Journey to the Centre of the Four... (A Rower's Journal)

Sam, that first workout looks brutal. None of that stuff is easy.

NOTE TO SELF: Must try the S/B on the Bosu tomorrow night ... that should be good for a laugh :D

Second workout -- I know exactly what you mean about it being fun to do. I actually think workout out is fun. Even when it's horribly difficult. Self-sadist that I am ... ;)

Awesome work, Sam. Just awesome.
 
i_love_muscle said:
Cheaper, but still not "cheap" :D
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comparable to competitive cycling :pain7:
 
Wednesday 15/10/09 -Day 45 (52 Days to Deadline)

Wait half an hour for our crew to show up... 1 other person does. So we put the pair out and its actually quite a good row, only 14k but the balance and rhythm is pretty good.

Get the news that coach will be gone till Friday next week for work. Also get the news that I haven't been picked in the club four to compete at the Youth Olympics trials at Murwillambah in 2 weeks... disappointing but not altogether unexpected. Just have to go back to the drawing board, keep training, try and train harder than everyone else and just keep improving. It's not a setback, its a speed bump.

Go to the gym around 11

4x10 (2 each side) Single Leg Cable Squat and Pull @30kg
3x10 Inclined Dumbell Bench Press @35kg
2x20 S/B Reverse Crunches w/ S/B between feet
2x10 As above w/ 10kg M/B held 1 inch from ground with arms
4x10 S/B Feet Tucks - V Crunches
4x10 S/B Dumbell Curl and Press @16kg
4x10 (2xchin up grip, 2xpull up grip) Lat Pull Downs @50kg
4x10 Squats standing on Med Balls
4x10 Squat and Hold standing on S/B
4x10 per leg Lunge @40kg
2x30 second Farmers Walk @60kg

Have coaching in the afternoon then go to the Australia v Qatar with my dad. Australia wins 4-0 :D

Food:
Breakfast - 8 weetbix w/straweberries + trim milk

Lunch: 4 boiled eggs, 2xCheese + Salmon sandwiches on wholemeal

Dinner: Lamb wrap before I go to the game, I have 1 beer with dad after the game though.

Post Game: 6 Boiled Eggs

Total Calories - ~2600 Calories

Thought for the Day:
"Right here, right now, you're exactly where you're supposed to be"
 
Martin Muhr sometimes ate 70 eggs in a day (German strongman).

Sam has a long way to go to beat that ;)

Sam, how do you stand on a Swiss ball and do squats?

I only know one guy who can stand on a Swiss ball without falling off, but he doesn't do squats on it. He's a physiotherapist and has been trying out all your workout stuff with the Bosu ball and the S/B. He's actually been doing your workouts! :D

I told him about the Swiss ball on the Bosu ball, and naturally he had to try that, too. Both ways (Bosu ball flat side down and then flat side up). He can actually do it. The crazy bastard. It blew my mind. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it.

But then he also likes to jump from Bosu ball to Bosu ball while catching and throwing a medicine ball to his buddy. This is how he "passes the time" when he's got some downtime ...

BTW, that "crazy bastard" would be my boyfriend :p
 
70 Eggs!! :speechless:

Standing squats on the swiss ball aren't too tough, they're actually easier than the squats standing on the medicine balls. I put the ball next to a pole, and holding the pole for balance I stand on the ball, once I'm standing I squeeze everything together to keep my balance then let go of the pole. Then I slowly lower myself and somebody hands me the dumbells and then I do the squats.
The hard part is the hold for 10 seconds.


He did it?? I'm supposed to do it with the bosu flat side down and I still can't...
you're boyfriend is a machine! :speechless:
 
Dutes said:
70 Eggs!! :speechless:

Standing squats on the swiss ball aren't too tough, they're actually easier than the squats standing on the medicine balls. I put the ball next to a pole, and holding the pole for balance I stand on the ball, once I'm standing I squeeze everything together to keep my balance then let go of the pole. Then I slowly lower myself and somebody hands me the dumbells and then I do the squats.
The hard part is the hold for 10 seconds.


He did it?? I'm supposed to do it with the bosu flat side down and I still can't...
you're boyfriend is a machine! :speechless:
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He could already stand on a S/B with no problem. He actually jumps up onto the S/B to stand on it. He doesn't climb up and steady himself against something like every other normal person on the planet. And what annoys me is he doesn't understand why everybody can't just do it.

So to give my BF some comic relief last night I tried standing on the S/B whilst desperately hanging onto him and maintained the position for about 1.85 seconds. I just about killed myself :D Apparently I need to be doing this more often if I can't even stand on the thing ... crikey.

I can't do a lot of exercises in your workouts. They're extremely challenging. The balance/core stability a person needs in order to do what you do borders on the impossible.

I'm simply blown away by what you can do, Sam :cool:
 
Sorry, been really busy.

Thursday did the first session from tuesday again, friday had a reasonable row in the four and did the same gym as wednesday.
Saturday I had a gig (I play guitar] and ended up spending the entire day getting ready for that so wasn't able to train. After gig, went out to a mate's 18th birthday but only had 3 drinks the whole night. Sunday is a day off as well
Food has been alright but under calorie requirement
 
@fit4life - the gig was actually really great for me, even though i missed training. It was a great way to relax, and socialise without drinking. I made sure I didnt drink at the gig because it ruins my vocals.

@sparrow - you give me way to much credit. But thank you :)

Sunday 19/10/08 - Day 49 (48 Days to Deadline - thats right, i'm past halfway already :speechless:)

Sunday isn't a training day but I had work all day, it was sooo busy but also an absolute ball. I reckon I could have sold someone their own mother today. The boss told me to sell perch and I did... so much that we ran out within an hour. Then he told me to sell barramundi, I'd sold us out of that within 45mins. I was on fire :)

Was a fun day even though it was busy. The boss let me go home at 9pm (i started at 8am) so I could sleep before rowing.

Food:
Breakfast:
Grilled Snapper + cheese + egg on whitebread

Lunch:
1xgrilled Barramundi

Dinner:
2xGrilled Perch, Greek Salad and Moreton Bay bug (at work)

Total calories - around 1300... waaaaaay under.

BTW - is it bad to eat that much fish? It's all freshly caught each morning, its not out of a tin or anything like that.

Tomorrow I'm hitting it hard as we move into the second half of the time frame. Also have to talk to a man about buying a boat. I found a second hand Sykes Mould 20 Ultimate availble from Rowtrade for $4900, which I could afford immediately (which mate change things re: states) but I need to find out more about where its currently located and how I can get it to me. If I can get it I'm going to be so psyched. Tomorrow I'm thinking I might do a 20k time trial on the bike, or maybe a 40k ride. We'll see how things go. Feeling good.

Thought for the Day:
"The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary"
 
Monday 20/10/08 - Day 50 (47 Days to Deadline)

Rose at 4.15 for rowing, coach is away till friday...
Nobody else shows? I'm the only person there from my squad, and what's more some prick has taken out all the club sculls... I literally have nothing to row... I really need to get my own boat.

I head to the gym instead and do

4x10 S/B Kneeling Cable Single Arm Row @25kg
4x10 Squats standing on medicine balls
4x10 (2each arm) M/B - push up, position. Single Trap Pull through on Cable @20kg
4x10 Single Arm trap raise on opposite leg @6kg
5 x (each side) 10kg M/B Single Side raise to standing
2x10 Bosu + Disc lunge with D/B and Press @10kg
2x10 M/B on S/B push ups
Sitting on Swiss ball on Bosu for 10 seconds (still can't do it)
3x10 Standing Squats on S/B

After that I go to uni, after uni I decide to do a 2ok time trial on the bike. I sit on just over 33kmph and pull in a time of 36:22.

Get home and put on my running shoes and run to work (2.9km) in 14:56

Work is alright, pretty cruisey.

Late finish though, don't get to bed till midnight.

Food:
Breakfast:
6 weetbix w/trim milk, salmon on toast (2 slices), protein bar

Lunch:
100g ham, 2xPeanut Butter + Honey sandwiches

Post Cycle - 600ml bottle Powerade
Post Run - 1 piece of grilled Tuna, 8 grilled sea scollops, greek salad

Total Calories ~ 2800

Thought for the Day:
"There's a place I go, when I'm alone, where I can do anything I want and be anyone I want to be" - Newton Faulkner
 
Sam, I don't think it's bad to eat that much fish. It's not like you're doing it everyday. It's protein, it's fresh -- it's not farmed fish. I think you're good to go!!

I still think your best bet for protein is red meat cooked very rare (I'm not into completely denatured protein, which is why I usually eat my eggs raw), but I'm probably biased ;)

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself this weekend :) I guess there isn't much you can't do ... an athlete that can play the guitar and sing that's also literate? That's not very common ;)

Were you also the valedictorian at your high school? Me thinks if you weren't, you were definitely in the running ...

Can't believe some #@!* took all the sculls so there weren't any left ...
Yes, you need your own scull, but do you have enough money saved up? How much extra do you need? Please PM me.
 
No I wasn't valedictorian. We didn't even have a valedictorian prize at our school although if we did I suspect our stroke would have won it. He was a state and national champion in the single scull as well as the quad and double. He also played guitar, 3 years more than me (he inspired me to start) and finished with a better OP than me as well. He's my idol. :grinning:
 
Dutes said:
No I wasn't valedictorian. We didn't even have a valedictorian prize at our school although if we did I suspect our stroke would have won it. He was a state and national champion in the single scull as well as the quad and double. He also played guitar, 3 years more than me (he inspired me to start) and finished with a better OP than me as well. He's my idol. :grinning:
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I thought I was your idol :D:xmas:
 
Tuesday 21/10/08 - Day 51 (46 Days to Deadline)

Argh! After a late, late night on Monday I sleep through my alarm and miss coaching! Luckily I have a co-coach and she takes the crew without any problems... I feel really bad about it though.
Training is pretty straightforward today, 2x3k runs @ 15:02 and 15:07 apiece with 5 mins rest between them.

Head to the gym in the afternoon and do

5x5 Back Squats @100kg
2x10 (each side) Single Arm/Leg Cable Squat and Pull @30kg (opposite arm to leg)
3x10 Incline Dumbell Bench Press @35kg (17.5kg dumbells)
2x40 Bicycle Crunches
4x10 Crunch w/ Reverse Crunch
2x10 Chin Ups
2x10 Pull Ups
4x10 S/B Kneeling Curl and Press @20kg
4x10 Romanian Deadlift (first deadlift of any kind I've ever done) @40kg
4x10 Roman Chair Leg Raises

Feel pretty good :D

Food: Not great, don't eat a proper meal till dinner. Total calories works out to around ~2400

Thought for the Day:
"Remember the feel of the oar in your hand, the swing forward, the perfect catch, the acceleration through the drive. Remember the feeling of power and invincibility the oars give you. When you race, fight not for position but fight for the feeling."
 
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Wednesday 22/10/08 - Day 52 (45 Days to Deadline)

4.15am rise, which I found suprisingly easy, and down to the shed... what the f...? where is everybody? I'm the only one of my squad who turns up... the little pricks.
There's only one crappy single left so I take it out by myself. I row 16k in a boat weighing more than twice that of a conventional scull. Its like rowing with resistance bands and I come off feeling like it was actually a pretty good workout.

After doing the deadlifts the previous day my hamstrings are sore as! Must be good ;)

I make an executive decision not to go to the gym, as 6 Full body workouts in 6 days would be a bit excessive. I'll try and still go thursday, friday and saturday though if I can.

End up going to bed at 8pm, i'm just soooooo exhausted!

Food: Started good...
Breakfast
6 weetbix w/trim milk + honey, 4 egg omellete with salmon

Mid Morning:
1 Orange, sliced

Lunch:
Went out for lunch

Dinner:
Went out for dinner

Gah, i'm too easily led by friends :( on top of not being the right foods it meant I spent money I'm saving for the boat...
must...do...better...

Thought for the Day:
"It wasn't only victories we experienced. All the outstanding coaches were building winning individuals for the competition of life."
 
Dutes said:
Lunch:
Went out for lunch

Dinner:
Went out for dinner

Gah, i'm too easily led by friends :( on top of not being the right foods it meant I spent money I'm saving for the boat...
must...do...better...

Thought for the Day:
"It wasn't only victories we experienced. All the outstanding coaches were building winning individuals for the competition of life."
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Sure, you need to save money. So yes, your wallet is lighter ... don't worry about it right now.

Nobody said you can't eat out with your friends. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to say this again, so you might want to copy it and throw it back in my face the next time I blow a gasket on you :D

You're 18. You're young and burning calories like crazy. Today you ate out twice because you felt your body was burnt and you made an executive decision to rest yourself and chill with your friends. So I ask you, Sam:

Did you enjoy the meals?
Did you have fun with your friends?
Did you feel relaxed and satisfied?
Does your body feel better?
Last but not least, did you eat enough calories today? :)

I'm assuming the answer to all questions is "Yes", which pleases me to no end :)

Now go to bed, have a nice sleep, and resume training tomorrow ;)

I'm getting soft in my old age ... :p
 
Cheers Maureen, a good way to look at it, and unlike the earlier times I've gone socialising, lately, the gig excepted, I haven't missed training as a result :)

Thursday 23/10/08 - Day 53 (44 Days to Deadline)

No rowing this morning but I have coaching so it's a 3.3km run down to the shed. Coaching is fun today, I take them out in singles and we do some good drills and finish off with a little game/competition I came up with.
I call it 'the World Series 30 second Dash for Cash'. At the end of the session in the sculls (so after all the work, when they're good and buggered) to extract just a little more out of them I line them all up alongside each other and then get them to do a 30 second race against each other. I'm going to try and do it once a week and I'll keep a tally of who wins and then at the end fo the season, whoever has the most points I'm going to present a trophy to at the end of the season to crown them as 'World Series Champion'. :D The boys really seemed to like the idea and enjoyed the little race at the end, the guy who just got beaten didn't even take it to badly instead saying 'I'm going to thrash you next time James! (the guy who beat him)"

Have uni during the day and after classes we head to the pub (i don't drink anything though) to play pool. I win 12 games to 4 :D

After uni I have coaching for the year 7 learn to row program at my girls school I coach at and after that I head to the gym.

4x10 S/B Kneeling Cable Single Arm Row @25kg
4x10 Squats standing on medicine balls
4x10 (2each arm) M/B - push up, position. Single Trap Pull through on Cable @20kg
4x10 Single Arm trap raise on opposite leg @6kg
5 x (each side) 10kg M/B Single Side raise to standing
2x10 Bosu + Disc lunge with D/B and Press @10kg
2x10 M/B on S/B push ups
Sitting on Swiss ball on Bosu for 10 seconds (still can't do it)
3x10 Standing Squats on S/B with 10 second hold at the end of each set

Felt like I could increase the weight on everything, felt really good.

Food: Not too bad actually :)

Breakfast:
Bowl of Fruit w/Greek Yoghurt + 6-egg omelet with Salmon

Snack 1:
Bag of pistachio nuts

Lunch:
Butter Chicken and Potatoes and Asparagus

Dinner:
300g Grilled Pork + roasted vegetables (delicious)

Total Calories:
~2700

A really good day, unfortunately with work all day tomorrow there's no way it will be as enjoyable. Still it was good while it lasted. The gym session, although the act of performing some of the exercises is difficult (squats on the med + swiss balls for instance, and the Kneeling Rows on S/B) the weight used didn't feel enough today. Saturday when I do that program again I'll up the weight a bit I think.

Thought for the Day:
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
 
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