Week 1 of training and Pre-Evaluation Results

October 10th, 2007

It’s been a week of real training and everything is going awesome. I feel great after each session and really feel my body being pushed.

This is break down from our Monday training session:
Warm up:
Dynamic – 15-20 minutes

Olympic Lift:
Cleans – 5×5

Lower Body:
Single leg box squats – 3×8 per leg.

Upper body plyometrics:
Medicine ball push throws – 3×15
Super set with plyometrics pushups – 3×10.
Medicine ball full extension jumps with throw down – 3×30 seconds

Core Work:
Medicine ball side throws with partner – 15 per side

Cool Down:
Rollers and stretching

This is break down from our Wednesday training session:
Warm up:
Dynamic – 15-20 minutes

Olympic Lift:
Split jerk – 4×6

Lower body plyometrics:
Box jumps forward – 3×12
Box jumps sideways – 2×12 per side
Depth jumps into squat pause – 2×12
Depth jumps into full extension jumps – 2×12
Depth jumps into full extension jumps then side sprint – 2×12

Footwork:
A bunch of ladder drills – over 10 sets

Core Work:
A variety of Medicine ball sit-ups/crunches, – 6 sets.

Cool Down:
Rollers and stretching

Also today I received my test evaluation results from last Friday. It’s funny because they show averages and best for age breakdown 7-18. So upon seeing this, I am now revising my goals form an earlier post, I will also be adding to be better than the top 18 year olds. This is tougher than it sounds because some of their scores are pretty damn good.

Here are the results:
  

Video Scavenger Hunt

October 3rd, 2007

So for my brother’s birthday, we got 3 teams of 3 to do a video scavenger hunt.  So armed with our video cameras we hit the streets and had to record as many tasks as possible.  The only rule was that you cannot tell people you are on a scavenger hunt. Below is the list and their point value.

Try to buy something with foreign currency – 75
Find a twin for every member of the team 75
Bonus for best look-alike 50 (only one team gets this bonus)
Interview people walking out of a restroom if they ‘crumble’ or ‘fold’ toilet paper 50
Walk into an establishment and perform the song playing 50
Bonus for Neil Diamond song – 50
Kiss a fish 35
Change clothes with a stranger – 100
Bonus for pants – 150
Break dance on a cardboard box in public 75
Bonus for each move 25
Bonus for getting stranger to join in 50
Point at nothing and get passerby to look at it 50
Bonus 10 points per passerby pointing – 10/per
Get someone in your team to sing and act out the teapot song 50
Cartwheels across a 2 lane street 50
Bonus for doing it against the ‘Don’t Walk’ sign 75
Stage a Kung-Fu battle in front of a Starbucks 50
Bonus 25 points for each passerby who joins – 25 points/per
Comment on loving couple’s behavior as if narrating a nature program 75
Create an obstacle on a sidewalk and then act as Olympic judges rating how well people navigate it 75
Take a nap in an inappropriate location 35
Re-enact the “King of the World” scene 30
Give money to a homeless person and get change back 75
Get in a car “Dukes of Hazard” style 30
Help carry groceries to car 25
Bonus for getting a tip 15
Team members playing leapfrog in front of Starbucks 15
Haggle over the price of a sandwich – 50
Bonus for getting priced reduced – 25
Get a piggyback ride from a stranger 75
Test drive a stranger’s car – 75
Bonus if exotic car (Lambo, Ferrari, etc) – 100
Get someone to stop for you to sketch them – 50
Bonus for getting paid – 25
Window wash cars in stopped traffic- 50
Bonus for getting a tip 25
Get someone guess the Star Spangled Banner from just whistling the tune 75
Bonus if they guess on the first pick 25
Film your group in a stranger’s living room 75
Slap fight each other in front of a store – 75
Find a runner, jog with him or her for minimum of 1 minute 50
Do a street magic trick – 50
Bonus for getting a tip on performance – 15
Everyone walks into Starbucks separately and orders the same convoluted and crazy drink from the barista (cannot be in line right after each) – 100 (points only awarded if all team does this)
Comment on a stranger’s fine choice of watches while standing at the urinal together 75
Ask stranger to make an emergency cell phone to Lithuania on their cell phone – 75
Get something out of the trash in plain view of stranger and then try to sell that object to them – 75
Bonus for them actually buying 75
High-five a police officer 50
Group hug a police officer   100
Eat off a stranger’s plate 75
Bonus for getting a second bite 50
Stay in front of a restaurant window and pretend to eat a bite every time the customer in front of the window bites their food 50
Old lady on the ground yelling “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up 50
Getting a guy to try on a dress 50
Group member sitting on the lap of a public statue 50
Get a stranger to let you bowl one ball for him/her during their game 50
Purchase an item of at least $3 and pay the whole thing with pennies 50
A member of your group walking a stranger’s dog 50
Propose to a completely random girl (no restrictions on whether the random girl accepts or not; the guy must get on bended knee) – 50
Go to a Chinese restaurant and ask for Cat or Dog – 50
Drive backwards through a drive thru and order something – 35
Go into the dressing room and yell loudly…”Hey, we’re out of toilet paper in here!” – 50
Tell a stranger they look like a certain celebrity and get an autograph – 50
Bonus for actually getting the autograph – 50
Go fishing in a public fountain – 50
Act out children’s story for group of children 50
In elevator shake hands with everyone getting on and tell them they can call you “Admiral” – 50
Purchase all of the following at once: one cucumber, one bag of ice, one tube of personal lubricant – 50
Give a statue a lap dance – 50
Catching a frisbee in your Mouth – 25
Ask a $1 from a stranger to help support your cause to grow a money tree and bury it infront of them – 50
Hang upside down from monkey bars while making monkey noises & eating a banana – 50
Fly paper airplanes on strangers – 25

My team took last place, but we had a lot of issues.  I was a bad team captain and forgot to charge our camera and on our first shoot of me jogging with a stranger we ran out of space, so we had to go and buy a bigger memory card.  But even with all of that we came close, and I know we would have won if we spent more than 1 hour on it.

Below are some clips from my team:

Purchase all of the following at once: one cucumber, one bag of ice, one tube of personal lubricant
Part 1.

Part 2.

Give a statue a lap dance (or in our case a big bear)

Give money to a homeless person and get change back

Kiss a fish

Break dance on a cardboard box in public

First Day of Training

October 2nd, 2007

Today was the first day of training at Velocity Sports Performance.  We started off with a dynamic warm up, which did not include any static stretching.  Instead we did various movements up and down the indoor turf field, each which focused on a different muscle.  By the end of the warm up I was pouring down in sweat, and I was definitely warm and ready to roll. I will post what exactly the dynamic warm up consisted of, once I get my supplemental workouts.

Next we hit the Olympic lifts on the bumper plates.  We mostly went over technique to make sure no one will hurt themselves when we start going hard and heavy next week.  But it still left me and the other Adam sore the next day.

Finally we finished with some core work, using a medicine ball.  So overall, it was a good fist introductory workout.  Next workout will be Friday (going to the Kings of Leon concert Wednesday otherwise we would workout Monday and Wednesdays).

Next Monday should start the real deal workouts. :)

Goals

September 27th, 2007

Here is a list of some goals I am trying to achieve over the next few months.

  • I want to be able to touch 11 feet off a running vertical.  Right now I can brush the basket ball rim which is 10 feet.  So adding around a foot to my vertical should be a real challenge.
  • My current weight is approximately 230 lbs, I figure to help me be more agile, lighter and faster I should be right around 205-210.
  • I need to increase my quickness, which I guess can be somewhat based on my forty time, I have no idea what that is right now.  So I am just going to set a goal of being under 5 seconds.

Rugby To Volleyball…

September 26th, 2007

I have been playing volleyball since I was a little kid.  It is just something that has run in the family.  My father played and still does play(he is over 65 years old) and my brother plays as well (although not that much now), he is the one that taught me.  I remember playing around with the ball with him when I was like 3 or 4.

In college I focused on rugby but still played on the club volleyball team (was no mens varsity).  My senor year I slipped 3 disks in my neck, and my rugby career ended fast.  Being a sports fanatic, I went insane not playing competitive sports, so I re-dedicated my self to volleyball. My body type still is of a rugby player 6 feet tall and around 230 pounds.  So my goal is to try to transform more into a volleyball physique, and see how far I can improve. 

I am creating this blog mostly for myself, but figured I would put it on the web for anyone who is interested.  I will try to post my diet, training and progression each month.

To help me achieve my goals, I am going to be training at Velocity Sports Performance in Baltimore twice a week, as well as whatever supplemental training they will suggest. This place does very cool NFL like training, so it will be neat to see how much they can help me achieve my goals of jumping higher, becoming more explosive, and increase my speed, agility and quickness.

Stay tuned my first workout begins October 1st :)

Here is  a picture from my rugby days at towson