Friday, November 18, 2016

11/18/16 Update

Still moving forward folks, just giving a quick update. 

Ankle is in pieces.  I've been playing A LOT of soccer (had a tourney last weekend), and tennis 1-2 times a week.  Still not back on the weights.  Probably the first week of December as I'm back in the office then.

Rumors of a group fitness challenge coming up at or before New Years, looking forward to winning that. 

Be back soon. 

Monday, October 24, 2016

Saying goodbye to the old and hello to new beginnings.

This is a bit of an internal discussion, so it's going to be all over the place. 

I could give you a bunch of heady words, platitudes, hard luck stories... I could write up a lot of excuses as to why I am where I am, but I won't.  Truth is, I've been in a rut and have been unable to motivate myself to do anything.  3 months of dues to On Track, and I'd been a total of 3 times.  Now, sure, I was injured for a spell.  Had training for a spell.  Then there were 3 weeks where I made zero MF effort to go to the box. 

ZERO.

I showed up 3 times, and worked out by myself in the second gym.  But it wasn't the same.  I'm unmotivated.  My sense of community is gone.  I'm gone. 

So I quit.  I've left On Track.

What now? 

Well, I've spent that past 2 weeks working too much.  Most of it for "the man", but part of it on my own creation.  I want to spread those entrepreneurial wings.... will likely make a second blog just for that.  As for the fitness part, I'm giving CrossFit a break. I need the break from it, or at least thats how I'm rationalizing it. 

Ok.... so what does that mean for the blog?  Great question.  Short answer, I don't know.  I mean I'm not going to be Crossfitting, per se.  I'm starting a classing Wendler lifting regime tomorrow, and I'll keep posting things in here about my fitness journey.  My goals are still the same, and with this, I'm going to focus more on my strength and hitting my strength and weight loss goals from previous goal sheets. 

I want to get back to CrossFit.  I WILL get back to CrossFit, but it's going to be a few months of near solitary strength training with cardio tossed in for good measure.  On Track is, to use big business jargon, making the pivot.  They've had a bit of turnover in coaches and elite athletes, and they're making a more "gen pop/community" style box, which is probably a FANTASTIC move.  It's come too late to save me, as I liked the community there, but never fell in love like I did in not 1, but 2 Delaware boxes.  Still miss those folks something fierce, I have to say.

I'm hoping the time away gives me a chance to really miss my KS folks.  There are some awesome people in there, and I miss a few of them already, but I need to get back on my path, and this is the way I'm choosing to do it.

If I didn't say it before, the company gym is where I'm making my home.  Looking at 10am-ish workout sessions on most days.  Beat the lunch crowd.  Also, this is going to allow me the luxury of being able to make sure I have all my supplements nearby and easily accessible.  Not that they couldn't have been brought with me, but I've never successfully lived out of a gym bag.  Having the protein at my desk is going to make it simpler for me, and hopefully simple = success. 

I'm going to keep posting here as my journey to fitness continues.  I've been finding little bits of motivation here and there the past 2 weeks.  Met a bunch of cool dudes at Polo's wedding last weekend as a plus size, I want to destroy the image I left them with so the next time they come up to KC, I'll be a trimmer dude.  One guy, Mr. Striplin, even asked me how CrossFit was going.  Be honest, not the question I was expecting from someone I'd never met face to face before.  Obviously it wasn't going as well as I'd hoped (remember the 60 in 60 pledge?), so next time, I need progress to show him.  Also had a photo show up today from 5 years ago when I was larger than I am today.  Its the size I still feel I am right now... nothing like that to be like HEY, BUDDY, YOU AIN'T THERE YET!!  This isn't the sort of thing that I can fake it till I make it in. 

Anyway, I'm really starting to go all over the place mentally with the things I want to write.  It's 5:30 and I need to go home, it's been a long day at work.  Get some good rest and start fresh tomorrow.  Thanks for following, stay with me, we're going to get there, even if it takes a little bit longer. 

Apologies for spelling/grammar errors, it really had been a loooooong day.  Cheers. 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Hypoglycemia?

Squatted myself out of the gym last night.  This morning, knee is bugging me (outside, not the inside like it used to), and for some very strange reason, my shoulders/neck are sore.  I did front squats and burpees man, so I don't get the shoulder and neck.  Must have slept funny. 

Taking today off, back at it Thursday.  Slow slow slow comeback, but it's happening, and soon we're going to see the real progress. 

Health notes.  Had what was probably a hypoglycemic issue yesterday.  I felt "shaky" but I don't thing I exhibited any of the signs of it outwardly.  What I mean is no one was like "are you ok"?  Ate some lunch and some mixed nuts, and things seemed to iron themselves out.  Makes me really want to get back off caffeine and glucose, and back on Ketones.  More news as it develops.... 

Thursday, September 22, 2016

So... about that...

Yeah, here were are, 52 days later, and I spent my first day in the gym... yesterday.  So 51 days.  WTF?!

Now, I've got some good reasons, and some reasonable excuses, but in the end, I didn't make it enough of a priority.  That is the main point to take away.

As for the excuses, I sprained my ankle the weekend after posting this (I think), was out that week, and then had some surprise training from work (notice on Friday at like 2pm that the following Monday I was committed... for the next 5 weeks...).  That wouldn't have been so bad, except I had to get up early, and be there early (compared to the norm of my job), and it killed mornings at On Track, and I was forced to stay till 5, and rush hour traffic made getting to evening class a losing proposition after a day full of drinking from the fire hose of knowledge. 

Like I said, priorities. 

All that said, ankle is pretty well back to 1 piece (I now wear a fancy brace during games). 

I'm well rested.  Thats a plus right? 

Sore today though.  I didn't even do that much yesterday.  2k row, 6-10 reps in various schemes of push press, strict press, power clean, front squat, back squat, and deadlifts.  All at 95lbs.  Felt good to have the bar in the hands again.  Capacity is shot.  Ate/dranke like shit the entire time (read lots of sugary energy drinks to stay awake).  It's time to refocus, cleanse (paleo perhaps?), and move forward.  Again...

Lots of other pokers in the fire.  Sad I can't Instagram a long video... might have to look at FB live or snap chat or something... want to start chronicling verbally as well as writing.  Takes less time.  Maybe I can even get fancy and edit?  Figure something out, ready for the weekend.  Beyond ready.  Job is starting to crush my soul.... and it's not that I don't like it, or the people, or the work... it's just not my calling in life, and thus it's soul crushing.  More on that later, or perhaps on a new blog to keep this more about fitness.... decisions this weekend for sure. 

Anyway, happy to be back, can't wait to share more success's and less failures.  We're going to make it!

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

60lbs in 60 days

Thats the goal.  I've got a wedding coming up where I'm going to meet a gang of people I've "known" for years from online gaming, and frankly, I want to look good, or at least better for that.  Add in the fact that it will also help me in life, crossfit, and soccer... it's a no brainer.  I know there are hundreds of articles that tell you that dieting is bad, it's not sustainable, etc etc.  You know what, they're 100% right in my opinion.  I'm not using the diet for a long term fix tho.  I've only lost my gains when I've been MIA from Crossfit (go figure).

Plan is to focus on a more paleo/keto diet 6 of 7 days a week, and not going overboard on day 7.  Also going to try to hit at least 5 days of activity a week, with at least 2 of them being double days, or double sessions.

Simple plan:  Eat right.  Exercise.

#60in60

Started this post on Monday, pre-workout.  It's not Tuesday and I've done two workouts.  :)  Been busy.  Tweaked my knee shortly after I matched a PR on the clean and jerk.  I mean technically, I think it was a PR as the last plates were 5KG and not 10lbs, but back to the knee.  I'd gotten done with that, and was putting down an iron 5lb plate, and I felt this little... thing.  So that first workout, I didn't get into the squats at all.  Why this is important?  Well, after the squats, there was a 18-15-12-9-6-3 of power snatches and 200m row/run on the dashes.  I did maybe 5 power snatches, kept feeling the twitches... I did 58 power snatches as muscle snatches.  Good grief.  Rowing didn't help matters.  Tired as bawls when that WOD was over. 






The  morning workout wasn't much better.  Biggest pain point was the 5 rounds of thrusters.  Now, these aren't your normal thrusters.  These are Fran training thrusters.  15 reps, every 2 minutes on the minute.  YOU. CAN. NOT. PUT. THE. BAR. DOWN.  for some of the better athletes, this isn't as big an issues.  For us gen-pop folks, this is a lactic acid bloodbath.  4 rounds was all I got.  Cramps.  LOL.  Need more bananas or salt in my life. 

Eating yesterday was solid... actually, it wasn't, I didn't eat enough...

Other updates.  Finally got around to creating some new accounts.  Feel free to add them to your circle of social media if you're up for it.  Comment, encourage, critique, I'm down for whatever.  

thecrossfitnomad             gmail
the_crossfit_nomad         Instagram
thecrossfitnomad             My Fitness Pal
https://www.facebook.com/thecrossfitnomad2/     Going to start posting more here as well. 

Soccer is going well.  2-1 so far this season.  Playing better every game, so hopefully this 60lbs in 60 days will make all that even better.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Sweet sweet barbell love

I've been around the box, I promise.  This lack of updates is more about me trying to get other things done.  When I started, I had some time at night in the hotel to write a "here's how it went".  At home now, more demands on my time, it's more of a struggle.  I do apologize. 

Today's main exercise was 30 minutes of sweet barbell loving.  3-10 minute EMOMs consisting of 5 reps of power snatch (first 10), push jerks, then power cleans.  The goal was to go up in weight as you're able, while maintaing form. 

What I love-  lots of barbell time.  Weights we're manageable...ish.  Opportunity to work on form with a watchful eye. 

What I loath-  Power Snatches... can't hit that hip crease, physics still says no.  Loathe barbells as cardio.  Loathe adding weights (I don't breath well when moving plates on or off the bar). 

So that was 30 minutes of awesome today.  Did some other stuff... typically CrossFit warmup, and post WOD was a 10 minute +2 rep ladder of situps and pushups.  Actually had to stop halfway though, had cramps in the calves, and then in the abs.  Clearly potassium deficient at the moment.

More updates-

Workouts going well, food not so much.   Going to start using myfitnesspal again this week, need to make a new email/login with something attached to The CrossFit Nomad, or maybe even re-brand since I'm no longer nomadic... at the moment.  Who knows. 

Trying to get back to the two a days when I can.  Double dipping on the benefits.  One, it's more work and should help get some of this stubborn weight off.  Two, I'm getting better at soccer.  

******Soccer Stuff******

Having a blast.  It's becoming my "why" for working out.  It's a clear, measurable goal, and I love it.  Started the new season Sunday, played my best game yet, thanks in part to the good coaching and training I've been getting in.  Seeing those early gainz as it were. 

Do have a story.  You see, it was my best game in goal, but we lost.  Picture if you will, a tied score, 20 seconds (ish) left in the match.  Guy kicks the ball from mid-field.  Thats PLENTY of time to see it in, and get in a good position to catch the ball.  Then the moment of impact.  The ball didn't stop in my hands like it was supposed to.  You see, I had them just a little too wide, in a good basketball catching space.  So the ball hit my pointer fingers and thumbs, then it hit my face.  To add insult to injury, it then went into the goal, scoring the winner with no time left to do anything.  I'm not sure what was redder, the side that got hit, or the side that showed my embarrassment. 

It's funny now, but it's another important lesson learned the hard way.  Back to our winning ways Sunday. 

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

My Wrist!!

Missed a few updates.  Had another two a day on Thursday last week.  Did some extra goalie later movement work, rowed another mile, and sweat out a pound and a half, or more... so it seems.

Had a much better game between the sticks this weekend.  STILL let in my avg of 5 goals (still got the W), but I can get that down to 3 with a little more work.  Missed a near post I should have had, had one slide off my gloves and back into play, and then there was a miscommunication for a third.  We'll get there.

Did hurt my hand though.  One of the ones that was 50/50 coulda/shoulda saved, was in a bad spot, and had a shot blasted high.  Caught it, or rather it bent my thumb backward while flying into the goal.  I mention that because 2 days later, it's impacting my WOD. 

Weights today, lots of barbell work.  Didn't want to get up, super sleepy, but decided to drag my butt out of bed anyway.  Did some lunges, power cleans, and push press in a 12-9-6 format for 5 rounds.  Struggled mightily, thumb and subsequent wrist just weren't' having it.  Did some additional squat work, and some heavyish push presses at 135.  Glad I stopped when I did, my wrist just wasn't having it.  Might do an afternoon session again, though I don't actually have the gear for it with me, but we'll make it work. 

Need the thumb/wrist to get better quick tho.  Light work till then. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Great day

Boy it's warm.  Yesterday was a great day.  Good morning workout, minus this one part, but overall it was good.  Sweat all over the office again (maybe I need a fan?).  Germany won their game, that was great.  USA lost badly to Argentina... that part sucked.  So maybe it wasn't a great day, but it was good, better than normal. 

Workout was good.  Did some squatting, rolled up to the mid foot, used way too much quad.  Worked on lower weights to stay back.  Been talking about this for 2 years now, need to get the weight off, and fix this counter balance that I've got.  Had some other things as well, like a 20 minute AMRAP team bump event.  Had two girls on my team, and the workout was a 100ft "heavy" sled push.  I say "heavy" because it was 180 and that's light to me.  While that person is going, person 2 is doing ring pushups, and person 3 is doing a calorie row.  What made workout suck a bit, our newest, weakest member was on the sled push while I was on the rower.  As a team, we did 168 calories over that time.  I had over 100 of them.  Let that marinate. 

Still, a good workout. 

Work was work, then I went home... except I didn't go home.  I went back to the box.  I think this impressed Brian a fair bit, coming back to work on things.  Did a lot of extra work on little things.  Did some more squatting sitting back more and more.  Did some lateral movement with bands, working on my side to side strength and speed.  Rowed another mile.  Got some new stuff to work on from Brian for my goalie isms. 

So maybe it was a great day? 

Monday, June 20, 2016

Morning fitness

I've tried to write this post for about a week now.  Short version, I'm switching to mornings, but it's been a process.  This is going to be short, I've got 9+ hours of work to try to get done in about 6.5, wish me luck.

Today was awesomely awful.  Highlights was a 10 minute EMOM of 5 power snatches.  Never did like doing weights for cardio like that (I know thats now how it's designed, but thats how it feels).  We also had a nice 15 min AMRAP of 50 singles, 200m row, 5 clean and jerks.   There was some other post WOD stuff that I skipped in order to shower and get to work sooner, but it was a pretty solid workout, and I'm happy enough with my efforts, considering I'm running on 4.something hours of sleep. 

But wait, didn't you say sleep was important.   Yes.  Yes I did.  Had a late soccer game last night, got home close to midnight.  Showered then I stay up a little because I hate going to bed damp.  So bed at 0130, and I woke up at 0600.  No alarm.  Was like well, I can sleep to the time I was going to, or I can get up.  Put it to you this way, I didn't want to get up, but I've got goals that can't be met by staying in bed. 

The one downside to this am workout stuff is my body is hot afterwards.  I don't mean the physically hot, that goes without saying.  I'm talking about that raised core temp, raised metabolism, etc etc.  I take showers at the box, and today I got it cold before I got out.  Stemmed the sweating a bit, but still not enough.  I get to work (no AC in the car), and I'm usually back to sweating bullets by the time I get to the door.  Either need to get the AC fixed, or try something else on the way to work.  I mean this is what I looked like (below).  No collard shirt, got a swetband on.... trying to make this mornings thing work.  Life is hard.  LOL!! 







Soccer, if I haven't mentioned it till now, has been going well.  Got humbled last night by the 0-5 team in the league, let in 10 goals.  5 we're on me.  Can't let that happen again.  Pride won't let me.  Keep you apprised.

Thats all I've got, have a great Monday everyone!  

Monday, June 13, 2016

Time for a fresh beginning.

I've been dragging ass ever since I got stopped traveling for work... that's over now.  I just played my first indoor soccer game last week, and had a great time.  Nervous... like as nervous as I was walking into CFDS 2 years go, but after a few shots, I was mainly just thirsty.  LOL.  This isn't going to be much of a post, just putting it out there that after that game, I have A LOT of work to do to get better, but thats the great part about starting at 0. 

A week later, I'm finishing this post.  Hit a couple of WODs last week.  Rowed for two miles in one sitting as well.  Working on that conditioning.  This goalie stuff has breathed a bit of new life into my drive, which frankly, it needed.   Played a doubleheader this weekend, have some jammed fingers and toe that might be broken, or also jammed.

Tomorrow morning starts a fresh beginning.  Back to mornings, back on paleo as of today, and back in the drivers seat of this fitness journey.  I'll get more into the mindset and new goals in another post soon.  

Monday, May 23, 2016

Matched a PR today

Which, having not done much clean work, I'm ok with.  I almost pr'd by 5lbs, but I didn't get the elbows around fast enough. 

Tonight was a clean ladder.  I haven't done one of those, ever, and I still haven't, in the way I expected... I was wanting to do the one where each bar is on the floor with the weight already.  Instead it was kinda on your own, bring your own weights.  LOL.  It's all good tho.  185 isn't a bad weight to make it up to. 

The rest of the night was a 12 minute AMRAP of 15 situps, 15 ring rows, 15 KB swings.  It was alright, but my hip had already turned from Saturday, so it was somewhat painful.  Got through it though. 

Wanted to give a quick shout out to #teamExplode at the Atlantic Regional.  They did well, got 8th in the region.  Not what they wanted, but they gave it their all, and I'm proud of them.  Gia and Jamie specifically, as they're my homies from the CFDS days.  Miss you guys! 

Not much else going on.  Didn't eat much dinner because I didn't think it would be all that great for me... it's basically the sweet potato/chicken paleo meal, but with regular potato's.  Think I'm finally ready to get this train going. 

Alright, thats all for now.  Cheers. 

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

"A slightly fatigured Isabel"

Yo... man, that was a burner.

First thing, the warmup was something different.  I mean, when you give me a choice, I'm going to choose less work, most of the time.  3x thru the barbell complex, or build to a heavy 2 rep snatch.  Easy choice.  Plus I prefer straight lifting to the compounded movements of a complex.  Not by a lot, but enough that it's not a difficult choice. 

My snatching is still atrocious.  With the belly to contend with still, I get out in front of the body.  I also don't get as "upright" as I'd like before I pull, another belly issue I'm sure.  That said, I matched my previous PR of 125.  I could have done more, but 125 looked and felt ugly, and I wasn't really trying, or wanting to PR for a double... not that I knew then what the PR was at the time. 

That ate up 25 minutes.  Now for the WOD.  20 minute AMRAP again, multi part.  2 minutes strict pullups.  I think I need to put the band higher, as I'm only able to get my forehead to the bar...  6 minutes to do 3 rounds of 10 shoulder to overhead, and then 10 bar over burpees.  I tried hard to keep up with folks, but I can't burpee with any real speed to save my life.  2 more minutes of strict pullups.  6 minutes for 5 rounds of 10 pushups and 10 situps.  Doing princess pushups, I tend to tighten everythign, including my calves... the cramp I got in the damaged one was severe.  I didn't do many pushups after that, electing to do a lot of situps.  bleh!  Last 2 minutes gave us more pullups. 

But wait, that's only 18 minutes. 

Right you are.  From minute 18 to minute 28 (as in you have 10 minutes), you get to do Isabel in "a slightly fatigued state".  Yeah.  Using the same shoulder to overhead weight of 95lbs, I proceeded to do this thing.  It was rough, my arms were smoked, but I didn't take weight off the bar, even when I really really wanted to... 6 minutes and 28 seconds later, I was done. 

And I mean done.  I've never sat around that much after a workout.  I mean I sat, got up (before everyone else mind you), cleaned up my bar, sat some more, cleaned up a box and some abmats, sat some more... twas amazing really.  After I was finally done sitting, I thought gee, lets try to row that mile now.  HAHAHAHA.  I got about 200m in, and my hammys and quads were like no sir, you're done for the day. 

50/50 on going Wednesday.  I want to go, more to prove it to myself... but the WOD part is just a nasty (to me) 80 wb 40 t2b, 40wb, 20 t2b, 20wb, 10 t2b... 80 wall balls... mental battle of the week if I go.  Woof. 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Holy squatbox batman

'nother quicky type update.

This is the second time I've done this programed workout.  It shows up every 5 days. 20 minutes, 12ish back squats, 300ish meter run.  Won't go into the specifics, but I'm using more weight AND doing more good reps.  In a word, progress.  Didn't run this time, did the row... might have been a mistake, not sure.  Had a pain under my right ribs, not sure what it was, but it ached while rowing.  Maybe my lungs are trying to grow? 

Next bit was a 10 minute AMRAP of 15 walking lunges with a plate, and16 Ruski KB swings.  There was only so much room, so I just did lunges in place.  What killed me was the KB swings.  My quads exploded from that effort.  Not my back, not my hammys, no, it was the quads.  The lunges were enough to beat them up, and then the KB swings finished them off. 

Last 10 minute AMRAP was 15 sit ups, 10 airsquats, 5 box jump burpees.  I tried to rush to get one more lunge in over the last AMRAP, and half fell half not, but it tightened up my back something fierce.  I got through one round of sit ups and squats, then proceeded to stretch and roll out.  Sucks, I actually wanted to do these burpees today.  Trying to work on getting my feet closer to my hands, and closer together as well.   There will be another day, so it's not a big loss, plus as beatup as the quads were today, this would have been the coup de grace. 

Sadly this means I missed a good post WOD of 500m row with 50 double unders, also for 10 minutes.   

This workout leaves me with two goals.  One, get some traps to rest the back on for squats.  Second, I want to start rowing a mile a day.  1600m.  Work up to that 5k I keep talking about. 

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Quick updates

I've been busy.  Hit the box 3 or 4 times since I last updated.  Went on a short weekend vacation to Galveston too, though I didn't get to a box down there... should have in retrospect. 

Lifting weights, getting sore.  Sore as a MF from Tuesday.  Did this spicy little shoulder to overhead EMOM.  Though "oh, that'll be easy", but after the first three minutes of high reps at light weight... woof. 

Yesterday was this squat/run thing.  Apparently I've missed the last one or two they did, unbeknownst to me.  It is savage, I'm going to hurt tomorrow, I promise you.  But the key takeaway, I attempted to jog it out.  Big Ticket would be proud.  I miss him and the pushing he did.  Closest thing I've ever had to a big brother. 

Got to get back to work, mini-vacay= lots of backlog.  Just wanted to touch base and let the world know I haven't fallen off the wagon. 

Friday, April 29, 2016

Quick and easy

Man, I'm tired.  Yesterday was a lighter WOD, but then I kissed normal sleep goodbye with a marathon FIFA session.... don't judge me :P

And then I waited two more days to start writing again...

So, what had happened was... Squats.  I finally hit 20 in a row, no re-rack.  It was only the bar, but now I've done something for 20 reps.  Tonight, there is 20 reps again, for the final time, and I'm going to put some weight on the bar tonight and see what I can do for 20. 

The other thing we did was a 4 rounder of 6 sumo deadlifts at 185, and this this weird clockwise lunge...  so picture a clock, and keeping one foot planted, hit all 12 hand s of the clock.  Then do it again, counterclockwise, with the other leg. 

Like I said, and easy enough day.  Tonight, I'm going to hit that 20 again for more weight, and the rest of the stuff looks a bit like fluff, so I'm going to do some regular DL's, some presses, and some cleans. 

Monday, April 25, 2016

Soooo

About all that stuff Denis went over on Friday... yeah, got to do it first hand myself today.  These deadbugs hurt my quads... makes me wonder if I'm not doing it right... I know just the guy to ask ;)

This is going to be quick, I've got some strife to take care of, and frankly wasn't going to write tonight, but I was browsing back posts, looking for a photo...finally found it in the cloud.  Go fig.

We had 18 minutes of Tabata like hell.  I don't remember the times, but it was something like 2 minutes max effort strict pullups (which have fallen off in 6 months of neglect... go fig... again).  Then 30 sec on 30 off of wallballs, then more pullups, then burpees at that 30 on 30 off clip, and then one last 2 minute stretch of max effort pullups.

After that, it was a simple 12 minute AMRAP of rowing and situps.

Fun, but happy it's over.  Strained my tricep on my right arm I feel.  Pulling with all your might can do that... especially when all your might isn't enough, even with a band ;)

Now... I get to experience my first in box fight.  Teams 6 weeks out from Regionals, and two of the top people are off the team, and it's drama drama drama.  Very sad to see.  Don't think it will split the box, but two Alphas are going at it, so it's probably going to get messier before it gets better.  At this point is probably best to sit back and watch, rather than take sides.


Squat Therapy

What is Squat Therapy?  Great question.  I guess it really depends on how you define therapy.  LOL!  Apologies on the delay, should have written this Friday, or Saturday, or even Sunday... but we're here now, so we're moving forward.  

Friday was awesome and awful.  I was actually toying with the idea of not going.  It was a beautiful day, and I wasn't sure I was going to get there before class started.... but I went anyway, and got there way before class started.  Last Friday class I went to was at 530.  Now they're back on the normal schedule of the top of the hours.  So I got lots of time to stretch, warm up, etc.  Reminds me, as a type this, that I REALLY need to catch up with the doc.  I haven't seen in for a tune up in over a month, and my hips are in a bad spot.  Moving on. 

It was a small class, maybe not for Friday, but in general, and I understand.  I mean after 2 squat cycles, who really wants to go to something call squat therapy?  I do... mainly because I want to get better at squatting... and thats what I got.  My mechanics just got another major overhaul.  We were all squatting light-ish weight, and Brian came by one at a time to do individual coaching, things to work on.  For some, their knees were out, some in, some didn't put enough on the posterior chain.  For me, my knees went too far forward.  When Brian came buy, I did my best squat impersonation.  I came up on my toes a little, but I felt everything else was good.  HA!  It didn't take two reps for him to be like "I see what we need to work on".  Next thing I know, he's in front of me squatting, and has his hands out, he's like don't let your knees hit my hands.  What happened next was the most awkward squat (oh, yeah, he got me a box to squat to as well...), this was the most awkward squat of my life, trying to touch butt to box without my knees hitting his hands.  I failed, twice.  Took all the weight off the bar, tried again.  This time, however, he pushed my knees out while I was looking for the box with my butt.  Trying to come back up with my knees out, trying to fire the glutes for that push through... WOWOWOWOW.  It took two more, and I had to rack the bar.  I was shaking. 

I mean, it was like learning to walk again.  Exciting and exhausting at the same time.  After he'd coached everyone, he took those of us with common issues, and showed us some more things to work on to get these changes to stick.  For me, it was Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, and this wide knee'd KB "high pull".  As I write all this, my groin muscles are giving me some phantom sensations. 

Ok, so that was like 75% of the time.  The other 15 minutes was spent on an AMRAP of 30 wallball, 20 hand power cleans, 10 bar over burpees.  2 of my least favorite moves... and I'd just decimated my squats, and I wanted to reinforce the changes, so I was going to do my wallballs like that...   BRUH!  I mean like BRUH! 
It was amazingly bad.  Like I don't have the words to tell you about my suffering.  LOL.  I will say that my hang cleans we're nice and smooth, probably could have gone up in weight.  After what seemed like forever, the 15 minutes was over.  Usually I'm quick to clean up.  today, not so much.  Plus I was cleaning up the previous classes stuff, so there were extras everywhere. 

Now, normally thats the end of the story, but Dennis Dolan was in the house, and he helped me with my sheared calf muscles... and he's looking at possible shoes for me via his athletics contacts (curse you wide feet!).  Today, Dennis is working with the regional team athletes.  Some from our box, some from another one not terribly far away that we have a good relationship with. 

Dennis is like 5'5".  He's not terribly tall, but he's got a self-assuradness (word?) that grabs your attention, and a presentation style that keeps your attention.  I watched.... the entire bit.  I spent an hour watching this man coach 3 main warmups with athletes that are going to regionals.  I could have partaken with them, I'd have been welcomed, but I was in full on learn/observe mode.  As he made comments about this athlete or that athlete, I tried to see what he was seeing, and committed it to memory.  Posture queues, how the movements were supposed to look, etc. 

Really, I could type for a while on what I observed.  I wont, but it was awesome.  Felt like I owed someone $50 for this hour seminar.  Got it for freeeeeee though.  Dennis has worked with Powerline Athletics and several other high profile groups, and knows WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than I thought he did.  Not that I thought he was dumb or anything... best analogy, it's like knowing someone of Nate Robinson's size and stature, and knowing he can dunk....  and then actually seeing it in action.  The way he worked the room, worked the athletes, and taught... something I very much hope to emulate one day.

Ok, thats all I've got.  Yet another one that I don't have time to proof read before posting... hope to get to the gym tonight, need to get out of work early enough to stop by the house and pick up my gear.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Why do I always forget something...

I didn't think I'd be able to walk today.  Tuesday was a squat heavy day.  I mean, after last Wednesday, I thought there is no way I'd make it through.  Guess what, I made it!  And I can walk!

Before I get into that, I will say I did do some work this weekend.  Hammys were still a little tight come Saturday, when I went on a little 2.3 mile walk with my chiropractor buddy (who also gauged my interest in working his start up with him, super cool).  And then balled on Sunday.  Knees and ankles were sore come Tuesday, but it was fun and a great workout. 

Point of interest here, it's Thursday, and I'm sore... but not the owie my muscles hurt sore... it feels deeper than that, like I found another level of muscle to abuse... strange.  

 Alright, so Tuesday is a squat day.  20-10-10 apparently.  They've been on this for a bit, so everyone is comfortable with what they have to do.  I don't think I've chained 20 airsquats in a row, let alone real squats.  I can tell you know, days later, still haven't.  LOL.  But I will.  Even if it's just the bar next week, I'm going to get that 20.  My issues seem to focus around staying engaged mentally, and keeping solid core/solid form.  I think the best I got to was 13 with two 15# plates.  I can do this, I just need to do it... 

After that, there was a 3 part WOD, with 2 movements in each.  I don't have it in front of me, so I'm going off memory now, but it was something like 5 rounds of 8 box step ups with a dumbbell press at the top and then 8 burpee box jumps.  Tell you now, I scald the hell out of this... In reality, after watching Brandons coaching instruction, I should have used a shorter box... and then there is the burpee box jumps.  Didn't bother with the box jump part, I'll admit it....   Think I got to the end of my 4th round when we all moved on to the next thing, which was  4 rounds of 16 walking lunges and 20 situps.  Finished this one, but man alive I'm slow slow slow at situps.  Are they really that hard? 

Last round was 3 sets of 30 alternating one arm KB swings, and then 20 air squats.  Let me tell you, after all the squats I did, and tried to do, and the step ups, and the lunges... hahahaaha.  This was amazing.  I tried to just bang them out 4 or 5 at a time, in an ASAP method.  It worked ok.  The killer was the KB swings to be honest.  I probably went too heavy, but man, my obliques would hurt before I got to 10.  I realize that is probably a periphery benefit of doing one armed ones, or maybe I rotated to much and made it more ab like, but holy cow that was something else. 

That was that. 

It was awesome to get back in the box, and it was a pretty BA workout.  I really wanted to get back to it yesterday (Wed), but around 330 or so, not long after lunch, it felt like something was trying to dig its way out of my stomach.  Nausea, pain, general uneasiness...   I have no problem working out when I don't feel 100%, but this felt like I was 100% for sure going to puke... and I'd like to keep my "I've never puked" streak going.... I mean, when I finally post a sub 4 minute Fran, I can puke all day, thats fine, but I'm not going to pop that cherry because my stomach hurts. 

I actually went home and took a nap, still felt like ass all night.  Felt better this morning sans a headache.  Thinking it might be this work coffee I'm drinking with coconut oil.  I say that because my stomach is kinda achy now... and I had my coffee late yesterday too... who knows, so long as it's fine by WOD time. 

Alright, misc things.  I still miss DE... I really do need to look at moving, or at least visiting.  Prolly wait till I've actually lost a full hundo.  Can't go back empty handed.

Setting up a weight loss comp with my boys, $20 buy in.  Want to make this a competition, and get me that motivation.

Still getting around to doing vlogging with a FB pages, might integrate the 'gram as well. 

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Friday, April 15, 2016

So this is what staring over feels like...

Ok, didn't make it that Tuesday.  Spent most of the afternoon/evening in the bathroom, either at work or home... it wasn't pretty, we'll leave it at that.

Did make it Wednesday.  WOD Wednesday.  Oh boy.  I haven't felt like that since my first day of CrossFit.  And in a lot of ways, it was my first day of CrossFit.  Put it to you like this, I was wobbling in the middle of workouts, going from one spot to another.  It felt like when Gia had me trying out the different squat positions our fist day.  Here it is two days later, and I'm struggling to go downstairs still.... I even bought a foam roller from home use.... still having problems.  Oof.

Really, we hit a lot of stuff.  We did some medball tossing (overheard, torso twist, torso twish with a push if that makes sense) and some medball situps.  Then there was a nice AMRAP of hang power snatches at a "light weight" of 75lbs.  My lord, when did that get so heavy...   hang snatches and single/double unders.  This belly man... it hurts when I jump rope now.  Slaps hard... very tender.  And the snatches... like I said, we're incredibly heavy.  I was able to do most of them with solid form, but had I been lazy about it, it would have ended badly. 

Next was a 400m run or row and then 15 OHS squats.  I'd already rowed a fair bit in warming up... 1500m?  And when I got to the rower again, my lord was it hard.  The quads were like "na breh, no mas".  Did it anyway, but when it came to the OHS... I did two, and they didn't feel right.  "Yo Reggie, come tell me how bad these are".  Did one.  "About a quarter".  WHAT?!?!.... Reggie, my man, I've got a big backside, you sure?  He just smiled and was like yeah.  Ok, let me try this.  Went as low as I've ever gone.  "Perfect".  !@#$   This was as low as I think I can go... needless to say, this AMRAP was awful.  I wasn't wearing my lifters, and I could feel my right heel coming up just a little, so Brandon grabbed some wafer thin plate to put under my heels to simulate lifters.  Don't think it hurt anything, but it probably didn't help either....  guess I just need to decide if I'm going to use the lifters as full on WOD shoes or not.  I was trying the Sketchers back out as I could run easier in them, and they don't really have a drop... we'll see what happens.

Last WOD was 10 good mornings with the barbell, 10 toes to bar, or situps.  I got through 4 rounds and was done.  Next day, hammys, abs, obliques, quads, even shoulders... all smoldering.  IT FEELS GREAT TO BE BACK!!!   Pain and all.  I've got a big smile on my face.  It doesn't feel good physically, but mentally and emotionally, I'm in a happy place.  Hope you have a great weekend, I'm out. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Coming Soon... again.

It's been an excuse filled month.  Family caught influenza A over 16.3, I didn't, but was a carrier, didn't want to pass that mess to anyone else.  Week later, caught bronchitis myself, last 5 days.  Sucked.  Missed 16.4.  Missed 16.5 due to a lack of transportation, two weeks without a working car. 

Now, these are all pretty valid reasons, but when you're actually driven, this are minor obstacles trying to get in your way.  I've been completely unmotivated, and having these keep me away from the box is frankly unacceptable.  Could have  at least been working on the FB page I keep talking about ( I do keep making short vids for it though)..... but I've been neglecting that too.  In short, I've regressed.  I'm not back up to my starting weight (not really sure where I am exactly), but I'm up about 20lbs, which, after 6+ months of limited workouts, isn't a shock... but I'm tired of being a fatty.  This is the end of my second year, and I've lost all progress from this point last year.

We're turning that around today.  Hitting up On Track this afternoon, first class in a month.  Surprisingly nervous to get back to my fitness family.  Shame, guilt, failure... lots of emotions would try to keep me away one more day, but this is too important to fail at.  Top it all off, found out my mom has cancer this last weekend.  She has an encouraging prognosis, getting a hysterectomy done, should catch it all as it's stage 1 and very very early according to the docs, we'll see.  I need to use things like this to motivate me to be better than I've been.  Seeing me get smaller and in better shape will lift my mother up... Positive vibes and feelings have been shown to impact the health of patients, so I want to do extra to help dear ol' momma. 

Back to me though.  Getting back to WoDs, I'm past ready.  Got soft hands again, need to fix that.  Have a potential two a day scenario unfolding for the coming weeks.  Buddy is on a Wendler lifting program, might jump in with him, he comes back to this work campus next week, and there is a gym on premise.  Think I can get away with some lifting and then doing CF stuff.  Talk to coach about it tonight.




Wednesday, March 9, 2016

16.2 one hand giveth, the other taketh away.

I attempted this WOD 3 times....  I knew, or had a good feeling that I could make it to the second round of this one, if I could just get past the hanging... and the jumping.... the cleans I've got.  

Round 1.  Picked a skinny bar, with no tape.  My thought being that I'd hang all 400 some pounds by my fingertips, and do knee raises.   Really, that was my thought process.  Let. Me. Tell. You.  Sososososososoooooo wrong.  LOL.  Laughably so.  I think at one point, I literally fell right off as I was trying getting ready to do the raises.  I was actually up on a box behind the bar for two reasons.  One, it's an easy grab from there, two, the box being behind the bar, I know where my feet need to make contact to count as being behind (or breaking the plane of) the bar (a requirement).  Knowing that, me falling right off makes more sense.... it was basically stepping down from a box. 

Round 1 sucked.  I used the full meaty part of my hands, and that much weigh on a thinner bar (maybe 1, 1.5" diameter).  In the 4 minutes, I struggled.  I languished.  I fell off the bar.  I jumped off the bar.  My hands were decimated.  I got exactly 21 reps.  When I say decimated, there are several other adjectives... but they were beat red and uber tender to say the least.  I didn't want to touch anything for a bit.  Diana was judging, she was encouraging and patient... I thank her.  After we were done, she suggested me trying a different bar.  Just to test it, I went into the B side (or what I call the B side) of the box, and reached up, grabbed this thicker bar, and did two on the spot, roughed up hands and all.  SO much better.  I knew right then, where I was doing my second attempt.  The bar is thicker, and it's shorter, so no box needed.  Good combo. 

I didn't realize then, that I was going to try it again in 20 minutes.  I helped change weights for a round of RXers, and then asked Brandon Hearn if he had time to do it.  I talked to him about the failures the first time, and what my plans were to fix it (mainly the different bar)... he was game, so off we went. 

Round 2.  MY HANDS!!!!!    O lawd, they hurt so bad after  the fist set of 4 unbroken.  I came off the bar a bunch this round, but I got through all 25 reps.  Took something like 2 minutes.  That gave me 2 minutes for the cleans and jump roping. 

I had a solid jump rope session.  Didn't come close to being unbroken, but I have a few larger sets, and only a few breakdowns.  Took about a minute... not a good time, but all things considered, it was alright.

Got the bar with less than a minute to go.  Think I banged out 4.  I was tired, but happy I'd made it to the bar.  Time up.  I looked at my hand, and saw a nice little baby blister forming already.  Great... 

Thanked Brandon, went to talk to Diana who was in the middle of a workout, was like hey, check this, I improved by 58 reps.  Total of 79.  I'm pretty pumped.  Without skipping a beat, she was like good job, but not as good as I did.  Oh yeah?  Whats your score?  And then she said, "... you'll have to login and check the leaderboards". 

Game effing on.  That was a challenge, straight up, and I loved it. 

Didn't check it right away thought... LOL.  I went home though, and eventually I did check it.  She had me beat by one.  Good thing I still had Monday (my first two attempts were on Sunday).  I plotted and schemed.  Thought about doing things like numbing my hands with ice before I tried.  Even game planned a little before I came in.  I was ready, hungry, and rearing to go. 

I just knew I was going to hit round 2.  My hands had a night to rest up, heal, or otherwise stop hurting.  I'm ready. 

Round 3 was here.  Suddenly I don't feel so ready... shook it off.  Lets go.  I crushed my first split time off the bar.  Biggest change, I didn't care about the pain as much, and I focused on stringing together the knee raises.  Took just over 1 minute.  #winning  Then came the single unders.  This is also where the one hand giveth, the other taketh away comes in.  Pardon my french, but I shit the bed... I couldn't string enough together to get it done with any urgency.  Frustrated.  Two minutes to do 50 singles.  Took me right out of the second round.  With a minute to go, I put a lot more urgency in the cleans, but I was gassed and mentally defeated already... I ended up with 7 cleans.  Beat my old score by 3, beat Diana by 2.  Still not the score I wanted, but it was what was going in. 

As I sit here and write this, I want to go try it again, I know I can do it, and now it will be just for me, not for a score that counts against anyone....

On the off chance you're wondering, destroyed that blister... didn't even feel it till I was done... ick, and ouch. 

Updates from everything else.... diet is slowly but surely improving.  Getting more and more of the good, less and less of the bad.  Attendance isn't any better.  I'm doing a work in stall right now, waiting for a piece to finish as I type... I miss the road. 

Monday, February 29, 2016

Open Season has returned. 16.1

Had a lot of things I was going to title this thing, but this works for me.

Just got done with my work day, but I'm writing this before I go home.  Got things to do there, so this  needs to get done here.... you understand.  

Ok, so to this open bidness.  I wasn't going to do it.  My boy Taran told me I should a while back, but I wasn't so sure.  I'd been out for months with injury, wasn't back to the 3-4 times a week... and then my utility company upped my level pay by an additional $120 AND the starter went out in the Mrs. car... $500 kick in the nuts, and suddenly that $20 fee is a lot bigger than it was before the weekend. 

Through my parents good graces "here son, go take you father out for breakfast", I managed to get my $20 on Saturday.  Game On. 

Still didn't sign up till today.  But I did it, and I've got a score to post.  62, which is 3 less than the number I needed (or at leas wanted).  Ol' Justin posted a 64.  I'd have beat him too, had I discovered my lunge secret sooner. 

Taking a step back, I've talked a bit about how I destroyed my calf about 4 months back.  What I haven't discussed much (because I didn't know) was that my muscles atrophied a bit.  A bit more than I realized I should say. 

I didn't go to the ground traditionally during lunge movements because... well, I don't have a great reason other than I didn't think I could... so now that I'm forced to do it for credit, I have to figure this out.  Thankfully, Diana Alt was there to give me some ideas. 

She was also there to judge me. 

The first set of lunges almost did me in.  My left foot forward, I could lunge out nice and far, get up easy too.  Left foot, BIG difference.  I spent the first 12 minutes of the workout trying to figure out the best wat to get down and back up with that trailing left leg.

You don't understand.  I dropped the bar probably 4, maybe even 5 times because of this.  I'd get stuck at the bottom, and then, rather than fight, I'd quit.  It was awful on every level.  Made me feel like my legs were the equivalent of that old Skittles commercial. 
If you don't see it, look closer, notice if one arm (or leg for me) is a bit more developed than the other...

So somewhere around the 12, maybe 14 minute mark, not wanting to quit, I discoverd that if I just barely touched my knee down, then came back up, mainly on that right quad, I could do these MUCH better. 

Problem is, I'm gassed now, so even with this new knowledge, I was already flaming out bad.  If only I'd done this on Friday night first...

Burpess were burpees.  Got super slow at the end, another reason I didn't hit my number... tell you what though, that jumping over the bar.  Total headcase about that.  I hate it.  I get it, and I'm glad I did it, but it messes with me.  Ever since the first time I tried box jumps....   oh, and the hanging jumping pullups.  Apparently I cut a very very very fine line between rep and no rep.  I'll work on that. 

So 62 reps, and what did I learn.  I can persevere.  I can not give up.  I can drop the bar on my big toe.  That actually happened.  Still hurts right now.  It wasn't black or blue when I took a bath, so hoping it's not broken... owie. 

Ready for 16.2, but I can tell you now, the DOMs from this will be most severe.  Going to have to roll out and rolling pin out a lot....

Other updates.  I'm  re branding a little.  Well, not really, just putting a 2.0 on things.  Going to start a FB page and put most of the video content up there.  Got a few short ones already.  Plan on linking these two as well.  Collaborative efforts and all that.  Probably link it the first few times, see what happens. 

The other reason I'm doing it, is to give me that extra bit of motivation, make sure I'm getting to the box man... been lacking a bit as you can tell by the extended windows of post dates. 

I had more I was going to talk about, but a peer stopped by, and we had a 30 minute work convo... so now my train is gone... until next time! 

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Tenderoni

Oh man oh man.  The DOMs from the squats is real.  But it's not my quads... strangely, it's my groin muscles.  Tenderoni!!  Had a long walk into work today, was a little late and parked as far away as possible, or nearly so.  Tonights WOD isn't going to be super forgiving either.  Lots of moving, jumping and stretching of that area.  Hopefully I'll get off work earlier today (unlike Tuesday...) and get some extra time on a foam roller.  Let you know in a bit. 

Alright, day after, and I'm still tender.  WOD Wednesday are what we're calling Wednesdays from now on it seems.  It wasn't an "easy" day, but there definitely seemed to be less things on the board.  Didn't make it easier, but it did make if a bit different.  3 segments, one was a warmup, the next the main event, and then a "cool-down" of sorts. 

Warmup was 10 minutes, 12 KB swings, 10 situps, 8 reverse lunges, 6 pushups.  I didn't maybe 4 minutes of this... Nature called, and I took my leave to pre-game during the warmup.  I'm sure thats a party foul somewhere in the CrossFit book of things to not do, but I couldn't help it.  Call of doody.  Haha right?  No?  Nevermind then.  LOL

WOD itself was nasty.  A light deadlift for 15 reps.  12 shoulder to overhead with the same weight (hence the light deadlift).  9 bar over burpees.  WOOF.  The limiting factor, if you can't tell, is the shoulder to overhead part.  Rx was 115, and I could have done it have it been say, 3 rounds or 4 rounds, but it was a 12 minute AMRAP, and those, to me, say speed and intensity above all else.  So I went with a moderate 95 lbs. 

Whole thing sucked, from top to bottom.  I mean the first round was great, kept up with some of the team athletes.  Then the wheat separated from the chaff.  LOL.  Second round, DL's had my legs and lower back on fire... surefire ways to recognize that you're doing it wrong (particularly the lower back).... only got slower from there.  Burpees got slower.  No more bouncing up.  Part of that is still do to the fear of messing something up.  I mean my groin and hammy's weren't in the best of moods to begin with, but you through in the occasional twinge from the calf during the shoulder to overheard, and the fact I got both hamstrings to cramp up at work today... my intensity dropped.  Ended up with 3+ the DLs and S2O, with 3 burpees.  Not awful, but not the full on pace I want to be at for sure.  I mean J-Nine beat me.... which isn't a knock on her, she's been team training for a bit... but she's pregnant.  Guess I could cheer that our pregnant ladies are better than yours...

The cool down was 10 minutes of 15 hollow rocks, 30 second handstand hold.  I did a "fingers out" pushup position plank of sorts.  Between the two movements, my core shook and trembled.  I was sore rolling out of bed at 0500 today... DOMs for this will. be. brutal.  Bring it on. 

No WOD tonight.  You saw the up at 0500... went down at 0130... not enough sleep, and I've got other plans right after the 10 hour work day.  I need that break after yesterday.  That said, looking forward to Friday.  I'm getting my 3 days this week! 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Let the gains begin!


That where we are at today.  Ground zero.  Day one.  The beginning.  No more of this back on the horse stuff, just starting at zero.... and it's probably the best to do that.  No more of the "well I should be at ___ poundage".  Did box squats today, no shame in my game.  Also did my second video blog.  Changed the resolution, so it's a lot smaller of a file, not sure on the quality, let me know if it's garbage in the comments and I'll fix it.  Think I got long winded, apologies in advance. 



Friday, February 12, 2016

Lets get back to it already...

Well, I can't say that I'm not trying... LOL.  Back at it last night, finally.  9 days after the last workout.  I really am trying to get back to 3-4 days a week.... so frustrating. 

Recap on last night,  snatch practice and rowing.  That was pretty much my night.  Spent a lot of time working on the first two stages of the pull, and not so much on the rest.  Feel like it impacted my ability to get the bar overhead a little to be honest, but it could just be me getting back into snatched.  I did, however, start jumping with that pull.  Well, it was probably more "jumping" but I was using that to get under the bar a little bit faster. 

Rest of the time was spent on gymnastic conditioning.  I chose to row, my knee (outside on the right) and hip (also on the right) were fairly tender today, and I want to get to rowing a 5k after each workout (figure it will take about 2 months to build up to this). 

Also looking at getting a part time job, which will be at FedEx if it's anywhere, and it will be an hour or so after class, so I'll have enough time to get a protein shake in, and recoup a little before I'm back doing metabolic conditioning stacking boxes.  Worked there plenty before, so I know what I'm getting into... hopefully this will be the catalyst to get me going again.... and I think it will be.  Going to have extra income (hello Ketones and WheyCo protein), and it's going to be more workouts.  So long as I don't get injured at either place, I should be golden! 

Thats all I've got for now, tonight is squats on top of squats.  My knee already hurts (that same soft tissue feeling thing on the right), so I'm going to roll out the legs real good before I start.  Hoping it's just related to tightness... we'll see. 

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Jumbled mess

I've spent a few hours trying to get the video up from yesterday, so I'm goign to keep this one very short, and some what random.  I apologize, but I'm sure busy with lots of work stuff the next 8 hours (it's already 5pm), and if I don't do it now, I wont...
 
Got to the box on Tuesday, had a situation... one day I'll explain that one in more detail.  Got to WODding... Knee was much better than yesterday, did way more air squats that I thought I would.  The 5 rounds of Cindy were awful... so much capacity lost, so much to get back.  The 50 pullups (or for me, ring rows) after the 5 rounds of Cindy (refresher, 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats), we're amazingly sucky.  After that tragedy, finished the wod with 10 cleans (lifters choice on style).  It was supposed to be super hard.  I started at 115, added two 10's after my 3rd lift... should have added 2 25's.  Guess I still have some strength left.  

Quick randoms-

It was a good workout, I'm happy I've finally strung two days together.  Going to try to make it 4 days this week. 

Sore... DOMs from Monday, plus soreness from that workout.... my word, my traps, particularly down by the elbows... murdurously painful.  Any movement at chest level or higher is painful.  Think putting on a backpack, headphones, clothes, getting into and out of vehicles... just lots of things that remind me that I'm alive...

Took today off for some recovery, going to try to work in some rowing after the WODs in the near future.  They say the camera adds 15 lbs... I say it shows you the truth.  I haven't lost any weight in about a year... going to find a place where I can get on a scale quick and easy like, and start weighing in weekly.  #accountability  

Right, off to transform some healthcare.  Until next time. 

Two weeks man, where have you been?

Fair question.  I've been at work.  I've had some very long, very full weeks (60+ hours) and EVERY time I thought I'd make it to the box, another work fire would come up, and off I'd go again.

So, to make up for it, I decided to try something different.  Doing my first video blog.... while driving to work.  So apologies for some of the content, not that it's bad, but I ramble a bit... you'll see.  Oh, and my sunglasses are apparently smashed (thought that they felt funny)... need to fix that, but thats for another day.

Enjoy, or try to, I haven't watch it, haven't edited.  Raw and uncut!



Friday, January 15, 2016

Yawn!

I won't crown myself the king of excuses, but I sure do have a lot of them.  This last week, or really since the last WOD, was nothing short of awful.  I was sore for days, which I shouldn't have let stop me, but I did, then I got sickly over the weekend, then work kept me "too busy" to get to the box during a class time... I'm working on reforming this, I promise. 

Yesterday found me at the box in spite of my excuses.  I had glasses and not contacts (been getting <4hours sleep the last two, now three nights), and I hate working out in my glasses.  Didn't have the right box attire.  Didn't have enough rest.  Showed up anyway.  Plan on doing the same today...

Still worried about my calf... will be for a while I suspect.  Did split jerks today, building to a heavy single.  We worked on form a bit first, then started adding weight.  Didn't know where my PR was, and being a few months removed from anything approaching a normal workout regime, I just went with it.  Got up to 145, which is apparently 10 pounds shy of my PR.  Thing is, I did it with what has probably been my best form... 155 will be crossed off soon enough, I'm pretty sure it was one of those struggling jerks when I did it.  145 was tough, but it felt good, like one that actually would be counted as a rep in a competition.  After I hit my heavy, went back down to 95, and worked on form while everyone else was getting in their last attempts.  Good work. 

Some of the other stuff we did was work on muscle up progressions.  My bit was ring pushups, which I hate more than regular pushups (the struggle is real), and more ring rows and things like that.

Last thing was pistol practice.  Yeah, no.  Especially at the rep number that was on the board, even if it was attempts, just... no.  I tried to do air squats.  My lord, I struggled mightily.  A few times my right knee crashed in a bit.  Don't know if I was trying to go too low or what... might have to re learn how to do a proper squat.  :/


Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Finally

I'm back.  Past month has been nothing short of disastrous from a fitness standpoint.  I'd bare my soul if it would help... blunt talk, I was lazy, unmotivated, and scared.

To expand on that, I wasn't enjoying the workouts Brian had setup for me.  I worked out in the cold, dark side of the box (it's walled off, basically a whole separate gym).  I was there to stay out of the way of the morning classes, and to muffle the music ol' boy likes to play (that I can't stand).  So I'm cold, I'm a little bored, and on top of all that, I'm not fully commited.  To make all that worse, I kept showing up with the expectation of a workout that would last 1 hour.  Of all the things I had going against me, this was the worst.  Nothing like starting a workout, and having it seem to go long, even though it's not.  I skipped things early and often trying to fit a non hour long workout into an hour long space. 

Ok, thats the unmotivated part.  Lazy speaks for itself, when it speaks at all.  Scared, that's the other big one.  Getting hurt sucks.  Re-hurting/injuring the same spot multiple times can make anyone gun shy.  I've been "taking it easy" for a while now, possibly too long... all on the fear that I might not be ready.

Well, I'm done being scared.  (done being lazy and unmotivated as well). 

5pm class here I come!  I actually thought it was at 530, but apparently thats only on Fridays.  Oops.  Been a while since I've done an evening class.  As it was, I was 15 minutes late, and just jumped in.  Missed the warmup, missed stretching, missed everything that I should have been doing for probably the last 30 minutes... I mean, it's my first WOD in 2ish month... and I just jumped right into it.  LOL. 

3 rounds of 3 minutes of +3 hang cleans and situps.  +3 being you start with 3 and 3, then 6 and 6 and so on.  1 minute rest between rounds.  Went LIGHT at 75lbs.  Felt good, probably could have done 95, but like I said, it's the first WOD in months, I'm trying to make it back again this week right.  After the last round, we got a minutes rest, and then it was straight to 3 minute AMRAP of wallballs.  THIS I could have stood to have some stretching before hand.  I felt all sorts of things tweak, creak, and groan.  No idea how many I did, not enough, but more than had I not been there.  We'll call that progress.

The last bit of the WOD was 7 minutes to find a heavy hang clean.  I don't, or didn't have a hang clean PR listed when I checked, so 145 is now it.  I got tired, and my 155 attempt wasn't very convincing, but 145 is a solid start for me.

So thats it.  That was about 30 minutes of workout.  Not a full WOD, but certainly the meat of it.  I ended up sitting down after I cleaned up my mess... I'm pretty sure my body was in shock.

Talked to a few coaches, caught up with a few folks, then I left.

Important thing to note.  I missed the warm ups in the beginning, and didn't roll out at the end.  Sitting here this morning, typing this up, I'm more upset that I didn't roll out afterwards.  My calf had a slight twinge as I walked out, and I should have beat it up with a foam roller, stick, and lax ball... it's fine today, but it is something I'll be watching. 

Ok, 2015 was a mixed bag.  Got to some of my goal lifts, failed miserably on others.  I lost capacity (especially with 3-4 months basically off), and I missed my weight loss goal by a country mile.  In fact, I think the scales may have gone the other way slightly.  :( 

So my goals are the same as last year.  Weight loss and lift gainz.  I'm going to try to incorporate Concept2's daily workout's into my fitness plan a few times a week, as some extra rowing.  I'm also going to try to get back on a low sugar, mostly paleo diet.  Thats not off to the best start tooooday, but it will get better.  I left my lunch at home you see...