Hanging By A Thread

By the few various pictures I've put up here ( I think they've all been football pictures ), you've seen that I am not a hefty guy. I'm lean, which is a step up from the skinny days of my youth. At last check, I'm up to around 215 pounds - give or take 5 depending on the day.

Well, today for track practice, we climbed ropes. I haven't climbed a rope since I last coached, which was five years ago. I'm about 35-40 lbs heavier than I was back then.

Lets just say I didn't quite shimmy up the rope as quick as I used to. Especially since these drills don't let you use your legs on the ropes.

I'm also alot stronger than I was back then, but yeah... not much of a consolation when I was halfway up the rope. We also did muscle-ups ( think a chin-up, but then press yourself up in the air so the bar is at your waist - kinda like if you were going to pull yourself up into a helicopter that was already in the air ), and we did some vaulting rolls on the floor.

I used to be able to do 12-15 of the muscle-ups in a row. Today... only eight. And I was dying on the eighth one.

But the strength drills aside - it was SO much fun swinging on the ropes again. I can't believe they're paying me to flip upside down, and hang from a swinging rope. The head coach snapped a couple of pictures of us on the ropes, I'll have to see if I can get 'em.

Good times.