#pec-deck

Wed 1/11/12 @ 8pm

Erg: 10mins (2500m) Chest press: 10x50, 10x50, 10x50 Inclined situps: 20x25, 20x25, 20x25 Pec-deck: 20x100, 20x110, 20x100

Getting back to a good gym routine. My goal is to average 5 days of gym workout per week. I think 6 days of gym a week is pushing it. Anyway, as you might notice I have lowered the weights for most of my workouts. I'm going to watch my diet a little now, aiming to eat a little short of as much as I want.

Thursday 10/20/11 @ 10:30 [lower back + core]

Pullups (7!) - 7!5, 6!3, 5!4

Barbell RDL (210) - 8x205, 8x215, 8x225

RDL (175) - 8x175, 8x185, 8x195

Pec-deck butterflies (145) - 8x175, 8x190, 8x205

Side bridge right (SDR) - 2:00

Side bridge left (SDL) - 2:00

Single leg lowering (SLL) - 20

Plank with arm raises - 3:00

As usual, I broke my workout down into two. Core being the latter portion. 

My pull-up count is slowly going up. At least for the first fresh set, I was 3 pull-ups short of making 8!. The other sets were consistently more difficult.

I was extremely proud of my barbell RDL. I pushed past my max from last workout by a whole 15 pounds. My lower back is getting much stronger. 

As for RDL, the 195lbs was way too difficult. My grip went before my lower back did. Also, the DL and the RDL worked my legs too hard. My shaking legs and loosening grip preventing me from pushing the weight past 200lbs.

I surprised myself with the pec deck butterflies too. I started at 145... it was way too easy, went up to 160... too easy. I kept it at 175 for the first set. Second set, I added 15. Then for the last set, I tried 205lbs.

Core workout was difficult. The last thirty seconds were especially difficult for all the bridges and planks. My entire body was giving, but I told myself that if I were going to make SDB do core workouts at every practice, I must be able to keep up with them. It motivated me to continue and finish up 2 minutes of side bridges and 3 minutes of plank.

Farmers walk (40) - 3x40, 3x45, 3x45

Plate workouts (45) - 10, 10, 10

Reverse pec deck (130) - 8x130, 8x130, 8x130

Standing military press (65) - 8x75, 8x75, 8x75

Facepulls (35) - 8x72.5, 8x80, 8x80

I am back at Stanford and it feels GREAT!

This summer was eye-opening for me. Of course, it's all dragonboat related. Coming from Stanford, but beginning to make a name out of myself in the dragonboating community, I feel that my school does not have the same type of respect. I don't blame the db community though because honestly, Stanford has been lacking with its dragonboating program: lacking the commitment, leadership ebb and flow. 

Initially, I blamed it on the fact that Stanford doesn't get a lot of the high school experienced paddlers such as the UC system. I blamed it on the fact that Stanford had a smaller pool of talent to begin with. To me, I thought that was the biggest barrier. However, seeing this as a barrier is not very constructive because it is not something that can be changed. The variables that can be changed though, now that I've gone through a summer asking people what their drive is to paddle, this is really the variable that can be changed. 

Commitment. Commitment. Commitment. This is the X-factor. Now I know that what SDB needs is a drive. What makes a person want to work hard for a team? What drives a person to wake up early on Sunday to paddle? What motivates a person to push their body to its limits? The answer is really in team chemistry, coaching leadership, and friends. 

This coming season, I am going to assume the position of coach. Not head coach or anything, but just a coach that is going to work with the team and get each and every single individual stronger, but also feeling as if they are a part of SDB. I feel that by diverting my attention solely to the needs of new and veteran paddlers, I could become more of a resource, but also a motivator for them to work hard, train hard. Simultaneously, I am not going to slack off my training because my head is aiming at making it onto the 2013 USA u23 team competing at Budapest. I am feeling this ambition and I want to train others to hunger for self-improvement as well. 

Having spoke to quite a few freshman at the AANSOC community welcome, they energized my faith and trust in SDB. I bring a lot of experience and personableness to the team and I hope that I could change people's lives in a positive way. Dragonboating is my message and I am optimistic that the class of 2015 will hear it. 

Today, I went to the gym at 10am, worked out for about 50 minutes. It was mostly a chest workout. I know, my bench press is not super impressive, but what can I say. The heaviest I remember ever benching was 135, but it's been almost a year since, so I started off a bit lighter, but still could not complete that last set. 

For barbell rows, I was unsure how much I could lift, so I jumped up weights every set. I think 105 or so will be where I am going to start next time. 

As for pushups, I really wanted to hit the 44 mark, which was what I did for the one minute fitness test for DW. However, my goal is that by next week, I can hit 50+. 

9/20/11 @ 10:00am