Hello hello!
So, I'm not restarting my training or anything... but I thought it might be wise to adjust the goalposts a little.
My previous goal was to create an application video for Season 13 of American Ninja Warrior in December 2021... and that is still very much an intention of mine, but I thought it might be a little easier to train for if I aim for something a little less daunting too.
My new shorter-term goal is to enter a Ninja competition this year. If I enter and come last, that's fine, but I haven't done any comps for over 2 years and I would very much like to compete.
The Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association has a schedule up but the two Oregon gyms involved are running their competitions in February and March, which is way too early for both my preparation and pandemic-safety. National Ninja League seems to be in a similar position.
Neither league wants to compete with the actual TV show, which is fair enough, but doesn't help me at all. I'd like to compete around August/September, and I'll just have to see what comes up.
My training the last few weeks has been terrible... so let's see where I'm at.
Measurements
The +7.25kg that you see right under the white Weight box is the comparison of now from when I started using the app... the 20th of January last year. In the last few weeks I've gained about 3kgs.
I've got a lot of work to do... which is not only completely fine, but a little exciting.
The metric I learnt a bit more about today was Bone Mass.
When I slipped on some frost during a run two weeks ago, I was really worried I had broken my wrist... it turns out it was just sprained... but because I've been on a vegan diet for the last year, and bone strength can be an issue I was worried.
Fish, bone broth, eggs, diary, etc all help you maintain strong bones, none of which I was eating. Leafy greens are also great, and I usually have a ton of baby spinach at lunchtime (not literally) but apparently spinach also has a chemical that doesn't let you absorb the calcium (as does milk).
My 3.11kg of bone mass is exactly average for my size... which would be fine if I was just living a non-ninja life. I'm going to try and increase this number to get into an 'Above Average' range by eating all the broccoli.
Source
You can see below that I've aged 7 years in 11 months. I mean, between pandemics and civil anarchy, who hasn't, right?
The metabolic age is a good metric because it really ties together a lot of the other metrics. It measures how well your body burns calories while you're resting... obviously you want this to be far lower than your actual age. I am currently not that.
DIET
As I mentioned above, I've been pursuing a vegan diet for some time... definitely over a year but I'm not super sure when I started. Now, make no mistake, there are plenty of non-healthy vegan options, and that's why I've gained the weight that I have.
Worried about my bones after my frost slip, I've had a couple of eggs in the last 2 weeks... so I'm not strictly vegan anymore. I've also just bought a bunch of vitamins to take daily, so I'll see if that helps.
I'm honestly not sure what my diet will look like in the future. I basically want to recover from inflammation as quickly as possible, as well as have strong bones and little unnecessary fat.
At this point I'm not too stressed about it... I'll go mostly vegan with the occasional egg thrown in and some vitamins and check back in.
ENDURANCE
In this first week of training (Monday to Sunday) I ran 3kms twice, on the Monday and Thursday.
The times weren't great; 22:20 and 21:43. I very much intend to speed these up and increase my endurance. My lung capacity is holding me back at the moment... my running track is super hilly (78 metres elevation gain) but I used to do 4kms in 24 minutes.
On Monday I also did:
- 25 sit ups, 10 leg lifts
UPPER BODY
On the Tuesday I was still recovering from my wrist injury so I did:
- 3 x 6 Tricep dips
- 3 x 10 Hammer curls
- 3 x 10 Bicep curls
- 3 x 6 Pull ups
On the Sunday I was feeling a lot better (but not 100%) and did:
10 push ups, 10 dips, 10 pullups
A fellow ninja was telling me how he was doing 10x10x10 10 times under 10 minutes... I got through 1/10 before dying. Got a lot of work to do...
- 2 x 6 pushups, 6 dips, 6 pullups
- 3 x 10 bicep curls, 10 hammer curls
GRIP STRENGTH
With my wrist injury, grip training wasn't really a thing. I'm hoping by next week I can sneak a couple of things in... my grip strength has massively suffered over the last two years and so I've got a lot of work to do in this area.
CHANGES
I'm going to remove my Wednesday 3km run and replace it with hill sprints. I'm hoping this increases my endurance faster... and while it'll be much tougher on my body, if I only do it once a week I'm hoping it'll be okay.
I also want to be doing far more exercises during work hours between Zoom calls. Some sit ups here, some lunges there... until it's very much part of my routine. It's good for strength, conditioning, and mental health.
INJURIES
It's been 15 days since I injured my wrist falling on some frost. It's mostly pretty good now but there are still some movements that cause pain. I saw a Physio Therapist that gave me some exercises to treat it, but I haven't been great at doing those.
I haven't been great at doing any of my rehab exercises for the last few weeks... I just kind of fell out of the groove. As a result my climber's elbow has come right back and is starting to cause issues again.
My hip flexor injury turned out not to be tendon or muscular, but instead might be medical. I saw a GP, got a referral for a specialist. They need review that referral and then make an appointment with me... and I haven't heard from them in 3 weeks. America's medical system is super weird.
Thanks for reading! I hope to really use this blog to keep me training and accountable. Motivation is tough when there's no competitions in sight, but I really need to get back to match fitness to even have a hope of not killing myself on a course.
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below!
Posted from my blog with Exxp : https://lifebe.com.au/training/training-for-ninja-warrior-week-1/