I love this quote.....

This quote runs through my head every time it gets a little tough.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong

The need for stretching.

So Brandon and I went to do some skills training, mainly just each of us throwing to each other.  I am not going to lie, this morning was very rough.  I was very tight, and had a lots of aches and pains.  I fought through it, but it let doubt creep in to my mind a bit.  Can I really play football at this age?  Will I be in good enough shape by August to play at a very high level?  I'd like to believe that I can still do anything, but it is days like this where you start to question whether it is even realistic.
Then again, I know that tomorrow is another day, and I have made a lot of progress to this point.  I then go back to this from Vince Lombardi http://www.vincelombardi.com/number-one.html , then I feel a lot better.  I'm looking forward to my next work out.

Cardio, the necessary evil.

Got up again this morning to get my heart into shape for the coming season ahead.  For some reason, today was a little more rough than yesterday.  I did have to work a little harder than yesterday to keep my heart rate above 140 today, which lead me to biking more miles.  So all in all, it was a good workout.  Here are the stats from this  mornings workout.

Shoulders

I was originally going to head up to players choice tonight to hit some softballs, but I decided I didn't feel like driving up to Appleton.  Instead I decided to give Hos a call and see if he wanted to go lift.  So we went in a hammered our shoulders, and did a little tricep work.  We started out with my favorite (not sarcastic), clean and press.  I did more than I ever have tonight, 135, 3x.  Again, inspiring me to keep pushing up the weights.  In all honestly, my workouts have been going great, and my progress has been very steady.
I am a little worried about over training, especially after killing my legs last night, biking 14 miles this morning, and then killing my shoulders this evening.  Plus, I am going to be biking again tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure how long i'll be able to go tomorrow, but i'm hoping for at least an hour and a half, but we will see.  I just finished eating, and I think I am ready to crash.

My legs are Gel-Oh (spelled just different enough to avoid litigation)

So,  last night Hos and I hit the gym around 8 to destroy our legs.  It ended up being a great night for pain.  We started with back squats.  I finished my last set a 300lbs, 4x.   I should have did another set at 315, but I had another couple exercises I wanted to tackle before the night was over.
Next I was going to do front squats, and Hos was going to do Bulgarian split squats.  So we both did a set of our respective exercises, until Hos asked me to try doing the split squat.  I  have to tell you, I was hook immediately.  I am going to switch between the 2 exercises each week now.  I think they both have a lot to offer, and it breaks up the monotony a bit. I finished the Bulgarian split squats at 105.  I think I can do a bit more weight, but getting the form and balance down took a little bit.
Finally we finished with dead lifts.  The issue is that we were both pretty gassed after the split squats.  So, I believe my dead lifts suffered a bit.  I finished dead lifts at 205, which isn't as high as I could go, but was as much as my legs would give me on this night.

This morning I decided that I'm going to put in some time on the bike, and keep my heart between 140 and 150.  I originally wanted to shoot for 2 hours, but because of meetings getting switched around (probably a lame excuse), I went for 65 minutes.  This was the first time I stayed on any machine longer than 30 minutes.  A good friend of mine, who trains hockey players suggested I put in between 2.5 & 3 hours in a sitting, while keeping my heart rate between 140-150.  So, that is what I was shooting for, and I will keep pushing it.  I am going to try and do this 3 times a week to start, and fit in a 4th day somewhere.  Problem is, with me having to be to work by 8 at the latest, and the Y opening at 5, and Brandon and I doing skills at least 2 days a week, it makes it a little difficult to really hammer the cardio.  All excuses aside, I really have to figure out what is most important to me, and playing football at a very high level is right near the top of the list.  Here is a picture of my stats from this morning.

Training Equipment

Here are the supplements I am taking for my training.

Here is some of the equipment I have purchased for my training.

Training Update

So last night was chest night.  Steve and I headed over to the Y right from work.  I am already almost back to where I was at my peak of working out.  I started at 155, and finished at 235, 1 time.  We tried 240, but I barely got it off my chest before it came back down.  My goal before the tryout is to be back to doing 225 10 times.  I think it is realistic, considering how far I've come in the last 4 weeks. After flat bench, we moved to incline.  My first week back to the gym, I was only able to do 135 once.  Last night I was able to do it 11 times, and I finished at 185 for 2 reps.  I was actually very happy with where I am with incline presses.  Next we moved to dips.  Pretty straight forward there, just did my last set with a 45lb plate, 4 times.  We then did flies, and dumbbell pull overs.
It was really a good workout last night.  I cannot complain where I am at, at this point, but I do need to step it up.  I weighed about 184lbs this morning, and again, I do not want to play under 205.  I have increased my caloric intake this week, so we will check again in a couple weeks.
This morning Brandon and I went and did more skill training.  My arm finally felt good throwing.  A couple of throws tweaked it, but it subsided relatively quickly.  Also, a guy that usually runs sprints on the field decided to cover Brandon on a couple plays.  I was impressed, Brandon was able to outrun him, and was cutting really clean.  I completed 2 of them, and the other 2 were just horrible throws.  So needless to say, I am still very impressed with Brandon's work ethic, and passion for the game.