Been a few days...

Well thanks to the cold bug going around, my week has been shot. I got one WOD in earlier this week with Dan and a couple others from the office.

For time 7 rounds of:

20lb wall ball shots, 10 reps

10 pull-ups

As we didn't have the medicine ball we sub'd 25lb dumbbell thrusters. I finished with a time of 11 mins and change with Dan about a min under me. It was a good WOD and Dan ended up tearing the hell up out of his hands on the pulls. I will take the rest of the week off to get my body right and try to start the week off fresh. Being sick sucks.

What this all means...

After reading some truly inspiring words from Blair, I felt I needed to put a few thoughts down on my feelings about fitness and the drive to get up and do this day in and day out. Compared to other people I have come in contact with, my life-in the fitness aspect-is relatively uninspiring. I never played any sports in school. I was never pushed to even try out. Perhaps being raised without a male figure in my life was the reasoning behind this. I was introduced to the gym in my late twenties and although I have stuck with it over the years now, there was never a drive, a purpose, or a reason. I just did it as I felt it kept me in shape. I later moved into a brief mixed martial arts stint and felt like that I had reached a new goal. There was a drive to be better, hell to beat the other man. Years of that training did not do a body good. I managed to sustain some good injuries along the way that now deem it necessary to make the gym routine an adventure. Still, where is the drive...the reason? I believe anyone in my position has tried fad diets, programs to reach new goals but in the end we seem left further behind than where we started.  Why do I do this? I am 38 years old. I will never play college ball or a professional sport, I will never fight again. I will never be a cover model to a magazine. I guess my point is that there doesn't have to be a drive or a reason. I do it because it feels good to set a goal and to pass it. I enjoy being broke down and knowing I have done something the average Joe could not. That is my drive. I have learned over the last few weeks that the "gym" sucks...and that this whole belief that you have to be in a gym doing the same vanilla workouts to achieve goals is a lie. Consider a wild mustang in a fenced area. Yeah he could run about but there is never the chance to be free. To let loose and run at top speed. To use what God gave him. The same goes for us. We need to break out of the maze and let loose. Use the machine God gave us to its full potential. There is so much there, so much untapped ability that is slowly dying in your cubicle, behind your steering wheel, on your couch. Get the hell up and do something. We are a connected society, I say disconnect. Go off the beaten trail and explore. There is a world out there that is passing you by. 

A WOD in the park...

This actually looked a lot harder on paper then it turned out to be. I had to sub the HSPU and the ring push-ups but pushed through this. A time of under 24 mins is good in my book. I had a goal of under 30 mins so I knocked that one out the park.

The WOD:

200 m run

21 pullups

21 lunges

21 squat jumps

200 m run

15 pullups

15 lunges

15 squat jumps

200 m run

9 pullups

9 lunges

9 squat jumps

200 m run

21 hspu

21 situps

21 ring pushups

200 m run

15 hspu

15 situps

15 ring pushups

200 m run

9 hspu

9 situps

9 ring pushups

200 m run

Video of the day

I am going to try to post a new video here each day for a little motivation. This one sums it up quite nicely.

Gym WOD

Took to the gym today to try a WOD I came up with. I shall call it the "Donald".

21-15-9 reps for time of:

bodyweight bench press

pull-ups

135lb squats

The first round went nice and strong. Bench was a full set with no rack and pull-ups were a 15-6 split. Squats were no problem. I should have went with a body weight squat to really push myself and next time I will. The second round was good until the 10th rep on the bench. I barely got the weight racked as my arms were giving out. I had to wait for my friend to come back to spot me the last 5. Good advice here, ALWAYS have a spotter. Finished the final round at 12 mins 34 secs. Now I believe I could have shaved a couple minutes off that if I would have kept a spotter the whole time but you live and you learn. Its funny how I have been herded into thinking that there was only one way to workout and now that my eyes are open I look for other ways to achieve goals, to push myself and to basically get out there.

Run Forrest, run

This my friends has been the hardest WOD I have done to date. I really pushed myself to finish this. I wanted to quit the burpees so many times but I got it done and felt like I was going to fall out.

The WOD went like this

Three rounds for time of:
20 L-pull-ups
30 Toes to bar
40 Burpees
Run 800 meters

I sub'd  tuck pull-ups for the L's but completed the rest. This WOD really pushed me. The final round of burpees was splits in 5's and 10's. It hurt but I am glad I knocked it out. I finished with a time of 45 mins 30 secs. Not great but still I am happy I finished.

Burpees!!! Yayyy!

Today was not fun as I have been introduced to burpees and I do not like them, no sir not at all.

3 rounds for time:

135lbs, hang power cleans, 15 reps

15 burpees

I got through the first round of cleans with 135lbs but scaled this down for 2nd and 3rd rounds to 95lbs. I have come to understand that burpees are fun and by fun I mean nails on a chalkboard scratching out a Ted Nugent solo. Finished with a sub 15min time.

Back in the gym

I really need to get my hands on some good gear. I have found that I look forward less and less going "in" to the gym now. I really like being outside and completing the WOD's but that being said, as I did not have a medicine ball for todays workout I took my workout inside.

The workout goes like this...

50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

10 Muscle-ups

40 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

8 Muscle-ups

30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

6 Muscle-ups

20 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

4 Muscle-ups

10 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

2 Muscle-ups

Now the gym only has a 10lb medicine ball so I had to use that. I got some funny looks from the other members as I started into the workout. There is no where in my gym to do a muscleup so I sub'd 3 pullups-1 dip for each muscleup. I am beginning to loathe pullups. The last few pullups were brutal and I was also thankful for the 10lb medicine ball towards the end. I finished with a time of 17:55. I am glad today is a rest day. 

Tabata This

Well my friends, another week in the bag and a new one upon us. Took to the park to take on the Tabata This WOD. From reading up on this and watching a few videos, I knew I was in for a ride.

The workout goes like this:

Tabata Row

Rest 1 minute

Tabata Squat

Rest 1 minute

Tabata Pull-up

Rest 1 minute

Tabata Push-up

Rest 1 minute

Tabata Sit-up

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.

Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is “calories”.

Seeing as I was outside and didnt have the option for the row or the sub, I had to skip the first part of this workout. I brought my friend Dan along for the ride and gave him the honor of going first. 

Squat

Rd 1 (21), rd 2 (21), rd 3 (21), rd 4 (20), rd 5 (22), rd 6 (21), rd 7 (21), rd 8 (22)

Pushups

Rd 1 (26), rd 2 (21), rd 3 (10), rd 4 (5), rd 5 (4), rd 6 (5), rd 7 (4), rd 8 (4)

Situps

Rd 1 (13), rd 2 (11), rd 3 (9), rd 4 (10), rd 5 (8), rd 6 (8), rd 7 (8), rd 8 (8)

Pullups

Rd 1 (4), rd 2 (3), rd 3 (2), rd 4 (2), rd 5 (1), rd 6 (2), rd 7 (2), rd 8 (2)

341 reps Tabata score of 34

My times and scores

Squat

Rd 1 (24), rd 2 (22), rd 3 (23), rd 4 (20), rd 5 (21), rd 6 (20), rd 7 (20), rd 8 (18)

Pushups

Rd 1 (24), rd 2 (23), rd 3 (15), rd 4 (10), rd 5 (8), rd 6 (7), rd 7 (6), rd 8 (7)

Situps

Rd 1 (13), rd 2 (13), rd 3 (12), rd 4 (9), rd 5 (7), rd 6 (7), rd 7 (8), rd 8 (8)

Pullups

Rd 1 (10), rd 2 (6), rd 3 (4), rd 4 (5), rd 5 (4), rd 6 (4), rd 7 (3), rd 8 (3)

384 reps and Tabata score of 34

This was an intense workout. I really enjoyed pushing myself and the 10 seconds between rounds just flat out sucked. Good times indeed. 

A few days off...

Well Took a few days off to do some lifting this week in the gym. I missed throwing some weight around and wanted to see how much strength I had lost since I have started this CrossFit. I have to say I was impressed by my strength levels but the thing I kept thinking through the whole workout was where is the sweat, the bending over grabbing knees want to lay down beat down feeling? Yeah, I missed it! So yesterday I talked a friend, Dan, into joining me down at the park where I run to do the "deck of cards" WOD. I really felt like this was not going to be that bad. Well today my body is telling me whole different story! 

The WOD goes like this:

Take a deck of shuffled cards. Face cards are 10, Aces are 11, and numbered are worth value. 

Hearts - pushups

Diamonds - pullups

Spades - situps

Clubs - squats

Joker - run a mile

Good times to say the least. The first joker came early on and we ran a strong sub 9 minute mile. Then it seemed as if the pullup gods frowned upon me and my weak self. It was as if every card was a diamond. I hated that stack of cards by the end. The second joker came with 7 cards left in the deck and as we started the run I could feel the body saying please sit down by this lovely tree and contemplate the meaning of ohh lets say gravity... Well I pushed on and I had to take a few times to walk then pick up the jog again. I could really feel the pullups in my arms and back. We finished the run and the last 7 cards and I was spent. Another great WOD and good company in Dan. I was really impressed with Dan as he pushed himself through this workout. I believe he liked the pullups as much as I did and by like I mean Id rather be audited by the IRS.

Sunday funday

Well my friend Frank joined me today for a nice little WOD. Run 1 mile, row 2000 meters and then run another mile for time. I have to say I was still tight from the deadlift extravaganza the other day but did some stretching and felt like I would be ok. Well I knocked out my first mile at around 9 mins, not a horrible pace considering the shape of my legs and lower back. I then turn around and realized why I hate my gym...50 pieces of cardio equipment and only one rowing machine and guess what piece of equipment was being used....uggh. So I had to sit and wait almost 20 mins for pops to get off the machine. Finally knocked out the 2000 meters and my lower back loved me for that. Jumped on the treadmill for the final mile and pushed hard for a sub-10 min and came close. Finished the WOD with a time of about 28 mins. Frank smashed it with a time of about 25 mins. He was a beast on the final 500 meters of the row and runs like a horse on the treadmill. A good way to start our Sunday mornings.

I hate that WOD

My ass feels like a truck hit it...I hate deadlifts and by hate I mean a deep rooted sincere hatred.

Yesterday's journey into a can of whoop ass...

Yesterdays workout was great. I feel as a truck has hit me this morning. A good sore. Sick isnt it? I managed a time of 23m 36sec and I really am sore all over today. Havent slept that good in awhile.

Ten rounds for time of:
135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
15 push-ups