Metcons

Yesterday was a good reminder that metcons, hard metcons, are the secret to being a good crossfitter. Although I've really had a more broad view of fitness lately- in that I want to do more of what I like and worry a little less about being an "elite" crossfitter, I still think that metabolic conditioning makes you better. And that's what I want to be. Better. Even if I never do a legit squat snatch...

With that being said, sometimes I still need a little motivation, and competing definitely helps. This commercial definitely gets my competition-blood pumping.

Fall Cleaning

Thursday last week was a big day for me with two PRs. First, 50 burpees in 1:53. I was pretty happy about this. I went unbroken and just held steady the whole way through. High rep numbers are always a challenge for me, and the mental hurdle always seems high. Second, and even more exciting to me- I finally cleaned 300 pounds! And a full squat clean at that. This was too cool. My form, now that I look at it, is pretty ugly, so I know I have room to improve.

First, a failure:



The full clean:



Now if I can only bring that jerk up. My goal is 275 pounds. We'll see!

Rest day

Sometimes you just have to take an unplanned rest day. That day was today for me. I wasn't busy, I wasn't too sore, I just wasn't really feeling it. At this point, when I'm in a building stage, I don't think that's a bad thing, but to be honest I'm never short on rest days...

What I do need to focus on is hitting each and every WOD with intensity. Maybe it's a little burnout, maybe it's a matter of me not really working out with classes anymore, but something has changed. I need to once again find that level of bad that all crossfitters know but few actually get to.

I should be flat on my back at the end of every WOD.



Let's make it happen.

busy busy

Workouts have been semi put on hold for the last week because of way too much other stuff going on, but I've been able to get in a little. Upping the volume a little whenever I can/have time.

Yesterday:
CSCF WOD:
21 ring dips
7 hang power clean (185#)
rest 2 minutes
4 rounds

time: around 10:13 without subtracting the 6 minutes of rest

then 4x5 Bench press- not too heavy- 185, 205, 225 fail, 205

Then a little toes to bar, pushups circuit, untimed. It went a little like this..

20 toes to bar
10 wide hands pushups, 10 narrow hands, 10 divebomber
16 toes to bar
8 wide, 8 narrow, 8 dive bomber
12 toes to bar
6 wide, 6 narrow, 6 divebomber...

and that's when Will left and I lost motivation.. next time the step down will be finished. Even with only three sets I was totally wrecked. Here's some push up examples, including the dive bomber, courtesy of SealFit.

Saturday Schmaturday

After an unintentional two-day break, Charlie and I hit a little workout after the 8AM game day workout.

First I did a 2000m row, easy 2:00 pace

then for time:

21-15-9: pull ups, decline sit ups, 115# front squat then 100 pushups

I think the 21-15-9 was over at 6:58 and then the 100 pushups at 13:26. Six and a half minutes for 100 pushups?? Yikes... Oh well, I really approached it like two different workouts, one timed, one untimed.

Sometimes it feels good to stay with a familiar rep scheme; 21-15-9 just feels like home in CrossFit.

For The Widows in Paradise, For The Fatherless in Ypsilanti

In honor of his new album, I thought I would post one of my favorite Sufjan Stevens songs. Not exactly a crossfit jam, but I dig it.

No more squats

Today's work:

21-15-9: strict pullups, pushups, squats. Untimed, not fast

15 minute AMRAP 10 DB HSC, 20 DU, 10 Pushups- 7 rounds finished

200m run, rest 1 minute, 200m run with 20# vest, rest 1 minute: 5 rounds, fastish but not really timed

2 sets of: 8 narrow pushups, 8 wide pushups, 8 dive bombers

I don't enjoy dumbbell squat cleans, so this was a good wod for me to force myself to power through. Actually trying (and failing) to keep up with Will kind of forced me against my to power through it...

Lift more weight

This video from the mainsite Tuesday post is pretty wicked. How can you not want to lift more after watching this??



http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitUSAW_AF_Highlight.wmv

5 months late?

So it's been so long since my past post that it almost feels like I've started a whole new blog. Exciting right? I really have no idea what will be on here: fitness articles, my workouts, nutrition, sweet videos that get me pumped, all of it is fair game.

I'll start with a quick synopsis of some recent CrossFit events: regionals at the beginning of summer, lots of Westside Barbell lifting and a 10# weight gain in June-July with Mr. Will Schaub, Texas Throwdown in Mid-August, and sub-par workouts ever since... Yep, things were going pretty well, and then it happened, I hit my wall. I've spent the last few days doing some actual planning and figuring out what my schedule will be for a few months to get where I want to be. I'll post some ideas when I actually figure out what's going on.

As a plus- I had a great 6 miler through campus late Monday night and rediscovered what five finger running is all about- pretty great!

Tall socks, no shirt.

CrossFit officially today. I went to bed at 6:15, rolled out of bed at 10:54 and threw my brand-spankin new tall socks on for the 11am team WOD. Domination ensued, and I think it was mainly because of the socks, which obviously make you more bad ass. Just as these ladies.



My rest yesterday left me ridiculously 'up' and ready for today to start, and I was seriously shaking when the wall balls began.

We did the team stadium WOD from last year's CrossFit Games. My team was Carol, Marcos, Kirk, and me.
The 11am WOD:

30 wall balls #20- only one person lifting at a time
300m row
30 box jumps
30 KB swings 1.5 pood
30 push press 45#
30 deadlift 225#- only one person lifting at a time

Time 15:44!

Obviously that wasn't enough so I took my parents out to the track to hit up workout #2. Out at the track I did:

At 1:30pm
5 Rounds of:
10 pullups
10 pushups
Tire pull 25m
Bleachers with tire overhead (I'm guessing the tire was 50#, it was biggest one laying around)
40m over head tire run
Tire drag (backwards) 25m
5 burpees

14 something mintues

That overhead tire run is something that I never, ever want to do again. It was awful, and the day I see a stack of tires in front of CSCF is the day I join a new gym.. just kidding. But really, awful.

After the track with headed to Naked Fish to get a little sushi and some fried ice cream. Totally worth the sugar hit, but now it's sleepy time for an hour or two of much needed rest.

back = shredded

Second day of blogging what I eat, and I'll be honest, even though it's not like anyone will read this, it still is affecting what I put into my body. I was telling Daren today that I had a solid week and a half were I just craved sweets and pizza all day. Every day. I think I've snapped out of it a little, but that doesn't mean I won't still have to work a little at it.

0700: 3.5 oz nilgai sausage, 2 eggs (fried), one super ripe, sweet kiwi
1045: one sausage patty (1.5 oz?) and a handful of walnuts
1315: Pan seared venison steaks and a plate full of broccoli with almost a half an avocado mixed in.
1730: uh oh... Large Quizno's chicken sandwich. To my defense I was doing a service project with an organization I'm in and I was hungry. I didn't eat ALL of the bread...
2000: 2.5 oz tuna, handful of walnuts. I need to chill out on the nuts for sure.

The venison was awesome, it was just some tenderized round steak I had sitting in the freezer. I marinated the meat over night with: lemon juice, whole peppercorns, dried chipotle, garlic salt, and just a touch of italian dressing. It was so good. Way juicy and tender.

I got in a pretty good workout at 1600, but here's the kicker: I had to go it alone. I totally forgot what it is to do a WOD alone; it's just a totally different dynamic, especially when it's a tough one. This is a Schaub creation WOD.

5 rounds for time:
20 double unders
7 bear complexes with 95# (one bear complex is: clean to front squat to push press to back squat to push press. That's ONE rep!)
10 KB snatch left arm/10 KB snatch right arm. 20 kg.

18:28.

Brutal WOD and I slowed way down after round three. My back said no, and my mind listened...

Fitness blog

Alright kiddos, here it is, one more blog to add to my list. My emphasis here will be to record my workouts and nutrition. I've been a little lacking, to say the least, in the nutrition department. (read: too much ice cream). So I'm looking for a little accountability here. Comment away!

0800 with Charlie, Kirk, and The Schaub:

1K row

Squat 3-2-2-2-3 @ 225-275-315-315-315

Metcon:8:32 - 3 rounds for time of
20 135# back squat
20 KB swings 1.5 pood
20 Knees to elbows

The WOD wrecked me! Totally difficult after we finished we couldn't figure out what the worst part actually was, it just all felt bad...

FOOD:
Breakfast 10am - A large cup of broccoli with 1/2 chicken breast and egg whites.. yum!
11:30- I was forced to eat a large piece of carrot cake that a friend baked... oops
14:00- One chicken breast, half avocado, half of a very large zucchini squash, with half the juice of one lime. raisins for dessert
1700- hungry again- a couple bites of chicken and a massive spoonful of peanut butter (NOT the healthy kind)
2100- 3 small patties of ground nilgai (kind of like venison, ie very lean) and a handful of glazed walnuts. The walnuts sound horrible but they're pretty lightly glazed and low in sugar and carbs. Not perfect paleo, but a decent dessert.