Topic: Tennis4you - Tennis Journal

[Tennis4you]

Subbed in on a 4.0 league today, they usually ask 4.5 players to sub. 

Before the match I got the "overhead talk".  Basically they have all been scared of my overhead for a while and me tagging Jamesdster 2 months ago has triggered even more fear.  They asked me to not crush the overheads.  I figured that talk was coming for that league.  I am 5'-4", what's to be afraid of?  besides, just don't lob me. 

[monstertruck]

4.0 and they're begging for mercy?
Pussies!
Bombs away!

[Tennis4you]

lol.  Some of them are older and I guess it gets to them.  If I was a regular in the league I would tell them tough titties.  Since I am invited to play as a sub, and they are all really great guys, I can slow em down.  Unless I am playing Jamesdster.  I need to get him a shirt with a bullseye on it. 

[monstertruck]

lol.  Some of them are older and I guess it gets to them.  If I was a regular in the league I would tell them tough titties.  Since I am invited to play as a sub, and they are all really great guys, I can slow em down.  Unless I am playing Jamesdster.  I need to get him a shirt with a bullseye on it. 

I'll put in a call to Omar The Tent Maker.....

[Jamesdster]

lol.  Some of them are older and I guess it gets to them.  If I was a regular in the league I would tell them tough titties.  Since I am invited to play as a sub, and they are all really great guys, I can slow em down.  Unless I am playing Jamesdster.  I need to get him a shirt with a bullseye on it. 

 
Bring it fool!  When I return to action around 2014 I will be a lean mean fighting machine.

[Tennis4you]

Don't tempt me!

[Tennis4you]

Taking a week and a half off.  Right ankle kinda sore, been bugging me for 2 weeks now.  Feels like a I sprained it but had no initial trauma like previous sprains where I had to limp off of the court.  Hopefully time will help!

[monstertruck]

Oh that's just great.
I get umped from weeks at the top of the page by an injury report.
How lame!

Non-specific injuries are irratating, eh?
Perhaps you over-exerted it by tapping your toe to Christmas carols???

Get back on the court soon Mista and give us a real tennis report!

[Tennis4you]

Yeah yeah yeah.  I hope to play in a week.  I was walking around yesterday and could still notice it.  I will do what it takes to get it healed properly before stepping on the court again.

[Tennis4you]

Still taking some time off from tennis.  The ankle is still a little sore.  Always noticeable without shoes on.  It was getting better but I had to help my neighbor round up their Saint Bernard yesterday and I think I slightly tweaked it a little in the process.  Tough to rangle a dog that big and walk it home.

The top of my foot has been hurting for a week or so as well.  I looked it up online and one of the reasons was that if the arch on your foot flattens out too much then it can put some pressure (compression maybe) on the top of your foot that is not suppose to be there.  I went to the store where I got my orthodicts to see if they could help.  They said my current orthodicts had small cracks in the bottom which could make a big difference so they hit me with new ones.  The ones I have are guaranteed for life so that was cool.

On the flip side, I have been hitting the weights again.  I figured I will be out of tennis for a few more weeks so it is time to hit the weights and hit em hard!

[monstertruck]

Nice find on the orthos, hopefully that does the trick!

Good on ya for hittin' the weights in your off-court time.
Keep it lean and whatevah ya do, don't do anything to those calves, they're huge already!!!

[Tennis4you]

I hope they do trick.  Won't heal a sprained ankle, but will hopefully help the pain on the top of my right foot.

So I just got done lifting.  I figured I would post my report here.  Here's how I do it at home:  Hit the treadmill for 2 minutes, hop off and hit a set of chest, then a set of bi's and hit treadmill for 2 minutes, repeat.  I have the treadmill set to 3.5 speed and 8 incline (pretty steep).  So basically it is a fast paced walk up hill.

12 sets of chest and 12 sets of bi's.  All of which had the treadmill between them.  I only did 2 kinds of things for chest (limited at home) and then the bar with weights and then dumbells for bi's.  At the end of all that I walked another 3 minutes and then jogged for 3 minutes.  I would have jogged longer but I could feel it in my foot.

Next I hit 4 sets of legs, 3 sets of stomach and 3 sets of calves (Sorry MT!).  I usually keep the leg stuff fairly quick.  Never used to work out the legs, just let tennis do it, but now dubs twice a week doesn't cut it.

All in all I need to lose some weight.  That is why I hop on the treadmill and do sets of whatever else I am working out in between.  By the time I am done I am out of breathe.  I take no breather between the treadmill to the weights and then back on the treadmill, kinda fun.  I try to do some general stretches while on the treadmill between sets.  I weigh too much, no question.  25 pounds over college weight.  I am at 160.  145 would be nice.  I need to control the eating too, more important to losing weight than working out for me.  The pizza and ice cream every night needs to stop.  Been good the last 4-5 days but that is just a start.  Needs to be a life change for sure.  I had a bowl of Life cereal for snack at 8:00 last night. 

I will keep ya up to date on the weight.  It HAS to drop.  Can't be good for my foot, can't be good for my knee, can be good for my heart, etc.  I wonder if I would even have foot problems if I weighed what I should.  Officially sick of being over weight.

Tomorrow is back and tri's with of course the treadmill between sets.

[monstertruck]

Nice that you recognize this is a life change you need to make now.
The longer you wait, the more irrepparable damage you'll do to joints and cartiledge.

What sort of reps and weight are we talking?
IMHO if you're looking to cross-train for tennis/life, I hope you're keeping the reps high (over 8) and the weights low (approx. 50% of max).  No need to get huge like Rafa and have all those knee problems...

Very disappointed you're doing zero core work.
Surely by now you know these are the muscles that tie it all together.
No sense in having legs that can run all day, arms that are sculpted to crush the ball and a core built on pizza and ice cream!

2 simple changes would be to chow on salad before the pizza and top it with tons of veggies (covering the sausage and extra cheese!).  Some pretty decent frozen yogurts out there are a good way to satisfy the ice cream cravings as well.  You can easily reduce your nightly caloric binge eating by 500+ calories and still feel like you're 'on a binge'.  You can also do some pretty wild s**t with protein shakes that actually tastes good and provides essential fuels for muscle rebuild during sleep.

Funny how I can talk the talk, eh?

[Tennis4you]

I am keeping the reps high.  Typically 12-15.  Usually I will do 2 sets of 8 of heavy weight to where #8 is to the point of failure.  Much different than the college days of reps of 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 4. 

Core still makes me nervous from the hernia.  I will ease into it. 

[euroka1]

All in all I need to lose some weight.  That is why I hop on the treadmill and do sets of whatever else I am working out in between.  By the time I am done I am out of breathe.  I take no breather between the treadmill to the weights and then back on the treadmill, kinda fun.  I try to do some general stretches while on the treadmill between sets.  I weigh too much, no question.  25 pounds over college weight.  I am at 160.  145 would be nice.  I need to control the eating too, more important to losing weight than working out for me.  The pizza and ice cream every night needs to stop.  Been good the last 4-5 days but that is just a start.  Needs to be a life change for sure.  I had a bowl of Life cereal for snack at 8:00 last night. 

I will keep ya up to date on the weight.  It HAS to drop.  Can't be good for my foot, can't be good for my knee, can be good for my heart, etc.  I wonder if I would even have foot problems if I weighed what I should.  Officially sick of being over weight.

Tomorrow is back and tri's with of course the treadmill between sets.

The New Year  is coming soon enough and there is no need to work hard on the resolutions until then. In the meantime, just enjoy  .

I have had my own peculiar change in life style. About 2 months ago, I decided that 6-8 cups of strong coffee each day was too much, especially as I was not sleeping well  . Somewhat thoughtlessly, I decided to go cold turkey all at once and I was somewhat stunned by the stark withdrawal symptoms  . In particular, on the day after all the coordination  in my tennis game just went away and I could hardly hit the ball. I have since become more moderate and stay off caffeine pm. That all seems to have helped. Now the morning cup of coffee really means something! 

[Tennis4you]

Interesting that it affected your tennis.  That stuff is better weened off of. : )

[Tennis4you]

Today's work out:

• 15 Sets of Back (3 different exercises)
• 7 sets of tri's (2 different exercises)
• 4 sets of legs
• 3 sets of calves
• 3 sets of stomach (might be core)
• Treadmill for 2 minutes between sets as always

[Tennis4you]

Still hitting the weights and eating much better.  For the last several years I would hit up a cappuccino every morning for breakfast and that was pretty much breakfast.  For the last 6 days I just eliminated it and had a bowl of Life cereal instead.  Eating a reasonable lunch and then reasonable dinner.  No snack between meals and no snack at night.  Well, the first 2 nights I had another bowl of cereal, but the last 3 nights I have had nothing but a glass of water.  Still exercising too.  Obviously cannot see a difference yet except for the loss of 3 pounds.  I can always drop a few pounds real quick from just not eating like crap.

Hit the weights last night.

• 11 Sets of Back
• 12 Sets of Bi's
• 3 Sets of Legs
• 3 Sets of Calves
• 3 Sets of Stomach
• 25 minutes of treadmill on incline as always.

Wondering how long I will keep it up.  I am motivated for now.  I would really like to see the next 5 pounds fade away, they will be far tougher to get rid of.  I was eating so bad, and I think I have to eat pretty bad to get my weight to go up as I believe I have a fast metabolism, for a 36 year old that is. : )

[monstertruck]

Sounds like you're doing great!
Always keep in mind that doing something is better than doing nothing.
The nutritional changes alone are crucial.

One suggestion (from my experience), snacking between meals can help curb your hunger and allow you to eat less at the 'big' meals, thereby reducing overall caloric intake.  A small snack of protein and veggies is a great way to get you from breakfast to lunch.  Of course that depends on length of time between meals (typically 6 hours for me).

I wouldn't be surpised of your weight didn't fluctuate much for a month or more as fat is converted to muscle.  Once you get past the 10 week stage you should have enough muscle mass that the lbs. should fly off fairly quickly until the remaining fat is gone.

Looks like you love hitting the back more than anything else.
I love working lats/delts and the corresponding results-  wings and cannonballs.   Keep having fun and try setting some long term fitness/nutrition goals.  This might help you maintain motivation.

[Tennis4you]

The last update was chest, not back, I wrote it wrong.  And then I failed to actually post the last workout which was chest.  That was 2 nights ago.  Took last night off.  Tonight is of course back. 

Once I give the shoulders some time I will start rotating between chest / shoulders / back instead of just chest and back.