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Having reread that sentence I should probably explain in more depth before people get the wrong ideas: the training area of the house is sort of in the front garden, the front garden being below the ground level entrance of the house. Sort of. We're on a steep hill and the house has two floors, with the front door being on the top floor linked to the street by a walk way with the training area beneath the walk way on the same level as the "ground floor", the gap between the walkway and the training area being just shy of five metres. The back garden is then a level down from the "ground floor". Complex, huh?
Where was I?
Oh yeah, the pull up bar we've been using is quite narrow and therefore not ideal for us long armed people, so James had the idea of hanging down chains from the walkway into the training area and us using them for pull ups. He didn't get chains, he got nylon ropes and plastic clips, which he then attached in this manner:
The ropes are attached to the railings of the walkway by plastic clips of the kind you get on satchels. We tested them a few times with me pulling to ensure that they would hold weight...
We stared off using a thick piece of bamboo for a bar, held in place by plastic clips which then snapped on my second pull up.
So we decided to use the metal barbell, which worked until the plastic clips gave up on my fifth pull up!
So we tied it in place and it worked fine, sort of.
You'll notice that I'm at a slight angle in the picture, that's because the damn bar was starting to slip as it sunk fully into the knots, but then it held and it was all good. We dug out the equipment for doing harness push ups (sort of two handles attached by rope which ware then looped over a bar so you're pushing up against a wobbly base), we did two sets of push ups with that attached to the bar (I could only manage 5 push ups! It was so hard) and then we started doing lateral raises with it.
On my second set the clips at the top gave way and I was lucky to be at the bottom of the move and only fell an inch, thankfully missing having the metal bar brain me!
Back to the drawing board for that one.
I then played with the tanren, getting 15 reps on each arm, which is an improvement from my first attempt at 8. Then swung it around till my wrists were sore.
Jujitsu at night was a series of drills I'd been thinking about: clinch dominance drills and then run throughs of what me and James had been doing on Sunday. It as good, good training and so hot, I weighed myself at the end and I was just over 101kg!
Sleep at night was a bitch as it was so hot! I kept waking up and falling into a doze and waking up.
This morning was even hotter! But not muggy, which was good. I dragged myself out of bed at 9.30, all stiff and sore. Hisano was working from home, which meant Selly was not at nursery. Bless her, she's even worse with the heat than I am!
Despite my body protesting I dragged myself to the Budokan, cycling there in high gear.
And, it being Tuesday, it was closed. DOH!
It was a good cycle, though, and it woke me up and got my blood pumping and got rid of all my aches (god bless active recovery) so I wasn't too upset. I got ice cold coffee for everyone on the way back and it was so needed. Getting up the evil hill was a doddle, easier than ever even though I haven't ridden the bike in nearly 2 weeks. Rest has been good for my legs (although the initial climb on had me thinking, "Wow, it's a lot higher than a moped").
Got back and me and Hisano did a mile and a half jog. Remember that hill I couldn't run up when I first got here? We did it twice today! Easy. Scary how used I am to running again, and that's running whilst carrying a lot of muscle. When I was running loads I was never this heavy.
Got back, stretched, did 20 reps on each arm for the tanren (hah!) and 4 pull ups.
So, smashed a self imposed target with running that hill.
Just got 200kg dead lift and 100 push ups...
Body changes wise, my hands have gotten noticeably bigger and thicker, probably from the grip work, the tanren and the makiwara. The middle knuckle of my right hand has permanently changed shape, it seems...
May go to the beach in a bit!
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