Try to be Better Than You Were Yesterday

Today's workout I had the dreaded DNF.  Does it suck?  HELL YEAH it does.  But, it beats passing out.  If anyone has pushed their limits to where they get light headed when they work out, then you know what I am talking about.  I think it was a combination of pushing myself and maybe not eating enough for breakfast.  Today's breakfast I had a protein shake and 2 pieces of Ezekial toast (it's an organic bread) with almond butter.

Here was today's WOD: 30-25-20-15-10-5 pull ups
                                        10-20-30-40-50-60 jumping squats
                                        25 min. and some change, DNF during the 50 jumping squats

Jumping squats suck, especially that many.  And to top it off, my legs still hurt pretty bad from Weds., so they especially sucked.  My legs felt like lead today.  As for the pull ups, I did the first set pretty much rx'd, but then I switched to jumping pull ups for the rest.  When I got to 40 jumping squats, I started to get a little light headed when I would rest.  I made it through those and went on to the next round.  I was still getting light headed during the 50 squats, so I decided that it was in my best interest to stop.  So, I didn't finish the workout, but I know that I pushed myself to my limits today.  I'm ok with that.  DNF sucks, but there is always tomorrow.  That's the main thing, try to be a little better each day.

Sometimes You Need to Listen

After doing the Turkish Get Ups and OH walking lunges, me legs have been killing me.  My body is sore from pushing it the last 2 days.  Today when I got off work, I was going to do a quick workout before I had to go to court.  I had about 30 min. for a warm up and WOD.  As I began warming up, my body was aching.  My legs were sore, to the point where I could feel the lactic acid build up in my legs with each step.  It was that soreness you get when you haven't worked out a part of your body for awhile.  The rest of my body was pretty fatigued and sore too.  Combine that with the 12 + hour day I had at work, and I was a  hurting man.  I decided to listen to my body and take today off and work on a few movements.

I decided that I would practice my snatch today.  So I put 65 lbs. on the bar and did a few sets, practicing my form and explosiveness.  After that, I decided to continue my work on hand stand pushups.  I was able to do a few 5 second holds in the hand stand position today.  This was an improvement from last time.  The thing that I learned today was you can't always keep going and going.  You can have a set schedule for your workouts and stick to it, but sometimes you need to listen to your body instead.  And today, that is what I did.

Group suffering is so much better

The great thing about Crossfit is that you can do it on your own.  The workouts are posted online, I know how to do the exercises, and I have a free gym at my work.  But something was still missing.  It was the competitive aspect of it all.  I don't have a problem pushing myself to do the workouts.  The problem is when you do it by yourself, you may rest a little longer or not push yourself quite as hard.  That is the best part about going to a Crossfit gym, the atmosphere and community.

Today I went and joined a great gym today, Crossfit Cleveland.  It is in Lakewood and right down the street from work for me.  They have classes that I can attend pretty much every day.  Today reminded me why I get so much more from working out with a group then by myself.  I can't make any excuses.  The other people in the class cheer you on, making you want to give it just that little bit extra that you wouldn't if you were training by yourself.  There is something about suffering in a group that doesn't make it suck so bad because there are other people going through the same thing with you.  And there is always someone there to make sure your form is correct, which is extremely important to prevent injury.  I also like that I don't have to think.  I just show up and whatever is on the board, I just have to do it.  I can't wait to see the results in 8 weeks, when I go for my certification.

Today's WOD:
3 turkish get ups (google it, plenty of videos on you tube) with 1 arm, then 3 push press, then 12 walking overhead lunges (holding the weight straight up over your head and doing walking lunges).  Then you switch arms and do the same thing all over.  Take a 1-2 min. rest between sets and repeat for 5 rds.

It was the first time for me doing turkish get ups, which are a great core exercise.  My rds. were 20 lbs, 15,15,20,25.  Then the cool down:
33 jumping squats
33 jumping ball slams
33 jumping squats

A Step Towards the Dream

Today I took my first step towards my dream of opening up a box.  I signed up for my Level 1 Crossfit Certification.  It is the end of Sept. in Ann Arbor, MI.  Being Level 1 certified means that I can teach Crossfit and more importantly, need it to become an affiliate.  I am nervous and excited at the same time.  Will I be ready?  Will I pass the test?

The certification is 10 weeks away.  I now have a timeline for my goal.  I am hoping to go to the certification about 20-30 lbs. lighter than what I am now.  That means busting my ass and making it happen.  It is a little scary to think that in only 10 weeks, I will be 1 step closer to what I have been working for.  I know it is going to be 2 days that are well worth it in the long run and I can't wait to be there.

2 WODS, 14 hrs. apart

I could only imagine how hard it is for people that do 2 to 3 workouts in a day.  I squeezed in my workouts for wed. and thurs. in to 14 hrs.  I went in to work an hour early to complete the first WOD.  It looked a lot easier on the board then it really was.  It called for 21-15-9 reps of the following:  double unders, thrusters w/95lbs, ab mat sit ups, burpee box jumps and slam balls w/16 lbs.  The double unders are easy for me, so those weren't a problem.  Neither were the thrusters.  It was the burpee box jumps that suck.  I hate burpees to begin with, but adding a box jump with each one makes me hate them even more.  I managed to push my way through in 25 min. and some change.  Then it was time for work, 12 hour shift.

After I was done working, I headed to the gym at work for my Thurs. workout.  It was Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (SDLHP) for max effort. 1-1-1-1-1 reps.  First set was 155, pretty easy.  I jump to 185 and fail.  Try it again, got it.  Now 190.  First time fail, second time I got the rep.  I was pretty happy with that.  So for a quick workout after, I decided that I would do 250 kettlebell swings with a 35lb. kettlebell.  That sucked.  It took me 17:55.  Not too bad.  I had wanted to stay under 20 min. and I accomplished that goal.  Now it was time to head home and rest.

How's your Snatch?

How is your snatch?  That is something you have to ask yourself before performing the olympic lift.  Today's workout called for power snatches, which is lifting the bar from the ground to overhead, without a full squat.  Form and technique are more important on this lift then the amount of weight.  Once your form becomes second nature, strength gains will happen.  But it is the technique that prevents injury.  You can't let your ego get in the way of what people will think if you don't have a ton of weight on the bar.  I was fortunate enough to find Crossfit Hardcore when I was in FL.  They always made sure that technique and form took priority over weight.  This allowed me to become comfortable with the olympic lifts.

Here is today's WOD:

5 rounds

10 Power Snatch-105 lbs

200 m run

20 push ups

It took me 22 min. 58 sec.  It was a great workout.  I got some strange looks at the gym from people that spend more time talking then working out, but I don't have time to worry about that.  I was just trying to finish my workout.

This is a video of a proper Power Snatch

A Little Rain Never Hurt Anybody

This morning when I woke up, it was raining.  I had wanted to do a track workout concentrating on sprints.  I could have easily said, "Forget it, I don't want to run in the rain."  But it wasn't raining that hard and a little rain never hurt anybody.

In my line of work, I need to be able to sprint.  So today I decided to do a track workout that concentrated on sprinting.  I had done this workout a long time ago back when I was in college and I really liked it.  It started with a 1/2 mile warm up run.  Now on to the fun stuff.  2x400 m sprints, 4x200 m sprints, and then 6x100 m sprints.  The warm up took me 5 min., not too bad.  My goal was to keep the 400's under 2 min, 200's under 1 min, and the 100's under 20 sec.  My first 400 was 2 min. exactly.  The second one was 2:13.  The 200's were 56 sec, 58 sec, 56 sec, and 58 sec.  Nice!  And now the 100's.  All but 1 of my first 5 were 20 sec. with 1 being 21 sec.  My last one I knew that I wanted sub 20 sec, so I gave it my all.  17 sec. I'll take it.  The workout was over after about 45 min.  It was a great workout.  There was also a 200-300lb tractor tire at the track.  What a better way to cool down then do 120 yards of tire flips for time.  8 min. 16 sec.  Done!

Today's workout was awesome.  And the light rain during the majority of the workout was actually pretty refreshing.

Completely Wrecked

That is how I felt during and after my workout.  Today was much better than yesterday.  I was not the recipient of a DNF again.  It took me longer than I wanted, but I finished.  The workout today had 3 of my better/favorite exercises-Power Cleans, Double Unders (2 revolutions of the jump rope every time you jump), and Kettlebell Swings.  I was hoping to complete the workout in about 35 minutes, but I'll take the 42:35 from today.  The workout was as follows:

Power Cleans-Dubs-KB Swings
5-15-25
10-15-20
15-15-15
20-15-10
25-15-5
20-15-10
15-15-15
10-15-20
5-15-20

95 Lbs. was Rx'd for the Power Cleans and 53 Lbs. for the Swings

This workout wrecked me.  I was smoked after.  It took me about a half hour to gather my bearings and return to a normal state....I love that feeling

DNF

Did Not Finish.  Those are the 3 letters you never want next to your name as a Crossfitter.  Today I had a big, fat DNF.  The workout wasn't that bad, but I think the lack of working out these past few weeks combined with my crappy diet lately are 2 big contributing factors.  I was going along during my workout and when I got on the treadmill for the run portion, I started to get light headed and didn't feel good.  That was when I knew it was time to call it quits.  After a 3 week layoff, it was too much too soon.

My diet has been put back on track.  I will probably do some other activities tonight, like walk the dog and take a bike ride.  That is the big thing with Crossfit.  It promotes a healthy lifestyle.  You can't just workout and eat a crap diet.  Your entire lifestyle needs to be healthy to make you the best you.

Today's workout:
3 Rds.
30 reps 75 lb. squat clean
30 pushups
1/2 mile (800 m) run

I did 1 round then DNF.  That will not happen again!

3 rounds

That was my workout today, 3 rounds.  3 rounds of jump rope, 3 rounds of shadow boxing, 3 rounds of the heavy bag, and 3 rounds of the double end ball.  12 rounds total.  Each round is 3 minutes, followed by 1 minute of rest.  48 total minutes.  My goal is to continue with the 3 rounds of everything this month, and then bump it up to 4 rounds next month and 5 rounds in Sept.

I will be working out after work tonight, at 3 am.  I have found it easiest to just bring my clothes with me and force myself to go to the gym after work.  Once I warm up, the tiredness goes away and I wake up.  After the holiday weekend and a little too much indulging, today was just what I needed.  Now it is off to work to plan my workout for tomorrow morning.