aj_rock

That's awesome! So I guess the men's and women's teams have identical win records now

Related, practice for us last night concentrated much more on proper defensive formation.  Coach wants to focus on being more of an 'up' defense rather than 'slide', but we'll see how that goes. Nice to have enough numbers to actually run back lines at each other rather than practicing against our own shadows.

If it includes calf raises, I won't include it. As far as mass building programs go however, you would be looking more at bodybuilder, high rep style workouts. 

Your 0c. 

If anyone sat out of drills in my old team, they wouldn't hear the end of it from the other players, cultural difference I guess. 

Your backs don't slide? As fullback you need to start getting more vocal then, pull them where they need to be if you see overlaps forming. Use your gift of the gab. 

Not sure if it's cultural or just our club. We don't have a full time trainer right now, so if the older guys wanna sit out due to aches n pains, ain't no one around to officially call them out on being pansies.

Trust me, I'm hoarse after every game. The problem was that we had a right-side wing who's literally played his first couple games this season, and he's not gotten the idea quite yet. Some strange reason, we did a heaping of defensive drills on Tuesday... Hmmmmmmmmmm.

But yeah, before they picked out that weakness, we held them pretty well. Then they found it and just kept hitting it the whole first half. Second half was a lot closer though.

We got in some work with the forwards last night, working out who's going to go where and do what on offense and defence. We're playing on Thursday, but on Tuesday the backs should be getting the same kind of thing. It was definitely helpful!

 

I've definitely had a few customers who were Americans (going by accent, anyway) who hadn't been in Canada long - I could tell because they were confused about not getting their 2 cents change back

It's funny, when I practice with the Ontario Blues, they don't concentrate on position specific stuff unless it's specific back plays vs line-outs or scrums. They encourage everyone to just be 'ruggers' in general, which I agree with. A forward should be able to hit a gap off the flyhalf, and a wing needs to be able to ruck someone out. Big emphasis on late runners to exploit out of position defense. How'd you guys do anyway?

I feel the same way, especially since I'm apparently maybe going to play wing sometimes if we have lots of forwards and not many backs at a game. Hopefully now that we have more games coming up for the women we'll do more game prep stuff.. :/

It's something that most EVERY player in the club complains about on occasion, us fit 'uns and fatties alike. It simply makes no sense to not try and develop skills. Guys n gals who want to work fitness and be in prime physical condition are going to do so regardless of club activity. Ain't none of the big guys getting any smaller or faster by running forever, they just end up sitting half the drills out.

My 2c at least (rounded to zero nowadays >.>)

Bah, lost again this weekend beaten by poor shift defense, but it's frustrating. Our coach doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the fact that we have a lot of talented and fit guys playing, but don't have a whole ton of rugby experience. We need more focus on developing these skills instead of running our asses off practice after practice.

Getting a tad frustrated.

Oi, thought you said you'd lost some weight though?

Been quite the last week or so. First I took time off from lifting due to the elbow hyper-extension, and without a game last weekend we just cavorted about a bit. Came down ill Saturday night though and to sit quietly and feverishly hallucinate for the last few days instead of being productive though. so

Finally got in this morning, hopefully won't affect training tonight:

Deadlifts: 365 X 2

HS BP: 268 X 3, 248 X 5

Rows: 200 X 5, 180 X 7

Squats: 275 X 5, 225 X 8

DB inc BP: 65 X 8

Pullups: 10

Just trying to get back into it (again...), so a bit more intensity tomorrow night hopefully.

Cold?!?! You call 15-ish degrees cold????

No wonder I despise our weather lately! We've been the same as you but we're supposed to be smack in the middle of summer :/

How are you liking the volume squats? I think I'm going to go low weights/high reps once I get back in the swing of squats. At least until I know my knees and back aren't doing anything wonky.

This past week has averaged 15 degrees and rain in Canada. We're suppooooooosed to be like mid twenties and beautiful. When did we become England? 

Just as well we didn't actually! Not only did we get our first win of the season, 20-19, yours truly had a hand in the scoring play!

Our OC takes the ball for a nice lil 30m scamper, I and our right side wing keep up for support. Gets gang tackled around the 22, and manages to pop me the ball about five meters back. Scamper around outside only to see we have a nice little two on one with their winger, and the rest is history.

Felt pretty sweet.

No workout today, Blues practice at 6:30. 

Work out early-ish today to give more time off before the game tomorrow.

Deadlifts: 375 X 2, 355 X 4, 315 X 6

DB BP: 75 X 7, 65 X 10

DB Row: 90 X 7

Hyperextension started acting up again, so did some incline push-ups and pull-ups and jetted. Will probably need a tape job for the game.

I'll add Lansdowne/Bloor to my list! I'm looking for somewhere to be living in by September, but a later start date on the lease is better for me since I'll be working in Hamilton all summer and I don't really want to pay for time I'm not there. If that apartment is opening up could you message me the info though? TIA

Remind me at practice and I'll give you contact info for the major Realtor for the area just south of St. George campus. September start dates, year round lease, and reasonable accomodation for students (AKA not terribly expensive but also no defects like infestations or faulty appliances). Only catch is that they usually sell multi-unit housing, like 3+ people.

Sounds like he's got a case of 'old man strength'.

As the body matures and settles into it's size, stuff re-organizes into more efficient/strong pathways that just naturally make most old guys stronger.

Just remember, that'll be you one day

Hmm two things could be happening, but the more likely one you won't like.

First, as everyone said, you could be recomping, but with hormone issues, unlikely.

HOWEVER. Hormone issues can play right into this one. Fat re-distribution. I notice you only really track the tummy measurements, but fat might be falling off the waist to re-settle elsewhere in the body. Remember, hormones, history, and training can all be part and parcel to fat distribution. Might entirely be possible that due to hormone regulations being off, you are changing somatotype.

Monday couldn't work out, tuesday was intense/hyperextended my left elbow a little, so vol/int was a little light today:

HSBP: 268 X 4, 248 X 6, 198 X 10

Squats: 295 X 4, 275 X 6, 225 X 8

Rows (SA): 7 X 90, 10 X 80

Inc DB BP: 65 X 9

Pull-ups: 10

Pistol Squats: 10/10

Geez, I check this once a day and 50 bajillin responses come up!

Withdrawal symptoms, IME, end up being worst when a) cutting back drastic amounts and when the caffeine is solving some underlying problem. Common lesser known things caffeine will do besides wake you up are:

- increases circulating levels of serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine. This can mask symptoms of depression, so cutting coffee can make you sad for physiological reasons, not just WAH WANT COFFEE reasons

- reduces adenosine bonding by competing for bonding sites, making it more available for ATP synthesis and reducing it's blood pressure  increasing effects. This can mask poor cardio fitness and blood pressure problems, which can come out in the form of headaches

So yeah, removing these effects really fast can cause these sorts of symptoms, and if they masked underlying problems, they might not go away.

Oh Halo. I've always had Ps3 as opposed to Xbox so I was always more into COD

When DOES your season occur again? Think you mentioned it some eons ago.

Lauraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Ok, I got a bit to say about your newest challenge. You might not like it.

Ready?

I think you might be trying to fix too many things at once. Oddly enough, putting too much on your plate is a direct contributor to at least two of the problems you wish to address, namely stress response and anxiety.

Honestly, I think concentrating primarily on the mental well-being goal would do you the most good. Some clarity of mind will a) make you feel hella better prepare you better to tackle the more complex problems.

I'm just saying, dealing with back problems, anxiety issues, possible hormone problems, and THEN also drastically altering your diet while causing your body to undergo caffeine withdrawal... 

It's all with good intentions, but even GOOD change requires an adjustment period, and going through 50 bazillion adjustments at once will not make you a happy camper. And we all want a happy camping Laura right?

Alright, I've been silent for a few days, brewing a little bit.

Was pretty sore after the last game, so I was held to one light-ish workout on Wednesday. 

Saturday... I don't wanna talk about. We faced a team with (I think) 6 team Canada ruggers on it, aaaaand the results are predictable from that. Also marks the first game that some cheeky bastard has been shifty enough to avoid my tackles. jklfehjkl;vhsd. Under the bridge now.

Back to work later tonight. Keep in touch.

Something's always better than nothin

Haha thanks mate!

So I've been sidelined a bit yesterday. Weird ass migraine in the back of my head, like someone's driving a nail into it every few minutes. Took some Aleve on mum's recommendations, seems to do it a bit, at least there's something I can take now. I react very badly to normal NSAIDS like tylenol or aspirin, so finally having something I can use is a godsend. As is, I skipped work out yesterday, but I might try to get in during the day today before practice if the head work clears up before noon.

With my working weights, could be a possibility even at your current weight

Alas, super stamina could not save the day as chasing kicks is really, really tiring. Training for the sort of game would look something like this:

Jog 2 mins

OMG SPRINT SPRINT SPRINT TACKLE

Jog 2 mins

OMG CHASE CHASE CHASE SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINT

Jog 2 mins.

It felt like frigging 80 minutes of tabata drill

Pulled hammy kept me out of the gym yesterday, and can't practice tonight due to kid sisters 18th birthday. 

Good to know the young fella can now squat/carry you should you do something unadvisable to yourself at the gym

Totally digging the matching father/son sandals New website looks pretty spiffy too!

Nope! Knee held up well. The trainer we had taped 'er up noice n toight. Alas, I seem to have pulled a hamstring instead :/

We lost 28 - 8... team having trouble securing ball in rucks. We also lost a lot of scrums, meaning we were on the back heel for a lot of the game. Also meant I had my hands full chasing down kicks and destroying those foolish enough to break the line. Made only two errors however, so it's coming. Neeeeeed moe offense!

Workout report:

Deads: 355 X 3, 315 X 5

HS BP: 283 X 4, 248 X 6, 198 X 7

T-bar Rows: 220 X 5, 205 X 6, 180 X 9

Inc DB BP: 70 X 7, 60 X 8

Pull-ups/chin-ups: 12, 11

Gonna suit up tomorrow. Knee made it through last practice just fine, so I'm gonna make a go ferit.