King of the ring rows

Thats right, tonight I was King of the Ring Rows!  I keep this up, my back is going to look like I slipped two plates under my shirt.  Plates for you newer folks, are what most people call the weights you put on the ends of your barbells.  So a really big set of back muscles...now you're up on the joke.  Har right?!

My knees man...went to social media today, got a lot of good advice and product ideas.  Rehband sleeve is the overwhelming product winner.  Order that after next pay day.  Until then, its extra fish oil, the GNC Mega Mens I picked up, and an Ibuprofen regiment.  I have an MRI in my hip pocket if it gets bad, we'll see.  I hope it doesn't come to that...then again, maybe it's best to go ahead and see... decisions decisions.  

Had squats today... rear So got to test the knee a little.  Wasn't that bad from a weight perspective, form was a little shaky.  Remembering to lift the toes so I stay on my heels made a BIG difference.  Thanks for the tips coaches.  Did enough to warm up the knees so they were good and ready for more, but we didn't do more.  Almost disappointed.  Have to see how I feel tomorrow...they've already released the WOD...front squats and lots of other "fun"...like burpees. 

Back to today though, weighted chin ups in a 5-4-3-2-1 progression, twice.  Ring rows!  Awesome.  20 seconds between sets seemed like more than enough rest...it was enough time to stand up, "stretch" a little, then back on the rings baby.  30 reps total may not seem like a lot, but it was enough to struggle at the end for me. 

Close grip bench press.  Heavy 1 rep, or get a max.  10 minutes, go!  Started a bit lighter than maybe I should have, but went up 4 times, last one I got for time was 155.  Not a monster weight on any level, but it's 5 lbs heavier than the 150 I got on a regular grip 2 weeks ago, and I wasn't even at my max.  I feel like I could have gotten a rep of 160, maybe even 170.  Gains baby.  Got a better idea where I want to go next time, reminds me, I need to get a notepad to write this stuff down in. 

WOD- 10 rounds of a rope climb to 15 ft (chin over 10ft) and a 200m run.  14 min cap.  I laugh at these caps...I'm slow, getting faster is at the top of my list, right under improving form on every move.  I'm going to take a step back, during warmups, I wanted to try dragging myself up from laying down.  I hadn't tried it yet, figured it was worth a shot, we'll see if I'm farther alone than I think.  NOPE! ha.  I pulled on this rope like it was tug of war, gave it a very solid pull.  The strands moved in my hands, and for a brief, manical moment, I felt like He-Man.  The rope moving, straining beneath my grip.  I thought I was closer to pulling the roof down to me.  Preposterous.  Welps, I tried, didn't really budge myself other than to a sitting up position.  Undaunted.  This wasn't a failure to me, maybe I didn't expect to succeed, or maybe I knew that the odds of me pulling 450 plus pounds off the floor with my weak little arms is still a bit of a stretch.  Soon.

This metcon sucked.  I didn't run again, so I rowed.  It wasn't till the 3rd or 4th set that the seat felt...unstable.  So I stopped rocking and rolling, slowed down and modified it a bit so I didn't break the rower.  Rowing has a lot in common with ring rows to me...particularly as you're pulling the "oars" to your chest/stomach area.  Thats along with all the ring rows I did...King!  I'm telling you.  Somewhere along this workout I lost count, and thought I was farther than I was.  Rower doesn't lie about the distance.  Tired body, tired mind.  Got to 8 in 14 minutes... my back is tired.  I'm tired.  heh, whats new?  

Glad I stretched some at the end, particularly the stretches that will help me keep front squats in rack position... tomorrow is going to be greeeeeaaaat.

Establish is having a bootcamp special coming up for folks at my company.  Good price.  One of our athletes shared it on an online work form.  5 days later, only 13 views.  So I take some action, talk it up, put this blog and Chris McCune's out there, tell folks to contact us.  I mean we don't bite...or I haven't found a box with a biter in it yet...  anyway, this guy, who is apparently a well loved individual... thought he's be cool and post something witty about how the lack of views is indicative of interest... I got heated.  I didn't write what I wanted to, but I did see that thanks to his response, we were over 60 views.  More people looking at CrossFit, bonus.  So, I slid him a nice thank you for replying and getting the view number much higher than it was previously.  Ended the day over 100, maybe we'll get a few new people doing this crazy thing called CrossFit...I mean, we're a pretty dang healthy company, I'm one of a few exceptions that prove the rule... but I know there are plenty of people that could use some CrossFit in their lives.  Would you like to try some Kool-Aid?

Speaking of work, got another setback on my triumphant return to CFDS.  Seems not all of Delaware loves me.  Actually, thats not fair, the client likes me plenty, but with no new projects this quarter, it was hard to justify having me on site.  Might be back later, but I'm going to go ahead and set the expectation with my peoples that it ain't happening on company dime.  I'm pretty good people if you didn't know, and that makes me valuable, probably too valuable to leave waiting around.  Who knows...stuff changes daily. 

That said, I'm still coming back.  It's just going to take a little more planning.  I'm thinking I'm going to aim for a fall return, maybe a few weekdays and a weekend.  Maybe it will be in time for an open, or other challenge, and I can roll with the fam.  #cantwait We'll work something out, I promise.  #diamondfamily I love you, and miss you smiling, sweating faces.  We'll keep in touch via this and FB.  Keep up the awesome work. 

I'm out, catch you on the bounce, or tomorrow, whichever comes first. 

TCN aka the King of Ring Rows