We’re getting some exercise equipment to put in the basement at work. Gonna save on gym fees this year. The gym is called the Pumpatorium, and so far we have a bar, weights (in kgs) and a bench. The squat rack is on it’s way, and then we’ll just need a platform to lift on and we’re pretty set for a while.
My first workout was a quick 4x220lb deadlift.
Before bed, I also did 2x20 pushups. Just for fun.
Played 2 hours of pickup soccer with my dad. I mostly played defense, but made runs when I could. Pretty good workout.
Diana, Nico, Christa and I (and Gus and Elanor) hiked the west side loop on Mount Cardigan. The weather was pretty good, not too windy and not too cold. It took us about 3.5 hours total including a short food break at the top. Here’s us on the way up and a view from the top.
Played 2 hours of Ultisquash. We only had 9 people total (me, Diana, Maddie, Panna, Dre, Papa, Bill M, Grimes) but we managed to play non-stop for the whole 2 hours. Turns out you really don’t need to rest that much.
Time: 2:15
3 seconds slower than last time. Probably because of the Roman Chairs from Tuesday.
Did a short workout with Miggs, Panna, Butter, Papa, Slater, Dave and Himilaya. Part 1 was several drills where cutters made deep cuts for throwers. When you weren’t cutting, you were sprinting a 40 to catch the disc. Part 2 was 5 reps of: sprint 40m, 30 seconds of Roman Chair (a wall sit where you are back to back with a partner). Part 3 was 10 minutes of longer throwing.
Overall, a good workout. We worked on timing our cuts for the upline handler cut and on sprints with decent rest inbetween.
Climbed at Oaks for 2 hours with Butter, Purifico, Devlin and Maddie. I haven’t climbed in a while so my hands got weak pretty quickly, but it was a lot of fun. After we finished climbing, we messed around on the rings for a little bit (8 muscle-ups for me).
Played 3 hours of Ultisquash. We had a great turnout for the first game of the season. There were enough people to get 3 full games going, plus subs on top of that. We had a lot of first-timers who liked the game, which bodes well for the future.
Went through parts 1 and 2 of Kung Fu Throwing with Butter. Then Andrea and Raha joined us for some hucking and penalty kicks (throw the disc into the lacross goal against a goalie).
It was gorgeous outside today, so Diana and I went to the park to throw. It wasn’t very focused, but I spent at least 10 minutes working on my backhands. I want to be more accurate on tshort backhands that require a lot of snap, but I’m usually either off-target or I gun it at the receiver.
Played indoor at Tee’s with a bunch of AMP players and some friends. We put in a solid 2 hours of scrimmaging. I relearned for the millionth time that I’m much better at getting blocks than throwing goals (or even passes). After scrimmage, we raged at the Furfs' house and then swung by Noah’s housewarming party. A grand time was had by all.
Played in the Stuy Alum hat tournament. It was cold and moderately windy, but still a lot of fun. My team was undefeated in pool play, but our pool lost the final game. I megged two people for completed throws, but none for goals.
Time: 2:12
Played a 2-game hat tourney for RPI F-Giving. We won both games on universe point, earning us the right to eat first at dinner. Then we played an alumni-vs-currents game, where we spanked the currents 15-3.
Played PADA Mosh with Johnny Pivotfoot. Met a lot of fun new players (mostly from NYC). We ended up losing in the upper Chumpionship to Johnny Handblock (aka Roots). We sucked pretty hard on Saturday, mostly because we had a lot of people and a lot of beer. Sunday involved fewer people and beer, so we played better. We also played with the Pick 6 rule for most of our games. It means that if you catch a D, you can run it back until you get two-hand-touched. Then you play on from wherever you are. If you run it back all the way to the endzone, you score. We had a total of 3 runback goals on the weekend. I didn’t have any, though I did throw two Rochester goals (both to Diana) and caught a Callahan.
Norm and Eddie talked me into doing a quick workout on my way home from work:
While doing squats, Resnick and I tossed a disc back and forth. I got in about one throw every 2-3 squats. Lots of lefty backhands to prepare for Mosh.
Patrick’s new house has a small gym setup in the basement, so I think I’ll be working out there in the near future. Here’s what I did today:
GrinFit just moved to it’s new home at fit.grin.io. Update everything.
Two recent sciency articles related to ultimate:
A short comparison of throwing techniques based on measuring several characteristics of disc flight (speed, spin, wobble and accuracy). The study compared backhands, split-grip forehands and closed-grip forehands. The only differences they found were that split-grip forehands don’t go as fast when you’re throwing hard, and backhands have more spin when you don’t throw them hard. The participants were grouped into “elite” and “non-elite” throwers (based on their answers to a survey, I think) but the results held for both groups. The only difference between the groups was that elite throwers can throw the disc harder. It’s a pretty good study overall, though you have to take it with a grain of salt. The sample size was small (5 elite throwers, 11 non-elite throwers), the accuracy is pretty meaningless (the target was 2.5 meters from the thrower), and the setup was not game-like at all (the authors admit that their results could be affected by the throwers being careful to avoid hitting the expensive camera equipment). Despite that, it’s good to see the light of science being shined on ultimate.
More talk about the ranking system. Being a data nerd, I love stuff like this (the winter league I run ranks teams using this power ranking algorithm, not straight results).
Interesting post about not looking off open cuts. Or as we’ve started calling it in West Philly, the Cuatro method.
