Whats a Shankle?

Usually I start with a title...today, I'm writing first, I'll let the title figure itself out.  A little look behind the curtain if you will, so look for it later.  

Lots to talk about tonight.  So we'll go down the list, starting with yesterday.  Firsts continued from yesterday.  Thats you!  I'm not really sure who found this blog first, but it was Andy ( remember the burpee tyrant?), well Andy sent me first a FB friend request, then a Google + one.  Shortly after, his wife (coach Laura at CFDS) made the first comment on this here blog.  Then the gates opened, page view count by the end of the day was 10x more than it was the 3 weeks before.  Having never had a blog, and being new to this, I can assure you, is very exciting.  Ended the day with a few new people in my circles in G+ and more than a few new friends on FB.  Fair warning though, you friend me on FB or G+, I'm not just a stay quite kind of  friend, I've got lots to say... I mean I'm blogging...and I've still got a lot to say, I'm a social butterfly *shrug*.  Last thought on this, thanks for the follows and reading my ramblings, it's humbling having people come up to me and say things like they like this blog, and that they're proud of me, stuff like that... so thank you. 

Brings me to point two of the evening.  One of our (can I say our?) athletes, Ryan, whom I officially met (as opposed to just seeing him at the box) tonight, had a request for a post.  Another first.  He wanted to know what my goals were, thought it would be a good idea to put them out here.  I happen to agree.  I have several, and they're all over the place.  I'm probably going to get a little personal on this, forgive me, but it is personal.  This is stuff I'd like to have done by the end of the year.  This is a living document, so I may come back and change them as I hit them.

1 real pushup--I've got a weak upper body...at least for now.
1 pullup, working towards 1 strict pullup
Drop 30 lbs before my work takes me away from CFDS
Find a max for every move we've got
Drop 60 lbs by the end of the year ( I really expect to keep moving this one back)
Get to RX (or whatever it is) for every move
Show improvement on half the benchmark workouts I get into Wodify. 

More of a longer look (as in I don't know how long it will take to get here):

Beat all of Andy's times on the benchmark leader board. 
Get in the top 10 on all our boards (pre-req being hitting the RX mentioned above)
Lose 200 lbs.  Yeah, you read that right, I've got to lose a whole damn person, going to do it too.  Can't beat Andy's times carrying two people around... if I could that would be sick...but no, thats not the goal. 

I've been picking on Andy a lot on here already, but really I have so much respect for him and all the coaches at CFDS.  Everyone here makes me want to get better, to be better.  I'm sure there is more lovely dovey stuff to share, but I can't get mushy now, my competitive fire has be rekindled, and I'm talking a little smack, have to stay focused :P

Ok, so those are some of my goals...maybe I'll come back and make edits with strike through and put dated comments beside them... yeah, thats probably better than changing them outright. 

Moving on, today's workout... parts of it were too easy, tells me quite clearly I need to up the weights on some of these moves.  Just to make sure there's no misconception, I haven't been sandbagging, I'm just trying to find my max's.  Bent over rows was the workout tonight, done to a count of 12-10-8-6-4-2.  My 2 was only 115lbs...LOL, I said only.  Look, 115 lbs is a monster to a lot of new people, some moves it's a monster to me, so if you're not there yet, you'll get there, just work at it, we'll all help you get there if thats your goal, or better yet, on your way to your goal.  I don't want anyone reading this to get discouraged, we all start somewhere.  Most of these moves, I start with and empty barbell or sometimes less.  Better?  Better!  Back to the workout...some shankle complexes...who is shankle?  Should that a be a proper noun?  Sorry, I'll get back on track... no, one more side note, if my use of ellipses (the ....) drives you nuts, my apologies... it's the whole typing like I think, like I talk, I see it as a way to let thoughts trail off or change subjects.  Also, just googled it Shankle should def be a proper noun.  Watch this if you don't know who he is.  Impressive stuff.  K, so we did some Shankle complexes, some stretches, rowing etc.  Push-ups too... still on my knees (see the first goal I put above).  Only person on their knee's... c'mon now, man up...  sorry, thats for me, not you, if you need you knees, use them, I do.  We'll get there together.  Enough WOD, cause I don't want to talk about planks...evil things.

It's like my Friday.  Kinda.  I get to sleep in a little tomorrow, take a few calls at the hotel before I go to the office, and then go the airport.  So Wednesday WOD's are special like that.  I know no matter how bad it is, tomorrow I get a wee bit of rest.  My muscles just relaxed at that realization, but don't tell anyone.  

There is no substitute for hard work.  It's cliche I know, but I had it reinforced today.  I was messing around looking through Google communities, found one on fitness, and some of the "healthy" things people were doing... smh.  I know things like cleanses, and juicing, and fad diets have their place, but if you can make that mental jump past the word diet, and make it a lifestyle thing, I think it makes it a lot easier.  My food intake isn't perfect, likely never will be, but it's gotten A LOT better in the past few weeks.  I work too damn hard to go eat something that isn't going to help me.  GSP  (Georges St-Pierre, MMA fighter) was training for one of his fights, and was interviewed about some of his prep work.  One of the things he said was that he doesn't put anything into his body that does not help him towards his goals.  Man has more discipline (and money...) than I do, but it's a good goal to strive for in my opinion. 

Wrap up.  The power of music.  We workout with some decent music, and getting a good beat can give you a good rhythm, all pluses in my book.  The music I'm talking about, it's my pre-box drive music.  I love me some XM/Sirius, so when the rentals have it, I get excited.  Hate commercials... I mean NFL games are 60 minutes, but take 180+ to watch on average...ug, sorry, thats a soap box thing for me.  Getting back to the story, I was sore this morning, shoulders from all that hanging (remember, it's like a person on each arm for me).  On my way to the box after work, I'm whining to myself.  If this was anything else, I probably would have just called it a night and chilled out.  CrossFit is in my blood now, unless just physically unable,  I'm going... back to music.  I'm sore, being whiny, and one of those feel good 90's songs comes on.  Some of you don't know who Marky Mark is... and I'm not going to tell you.  If you figure it out from this video, you get todays gold star.  After watching that myself, two thoughts, one, sometimes I miss those low tech music video days... I'm one of those old people that remembers when MTV played nothing but music.  Second, I wonder if he CrossFits...  Anyway, that song brought me out of my malaise, and I was pumped for tonight when I rolled up.  Endorphins... 


Have a great night, thanks for sticking with me through this long post, I'll try to prep you for that next time.  

TCN
 

Endorphins

There were probably 10 great post titles that went through my head...none of them this, but endorphins are important.  Science time.  Endorphins: any of a group of endogenous peptides (as enkephalin) found especially in the brain that bind chiefly to opiate receptors and produce some pharmacological effects.  WTF does that mean Dan?  Great question, I have no idea.  What I do know is how to explain it layman's terms...as I understand it anyway.  Endorphins come out for a few things, for me, I get the biggest hit when I hurt something so bad, I giggle.  Rather than crying it's this real nervous like laugh, and I can't stop.  Workouts among other things can release endophins too...fits here huh?  I also thing...or blame endorphins for that feel good feeling of first.  First time holding someones hand, first kiss, first "epic" moment, lots of first.  Some endorphins are even more powerful than morphine... and it's all made in our bodies...cools stuff.  

I say all that to say I hit a number of firsts today.  So I had lots of endorphins through out the day, lot of firsts.  Lets talk workout.  Some of the "usual" stretches, rowing and the like, had to get the body ready for some lifting today....don't take my caviler tone for saying it was a breeze.  Still had a dripping sweat when I was done...mental note, work harder on breathing right.  I mean there is that gulping air stuff, and then there is breathing right.  More work due on the latter.  

Weights.  Hit a quasi PR tonight.  Well no, it wasn't a PR (that's personal record for those keeping score at home), but it was a max.  I don't think I've had an honest to goodness max until tonight, but I'm sure if I keep showing up, I'll get more than a few more.  #countonit  forgive the hashtaggery.  So weights, worked with my man Jeff (another nomad, guy's from DC, but working up here as well), and we both had to run through a bit of weight to find our max's.  Training was to find the max, then do 3x1 rep sets of 70% of the max.  Where are my manners...talking about weights, what kind of weights.  Push press.  I could wordsmith it for you, but I need to get to bed and three sentences is going to save me 5 minutes of sleep.  I'd link a video, but the hotel internet is gawd awful tonight, so it would take even longer than the sentences...  Back to Jeff and myself.  Apparently we're too slow finding our max.  Andy (one of our two illustrious coaches for the evening) gave a warning, you have one minute to get your bar and be ready.  Everyone had pretty much hussled and gotten a bar...but Jeff was still getting the weights off his bar and put back in place.  3 warnings later, Jeff is nearly done, but not quite there.... 10 burpees.  Group "punishment".  We did burpees last night... Dan doesn't want to do 10 burpees.  Valuable lessons learned for at least myself, leave no man behind, had I helped Jeff put up what was equally some of my mess, rather than wait, Dan does 10 less burpees.  Self preservation at it's finest.  

Metcon-  EMOM-20 minutes.  Didn't catch what it stood for, but it's basically you have a minute to do workout A, then you go to B.  Get done early, don't start the next till the top of the minute.  Got it?  good.  20 minutes...reminders of Cindy...ug, shake it off.  First move is toes to bar.  I can't do toes to bar, so I get to hang and pull my knees as high up as I can.  Abs baby...sometimes I call them abdimonials (sounds like colonials with and abdim to replace the c)...idk why, leave me alone.  So we've got the toes to bars, six count.  Other move is a snatch to 2 overhead squats.  Those of you good at math have already added up 60 toes to bars, and 10 snatches with 20 overhead squats.  Congrats to the people that did that, to the rest of you, now you know.  This was nothing like last night, but it wasn't easy either.  My form faltered a bit with the overhead squats.  I will get better.  For you new people, you'll do have those moments, own them and improve.  I know for me I get a little pissed when I catch myself screwing up.  It doesn't last long, a short memory is probably good for frustration, keeps you in the moment.  Back to the form, I don't have any for the toes to bars, a lot of people make it look easy...and I look forward to that day, until then it's modifications.  Let me tell you, if it came to me living or dying by hanging from a bar...it's a lot of weight, can't say I'd make it, it's like holding two people and then pulling my knees up... by round 5 or so, I knew the tendons in my forearms are going to be a joy in the morning.  

Workouts over, I stick around to chat, chest bump, high five, stretch,  and drink in the atmosphere.  What can I say, I love it here... and my hotel room is kinda boring...but we'll stick with the good things.  Have a gift coming to CFDS tomorrow morning, fix an issue I discovered tonight, might tell you about it tomorrow.  :)  

Quick hitters: 

 There are more crossfit nomads than you think, if you travel for work like me, don't be shy.  If you're in Delaware...and I mean any part of it (it's kinda small...), stop by CrossFit Diamond State, come see what I see. 

Form, will help you do amazing things.  Andy (remember the tyrannical burpee coach earlier in our story?), he set a goal of 205 for his max today.  Said he's be happy to hit it.  CRUSHED it.  Hit 225, rang the PR bell (another story for another day) and he said something about it being the good form as much as it being him.  Well, thats the way I heard it anyway.  Proud of Andy, he had his goal, then once he hit it, instead of stopping, he kept pushing for more.  This is supposed to be quick... keep your form, we'll discuss this more in the future I'm sure. 

Ok, it's midnight, I NEED sleep.  Disclaimer, after 11, I stop proofreading.  Work with me here.  Tomorrow I'm going to talk about about one more first from today, and that my friends is you.  Have a good night/morning.  

TCN

Miracles do happen!

Man alive, what a day....what a weekend.  If you didn't read the last blog post, my knee was messed up.  I mean limping, stairs hurt, popping it in and out (I assume) of place... Strange things.  Painful too.  Went to my man "The Chiropractor" aka @IAmTheHealer on Twitter, and had him adjust the back and look at the knee.  Some subluxation adjustments, and we're moving again.  Still sore, but better.  Rest of the weekend, more limping around, still in pain, but it's getting better with rest and supplements.  At least thats what I'm thinking. 

Monday morning rolls around.  Not enough sleep, but I'm felling MUCH better, still a slight twinge, but nothing like the weekend.  Slept on the plane over, dealt with the stresses of work, got to the hotel, changed, on my way to Great Clips.  Did he say Great Clips?  Yup, sure did, hair...what I've got left, was too long, needed a buzz.  Knee was still kinda wonky all day, thought tonight would be ok at least, was going to talk to Coach Gia @CFDiamondState about lower impact solutions, maybe shed some tears, get a "aww poor baby" or something.  Well, I pull up to Great Clips, step out of the rental, and low and behold, I can walk.  Normal.   No pain.  Zip, zero, stingy with... sorry, song lyrics.  But wow, no pain, no limp, nada.  Now I'm actually more worried, I mean why on earth am I "normal" now? 

Haircut is over, I'm at the box, still no pain when I get inside.  Don't know to be relieved or scared, so I'm a bit of both.  Talk to a few of the coaches, including Gia, and they all have the mindset of why look a gift-horse in the mouth (old saying, look it up if you don't know it/get it).  The optimism was also tempered with common sense, talked to coach, agreed to ramp down the impact stuff to the knee as a precaution. 

Workout tonight.  Rowing instead of running for me, some frankensteins, cow grazers, hollow rocks, etc.  Unlike everyone else, I still get nice and sweaty during warmups, I've gotten used to it, but it's still a little irritating when I'm the only one sweating and breathing hard.  Guess thats how it goes when  you do what I did to get here... oh well.  This week we start a 12 week "Hatch Squat" training cycle.  Laymans terms, squats, lots of them.  I wont bore you with my numbers, but they aren't  impressive in weight form, unless you count my body mass too...then thats some crazy squats.

Weights are over, time for METCON (metabolic conditioning for you noobies).  21-15-9.  Box jump burpees, then wall-ball situps.  The burpess are what you think, hands to the ground, kick your feet back, chest hits the ground, pop tall....then you do a box jump.  HAHAHA...yeah, thats what everyone else did.  Dan here had to replace the jump with a step up.  Part of the modifications that any good coach will make with you to help you get there, one movement at a time.  Around the time I got to number 10, it's now 2+ minutes in, coach sees I'm dying, I've now been given a 12-9-6...it was 7, but we'll get there.  Got to my 12 burpee step ups.  I'm gassed, winded, sucking on air instead of breathing, time for the situps.  Now big as I am, situps aren't near as hard as you would think, my core is strong...just covered in lots of soft tissue.  These situps though, with the ball... as I bring the ball to the wall...all the air gets pushed out of my lungs.  Breathing is now all I want to do, slow'd down cause I can only do a few before I have to stop and gasp for air.  I get my 12, and people are already starting their thirs set...I don't realzie this, in my mind I'm just behind them.  So I get to work on my 9.  They're painful, I struggling to kick my legs back, getting up is rough, it's all around misery.  I'm done, wall-balls, sucking wind, I'm getting done.  I don't know how much time is left, but I know I'm going to be last, don't care, going to get done.  I stand up to do my last seven, somewhere mercy smiles upon me, it's been knocked to six. 

I'm bent over on my knees.  Gia is beside me now.  C'mon Dan six more, you've got this, get down.  I start my first one, now I'm down, I'm getting back up, I hear more people around me, I don't look up to see who it is, I do my box step-up.  Getting ready for two, peripheral vision catches several people around me...cheering me on.  In my mind I'm thinking I've got this, go away, and I might have said it...if I could breath.  DOWN.  I get down, I'm frustrated now, but determined, I lift my hands up and slap the ground, the forming crowd around me takes this as a good sign.  The cheering gets louder.  UP DAN, GET UP!  I rise!  I'd love to tell you this is pretty, but I'm in survival mode, and I've got the entire box around me.  Mortified, but determined, and everyone wants to see me succeed...how can you not love this.  I'll spare you my anguish, but I hit all 6, and got my 6 wall balls in.  I'm sitting up, people are giving me high fives while I sit there fighting for air.  I feel great, I feel terrible, I, I, I don't care, I finished, and thats what matters.  Supported all the way by my new CrossFit family, couldn't be happier.  

The whole time I'm over here going through this, a brand new Elements class is sitting/standing against the wall.  What is going through their minds, I don't know.  What I suspect is my ordeal has just shown them everything they need to know about Diamond State CrossFit.  It's hard, you'll be challenged, and everyone will support you to the very end.  If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now, this was the best place I could have landed, and I'm thankful for Gia and Co. taking me in, and pushing me to greater things. 

It's time for bed now, need to get at least 7 hours, and I'm looking at just under 8, so I've got to go.  I hope this inspires you 

Trying some social media hashtaggery, maybe get some more people looking at this, maybe inspire someone...maybe it's you.  I hope it is. 

#crossfit #diamondstate #workout #justdoit

IDK, 4 is enough for now, it's sleep time.  Happy Monday!

TCN

My Knee!!

I don't think it's bad, but I'm getting it looked at by my man @IAmTheHealer on Friday, until then it's ice, rest, and ibuprofen.  Only noticed the clicking when I was bent over adding weight to my barbells tonight. 

Let me back up.  Workout tonight, pretty fun, defiantly tough.  First, this running stuff.  Every day, I'm readying something about 300m, 500m, or some other length of rowing.  Cool, rowing's good.  Every day it's nice, I think it's going to be this 400m run to warm up.  Now, I expect to get better, but dammit, it sucks now, can't make it the whole way...it's about getting that air stuff in my lungs, having some issues.  More warm-up stuff, some hollow rocks, some good mornings, some resistance band stretches, and some back extensions.  Got a good sweat going from the warm-up.  The meat now, split jerks.  Still trying to find my PR, worked my way up to 115 as my 80%.  Felt pretty accurate.  Now onto some METCON.  If I haven't explained that one yet, METCON is metabolic conditioning.  100 double under, then we did a complex to find a PR, 7 minutes total time is all we had. 

Double unders.  Simple concept, but I'm still struggling with single unders...haven't jumped rope since Jump Rope for Heart in grade school  (http://www.heart.org/)  they can still use your help by the way.  Anyways, I suck, had to give up on the jumping to make sure I could get a few reps of the complex in.  Plan on finding my own rope, and jumping when I'm home...I find this somewhat embarrassing that I can't jump rope...  The complex, - deadlift + hang clean + jerk = 1 rep.  Barbell hits the ground, start over.  I got 115.  The hang clean is currently my weakness for this, but I've got a PR now.  I think as I find my form improving, my confidence will improve, my numbers will climb drastically.  I feel like I got challenged by some other athletes this week, and I struggled, and I'm so happy they did (shout out to Mark for pushing me).  I think I was caking it too much with the weights, hiding behind "I dont know my max".  So many thanks.  

Ok, it's late, have to get better about writing this sooner.  Drink you water!

TCN

Sleep, you need it

Wow.  The difference a day can make.  Short story, if I didn't already tell you, my phone was on the fritz.  Whats that mean to you and this blog, quite a bit actually.  If it wasn't on the fritz, we'd be talking about todays WOD.  Instead, I'm telling you about how the phone kept me from getting solid sleep, and how important solid sleep is to you. 

I'm wasted right now.  Not drunk, but still wasted.  I slept like a new born last night, up, looking at the clock every few minutes, trying to make sure I didn't miss my alarm (which happens to be my phone...most dependable thing I take with me, till last night).  So with 3 hours of rest after Cindy, and a days worth of work, I'm close to useless.  It sucks, I don't like missing WODs for anything less...no, scratch that, I don't like missing them at all, and having to miss one cause I didn't get enough sleep...sucks.  Avoidable under most normal circumstances anyway.

Sleep is super important to your body, particularly if you're doing something crazy like CrossFit.  I don't have a bunch of research or ready links to prove it to you, but my coach said in an email today that it's "so so so important".  The Paleo Solution also  references the importance of sleep regardless of what you're doing.  Hormonal balance, recovery, general well being... sleep is where it's at, so guard it like it's the key to unlocking your success, because it is. 

Other thoughts...and it's more of an open question.  After these workouts, I find myself wobbling a bit... wobbling might not be the right word, but I walk with a different gait than if I don't workout...we'll call it the workout wobble for now.  Does that affect anyone else?  Maybe it's just me. 

Thats all I've got today, I'm going to bed nice and early, going to get lots of sleep, you should get some sleep too.

TCN

Cindy

Hey!  Time to play catch up.  The best laid plans of mice and men...or some such.  Didn't get the Friday workout in that I planned to, lots of quality excuses came up, but in the end, it really comes down to the fact I could have done it had I made better plans.  Read a book called Body-for-Life by Bill Phillips... in there he said if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.   Don't know if he stole it from anyone, but I'm stealing it from him. 

Cindy...I thought Fran was a bad name, Cindy...oh, Cindy is worse.  You see Fran, as you've seen by now (hopefully), Fran has a beginning, middle, end.  You know what she's bringing to the game, and what it's going to take to get done.  Cindy...she doesn't give you any idea what she's bringing, and you have no idea what it's going to take to get done (fell free to YouTube now).  Cindy wants you to do 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats.  Not so bad right, I mean Fran was 21-15-9 with thrusters and pull-ups, so whats the big deal right?  Well Cindy, she wants you to do a lot of them.  How many?  Guess that depends on you, cause she wants you to do as many as you can, in 20 minutes.  I did 9 today.  Probably not bad for a first timer on his second week of CrossFit, idk, we celebrate PR's at CrossFit, not who's better.  It's not a competition, unless you're on ESPN, then it kinda is...  Back to Cindy...my arms aren't even jello, they're something past that.  Pushing the cart around Target tonight...struggles we're had.  I tried to keep my form while messing with Cindy, but I confess, it didn't happen quite like I was planning...nearly face planted a few times, thought my arms were stronger than they were...but they'll be stronger next time, guaranteed.  

Let me ask you a question now.  How are your eating habits?  Two weeks ago, I was still doing Elements, just got done, and I wanted a big fat reward.  I wanted a burger (imagine me saying it with a thick Jersey accent).  Well I was covered in sweat, so the real burger joints were out, so BK it was.  I pulled up, was ready for a nice double cheeseburger.  Sign on the drive-thru said closed...for computer upgrades.  Well !#@$.  What now?  I went to Target, bought some apples, grapes, protein shakes, some nuts, and maybe a 5 hour energy (it's been two weeks, I don't remember exactly).  Didn't get my burger, but it was clearly the best thing that happened to me with BK being closed.  Went to Target again tonight (maybe I'll go to a real grocery store next week), and I walked past all the clearance Easter candy, walked past a lot of stuff I'd have stopped and considered buying just a few weeks ago, got my healthy snacks, protein shakes, etc.  Small victories are still victories, celebrate them (within reason :) )

I know I've got more to say, but it's late and suddenly it's all going out the door.  I'll get you some platitude the other time.

Cheers!
TCN

Rest

Today is a defacto rest day for me, I'm going home.  Hoping for a less bumpy flight out of PHL, probably wont get home till after 10, I have some errands to run... I digress.  With rest comes a lot of things, soreness chief among them.  If you haven't started taking some form of supplement now, you might reconsider.  I'm in that boat myself.  The 'silver bullet' I've always used to knock down soreness are amino acids.  You're body simply can not make enough on it's on to combat the effects of weight training, and taking these will help you in recover, and more importantly (to me), take away some of that soreness.  It's not a cure-all, but it really helps in the beginning. 

Other things you might consider taking (and again, I'm no doc, check with them and ask a coach at your box):  Fish Oil/Omega 3's, something for your joints (Glut-amine), a multivitamin, and some form of protein.  As for what you should buy EXACTLY, I'm not that guy, still figuring out myself.  There are certain proteins for certain things, and you will likely get better results taking one at a certain time, and another at another time...this is me trying to sheepishly explain that I've heard this before, and can't remember it well enough to tell you. 

If you're still going today, fighting the good fight, my hats off to ya.  I didn't want to go last night, and I should have shared this story then....I got in the rental, didn't wan't to go.  Got to the highway, was feeling sleepy and sore, was really not wanting it.  Get to the stoplight (on the highway...strange, I know), and I'm having more downer thoughts, being all whiny and stuff... then the song came on.  That cheesy rise up and take on the world song.  Everyone's got one, for a lot of people this song is the song.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4   Suddenly, chills.  I sit up a little straighter.  I turn up the volume.  Lights green, I hit the gas.  It's go time!  Forgotten were all the little naggies that wanted me to stay at the hotel, all replaced by the eye of the tiger.  Got to the box in a great mood, had a good workout. 

I say all that to say this.  Your box brethren (and siteren...sisters...idk), will always encourage you, try to motivate you, try to pump you up.  Sometimes though, we need to motivate ourselves.  Rocky Balboa (06) is one of my favorites in the series.  There is a scene in there (here comes another YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrjFirXW_s) where Rocky is talking to his kid about how hard life hits, and how winning is done.  It's something I find myself thinking about as I'm lifting something particularly heavy, or doing a workout that is really killing me.  This is a bit out of context, and I invite you to watch the vid if you haven't already, but this has kept me going a few times in my brief career already. 

"But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

Parting Thought:
There is no growth without struggle, without change.  You can't get better by doing the same things you've been doing, cause that's how you got where you are now.  Embrace the struggle, make the change.  I believe you can do it, and so can I. 

Keep Moving Forward,
TCN

Getting hooked and third workout confessions

You know you're getting hooked, when you think about the days WOD while doing something else...for me, that something else was working.  I'm was sitting in the office today, looking out the window, and while I was feeling the soreness in ALL my major muscle groups, I'm STILL looking forward to the WOD today.  I'm hooked, I can't help it, it's growing on me.  Sooner than later I'm going to become a full on CrossFit junkie, but I'm not there yet.  


This is my third day in a row, after doing just three elements sessions over two weeks, I've done three in a row.  I don't think thats any sort of record or anything, just want to give you a frame of reference for where I'm at and what I'm going through.  Like I said above, I'm sore.  I'm tired too, not enough sleep.   Today was all about strength training, and building muscle.  I still can't tell you what half the lifts are....power cleans, jerk lifts, snatch and grabs...I don't know, we did two different ones without hitting our max, some overhead (with a plate) lunges, and to finish it all off, 1000m timed row.  Plates, by the way, are those nice round things that weigh anywhere from 10-45 lbs usually...the things you put at the end up dumbbells.  |--------|   There, a nice visual aide.  Now for the confessions

Confessions:

I thought tonight, I'd save my legs.  I wanted to save my legs.  I tried to save my legs.  CrossFit doesn't care.  CrossFit not only took my legs, but laughed at me for bringing them in the first place.  

I've found it really is 90% mental, 10% physical...or maybe it's 80/20.  Either way, don't psych yourself out, you do that, you're done.  Old saying, forget who it's attributed to Hank Ford maybe? Anyway, it goes something like this..."Doesn't matter whether you think you can, or you think you can't, either way, you are right." 

Parting thought, mainly for those of you new to CrossFit, or getting ready to start.  Keep your mind open to meeting new people at your box, their encouragement is invaluable.  Also, try to smile when your tired and just finishing a set of whatever.  It will make others smile, and you might just have some fun.  :) 

Cheers
TCN.

The only easy day was yesterday

Been watching TV for a while, see some things, hear some things.  One thing I've heard in a few of the show's I've watched is the SEALs motto of "The only easy day was yesterday".  I get it more than I used to. 

I may be using that waaaay to early in my blogging career, but it's apt for working out, cause the only easy workout is the one you've already done.  Today (the day after Fran) was something that looked easy to me.  HAHA...yeah, about that.  Today was shuttle runs, some situps, double unders, and box jumps.  Seemed easy enough on paper, not so much in practice.  To make matters more interesting, I lined up next to one DSCF Coaches Randi Goodman.  Intimidating, and at the same time a challenge...well, it was a 'challenge' till we stated, then it was over.  Got smoked, it was glorious....painful too.  Long way to go, but we're going to get there one day at a time. 


Random successes/thoughts from the past two day, not sure how to organize this stuff yet:

First, leave comments, we'll banter, it'll be fun.

After the workout yesterday, went to the closest grocery store to get my 'supplies' for the week.  Walking was a task, the cart helped keep me upright.  First thing in, was the deli/pre-made food area.  It looked so good...yet having just had my butt handed to me, walked right on by, not the faintest hint of temptation.  Got a sub, some fruite, some water, and some protein supplements and was out.  Victories come in all shapes and sizes.

I'll try to keep the feel good coaches platitudes to a minimum, but no promises.

Uh, not much else tonight, if you've got questions, or want to see a post on something in particular, let me know and I'll see what I can do.  

TCN

Welcome to the journey

Welcome to The Crossfit Nomad. 

Where to start...well, I'm a wee bit narcissistic, and this is my blog, so we'll start with me.  My name is Dan, and I have just started CrossFit (CF for short).  A little bit about me.  I live in Kansas City, but I travel a lot for work.  Currently my travels take me to the great state of Delaware, which is where the Nomad comes from.  

Last night was my first workout, first non-elements (training) workout.  We did something called Fran, YouTube it (too many videos to share, you'll get the idea).  If you're just now researching CrossFit, and you ended up here, and you just saw Fran... let me be the first to tell you that you can do it.   Now, I know what your thinking, I've had people say that sort of thing to me before to, my initial reaction is the universal "Bullshit!".  I'll apologize now, you're going to get some language here and there.  Back to Fran and you being able to do it.... I did this last night.  I weight 480 lbs.  And I was doing that workout. It was scaled to my abilities, and I did it, and thats why I'm telling you that you can do it too.  If I can do CrossFit, you can too. 

Some shoutouts, my first "box" (the CrossFit lingo for gym) is Diamond State CrossFit. (http://crossfitdiamondstate.com/) Gia O'Keefe runs the box, fantastic coach, great motivator, and she'll help you out anyway she can.  LOVE CFDS and the support they've given me since the first time I reached out for info.  They're going to be my first box, but they wont be the last.  I travel a ton for work, hence the nomad in the title. 
Second shoutout goes to my man Taran Kahler.  Don't have any handy links for him yet, maybe one day.  We started a program at our company together, and while we were training, he started doing CrossFit and The Paleo Diet.  Here is probably where I should disclaimer that I'm not your doctor, and yada yada, so consult a physician before dieting or doing awesome things like this...or don't.  Back to TK.  I watched this man shrink inches off his waist and gain what looked like even more muscle.  I decided then that if he could do it, so could I.  It just took an additional 6 months before I even thought of starting.  Time wasted.

More first time things.  I write like I talk, so this may read like a conversation...and thats good, you should be able to "get" what I'm saying even if I don't write it right.  Savvy?

A lot of things have happened since I started this journey, and I'll be sure to add to this every chance I get, I'll get better at this blog stuff, and hopefully we'll make this into something special.  Thanks for being here!

TCN

**edit on 5/19**  Tired body tired mind, forgive my spelling/grammar errors, you'll probably find a few, I usually write this after a workout... if you haven't tried CF yet, when you do, you'll see what I mean.