Unleash the Monkey Army

I'm about a week out from competition and that means that my mind is starting to dwell a little. This gives me chances to rationalize and start to shape and control those mental processes.  2017 has been an interesting experience for me so far but we'll keep to my age and the training perspective for now. 2016 closed off with a focus on burpees (the annual 100 day ladder carrying through from September to December) and the indoor rowing Crazy Bear Challenge (30 Half-marathons in 44 days). I came through both ok, setting a personal best with my final 21km. But it meant that I hadn't done any kind of strength work since October. That's ok. Activities have a "season" as you shift focus.  So in January I joined the resolutioners crowd in the gym and started back at it. It was not long before my bicep tendon and brachioradialis were giving me grief and only a month of self-treatment/avoiding certain aspects of training before I sought treatment. Through thi...

Previously in the blog... ( Part 1 )  In our last episode, our intrepid hero had gone off to find some tucker having survived the static (ish) events of the day. And while I was having a munch on my lunch, I found myself thinking about the events so far at Nailsworth Strength and Fitness and was wondering if I could have done more. I won't lie, that's a crappy place to be. Of all the things you could be thinking about after a competition, the one that shouldn't come up is "could I have done more?". You might think "could I have done better?" or "Could I have done that differently?". But the question of whether you could have done more, that should be beyond doubt, an emphatic, resounding no.  But unusually, I wasn't unhappy. Curious about how it might have gone, and a slight thought about perhaps I might have been able to get more but ultimately relatively happy as I'd hit target (and therein lies one of my issues with goals...but t...

I've had a couple of people talk to me offline about the burpee ladder and those conversations have started something along the lines of "I'm kind of interested in the ladder but I'm not sure about the full 100 days" I understand the question. My first instinct, of course, is to say "don't worry about it, back yourself anyway" but for some people it leaves something which is just to daunting. They're focused so much on the enormity of the latter stages that they'll miss out on the benefits of the challenge. I get that, fear has stopped me doing plenty of things over the years, and most of them I later come to regret (mind you, occasionally fear has kept me alert and safe, so it's not enough to say "fear is bad"). So, what to do? If the fear is creating a binary position for you i.e. you're either going to do take the challenge or you're not. And the not seems likely, why not try one of the reduced options that I p...

It's fast approaching that time of year again. Teachers and educators are joined in their wailing and gnashing of teeth by students of all ages. But much more importantly than that, September sees the return of the annual 100 day burpee ladder. This year will be 1st September to 9th December inclusive. Fancy joining in? Just an interested observer? Here's what you need to know: We'll be doing burpees every day for 100 days. It's ok, we'll start with 1 on 1st September. We will do 100 on the final day but we'll have built to it. They don't have to be done in one set. They don't have to be done in one session. There are lots of modifications to the humble burpee to make it easier or harder. Before we start, pick your minimum standard for the ladder. You can spice it up on days when you feel lively but you'll not go below this marker. Be realistic. The point of the exercise is consistency, not showing off. Just because you can do 50 or 100 on...

On Saturday 9th April I went down to Exeter for only my second ever indoor rowing competition, the Fitness Matters Devon 1k and Team Relays . Competition is the official description, I never made any bones about being competitive! If this is your first visit to the blog, welcome! Long-time readers will no doubt be stunned to know that I've been giving the event some thought. Because I'm a caring sort of guy, I'll share those with you. The Concept 2 indoor rowing machine is pretty much the gold standard of rowing machines and has been setting the tone for 40 years now. If you've ever set foot in a gym you'll know what I mean. It looks something like this     and you're pretty much always guaranteed to be able to get on one, no matter how busy the gym is. There's a reason for that! They're pretty much despised by the gym cardio junkie and the meathead (and all stops in between) in equal measure. They're self-propelled but against resistance and am...

I’ve fallen into the clutches of a challenge again! You’d have thought by this stage in my life that I’d have outgrown the whole “I dare you” thing. And in truth, I have. I’m doing it because at some level it works for me. That is to say that at some level, I want to do it. That raises the uncomfortable realisation that what happens next is nobody’s fault but my own and the question “what is wrong with you?” The challenge is simple enough. From 10th November to Christmas Eve (44 days) you have to complete 30 Half-marathons (21,097m) on the indoor rower or Skierg. Simple, not easy. Fear not gentle reader, this isn’t interfering with the latest 100 day burpee ladder (last day 9th December). Granted I don’t think anybody has ever climbed off a rower and thought “Yeah, I know what would be belting right about now. 80 burpees.” Even if they’ve done said Half-marathon as slowly as I have. I was supposed to be in the home run towards a strongman competition in December too. M...

Let's recap. Ever a glutton for punishment, I allowed myself to get talked into entering an indoor rowing competition.  The appeal? I'd heard they've a great atmosphere, it would give me a target to work towards and it would be a chance to chance my arm in a pond slightly bigger than my utility room! I've never been that dedicated to, or hot on the erg [indoor rower]. And over the recent years have not invested a lot of time and energy into developing my fitness. Granted, I completed the burpee year but between April and 1st June, when I started the rower ladder, I did nothing which didn't look like picking something up and putting it down again (and, in truth, precious little of that)! In fact, it was that ladder and starting the dog days of summer  that led to the suggestion being made to me. So there I was, the day after my 2nd ever Strongman event, logging on, entering my payment details before thinking "Oh nuts, what have I done now?!" (n...