Body Combat 30 Release Poster

Body Combat Poster featuring Jen's beautiful physique!



This is a poster concept I came up with for the downtown Goodlife Gyms for the Body Combat 30 Release. I took a quick photo of Jen to illustrate and present my idea. They liked the rough version enough to actually use it!

A Day Off

REST and RECOVERY DAY!

No Indoor Inline tomorrow morning, but I'm going to try and push myself a bit harder at ice in the evening.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with light cream cheese, banana and strawberry yogurt, pickle, peanut butter sandwich, Chicken Noodle Soup, salsa/cheese and nachos, krispy cream donut, cake, grape tomatoes, coke, orange cranberry juice.

Body Combat Release 30 at McCaul

Photo from the January release at McCaul with Jacob and Melanya.

Flummoxed.

I did most of a combat today at noon with Tanya. My jump kicks felt off.

Wanted to do spinning and yoga tonight, but Jen and I are going to see Ghost Rider. Hoping it doesn't suck.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberry Yogurt and banana, Bagel with cream cheese, two peanut butter sandwhiches on ancient grain bread, green beans, pickles/olives, New York Fries. A Whopper. Booster Juice with wilderness boost. Blueberry/Pineapple smoothie with wheatgrass. chocolate cheesecake, orange juice. banana and yogurt.

Stretch, Spin, Pump

Yoga today to stretch out all the muscles I just realized I never use after that Boxing class yesterday. Hip Flexors in particular were tight, as was shoulders/upper back and neck.

Did Tanya's spinning class tonight at St Clair followed by Ryan's Pump class. I was going to take it easy and just sping the lactic acid out of my legs... didn't happen since I'm friends with Tanya, she doesn't let you slack. It's a good thing I guess, although I was pretty rubber legged afterwards and squats were insane during Pump. Kept my squat weight low as well, and no weight on lunges. I just barely managed to get through Pump. Had to really focus on form though. Things I need to always be thinking about... on the upright rows be really conscious of moving the shoulder blades up and together. On chest I have to focus on getting the involving the chest... otherwise it's just the arms and shoulders. I tend to keep the shoulders light because I think I get enough of a workout on them in Combat and climbing. Don't pull my head during abs... hands are just there to support my head slightly. I'm pretty good at keeping my elbows in during triceps.

I really should have taken today as a Rest Day, but I guess I was feeling guilty about not going to inline practice this week. Yesterday was Valentine's Day, so I missed that one. I just got an email today saying that indoor inline is cancelled this Sunday. I'm also missing Monday practice to go see the Canstage production of The Overcoat. I really wish I hadn't been so lazy on Monday. I'll be doing all three Ice sessions on Sunday night, hopefully that will make up for the lack of inline a little bit.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with peanut butter. strawberry yogurt, chicken Schwarma, dark chocolate heart, banana, green beans, tuna fish sandwhich on ancient grains bread, light mayonnaise and pickles. Green Goodness Juice.

Back to Forida Jack's

I used the free pass that Tanya gave me to take Jen to Florida Jack's Boxing gym for Valentine's Day.

I trained there during the latter part of the nineties when Tara convinced me to join with her, to around the time when Jen and I first started dating early in this new millenium. I was always very physically active, but had gotten ridiculously out of shape during the first year of my first official desk-job. I had joined the gym at the Jewish Community Centre near my house, and was going in late at night and using the resistance machines and a little bit of swimming, but no real cardio, which is what I really needed.

Jack's was in the old space above the Burger King and the small space smelled constantly like sweatsocks. Florida Jack was certainly a character... straight out of the movies with a grizzled voice and a handlebar mustache. It was a tough workout and I really appreciated having Jack yelling at me to do hundreds and hundreds of medicine ball situps, pushups, flights of stairs, burpees, jumping jacks, and skipping skipping and more skipping. It got me into shape quickly, and having gone back to do a similar workout last night, I realize now what amazing shape I must have been in after four-five years training there.

Jack eventually moved into the currrent space it is in now, closer to the corner of Yonge and Bloor. I made some good workout friends during my time there, and developed a bond with jack's teenage son JJ who took over teaching many of classes after a while. We'd all often go for dinner at the original Spring Rolls afterwards, or for Ice Cream out at Demetres on the Danforth for birthdays. I dropped a couple of them an email a few months ago after I heard that Jack had passed away and they seem to be doing well. I asked about JJ last night and they said he was doing well, atlhough no longer involved much in the boxing community.

The first floor was completely different. All the boxing memorabilia was gone, and there are now machines and weights. Jen said the women's changeroom was ridiculously nice, although the men's didn't seem too different.. just cleaner with nicer lockers. The second floor had not changed much. They opened up the windows again to let some light into the space and created a small space for the floor to ceiling and speed bags.

The workout Jen and I did last night wasn't nearly as insane as the ones that Jack had us do back in the day. I could tell right away I was no where near the peak physical condition I must have been back in the day at Jack's. Although I have been turning my body into a different kind of dedicated machinery with my other activities now. We did skipping, burpees, pushups and situps, but it wasn't the two hour crazy workout that Jack did. I was pleased that I pushed through and did the entire workout. It was fun working the heavy bag again, and we touched on the floor to ceiling bag and speedbag. I seemed to have lost all rythm with the speed bag... although did I have much to begin with?

We didn't do the situps off the side of the ring, or carry the medicine ball up and down the stairs a billion times, and there was no one-on-one with Jack in the ring with the pads throwing combinations to finish off the workout. I found I really missed skipping! And of course the place is completely different without Jack himself there. He was basically the personality that held that place together way back when. I caught myself getting nostalgic, but people move on and go different places, that's just the way life is. I was really sad to hear Jack passes away recently and wished I had known so that I could have gone to the funeral or at least the memorial service.

Jen seemed to enjoy it, and it was a nice walk down memory lane for me. They have Muy Thai and Grappling classes there that requires a seperate membership. Perhaps we'll go and try those out. It might be nice to check it out since Jack's is where I first started doing kickboxing with Scott and Ginesse.

It was actually a nice way to spend Valentine's Day, particularly as we walked past the restaurants jam-packed crowded with people waiting for tables in order to pay for an overpriced meal. As much as I like the romantic stuff, it was cool that Jen would want to do something fun and physical like taking a boxing class. She's AWESOME.


WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with Cream cheese. Cool Mint Clif Bar. Orange Juice. Lick's Burger on whole wheat with all the fixin's and cheese. Fruit and Green salad. Veggie chili on a whole wheat bun.

Steppin' in to do Combat

TUESDAY
I went and did Bettina's Pump and Sharon's Flow down at McCaul tonight. It felt really good to get back into it. I had really missed these classes. Sharon asked me at dinner why I was down there now that I've moved to Yonge and Eg, and I told her that I liked doing those classes, and I realized to a degree, there is the social componant and comraderie involved I was probably not consciously aware of. It seems really unique to the atmosphere of the McCaul club. Perhaps the age and demographic of the Queen Street crowd? IIt had been weeks since I've come down to McCaul for a workout (other than the Combat launch I taught a couple of weeks ago) and I was really glad to see the regulars, and go out to dinner with Sharon and her brother-in-law Dai.

Just as we were heading out to grab dinner immediately following Flow however, it turned out that the Jam instructor didn't show up, so I stepped up to the plate to do a kickboxing class. Having just done weights and then Yoga/Taichi/Pilates, I was pretty beat and constantly trying to catch my breath and speak at the same time! I hope my non-verbal cueing was evident.

It turned out to be a fun class for me though. I really like teaching kickboxing at McCaul. I just like the vibe there. Kickass stereo system and nice sized space. Afterwards I chatted with a nice woman who was a black belt in Tai Kwan Do, who told me how much she liked my class. In fact she had previously taken Nathalie's Combat class (Goodlife's Instructor of the Year!) and said she liked mine better! That felt really good given the fact that I didn't feel entirely on my game tonight since it was an emergency sub and I was pretty beat. Took me a while to "get into character", since I had just finished Flow and was all mellowed out from the breathing and stretching and ten minute relaxation.

With a small class of people, I was amazed that I was able to get the to do Keeyahs and all the other ridiculous yells I throw in just to mess with people. Although was was reminded from the self defense coures that we Keeyah in order to make sure we are breathing properly on our strikes and kicks, so if I can make it fun and entertaining for them at the same time it's not a bad thing. I know I've always had the problem that I instinctively hold my breath on a physical exersion, particularly in climbing... you don't flow when you hold your breath. I used to do it was well when I was first doing weights and really had to consciously make sure I was breathing throughout the movement. I wonder if I have that tendancy when I inline skate? Particularly on the cornering?

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bagel with Cream Cheese, Orange Juice, Carrots, pickle, Korean BBQ beef, chicken, salmon, ribs, whitefish, pork, rice, kimchi. tofu. beans. ice tea.

Achy me

MONDAY

Woke up sore this morning. I guess the break from climbing and pump was good, in that your body does get used to your routine and it's nice to shake things up every once in a while. The bad is that you end up feeling like you are starting from square one after a break. Shoulders, neck and back are stiff. I'll have to try and get to Yoga or Flow a few times this week. I'm also trying to figure out what I did to my wrists... I really felt them climbing on Saturday and doing triceps yesterday. Carpel tunnel? Perhaps the open palm strike at the self defense course last Monday? (I was feeling it by the end).

Felt really tired from the combination of Pump and then two back to back skating sessions yesterday. I returned to the Beginner session and then did the intermediate. I was secretly kind of glad that I had to miss the advanced practice session to rush off to Tara's improv night at Zemra.

Still having trouble balancing on the left, but given the fact that I am so comfortable on my right on one skate, I'm starting to think that it's actually my boots or blade. I get a "grinding" sound off the ice when I try to glide and balance on the left. Not sure what that is.

I'm not comfortable with many of the beginners now, particularly the one who come from hockey that are just weaving back and forth with the wide arm swing as I'm trying to get by. I've been trying to follow the inline track patterns, and at a certain point, it gets harder to dodge someone skating hockey style when I'm at a certain speed. Another thing I've noticed besides the number of Hockey guys in this session is the fact that they all just sit down on the ice when they take a break! I'm not sure that's safe, but I certainly do know it's cold. I very different group than the last session that's for sure. I'll have to dial it back and just focus on technique during Learn to Skate. I do find it hard to get low into position, particularly with the hip-thing we were doing last week without the momentum of a certain degree of speed to get down low.

We went clockwise (normally we skate counter-clockwise) and Backwards as the warmup to intermediate session. It was pretty obvious at that point so see which people were figure skaters out there, that do things like that so smoothly and graceful. A real contrast to the overly aggresive body language of the hockey skaters. Or maybe I'm just a little more aware of body language after I revisited it in the self defense seminar Jen and I did recently. I tried to get down low into basic for the backwards skate, although I noticed most people were standing up (is that a figure skating thing?). I was suprised that I could get any semblance of a crossover going in the clockwise direction, but I guess from practicing it during inline since last summer as the warm-down I'm getting more of the muscle-memory of reverse direction. Hopefully it will come in handy when I hit the Montreal Indy-track again!

During intermediate we did a pack drill, which I felt really comfortable with since it's what we do with inline. Although again, I'm uncertain as to the degree of contact I should be having when I'm running into the person in front of me. I don't think we're actually supposed to be pushing the person in front at all, although I did try and make sure I said "contact" when I did run into them. You could tell the inliners were used to it and doing it more comfortably, but I think there were some people who weren't used to it. How do Ice people avoid contact when they are drafting in so close to the person in front?

The inliners talked about how fun the bucket drill was last week. I tried my best to remember the hip-thing and I really felt it when I was doing it right. I left just as they were proposing a game of "Asteroids", when Tara asked me later what "Asteroids" was, I told her it was a speed/agility drill where the coaches threw the cones at us as we tried to cross the ice. She didn't believe me. I guess I'm just the Boy Who Cried Wolf... I try and make up ridiculous things up to be funny and she was assuming I was doing it to her again. Carolyn told me afterwards that the advanced session focused more on technique and that she learned to torque outwards on the crosscuts... I wondered whether she was in fact actually moving her body slightly outwards away from the turn or whether it was the +1/-1 thing we do in inline to compensate us back into a squared neutral position when we THINK we are neutral, but actually twisting and dropping our shoulder into the turn.


Everyone in the car-pool decided to bail on Indoor Inline practice tonight, so I opted to stay home and try to clean up the house and get some chores done. I'm feeling achy and like I'm fighting off an illness anyways, so today is a REST DAY.


WHAT I ATE MONDAY
Flax Bagel with light cream cheese, Apple, gummie sour berries, Chicken Noodle Soup, Yogurt, salmon in dill sauce, pickle, peanut butter sandwhich, green goodnes juice. orange juice, chocolate cookie cheesecake.

CLIMB and PUMP

SUNDAY
I find myself a bit self conscious about writing in this blog now that more friends are letting me know that they are reading it. It's normally just a laundry-list of my workout and dietary habits. I don't know if I have anything actually interesting to say other than that folks!

Went to do Pump at Mount Pleasant this morning. I've been busy teaching kickboxing and just getting back into my resistance training, so I took it easy. Kept the weights light, particularly for squats. Then I realized that the bars at Mount Pleasant/Davisville are actually the heavier bars, so in fact I went heavier on biceps and triceps than normal.

Pet Peeve about Pump class... guys who just load up the weight in order to show that they can do it, and end up having really bad form that can potentially hurt them, or stopping partway. It's a lesson I should learn for skating! Speed won't matter if I lose proper form and crash causing injury.


WHAT I ATE SUNDAY
Banana. Apple. Flax Bagel with Cream Cheese. Kifta Beef. Green Salad w/tomatoes. Sweet and Spicy Panini with cheese, red peppers and cheese, bread, hummus, pita. Iced Tea. Reese peanut butter crunch bar. sour berry gummies.


SATURDAY
My intention was to go to bed early, wake up early and go spinng and do Pump on Saturday. Went to bed when the sun came up, slept in late and went for Korean food instead. Story of my Life these days.


Back to climbing on Saturday. I was suprisingly strong given the fact that I've been off for weeks. I ended up doing a short 5.10b, which probably means I got by more on skill than any retained strength/endurance. Only about five climbs altogether. I'll have to start back into gaining more endurance. I still have my climbing calluses at least. Given how something has to give in terms of physical activity, I don't anticipate going back outdoors anytime soon or taking any climbing trips in the next year or so. Hopefully I can stick to going at least once a week to Rock Oasis.

WHAT I ATE ON SATURDAY
Rice. Bulgogi beef. Miso Soup. Kimchi. Mint Green Tea. Strawberry/Mango Smoothie. noodles. tofu. wheat gluten. bak choi, cauliflower, broccoli. Lentil curry soup. veggie cheesecake and tofu ice cream. sour jubejubes.