Training, Bushfires and a world of hurt...

This was the first week back at training for Seniors at PUSH since we finished up just before Christmas and I was pumped to get back to class and see my students.

Tuesday morning I had a new Senior student start (Mary) which is an excellent way to start to the TKD year.

Tuesday night we had a great class, it was HOT but the students trained really well and I could see everyone was excited to be back.

Already I have 3 students signed up for the first Vic Championships in March - awesome, awesome start to the year and I can't wait to get my teeth into competition this year both mine and my students.

I had to cancel last nights training because there was a big bushfire in the area and I just didn't want to risk it so we will do a make up class on Saturday. Given it was still 39deg at 7pm I'm sure there were a few sighs of relief :)

My training has been good.

I pulled up soooo sore after Mondays session and wasn't looking forward to kicking on Tuesday but once I was warmed up it was all good.

Tuesday morning I warmed up with the students but then spent the rest of the class instructing so after everyone left I hit the bags, 20 rounds of 30 sec on / 30 sec off working at around 70% power and 85% speed.

In the 30 sec recovery I either jogged up and down the dojang or worked on my footwork so a pretty solid 20 minutes and after that I just did some technical stuff about an hour all up in the morning session.

My fitness surprised me especially given it was hot and humid, I felt pretty fresh all the way through the bag work, love it when you can see your fitness is there!

Tuesday night we did a heap of kicking and again did 30 sec on / 30 sec off drill on the bags with jog / footwork drills during recovery; another good solid session for the day, again about an hour.

Wednesday I woke up in a world of hurt, a hangover from Mondays weights session plus Tuesdays efforts - took a rest day to recover  ahead of 2 sessions on Thursday.

Woke up Thursday still struggling to touch my toes but warmed up with the seniors in the am class then trained after class, again on the bags:

Warm-up: 5 sets of 20 change kicking on the bag to loosen up the legs and hips.

Pyramid of alternating roundhouse kicks on the bag: 100, 80, 60, 40, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100

700 kicks in about 15 minutes so working nice and hard with relatively short breaks in between sets; again working at around 70 - 80%.

After that I felt great, the soreness was gone and I felt fresh - go figure!!

I was looking forward to last nights second session and was disappointed when I had to cancel it.

Today I woke up feeling pretty fresh so couldn't wait to hit the gym.

When I'm in Warragul I have been working out at a gym called Jada Fitness. It is a great little gym and reminds me very much of the smaller country gyms I have owned.

It is a nice change from the bigger gyms I usually train at, the atmosphere is completely different, how gyms should be!

Anyway here is todays workout: not including warm-up and a small amount of cardio:

FRONT BARBELL SQUATS: 4 x 10 @ 35kg

BENCH PRESS: 4 x 10 @ 15kg

CHIN-UPS: 4 x 10 bodyweight

STRAIGHT LEGGED DEADLIFT: 5 x 8 @ 50kg (these felt fantastic today)

DIPS: 5 x 5 @ bodyweight

SEATED ROW: 5 x 5 @ 70kg

I finished off with a circuit, my legs were pretty smashed before I even started so it was a bit of an effort to get it done to be honest!

CIRCUIT:

1st round 15 reps, 2nd round 12 reps, 3rd round 10 reps.

Kettlebell Swings 16kg

Box Jumps (on to step using 8 risers)

Med Ball Squat / Press 5kg

Shortly I'll head out for about a 20 minute easy jog to flush my legs out ahead of tomorrows weights and kicking sessions and Sunday will probably be a rest day.

My nutrition has been good but with raging PMT it is hard to see if it has made any difference to my weight because I'm feeling bloated and heavy but this time next week I'll be able to get a better idea of whether I need to change anything at this stage or not.

Whatever you are training for right now I hope things are going to plan and you are feeling good about your progress.

Have a great weekend and be sure to include some decent training!