Monday, August 29, 2011

To the Ruins of Pompeii


As I entered the ancient city of Pompeii, I was in awe of how well structured and organized the town was. The city was literally frozen in time. We explored the city and saw their amazing engineering feats and organizational skills. They utilized aqueducts to transport water to the city. Not only this, but the villagers of Pompeii had built water heaters to heat the water from the aqueducts to create spas without the assistance of natural heated springs!

The columns and buildings were mostly made of bricks with mortar to hold them together as well as lava rock. But the really interesting thing was that all of the buildings, both inside and out, were covered in stucco over the brick and painted with bright colors that have since faded due to sun exposer and polluted rainfall.

The mosaic patterns were also so detailed and extensive. I could not believe how the citizens of Pompeii could have created such beautiful works of art solely by hand! This city was just so different from anything else I had ever seen. There were literally complete skeletons that had been taken out from the compressed ash with the help of a plaster to preserve the shape and integrity of the find. You could see the teeth on some of them they were so detailed!

After 2 hours spent scurrying all over Pompeii, we moved on to the Amalfi Coast. We ate lunch in Sorrento at a great pizza place in the middle of town. From there we drove around the city and Positano. The coast was beautiful and then we even saw some Italian movie being filmed in the area. The city was very pretty and was nice and quiet-a nice change of pace from some of the other cities we have ventured into.

By 4pm it was time to head back to the boat. We came back and relaxed before we went out to the deck for a nice buffet dinner looking out at the sunset.

Courtney Dumas

Welcome to Rome


Hello Rome! What an amazing city! I spent the entire day with my family traveling the ancient city by motorcar, visiting all of the historic sites. Everything was so beautiful and so cultured. Rome was such an ancient city and such a contrast from the architecture in the US. And I was surprised and happy to see how green the city was. There were trees everywhere and it created a beautiful atmosphere for the already breathtaking Italian capital.

Our guide took us through the city chronologically, beginning with the ancient times and our first stop, the Circus Maximus. Not much is left to show of this once great arena, but the shape and some of the land markers are still there. I felt as though I had travelled back in time to the age of the Roman Kings and Emperors.

From there we travelled to the huge Coliseum. I could not believe how much of it was still intact after all of this time and after so many had pillaged it for its stone and metal throughout the years. It really was a sight to be seen. I could just imagine the entire structure covered in marble and the stadium filled will energized people screaming and cheering for the gladiators or for the beasts. It was something else.

As we travelled throughout the rest of Rome, the same thought kept coming to me. I was just in awe of how well each building was made and the craftsmanship and care that was put into every single structure. The attention to detail was amazing! The paintings, the sculptures, the murals, the churches, the ruins, the fountains, the list goes on and on. But they all were like a time warp and they all had such detail that I could not imagine how long each project must have taken!

The most amazing and painstakingly beautiful attention to detail that I saw was by far the Vatican Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. The sculptures and paintings by Michael Angelo were breathtaking. The ceilings were painted with a 3D effect, the domes painted with such feeling and emotion, and the sculptures were so lifelike. I have never seen a more ostentatious building in my life, but boy was it a site to be seen!

By the end of the day I felt like I had learned a lot, but I still felt a little sad and discontent. Rome was such a great city and it is one of those places that you really need to spend three days there at least to truly explore the entire city. I loved Rome and would live there in a heartbeat. The city was just so pretty and historic. I really hope that some day I get the chance to come back and visit this beautiful destination again!

By the time we got back to the boat and got settled in our cabins it was dinnertime. Everyone was very tired from the hustle and bustle of moving quickly from location to location, so we took our time at dinner. I wanted to make sure I got in my cross training before the gym closed so I hustled back to the room to change. I had a pretty good workout, focusing mostly on weightlifting for the night. I made sure to work my arms, legs, and abs all in the half hour before the gym closed for the night. Below is the workout, Ciao from Rome!
1)   Bicep curls-15lbs  (6 sets of 12reps)
2)   Tricep extentions-10lbs  (6 sets of 12reps)
3)   Walking lunges-40lbs in each hand  (6 sets of 12-each leg)
4)   Shoulder press-15lbs  (6 sets of 12reps)
5)   Sit ups-50  (2 sets)
6)   Push ups-15  (2 sets)
7)   Medicine ball squat ab twists-15lbs  (2 sets of 50reps)

Courtney Dumas

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Destination Italy!


We had an early start on Monday this week. The cruise docked at about 6 and we were off the boat and on the busses for the tours around Italy by 7am.  I went on the tour around the Cinque Terre region in the Italian Riviera. I got the opportunity to visit the Italian countryside and learn all about its amazing culture!

It was a blazing hot, but great fun. We hit the shops and toured the quaint little towns. I had to use some of my Spanish to try and communicate with some of the locals, but I got around all right.

We toured the Riviera and learned all about the special wineries that were terraced on the mountainsides by the ocean. All of the work had to be done by hand. The local farmers couldn’t use machinery since heavy machinery would damage the grapes. Now that’s tough labor and a good workout! One of the types of wine they made even takes 2 years before it is ready to be put on the shelves.  

By the end of the day I was exhausted, it was over 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity. The tour had taken us around the different towns and we visited the “lovers lane” that connected two of the towns that otherwise would have taken 1 hour and a half to get between. The site seeing was fantastic and Italy is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen! The waters were clear and the surroundings amazing!

We finished the day with a dinner on the porch with a great view of the sunset as we left port. Our next stop, Rome, should be fantastic! I will be visiting all of the usual sites and much more! I will make sure to take plenty of pictures!

Courtney Dumas

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Last Day in Barcelona/Monte Carlo


After 2.5 fantastic days in Barcelona, it was finally time to board the cruise ship, the Ruby Princess. I spent my last day in Barcelona touring the Barcelona Cathedral and exploring Old Town.  By 1:30 it was time to head for the boat and get settled in our rooms.

Once aboard the ship, I took the liberty to venture around and get the lay of the land. This boat was huge! From what I heard there are around 2000 people on board! After I figured out where everything was, I sunned myself for an hour or so at the pool and then headed to the fitness center for a workout. I got in a nice 3.5 miles before I jetted back to the room for a quick shower and to get ready for dinner.

By the end of the day I was pretty tired, but very excited to be underway and heading to our next destination, Monte Carlo.

We dropped anchor in Monaco at about 11am the next morning. I decided to take advantage of the later docking time to catch some extra ZZZs, before I ate breakfast and headed to the gym. By about 10am I was up and ready to cross train for the upcoming fencing season and Northwestern.

I focused on muscle confusion and toning my body, working my legs and abs as well as my arms in a fast pace workout routine. I started off with cross slashes  (8lbs), sumo squats (10lbs), punches (5lbs), and crab crawls all in reps of 16. From there I decreased the number of reps by 2 until the final set of 6 reps per exercise. After this set of exercises, I moved on to abdominal work. Supporting my head with my hands I did 20 sit ups to start. Once I completed those, I moved on to cross leg raises (each time trying to bring my leg close enough to touch my toe with the opposite hand) at 20 per leg. From there I did 20 reverse crunches, making sure to really raise my hips. Finally I finished the set off with a 1 minute plank-my least favorite :P

For this group of exercises I did 3 sets. By the end of this workout my abs were pretty soar, but I wanted to make sure a did a little more cardio work before lunch, so I ran a quick mile.

After lunch, my family and myself went off to tour Monaco, a country within France. I was able to see the casino where the James Bond film Casino Royale was filmed and ventured up to the Prince’s palace. This quaint little town was pretty cool and it was really nice to get off the boat and explore a different culture!

To wrap up the day, we headed back to the boat after exploring the city to kick back and relax before we departed for our next destination later that night.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Barcelona Day 2

Today in Barcelona a tour guide led my family and myself around the city. I learned all about Gaudi architecture and Barcelona's history. The designs were amazing and I could not believe that so many of Barcelona's buildings were constructed of ceramic! The designs were so ornate and the attention to detail was fantastic.

I toured cathedrals, museums, the heart of the city, and so much more! The culture is just so fantastic!!! After our 4 hour tour we grabbed a tapas style lunch and relaxed in the room before we hit the city again. My aunt and I spent at least 2 hours exploring Barcelona's shopping, modern, and historic districts. We must have walked around 4 miles at the least.

 


 We found some great gelato and smoothies along the way as well as stumbled upon street mimes (the people who paint themselves to look like statues and hold still to entertain the public). They were so colorful! There was a great market as well!


 
On the way back to the hotel we took pictures by the arch of triumph. I love this city and am sad to be leaving tomorrow, but at the same time I am excited to be moving on to the next countries in this Mediterranean cruise!


 




 







 
      Courtney Dumas                                    

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Adios Cleveland, Hola Barcelona!


Today was great! I made the long venture from Cleveland to Barcelona, over 7 hours, but in the end it was worth it. I survived the flight running on 1 hour of sleep due to the chatty stewardesses and the noisy man that sat behind me. But the endless episodes of the Office during the flight made up for the lack of sleep as well as the fact that I made it to Spain!

Once we reached the Palace Hotel at around 10:30 am, my family and myself found that we would not be able to get into the room until 3pm. Luckily the room was ready before expected and we were able to get settled and freshen up by 2:30pm. With a basic idea of where we were and where we wanted to end up, we headed out to take Barcelona by storm. Taking many of the side streets, we were able to gain a greater idea of the true Barcelona and not just the one seen in travel guides.

I had the opportunity to explore the city and get an idea of where everything was before our in depth tour tomorrow. We saw the Cathedral of Barcelona and the Roman Wall, as well as Main Street. The architecture was amazing and the weather was fantastic! I had a blast getting to know the sites and sounds of this city.
   There were mopeds left and right and Gaudi inspired buildings everywhere you looked. The tiny stores were quaint and unique in their own way. On top of it, I got the chance to practice my rusty Spanish!
After a few more hours of exploring, we were ready to kick our feet up and rest a bit before dinner.


For dinner we went out to a tapas restaurant, something Spain is known for. Dinner was great and I even tried some fried small fish…


After dinner I had this delicious brownie and ice cream for desert! Once we finished we headed back to the hotel to get some rest so we would be all set for our 4-hour tour around Barcelona the next day.

 





Courtney Dumas

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Cross Training

This summer has been great, but I am so excited for the end of August. Especially since the end of August means my vacation to Europe for two weeks. I leave tomorrow! I am so excited! My trip begins in Barcelona, Spain. After a few days there, I leave Spain on a Mediterranean cruise. I travel to various parts of Turkey, Greece, and Italy before I head back home. I will be posting pictures and descriptions of my travels throughout my adventure!

In order to keep in shape I will also be cross training throughout my trip. Today I did a lighter load (no weights or running) in preparation for my travels and to prevent sourness and injury before my trip. Below I listed my workout for the day.

1) sit ups-50

2) six inch leg throws-50

3) lunges right leg-50

4) sit ups-50

5) lunges left leg-50

6) squats-20

7) engarde squats-15

8) fire feet squat jumps-10

9) lunge jumps-15

10) high knee fire feet-10

11) engarde jumps-15

12) double engarde jumps-15

13) engird jump lunges-15

14) forward crawls-5

15) caterpillars-5

16) push up hops-5

17) clap push ups-5

18) sit ups-50

Friday, August 5, 2011

Work Out

Hey guys! So everyone has their own personal workout, and for good reason too! What works for your best friend may not work for you. So after much trial and error, I came up with my own personal program to train my fencing. I have listed my summer program below and I hope this gives you guys some idea as to what may work for you! (I found that taking bits and pieces from different camp programs and techniques from coaches and high level fencers helped me to build a foundation for my own plan that I customized further from that point). I hope you enjoy and please leave your comments below! 


Monday

Bench Press
RDL Shrugs
Squats
Pull ups
MB Plate Punch
Shoulder Press
MB Wall Passes
Tricep Extensions
Bicep Curls
Lunges-walking overhead & regular
Broad Jumps
Depth Jumps
Box Step ups
Back Extension
Supermans

MB Ab Twists
Footwork

Fencing Practice

Tuesday

Run 5 miles
Footwork

Wednesday

Bench Press
RDL Shrugs
Squats
Pull ups
MB Plate Punch
Shoulder Press
MB Wall Passes
Tricep Extensions
Bicep Curls
Lunges-walking overhead & regular
Broad Jumps
Depth Jumps
Box Step ups
Back Extension
Supermans

MB Ab Twists

Thursday


Run 5 miles
Footwork
Fencing Practice


Friday

Bench Press
RDL Shrugs
Squats
Pull ups
MB Plate Punch
Shoulder Press
MB Wall Passes
Tricep Extension
Bicep Curls
Lunges-walking overhead & regular
Broad Jumps
Depth Jumps
Box Step ups
Back Extension
Supermans

MB Ab Twists
Footwork

Saturday


Run 5 miles
Footwork
Fencing Practice


Sunday

Video Analysis

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Alliance Camp Footwork, Day 2/Week 2

Today was great, lots of intense fencing the entire morning! I got a lesson from Andre today as well during lunch. After some intense blade work (1 hour long), we moved on to super intense footwork. We spent 45 minutes drilling our legs and calf muscles.

Drills:

1) Squats-get into the engarde position and slowly lower your body down into a squat. X 10

2) Fire Feet Squats-get into engarde and pick up your feet quickly, making sure to keep good form. Drop into a squat every couple of seconds. X 10

3) Fire Feet Squat Jumps-get into engarde and pick up your feet quickly, make sure to keep good form during the exercise. Drop down into a squat, varying the time difference between squats. Once in squat, propel yourself upward in a jump and land softly back in engarde on the toes. X 10 

4) Lunge Jumps-get into a lunge and while staying low to the ground hop in and out of the lunge into the engarde. Make sure knee in the lunge is at a 90 degree angle.  X 15

5) High Knee Fire Feet-get into engarde and start alternating feet in fire feet workout. Every so often pick up your knees alternating knees 4 times then continue fire feet. Make sure to keep the back straight. X 10

6) Engarde Jumps-get into engarde and jump forward as far as you can, landing softly on your front foot. Keeping your back foot in the air, push back as far as you can. This is one rep. X 15

7) Double Engarde Jumps-get into engarde and jump forward as far as you can just like before, except this time when you land hop in place once on your front foot before you hop back. On the back hop when you land also do another small in place hop on the toe. This is one rep. X 15

8) Engarde Jump Lunges-get into engarde and continue the exercise like above. This time though after the second back hop lunge forward then reset into engarde. X 15

9) Reaction Lunges-Find a partner and a tennis ball. Have your partner extend their arm with tennis ball in hand, when they drop the tennis ball lunge as quickly as possible. The point is to finish the lunge with clean form before the ball hits the ground. 1-2 minutes

10) Short/Long Reaction Lunge-Set up the exercise just like before, except your partner has two tennis balls. When they drop the ball in their left hand you are to do a double lunge before the ball hits the ground. When they drop the ball in the right hand just do a regular lunge. 1-2 minutes

11) Short/Long Hand Target Lunge-Find a partner and have them stand with one hand closer to you than the other. Have them randomly open one hand at a time and you must react quickly to lunge and hit it. The closer hand for the short lunge and the farther hand for the long lunge. X 20

12) Fencing Suicides-get into engarde and start at the very back of the strip. Go as quickly as possibly and keeping good form go to the 2 meter line and back, the engarde line and back, and so on.   

Monday, August 1, 2011

Strength Work

Strength work is very important for athlete's muscles. Strength work helps to prevent injuries as well as improve muscle capabilities. Today at the Alliance International Fencing Camp after our massive bladework and long day of epee fencing, we took 15-20 minutes to work on muscle strengthening activities. Below I have listed the exercises we worked on and their descriptions.

1) Squat Forward Jumps  X 15 (reps)
Go into a squat and jump forward and land softly on the heels. Slowly go back into a squat and immediately continue to the next hop forward.

2) Squat Backward Jumps X 15
Go into a squat and jump backward and land softly on your toes. Slowly go back into the squat and immediately continue to the next hop.

*After these two exercises you should feel really sore in your legs*


3) Wall Jumps 1 minute
Find a spot on the wall that is challenging to jump to and reach with your fingers. Jump up continuously, landing on your toes, for 1 minute straight. This exercise works the calf muscles.

4) Forward Crawls X 5
Start from bending to reach your toes with feet a little less than shoulder length apart. Crawl out to the push up distance and crawl backward staying low to the ground. Keep your legs straight during this exercise.

5) Caterpillars X 5
Start from bending to reach the toes position with the feet a little less than shoulder length apart. Hop forward on the hands 4 times to push up length distance and then hop back 4 times.

6) Push up Hops X 5
Get into the push up position with arms extended and feet a little less than shoulder length apart. Hop on hands and toes to the right 3 times, then back to the left 3 times.

7) Push up Circles 1 clockwise, 1 counter clockwise
With feet together, get into the push up position with extended arms. Walk your body with your hands clockwise in a full circle with the back straight. Then do the same counter clockwise.

8) Kick Turns 1 minute
Start by picking the right leg up into the air and kick up with the left leg so that you are now balanced on your right leg. Hop turn counter clockwise so that you are now balanced on the left leg. Continue the hopping and switching of legs. Works balance and coordination.