedowns and since I A) stopped wrestling after 8th grade, and B) can't finish a takedown for fear of re-breaking my hand, was sticking to single and double-legs. On his first turn, dude flips me with some crazy shit that carried all my weight across my right pinkie toe. I heard all my toes crack and they felt hyperextended. I hobbled home and took this picture, which doesn't look nearly as bad as it feels.



Diet 5:30 a.m. Strawberries and pineapple. 10:30 a.m. Grapes and water. 12:30 p.m. PB&J, chips, carrots, two cookies. 4 p.m. Banana, peanuts and water. 7 p.m. A couple pieces of frozen pizza, steamed vegetables, water. I got really parched during the workout tonight. Need to drink more water.

Conditioning I think we did some shit called the Bearclaw today at Shok? It was a combination clean & jerk, military press, and deep squat, seven sets of seven. It was 16 minutes of extreme discomfort, and it took me a solid 15 minutes afterwards to recover well enough to limp home. I got back in bed for an hour and felt much better. Of course, the Throwbacks workout is physically draining as well.

Skills Got a lot of good work in with the Thai clinch with a guy whose name escapes me. If you watch Franklin vs. Silva II, there is a look of total desperation in Rich's eyes when gets caught in the clinch. There is something totally frustrating and demoralizing about someone controlling your head (and thus your entire body), hitting you at will. It's way more frustrating than anything I have encountered in Jiu Jitsu, but its similar because like BJJ, the Thai clinch can be used effectively by a small guy with good technique on a bigger guy with greater strength.

I am joining the YMCA on Friday. I've been going as Amanda's guest, but that gravy train skidded to a halt. Once I'm bonafied, certified, and fortified over there I'm going to start doing my cardio there on my off days so my schedule will look something like this:

Monday AM Shok - Strength & Conditioning PM Throwbacks - MMA/Muay Thai

Tuesday AM YMCA - Cardio

Wednesday AM Shok - Strength & Conditioning PM Throwbacks - MMA/Muay Thai

Thursday AM YMCA - Cardio

Friday AM Shok - Strength & Conditioning PM Throwbacks - MMA/Muay Thai

Saturday AM Shok - Strength & Conditioning / YMCA - Cardio PM Self Defense Systems - Sparring

Sunday AM or PM YMCA - Cardio

Of course this isn't a hard and fast schedule - work, life, etc, will require adjustments, but if I can maintain 80% of this week in week out I will be in good shape come summer.

Diet 7:30 a.m. Fruit salad, 1/3 of an omelette, water. 11:15 a.m. Chicken sandwich, chips, two cookies, water. 5 p.m. Side salad with peanuts, banana, water.

Conditioning Off day.

Skills See above.

Monday, Dec. 17

Back at Shok Fitness for the long haul. I needed to take a few weeks off for my mental, physical, and financial health, but now I am back to morning workouts at there. Already a little sore from the Saturday morning workout, this morning just about killed me. We did three sets of a 400 meter row, 25 wall balls, 20 pushups, 15 kettlebell swings, and 10 sumo deadlifts for time. Twenty-six minutes later I felt like all my organs were going to burst. Of course, an hour later I feel like gold. Well, except for the fact that it hurts to turn my next or life my arms above parallel with my shoulders. The pain increased throughout the day so I decided to pass on my Throwbacks workout in favor of R&R.

We had dinner with an old friend of mine and her husband who we hadn't seen since August. She told me it looked like I'd lost weight. Since I've actually gained weight this fall, it's good to know that I'm slowly getting leaner.

Diet 5:30 a.m. Yogurt and strawberries. Water. Noon Two slices of pizza, two breadsticks, water. 5 p.m. Pineapple chunks, two cookies. 9 p.m. Fried ravioli, Italian wedding soup, Chicken Involtine, water. Not even going to describe it but it was delish.

Conditionin Morning workout at Shok.

Skills Nada.