Monday, March 3, 2008

Rest, rest and more rest

I had passable night's sleep with me weighing in this morning at 180.75 lbs. The loss of the 1 lb was no surprise as I went back to my regular eating and hydration plan. I am a little sore from yesterday's workout but I expected that from the new "going heavy" routine, yet its nothing that rest and multiple ice treatments can't fix.

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with a little sweet potato and Toor Dal
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
4 oz of Kefir

Howie Brewer, RKC-in-training, turned me on to the Kefir .. both my S.O. and I think it rocks!

I'm really being to appreciate my training rest days. Its mind-boggling that it has taken me so long to "get it" but then again I'm one of those type A's. So now I know that "resting" means no Kettlebells but instead an easy to moderate dose of low impact stretching, QiGong and joint-mobility exercises.

After breakfast I did Z-Health R-Phase. I'm consistently getting this in about twice a week and seems to really ground me. One of the pleasant side effects of Z is I have noticed that my posture has improved (I'm especially cognizant of it when taking walks) due to its foundational emphasis on the "Z-Neutral Stance".

Lunch:
1 bowl of Kitchari with Gujarati green beans and sweet potato
1 large Naval orange

Following lunch I did half hour of QiGong from the Lee Holden "The Flow Continues" DVD.

Later, I re-read the Greg Donahue article on his GTG pull up program and realized I had to scale back from 3 to 2 neutral pull ups for the 1st 2 weeks (not to mention the fact that yesterday my 3rd pull up came up a bit short).

GD (Greg Donahue) GTG Pull up Program:
Day 3: 1 set of 2 neutral pull ups (3,1,2)

I had solid form with good tension and lat engagement up and down.

Afternoon snack(s):
1/4 u-waved sweet potato
2 small handfuls roasted almonds
2 small handfuls roasted cashews
2 Dates
2 oz Kefir
1 small handful sesame walnuts

Thats a lot of calories for a couple snacks but my body was crazy hungry.

Dinner:
1.5 bowls of Gujarati green beans and brown rice
1 piece of pie
1 scoop ice cream

This evening I tried a wall walking handstand from a video clip at Josh Henkin's site http://sandbagexercises.com/services.php. No problem going up but coming down was nasty .. CRASH!! BOOM!! .. luckily no injury.

3 comments:

Howie B said...

Glad you're enjoying the kefir. Where did you find the GTG Program? On DD?

Franklin said...

Yes, here's the link:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/220/

Its a low volume very gradual build up approach. If you decide to do it, find the grip that is most comfortable for your elbows. For me, neutral grip (which requires a bar with perpendicular handles (e.g. http://www.karatedepot.com/postreview1.html?mv_arg=tr-ex-40) presents no problems.

Simon Forsyth last week posted on DD his very successful power ladders program for pull ups but the daily volume (30 to 50 reps in one daily session) is way too high for me; also it assumes one already has a 5RM .. mine is only 3RM.

Franklin said...

Hmm .. there seems to be a restriction on string length when posting a comment. In particular, the url for the Multi-Function Chinning Bar by Everlast was truncated. Here it is again in two pieces:

http://www.karatedepot.com/
postreview1.html?mv_arg=tr-ex-40