Jersey #9: Kentucky's Journey

So...today's workout was really fun in a completely terrible way. I decided to do a purely crossfit workout since I haven't done that in a while, and it was umm...well...not the easiest. Of course, I knew that going in. If you know anything about crossfit and have searched around the site at all, you'll have noticed that some of the workouts are named after fallen soldiers. Since a lot of military personnel use crossfit as their conditioning regimen, and since the crossfit community at large is extremely supportive of the troops regardless of politics, it's meant as sort of a tribute and as an occasional reminder of the sacrifices being made on this country's behalf. Well, fittingly, all of the fallen soldier workouts tend to have a bit of an extra "umph" to them difficulty-wise. So when performing "Joshie", let's just say that I knew what I was getting into.

The workout went as follows:

3 rounds for time of

21 pull-ups
21 right arm db snatches
21 pull-ups
21 left arm db snatches


Let me just say, wow. I am still a long way to go on being able to do high rep pull ups, so all of mine were performed as jumping pull ups. The snatches were performed with a 25# Dumbbell (I initially planned on using a 30#, but then told my ego to shut the hell up). Also, I broke it up so as to not burn out on any one exercise and have to take a long break. Each round went as follows:

7 PU
7 RADBS
7 PU
7 LADBS
7 PU
7 RADBS
7 PU
7 LADBS
7 PU
7 RADBS
7 PU
7 LADBS


So that's 42 pull-ups and 42 snatches per round for a grand total of
126 pull ups and 126 1-arm snatches. BAM! I gotta say, this isn't the type of workout that I need to be doing every single day, but it was a great one for cardio and muscular endurance. Also, it helped to have to concentrate on snatch form even through the exhaustion. Great workout, great mental toughness builder. Unfortunately, I forgot my stopwatch so I didn't time myself but just went as fast as possible. I'm guessing I was somewhere in the 20 minute range, but who knows...

Luckily, tomorrow is a day off so I can eat, ice, recharge and get ready for the next 3-day cycle. I sense some sprint form and passing work on the horizon for Thursday, but we'll see if the weather cooperates.


At any rate, I need to wake my snoring puppy up and get his butt out the door for his workout. I think I can probably handle a jog in the woods to get his energy out because I'm gonna need to bust my tail working for the rest of the day and probably into the night. I kind of skipped out yesterday so I need to double up my hours for today in order to earn le cash. Such is the life of procrastinator. Adios mis amigos...

Before I post my workout for the day, I have to address a condition I'm going to call "Weight Room OCD". It's where...well...you spend more time organizing the weight room during your resting periods than you do your own home. I haven't really had this problem in the past, but every morning when I walk into my current gym it looks like a bunch of crazy gorillas have taken the equipment and just strewn it about in every direction (which is probably pretty close to the reality). To be fair, I COULD just shove things away from the space I need and then go about my workout, but something inside me just won't let me leave well enough alone. Before I know it, I'm hauling 80lb dumbells across the room and throwing them on the rack, organizing all the weights by size and type, and taking all the plates off of the bars and putting them away even when I'm not using that equipment. Hell, sometimes I even put away the weight belts and barbell pads and I never use that stuff. I don't know why, but for some reason I get a deep satisfaction out of watching the gym transform from chaos at the beginning of my workout to being ready for a university brochure picture by the end.....and ya know, I get a bit of an extra workout too, so it's kind of like a bonus. Anybody else out there have this problem, or am I just crazy??


At any rate, my workout for today was a heavy, lumbering one. I'm gonna be doing these fairly regularly to try to up my maxes in a few different workouts. Since I'm going heavy I have to take pretty long rests - between 2 1/2 to 3 min so I was allotted plenty of OCD organization time today....here's what I accomplished:


Power Clean -
5x45#
5x65
5x85
5x95 (had to do the 95's w/ a bit of an extra breather in between each one to focus on form)
5x95
5x95
6x85

Front Squat -
5x45#
5x65
5x95
5x115 (fail@2, then +1+1+1 w/ 15 sec rests)
5x100
5x100

Physio Ball DB Bench Press - (weight is both db's combined)
5x70#
5x80
5x90
5x90
5x90
5x90

Knees to Elbows - (hang on pullup bar w/ palms facing out, touch your knees to your elbows)
1x5(reps)
1x5
1x5

All in all it was a pretty good workout. Some of my numbers were kind of low, especially on the FS, but I think my legs were still a little sloshed from yesterday. I felt good though, and was able to hammer through everything more or less without incident (although I did get pretty hungry!). I hope to get out a little later and maybe get some passing reps in, but that all depends on how I'm feeling. However, I'll most likely take Brutus for a hike no matter what - it's hard to neglect him of his favorite part of the day no matter how angry my legs are.


Oh, P.S. I got this video off of a crossfit site....ummm, if anyone out there can do this, I demand a demonstration ASAP. AMA-ZAZ-ING stuff!!!

Well, this may start looking more like a workout log in the coming days/weeks/months however long I keep up with writing stuff down here. It saves paper and is an easy way for me to look things up and to share/compare with others.

To be honest I've been a bit conflicted about all things rugby lately, but as far as I'm concerned that's no reason to slack on training so after a couple days of thought-hiking (roaming in the woods for hours on end with Brutus so as to clear my head) I'm back to the grind in the gym and on the field. Yesterday I did a workout that doesn't sound so bad, but really kicked my ass....here goes:

3 rounds:

100 meter sprint
20 pushups
10 tuck jumps
45 second rest
100 meter sprint
20 crunches
10 tire thrusters


So...it turns out tire thrusters, when done after sprinting, are a serious ass kicker. It was a fairly short workout but definitely got me about as close to a "I want to die" on the perceived effort scale as I've felt in a while. After catching my breath I did quite a bit box kicking/drop kicking practice with both feet and then did my traditional playing soccer with the rugby ball routine with Brutus. He loves attacking the ball but is good about not sinking his teeth into it. He keeps me moving and I get a good little aerobic workout while we play. To close things out we went for a brief hike before my fingers started to get frostbitten and Brutus decided it would be a good idea to try to eat the horse poop. Poop eating + frozen fingers = time to go home =).

During the off-season, it can be pretty hard to motivate myself to do any kind of grueling endurance workouts. I don't need many - my focus is more on improving speed, strength, and agility at the moment - but I don't like to let go of my cardio conditioning completely because it's so miserable to gain it back from nothing. That said, I like to have one sort of amazingly terrible workout per week - just to keep my perspective. My current workout plan includes half hour skill sessions 2-3 times per week; lifting mon, wed, fri; sprints and plyos tues; interval/recovery run thurs; and what I have dubbed my "Neanderthal Runs" on friday. These friday workouts are sort of a mix between crossfit, interval runs, mma conditioning, as well as rugby skill movements and my own special touches here and there.

Here is the workout I did today - took me about 28 minutes to complete and kicked my ass for the first high intensity workout I've done in a while. It was a lot of fun though and I'm looking forward to what I can come up with in the coming weeks. My goal is to find new ways to include rugby skill movements to make the workouts a bit more sport specific. Some of the workouts might be slightly more on the anaerobic side with the intensity upped and the rests lengthened, while others might include more running/jogging active rests and a slightly lowered intensity. I'm just playing with it all at the moment, but excited to see what I can do!

1 lap jog around the field
dynamic warm-up


Bear Ladders: 4 rounds

5 tricep push-ups
50 meter sprint
5 squat jumps
50 meter zig-zag sprint
5 tire thrusters (squat holding the tire, then shoulder press it as you stand up)
50 meter tire flip/throw (3 flips, then clean it up and throw, repeat)
5 plyometric clap pushups using tire (hands on each side of the tire - clap in midair, hands back on tire, repeat)
25 meter double footed hops
25 meter bear crawl (hands and feet on the ground)
rest 1 minute

3 minute rest

Triangle drill: 4 rounds

10 x 10x 10 meter triangle - (cones at the base, tire at the top)

start at a cone - shuffle to next cone, sprint to the tire, circle the tire twice with hands on top and feet shuffling as fast as possible, backpedal to cone, shuffle to next cone. Switch directions each round, repeat.

Rest 30 seconds between rounds.

3 minute rest

Drag Sprints: 10 rounds

20 meter sprint
20 meter backpedal tire drag (I hooked a dog leash around the tire for dragging purposes)
Jog back active rest, repeat


If you decide to try it - tell me what you think!

There have been a lot of changes in my life recently. As such, I've been doing a lot of soul-searching; as pertains to rugby and otherwise. Along my "vision-quest" of sorts, I found this quote by one of the most intelligent and visionary men to ever live, Albert Einstein:

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things"


Sad...but essentially true. I don't think this means that we have to exclude people and things from being important in our lives...but I do think it means not denying oneself. Treat the people you love with respect and dignity, always. Along your travels toward your goals, meet people, make friends, love, live, indulge....but refuse to sacrifice yourself. There will be a lot of people who come in and out of your life - but the only one who remains through the end is yourself. Those who really care will support you - maybe not at first - but always in the end. And those who don't...well, maybe it hurts, but you have to leave them behind. Take them for what they were, for the happiness you may have shared with them at one point or another, and let them go. Turn around and run toward your dreams. Write those dreams down, make each step a means to an end, and refuse to compromise till you've nothing left...and then crawl the rest of the way.

If you don't make it, at least you've given yourself to a worthy cause - fought your best fight. And unlike so many people who refuse to take the risk, you'll know what you're truly capable of, for better or worse.

Friends, live your best life - not absent of mistakes or failures - but full of attempts and good intentions. Wish the best for others in the hope that they become challengers along the path toward your own best self. Be optimistic that others will wish the same for you, but don't depend on it. Sometimes the right choice can be a lonely one, but show me a man who survives and presses on in spite of all else, and I'll show you a man who dies with least regrets. Says Gandhi:

"Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself."


I, for one, will keep on fighting. I hope to see you there.

So it's finally sinking in. Less than 2 weeks to go and suddenly here I am with checks from sponsors rolling in, friends flying in to train, and hella sore legs from the killer workout we've been given to help us stand up against the kiwis. Suddenly, I'm realizing that in a few short days I'm going to be arriving in a place I've dreamed about since I was a kid. And I won't be on any ordinary vacation, either. How many people get to say that they've visited three different countries and both hemispheres to represent their country in anything, let alone the greatest sport on the planet!?! Sure, this isn't the end of the road. My ultimate dream is to play in the next world cup as a REAL Eagle, but for now, I'm definitely stoked about this! It's the trip of a lifetime, and even though I'm sure it will be cold, and wet, and at times damn near miserable - I can't think of a better way to spend my time.

When I think about where I started, it's pretty amazing really. Watching those old tapes of my first games partly makes me cringe, and partly makes me smile. I was just a crazy tiny kid who thought it was awesome that I'd found a sport where I actually got to hit people! And then all of the sudden somebody thought I was good, somebody else thought I had potential, and then, well...I started to believe it. I worked harder, trained harder, and then the competition got harder. Where I had been so confident as a newcomer, I learned to question myself instead. There were so many good players, so many talented athletes....and I was, well....I didn't think I was all that special. But I kept working anyways, and somehow I've made it here. There are so many things in my life that I've worked really hard to achieve, but very few actual achievements. Rugby has given me that one thing that I can truly be proud of. No matter what happens later on in my life, I'll always have these trips, and these friends, and these memories. Unlike so many other things, it's not about money, or fame, or titles, or anything else...it's just about the journey and the experience, and that's what makes this game so special.

I'll most likely be keeping tabs on this particular part of my journey via this blog....so stay tuned for the goings-on of myself and the U23 National Team as we journey to the south pacific for a taste of real rugby country.........