BANG! DDP Yoga for 2014!
Aaaaaaaand, we’re off!
My 2014 training has started and, thus far, it isn’t going too badly. After a trial run of DDP Yoga at Christmas, Vikki and I did our first ‘official’ session on Sunday: the Diamond Dozen followed by Energy.
Honestly, it is excellent. I already feel more limber after doing it just twice and that is no exaggeration at all. I can feel my injuries and weak muscle groups working hard to keep up, but managing it. Something pops now and then, but it’s all good!
As soon as I’ve taken my six starting pictures, I’ll post them. Urk.
My first session back at the gym was yesterday and it was a leg session. Last year, after taking time off over Xmas to do nothing but eat, I smashed my personal best squat at the gym (leaping from 140kg to 160kg). This year, therefore, I figured it would be the same!
I exploded into the gym, ignited myself using the basics of DDP Yoga and hit the squat rack. This was possible, for once, because there are currently no students at the gym, so I can actually get on some kit.
I whizzed through 60kg and 100kg, did some token reps at 120kg and went straight for 140kg. I haven’t managed 160kg again since early this year (because I’ve been traveling n’ shit), but if I could manage 150kg, I’d be happy.
When I got to the bottom of 140kg, however, things did not feel good at all. I struggled my way back up, dumped the bar down, had a bit of a strop and dropped back down to 60kg, for some long sets to get my legs working again.
It was only later whislt I was nearly crying from the agony of foam-rolling my quads that I realisted I’d attempted a personal best squat after a matter of minutes of warming up. I’d done barely 10 reps at lower weights before racking up nearly twice my body weight on the squat bar.
What an idiot.
To make it up to myself, I practised leaping onto a waist-high platorm and practising my handstand press ups on the platform. I can now manage 10 in full control, which pleases me. I can also planche for around 10 seconds, though my form needs some work.
I finished the sessions with some more DDP Yoga and some stretching. By the time I left the gym, I could barely walk and when I woke up this morning, it felt like I had been stabbed in both legs. Whether I’ve hurt myself by squatting too heavy too fast or I’m suffering with DOMS from DDP Yoga on Sunday, I just don’t know.
Either way, I hobbled into the gym this morning and started with a little DDP Yoga again to ‘ignite myself’. Then it was onto the flat bench press where I worked up from 20-90kg, then back down to 80kg where I did three or four sets.
This I followed with the incline bench, cable flyes, heavy pull-downs, close grip bench press and, finally, dumbbell and barbell shoulder presses. I did some Arnie presses too, for good measure. As with yesterday, all of it felt solid and powerful – clearly I need to rest more in my normal training.
This is, possibly, one of the most valuable things I have learned about my training recently. As somebody with quite a high capacity for training, a terrible diet and the ability to push myself quite hard, it is very easy for me to overtrain. This year, perhaps a little less with yeild a little more.