Thursday, April 15, 2010

I'm Making a Note Here... HUGE SUCCESS

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, our volleyball team, The Pudendals, won the B-League (kind of like JV) intramural volleyball tournament.  If you're wondering what a Pudendal is, I don't blame you, evidently it is the artery that supplies (and I quote) "the organs of shame".

Brian, our team captain, throwing down

Laura, ready and able

I dunno if I hit this one...
There was some tough competition, but in the end, we won some Grey Goose and a case of Heineken.

On this island, often you have to adapt.  Here I've had to change my workout type, the gym I go to doesn't have many heavy weights, and so I've had to move away from a traditional body-building approach to fitness and move towards bodyweight, high intensity exercises.  Burpees, pullups, swimming, and interval running has been the invention of necessity for me as of late:

This is what's known as a "Tabata" protocol 20 seconds of intense activity followed by 10 seconds of rest for eight sets. Doesn't sound like much, but by the end you want to throw up.



Luckily I can still do a good number of core lifts like deadlifts and cleans, unfortunately there is no squat rack in the gym! What a travesty! Ah well. I can say though that I am getting into the best shape of my life, but every step has hurt... badly.

Because of this I've decreased my mile time to almost 6 minutes, and am on the way to 100 (almost) consecutive burpees.  I also know that my maximum volume of oxygen has increased, which for an asthmatic is very important, and I'm able to drill Judo for longer, with more intensity and control.  For the first time in a while, I am feeling pretty good. Thank you Tabata protocol!


1 comment:

  1. Oh my goodness! I was just talking with Jalla about Tabatta, and I kind of thought she was giving me a load of bs...and then I decided that I would call it ciabatta, to remind me of just how much I love ciabatta bread (and panninis).

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