At the games, Rich Froning, Elizabeth and my pick from the first individual workout, was amazing all weekend but ended up 2nd place instead of 1st because he could only climb a rope with brute force arm strength instead of efficient technique. By the time he had suffered so many difficult workouts there was no way he could climb that 30 foot rope nine times with just his arms though he tried and tried. The fact that he could do it as many times as he did with only his arms was still freakishly superhuman but it must have been pretty frustrating knowing that if he knew the proper technique he would have finished them all. Watching this happen I made a decision that every day after class I would spend just a little bit of extra time on something that needs work.

So Tuesday I climbed the rope in our gym for the first time. I think I now have the placement of the rope right and I can let go and grip back on pretty well but the lock with my feet is still not quite right. It is a little loose for some reason. Also I need to figure out how to do it with out getting painful rope burns.

Yesterday I worked a little on some light overhead squats. My arms still bend when the weight feels a little heavier which is the opposite of what they should do. Need to get them to lock out completely. I also couldn’t resist the urge to try to do muscle ups on the rings a few times. Getting better but still a no go. Sid and Tim are going to help me get that one figured out over the next couple weeks.

In the evening Todd and our neighbor Joe and I tooled around Lafayette on our mountain bikes. It was Todd’s maiden voyage on his new bike. It was really nice riding up and down the hills with those great views of the mountains. We also made a new little friend along the way. Highly enjoyable.