Wednesday, November 18, 2009

NOV 16 2009 - Dealing with Frustration

Today's workout included Double-Unders, which means passing a jumprope underneath your feet twice per jump. To do them quickly takes skill, speed, and coordination. To do them poorly takes patience, a high pain tolerance, and a broad cussing vocabulary. I had a trying time with the jumprope today. I hope the neighbor kids didn't learn any new words from me.

Here's a video of both single- and double-unders, just so we're all on the same page. Singles are just regular rope jumps. Doubles make the whistling sound. I can't yet do double-unders back-to-back, so I alternate singles and doubles. WARNING! There's a truck passing my house, so you may want to turn off the volume.


Squat 3 sets of 5 reps (75kg)
Press 3 sets of 5 reps (45kg)
Rest
As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes
1 Round = [5 L-Pullups, 10 Ring Pushups, 15 Double-Unders]

L-pullups require the abdominal strength to hold your legs in front of you. They also eliminate the ability to kip, so they take more arm strength. Ring pushups require all the little stabilizing muscles to work hard to keep your arms from wobbling around. And then the double-unders strike - requiring that you coordinate your arms with your legs and core for a quick, precicely timed jump. I broke my jumprope twice by snagging it on my foot or head. By the 15 minute mark I'd only completed 4 full rounds, plus 5 L-pullups, 10 ring pushups, and 7 Double-Unders.

Well, working on becoming a better athlete means developing more than just strength. I need to work on Double-Unders to increase my agility and coordination. I'll keep at it. A man I respect has a sign in his office that reads "Frustrating problem? You're about to learn something." Feeling frustration means we're addressing a weakness.

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