Session 5 of ASA Baseball MVP class

Ryan was back for session 5 of ASA Baseball's April MVP class (well, one of them at least). Turns out, Ryan was down in Southern California looking at Pepperdine for college. Time to re-estimate Ryan's age up a few years.

We started late, as Gino was working with a 9 year old catcher whose first class was today. He's in a one-on-one program (10 class package), so he's getting lots of love from G. The usual ladders started us off: LR-RL (which stumbles me every time), both feet outside - hop to left foot in square, both feet outside - hop to right foot in square, L R both repeat (alternating with outside, of course), left foot outside - left foot inside - advance, right root outside - right foot inside - advance. There may have been another one in there, I don't recall.

We then did the T run for time. Basically, run forward 10 yards, shuffle to the left 5 yards, shuffle back 10 yards to the right, shuffle back left to the middle and run backwards. We did it for time. I think I did 5, Ryan did 4, because we were supposed to beat our times, but I didn't. However, when we did these in week 1, I ran an 11 something. This time my fastest was a 9.4: 9.4, 9.8, 9.6, 9.5, 9.6. I didn't improve on any run, so I had an extra minute of abs at the end.

Next we used the boxes for two exercises (3 sets each). The first was running in place, tapping our toes on the top of the box on each step, for 30 seconds. I ran a 68 taps the first set, which I though G had miscounted and I really had only 48. Turns out, I miscounted, because I had 68 on the second set, too. For the third set, G said if I didn't beat 68, I'd be doing an extra minute of abs. That's inspiration, and I did a 72 on the third set. I think it helped that I could see his watch. There was sheer desperation in the last 10 seconds to get enough steps in.

The other workout with the boxes were side to side steps: one foot on the box, the other foot on the ground, jump to to switch which foot was on the box/ground. First set of 10, second and third set of 12 (6 each leg) with a 6# ball being thrown at my knees (toss back) and the final set of 20 (10 each leg) just holding the 6# ball.

At this point, I'm tired. But we're not done yet!

We played "Chase the Chicken" next, which was basically a game of tag where you run around in a 10 yard x 8 yard box, one person trying to avoid the other, and the second person (the Chicken) trying to touch the shoulder of the first person. Each round was 30 seconds. Ryan is much faster than I am, but I'm better at reacting to a cutter. Ryan tried a roll-off-spin-around football move that didn't do crap, as I anticipated his moves and adjusted accordingly. On the flip side, I suck at getting away. I thought my skills at cutting in ultimate would help. Nope. Not enough room to make a real cut (when I turned around for the cut at the end of the box, Ryan was standing there - d'oh!).

Wall Ball came next. As usual, Ryan kicked my ass in the game. I can't throw the ball for crap. Turns out, I throw overhand with my left hand better than I do with my right hand. I typically shot-put with my right. Either way, we played wall ball. I'm happy to say all my balls made it to the wall. <grin>

Balancing pushups came next. Unfortunately, we had to do 20 of them, with a slight lift while balancing. Yes, 20. 20! I struggled. A lot. I managed about 8 without stopping, then did 2 at a time after that. I didn't do well at all with them. I did them with the 6# ball, which is supposedly easier than the 4# ball. Surprised me.

Tragically, after the balancing pushups we did clapping pushups. If I thought the balancing pushups were hard, these were worse. I couldn't do them. I was laughing so hard at G for suggesting 20. I asked if I could do them from my knees, which G said I could. I did 10 before attempting the claps. Turns out that, yes, I can do a clapping push up from my knees. Barely.

After being thoroughly exhausted with the pushups, we did abs next. V ups (ugh), single leg twisting V ups (left elbow to right knee, down, right elbow to left knee, down, repeat), Russian crunches, bicycle, 6" off the ground (with karate chops!), seated push downs and (because I didn't beat my previous sprint times) inverted push downs.

Tired. Very, very tired.

Friday's workout is 8 x 100 m (10 if I'd like), and upper body workout. The upper body workout is bouncing the 2# weight ball along a wall, balancing pushups and clapping pushups.

I also talked to G about helping Mischief with training. I asked if he'd be interested in seeing the sport, and designing a 2-4 week training schedule. He said yes, so I'm planning on bringing in various videos for him to watch. Interesting to see how this works out. Things are going to get crazy starting in May. I hope I can keep up the workouts.