Nicely dunks it…

Well, after about 6 months of training with almost a four week gap at one point due to sickness, I’m finally dunking pretty consistently. It actually felt pretty easy at sjömansskola this evening. My deadlift record is now 4 sets of 8x95kg and my squat record is 4 sets of 6x85kg (reduced the reps a little to up the weight). Slow but steady progress that is clearly paying off!

Here’s a little video of me dunking.

Basketball on Åland

Something I missed when we first moved to Åland was basketball. Basically, there wasn’t any outside school PE classes and the annual Åland Street Basket tournament. Groups of friends played basketball during the summer in splendid isolation from each other. Just under a year ago, I read about three young guys who were going to take part in Åland Street Basket and joined up with them as the only Åland team playing.

Since then, basketball activity on Åland has taken off. There are now four regular training times with both guys and girls playing. We are founding an Åland Basketball Association and our website is under construction:

www.freewebs.com/basketballteamaland

We’ve got just over a year until the Island Games come to Åland and our goal is to enter a basketball team from Åland. There’s a long way to go before we’re ready for that, but it’s looking good!

Dunk Quest 80kg Squats

I’m playing basketball two-three times a week at the moment and trying to keep up the weight training too. Think I might have been over doing it a little. From what I’ve read, if you train too much or don’t rest properly, you actually end up going backwards. A couple of weeks ago, I was dunking with ease and even managed a two-handed dunk at sjömansskolan. But on Wednesday all the power was gone and I missed an in-game dunk by a fair bit ending up flat on my back under the basket.

There’s no doubt the weight training has made a difference though. Here’s my latest max 8 rep squat. It’s back up to what it was before Christmas and I feel I could do more. Will post again when I get a dunk on video or when I manage an 8 rep 90kg squat.

Interruption over…

It’s been quite a while since my last post now. Out in the real world, I’ve had a few complaints about the less “political” turn my blog has taken since the election, as well as about not having written anything at all since Christmas. Well, I’m going to try and get back into the habit of posting and will be aiming for a mixture of “serious” and less “serious” posts. To add to becoming party secretary, I’m also now a replacement member for Kalle Fogelström in “stadstyrelse”, the town council’s executive body. That means I’ll be getting deeper into town politics, so I shall hopefully find plenty to write about there. Something which is both “current” on the agenda and which I’m personally very interested in is the fate of Bio Savoy, the town’s recently-demised cinema.

For now, I’ll just update the blog with my sporting progress. In my first session back after Christmas, I thought I’d take it easy and drop back to a 70kg squat (down from 80kg after nearly three weeks without lifting anything). Thank God I did, because I was aching for a full week afterwards. I’ve now got back up to a couple of sets at 75kg without killing myself. The basketball is also getting a bit more serious now, and I am aiming to be playing twice a week.

Get Stronger

Had my last session at the gym yesterday before we head off to England for Christmas. Two sets of squats at 8 x 80kg plus one set at 75kg. Given my rapid progress thus far, no doubt due to how weak I was when I started, my goal for this summer, before Åland Street Basket, is 8 x 105kg. That’s a little under 1.5 times my body weight.

Here’s someone who jumps so high he not only dunks the ball, half his arm disappears too. The technical term for it is a “honey dip”. I wonder what he squats…

Get Higher

I went to play basketball at Sjömansskola for the first time this evening. There were plenty of players. Enough for a squad! There were quite a few who were relatively new to the game, but also a couple who could clearly play. The atmosphere was friendly, but we trained hard for almost two hours; my legs are already killing me. I played pretty well, but relied heavily on athleticism and drives to the hoop (Note to self: Must improve my mid-range jump shot). I’m feeling much more optimistic about the Island Games and certainly the prospects of starting a basketball association on Åland.

The good news for my Quest to Dunk is that I did! On a proper court. With a ring at the right height. And with relative ease! Plenty of witnesses, but, unfortunately, no video footage for the blog. Still, it shows that my squats are paying off.

Still Getting Stronger

I’ve now managed 3 sets of 8 squats at over 75kg (plus whatever the metal bits that hold the weights on weigh) pretty comfortably. Before we head off for England for Christmas, I’m going to have one shot at a single set at 80kg, which I’ll try and video and post here if successful. I wonder how far I’ll be able to progress on my own before I hit a wall? And how much will it help it my vertical?

Interesting to note for any non-Ålanders reading this is that, despite having a population of under 27,000 people, Åland has two world-class weightlifters, Ove Lehto and Kenta Sandvik. And they both train at the same gym I do! Here’s Ove Lehto in action in familiar surroundings.

Wrong number

I’ve been part of the group that drew up a propsal for a new executive for Åland’s Social Democrats. After the group’s discussions we had to ring around to those we intended to include in the proposal. One name I had was Anders Ericson, a social democrat from Lemland and not the leader of Åland’s Future, Anders Eriksson. Perhaps you can see where this is going…

Roughly, as I remember the conversation:

“Hello..”

“Hello, it’s Andy from the party office. I believe someone’s spoken to you about the new executive and I wondered if you’d had my email?”

“..”

“About the new executive. I’m in the group the that’s drawing up the proposal. It’s Andy from the party office,”

“Which party office?” Sounding puzzled

“Is this Anders Ericson I’m speaking to?” light beginning to dawn…

“No, this is Harry Jansson, but I can give you Anders Eriksson’s number” proceeds to give me the number

“Umm… I’m afraid I’ve completely messed this up. I meant to ring Anders Ericson with a C, the social democrat from Lemland. I’m really sorry.”

Trying to stop himself laughing too hard “No, it’s not a problem”

“Bye”

still laughing “Bye”

I not only got the wrong Anders E, but managed to confuse his number in my mobile with that of Åland’s Future’s other Member of the Lagting, Harry Jansson. The new party secretary for Åland’s Social Democrats in action! Improving communication with the grass roots is clearly a priority!

Progressing nicely

I mangaged two sets of 70kg (just under what I weigh) squats after two sets at 65kg in my last training session, so I seem to be progressing nicely. I could perhaps have gone a little deeper on some of the squats in the set below, but otherwise I think my form is ok. I didn’t feel too bad afterwards either, whereas my legs felt totally destroyed after my first session when I attempted 3 sets at 60 kg. Hopefully I’ll be able to get up to 80kg in the near future. I’ll be flying up to dunk by the summer!

MA in Legislative Studies

Just found out today that my dissertation on party cohesion in the Lagting has been passed! I got a 68, 2 points shy of a distinction. It feels good to have passed, I started the course three years ago and it hasn’t always been easy studying part-time while a lot of other stuff has been going on in my life. It certainly wouldn’t have been possible without Hanna and the rest of my family’s support.

Unfortunately, I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed that I didn’t quite make the distinction… Nonetheless, some kind of celebration is definately in order!