Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 4/14

Uh, wow. WOD number two on the day and it was a long, heavy grinder.

WOD #2: 3 rounds for time
1000m row
800m run
30 body weight dead lifts - 90 kg (198#)

Score/ Time: 28:15
Calories burned (WOD only): 731

This one was all legs and lungs. My legs were already smoked, I knew I was going to have dig in and get through it.

I got after I with a good friend (and excellent crossfitter), Jim. He's about 6'6", 220 pounds and a beast on the erg. He's really powerful and can get so much out of one stroke. I would have been sandbagging on the erg if he wasn't there. He was off the rower before me each round, but I caught up to him on the run each round. I ended up beating him by just under a minute.

Anything I had left after the row and the run was zapped by the dead lifts, my ass was on fire. I got inspired on the last round of dead lifts and somehow finished that last set unbroken. It was a great mental victory.

In retrospect I think I could have run a little harder but who knows. I was pushing hard but there were times when I might have been holding back In order to save some energy for the rest of the workout.

Well, I'm updating this from the airport, about to leave on my trip and my plane is about to board. I gotta run, I'll be back next Friday.

Out Of The Country

Just a heads up, I'll be leaving on a little vacay tomorrow (Thursday) for 7 or 8 days.

I doubt I'll have access to a computer but I'll be writing all my WOD's down and entering them when I get back. I'm not really going to try to make time to enter them via my iPhone or anything. I'm going to enjoy this time away in far away lands.

I'm taking my jump rope and my rings with me and I plan to do at least one WOD a day. I'll throw in a few two-a-days, but only a few.

I'll be working with mostly body weight so that means lots of hand stand push ups, v-ups, ring dips, squats, pull ups, burpees, something to box jump onto, muscle ups and double unders etc. I see lots of hill running and sprinting intervals mixed in as well. I'm sure I'll be able to find a heavy rock or log and do some cleans, presses, over head lunges and things of that nature.

So far a few I've got pre-planned are: 30 muscle ups for time; 100 push ups, 100 squats, 100 burpees; lots of tabata stuff; 15x10-15 second sprint, 20 seconds rest.

And I'll have plenty of time on the plane to drum up some other goodies.

If you've got any ideas for me for workouts that can be done in nature (in the jungle/on a beach) just leave them in a comment below. Thanks and I'll be back on Fridaym, 4/23.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Box Jumps & WOD #1 w/ vest - 4/14

Damn, my hamstrings are so tight this morning. After every time we do good mornings my hammies are barking at me for days. This time was no different. I even started feeling them tighten up yesterday afternoon. I did a lot of stretching last night with a band and I'm sure it helped, it just doesn't feel like it.

Our focus this morning was box jumps. We worked with sets of 3 building up to a max height. I just listed my final height below, I didn't measure any of the other sets.

Focus: box jumps, sets of 3
1x3 - 48 inches

This was really fun. Everybody in the gym got behind one another was cheering everybody on. I had no idea how high I was going to be able to get so this was surprising, and it felt kind of effort less. I know I could have broken 50 inches today, just ran out of time.

WOD w/12# vest: AMRAP in 10 minutes of
10 wall ball shots - 10'/20#
5 frog jumps - 20# med ball
10 v-ups

Finisher (no vest): 400m farmer's walk with one, 32 Kg kettle bell per hand.

Score/Time: 13 full rounds, 9 wall ball shots
Calories burned (including focus, WOD & finisher): 644

The frog jump is where you hold the medicine ball over your head and do a squat jump. This WOD was a quad killer for sure. There was about 10 minutes left in the class so I went out for a walk around the block, it was a beautiful morning. As usual the farmer's walk smashed my grip.

But that's good, I need it to get stronger. WOD #2 coming up tonight.

Fitness - Good Mornings & WOD w/ vest - 4/13

Holy cow, I'm am really sore from yesterday. I think the second WOD I did in the afternoon compounded on heavy "Helen" really took it's tole. My traps on down to my calves, everything was sore and stiff this morning.

Focus: Good mornings, light weight, more reps
1x10 - 40 Kg (88.2#)
3x8 - 45 Kg (99.2#)

This is a great supplementary strength move for your glutes and hamstrings. Thus an awesome way to increase your dead lifts and squats of all variations. I don't do good mornings often enough.

WOD w/12# vest: In a teams of 5, 3 rounds for time of
250m row
10 knees to elbows
20 dumbbell push press - 40# dumbbells
20 full kettle bell swings - 24 Kg bell
20 ring push ups

Score/Time: 17:51
Calories burned (Including focus & WOD): 582

This felt like a good bit of work but there was too much rest built in for me. Because we couldn't move on to the next exercise until the rower was done (and I was on a team with 4 girls/women), there was a lot of time spent waiting for the rower to be done.

To get around all the rest I just hit it really hard when I wasn't resting. I kept my pace on the rower under the 1:35/500m mark and I went unbroken on everything except my last set of ring push ups. The weighted vest had a hand in me having to split it up into a set of 10, and two sets of 5.

Overall it was good and I was tired when it was over. I look forward to a lot of sleep tonight and another two-a-day tomorrow.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 4/12

Today's WOD was one from one of the other sectionals, not quite sure. But I was excited to get after it. It seemed like a bunch of random stuff just to beat you up, which is exactly what it did.

WOD #2: AFAP
35 sumo dead lift high pulls - 43 Kg (95#)
50 box jumps - 24"
35 push press - 43 Kg (95#)
50 air squats
35 toes to bar
50 full kettle bell swings - 24 Kg bell
35m walking lunge - one 24kg bell per hand
50 burpees

Score/Time: 17:17
Calories burned (WOD only): 432

Damn, this was killer. I expected to get a little bit of a faster time but this was tough. I knew the 50 burpee finisher was going to suck and would take me around 3 minutes just to finish those.

My grip was pretty spent after the toes to bar, then it was really torn up after the swings and holding onto the bells during the lunges was brutal.

Needless to say, I was happy when I was done.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Weighted Pull-Ups/Dips & Heavy "Helen" (WOD #1) - 4/12

Today's focus was a super set of weighted dips, which I hit up on the rings, and pull ups.

Focus: 3x3, heavy cross sets of weighted ring dips and pull ups
Dips
3x3 - 48 Kg added

Pull Ups
2x3 - 24 Kg added
1x3 - 32 Kg added

I felt good here even though I barely got my chin above the bar on my third set of pull ups. The dips were heavy as well, I focused even with the heavy weight on getting complete full range of motion. Especially at the top, really posting up through the upper back and shoulders to get a solid lock out.

WOD w/12# vest: "Helen", is 3 rounds for time of:
400m run
21 kettle bell swings - 24 Kg (I used 32 Kg bell)
12 Pull ups

Score/Time: 8:25
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 637

I wore the weighted vest and went heavier on the swings, earning the Rx+ mark on the white board. The vest certainly made things interesting, I didn't feel it much on the swings, but it was hard to overcome on the running portion.

I've gotten pretty dang good/efficient with the butterfly kip and 12 isn't that many so I didn't have too much trouble with them. I had the first two sets unbroken and was on my way to all three sets unbroken but my grip failed me on rep 10 of the last set. My left hand slipped off the bar and I had to shake it out for a breath and finish the last 3 reps.

I was pretty stoked on my time, my Helen time if I follow the standard Rx is a sub 8, and this wasn't too far off. So, I'm happy.

I've got another workout this evening and i'm feeling great, so i'm ready to get after it.

Fitness - 1 Rep Max Snatch PR & 1 Rep Max Clean & Jerk PR - 4/10

To round out this de-loading week I got after some serious strength work. I really wanted to find out where some of my olympic lifts were at so I set my sights on new PR's in both the snatch and the clean & jerk

Snatch: Work up to 1 rep max
1x1 - 100 Kg (220.5#)
1x1 - 105 Kg (231.5#)
1x1 - 107 Kg (235.9#)

I am totally stoked on these numbers. I used to struggle with 90 Kg, this was a massive effort. I had the whole gym behind me and It was an awesome feeling when I nailed it. Scott gave me a ton of coaching throughout the session and helped a great deal.

I failed at 105 Kg once before getting it the second try and I failed at 107 Kg twice before getting it on the third, I was riding pretty high after I stood it up.

Clean & Jerk: Work up to 1 rep max
1x1 - 120 Kg (264.5#)
1x1 - 125 Kg (275.6#)
1x1 - 128 Kg (282.2#)

Calories burned during snatches and clean & jerks: 599

I feel great about this effort as well. I feel like I had a little more in the tank and could have gotten 130 or 131 Kg's but i didn't want to push it. I wanted to end the day on a good note with a successful lift. Plus, I was spent after the kettle bell work and all the snatches. My shoulders were feeling it pretty tough.

I failed at 128 before getting it the second time. It was a matter of not driving the jerk hard enough and then not getting underneath it deep enough. I felt really good on the cleans though, which I expected. My 1 rep clean max is currently 141 Kg.

Fitness - Level 2 Skills Class - 4/10

Level 2 Skills class
Today in the level 2 skills class there was no gymnastics or strength work. Instead, Dave gave us a kettle bell workshop. It was incredibly beneficial.

We set up two lines of kettle bells that progressed in weight starting at 12 Kg, then 16Kg, 20Kg, 24Kg, then the 32 Kg bells.

He had us start off with one two handed swings and work through the line (up to the heaviest weight that you could do with good form, or were comfortable doing). Then one handed swings followed by single arm kettle bell clean, then two arm kettle bell clean. Each time we went down the line he'd spend a little time tweaking or giving pointers if needed.

We then did two arm clean and jerks and moved on to two arm full squat clean and jerks. And finally the last movement we did down the line was the kettle bell snatch.

When we started each movement at the light weights, the point was to really work your form and not just throw it around because you could. That way when you get to the heavier bells, you're more efficient and it's a much more fluid movement.

After a lot of kettle bell work, I always feel really good. My whole body feels worked yet not destroyed. I don't know, i just feel like everything is in line. I can only relate it to how I feel after a yoga session. It just feels good!

clories burned during level 2 skills class: 882

Fitness - Annie, Dead Lifts & WOD - 4/09

I woke up feeling the rope climbs today. My back and grip is pretty sore, which is a good thing.

I got to the gym a little early to continue work on my double unders. I hit up "Annie" (50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of double unders and sit ups) un-timed.

Focus: Snatch grip dead lifts with chains, 5x3 cross sets
2x3 - 120 Kg (264.5#)
3x3 - 150 Kg (330.7#)

My hook grip is still struggling. I keep on being told that it's one of those things where the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. But it's not happening yet with me. It still is uncomfortable and hurts a little but i'll keep at it.

WOD: AMRAP in 12 minutes of
1 sumo deadlift high pull - 52 Kg (115#)
1 ring push up
1 hanging ankles to bar
2 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
2 ring push up
2 hanging ankles to bar
3 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
3 ring push up
3 hanging ankles to bar
4 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
4 ring push up
4 hanging ankles to bar
5 sdlhp - 52 Kg (115#)
5 ring push up
5 hanging ankles to bar

Score/Time: 4.2 rounds (finished through the 2's of round 5)
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 602

I feel good about this. I like progressions like this and I went pretty much non stop as fast as I could. I really focused on wasting no time between transitions, which worked pretty well. I went from each exercise to the next and got to work.

I've got the level 2 class tomorrow and some strength work planned. I'm going to try to go for a 1 rep clean and jerk max, 1 rep snatch and if i've got enough in the tank, a 1 rep max clean.

After that i've got a short/heavy strength focused WOD planned: 3, 2, 1 of clean & jerks at 110 or 120 Kg's and snatches at 80 or 85 Kg's. Stay tuned for that.

Fitness - Strict Press & Rope Climb, L-Sits, Hip Bridges - 4/08

Today was a active rest kind of day in the gym, sort of.

Focus: Strict press
1x21 - 52 Kg (115#)
1x15 - " "
1x9 - " "

My shoulders stung a little after this, I felt the burn pretty bad.

WOD: 5 rounds un-timed of
2 rope climbs
8 hip bridges - 75 Kg (165#)
2x20 sec. l-sit (20 seconds on, 40 seconds off)

Score/Time: N/A
Calories burned (Including focus & WOD): 487

I wanted to get some glute/hamstring work in so I hit up the hip bridges, the rope climb was because I wanted to get some back work in. The l-sits I threw in Just for some core work, and I really want to get good at them.

I moved through this one with some purpose but wasn't going all out. I say it was an active rest day because I wanted to focus on some supplementary strength stuff (l-sits and hip bridges) but then there were the rope climbs, which was the real work out of this WOD.

Fitness - Overhead Squats, Push/Split Jerk, Front Squats - 4/07

Another night of great sleep. I logged 9.5 hours last night, and I am feeling the benefits again this morning.

I was excited for a strength focused day and to get under some heavy weight.

I first hit up some foam roller action and a nice long warm up/stretching session. For me to go heavy with overhead squats I need to really make sure my shoulders are warmed up and loose. Lots of mobility work and many warm up sets before I get into it.

Work:
Overhead Squats, sets of 3
1x3 90 Kg (198.4#)
2x3 100 Kg (220.5#)
1x3 107 Kg (235#)

Split Jerks, sets of 3
1x3 107 Kg (235.9#)
1x3 113 Kg (249.1#)
2x3 120 Kg (264.5#)

Front Squats, sets of 3
1x3 130 Kg (286.6#)
1x3 135 Kg (297.6#)
1x3 143 Kg (315.3#)
1x3 148 Kg (326#)

I felt great at all of these weights. My over head squat has come leaps and bounds from where it was. I've got way more confidence in my jerk to throw heavier weight over head. And my fronts are steadily improving as well.

I need to throw in strength fochsed days more often. I think i'll have a cleans and snatches setion with Scott either Friday or Saturday. I'm pumped to try to put up some big numbers.

Fitness - Windmills/Turkish Get Ups & Tabata Tuesday - 4/06

I went to bed really early last night and got a ton of sleep. I woke up feeling awesome. My legs felt fresh as I bounced out the door.

Today we did a lot of active stretching and warmed up with some kettle bell exercises.

Focus: Windmill's & Turkish get ups, work up to heaviest weight possible
Windmills - 2, 32 Kg kettle bells (one in each hand)
Turkish get ups - 44 Kg's added

I felt great after loosening up with these movements. They do well to get your whole body involved and get the blood flowing.

WOD: Tabata Tuesday,
Air Squats
Dumbbell push press - 30# dumbbells
Kettle bell swings - 32 Kg bell
Push ups

Score/Time: Squats-155(20), PP-143(19), KB Swings-97(12), PU's-91(10)
Calories burned (including warm up & WOD): 630

The total rep score for each exercise is there along with the tabata score, which is in the parentheses. The tabata score is the lowest amount of reps in any given round per each movement.

This was another one that is right up my alley for this week. Relatively low volume, low impact body weight stuff. It was definitely enough to make me feel like I got some work in, but not too much to do any damage.

Tomorrow's another day and I plan on getting in some mad strength work.

Fitness - Back Squat & WOD - 4/05

My upper back and legs are still sore from "Karabel" on Saturday. I'm for sure ready to take it easy this week and focus on strength work. I've got no two-a-days this week having just gotten beat down by three/week in the past two weeks. I'm taking it light-ish (no weight vest with WOD's) this week before hitting another heavy cycle. Also, I've been going heavier than the Rx with every WOD so far so I plan on doing the WOD's this week but staying at the Rx and cruising through them.

Focus: Back squat, 5x5
1x5 - 110 Kg (242.5#)
1x5 - 135 Kg (297.6#)
1x5 - 150 Kg (330.7#)
1x5 - 160 Kg (352.7#)
1x5 - 165 Kg (363.7#)

This felt pretty heavy, it took a few heavy warm up sets to wake my legs up. Pretty stoked on this effort though.

WOD: 3 separate timed intervals of
50 wall balls - 20#/10'
2 minutes rest

Score/Time: R1-1:22, R2-1:26, R3-1:25
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 621

After Saturday's "Karabel" workout, more wall balls was the last thing I wanted to see. But it actually wasn't that bad. I got all three sets unbroken without too much trouble.

Dave was quick to throw the weight vest on me but I had to remind him that we had a "taking it easy. . . ish" (his words) week planned.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Classes, WOD's #1 & #2 - 4/03

Level 2 Skills Class:
We started the level 2 skills class with some warm up rowing and stretching. We then got into some glute/hamstring work. Trying to exhaust and stretch out the back of the legs so they would give us less resistance later, when we worked l-sits.

So we started with hip bridges building up in weight. Then onto some weighted step ups and then the worst of all. I'm not sure what to call it but you are on your knees sitting upright and your partner is holding down your ankles. You then lower yourself to the floor as slow as possible. When you fail, you do a push up and with a straight body, pull yourself back upright with your hamstrings. This last one induces cramps almost 100% of the time, it hurts.

Our l-sit work was tough. Especially having done about 250 v-ups the day before, my abs were super sore. We did 15 second l-sit holds on parallettes for 5 minutes (15 seconds on, rest of the minute to rest). Then we did 3 minutes of 20 second l-sit holds, with the remainder of the minute to rest.

I couldn't hold it during the 20 second intervals because my abs were killing. I had to ditch the l-sit and just go to as high a tuck as possible.

With the rest of the level 2 class time the three of us got after a little 10 minute AMRAP where only the number of kettle bell snatches was your score. Most snatches wins!

WOD #1: AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
100m farmer's walk - 32 Kg kettle bells
Kettle bell snatches - 24 Kg bell
Row for calories

Score/Time: 75
Calories burned (during entire class): 820

It broke down like this: There was one of us at each station and the person doing the farmer's walk was the time keeper. So as soon as he got back to the gym, we'd all rotate (walker to snatches, snatcher to rowing, rower to walking).

There was just enough time so that everybody got through a full three rounds. It was a nice little met-con.


Level 2 Met-Con Class:
We got after a tough one today in the Level 2 met-con class. As my third two-a-day this week I knew it was going to hurt.

Scott had "Karabel" in mind for us today. Karabel is a mash-up of "Karen" (150 wall balls for time) and "Isabel" (30 Snatches for time).

WOD #2: "Karabel" is 10 rounds for time of
3 Snatches (ground to overhead) - 61 Kg (135#)
15 wall balls

Score/Time: 10:28
Calories burned (including warm up & WOD): 663

I'll be happy to not do this one again for a while, It was brutal. Fun, but honestly brutal. I was trying for a sub 10 minute time but that was not going to happen. An average of 1 minute per round would have been hard to keep up if I were fresh.

I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow and a de-loading week next week. I'll be doing mostly strength work and no two-a-days, that's for sure. Two weeks of three two-a-days/week has taken it's toll.

Fitness - Ring Dips & WOD - 4/02

Focus: 4x8-10, weighted ring dips
4x8 - 16 Kg added

WOD: 10 rounds of:
AMRAP in 1 minute of 4 BW dead lifts, 8 v-ups
1 minute rest

Score/Time: 31 rounds
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 708

I actually went above prescribed and instead of using BW (91 Kg - 200#), I went at 105 Kg (235#). This was pretty brutal. Myself and one of the other trainers, Matt, determined that being able to hold a 3 round average per minute of work would be a pretty good effort.

We did a lot to push each other and staggered our starts (he worked while I rested and vice versa) so we could give encouragement.

Towards the end, my ass was on fire and my abs were cramping up but Matt kept me pushing hard. In the end we both ended up with 31 rounds, we both got 3.5 rounds in the first two minutes of work.

Fitness - Agility/Plyometrics & WOD w/vest - 4/01

Man, I'm super stiff from yesterday's long run. We might run a mile or two during a workout but it's broken up into 400 and 800 meters. I haven't gone and done miles a time in a while, and my legs were feeling it this morning.

Focus: Agility/Plyometrics
We started off with some speed drills and agility training with a plyo ladder, some cones and boxes. Running through various stations in groups of 3 or 4.

WOD w/12# vest: AFAP
200 air squats
150 sit ups
100 push ups
75 pull ups

Score/Time: 17:56
calories burned (including focus & WOD): 683

This took me longer than I expected. The vest probably had something to do with that. Believe it or not, what took me longest and was most debilitating was the air squats. My legs were just so stiff form yesterday, after only about 50 or so my legs felt super fatigued and I had to break them up into smaller sets.

The sit ups got pretty hard with the vest as well. The pull ups and push ups didn't really give me too much of a problem though. Overall, it was a good effort. I really worked on not wasting time transitioning and when I felt like I wanted to stop, getting 5 more reps at that movement.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 3/31

Well i guessed it. The weather was nice, so it was time to run.

Dave had plotted out a nice little 1 mile neighborhood loop for me to run, complete with a gnarly hill section.

I was to run to the start of the loop (which started about a quarter mile away from the gym), then run the loop three times then head back to the gym.

WOD:
Approx 3.5 mile run.

Score/Time: 25:32
Calories burned (WOD only): 760

It was good to get this in. I'm going to start working some longer runs more often. I found the pace wasn't that hard to keep, except for the hill section. It was long and the beginning and end of it were steep. It had my legs and ass on fire (in large part due to the 175 sdlhp's I did this morning).

I stretched and rolled out when i returned to the gym, then did a super easy 800m jog, just to cool down and work out some knots. All in all, it was good.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Kettle Bell Freestyle & Kettle Bell High-Pull Hell - 3/31

Today we started off with a nice warm up and some kettle bell work.

Focus: 10 minute kettle bell freestyle
The goal is to keep the kettle bell moving with as many different movements as you can. This was a great way to stretch out and get the entire body involved.

WOD: High-Pull Hell
100 sumo dead lift high pulls - 24 Kg (53#) kettle bell in each hand
rest same amount of time 100 sdlhp's took
50 sumo dead lift high pulls - 24 Kg (53#) kettle bell in each hand
rest same amount of time 50 sdlhp's took
25 sumo dead lift high pulls - 24 Kg (53#) kettle bell in each hand

Score/Time(s) - 100 SDLHP-3:56, 50 SDLHP-2:13, 25 SDLHP-:44
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 583

The prescribed WOD for today was a 2k row. Since I've been doing a ton of rowing I changed it up a little and went after this one with one of the coaches, Matt. Because a sumo dead lift high pull is essentially the same movement as a stroke on the rower, it seemed to be a nice twist.

It broke down as follows: This workout had a 1:1 work to rest ratio. The time it took to do your 100 sdlhp's was the exact amount of rest you had before starting the round of 50. And however long it took to get the 50, you had that much rest time before starting the round of 25.

It was pretty brutal. My body was pretty fired up after just the first round. My glutes, grip, and upper back were rocking pretty hard, which made the set of 50 a grind.

I wanted to end on a good note so I shot for getting the last round of 25 unbroken, and I got it. My ass was on fire and my arms were too, but It felt good not to have to drop the bells.

I've got another workout tonight and because there's a little break in the rainy weather today, I'm anticipating a lot of running.

Fitness - Dead Lifts & WOD w/ vest - 3/30

Had a little mis-hap this morning and locked my keys in my car. I had to hit up the 8 am class instead of the 7 am (also put me an hour late to work, shhh).

This later class had a pretty interesting affect on me, but we'll get to that later.

Focus: Dead lift, 5x5 cross sets w/ chains
2x5 - 160 Kg (352.7#)
3x5 - 175 Kg (385.8#)

Felt pretty good here. this is a continuation of training to improve my dead lift max without maxing out each time this lift comes up. So today i went on the heavy-ish side. I added the chains so it gets heavier as you pull it off the ground.

WOD w/ 12# vest:
21 thrusters - 61 Kg (135#)
21 knees to elbows
20' rope climb
15 thrusters - 60 Kg (135#)
15 knees to elbows
20' rope climb
9 thrusters - 60 Kg (135#)
9 knees to elbows
20' rope climb

Score/Time: 8:15
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 673

Ok, so remember when i said the later class had a weird effect on me? Here's why.

Usually I wake up and workout on an empty stomach, I'm just not that hungry first thing when I wake up. Today i was really hungry so I had a spoon full of almond butter and a few dried apricots. just a few hundred calories to get me going.

My metabolism must have been in overdrive because this only made me 10 times more hungry than I was. My body flew threw that little bit of nourishment and wanted more. I figured I could wait an hour or so until after my workout, then eat right away.

The only problem was that I locked my effing keys in the car so I didn't workout for another 2 hours because i had to wait for AAA to rescue me. By then I was downright starving, my stomach hurt because I was so hungry. i thought I could get away with just drinking a lot of water to trick my stomach into thinking it was full, but not so. I had absolutely no gas in the tank, and it hurt.

When i was finished, i had an insane headache and felt dizzy, severe cotton mouth and it felt like I was going to throw up. Literally, the first thing I did when I finished was hover over the garbage can for a minute or so.

I mean, this was a brutal WOD. 135# was heavy for thrusters and wearing the vest was pissing me off. It's just so uncomfortable to breathe in. It also made the rope ascents really hard, my grip was spent. And contracting my abs during the knees to elbows only made the stomach discomfort (and grip) worse.

Anyway, I've learned my lesson and from now on I'm getting up and making sure i eat something more substantial before every workout.

Fitness - Strict Press & Interval WOD - 3/29

I was happy to see that today was sort of a light day. My body is still kind of beat up from last week.

Focus: Strict press, 4x12-15, cross sets
4x15 - 47 Kg (103.6#)

This was a nice little spin on the strict press. We usually do heavy sets of 3 to 5 but this was a body building approach. about 50% of 1RM and try to bang out 4 sets of 12 to 15 reps. I was feeling the burn for sure, this kind of work stings a little bit.

WOD (no vest today): Intervals, 4 rounds of the following:
30 seconds bent over row - 43 Kg (95#) barbell
30 seconds squat jumps
30 seconds pull ups
30 seconds rest

Score/Time: 191 total reps
Calories burned (Including focus WOD & finisher): 558

This wasn't too bad. The bent over row and pull up combo was a lot on the back but overall I'm happy with the effort.

We finished things off with some medicine ball ab work. Having one partner throw the med ball either over our head, at our chest, to our left or our right side and we'd have to do a sit up and throw the ball back.

It was a nice way to ease into the week.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Classes, WOD's #1 & #2 - 3/27

Level 2 Skills Class: WOD/ work #1

We started off the class as usual with a lot of shoulder and wrist warm up as well as some hamstring stretching.

On today's menu was a lot of plange and core work. We started off with some assisted plange holds on the parallettes then rings. We cycled that with some core work where we'd stack some gym mats a body's width apart and while facing up, place your shoulders on one mat and your heels on the other, creating a bridge. Then we'd stack some plates on the stomach and hold it. After a healthy dose of that, do the same thing facing down by placing the fronts of your shoulders on the mat and your toes on the other and have plates stacked on your back.

This was a "core killer". Stomach, abs, glutes, quads, upper and lower back, everything felt engaged. Which was the point. Dave wanted us to feel what it felt like to hold tension throughout the entire body. which is basically what is required when holding a plange or any kind of lever in gymnastics.

After that we did some shoulder strength stuff with dumbbells and l-sit holds. My core and shoulders were toast.


Level 2 Met-Con Class

Today's WOD was another heavy chipper, my favorite. I was stoked to get after this one.

WOD #2: AFAP
9 bodyweight push press - 91 Kg (200's#)
10 burpee pull-ups
15 BW squat cleans - 91 Kg (200#'s)
10 burpee pull ups
21 1.5xBW deadlifts - 136 Kg (300#'s)
10 burpee pull ups

Score/Time: 8:15
Calories burned (including all work done today): 1108

This was pretty tough. The push presses went fine and the burpee pull ups surprised me a little bit. The squat cleans I took one at a time and powered through them with a good pace. The dead lifts is there I lost a lot of time. I could only get 4 or so at a time. I had no core and my legs were shot.

I'm looking forward to Sunday, my one day of rest this week.

Fitness - Turkish Get-Ups/Windmill's & WOD - 3/26

I was hoping today was going to be light, and thankfully it was. . . for the most part.

We started off the class with some kettle bell work and active stretching.

Focus: With kettle bells
Windmill's
Turkish Get-Up's

Today was pretty tough on the legs, but I was happy to see it would be a short workout.

WOD: AFAP
1 minute max dumbbell push press - 40# dumbbells
250m row
1 minute max dumbbell front squats - 40# dumbbells
250m row
1 minute max dumbbell thrusters - 40# dumbbells
250 m row

Score/Time: 6:05
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 438

My legs were pretty burned up after this one. This one was all about keeping a low split and sprinting on the row to keep your time low. Not about the number of reps with the dumbbell exercises.

The guy I was teamed up with was a collegiate rower. He was in my ear the whole time giving me a pretty good push. Thanks Jason!

I have a two-a-day planned for tomorrow with the level 2 classes and then, finally, a day of rest. 9 workouts (three two-a-days) and no rest this week has felt pretty brutal.

Nutrition - 3-26

7:55 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.
8 oz. steamed sweet potatoes & yams with cinnamon.

8:45 am
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef with bell peppers
4 large carrots
3 Tbsp mixed pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds

12:35 pm
6 oz. baked salmon
Salad - 3 cups spinach, 4 mushrooms, 3 large radishes, 1/2 cup cucumber, 1 large hothouse tomatoe.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:20 pm
3.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup walnuts

7:40 pm
3 eggs (2 yokes) scrambled, 1 large insernio's extra lean italian chicken sausage, 1/2 large bell pepper, 1/2 onion, garlic, evoo, sea salt, black pepper, 1/2 large avocado, 3 Tbsp salsa.
1 banana

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 3/25

Well, I thought Scott would pick a WOD from one of the sectionals going on but I guess he changed his mind and came up with this little gem.

WOD #2: AFAP
1000m row
10 burpees
10 handstand push ups
500m row
15 burpees
15 hspu's
250m row
20 burpees
20 hspu's

Score/Time: 13:52
Calories burned (WOD only): 368

Damn this was tough. Handstand push ups are so much harder after burpees, go figure. I got the first set of 10 unbroken, and after that it was a battle with the hspu's. I did the middle set in sets of two and three but the last set was virtually all singles. I'd do one and take three deep breathes, which provided just enough rest to get the next one.

After the hang clean/bent over row this morning. The goal for this workout was to get the heart rate zooming, then do some tough body weight stuff. I think I got plenty of volume in with this morning's workout I was glad to see this type of workout.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Front Squats & WOD #1 - 3/25

I woke up pretty sore from yesterday's workout compounded on Tuesday's two-a-day. So i went in a little early and rolled out and stretched for a long time, jogged a warm up lap and was good to go.

We started off with some wrist mobility/flexibility/strength drills then got into our focus.

Focus: Front squats, cross sets, 5x3
3x3 - 130 Kg (286.6#)
1x3 - 140 Kg (308.6#)
1x3 - 120 Kg (264.5#)

Felt pretty strong despite some stiffness in the old legs. A few weeks ago I failed going for 5 reps at 140 Kg but these three went up pretty solid. I backed it down though, I wanted to save some strength for the workout.

WOD: AMRAP in 24 minutes of
3 hang power cleans - 80 Kg (176.4#)
5 bent over rows - 20Kg kettle bells (one in each hand)

Score/Time: 32 rounds on the button
calories burned (including focus & WOD): 808

The Rx was 60 Kg but I went after it with 80 Kg. I tried a few reps at 70 Kg when we were warming up and I could feel the difference, but i didn't think it would be challenging enough towards the end. I figured it was only three reps and 80 Kg was doable.

I'm glad I gutted it out and didn't lighten the load part way through but I'm glad this one is over. The cleans weren't that bad until towards the end when I was so sweaty that it was hard to grip the bar with my hands. The bent over rows is what killed.

WOD #2 coming up this evening with Scott. It should be good, he mentioned picking one of the WOD's from some other sectional. All of which are pretty tough so we'll see what happens.

Nutrition - 3/25

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 oz. grilled chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
1 apple
3 Tbsp almond butter

12:30 pm
6 oz. broiled flank steak
3 cups roasted brussel sprouts
1/3 cup macadamia nuts

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
3 large celery stalks
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup brazil nuts

7:50 pm
6 oz. saute'ed organic grass fed ground beef - saute'ed with bell peppers, onion, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and more!
4 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1 small avocado
3 Tbsp salsa

118 oz. water on the day.

Fitness - Weighted Pull Ups & Dips, WOD w/vest - 3/24

My legs are pretty sore from yesterday. I can tell there's a lot of LA build up floating around in there. So, I rolled out and hit up a nice, long stretch session before out workout.

Focus: Weighted dips and weighted pull ups, 5x5, working up to heaviest set
heaviest 1x5 for pull ups - 28 Kg added
heaviest 1x5 for rind dips - 40 Kg added

WOD w/10# vest: 3 rounds for time of
20 air squats
20 push ups
20 pull ups
400m run

Score/Time: 9:45
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 585

It felt really good to get this with the vest. Mine was the first sub 10 minute time on the board and I rocked the vest. I was a little nervous because I hadn't done butterfly kips with the vest before and I wasn't sure how they'd hold up.

I got through the first set unbroken and on the second set I got to 18 before slipping off the bar, I could have had them unbroken though. The last set I broke up into 2 sets of 10.

Because of yesterday's second WOD, my legs felt heavy on the runs and fatigued during the squats, but I was happy non the less.

Nutrition - 3/24

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder.
8 oz. steamed sweet potatoes & yams with cinnamon

8:50 am
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
4 large carrots
1/3 cup walnuts

12:30 pm
6 oz. broiled flank steak
3 cups roasted brussel sprouts
1/2 cup almonds

4:20 pm
3.7 oz. chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup pecans

7:45 pm
6 oz. baked salmon with lemon, sea salt, black pepper, thyme
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 1/2 cup cherry toms, 1 cup mushrooms, 3 large radishes.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

10:00 pm
2 Tbsp almond butter
1/2 cup raisins

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 3/23

I worked with Scott this afternoon for my second WOD of the day. I've got three two-a-day slated for this week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), all of them with Scott. If today was any indication, I'm going to be wrecked this week.

WOD #2: 3 rounds for time of:
50m tire drag (25m running forward, 25m running backward) - 110#'s including tire
7 push press - 50 Kg
7 front squats - 50 Kg
7 thrusters - 50 Kg

Score/Time: 7:44
Calories burned (WOD only): 401

This was a great effort. Tim Tolliever (who placed third overall at the WA sectionals) also trains at our gym a couple times a week. Scott put him through this workout earlier in the day and his time was 9:09. So, I was pretty pumped to beat his time by over 1:30. Tim might be one of the best athletes I've ever seen in person.

Workouts like these are pretty terrible. It's all legs, all the time. And all of the movements are pretty quad-centric and afterwards it felt like the muscles in my legs were 8 times their size.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Snatch Grip Deads & WOD #1 - 3/23

So, I've been looking for ways to train on my lifts without going for a max every time. With dead lifts, I've been working with lighter weight but working with chains and bands to that as you pull the weight off the ground, the resistance/weight gets heavier.

Today was a continuation of that, with snatch grip deads. Working with the snatch grip just makes it so you're pulling from a much lower position, getting that exaggerated range of motion. And it was certainly hard enough.

Focus: 5x5, cross sets dead lift
5x5 - 140 Kg (308.6#)

Today's WOD was one that I've been doing on my own a lot lately because I'm trying to get my double unders in check. Today's workout was weighted "Annie".

WOD: "Annie" (with weighted sit ups holding a weight overhead) is 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of:
Double unders
Sit ups - 15 Kg plate

Score/Time: 16:35
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 621

Nothing to be proud of here. The first round of 50 double unders went pretty well, but after that they gave me some trouble. The weighted sit ups were hard as well, they took some time and were super hard on the shoulders.

I've got another workout this afternoon, eating dinner then going to sleep as soon as possible :)

Nutrition - 3/23

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 oz. broiled flank steak
1 red bell pepper
1 orange
1/3 cup brazil nuts

12:50 pm
6 oz. grilled chicken breast
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 1 cup grape toms, 1/2 cup cucumber, 4 mushrooms, 3 large radishes.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:10 pm
3.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
Ants on a log - 3 large celery stalks, almond butter, organis raisins

7:45 pm - Breakfast for dinnner!
3 eggs scrambled, 1 large link insernio's extra lean chicken sausage, 2 cups spinach, 1/2 onion, garlic, 1/2 large avocado, 3 Tbsp salsa.
1 cup prunes

110 oz. water on the day

Fitness - WOD w/10# vest, 3/22

There was no strength work this morning. Today is the 7th birthday for CrossFit Seattle so there was a little birthday workout at the gym today. It was simple, but oh so painful.

WOD w/10# vest: 7 minutes on, 7 minutes rest, second 7 minute round of:
Kettle bell clean & jerks - 20# kettle bells (44#'s)

Score/Time: R1-90 reps, R2-82 reps
Calories burned (warm up and WOD): 759

Holy cow! This was a deceptive workout. My whole body was wrecked when I was done. The Rx for the workout was 16Kg bells, but I needed to go heavier. Even with the heavier kettle bells there were only a few that beat my scores with the Rx weight.

I felt pretty good about this effort. It was one of those workouts that you just have to zone out and grind through each rep. Rest when you need to but only for a few breathes then pick em' back up and get to work.

I've got three two-a-days this week so I'm planning on being pretty tired come the end of the week.

Nutrition - 3/22

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder.
8 oz. steamed sweet potatoes

9:00 am
3 hard boiled eggs
1 link Insernio's extra lean chicken sausage
4 medium carrots
1/3 cup walnuts

12:45 pm
5.7 oz. broiled flank steak
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 1 cup cherry toms, 2/3 cup cucumbers, 1 cup mushrooms, chopped parsley, 3 radishes.
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:40 pm
3.5 oz. baked salmon
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup almonds

7:45 pm
5.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef saute'ed with onion, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes.
4 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1/2 medium red bell pepper
1/2 large avocado
juice of 1/2 lime

120 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Skills (Back lever success!) & Met-Con Classes, 3/20

Level 2 Skills Class:
We started the level 2 skills class with a lot of wrist mobility and shoulder warm up. We then got into some front really slow and controlled hanging leg raises and ab work in the handstand position. From the handstand position we'd post our back against the wall and lower our legs to a pike, then raise them back up until our heels were on the wall. The goal is to pivot at the hips and not let your back pull off the wall.

After the ab work we got into some from and back lever development. And for the first time I was able to nail and hold a back lever! I'm really excited to keep this gymnastics work going. The back lever felt great to pull off, I hit the position and held it for about 3 seconds. This got me really excited.

With the last bit of time we did a little AMRAP.

WOD: AMRAP in 10 minutes of
1 rope climb ascent
3 skin the cats
7 kettle bell dead lifts - 2, 32 Kg bells

Score/Time: 8 full rounds
Calories burned: 582


Level 2 Met-Con class:
We hit up a short, but heavy chipper today in the 21-15-9 format, sort of.

WOD:
21 Dead lifts - 118 Kg (260.1#)
21 handstand push ups
15 thrusters - 62 Kg (136.7#)
15 pull ups
9 full squat cleans - 84 Kg (185.2#)
9 ring dips

Score/Time: 6:13
Calories burned (WOD only): 301

This felt good. I really wanted to get under some heavy weight so this felt pretty good. I could tell my body was pretty tired. I think my time should have been more around the 5:30 mark.

Next time I think I'm going to up the weight, go for an ultra fast time at these same weights, or do 21 of each, 15 of each and then 9 of each. That would make this a long, heavy met-con. But that's the kind of work I need to be doing, and the kind of work I like doing.

Fitness - "Annie", Strict Press PR & WOD w/vest - 3/19

Warm up (untimed): "Annie" 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of
Double Unders
sit ups

Today's focus was strict press and I was feeling strong from the get go. I felt confidant enough to go for a PR

Focus: Strict press, 5x3, working up to heaviest set
1x3 - 40 Kg (88.2#)
2x3 - 70 Kg (154.3#)
1x3 - 92 Kg (202.8#) PR! 2 KG over body weight.
1x3 - 80 Kg (176.4#)

Man, this was a fight for the last two reps. As soon as the bar cleared my forehead I pushed my head and chest through, which really helped a lot. Keeping good form was a must if I was going to make that lift.

WOD w/10# vest: 30 second max test match (I'll explain in more detail below)
25 Thrusters - Bar only, 20 Kg (45#)
14 Burpees
13 Cals on the rower
20 Kettle bell swings - 32 Kg bell

Score/Time: Rx'd
Calories burned (annie, focus & WOD): 829

Ok, I'll try to explain this killer workout as best I can.

The numbers in front of the exercises above indicate the max reps completed in one 30 second interval, 10 seconds rest between to get to the next station.

We weren't told what this number was or anything, just to go hard, all out for 30 seconds. I thought it was going to be a circuit day, 30 seconds at each station for x number of rounds with some rest between. But no, today's workout was much worse.

After we had our 1 round max sets done, we were told the scheme. We stayed at each station (in the order we started) for 4 minutes and every minute on the minute for 4 minutes we had to match our max set number.

So, once we started if it took me 35 seconds in to get 25 thrusters, i had 25 seconds of rest before the next minute where I would need to shoot for 25 again. If on minute 3 it took me 55 seconds to get 13 calories on the rower, I only had 5 seconds rest before the last minute to try to get 13 again. When we had done 4 minutes at one station, there was one minute of rest to get set up at the next station.

I was one of two to get that max number every minute for every exercise. It was 16 minutes of really hard work, it was deceptive. I'm Glad I finished with KB swings. If I had to finish on thrusters or burpees, I don't think I would have hit my number once. But KB swings are easy to zone out and grind through.

Two-a-day tomorrow with level 2 classes. I'm going to be sore.

Nutrition - 3/19

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.
1 cup organic steamed sweet potatoes with cinnamon

9:00 am
3 hard boiled eggs (2 yokes)
1 link insernio's extra lean chicken sausage
4 large celery stalks
1/3 cup walnuts

12:35 pm
6 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
Salad - 3 cups purple cabbage, 1/4 Orange bell pepper, 1/3 large avocado, 3 Tbsp salsa, juice of 1/2 a lime

4:15 pm
3.7 oz grilled chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
3 Tbsp mixed pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds

7:30 pm
6 oz. broiled flank steak with 3 Tbsp TJ's bbq sauce
4 medium carrots
5 oz. dried apricots
1/2 cup cashews

120 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Back Squat & WOD w/ vest - 3/18

Man, my legs were super fatigued this morning. They weren't really that sore, just super tired. So I stayed pretty light during our focus and luckily our WOD today was a relatively light one.

Focus: Back Squat, 5x3 cross sets
2x3 - 130 Kg (286.6#)
3x3 - 140 Kg (308.6#)

Wow, this felt heavy. I took it pretty slow and focus mainly on form each rep. I didn't really attack it with any intensity, my legs just couldn't go heavy with back squats today.

WOD w/ 10# vest: EMOTM for 20 minutes
Jumping back squat - bar only (20 Kg - 45#'s)
10 hanging ankles to bar

Score/Time: N/A
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 557

This wasn't too bad at all. Trying to hold my grip is what gave me the most trouble. Although the squat jumps with the bar in the back rack position started to wear on my legs, it was only 5 reps. My abs started to feel it at about the halfway point. But my grip is what failed me, hanging from the bar.

I took a break from the ankles to bar for a few rounds and did knees to elbows. Not so much because of my stomach getting fatigued, but because i was having to re-set my grip so often with the ankles to bar. I was able to bang out the knees to elbows much faster, providing me with more rest before the start of the next minute.

It ended up working and I went back to ankles to bar after 3 or 4 rounds of knees to elbows.

I'm happy today was a light day.

Nutrition - 3/18

7:55 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 oz. grilled chicken breast
1 medium yellow bell pepper
1 Apple
3 Tbsp almond butter

12:20 pm
6 oz baked salmon with lemon, sea salt & black pepper
Salad - 3 cups organic spinach, 3 radishes, 1 cup grape toms, 1/2 cup cucumber, 2/3 cup cup chopped mushrooms, chopped parsley.
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. grilled flank steak
2 large carrots
4 oz. prunes
1/3 cup brazil nuts

7:40 pm
5.5 oz. grilled chicken breast w/ 2 Tbsp TJ's bbq sauce
3 cups rosemary & garlic roasted brussel sprouts
1/2 large avocado
1/2 cup walnuts

120 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Two-A-Day WOD #2 - 3-17

I was pretty spent after "Elizabeth" this morning and I knew Dave had something pretty terrible waiting for me. I knew it was going to be bad when on Monday he told me he was thinking up a workout in the 30 minute range and he didn't know how it would go for me.

WOD #2 w/15# vest: 5 rounds for time
500m row
200m, 100# tire drag

Score/Time: 30:17
Calories burned (WOD only): 766

This one was all legs and lungs, what do you have in you, put your head down, gut it out and keep moving. There was no other excercise to break it up or provide a little rest for the legs. When I finished it felt like my legs were going to explode.

I don't know if there was a "worst" part (because it was all pretty terrible) but the most mentally challenging part was the first 100m of each tire drag. It's all uphill. I'd drag it from the gym down the short driveway and onto the street, make a hard left and up to the corner. And once I hit the street and made the turn, staring up that 100m hill was brutal.

But dave had it right on. It took me exactly 30 minutes to get this work done. And i felt like kind of a badass dragging a tire up and down the street past cars, houses and restaurants :)

Fitness - Two-A-Day, "Elizabeth" PR w/ vest - 3/17

I was stoked to get after it today. "Elizabeth" is one of my favorite Crossfit staple WODs. I have done it in a while and I was ready to bust my PR wide open.

We had a long warm up and stretching session, then warmed up with front squats. a few sets at light weight.

WOD w/10# vest: "Elizabeth" is 21-15-9 of
Squat cleans - 61 Kg (135#'s)
Ring dips

Score/Time: 6:11
Calories burned (including warm up & WOD): 586

My best time before today was 8:46. So this was a huge PR for me by over two and a half minutes, plus I was wearing the vest. Next time I try "Elizabeth" i'll be shooting for anything sub 6 minutes.

I probably could have gotten that today if I didn't wear the vest. Hopefully next time i'll be around the 5:40 mark. I'd love to take another 30 seconds off my time.

Nutrition - 3/17

7:50 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 20 oz. water.
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon

8:45 am
3 hard boiled eggs (2 yokes)
1 link insernio's estra lean chicken sausage
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup pecans

12:35 pm
Left over homemade red curry:

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. broiled flank steak
4 large celery stalks
1/3 cup walnuts

7:30 pm
6 oz. organic grass fed ground beef, saute'ed with red & orange bell peppers, onion, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, evoo.
4 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1/2 large avocado
3 Tbsp salsa
a few dashes of hot sauce

120 oz. water on the day

Fitness - "Annie", Tabata Tuesday w/ vest - 3/16

Annie: 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of
double unders
sit ups

No focus today.

WOD w/10# vest: Tabata Teusday
Full crossfit kettle bell swings - 32 Kg bell
Sit ups
Dumbbell push press - 35# dumbbells
Front squats - 2, 16 Kg (35#) kettle bells

Score(s)/Time: swings-101, sit ups-81, push press-117, front squats-92
Calories burned (including "Angie" & tabata WOD): 755

The score for each exercise was the accumulative score for every round. Instead of recording the lowest round per exercise.

Nutrition - 3/16

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened coconut milk.

8:45 am
3 links insernio's extra lean chicken sausage
Ants on a log:
Celery, almond butter with flax seeds, raisins

12:30 pm
6 oz. grilled chicken breast
Salad - 3 cups organic spinach, 1/2 cup cucumbers, 3 radishes, 3/4 cup mushrooms, 1 cup grape tomatoes
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. broiled flank steak
1 cup broccoli
1 orange
1/3 cup brazil nuts

7:45 pm
6 oz. baked salmon
14 asperagus spears
1/4 cup almonds

110 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Floor Press/Dead Hang Pull Ups & WOD - 3/15

Focus: 3 sets of max reps with floor press (just think of it as a dumbbell bench press) & dead hang pull ups.
Floor press with 32 Kg kettle bells, about 2 minutes between sets
1x23
1x17
1x12
Dead hang pull ups, about 2 minutes between sets
1x22
1x14
1x8

WOD: 6 rounds for total reps (between both arms) of:
1 minute of kettle bell snatches - 24 Kg bell
1 minute rest

Score/Time: 158 reps
Calories burned (including focus & WOD): 685

Nutrition - 3/15

7:55 am
Proties shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon

8:50 am
2 hard boiled eggs
2 oz. flank steak
1 orange
1 cup cauliflower
1/3 cup walnuts

12:35 pm
5.5 oz. flank steak
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 4 mushrooms, 3 radishes, 1 roma tomatoe, 1/2 large red bell pepper.
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. flank steak w/ 2 Tbsp TJ's bbq sauce
1 cup prunes
4 medium carrots
1/4 cup almonds

7:40 pm
Left over homemade red curry: 2 cans organic unsweetened coconut milk, chicken breast, shrimp, 1 onion, 1 orange bell pepper, LOTS of garlic, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli stems, red curry paste, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, juice of 1 lime.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Skills & Met-Con Class w/ vest - 3/13

Level 2 Skills Class:

We started off the class with some muscle up and plnage work on the rings. I also fooled around with front lever's and was actually able to hold one for about 2 seconds. Progress baby!

We then proceeded to blast our shoulders out of the galaxy. The goal was simple, how many strict press reps can you complete in 20 minutes at about half of our 1RM. I used 45 Kg (I've never done a one rep strict press max, by my three rep max is 92 Kg).

Score/Time: 161


Level 2 Met-Com Class w/10# vest: "Death by barbell" 43 Kg (95#'s on the bar) AFAP:
30 sumo dead lift high pulls
30 hang clean & jerks
30 power snatches (ground to overhead, no squat needed)
30 over head squats
30 lunges (15 per leg)

Score/Time: 10:10
Calories burned (including both level 2 classes): 1180

Fitness - Dead Lift Work & WOD w/ vest - 3/12

Focus: Dead lift, 5x3
I went up to 120 Kg on the bar but added chains and resistance bands to add some resistance and train my deads a little differently. It was productive for sure.

WOD: in teams of three: 20, 16, 12, 8, 4 of
Calories on the rower
push ups
pull ups

Score/Time: 10:58
Calories burned (Including focus & WOD): 620

Everyone had to complete each exersice at each level before moving down. There was a little bottle nexk at the rower to begin with but the tiny bit of built in rest was nice considering once it got to 12 reps of each, there was no rest. 12 calories went quick enough that right when you finished your pull ups, the teammate in front of you was just getting off the rower.

Nutrition - 3/12

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder, 20 oz. water.
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon

8:40 am
4.5 oz. grilled top sirloin steak
2 cups broccoli
1/4 cup almonds

12:40 pm
6 oz. chicken breast
Salad - 2 cups arugula, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup cherry toms, 1/2 cup cucumber, 4 sliced mushrooms, 4 radishes.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:25 pm
3 hard boiled eggs (2 yokes)
4 large celery stalks
2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

7:40 pm
Homemade curry - 2 cans organic unsweetened coconut milk, chicken breast, shrimp, 1 onion, 1 orange bell pepper, LOTS of garlic, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli stems, red curry paste, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, juice of 1 lime.
3 oz. dark chocolate (85% cocoa).

Fitness - Military Press & WOD w/ vest - 3/11

Well, I didn't end up taking an ice bath last night because it when I got home it was probably the least enjoyable thing I could think of and I just plain didn't want to do it. And although my legs are pretty sore today, they aren't as sore as i expected them to be, which is good! My chest, the front of my shoulders and lats however, are super sore.

Focus: Strict press, 5x5, build up to heaviest set
1x5 - 60 Kg (132.2#)
1x5 - 70 Kg (154.3#)
1x5 - 80 Kg (176.4#)
1x5 - 81 Kg (178.6#)
1x5 - 81 Kg (178.6#)

Yesterday's burpees killed my chest and shoulders today. This weight felt really heavy so I didn't try to push it. I've gotten 86Kg for a set of 5 but there was no way that was going up this morning. Instead of building up to a heavy set, I took it more as cross sets and tried to stay consistent.

WOD w/ 10# vest: Using a 40# dumbbell, 5 rounds for time of:
10 dumbbell split snatches (right arm)
10 over head lunges (weight stays in right arm, alternating legs)
10 dumbbell split snatches (left arm)
10 over head lunges (weight stays in left arm, alternating legs)

Score/Time: 9:17
Calories burned (Focus & WOD): 454

My legs were feeling the burn after I finished but I'm really happy with my time. Fastest time of the day by over 2 minutes.

I'm really trying hard to push through some walls and learn how to hold on and just keep grinding out work. So, today I just put my head down, focused and pretty much tried to work straight through. It worked pretty well.

Nutrition - 3/11

8:00 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isoloate, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetnened cocoa powder, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 20 oz. water.

8:50 am
3 hard boiled eggs
5 medium carrots
1/3 cup brazil nuts

12:30 pm
6 oz. grilled chicken breast
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 2 radishes, 3 mushrooms, 1/2 cup cucumber, 1 cup cherry tomatoes.
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:20 pm
3.5 oz. flank steak
2 Tbsp TJ's bbq sauce
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup walnuts

7:40 pm
5.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef suate'ed with bell peppers, onions, garlic, evoo, sea salt.
3 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
3 Tbsp salsa
1/2 large avocado
juice of 1/2 a lime

Fitness - Two-A-Day w/ vest, "Annie", WOD #1 & WOD #2 - 3/10

In an attempt to become a double under master, i'm coming in early and working in "Annie" (50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of double unders & sit ups) twice a week before my usual class. So far it's been good. Already my timing has improved and speed and coordination as well. Slowly but surely the "donkey kick" (as it's been dubed) is going away and i'm able to do them with straight legs. I still use way too much of my shoulders instead of wrists but that will get worked out eventually as well. I don't have a time for my "Angie" this morning because I must have hit a button on my watch and the timer stopped sometime during.

No focus before this morning's class, we just went over the movements in the WOD as a group to tighten up technique and whatnot.

WOD #1 w/ 10# vest: 60 seconds at each station, 60 seconds rest. 45 seconds at each station, 45 seconds rest. 30 seconds at each station, 30 seconds rest. 15 seconds at each station. Stations are as follows:
Wall Ball - 20#/10'
Hanging knees to elbows
Hang squat cleans - 62 Kg (135#)
Burpees

Score/Time: 189
Calories burned (including "Angie", Warm up & WOD): 588

WOD #2 w/ 10# vest:
2000m row
rest 5 minutes
100 burpees
rest 5 minutes
2000m row

Score/Time(s): 2000m row #1 - 7:14, 100 burpees - 6:11, 2000m row #2 - 7:38
Calories burned (including work and rest): 871

This was a pretty tough trio. I knew Dave was going to throw something pretty gnarly at me but this was not what I had in mind. The vest made all the difference. It sucks wearing that thing but I better get used to it. I'm supposed to wear it for all the my work in gym for the next 11 weeks of training.

When I got tired enough I splilt the burpees into sets of 10 then i'd stop for 5 deep breathes and continue with another set of 10.

The rowing was by far the worst part of it. I'd say the first row hurt a little more than the first, because I had more juice in the tank i pushed it harder than on the second one. The second row wasn't fun either though.

I might actaully take an ice back after all of today's work.

Nutrition - 3/10

7:55 am
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetnened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon

8:40 am
4 oz. chicken breast
1.5 cups broccoli
1/3 cup walnuts

12:20 pm
5.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef suate'ed with bell peppers, onions, garlic, evoo, sea salt.
3 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1/2 large avocado
juice of 1/2 a lime

4:14 pm
3.5 oz. salmon
4 medium carrots
2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

7:30 pm
6 oz. flank steak
4 large celery stalks
1 apple with 3 Tbsp almond butter

10:00 pm
2.5 oz. salmon
1 cup prunes
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Fitness - Muscle up work & Team WOD w/ weight vest - 3/09

Focus: Muscle ups

WOD with 10# weighted vest: in teams of 3, AMRAP in 15 minutes of
Max full kettle bell swings - 24 Kg bell
Max ring push ups
200m row

Score/Time: Individual score - 256, Team score - 756
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 510

The way this worked was each team member started on one of the exercises and the ones on kettle bell swings and push ups cranked out as many reps as possible while team member 3 is on the rower. Then switch and keep rotating through the movements having the person on the rower be the time keeper for trying to get as many reps of the other two movements as possible.

Nutrition - 3/09

7:55 am (post WOD)
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder, 20 oz. water

8:45 am
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
1.5 cups broccoli
1 orange
1/4 cup almonds

12:35 pm
5.5 oz grilled chicken breast
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 4 large mushrooms, 2 large radishes, 1/2 cup cucumber. 1/4 cup chopped parsley.
3 Tbsp home paleo dressing

4:15 pm
3.5 oz. broiled flank steak
4 large celery stalks
1/3 cup brazil nuts

7:40 pm (Breakfast for dinner!)
3 scrambled eggs, 2 links Insernio's extra lean chicken sausage, 1 medium red bell pepper, 1/2 large onion, 3 cups spinach, 1/2 large avocado, evoo, garlic, sea salt, black pepper.
1/4 cup dried apricots


110 oz. water on the day

Fitness - "Annie", Back squats & WOD w/ weight vest - 3/08

Warm up: "Annie", 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of
Double unders
sit ups

Focus: Back squat, 5x5 building up to heaviest set, then take 25% off and hit a max rep set
1x5 - 120 Kg
1x5 - 140 Kg
1x5 - 155 Kg
1x5 - 165 Kg
1x19 - 120 Kg

WOD w/ 10# weight vest: AMRAP in 12 minutes of
8 straight leg dead lifts
8 hanging leg raises

Score/Time: 12
Calories burned (warm up, focus & WOD): 836

Nutrition - 3/08

5:30 pm (Fasted food until this meal)
6 oz. salmon with lemon, sea salt, black pepper
3 cups roasted brussel sprouts
1 cup walnuts

9:30 pm
3 oz. broiled flank steak
1 cup prunes
1/2 cup pecans

Fitness - Level 2 WOD in the park - 3/06

WOD: 10, 9, 8. . . 2, 1 (with a 50m sprint between each station)
Push up pass-throughs (posted up on kettle bells)
Kettle bell clean & front squat - with 2 24Kg bells

10 push up pass-through's then a sprint to the clean/front squat station. Then a 50 m sprint back to the push up pass through station.

Fitness - Weighted pull ups/Dips & WOD, "Christine" Sprints - 3/05

Focus: Weighted pull ups & Dips, 3x5 of each

WOD: "Christine" Sprints, 5 rounds in groups of three
150m row
8 Dead lifts - Bodyweight (90Kg)
12 box jumps - 24"

Time: 10:11
Calories burned (Focus & WOD): 636

Fitness - Farmer's walk & WOD - 3/04

Focus: Heavy farmer's walk

WOD: AMRAP in 20 minutes of
3 front squats
3 push press
3 thrusters
5 pull ups

Score/Time: 24 full rounds
Calories burned: 698

Nutrition - 3/04

8:00 am (post workout)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

9:00 am
3 hard boiled eggs (2 yokes)
1 oz. grilled chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 small apple
3 Tbsp almond butter

12:40 pm
6 oz. ground beef saute'ed with bell peppers, white onion, garlic, evoo, sea salt, paprika, black pepper, red pepper flakes.
Salad - 3 cups red cabbage, 1 small avocado, 3 Tbsp salsa, juice of 1/2 lime.

5:30 pm
6 oz. baked salmon with lemon, sea salt & black pepper
3 cups garlic/rosemary roasted brussel sprouts
1/3 cup almonds

9:00 pm
6 oz. dried apricots
1/4 cup brazil nuts
4 oz. beef jerky

Fitness - Hang Power Snatch & WOD - 3/03

Focus: Snatch and hang power snatch

WOD: AMRAP in 12 minutes
5 hang power snatch - 52 Kg (115#)
10 ring push ups

Score/Time: 14 rounds
Calories burned: 450

Nutrition - 3/03

8:00 am (post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1/2 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder, 20 oz. water.

8:50 am
3.5 oz grilled chicken breast
5 large celery stalks
1/3 cup walnuts

12:30 pm
5.5 oz. broiled flank steak
Salad - 3 cups organic mixed greens, 1 cup sungold toms, 2 large radishes, 3 large mushrooms.
3 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:30 pm
3.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
2 cups broccoli
1/3 cup almonds

7:45 pm
5.5 oz. ground beef - saute'ed with bell peppers, onion, paprika, sea salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, evoo & garlic.
4 large red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1 avocado
2 Tbsp salsa
a few dashes of hot sauce

Washington Sectional Results! 7th Overall!

What a weekend. Lot's of emotion, excitement, fun and hard work. I don't know if I've ever been as drained and sore as I am right now (and will be for the next week). The top 20 move on to compete in the Regionals at the Puyallup fairgrounds May 15-16th.

Here's all the WOD's and my score/time for each and my place for each workout.

-SATURDAY-

1st WOD: EMOTM for 8 minutes of
A short sprint (probably about 80m)
Max reps shoulder to overhead - 155#
Score/Time: 71 reps
Place: 2nd

2nd WOD: AFAP
40 Handstand push ups
40 front squats - 155#
Score/Time: 6:29
Place: 7th

3rd WOD: Fight gone bad style, 3 rounds for total reps (cals on the rower)
1 minute wall ball shots - 20#/10'
1 minute power snatch - 95#'s
1 minute box jumps
1 minute row for calories
1 minute rest
Score/Time: 273
Place: 24th


-SUNDAY-

1st WOD: 3 attempts at 5 rep dead lift max, taking heaviest weight completed
Score/Time: 425#'s
Place: 14th

2nd (and final) WOD: 5 rounds for time of
approx 60m sled push (bear crawl style) - loaded with 145#'s
18 double under's
4 muscle ups
Score/Time: 12:47
Place: 45th (damn!)

I'm extremely pleased with my results. I was 3rd overall going into the last event of the weekend. but that last met-con killed me. the double under's gave me a lot of trouble. I got all the muscle ups no problem except I spent over a minute trying to get the last one, which was super frustrating.

It was an awesome experience competing with friends (Loren & Brad, it was an honor!) and spending some time with the guys at Kirkland CrossFit (where it all began for me). I can't say enough good things about all those members/coaches.

Next up, a week off to recover and then it's back on the training. Regionals will be the next step where the top 20 from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and the top 3 from Alaska will compete for the 3 slots available to compete in the 2010 World CrossFit Games down in Aromas California.

Fitness - Strict Press & WOD - 2/19

Focus: Strict/military press, 5x3
5x3 - 60 Kg

Kept it light again, jsut wanted to feel some resistance, then back off.

WOD: 4 rounds AFAP for time of:
400m run
15 CrossFit Swings (full extension) - 32 Kg bell
15 pull ups

Score/Time: 11:19
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 606

Nutrition - 2/19

7:55 am (post WOD)
8 oz. steamed yams with cinnamon
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened cocoa.

8:45 am
4 oz grilled top sirloin steak
4 medium carrots
3 oz. prunes
1/4 cup almonds

12:35 pm
6 oz. baked salmon
3 cups garlic/rosemary roasted brussel sprouts
1/3 cup walnuts

4:20 pm
4 oz chicken breast
3 large celery stalks
1 medium apple
1/4 cup brazil nuts

7:45 pm
2 roasted stuffed bell peppers - 2 small orange bell peppers, organic grass fed ground beef saute'ed with onion, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, paprika, sea salt, garlic, evoo, black pepper, garlic. 1 small avocado, 2 Tbsp salsa, jalapenos, green onion & cilantro.

110 oz. water on the day.

Fitness - Back Squats & WOD - 2/18

We started off the morning with some back squats. I'm taking it light on the lifting starting this week in order to taper down and de-load before the sectionals next weekend.

The goal is to get under some light/sub-maximal effort so as not to forget how the movement feels, also a chance to really focus and nail the form.

Focus: 5x3 back squat
2x3 - 70 Kg (154.3#)
1x3 - 120 Kg (264.6#)
2x3 - 100 Kg (220.5#)

This felt pretty good. A good way to get loose and warm. I really tried to nail the form and focus on pressurizing hard for each rep.

I wanted to get one set under some semi-heavy weight, thus the set at 120. It still felt pretty light.

WOD: AMRAP in 15 minutes of:
4 Curtis P. reps each side - 24 Kg bell
8 v-ups

Score/Time: 11 full rounds + 2 Curtis P. reps on right side
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 624

Ahhh, the Curtis P. complex. We did these with a kettle bell where one rep is - kettle bell clean, lunge with right leg, lunge with left leg, push press. So, for times through with the bell in your right hand, 4 times through with it in your left had then 8 v-ups and that's a full round.

I was going good until the last 3 rounds or so. I started to get fatigued and slowed down a bit.

My last two-a-day will be Saturday. I've been doing only the prescribed WOD's this week, nothing extra. Then next week I'll hardly do any work. I'll be doing glorified warm ups. Stuff to get me loose and warmed up and break a mini-sweat, followed by lots and lots of stretching.

Nutrition - 2/18

7:50 am (post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

8:50 am
3.5 oz chicken breast
1 medium orange
1/5 cups broccoli
1/3 cup walnuts

12:40 pm
6 oz. salmon
Salad - 3 cups spinach, 1 cup heirloom toms, 1/2 cup cucumber, 4 mushrooms, 1/4 cup chopped basil, 1/2 avocado, lemon juice.
2 Tbsp evoo

4:30 pm
3.5 oz chicken breast
4 large celery stalks
3 oz. prunes
1/4 cup brazil nuts

7:45 pm
5.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef - saute'ed with red bell pepper, onion, jalapenos, garlic, sea salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper.
4 red cabbage leaves (as wraps)
1/2 avocado
3 Tbsp salsa
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/4 cup almonds

114 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Skinning The Cat & HUGE "Nancy" PR - 2/17

Damn, my legs are still super stiff from Monday. I stretched out a lot last night and rolled out for another 15 minutes on top of that and they're still tight.

I have been getting at least 8.5 hours of sleep a night for the past 2 weeks, which has been feeling AMAZING!

Focus: Skinning The Cat

This felt incredible on my shoulders and really helped to loosen them up. I realized a few minutes later why we were trying to get our shoulders loose and warmed up. "Nancy" was on the docket which meant lots of over head squats and lots of running.

WOD: "Nancy" is 5 rounds AFAP for time of:
400m run
15 over head squats - 43 Kg (95#)

Score/Time: 12:39
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 594

BOOYA! This is a PR 3:28! Last time I did "Nancy" (which was a while ago) my time was 16:07. This morning I got every set of over head squats unbroken and hardly any rest between runs and getting back in the gym and on the bar. I remember last time I was breaking my OHS's into mini sets and having to snatch/clean & press the weight back over head. Not this time baby!

But holy hell, my quads were pretty worked after this. I had to work hard for this time. I was sucking wind on the last 2 400's. It did not feel good to run with my legs still being so sore but I fought through it. Although I killed the OHS's, the running took a lot out of me.

My goal for next time I take on "Nancy" will be 12:07. Two-a-days today so I've got another workout this evening. I'm hoping it won't include running or rowing.

Nutrition - 2/17

8:00 am (post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 24 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 oz. grilled chicken breast
3 oz. prunes
3 carrots
1/4 cup almonds

12:30 pm
5.5 oz. grilled top sirloin steak
Salad - 3 cups spinach, 1 cup cherry toms, 4 radishes, 4 mushrooms, 1/4 cup shopped basil.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:30 pm
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
1 small apple
1 raw orange bell pepper
2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

7:50 pm
6 oz. baked salmon
3 cups rosemary & garlic roasted brussel sprouts
1/2 cup pistachios
A few squares of extra dark (85%) chocolate

116 oz. water on the day

Fitness - Weighted Hip Bridges & WOD - 2/16

My legs are destroyed from yesterday. My shoulders are stiff from the hand stand push ups as well. Over all my body is hurting from yesterday's three-a-day. It was pretty bad ass though. Just gets me more stoked for the sectionals.

Focus: Weighted hip bridge. working up to a manage weight for 5 sets of 5.
5x5 - 90 Kg (198#)

This is part of Dave's ongoing glute/hamstring training. And it freakin' works. My glutes and hamstrings were fired up, almost to the point of cramping During this exercise.

WOD: 10, 9, 8, 7. . . . 1 reps of
Thrusters - 43 Kg (95#)
Hanging ankles to bar

Score/Time: 6:29
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 410

I used this as a tune up WOD. Just went after it to get the lactic acid flushed out as much as possible. It worked pretty well. the thrusters felt super light. I haven't done thrusters with this light of weight for so long, I found it easy to keep a fast pace with the movement and settled into a nice pattern with my breathing.

The only thing that started to fail on me was my grip on the ankles to bar. But other than that, i felt great after this one. Warmed up and super loose. I stretched with a band and rolled out for a good 15 minutes post WOD.

Nutrition - 2/16

8:00 am (post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
Protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic un sweetened cocoa powder, 20 oz. water.

9:00 am
4 oz. grilled top sirloin steak
1 cup broccoli
1 medium orange
1/4 cup brazil nuts

12:40 pm
6 oz grilled chicken breast
Salad - 3 cups spinach, 1 cup grape toms, 3 radishes, 4 large mushrooms, 1/4 copped basil.
3 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:20 pm
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
4 large celery sticks
1/4 cup walnuts
3 oz. dried apricots

8:00 pm (Breakfast for dinner!)
Scramble - 3 insernio's extra lean chicken sausages, 1/2 onion, garlic, 1/2 red bell pepper, 3 eggs, basil, sea salt, black pepper, 1/2 avocado, 2 Tbsp salsa, a few dashes of hot sauce.
1 cup pecans

Fitness - Three-A-Day, Weighted Pull Ups/Dips, Wod #1, Wod #2, Wod #3 - 2/15

Focus: Weighted pull ups and dips. Working up to a heavy set of 3.
3 dead hang pull ups - 32 Kg added.
3 dips - 64 Kg added

WOD #1 (7 am): 3 minutes rest between 3 individually timed rounds of:
400m row
15 push ups
21 box jumps

Score/Time(s): R1-1:58, R2-1:59, R3-2:00
Calories burned (focus & WOD #1): 512


WOD #2 (9 am): "Diane", 21-15-9 of
Dead lifts - 102 Kg (225#)
Hand stand push ups

Score/Time: 3:49
Calories burned (WOD only): 342

This was a pretty good effort, stoked on the sub 4 time. I really had no idea what time to expect.


WOD #3 (12 pm): 5 rounds of
800m run
4 minutes rest

Score/Time(s): R1-3:03, R2-2:57, R3-3:09, R4-3:17, R5-3:06
Calories burned (WOD only): 766

This sucked. The goal was to keep my times at 3 minutes. that would be a 6 minute mile pace. So by the time I finished I would have ran 2.5 miles at a 6 minute mile pace (with the rest, but still). It was a ton of work. After everything today my legs were toast.

3 workouts in 5 hours is not bad though. It was a good mix and it helped me for sure. I'll work in one more three-a-day sometime this week.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, Level 2 Skills & Met-Con, 2/13

Level 2 Skills Class: Today we did a little barbell workshop/clinic. Mainly focusing on the dead lift. The goal was to really practice the movement with perfect form. Retraining the nervous system and going after each rep like it was a PR (even though we were only at around 50% of 1RM). He wanted us to set up and pressurize for each rep like we were trying to set a new max.

WOD #1: 1 rep every 20 seconds (3/minute) of
1 dead lift - 100 Kg (220.5#)

Score/Time: 48 reps (16 minutes)
Calories burned (WOD only): 416

My lats, core and glutes were wrecked after this. After pressurizing so hard for all those reps, I was pretty fatigued. The weight was light but heavy enough to feel a load on the system. It was mostly keeping such hard tension for so many reps that took it's toll. Great practice though. Dave was coming around and giving pointers and things to watch and feel for.


Level 2 Met-Con Class: All I have to say is this one looked way easier on paper. I thought I was going to blow through it but I got owned, hard. who knew tire drags could be so hard.

WOD #2: 3 rounds for time of
10 front squats - body weight (90 Kg - 198#)
50m tire drag running forward - loaded with 150#)
50m tire drag running backward - loaded with 150#)
25 Ball slams - 20# slam ball

Score/Time: 10:39
Calories burned (WOD only): 626

Damn, it felt like my legs were going to explode. The LA build up was ridiculous, I felt like (and for sure looked like( a new born giraffe trying to take it's first steps when I was done. Scott told me that i wouldn't be sore at all thought because there was almost no ecentric loading on the legs. and he was right. For how my legs hurt during the WOD, I was not sore at all the next day.

I need to drag the tire more, that kind of work is unlike any other. It really bogged me down today.

Fitness - Two-A-Days, WOD #2 - 2/12

WOD #2: 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of:
Full squat cleans - 61 Kg (155#)
Ring dips

Score/Time: 7:03
Calories burned (WOD only): 394

This is a variation on the same couplet as "Elizabeth" (which is 21-15-9 of the same exercises). but Elizabeth uses 135# for the cleans.

This was pretty brutal. I had a hard time with this one mainly because my groin, hamstrings and hips are still incredibly tight. Most likely from the 450 weighted wall balls on Wednesday evening.

I did manage to get through all sets of both movements unbroken. I didn't drop the bar on the cleans and my ring dips help up. I rested for a bit a few times for a few deep breathes after the dips and before getting back on the bar.

Fitness - Two-A-Days, HEAVY deads, WOD #1 - 2/12

Focus: 5x3 dead lift, building up to max set of 3
1x3 - 150 Kg (330.7#)
1x3 - 170 Kg (374.8#)
1x3 - 180 Kg (396.8#)
1x3 - 200 Kg (440.9#)
1x3 - 150 Kg (330.7#)

DAMN! New dead lift PR! 200 kilo's would have been a new 1 rep max for me, and I got it for a set of three. Although, my last rep probably looked pretty ugly, I got it up fully extended and locked out. Pretty stoked on this effort, it's 110 Kg (240#) over my body weight for three reps.

I'm probably not going to try this weight again for a while. Although I got three reps, I'm not strong enough yet to get them with good form. I'd rather back off for a while, get stronger, and nail three reps with a neutral spine. Rather than blowing my back out trying to grind out three reps with bad/dangerous form.

WOD: 1 minute rest between 4 individually timed rounds of:
10 burpees
10 weighted (holding 25 Kg-55# plate overhead) sit ups

Score/Time(s): R1-:33, R2-:35, R3-:35, R4-:37
Calories burned (focus & WOD): 487

This wasn't too bad. My burpees felt solid and went really fast, I never really slowed down. My sit ups help up as well. The only thing that slowed me down was holding the 55# plate over head, pressing through the shoulders and keeping a good lock out got hard.

I've got another workout tonight and then another two-a-day with the level 2 classes tomorrow. Looking forward to a much needed rest day on Sunday.

Nutrition - 2/12

7:50 am (post WOD)
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon
"Reload" recovery drink
proetin shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder, 20 oz. water.

8:45 am
4.5 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
4 large celery stalks
2 Tbsp almond butter (with celery)

1:00 pm
6 oz. baked salmon with lemon, sea salt, black pepper
Salad - 2 cups spinach, 1 cup arugula, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup cucumber, 1/2 large avocado.
2 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:30 pm
3.5 oz chicken breast
1.5 cups broccoli
1 medium orange
2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

8:00 pm
Homemade red curry: 2 cans organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1/2 jar red curry paste, A LOT of fresh raw (not frozen) de-veined tail on jumbo shrimp, 1 caremelized onion with garlic and 1 suate'ed red bell pepper, 2 cups cauliflower, 3 large carrots (cut into 2 inch spears), chopped basil, juice of 1 lime. Plenty of sea salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.

Fitness - Military Press & WOD - 2/11

My legs were destroyed today. All over soreness and tightness, my upper back and shoulders were feeling it too. I think it's worth it to come in the next day after a really hard workout for two reasons. 1) the class is always really small, people generally will take the next day off after a huge workout. 2) Dave always programs work that is designed to loosen you up and work out the kinks, rather than another gnarly workout.

Today was one of those days. There was almost nobody in class this morning. We started off with a lot of stretching with bands and partners. Then warmed up our shoulders really well and got after some strict press.

Focus: Strict press, 5x5
2x5 - 70 Kg (154.3#)
1x5 - 80 Kg (176.3#)
1x5 - 82 Kg (180.8#)
1x5 - 84 Kg (185.2#)

I'm actually surprised I got these up. The sets at 82 & 84 kilos were a battle, but considering the 450 wall balls yesterday taking their toll on my shoulders, I'm happy with this effort. I think next time we hit sets of 5 I'll do more warm up sets at a lower weight then try to jump straight to my target weight. Instead of gradually building up to it, like I did today.

WOD: 3 rounds, 21-15-9 of:
Sumo dead lift high pulls - 52 Kg (115#)
V-ups

Score/Time: 1:59
Calories burned (focus, WOD & finisher): 571

I crushed this one. I didn't slow down once, I'm not sure if I could have gotten a faster time. Each rep of the high pulls during the last set went up just as fast as the reps during the first set.

Rx was 43 kilos (95#) but I went over and still beat the fastest time by 26 seconds. It was weird, my legs didn't hurt at all during the workout, but as soon as I was done, they started throbbing.

Finisher:
Heavy waiter's walk - 32 Kg bell, walk 100 feet twice with each arm
25 ball slams - 20# ball

Nutrition - 2/11

8:00 am (post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 20 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 links insernio's extra lean chicken sausage
1 medium apple
1 cup broccoli
1/4 cup brazil nuts

12:35 pm
5.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
Salad - 2 cups arugula, 1 cup spinach, 1 heirloom tomato, 3 radishes, 2 large mushrooms, 1/2 cup cucumber.
2 Tbsp paleo dressing

4:15 pm
4 oz. organic grass fed ground beef
1 red bell pepper, raw
4 oz. dried apricots
2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

7:45 pm
5.5 oz. grilled top sirloin steak with caramelized fennel, onion and mushrooms.
3 cups grilled eggplant with garlic and rosemary
1/4 cup walnuts

Fitness - Two-A-Day, WOD #2 - 2/10

My second WOD of the day was a lot like the first.

WOD #2: EMOTM for 30 minutes of:
15 weighted wall balls (W/ten pound weight vest) - 20# med ball/20' mark

Score/Time: N/A
Calories burned (WOD only): 631

My legs and hips were trashed after this effort, as are my shoulder and upper back. I was able to stay at 15 reps for all 30 minutes.

The gaol was to have about a 1:1 work-rest ratio. Since a wall ball is about a 2 second movement, 15 reps worked perfect. 30 seconds of work, then 30 seconds of rest before the next minute/round began. Although, towards the end, it was taking me about 40 seconds to get the 15 wall balls, leaving only 20 seconds of rest. I was able to get all 30 rounds unbroken.

So much shoulder, back and hip/leg work today. Hopefully tomorrow will be semi-light.

Fitness - Two-A-Day, "CHELSEA" WOD #1 - 2/10

I got her, I wouldn't say that I owned her, but I got her. I completed this workout. Every round, every rep, Rx'd. I'm extremely proud of myself. This was a long grinder of a workout and I saw studs from the earlier class taking rounds off to rest, or scaling down the pull ups and/or push ups.

WOD: "Chelsea" - EMOTM (every minute on the minute) for 30 minutes of:
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 air squats

Score/Time: N/A
Calories burned (WOD only, no focus today): 803

That's 150 pull ups, 300 push ups and 450 squats. I'd say that 90% of my pull ups were chest to bar. I did them all with the butterfly kip and a few times my rhythm got off and I didn't quite get the height.

The steaks are always higher when it's a staple WOD. My body felt good, my mind was right and I was both nervous and ready to seriously get after this one.

When I first started CrossFit the thought of this workout scared me. Luckily I didn't have to battle Chelsea until now, where I've developed the strength, endurance and work capacity to handle it. It's so simple, but oh so hard.

I've got another workout this afternoon and I'm betting it won't contain pull ups, push ups or air squats.

Nutrition - 2/10

6:30 am (I woke up super hungry, my stomach hurt. As soon as I ate this little amount, it subsided and I instantly felt AWESOME!)
1 Tbsp almond butter
6 prunes

8:00 am (post WOD)
1 cup steamed yams with cinnamon
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isololate, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 20 oz. water.

8:50 am
4 oz. grilled top sirloin
3 large carrots
1/3 cup walnuts

12:45 am
6 oz. organic ground beef saute'ed with peppers, onion, garlic, evoo, red pepper flakes, sea salt, black pepper, paprika.
Salad - 3 cups red cabbage, 1/2 large avocado, 1 roma tomato, 2 Tbsp salsa, 1 tspn hot suace

4:10 pm
3.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 large orange
1/8 cup almonds

7:50 pm
5.5 oz. baked salmon with lemon, black pepper, sea salt
1 large red bell pepper, raw
2 large celery stalks
1 Tbsp almond butter (to go with celery)
1/8 cup cashews

110 oz. water on the day.

Fitness - Parallel Bar Work & Circuit WOD - 2/9

Got a lot of sleep last night which felt great. Woke up quickly and was ready to get after it this morning.

We started off the day with some parallel bar work. Starting with establishing a strong support position, pressing through the shoulders and upper back. We then got into some parallel bar support swings. This is where you keep your body in a rigid plank and swing your body back and forth, pivoting at the shoulders.

Here's a good video of how to perform the support swing. After a few support swings he goes into a different move, but you get the idea. After getting comfy with the support swing, I built in some dips (where the kid in the video goes to his arms, we just dipped). This little sequence had my core and upper body pretty fired up.

WOD: 5 rounds, counting total reps for a score of
45 seconds of jumping pull ups
45 seconds of l-sit dip
45 seconds of squat jumps
45 seconds of rest

Score/Time: 278
Calories burned (focus and WOD): 494

the goal for this was to keep moving for the full 45 seconds. If the movement was slowing you down, then scale it down so you can keep the pace/intensity high. I did the first two rounds with regular pull ups before switching to jumping variety.

The l-sit dip was performed on a dip rack by swinging your legs up and hitting as high a pike as possible with your feet above your hips, lowering (with control) your legs back down then performing a standard dip. At the top of the dip, swing your legs up again and hit as high a pike as possible, lower your legs and do a standard dip.

The way to scale this was to just do a tuck and get your knees to your chest, then lower your feet to the ground and use them to take some weight off during the dip.

A nice bit of work in the gym this morning. Gymnastics stuff is always fun, looking forward to a lot of rest tonight and a two-a-day, maybe even a three-a-day tomorrow.

Nutrition - 2/9

7:55 am (Post WOD)
"Reload" recovery drink
protein shake - 1 scoop (25g) whey protein isolate, 1 Tbsp organic unsweetened coconut milk, 1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut milk, 20 oz. water.

8:45 am
4.5 oz. grilled chicken breast
1 large bell pepper, raw
1 medium orange
1/4 cup brazil nuts

12:30 pm
6 oz. grilled top sirloin steak
Salad - 1 cup spinach, 2 cups arugula, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 2/3 cup cucumber, 3 large mushrooms, 3 radishes.
2 Tbsp homemade paleo dressing

4:20 pm
4 oz. ground beef
2 cups broccoli

7:30 pm
5.5 oz. ground beef - saute'ed with bell peppers, white onion, garlic, spices, lime juice.
3 large red cabbage leaves (used as wraps)
1/2 large avocado
3 Tbsp salsa
juice of 1/2 a lime