Baby Steps

I've made teeny tiny steps forward in some areas.

I bought a 20" foam plyometric box for home and have been practicing on that most days.  I can jump on it while holding onto Mal's hands and I feel like I'm getting a little bit better everyday.  The problem is it has wound up my back a little so I'm having to roll out and stretch more than normal.  My massage therapist noticed that my left side is significantly more developed than my right which explains why I jump with my right foot first, it is also my right side that is tight this week.  Could it be the muscles in my hips and back playing catch up because I'm forcing that side to work harder?



Willing my little legs to jump on this thing!

The other thing has been my handstands.  I haven't been working on them at all despite entering a challenge with some other people to work on them daily.  I will spend more time on them once I figure out my box jumps ... one thing at a time.

Today we did handstands at the gym and despite every fibre of my being telling me to not show up and once I was there I wanted to go home.  There was myself and another guy who couldn't kick up into a handstand, both of us having the same fears.  It was kind of nice to have someone in the same boat as me because most of the time I'm the only one who can't handstand.  Anyway, Jardan worked with us to overcome the fear of being upside down.  It felt great to be in safe hands, knowing that there was a guy on either side of me.  I got more comfortable with being in the handstand and I hope my kickup was a little stronger (I barely get off the ground).  The hard bit for me is that I feel like I'm totally upside down where I'm still a little way off the wall and when my feet were actually against the wall my body felt like it was hyperextended.  I think this will be something that I will need to practice to get used to the body position.

Even though I'm getting frustrated with not moving as fast as I would like, any progress is better than no progress.

What the???

As I said yesterday I have been working on a few things at home.  I'm practicing my wall walks as well as my jumping.  We have a small retaining wall which is 16" height at the back of our house leading to some stairs and I have been practicing my box jumps on that as I can hold onto the railing while I'm doing it.  I am making some progress in all areas; getting closer to the wall with my wall walks, jumping over some obstacles for both my lateral and forward jumping and doing the 16" wall jump. 

Last night I looked at my bed and wondered if I could jump that.  I had a couple of failed attempts and then on the third go I nailed it.  To see if I didn't fluke it I tried again and lo and behold the jump stuck again.  I then called out for Missy T to show her (she is a box jump queen) and she was excited as I was when I showed her.

Fast forward to this morning at the gym when I decided to try to jump the 12" box and, nup, could not make it happen.  WTF?  I was doing 20" with ease last night and as soon as my box turns from a nice, soft mattress to a hard, wooden box my thinky brain takes over despite the height being reduced by 8".  I wish I could learn to turn off my head.

This morning we did 'Diane' which is a 21, 15, 9 doublet of deadlifts and HSPU.  I went in thinking I would do 50 kg deadies today until I warmed up and changed my mind to 40 kg and the handstand push ups were scaled to box pikes with an abmat.  I did the workout in 3:56 and was pretty happy with the time.  I was a little down on myself in the warm up as we had to do some handstand  holds and it was only me and another girl who couldn't do it.  I feel like such a lame-arse because I can't even kick into a handstand let alone hold myself there.  One day, Michelle, one day.

Training A Weakness

I have many weaknesses ... I guess that comes from being pretty unathletic.  Some moves just don't come naturally to me as I have discussed several times.  I have been focusing on those weaknesses; I have been practising at home most days and it is frustrating as I feel like I'm going nowhere fast because I'm just not getting any better.  I saw this tip on a blog on the weekend:

"You can’t just train weaknesses. It’s too depressing. Every now and then, pick something you are amazing at and crush it."

Tonight is deadlift night ... deadlifts always boost my spirit.