Pump Up the Volume

Date: Monday, February 13, 2012
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
133 days to Olympic Trials

Since I did not swim today, I will go into detail of my workout tonight with JR Rosania.

Eight minutes warmup on elliptical machine

Dynamic leg stretching

Two rounds:
20 reps on ab dolly with arms on ab dolly
15 reps leg raises over five-foot tall punching bag

Two rounds:
20 reps on ab dolly with legs on ab dolly
15 situps with legs out straight, raising eight-pound ball up to ceiling

Two rounds:
15 reps back raises, extending arms out with 15-pound ball (simulating breaststroke arm recovery)
15 reps reverse leg extensions with 20 pounds

Three rounds:
20 reps leg press on leg shuttle  with wide stance ( six resistance bands set to near equivalent of 200 lbs.)
Seated push stool backwards up an incline about 25 yards long

Two rounds:
10 reps horizontal jumps on leg shuttle with five resistance bands
Seated pull stool up incline

Three rounds of 20, simulating breaststroke outsweep with resistance bands

Three rounds:
12 reps throwing 10-pound ball up wall
12 reps standing double arm row

Three rounds:
15 reps ball throwdown (15-pound ball)
15 push-ups

Five minutes cooldown on stationary bike

These workouts with JR are not easy, and I really felt the burn today. Over the course of the next five or six weeks, JR will be increasing the number of sets I do, which is going to be a way to build muscular endurance and hopefully make my body learn to perform well at high levels of fatigue that is not similar to lactate sets in the pool, but maybe VO2 max sets. The high volume is good for dryland work; not so much for the pool workouts. I like that many of the exercises feel swimming-specific. The exercises I do at 24 Hour Fitness on my own are the typical exercises that people do in the weight room, with a few exceptions, like my breaststroke sets or the cable pulls.

While I know I will feel sore tomorrow, the soreness is not as bad as when I workout at 24 Hour Fitness. There, I'm focused on strengthening my muscles, which involves breaking them down and, as a result, they feel more sore as they try to repair themselves. My lats are still feeling the sting of Friday's weight workout, as well as yesterday's workout in the pool. Luckily, not much of today's session focused on my lats.

The best part of workout was deciding what to eat for dinner. It gave me incentive to finish the workout well. After initially trying to decide between Chipotle and Wendy's, I figured a home-cooked meal was best. In a few minutes, I'll be eating a bowl of rice with turkey smoked sausage, drizzled in olive oil. That sounds so good, I'm going to sign off now and get to cooking!