Yeah, you read that right. I was wobbly, talking nonsense, and otherwise in rough shape. It was a lot like I had been drinking. Drinking a lot. LOL! Gave Carmen a good chuckle.
Tonight was my last night at Soulshine. Much like when I left CFDS, this happened suddenly as in today suddenly. Wasn't going to show up tonight, there was supposed to running... but they changed it. DT. I saw it Saturday at the games, and I saw some of it at CFDS (of all places) on the last day I stopped by to visit. Good. I wanted to try this. But first, a 15 minute EMOM.
And this wasn't a normal EMOM. This was squat cleans, going up in weight every round. Wait. 15 rounds, with the weight going up... start low. And I did. 75# was the start, and the first 5 rounds, sucked. Too light. Not very good form, bar way out in front... as the weight got heavier, I got better though. Around round 10, I had 35# plats on the bar, and I kept adding 5's and 10's. Round 13, missed the first pull, elbows weren't fast enough. I didn't yell out something like !@#$, but man I wanted to. I took a breath, then hit the lift. 2 more to go. 14 looked a better. 15, added more weight for the last time. Wasn't sure where I was at, half assed tried to count it, then decided I didn't want to know. Changing weights kills my airflow, so I waited an extra 30 seconds on this last one. Finally, did it. It looked, or at least felt pretty damn good, I must say. Carmen afterwards said that it looked easy. DANG IT. Could have done more. Sigh. Add it up. Bar, plate, plate... 115... two more plates, 145, all the little plates. 15 pound PR. 170# now, and according to the coach, it "looked easy". I'm going to hit my goal of 200 by the end of the year, I know it. Rang that Navy PR bell like a champ. YESSIR!
Oh, as a bonus, my knee didn't bug me a single time... well, maybe a little in the beginning. I skipped some of the warm ups to make sure I had enough in it. Good call today.
Now, on to DT... this sucked. On so many levels. I was feeling good from the PR. "Lets go for 115, that sounds like a good idea". 115 would be a good workout, if I was fresh. I got... let me backup. DT, if you don't know, is 12 deadlifts, 9 hang power cleans, 6 jerks. 12 minute time cap. This was the only workout I really watched of the games. They did it at 205... and they were fast. We'll see what I get. I got through those deadlifts, no biggy. First hang clean. No. LOL. Not going to be able to get 45 of them... not even sure on the jerks. Dropped down to 95, and, again, changing weights is an issue. Lose a lot of air. Lost a lot of time too. Second set of DL's, felt some soreness in my back. No bueno. I kept going, taking smarter breaks, stretching and twisting. I made half way through the 4th round cleans, but didn't finish before hitting 12 minutes... So tired. I dropped to a knee... then after about 30 seconds, went to the back (felt a few vertebrae pop too), laid there for about a minute. Then started doing the stretches where you put one leg across your body, then flipped over and did some scorpions. Back felt better.
This WOD worked me though. I wasn't near the fan, so I was a little hotter than I might have otherwise been. I think that, along with the workout itself... punch drunk. I feel like I dripped a measuring cup of sweat too. Nasty, I know, but you've sweat, imagine how much it actually takes to do that. I feel like I was close, no exaggeration... I took my time putting on my shoes, said my good byes, and still walked and jibber jabbered like I'd been drinking. Funny thing, can't wait for another crack at DT.
Welps, thats it. Sudden last day at Soulshine, yet I'm leaving with a few PR's, a new product I really like (#junkheadbands if you didn't see it yesterday), and some better form on my pulls. Thanks Dave, Carmen, and Zak. It was great while it lasted, but never say never, I may return sooner than later.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Monday, July 27, 2015
Not my knee again...
Man oh man oh man, I can't catch a break. Lets start at the beginning... Sleep was good for a travel day, not good overall, but good for the day (6 hours?). Got some sleep on the plane, spent all day catching up on emails from last week... and then I saw the WOD. Snatches, LOTS of snatches. Instant worry about my shoulder after Fridays workout... oh, and squatting... man.
Get back to the hotel, get changed, and do some oly stretches on the wall, cause I know I'm not going to get that at Soulshine. Get there in time to watch the 6pm class die in the WOD... oh man. Then it's over... so we help them break down some of their bars, and then it's time for the warmup. With snatches, yet again, we get to go through the Burgener warmup. Here is my issue with Soulshine... the box is just small enough, that there isn't exactly a lot of room on the floor to do my own warmups for things like the oly wall sit, my Unlocked pipe work, or really anything I need at the moment... why this is important, the Burgener warmup goes into squat movements pretty quick... my knees need time to lube themselves up and warm up... idk... it's what it feels like to me.
So we get through this, and it's time for a 2 minute EMOM of 7 rounds. Doing a snatch progression of power snatch, hand squat snatch, full squat snatch. I was under the impression that we didn't want to let the bar go, so I didn't go very heavy at all, 75#s. I think if I could have done it with dropping the bar, I'd have tried 95#s. It would have been a lot harder and would have required a lot of focus, but I think it would have been a good one.
Tweaked my knee somewhere in this, and I'm not sure what at fault, or if it was a combination of events. Was it the minimal warmup, was it the movement, was it my form? I'm not sure. The firs 2 or 3 hang squat snatches were UGLY. I didn't want to get under the bar or something, caught it higher than I should have, then took it down. Also came up on my toes a time or two, but I never dropped the bar. As bad as the hangs were, it was the full snatches that got me. There were several instances where I'm at the bottom of the snatch, and I can fully tell that my right foot is not flat in the heel... and I don't know if it's my knee doing that, or is it the not being flat that's causing an issue with my knee? I get through it regardless, my last lifts being my best.
12 minute time cap. 21-15-9 of full squat snatches, chest to bar pullups. I knew I was going to do jumping pullups, and we just did the squat snatches earlier... fine, lets do this. VERY FIRST LIFT, got in my own head... I was JUST doing these, and now I'm lifting like a jackass. No depth, terrible pull, all around bad. After the first 3, I dropped the bar, frustrated. I get my mind back in it, and they did get better, more like the strength part, but I wasn't stringing very many together. My right heel is off the ground, my knee is bugging me... I'm getting irritated. Went all the way to 4 minutes, and I'm still not done... I got mad, like angry, had what were three of the best lifts of the night, good form, explosive... in a word, correct. Finally done. Go over to the rig, squat a little, jump. Ow. Shake it off. Repeat. OW! .... not a good feeling. Again. OOOOWWW. Fuqq. I spent a minute just holding on to the rig... wasted a minute I should say. Stretched it to two as I walked over to coach Carmen. Basically said look, my knee isn't cooperating, I need something. She told me to get back to the bar, and she'd have something set up.
15 power snatches, not so bad, all things considered. I worked on my pull... determined to get something positive out of this... and you know what, my pull was better... it's really quite something when you just do it like you're trained, and not what "feels" like it's right. What I'm saying is I thought a lot more about the pull, keeping the elbows high, "snapping" the weight overhead. Gotta say, if I ever figure out how to stay 100% tuned into every lift, I might have something here... Get those snatches up, turn around.... and.... ring rows. Alright. Worked my way down to a good depth... harder than I've done in a long time, possibly the hardest angle I've ever done. Ok gains, I see you there, sneaky way to show up. Time was running out... I got the last 9 snatches done in the 70 seconds, then that was that. The call this workout "Snake Bite". Not sure I fully get it... though it does feel like a snake bit my knee.
Alright. Aftermath, I iced the knee, and got a few things done tonight, still need to iron. I did wear the Junk headband tonight... it did pretty stinking well. I didn't drip much sweat at all, the band stayed in place all workout, and my eyes are not red from getting sweat in them. In short, I love them. #junkheadbands are the real deal. They're a little more than the Halo's, and I need to see how it holds up to a wash or 10, but right off the rack, I was very impressed. https://www.junkbrands.com/
Last thing, got all my supplements here, so I should finally be able to start taking them like I should. Mega mens, fish oil, and ibuprofen (now....aparently).
Get back to the hotel, get changed, and do some oly stretches on the wall, cause I know I'm not going to get that at Soulshine. Get there in time to watch the 6pm class die in the WOD... oh man. Then it's over... so we help them break down some of their bars, and then it's time for the warmup. With snatches, yet again, we get to go through the Burgener warmup. Here is my issue with Soulshine... the box is just small enough, that there isn't exactly a lot of room on the floor to do my own warmups for things like the oly wall sit, my Unlocked pipe work, or really anything I need at the moment... why this is important, the Burgener warmup goes into squat movements pretty quick... my knees need time to lube themselves up and warm up... idk... it's what it feels like to me.
So we get through this, and it's time for a 2 minute EMOM of 7 rounds. Doing a snatch progression of power snatch, hand squat snatch, full squat snatch. I was under the impression that we didn't want to let the bar go, so I didn't go very heavy at all, 75#s. I think if I could have done it with dropping the bar, I'd have tried 95#s. It would have been a lot harder and would have required a lot of focus, but I think it would have been a good one.
Tweaked my knee somewhere in this, and I'm not sure what at fault, or if it was a combination of events. Was it the minimal warmup, was it the movement, was it my form? I'm not sure. The firs 2 or 3 hang squat snatches were UGLY. I didn't want to get under the bar or something, caught it higher than I should have, then took it down. Also came up on my toes a time or two, but I never dropped the bar. As bad as the hangs were, it was the full snatches that got me. There were several instances where I'm at the bottom of the snatch, and I can fully tell that my right foot is not flat in the heel... and I don't know if it's my knee doing that, or is it the not being flat that's causing an issue with my knee? I get through it regardless, my last lifts being my best.
12 minute time cap. 21-15-9 of full squat snatches, chest to bar pullups. I knew I was going to do jumping pullups, and we just did the squat snatches earlier... fine, lets do this. VERY FIRST LIFT, got in my own head... I was JUST doing these, and now I'm lifting like a jackass. No depth, terrible pull, all around bad. After the first 3, I dropped the bar, frustrated. I get my mind back in it, and they did get better, more like the strength part, but I wasn't stringing very many together. My right heel is off the ground, my knee is bugging me... I'm getting irritated. Went all the way to 4 minutes, and I'm still not done... I got mad, like angry, had what were three of the best lifts of the night, good form, explosive... in a word, correct. Finally done. Go over to the rig, squat a little, jump. Ow. Shake it off. Repeat. OW! .... not a good feeling. Again. OOOOWWW. Fuqq. I spent a minute just holding on to the rig... wasted a minute I should say. Stretched it to two as I walked over to coach Carmen. Basically said look, my knee isn't cooperating, I need something. She told me to get back to the bar, and she'd have something set up.
15 power snatches, not so bad, all things considered. I worked on my pull... determined to get something positive out of this... and you know what, my pull was better... it's really quite something when you just do it like you're trained, and not what "feels" like it's right. What I'm saying is I thought a lot more about the pull, keeping the elbows high, "snapping" the weight overhead. Gotta say, if I ever figure out how to stay 100% tuned into every lift, I might have something here... Get those snatches up, turn around.... and.... ring rows. Alright. Worked my way down to a good depth... harder than I've done in a long time, possibly the hardest angle I've ever done. Ok gains, I see you there, sneaky way to show up. Time was running out... I got the last 9 snatches done in the 70 seconds, then that was that. The call this workout "Snake Bite". Not sure I fully get it... though it does feel like a snake bit my knee.
Alright. Aftermath, I iced the knee, and got a few things done tonight, still need to iron. I did wear the Junk headband tonight... it did pretty stinking well. I didn't drip much sweat at all, the band stayed in place all workout, and my eyes are not red from getting sweat in them. In short, I love them. #junkheadbands are the real deal. They're a little more than the Halo's, and I need to see how it holds up to a wash or 10, but right off the rack, I was very impressed. https://www.junkbrands.com/
Last thing, got all my supplements here, so I should finally be able to start taking them like I should. Mega mens, fish oil, and ibuprofen (now....aparently).
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Moving a desk...
Finally got back in the box. Took the vacation seriously, and then there was the whole funeral part... so I'm pretty rested. Or so I thought. I actually worked out yesterday, and A LOT has happened since I went to the box. So I'm going to give you the cliff notes version of things.
Got there early to go over the food intake with Madison. Had a bad week, I'm up on two of the seven measurements...could be worse. We chatted a bit more, it's my last week, and I've been encouraged to eat with a purpose (paraphrased), so I'm going to reset my mind.
Segue's into a new supplement that seems to be taking the box by storm. Ketosis, or keto os... or something. People say after a week or so of the supplement, they're seeing an increase in performance, mental focus, and other indicators that it's working. It's definitely on my "to try list".... I've heard it encourages weight loss as well.
Alright, so after talking with Madison, worked on loosening up. My shoulder was tender this morning, first time since Tuesday when I saw the chiropractor. I used the lax ball a bit, and did some other stuff to it, thought it would be just fine... I was wrong. Warmup was inch worms, air squats, pushups, strict press with an empty barbell, and then some single unders. Good stuff to get everything ready and moving. The Rx jump rope that I was hoping was still there (so I could measure and order my own) has since disappeared. Pitty, I really liked it. Hope it shows up again soon.
With the level I and II classes combined, we did combined workouts. The first one was HSPU's or the strength equivalent. For some people, that was holding a plank on a box or other elevated surface. For me, it was sort of a static wall walk. Two things I took away from this. A, it's hot, like nasty hot, and I'm generating sweat like car AC in the summer. B, I'm further up the wall than I've ever been. Don't know if thats cause I was trying to NOT walk up the wall, or if that was because I'm actually stronger than I've been before? Either way, it was kinda cool...wish I had a picture, to see how not vertical I am. LOL. The level II's did deficit HSPU's after that, the I's, which I fell into today, had to find a 3RM for strict pressing. Ended up at 115 for a 3, and it was a solid, heavy 3. None of that head waaaay back trying to get it up by any means necessary. I think I can beat my 1RM by 20lbs next time we test. We'll see.
After that, the whole class did 3 rounds of 10 reps of strict press. I dropped it back down to 75. I got 2 rounds well... and it wasn't till the 6th (on the first) or the 7th (on the second) rep that I had to stop and rest in the front rack... my shoulders are howling at this point, but I finished both rounds. The third round, I made it to 5, and was struggling mightily. I started to lean back to push it up... wasn't a good look, so I stopped there. Close enough to failure for me. Thats when I felt it, just a little bit... right side, behind the trap... something...
The WOD is simple, and easy... well "easy" in CrossFit language. 12 minute AMRAP of 15 abmat situps, 20 KB swings, 30 DU's. I won't bore you with the round by rounds, I made it to the start of 3... then I stopped.... I did myself in. First mistake, was grabbing a heavier KB than I meant to. I thought I'd grabbed a 44.... don't even know if On Track HAS a 44... It was a 55. LOL. So after the first round, I downgraded to a 35. The other thing would be the swinging arms of abmat situps. After that second set of jumping, I was done. I walked right over to the lax ball box, grabbed one, and went to town on the wall. OH it hurt, so bad, but it got the job done... for about 2 minutes, then I did it again. Brian came over at one point, to make sure I was alright, and I think to make sure I was going after the right areas. It's nice knowing the coaches care right?
Cleaned up, and that was that. By the time I got home, my neck and shoulder were killing me. I already had a lunch lined up with the chiro, so I figured after that, I'd swing by and get adjusted. Lunch sucked... I mean the food and company were quite good, but I was leaning forward and hunched forward the whole time. The adjustment was pretty brutal... never really relaxed, but we got a few things out. Today, a day later, I'm sore all over and my shoulder is back to hurting... chiro is in DC though, so if I can't get my massage therapist brother over, I'm going to suffer till next weekend.
Oh, got an extra workout in last night as well. Moved a desk for a buddy... one of those 300lb bad boys. Down stairs, out the door, up some steps, then down in the basement of the new place. Oh yeah!! No wonder I'm sore!
Alright, thats all I've got, a little more concise than I thought it would be. I'll take it.
Got there early to go over the food intake with Madison. Had a bad week, I'm up on two of the seven measurements...could be worse. We chatted a bit more, it's my last week, and I've been encouraged to eat with a purpose (paraphrased), so I'm going to reset my mind.
Segue's into a new supplement that seems to be taking the box by storm. Ketosis, or keto os... or something. People say after a week or so of the supplement, they're seeing an increase in performance, mental focus, and other indicators that it's working. It's definitely on my "to try list".... I've heard it encourages weight loss as well.
Alright, so after talking with Madison, worked on loosening up. My shoulder was tender this morning, first time since Tuesday when I saw the chiropractor. I used the lax ball a bit, and did some other stuff to it, thought it would be just fine... I was wrong. Warmup was inch worms, air squats, pushups, strict press with an empty barbell, and then some single unders. Good stuff to get everything ready and moving. The Rx jump rope that I was hoping was still there (so I could measure and order my own) has since disappeared. Pitty, I really liked it. Hope it shows up again soon.
With the level I and II classes combined, we did combined workouts. The first one was HSPU's or the strength equivalent. For some people, that was holding a plank on a box or other elevated surface. For me, it was sort of a static wall walk. Two things I took away from this. A, it's hot, like nasty hot, and I'm generating sweat like car AC in the summer. B, I'm further up the wall than I've ever been. Don't know if thats cause I was trying to NOT walk up the wall, or if that was because I'm actually stronger than I've been before? Either way, it was kinda cool...wish I had a picture, to see how not vertical I am. LOL. The level II's did deficit HSPU's after that, the I's, which I fell into today, had to find a 3RM for strict pressing. Ended up at 115 for a 3, and it was a solid, heavy 3. None of that head waaaay back trying to get it up by any means necessary. I think I can beat my 1RM by 20lbs next time we test. We'll see.
After that, the whole class did 3 rounds of 10 reps of strict press. I dropped it back down to 75. I got 2 rounds well... and it wasn't till the 6th (on the first) or the 7th (on the second) rep that I had to stop and rest in the front rack... my shoulders are howling at this point, but I finished both rounds. The third round, I made it to 5, and was struggling mightily. I started to lean back to push it up... wasn't a good look, so I stopped there. Close enough to failure for me. Thats when I felt it, just a little bit... right side, behind the trap... something...
The WOD is simple, and easy... well "easy" in CrossFit language. 12 minute AMRAP of 15 abmat situps, 20 KB swings, 30 DU's. I won't bore you with the round by rounds, I made it to the start of 3... then I stopped.... I did myself in. First mistake, was grabbing a heavier KB than I meant to. I thought I'd grabbed a 44.... don't even know if On Track HAS a 44... It was a 55. LOL. So after the first round, I downgraded to a 35. The other thing would be the swinging arms of abmat situps. After that second set of jumping, I was done. I walked right over to the lax ball box, grabbed one, and went to town on the wall. OH it hurt, so bad, but it got the job done... for about 2 minutes, then I did it again. Brian came over at one point, to make sure I was alright, and I think to make sure I was going after the right areas. It's nice knowing the coaches care right?
Cleaned up, and that was that. By the time I got home, my neck and shoulder were killing me. I already had a lunch lined up with the chiro, so I figured after that, I'd swing by and get adjusted. Lunch sucked... I mean the food and company were quite good, but I was leaning forward and hunched forward the whole time. The adjustment was pretty brutal... never really relaxed, but we got a few things out. Today, a day later, I'm sore all over and my shoulder is back to hurting... chiro is in DC though, so if I can't get my massage therapist brother over, I'm going to suffer till next weekend.
Oh, got an extra workout in last night as well. Moved a desk for a buddy... one of those 300lb bad boys. Down stairs, out the door, up some steps, then down in the basement of the new place. Oh yeah!! No wonder I'm sore!
Alright, thats all I've got, a little more concise than I thought it would be. I'll take it.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Weekend update...
Welps, didn't WOD on Friday, reasoning two fold. One, and some would say the more important reason, grams was in the hospital and was getting the vent pulled. She ended up passing, sad day. The other, and more important to my immediate needs, my back hurt. Now we're not talking the "Ow, I'm injured and need rehab" hurt, it was more of the "I've been standing for 6 hours on hips that have rotated and need to be adjusted back" hurt. Didn't think it would be a good idea to workout on that.
It sucks too... I could have used the extended mid day break from the hospital, and the WOD was the kind of workout that would have let me really explore this new gear I've found. I mean really expand on the ability and my working knowledge of what it means to push through things. Also, the post WOD was a chance to get some coaching on weaknesses, and I would have left not being able to walk from all the squats I'd have asked Brian or whomever to put me through.
Going to see my man @Iamthehealer (twitter) this weekend and all of next week while home on vacation, try to get this crooked hip thing straightened out (see what I did there). Catch you guys soon.
It sucks too... I could have used the extended mid day break from the hospital, and the WOD was the kind of workout that would have let me really explore this new gear I've found. I mean really expand on the ability and my working knowledge of what it means to push through things. Also, the post WOD was a chance to get some coaching on weaknesses, and I would have left not being able to walk from all the squats I'd have asked Brian or whomever to put me through.
Going to see my man @Iamthehealer (twitter) this weekend and all of next week while home on vacation, try to get this crooked hip thing straightened out (see what I did there). Catch you guys soon.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Gotta get so much better...
Oh man, where to start. Today sucked, for a number of reasons. Probably going to get a little personal, a bit therapeutic... so, I apologize in advance for all the touchy feely stuff. Work has been kicking my butt. I'm attached to two sites right now, so I'm overextended, and really, I'm burning out quick. Next week I'm home, on vacation, so I should be good to go after that... I hope. Or it's going to be a long time up here in NY. I also need to rehab the knee a bit, all my goodwill points are gone, gotta get back to it.
No, what made the day rough was the bit of blindsiding I got from the family. My last grandparent is in the hospital... and apparently it's a lot worse that they originally told me. Short version, I think her kids, my pops and his siblings, had a meeting today to decide whether or not to take her off the ventilator, and basically see what happens. Her quality of life isn't there, so I get it. That enough would be enough for people to be like oh, damn, that sucks.... and it does. What makes it hard for me... this is the first relative dying that I actually feel something for... it's hard to explain, bare with me. It's not that I'm some monster that hates everyone, in fact it's far from it. I've just always compartmentalized my family relationships... I mean I grew up in Germany, they weren't around, so I was never as close as a lot of other people are to their family. So when some family and friends family, and other "quasi" family passed, it never really rocked me. I mean I was sad, but it was never like "whoa". I still don't know that I'm like "whoa", but it's different this time... I don't know if I'm just growing up, maybe it's the kids, maybe I'm maturing without growing up? Idk, it's just different this time. Ok... enough of that for now. She's still alive, last I heard... so we're good. Deep enough for tonight.
Alright, on to business, it's going to be quick, it's later than I thought when I started. Dave was teaching tonight, still no Dave P... or Ticket... or really anyone from Unlocked... miss you guys. K, so we're doing heavy split jerks tonight. Or at least, thats what was on the board. We worked on push jerks as well... Did more of the progression work, and I picked up yet another nice little thing. Lifting my toes before jumping, to keep it powerful without adding a ton of height. Really cool, and really, the coaching this week has changed my mind about Soulshine. I mean I thought it was a good box, but I had some concerns about borrowing programing from other people... but the coaching has been outstanding. Anyway, I hit 2 PR's tonight. 1 with a split jerk, and then more with a push jerk. Dave said it looked mmmm.... decent. So that was good. According to the sheet, I added 10lbs to the split jerk, and 20 to the push jerk. I'll take it. Nowhere near my 2015 goals for the move, but I think that can be worked on some more, to get closer by the end of the year.
The METCON sucked ass tonight. Partly... I didn't have the juice. The other part, my body is just not in it from overwork, and the hold grandmother thing. I don't know. It sucked. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of thrusters at 95# and the burpee box jumps. Dave said that the bar shouldn't be so heavy that you have to stop, or drop the bar, so I went with 80, which is more than the base 75, but not the full 95. Baby steps I guess. 15 minute time cap. I took all 15 of them, and didn't even get half way done. First set of thrusters, easy enough. The burpees, went pretty well. When paired with box jumps... uh... lol. It was back on the 6" box tonight, and I really didn't want to do all that jumping with my knees being old lady like, but Dave wanted us to work on being explosive... and well, dammit, I want to be explosive. After that 10... I was done. Only the rest of the workout to go right?
Took a lot to get through the 9 without stopping, but I did it. The burpees and box jumps are the super limiting factors here. Sooooooo slow still. Will be for a while still... but we're working on it right? 8 had me pause mid way, didn't drop the bar though. The trail of sweat from this round was epic. All over the floor, the box, everywhere. I thought this workout would never end. The set of 7 crushed my soul. I dropped the bar once, and then took two pauses. It hurt, but I'm pushing as hard as I can to get it done, knowing I wouldn't have too many burpees, or box jumps. 30 seconds left, and I managed to get 3 in before time.
Felt like a failure. EVERYONE else, including the new guy I brought, finished before me. I didn't even get half way. Man alive. Pride took one on the chin tonight.... and that might be just the thing I need to push myself harder next time. Push through that pain, push through the burn in the quads... push push push. I guarantee I remember it the next time I'm at Soulshine...or On Track, or anywhere I need to push myself more... which seems to be everywhere. HA!
Other notables, will review a new product soon. Bought my first Junk headband, complete with the Soulshine logo. We'll see how it works this Friday. But right now, sleep is calling...though that reminds me of a good convo I had with the new guy I took to Soulshine.... old work buddy, first guy I trained, who happened to be out here this week... we spent a lot of time talking about things over Chipotle... and sleep was at the top, and how important it is. I think I've written it in like 10 posts at least. Gotta get better at that. Gotta get so much better...
No, what made the day rough was the bit of blindsiding I got from the family. My last grandparent is in the hospital... and apparently it's a lot worse that they originally told me. Short version, I think her kids, my pops and his siblings, had a meeting today to decide whether or not to take her off the ventilator, and basically see what happens. Her quality of life isn't there, so I get it. That enough would be enough for people to be like oh, damn, that sucks.... and it does. What makes it hard for me... this is the first relative dying that I actually feel something for... it's hard to explain, bare with me. It's not that I'm some monster that hates everyone, in fact it's far from it. I've just always compartmentalized my family relationships... I mean I grew up in Germany, they weren't around, so I was never as close as a lot of other people are to their family. So when some family and friends family, and other "quasi" family passed, it never really rocked me. I mean I was sad, but it was never like "whoa". I still don't know that I'm like "whoa", but it's different this time... I don't know if I'm just growing up, maybe it's the kids, maybe I'm maturing without growing up? Idk, it's just different this time. Ok... enough of that for now. She's still alive, last I heard... so we're good. Deep enough for tonight.
Alright, on to business, it's going to be quick, it's later than I thought when I started. Dave was teaching tonight, still no Dave P... or Ticket... or really anyone from Unlocked... miss you guys. K, so we're doing heavy split jerks tonight. Or at least, thats what was on the board. We worked on push jerks as well... Did more of the progression work, and I picked up yet another nice little thing. Lifting my toes before jumping, to keep it powerful without adding a ton of height. Really cool, and really, the coaching this week has changed my mind about Soulshine. I mean I thought it was a good box, but I had some concerns about borrowing programing from other people... but the coaching has been outstanding. Anyway, I hit 2 PR's tonight. 1 with a split jerk, and then more with a push jerk. Dave said it looked mmmm.... decent. So that was good. According to the sheet, I added 10lbs to the split jerk, and 20 to the push jerk. I'll take it. Nowhere near my 2015 goals for the move, but I think that can be worked on some more, to get closer by the end of the year.
The METCON sucked ass tonight. Partly... I didn't have the juice. The other part, my body is just not in it from overwork, and the hold grandmother thing. I don't know. It sucked. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of thrusters at 95# and the burpee box jumps. Dave said that the bar shouldn't be so heavy that you have to stop, or drop the bar, so I went with 80, which is more than the base 75, but not the full 95. Baby steps I guess. 15 minute time cap. I took all 15 of them, and didn't even get half way done. First set of thrusters, easy enough. The burpees, went pretty well. When paired with box jumps... uh... lol. It was back on the 6" box tonight, and I really didn't want to do all that jumping with my knees being old lady like, but Dave wanted us to work on being explosive... and well, dammit, I want to be explosive. After that 10... I was done. Only the rest of the workout to go right?
Took a lot to get through the 9 without stopping, but I did it. The burpees and box jumps are the super limiting factors here. Sooooooo slow still. Will be for a while still... but we're working on it right? 8 had me pause mid way, didn't drop the bar though. The trail of sweat from this round was epic. All over the floor, the box, everywhere. I thought this workout would never end. The set of 7 crushed my soul. I dropped the bar once, and then took two pauses. It hurt, but I'm pushing as hard as I can to get it done, knowing I wouldn't have too many burpees, or box jumps. 30 seconds left, and I managed to get 3 in before time.
Felt like a failure. EVERYONE else, including the new guy I brought, finished before me. I didn't even get half way. Man alive. Pride took one on the chin tonight.... and that might be just the thing I need to push myself harder next time. Push through that pain, push through the burn in the quads... push push push. I guarantee I remember it the next time I'm at Soulshine...or On Track, or anywhere I need to push myself more... which seems to be everywhere. HA!
Other notables, will review a new product soon. Bought my first Junk headband, complete with the Soulshine logo. We'll see how it works this Friday. But right now, sleep is calling...though that reminds me of a good convo I had with the new guy I took to Soulshine.... old work buddy, first guy I trained, who happened to be out here this week... we spent a lot of time talking about things over Chipotle... and sleep was at the top, and how important it is. I think I've written it in like 10 posts at least. Gotta get better at that. Gotta get so much better...
Monday, July 13, 2015
But I don't wanna!
Mistakes were made.... and some weren't intentional. Another wonderful travel Monday. Woke up at 0130. Thought it was 0430. NEVER recovered. Finally, it was 0430, and I peeled my tired self out of bed and got in the shower. Good news though, slept almost the entire flight to Charlotte this morning. Only rest I really got, the flight to Albany had me sitting right next to my future boss. I didn't wanna talk her ear off, and I didn't want to sleep and snore in her ear... so I suffered in this half conscious coma.
Another Monday with no lunch as well. We were going to stop by this bakery/bistro place (that has bomb @ss food), but it was closed. So nada. Stopped at this fresh market place, and it's like a whole foods... more organic type stuff, they have hot food... and I was hungry. Got more fruit than I meant to (2lb box of blueberries for instance), some chicken, a panini, some veggies, and only 1 bottle of water (dummy!). Got back to the room, and scarfed down the panini while it was warm. I wasn't actually going to go tonight. I'm super tired, I'm hungry, the workout looked like it might actually kill me, only had a few minutes to get to the box... oh, and I said I was tired right? Thats when I heard it. That little voice inside me. Chiding me, encouraging me, reminding me that this is where champions are made... when it's not fun, when it's nasty, when you don't want to go. I changed quickly, and walked to the box.
I will say, it's a nice little walk.... I should check the exact step count... it's not very far. Made it with time to spare. Put on the lifters and my clean wrist straps, I was ready to go to work. Now, putting the breaks on for a second, I knew we were doing cleans, I suspected squat cleans... I need... this is imperative... I NEED to start doing more and more squat stretching before I start. No one is going to stretch the way I need to stretch for squats... gotta take care of me, and if you need to take care of you. Coaches will hit a lot of the stuff, and if you've got some stretch nazi's, you'll hit them all, but most bits of programming are packed, and so some stuff gets missed. Find "your" stretch for the movements, and do it... you'll thank yourself later.
Alright, so back to this workout. Strength portion, hang (squat) snatch, we had 20ish minutes to find a heavy weight. Some of the coaches went to an oly lifting seminar this week, and brought back some good knowledge. I think I not only learned a little bit more, but I've improved my pull a bit, at least for the snatch... and improving that, in any lift, is a big deal to me. I'm not going to say it was the only thing that helped me, but I did PR my hang snatch by 20lbs tonight. Now, the * of it, is that I don't know if that was a power hang snatch, or a squat one, so I reset the expectation that it was a hang squat snatch. I can probably do better with a power snatch right now, but that's not going to be that way forever. So, PR at 95#. I know I can do more... but I took it for what it was tonight... looking forward to trying again.
Ok, now the WOD was more of the same. It had an element of 21-15-9 hang squat snatch (HSS) at 115# RX. The actual workout was 25 burpees, 21 HSS 25 burpees, 15 HSS, 25 burpees, 9 HSS. To make it interesting, there was a 10 burpee penalty for every time you drop the bar on the snatches. I decided on 75#, the holding on to the bar bit, and then the whole I just PR'd at 95#. It made sense. The first 10 burpees weren't bad. The last 15 sucked...and toward the end, I had to do a few slow step ups, and not bouncing back up. Done...oh, wait, HSS... I did one... and my knee was like na... that warmup you did was crap sir, you're paying for it now. Switched to hang snatches. Didn't make it any better, just got rid of some of the deeper squatting, when I bothered to squat.
Not dropping the bar was harder than I thought. I'll tell you that right now. Early on, I would actually "rest" with the bar overhead...it worked for this first set a few times... let me get several doubles in. There was some slight rest in a bent over squat hold rest thing... like you're holding the bar in your hip crease, bent over a little bit. IDK, if that doesn't do it for you, I can't help. The last rest technique I used, was holding in the classic back rack position. Never thought I'd drop the bar, but I didn't feel like I'd ever get to 21. Wish I had noted the time. Back down to the burpees. Winded, tired, slow. No magic effort level, I took the time to rest, so I could do bigger sets. Finally, with a few (4?) minutes left, I got back to the bar.
In my mind, 5-5-5 sounds real nice, even, "easy". I got 4. Then it was in full survival mode. Grip started going, muscle fatigue, general malaise... idk. I got it done, in sets of 3 through the finish. 30 seconds left. I did 3 slow as sin burpees.... and that was 3 more than I wanted to do. I tried to do 4, but I heard a loud "THREE" behind me... I didn't have it... I just stopped, bent over... done.
But hey, I survived. Took a long time to get my breath back. Still a lot of Dan getting up and down off the floor. Thanked Carmen, put in my time and weight, didn't mark it as a PR, didn't know then, and then I walked up the hill to the hotel... and finally, done for the day. I'm tired... just finished the USMNT game in my hometown (KC), moving on in the Gold-Cup, so now it's time for bed.
Passing thought though, I've worked out in the top gym in not one, but two states. And I say that, because I've wodded with the fittest man and woman of Delaware, and Kansas. I don't know, it was cool to me, seeing that online today....and more really, putting two and two together. Anyways... night!
Another Monday with no lunch as well. We were going to stop by this bakery/bistro place (that has bomb @ss food), but it was closed. So nada. Stopped at this fresh market place, and it's like a whole foods... more organic type stuff, they have hot food... and I was hungry. Got more fruit than I meant to (2lb box of blueberries for instance), some chicken, a panini, some veggies, and only 1 bottle of water (dummy!). Got back to the room, and scarfed down the panini while it was warm. I wasn't actually going to go tonight. I'm super tired, I'm hungry, the workout looked like it might actually kill me, only had a few minutes to get to the box... oh, and I said I was tired right? Thats when I heard it. That little voice inside me. Chiding me, encouraging me, reminding me that this is where champions are made... when it's not fun, when it's nasty, when you don't want to go. I changed quickly, and walked to the box.
I will say, it's a nice little walk.... I should check the exact step count... it's not very far. Made it with time to spare. Put on the lifters and my clean wrist straps, I was ready to go to work. Now, putting the breaks on for a second, I knew we were doing cleans, I suspected squat cleans... I need... this is imperative... I NEED to start doing more and more squat stretching before I start. No one is going to stretch the way I need to stretch for squats... gotta take care of me, and if you need to take care of you. Coaches will hit a lot of the stuff, and if you've got some stretch nazi's, you'll hit them all, but most bits of programming are packed, and so some stuff gets missed. Find "your" stretch for the movements, and do it... you'll thank yourself later.
Alright, so back to this workout. Strength portion, hang (squat) snatch, we had 20ish minutes to find a heavy weight. Some of the coaches went to an oly lifting seminar this week, and brought back some good knowledge. I think I not only learned a little bit more, but I've improved my pull a bit, at least for the snatch... and improving that, in any lift, is a big deal to me. I'm not going to say it was the only thing that helped me, but I did PR my hang snatch by 20lbs tonight. Now, the * of it, is that I don't know if that was a power hang snatch, or a squat one, so I reset the expectation that it was a hang squat snatch. I can probably do better with a power snatch right now, but that's not going to be that way forever. So, PR at 95#. I know I can do more... but I took it for what it was tonight... looking forward to trying again.
Ok, now the WOD was more of the same. It had an element of 21-15-9 hang squat snatch (HSS) at 115# RX. The actual workout was 25 burpees, 21 HSS 25 burpees, 15 HSS, 25 burpees, 9 HSS. To make it interesting, there was a 10 burpee penalty for every time you drop the bar on the snatches. I decided on 75#, the holding on to the bar bit, and then the whole I just PR'd at 95#. It made sense. The first 10 burpees weren't bad. The last 15 sucked...and toward the end, I had to do a few slow step ups, and not bouncing back up. Done...oh, wait, HSS... I did one... and my knee was like na... that warmup you did was crap sir, you're paying for it now. Switched to hang snatches. Didn't make it any better, just got rid of some of the deeper squatting, when I bothered to squat.
Not dropping the bar was harder than I thought. I'll tell you that right now. Early on, I would actually "rest" with the bar overhead...it worked for this first set a few times... let me get several doubles in. There was some slight rest in a bent over squat hold rest thing... like you're holding the bar in your hip crease, bent over a little bit. IDK, if that doesn't do it for you, I can't help. The last rest technique I used, was holding in the classic back rack position. Never thought I'd drop the bar, but I didn't feel like I'd ever get to 21. Wish I had noted the time. Back down to the burpees. Winded, tired, slow. No magic effort level, I took the time to rest, so I could do bigger sets. Finally, with a few (4?) minutes left, I got back to the bar.
In my mind, 5-5-5 sounds real nice, even, "easy". I got 4. Then it was in full survival mode. Grip started going, muscle fatigue, general malaise... idk. I got it done, in sets of 3 through the finish. 30 seconds left. I did 3 slow as sin burpees.... and that was 3 more than I wanted to do. I tried to do 4, but I heard a loud "THREE" behind me... I didn't have it... I just stopped, bent over... done.
But hey, I survived. Took a long time to get my breath back. Still a lot of Dan getting up and down off the floor. Thanked Carmen, put in my time and weight, didn't mark it as a PR, didn't know then, and then I walked up the hill to the hotel... and finally, done for the day. I'm tired... just finished the USMNT game in my hometown (KC), moving on in the Gold-Cup, so now it's time for bed.
Passing thought though, I've worked out in the top gym in not one, but two states. And I say that, because I've wodded with the fittest man and woman of Delaware, and Kansas. I don't know, it was cool to me, seeing that online today....and more really, putting two and two together. Anyways... night!
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Mini competition.
I've been getting better about not working on the weekends. The laptop I write 95% of this blog from is my work laptop, and the past two weekends (read Friday-Sunday), I've been trying to not be on this, so I don't do work... but then I get behind on the blog a little. I'm looking for more options, might have one, but the $$ would be better spent on a new set of shoes to replace those New Balance.
Fridays workout was fun. Nasty, sweaty fun. Actually did a "warm up" of rolling some of the old tires that we're no longer using at On Track, into someones truck. Then it was class time. I was actually running late, and, finally, washing my wrist wraps, so I didn't have them on me. I kinda feel gross admitting that this is the first time I've washed the wraps, but last week was also the first time they stunk. Anyway, I used some loaners from the box, and got into the warmup.
The workout, 5 rounds, teams of two (same gender), I forget the girls start weight, but the guys was 95. The movement was a clean and jerk at 95lbs, and your partner couldn't pull their bar till yours hit the ground. The winner from each round adds weight, if it was guys, 30#, girls did 20#. 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off. We didn't get to add weight till the third round, but it was close the other two times. 4th round, we got beat by the other guys team (only 8 people showed up for this noon class), and then for the last round, we could add weight if we want. I didn't go up for the 5th round, the 115# already had me tired. We didn't write down the rounds every time, but I'm guesstimating that we did about 160 clean and jerks as a team, which would be 80 each, 60ish % of them at 95#, and the rest at 115#. Hot sweaty mess.
But wait, there's more. Same partner, 8 minute workout, one does 15 deadlifts at the last weight on their bar, the other does 15 pushups. At some point, somewhere around the 5 minute mark, my partner just started going on his own. LOL. For whatever reason, this workout kicked me in the gut. We didn't need to keep track of anything, so I didn't, just kept moving. Slow and steady. The last set of deadlifts, I'm guessing the start of my 5th set, felt the back start to get tight a little, like earlier in the week... so I stopped about 20 seconds early.
But wait, there is still more. Tired, covered in sweat, but determined to finish the day, we did 4 rounds of evil wheels (I think thats the name), and some ab exercise. The evil wheels, same barbell... you're on your knees holding the bar, you push it in front of you, and then roll it back. KILLER ab exercise. The other exercise was... well, think of hollow rock position, with a KB in your hands, and you "jack knife" where the feet and KB touch, then back down. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Going from one to the other, and back... was awful. I can't even pretend to have done a good job on the wheels. I didn't go near as far or as deep as anyone else... core strength building for sure. I shook, sometimes really hard, on every wheel pull back. Strangely, abs never bothered me over the last two days.
But wait there is more... actually, more of a cash out exercise. Working on those ab "turtle shells". Abmat situp with a KB, keep it overhead. This, seemingly was the wost thing. AMRAP for 2 minutes, so it didn't last long, but wow.
Great workout. I'm actually happy... didn't have to squat, so thats a win in my book. Another week onsite starts tomorrow, need to check out the new hotels gym, see what I can do to supplement my workouts, get 3 in a week on site.
Going to do surgery on the lifters with Shoe Gooo next weekend, I'll take pictures and report on the progress from time to time.
Fridays workout was fun. Nasty, sweaty fun. Actually did a "warm up" of rolling some of the old tires that we're no longer using at On Track, into someones truck. Then it was class time. I was actually running late, and, finally, washing my wrist wraps, so I didn't have them on me. I kinda feel gross admitting that this is the first time I've washed the wraps, but last week was also the first time they stunk. Anyway, I used some loaners from the box, and got into the warmup.
The workout, 5 rounds, teams of two (same gender), I forget the girls start weight, but the guys was 95. The movement was a clean and jerk at 95lbs, and your partner couldn't pull their bar till yours hit the ground. The winner from each round adds weight, if it was guys, 30#, girls did 20#. 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off. We didn't get to add weight till the third round, but it was close the other two times. 4th round, we got beat by the other guys team (only 8 people showed up for this noon class), and then for the last round, we could add weight if we want. I didn't go up for the 5th round, the 115# already had me tired. We didn't write down the rounds every time, but I'm guesstimating that we did about 160 clean and jerks as a team, which would be 80 each, 60ish % of them at 95#, and the rest at 115#. Hot sweaty mess.
But wait, there's more. Same partner, 8 minute workout, one does 15 deadlifts at the last weight on their bar, the other does 15 pushups. At some point, somewhere around the 5 minute mark, my partner just started going on his own. LOL. For whatever reason, this workout kicked me in the gut. We didn't need to keep track of anything, so I didn't, just kept moving. Slow and steady. The last set of deadlifts, I'm guessing the start of my 5th set, felt the back start to get tight a little, like earlier in the week... so I stopped about 20 seconds early.
But wait, there is still more. Tired, covered in sweat, but determined to finish the day, we did 4 rounds of evil wheels (I think thats the name), and some ab exercise. The evil wheels, same barbell... you're on your knees holding the bar, you push it in front of you, and then roll it back. KILLER ab exercise. The other exercise was... well, think of hollow rock position, with a KB in your hands, and you "jack knife" where the feet and KB touch, then back down. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Going from one to the other, and back... was awful. I can't even pretend to have done a good job on the wheels. I didn't go near as far or as deep as anyone else... core strength building for sure. I shook, sometimes really hard, on every wheel pull back. Strangely, abs never bothered me over the last two days.
But wait there is more... actually, more of a cash out exercise. Working on those ab "turtle shells". Abmat situp with a KB, keep it overhead. This, seemingly was the wost thing. AMRAP for 2 minutes, so it didn't last long, but wow.
Great workout. I'm actually happy... didn't have to squat, so thats a win in my book. Another week onsite starts tomorrow, need to check out the new hotels gym, see what I can do to supplement my workouts, get 3 in a week on site.
Going to do surgery on the lifters with Shoe Gooo next weekend, I'll take pictures and report on the progress from time to time.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
I finally did it....
Finally, I've given up. I'm done. I can't do it anymore. No more hope. No more "maybe next time it will be better". No more disappointment.
I finally threw the New Balance shoes away.
I actually threw them away at Soulshine, but I needed to walk around Wal-Mart, pick up some chicken and what not, didn't want to do it in my socks, so I rescued them, only to throw them away at the hotel.
Bad workout man... actually, it was a good WOD, but I felt my back get tight like it was bout to be a baaaaad night, so I had to stop early. Not pleased. Only one WOD I can remember where something didn't go wrong while wearing the New Balance... They had to go.
Strength tonight was a snatch grip deadlift. 2-2-2-2. The instruction was to go heavier than anything you can snatch, but not deadlift heavy. I did more than I was expecting to. Not saying it was a lot, but I thought I'd do 150 maybe? Ended up doing 185. It wasn't overly heavy, but it was a good weight for the grip. The knurling on the bar built some callouses tonight.
3 rounds for time. 21 front squats (115), 15 box jumps, 9 power snatches (115). Had I been fresh, and in my lifters, I probably could have done that. I'm tired today, and I'm in my NB's, so I figure I'd go with 95 to be safe. I bombed out on the first set of front squats. 10 was all I could do before dropping the bar. TERRIBLE FORM. Rounded back, learning forward, all around awful. I had to go to an empty barbell.... unhappy about that. Got them done though.
FINALLY did some box jumps. I used their 6" soft box. I might actually be able to do 12", but again, tired, not the right shoes, I'm glad I stuck with the 6. Nice to finally do something, going to have to make plates and everything else a priority. Step ups are good, great maybe, but I'd like to get to jumping more. Those were easy enough. The snatches, sucked. I mean I just didn't have it. I think I did more snatch grip jerks than anything. It just didn't feel like I was doing it right, maybe I was?
I actually took the last snatch down into a set of 3 front squats at 95. Carmen came over quite quickly, was like no, don't do that, we don't want you limping home talking about "look what New York did to me". I had to LOL. I made it through the entire second round, and then the tightness. Lower left back. PISSED. There was a 15 minute time cap, could have made it. Stretched some, kept it loose, cleaned up, chatted, then threw the shoes in the trash. In front of everyone. Felt good. Digging them out of the trash... no one saw it. LOL.
I'm on the lookout for new shoes. Right now I'm soliciting suggestions. Under Armour is leading right now but it's a running shoe with a 10mm drop. I'm willing to look at anyone, including New Balance... it just wont be the style I just dumped.
I finally threw the New Balance shoes away.
I actually threw them away at Soulshine, but I needed to walk around Wal-Mart, pick up some chicken and what not, didn't want to do it in my socks, so I rescued them, only to throw them away at the hotel.
Bad workout man... actually, it was a good WOD, but I felt my back get tight like it was bout to be a baaaaad night, so I had to stop early. Not pleased. Only one WOD I can remember where something didn't go wrong while wearing the New Balance... They had to go.
Strength tonight was a snatch grip deadlift. 2-2-2-2. The instruction was to go heavier than anything you can snatch, but not deadlift heavy. I did more than I was expecting to. Not saying it was a lot, but I thought I'd do 150 maybe? Ended up doing 185. It wasn't overly heavy, but it was a good weight for the grip. The knurling on the bar built some callouses tonight.
3 rounds for time. 21 front squats (115), 15 box jumps, 9 power snatches (115). Had I been fresh, and in my lifters, I probably could have done that. I'm tired today, and I'm in my NB's, so I figure I'd go with 95 to be safe. I bombed out on the first set of front squats. 10 was all I could do before dropping the bar. TERRIBLE FORM. Rounded back, learning forward, all around awful. I had to go to an empty barbell.... unhappy about that. Got them done though.
FINALLY did some box jumps. I used their 6" soft box. I might actually be able to do 12", but again, tired, not the right shoes, I'm glad I stuck with the 6. Nice to finally do something, going to have to make plates and everything else a priority. Step ups are good, great maybe, but I'd like to get to jumping more. Those were easy enough. The snatches, sucked. I mean I just didn't have it. I think I did more snatch grip jerks than anything. It just didn't feel like I was doing it right, maybe I was?
I actually took the last snatch down into a set of 3 front squats at 95. Carmen came over quite quickly, was like no, don't do that, we don't want you limping home talking about "look what New York did to me". I had to LOL. I made it through the entire second round, and then the tightness. Lower left back. PISSED. There was a 15 minute time cap, could have made it. Stretched some, kept it loose, cleaned up, chatted, then threw the shoes in the trash. In front of everyone. Felt good. Digging them out of the trash... no one saw it. LOL.
I'm on the lookout for new shoes. Right now I'm soliciting suggestions. Under Armour is leading right now but it's a running shoe with a 10mm drop. I'm willing to look at anyone, including New Balance... it just wont be the style I just dumped.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Don't shop hungry....
... cause you end up buying a bunch of crap. Usually. Thankfully, I had some self control, didn't buy a bunch of crap. More fruit than Madison would probably like, but I was hungry... that and the fact that until that moment, the only thing I had to eat all day was bagel with cream cheese at the airport. Keep this in mind.... 400 some odd calories, maybe, and that was all I had before this workout.
Right before I get into that, I'm getting used to the CPAP. Used to sleep with my mouth open at night, have been for... ever. At least as far as I can remember. Have a nasal only mask thing... it's weird to me, but the pressure keeps the mouth closed. IDK, we'll see how this part goes. Rest sounds real good, regardless of how I'm getting it.
Alright, so now you're all caught up. Little sleep, it's a travel Monday. Not much food as you can see, and now it's time to workout. The strength piece is a 3 set with 6 reps at a same weight. I warmed up with my boy Mike. We hit the weight I wanted to do early. I made the joke that I'd used up all the good will cartilage that I'd managed to save up over the past few months... might be more true than I suspect. Either way, I went light at 135. Only really screwed up one squat, came forward on my toes, but other than that solid. I did spend a bit too much time at the bottom of the squat, I need to work on that... I don't have a good explosiveness at all. Putting it on the list.
The WOD was nasty... top 10. I wanted to lay down afterwards. 20 minute AMRAP. 7 burpees, 5 power cleans at 185, and 3 MUs. I did 115...which is higher than I've gone before for a WOD like this before. The MUs scaling was jumping pullups, and after each one, a hand release pushup. Even used a 6" "box" to give the full effect.... used the same hang, then jump that I did on the rings with Fran a week ago. I really hate these... I hope they're doing something more than making me tire. HA!
I didn't think this was going to be as bad as it was. I did better than I thought I was going to do with the burpees. The stepping up didn't start coming in until the third round.... and it wasn't every one after that too, still did a lot of jumping. Feels like a good thing. The cleans were never truly difficult. I woulda should coulda done 135 at least. thats not to say they weren't difficult at times, but it was never "too heavy". The jumping pullups... those bisches were difficult. Hanging, and then jumping, from a "box" that wasn't fully box, so it was like jumping out of sand. I started with my chin over the bar, but by the end... not so much. I tired to do good hand release pushups. Ended up doing deficit pushups, and then pushing up with as solid a plank position as I could. More and more getting up off the ground. Probably what made this workout so nasty.
Ended up with 5 rounds and 3 reps. Not amazing, but not bad.
Went to Wal-Mart afterwards for food... Looked like I jumped in the pool with my clothes on.... kinda felt like it too. Whats funny is it's like a 5-10 minute drive from the box, and I sat in the car for at least another 5 minutes looking at social media and what not... started sweating sweating walking around the store anyway. Sign of a good workout I guess.
Right before I get into that, I'm getting used to the CPAP. Used to sleep with my mouth open at night, have been for... ever. At least as far as I can remember. Have a nasal only mask thing... it's weird to me, but the pressure keeps the mouth closed. IDK, we'll see how this part goes. Rest sounds real good, regardless of how I'm getting it.
Alright, so now you're all caught up. Little sleep, it's a travel Monday. Not much food as you can see, and now it's time to workout. The strength piece is a 3 set with 6 reps at a same weight. I warmed up with my boy Mike. We hit the weight I wanted to do early. I made the joke that I'd used up all the good will cartilage that I'd managed to save up over the past few months... might be more true than I suspect. Either way, I went light at 135. Only really screwed up one squat, came forward on my toes, but other than that solid. I did spend a bit too much time at the bottom of the squat, I need to work on that... I don't have a good explosiveness at all. Putting it on the list.
The WOD was nasty... top 10. I wanted to lay down afterwards. 20 minute AMRAP. 7 burpees, 5 power cleans at 185, and 3 MUs. I did 115...which is higher than I've gone before for a WOD like this before. The MUs scaling was jumping pullups, and after each one, a hand release pushup. Even used a 6" "box" to give the full effect.... used the same hang, then jump that I did on the rings with Fran a week ago. I really hate these... I hope they're doing something more than making me tire. HA!
I didn't think this was going to be as bad as it was. I did better than I thought I was going to do with the burpees. The stepping up didn't start coming in until the third round.... and it wasn't every one after that too, still did a lot of jumping. Feels like a good thing. The cleans were never truly difficult. I woulda should coulda done 135 at least. thats not to say they weren't difficult at times, but it was never "too heavy". The jumping pullups... those bisches were difficult. Hanging, and then jumping, from a "box" that wasn't fully box, so it was like jumping out of sand. I started with my chin over the bar, but by the end... not so much. I tired to do good hand release pushups. Ended up doing deficit pushups, and then pushing up with as solid a plank position as I could. More and more getting up off the ground. Probably what made this workout so nasty.
Ended up with 5 rounds and 3 reps. Not amazing, but not bad.
Went to Wal-Mart afterwards for food... Looked like I jumped in the pool with my clothes on.... kinda felt like it too. Whats funny is it's like a 5-10 minute drive from the box, and I sat in the car for at least another 5 minutes looking at social media and what not... started sweating sweating walking around the store anyway. Sign of a good workout I guess.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Priday was phantastic
Been a busy few days, so I'm gonna take you back to Friday, July 3rd. Busy day, but a fun day. Haven't had an actual day off in a long time. Got to go talk to the sleep study folks, got an auto cpap machine, tried on 10+ masks. It was an interesting process. Today, two days later, I think I picked the right one, but it's something to take some getting used to.
As soon as I was done at that I was going to go see a buddy, but I had the idea to try and see what the WOD was at On Track. Plan change, going to the box. Smart guy that I am, I brought my bag with me, lifters and all. Got there just in time, got a little warmup in, then it was time for some work.
Everything was looking good, till I got on the wall for some oly stretching. As soon as I get on the wall... something pulled. I stuck out the stretch, though the pain never really went away. Squats today, big surprise. Find a heavy 3 rep, then take 80% of it, and do 30 reps any way you want. With my new found groin pull, and some per-existing knee pain, I didn't go super heavy for my 3, still working on the form. I tried several things, tried to focus on pushing my hips back, then dropping. Still needs work... I'm home, on vacation in two weeks (I think), and I'm going to spend a lot of time at On Track... squatting. Or at least thats the plan.
I ended up with 125lbs before the 3 reps got a bit painful. I stopped there and started on my 30 reps. Sets of 5. Lots of breaks. I got to hear Brian giving his coaching philosophy to a visiting coach from TX, who was looking for a box for his sister. I've never heard "the pitch" for On Track, so it was cool to listen to him describe his philosophies, thoughts, plans, etc. Also a great break for my 5 rep scheme to get to 30. I struggled with the last few rounds... seems that that many weighted squats, while looking for form is kinda rough of on you.
The workout looked hard, but "easy" on me. 12 minute AMRAP to the following scheme:
15 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 135/85
30 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 155/105
45 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 185/135
60 Cal Row
AMRAP Deadlift - 225/155
So, not a lot of knees, or anything else. And I can do RX. Cool! So we start, and I beat everyone off the rower... This group of noon people, apparently aren't accomplished calorie rowers. 15 deadlHifts weren't bad, broke em up 10-10-10. Hit the 45cal row with gusto. Andrew (the visiting coach) passed me on the deadlifts, but I passed him back on the row. I really like this competitive stuff. I know I can't beat him in this WOD, the deadlifts are going to be the decider, and he's much better at them than I am.
Somewhere in this second set of deadlifts, my right hamstring decides it's time to tighten up. Got a little encouragement from the lady across from me... can't recall her name, but she remembers mine... funny thing, I know she's into triathlons and endurance racing, has a few coming up... but I don't know her name... moving on. Finished the deadlifts and got on the rower. Finally looked at the clock. Something like 2 minutes and change left. I'm a bit tired at this point, so getting to 45 calories was a bear. I didn't look at the clock when I finally hit 45... focused on putting weight on the bar. Didn't even pull the clips off, put the left 45 on, then the right, then the beep of it being time!
I'm calling it .1 of the deadlifts at 185. Brian called it 45/45 on the row. Andrew, the TX coach beat me, and I think maybe 1 other person did, but that was it. I beat some in shape dudes because I've got the gift of row. LOL. Nice to be on the "winning" side of the workout line.... even it was against a small subsection of the boxes population.
As soon as I was done at that I was going to go see a buddy, but I had the idea to try and see what the WOD was at On Track. Plan change, going to the box. Smart guy that I am, I brought my bag with me, lifters and all. Got there just in time, got a little warmup in, then it was time for some work.
Everything was looking good, till I got on the wall for some oly stretching. As soon as I get on the wall... something pulled. I stuck out the stretch, though the pain never really went away. Squats today, big surprise. Find a heavy 3 rep, then take 80% of it, and do 30 reps any way you want. With my new found groin pull, and some per-existing knee pain, I didn't go super heavy for my 3, still working on the form. I tried several things, tried to focus on pushing my hips back, then dropping. Still needs work... I'm home, on vacation in two weeks (I think), and I'm going to spend a lot of time at On Track... squatting. Or at least thats the plan.
I ended up with 125lbs before the 3 reps got a bit painful. I stopped there and started on my 30 reps. Sets of 5. Lots of breaks. I got to hear Brian giving his coaching philosophy to a visiting coach from TX, who was looking for a box for his sister. I've never heard "the pitch" for On Track, so it was cool to listen to him describe his philosophies, thoughts, plans, etc. Also a great break for my 5 rep scheme to get to 30. I struggled with the last few rounds... seems that that many weighted squats, while looking for form is kinda rough of on you.
The workout looked hard, but "easy" on me. 12 minute AMRAP to the following scheme:
15 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 135/85
30 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 155/105
45 Cal Row
30 Deadlift - 185/135
60 Cal Row
AMRAP Deadlift - 225/155
So, not a lot of knees, or anything else. And I can do RX. Cool! So we start, and I beat everyone off the rower... This group of noon people, apparently aren't accomplished calorie rowers. 15 deadlHifts weren't bad, broke em up 10-10-10. Hit the 45cal row with gusto. Andrew (the visiting coach) passed me on the deadlifts, but I passed him back on the row. I really like this competitive stuff. I know I can't beat him in this WOD, the deadlifts are going to be the decider, and he's much better at them than I am.
Somewhere in this second set of deadlifts, my right hamstring decides it's time to tighten up. Got a little encouragement from the lady across from me... can't recall her name, but she remembers mine... funny thing, I know she's into triathlons and endurance racing, has a few coming up... but I don't know her name... moving on. Finished the deadlifts and got on the rower. Finally looked at the clock. Something like 2 minutes and change left. I'm a bit tired at this point, so getting to 45 calories was a bear. I didn't look at the clock when I finally hit 45... focused on putting weight on the bar. Didn't even pull the clips off, put the left 45 on, then the right, then the beep of it being time!
I'm calling it .1 of the deadlifts at 185. Brian called it 45/45 on the row. Andrew, the TX coach beat me, and I think maybe 1 other person did, but that was it. I beat some in shape dudes because I've got the gift of row. LOL. Nice to be on the "winning" side of the workout line.... even it was against a small subsection of the boxes population.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
CrossFit Soulshine
Been a busy couple of days. New client, new city, new state. Doing this as a two part blog, in a one post update... strange. I stopped by CrossFit Soulshine tonight, wanted to get the waiver and any other business stuff out of the way. Met the 7pm coach. Yes, folks, the do have 7pm classes. And with the Soulshine policy of only having 12 athletes per coach (max), it makes sense they'd have one more class than a "normal" box.
First impression... wow. place looks super clean, super new, and they've got a "lounge" area. Unlocked has something similar, but not quite on this scale. It looks like it can double as a place with reasonably aged kids, not quite as little kid friendly, but thats neither here not there. Really though, and this is by design, it looks inviting, and less intimidating. It's not like your typical box that is wall to wall rubber floors, and I'm sure that puts plenty of folks at ease.
Just a little more about the facility, then I'm going to get off here, need SOME sleep tonight. They have this thing on the wall
People can buy protein shots for their shaker bottles, how cool is that? Some of the other things I saw.... not the typical line around the box for wallballs, with above being mens, and below being womens. Instead, they have decals, and they look TALLER than the stinking lines I'm used to seeing. Crazy. Other things that we're different to me... they have quite a few competition plates... I've never used them before, so I'm a little giddy about that. The other thing, they have these "soft" boxes for their box jumps. 6", 12", 20" and maybe one over that. so you can mix and match to get what you need. I'm actually stupid excited about these. I'm going to get over my box jump phobia a 6" jump at a time. #cantwait
****************************************************************************
Day 2...or rather 3.
Alright. Finally made it to Soulshine, day later than I meant to. Even took another guy I worked with. Dudes name is Mike. I thought he was just a regular dude who'd done CrossFit... na, he moved like an athlete. Watched him power clean 115 like it was nothing, quick elbows and what not... I was like get the heck out of here. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Head coach and owner stuck around for our class, introduced himself. Another Dave... hope he's as cool as Dave P is. I think he wanted to see the new guy, size me up himself. I didn't disappoint. Pretty sure I impressed him a little. LOL.
Tonight was a very straightforward workout. Did a strength part, building to a heavy weight doing a front squat, push press, thruster. I didn't have a heavy thruster weight on my list of goal, didn't have any weight though. I decided to aim for 135. Simple enough. Under the watchful eyes of Dave and Carmen, I worked my way up. I don't know why I stopped there to be honest. It was easy enough, I probably could have done more, but I'm tired... like real tired. All this brain work is draining as heck. I can't remember ever doing a thruster at 135, so I took it for being the PR that it was. Oh, and did I mention the comp plates? Felt like driving a newer rental... I'm a nerd, whatever.
Moving on... the nasty part of the night. 20 minute EMOM, 4 movements, 5 rounds. DU's, clean and jerk at a weight, calorie row, OHS. With the OHS being the limiter, I punked out of 95, and did 75. I'm tired, it's late, I'm not going to go into all the sweat and hustle, I'll bullet point it.
First impression... wow. place looks super clean, super new, and they've got a "lounge" area. Unlocked has something similar, but not quite on this scale. It looks like it can double as a place with reasonably aged kids, not quite as little kid friendly, but thats neither here not there. Really though, and this is by design, it looks inviting, and less intimidating. It's not like your typical box that is wall to wall rubber floors, and I'm sure that puts plenty of folks at ease.
Just a little more about the facility, then I'm going to get off here, need SOME sleep tonight. They have this thing on the wall
People can buy protein shots for their shaker bottles, how cool is that? Some of the other things I saw.... not the typical line around the box for wallballs, with above being mens, and below being womens. Instead, they have decals, and they look TALLER than the stinking lines I'm used to seeing. Crazy. Other things that we're different to me... they have quite a few competition plates... I've never used them before, so I'm a little giddy about that. The other thing, they have these "soft" boxes for their box jumps. 6", 12", 20" and maybe one over that. so you can mix and match to get what you need. I'm actually stupid excited about these. I'm going to get over my box jump phobia a 6" jump at a time. #cantwait
****************************************************************************
Day 2...or rather 3.
Alright. Finally made it to Soulshine, day later than I meant to. Even took another guy I worked with. Dudes name is Mike. I thought he was just a regular dude who'd done CrossFit... na, he moved like an athlete. Watched him power clean 115 like it was nothing, quick elbows and what not... I was like get the heck out of here. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Head coach and owner stuck around for our class, introduced himself. Another Dave... hope he's as cool as Dave P is. I think he wanted to see the new guy, size me up himself. I didn't disappoint. Pretty sure I impressed him a little. LOL.
Tonight was a very straightforward workout. Did a strength part, building to a heavy weight doing a front squat, push press, thruster. I didn't have a heavy thruster weight on my list of goal, didn't have any weight though. I decided to aim for 135. Simple enough. Under the watchful eyes of Dave and Carmen, I worked my way up. I don't know why I stopped there to be honest. It was easy enough, I probably could have done more, but I'm tired... like real tired. All this brain work is draining as heck. I can't remember ever doing a thruster at 135, so I took it for being the PR that it was. Oh, and did I mention the comp plates? Felt like driving a newer rental... I'm a nerd, whatever.
Moving on... the nasty part of the night. 20 minute EMOM, 4 movements, 5 rounds. DU's, clean and jerk at a weight, calorie row, OHS. With the OHS being the limiter, I punked out of 95, and did 75. I'm tired, it's late, I'm not going to go into all the sweat and hustle, I'll bullet point it.
- The jumping was good, then bad, then real bad, then ok. I need to look into the exact length of that RX rope at On Track, bite the bullet and buy it. Better gear might just lead to better results.
- The clean and jerk was laughably easy. I like that, but I wish I could have had a second bar so I could have put up more weight.
- There were 6 rowers, 6 athletes, 3 on each side of some GHDs. I dominated my side. Only think I beat my guy Mike in. I could see the disbelief every time he looked at my numbers. It's a small victory, but I'll take it.
- The OHS sucked. After a calorie row, I'm gassed. It sucked the whole time. Best I did was 3 good ones.
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