Scott Loudon | Sunday, 13 September 2015
It's been a good week this one. I've been hitting the gym fairly hard this week since my lower back is the weak link in the chain and I'm finally allowed to get weight on the bar again - what a relief! I've had the rod back in my hands and even took a girl casting, it's all happening!
My back is holding up well in the gym so it's currently getting a hammering as my spinal erectors are currently just not up to scratch. The prescribed medicine is overhead pressing (not specifically for the back but it does have to support you), hang cleans, deadlifts, barbell hip thrusts, lunges and glute-ham raises. The amazing thing physio has opened my eyes to is the interaction between your abs, spinal erectors and glutes in the stabilisation of your body. If you want to be athletic, you better get those glutes activated and get them strong. The difference in the short period of rehab I've had over the last two months is remarkable. My posture is better, my explosive power into a sprint is greater, I can single leg squat without falling over and of course end up with a massive arse! Some might say I was a massive arse before this but that's a different matter... I'm really enjoying my gym time at the moment, I've joined a dedicated weightlifting gym http://www.physicalculture.co.uk which truly has everything anyone needs to get a whole lot stronger. The dumbbells go up to 100kg. Lee, fancy a challenge?! :D
Friday this week was an interesting day, early finish at work and then out casting with a pretty cool kiwi chick. It was the first time I've had a chuck recently and went with the HT with a MED #5. Tell you what, there's something of downright elegance when you watch a back loop morphing in a 5 weight line. I'd definitely missed that. I could have watched it all day but I also had to do a little teaching rather than merely showing off. It was a very informal lesson which started with a quick explanation of how a fly line actually works and the importance of the loop. Kate was quite impressed by the hand casting and eager to try it I passed her the line to give it a go. I stupidly stood on her right side and learned quite quickly that she's got a mean right hook, she hand cast her hand straight into my jaw popping it right out of place! Spent the rest of the night with a fairly sore jaw. Ever thought of trying boxing Kate? After we laughed it off and I stopped crying I got into Lee's fantastic triangle method which really does work wonders with beginners and beyond in providing a fixed framework within which to experiment with the cast. Kate picked it up quite quickly actually, the occasional wide loop as you probably expect and her wrist fatigued very quickly with the 9' rod but it didn't take very long to be throwing right loops and shooting line too.
Got to say it was good fun and I might even manage to rope her in a little more and see if she can catch a little fishy sometime. Maybe a big pike in the winter!
I'll sign off for now saying that whilst my casting wasn't by any means my furthest, the haul timing felt good and the loops were tracking nice and straight. I'd forgotten how nice it is to cast a 'bendy' rod as last time I was casting I was throwing heavy head events. The 5's tiring but boy is it the pretty one. Maybe I'll get out today for another crack at it.