i love sliders

We had a wonderful time at dinner last night. I really enjoyed getting to chat with some of the folks i dont get to see too often in person. That was the latest i've stayed up(working doesn't count) in years. Guess the 5 cups of coffee and 2 hour afternoon nap helped. We had 15 people sitting at a table fit for 10. Mark and Nathan were kind to share the corner of the table for me. i'm still new to meat eating so the stew meat cubes in my meal were a little strange for me. Nothing strange about the meats in the sliders though. i could have eaten 10 of them for sure. on another note, I wish i would have paced myself better with ruby jewel ice cream sandwiches. i got a call at 4:15am from our web site host in Ireland reporting a problem. So of course, i'm wide wide awake and there's nothing handy to eat like a Ruby Jewell or even a leftover slider. guess i'll drink a muscle milk even though i prefer to keep those as my weekday meals. ok, i'm going to try going back to sleep now.

worked out on a saturday

i havent done a saturday workout in a long long time. it was fun and it felt needed after all the eating i've done. i pulled a jerk move and bought 10 Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches last night. i didn't do it to tempt melissa but i dont think it was easy for her to watch me have one ice cream sandwich in each hand as she ate her apple wedges or whatever the zone allows. i'm REALLY proud of her though. She's done an amazing job and has been very organized about it. i'm not smart enough or organized enough to follow the zone. Seems like a lot of work. Melissa is in the shower now so i may eat the last ice cream sandwich to be a good guy and get it out of our freezer. tonight is dinner at 8:30pm. This might be another one of those nights where i have to nap and drink coffee before going out so that i don't feel old and tired by 9.

warmup
i honestly cant remember

skill
pistol squats(i can do these but i cramp if i do more than 2. its always the non squatting leg that hurts too)
pull-up

WOD 4rounds 40/20
Heavy Jumprope
sprints
rope whips(heavy rope. one round kept movement continuous)
super plank
ball slam(20#)
sandbag shoulder(66.6#'s)(jury still out on what i think of this one)
h2h swing(20k)

Diet:
1pm Huevos Rancheros Zone style. Best i've EVER had! Melissa has perfected this one.

mad libs. help me Trevor

so yesterday, i left something like 9 words out of my blog. guess my brain wasn't working all that well. i decided today that i'd do the same thing but ask for Trevor's help in completing my blog. kind of collaborative blog i guess.

Mad Lib Blog for Trevor to complete :)
So today was a (adjective) morning. After a great warm up of (verb ending in ing). I was really looking forward to the (noun). Then my phone went off and it was (person) telling me that there was a (noun) at work. I excused myself and ran to the (noun used for transportation). As I (mode of transportation) as fast as i could towards the situation, i thought to myself "what would (celebrity) do in this situation?". Fortunately, as i pulled in the driveway of the (location), I received a call from (person) saying that the issue was resolved. I was happy to hear the (adjective) news but i was bummed that i had to miss my (noun) this morning. (exclamation) Oh well.

Meals
8am 1(brand name) shake

my new goal

i'm starting a new goal at work. My goal is to get this guy to come to a meeting wearing a t-shirt before the end of the year. I'm trying to get people to place bets on whether or not i can do it. I think I can but we'll see. Maybe i should just stick to working on my muscle up instead.

forgot about egg nog

so my new friend Clint(partner from Kettlebell Cert) reminded me about EggNog. My burrito addiction reminded him about his EggNog addiction. I totally forgot all about EggNog. I'm afraid its all over for me now once i start on the eggnog this season. Fortunately, i've never really done real eggnog. i've always done the Silk Brand Soy Nog. Most soy knock offs taste like crap but Silk Nog is actually pretty freakin amazing. I think it might be a little less calorie dense which is good because i'll still have room for burritos. I took Robert to the airport today so i couldn't make the 6:30am workout. Going to the night workout instead. The office is quiet today. Everyone is out in the stores helping with the holiday craziness. Its a pretty exciting time. The energy in the store is pretty good this time of year. New Seasons Market is the greatest company on the planet. They schedule massages for every I scheduled some meetings today. One of the guys I scheduled a meeting with is like a real life Michael Scott. It was so entertaining and uncomfortable at the same time. He told me i was way more intelligent than i looked. Somehow it didn't sound as mean the way he said it. I could tell he was trying to compliment me so i wasnt offended. I think guys in suits think that guys wearing shorts and t-shirts can't be smart. By the end of the meeting he was trying to be "hip" by saying things like "hey man", "bull crap", and something else that was funny. I'll try to picture of me with him today to share with you all. i never talk behind people's backs. i hope nobody thinks i'm a jerk for doing so today. it was just too funny and i had to share.

Diet:
6am Muscle Milk Shake
8am Muscle Milk Shake

zone support

Melissa has been on the zone for a few days now and is doing an amazing job. It just occurred to me yesterday that i couldn't be less supportive with my eating behavior. i think on day 2 of her zone diet, i ate 3 cupcakes and 2 burritos for dinner. i'm on a mission to be better. i have it easy. i just drink my shakes and i dont have to think about it. My thinking is that if 3 out of my 4 meals is a shake, i can screw up big time on the 4th meal and not ruin my diet too bad. i'm going to work on making that 4th meal a little bit better for 3 reasons. One is that it will be more supportive to Melissa, two, it sets a better example for hannah, and three, i'll get leaner. One of my new goals that John got me thinking about is a crossfit total score. If i understand it correctly its max deadlift, max back squat, and max shoulder press divided by bodyweight. The 3 lifts need to be done within an hour. He said a score of 5 is pretty good so i've been playing around with the math to see what it would take to get a score of 5. The easiest way is keep all my max lifts exactly where they are and just lose the last 10 pounds i've been trying to lose. i'm not one to care about scores or times too much but i think goals are important or at least fun to have. my real objective is to get lean and fit. figured setting small goals along the way will just make the journey more enjoyable. i made a spreadsheet to track goals. Some goals might be for the week, some for the quarter, and some for the year. It will be a work in progress and i may adjust the goals if i feel they are unrealistic.

workout
warmup with pvc

skill
push presses. worked on generating force from a 2 inch dip in the knees
5 reps at 45lb, 5 reps at 65lb
worksets: ended at 3x155(don't remember weight for first 4 sets)


WOD x 3
leg circuit
20 double kb clean and press(35lbs)(push pressed 4 reps out of 60. Was trying to go strict on all)
10knees to elbows
time: 18:32(i think)

Diet:
8am Lean Body shake
11pm Chile Relleno Burrito from La Bonita
5pm Lean Body Shake
8pm Lean Body Shake
9pm 3 fortune cookies

Gary did a muscleup

so today was worth getting up at 5:45am to see Gary do one of the most graceful muscleups i've ever seen. i dont even think he needed to kip. it was amazing. i dont think he's even been working on it that long. He walked in knowing he was going to get it. It was as if he figured it out in his head and brought the solution to the puzzle with him to the rings. Pretty cool. oh and we did dead lifts today. last week i watched a Youtube video of a guy demonstrating chi running on an ice rink. He was doing sprints back and forth on ice. i thought he was a little crazy. i thought i was crazy too for wasting minutes of my life i'd never get back watching a guy run on ice. "what benefit comes from watching this" Well today it paid off. I thought of that guy through every stride of my 2 laps around the block(That wasn't a typo. we really ran 2 laps around block today). What made the run similar to ice rink running is that i was wearing converse chucks with no traction on wet leaves in the freezing cold. yesterday i had a dentist appointment and i just have to describe how amazing the place is. you walk in and it feels more like a naturopathic office. Dim lights, nice music. comfortable couches. Then you're greeted by a genuinely friendly person who walks you to a station where she applies essential oils to your hands. You then dip your hands in a hot paraffin wax bath. You take your hand out and they are immediately wrapped in plastic and heavy insulated oven mit style mits. Next, they present you with silver platter with several ipods you can listen to during your cleaning.They have Jazz, hip hop, classical, pop, and many others. did i mention that you listen to the ipod through Bose headphones. so just when you couldnt be more relaxed with your hot paraffin covered hands in mits, the soulful sounds of Teddy Pendergrass coming through the Bose headphones, she kicks on the massage function of the chair. They have state of the art high tech tools too so they can do the job very gently and quickly. Felt more like a spa treatment than a dental visit. has nothing to do with fitness but it does have to do with well being so i thought id share.

Workout:
warm up med ball complex(i like kb complex more)

skill:
deadlifts (sets of 3)
225/275/315/345?/385

Wod
run around block 2 times
30 box jumps
30 kb swings 20k
time: 6:03

Diet:
8am: lean body shake
10am: chocolate bar(gift from hr department)
2pm: lean body shake

40/20

today was a 40/20 day. it was a pretty good workout. I tried to work on just moving through the sets at a steady pace with good form. Steve Maxwell said that you can get a great workout with 16k kettle bells and that he doesn't often use anything heavier. That was interesting to hear. I think my focus needs to be on metabolic conditioning. I have a descent amount of strength but I hit walls. i think i'll get more benefit keeping a 16k kb in motion with good form than i will muscling a 20k or 32k. I'm really focusing my energy on being very present through every movement I make. On olympic bar days, sure, i'll go as heavy as i can. However, with many other movements, i'm going to stick with 16ks and just focus on good range of constant motion. When appropriate i'm going to focus on negative and static strength too. I think static and negative strength offer so much more bang for the buck. Mainly because you have to get beyond positive strength failure to even train negative and static strength. I don't know if thats all counter to our gym's(or Crossfit's) philosophy or not but I do think there's something to it. Melissa has been Zoning this week. I took a picture of her meal prep requirements compared to mine. She'll probably live longer but i sure do have it easy when it comes to meal prep.

workout
warmup
row 1 min
kb round world
kb halo

skill
skill sandbag getup(LOVE THESE)66.6LBS
Pullups

workout 40/20(forgot how many rounds)
16k kb deadlift sumo high pulls
jacknife
figure 8 to hold(35lb)
plank holds
something lunges(side to side deep, heels stay down)
rest 90 seconds.

Diet:
8am: Lean Body Meal Replacement Shake
1pm: Lean Body Meal Replacement Shake
6pm 3 cupcakes
7pm 1.5 burritos

i've had 8 burritos this week and its only wednesday

i have a love/hate relationship with burritos. Actually its mostly all love. they are so freakin delicious and i cant stay away from them. my new rule was going to be that i only eat burritos on weekends. i've been in meetings this week and all anyone wants to eat are burritos. if i try to pass and say, i'm going to drink a muscle milk, everyone gets awkward and i end up feeling weird and have to explain what a muscle milk is. i'm not complaining. i love the burritos. i just dont love what they do for my body. My body gets lean from opposite ends and the mid section is the last. You may ask how i know this. well, i learned this trick a while back when i was obsessed about being lean.(it works best for men) you take your shirt off, flex every muscle that you can and jump up and down(dont do this in the Baja Fresh restroom. Its a tough one to explain if someone walks in on you). Anything that bounces is bodyfat. I've been doing my bounce test since starting at Recreate and i've noticed a lot less bouncing. I do notice that I still have some burrito and cupcake fat continue to jiggle on my sides. I'm trying to be strict with sleep and exercise but those darn burritos are my weakness. now you know why i started by saying love/hate. Today's workout was a great one. I dont think it qualifies as a chipper since exercises are repeated but it was similar in that its one time through a long list of exercises. Its a great mental strengthener too. too much to write down but I did enjoy it. i've been spending a lot of time at home in a squat position. Trying to work on my flexibility. Wish there were more hours in the day so i could try yoga or swimming or anything else. Heck, i can barely sneak in a 6:30am workout without being paged. Not sure i can fit in a new sport just yet. been riding the bike a lot lately and thats making me pretty happy.

workout
monster power endurance workout.

diet:
8am muscle milk
11am chicken burrito(og small frozen)
12:45 sw green chile burrito form laughing planet
3pm chicken burrito(og small frozen)
7pm lean body meal replacement shake
8pm piece of cheese

learning to pace

theres a fine line between pacing and slacking. i try to pace myself sometimes and i feel like i'm slacking. so then i go harder and want to puke. someday i'll learn. Today i tried to pace the wod. i did better than normal for me. usually with this workout, i go all out on the first round and cry about my butt of feet cramping on the next 2 rounds. i enjoyed today's workout.

warmup
kb complex

skill 3x
2hswings x 12 24k
1 leg dead lifts 35lb/45lb/45lb
ring dips x 8

WOD(4 rounds)
row 250m
20 ball slams(20#)
sprint to corner
2:05/1:56/1:53/2:11(got dizzy and pukey feeling on the last one)


Diet
8am Lean body shake
11am marion berry pastry
12pm bread pudding
1pm pecan roll
2pm leftover sweet potato fries

Calgon, take me away

its been one of those months at work. never a dull moment. my friend who's 1year old's bday party we attended on Saturday sent this picture of Melissa and me at the party. This is pretty typical of our weekends or weeknights too. Me off in the background on a phone. Not sure whether the picture makes me want to laugh or cry. we got a Dyson vacuum cleaner last night and are pretty freakin excited. It has more horse power than our car and is AMAZING. I never in my life thought a vacuum would excite me but a Dyson is something special. WOW!! I took today off from the gym but will be back at it tomorrow. Might use it as an excuse to do Saturday workout since i haven't done one in a long time.

Workout:
rode bike quickly to work

Diet:
12pm 1 sw green chile burrito

burrito day

today i got lost trying to drive us to a friends bday party. ended up discovering another fabulous taco truck behind a gas station though. sounds funny but all of the best burritos i've had have come from taco trailers behind gas stations in North Porrland. It was unbelievable. The taco trucks don't skimp on cilanro, onion, or avocado. I can't stress to you enough how important those ingredients are. we got to the party for our 1year old friend camben and it was like no 1st birthday ive seen. 5 bajillion people, kegs of beer, a live band, and a live donkey. I dont think my 21st bday or any other was that eventful. Work has been busy even today. spent much of the party in their back room using their computer for work. felt like a jerk but this friend is also a vendor i work with so he totally understood. we're getting loaded up on coffee now for a double date. we want the other couple to think we're cool and can stay up late so we're drinking tons of coffee so we can at least make it until 10. Truth is, i could sleep right now(5:15pm) if you told me it was bed time. we are meeting the couple for burritos before going to a play. not a bad day when i get to eat two burritos and pet a live donkey.

workout:
pet donkey

diet:
1:30pm burrito
2pm 10 pretzels
3pm 20 peanuts
5pm lean body shake
6:20 2 cupcakes
6:30pm burritosw green chile.
11:30pm one slice of pizza
12am: lean body shake

deadlifts

Today was dead lift day. My lower back has been tender from the kb cert on Sunday. im 30somehting so i dont recover as quickly as i used to. its not a bad pain but it does feel like it needs some time before i go too heavy with dead lifts. I learned to do double unders today and did 90 of them(not in a row). i could only do 5 last time i tried. That was the hi-light of my day. Next hi-light will be the burrito i have at lunch if i get a lunch today. been so busy at work, i've had to live off my shakes lately. i guess thats ok though because its keeping my waistline in check. In fact the other day, i put something in my pocket that was a little bit heavy and my shorts fell down. i was so excited. Joel has inspired not only me but so many people at work to focus on their diets. I pull up his Success blog entry to anyone walking by and they are like "oh my god, sign me up for whatever he's doing". I tell them that he eats very good and works hard. He's one of my role models for sure. Even Hannah will say "Dad, did you notice how good Joel looks!" ok, time to go to work. im starting to babble. Handsome Stephen was back in the gym today and it definitely changed the energy. Everyone was smiling and awake. was good to have him back.

warmup
pvc pass thrus
squats
jumprope

desd lifts
5X185
5X225
5x255
5x285
10x305

play time: ring holds: 45 seconds, 90 double unders(not in a row) Did get 26 in a row and 24 in a row.

Diet:
8am: lean body shake
12pm: kombucha
12:30 real food bar
4pm lara raw food bar
8pm 2 hushpuppies
8:30 bbq tofu po boy with slaw from miss delta mash potatoes
9pm: pecan bread pudding

got called out of class :(

so i got through the warmup before i was paged out of class by work. its been one thing after another lately. i was bummed. The only bright side is that today's warmup was actually harder than some workouts i've done. :)

Workout:
great kb complex(goal was not to set kb down)

Diet:
8am: Lean Body shake
12pm: Lara Raw Food Bar
1pm: Lean Body Shake
5pm: Lean Body Shake

new shakes

so i got some more meal replacement shakes which means i wont be eating donuts for lunch anymore. i got a new kind of shake. i use to drink the muscle milks because they taste like a damn dream and they have a lot of fat in them. I switched to the Lean Body shakes for 2 reasons. They have more protein, more fiber, less carbs, and still have a descent amount of fat in them. They dont taste as good as muscle milks but i'm thinking the nutrient ratio might be worth trying. people tease me all the time and give me crap for drinking my meals. they take all the guess work out of eating an "ideal" meal. if i do them most of the time, i can go nuts around a burrito or pizza when i want to. today's workout was the kind i like talking about at work. There were some bodybuilding guys at work and they asked what i had been up to and how i lost weight. i described today's workout as an example of the stuff we do. I told them that today's workout for some was under 5 minutes and we had fit guys almost puking. These guys lit up with excitement and said they wanted to come. They said they wanted to workout a bit more first so they could get fit enough to come check us out. I told them that i'm still not fit enough to finish most of the workouts and i couldn't be happier. John reminded me today that its all about the big picture; The world outside of our workouts that makes it all worth it. He couldn't be more right. i don't even have another sport yet and i'm so thankful for all that these workouts have done for my mental and physical health. i feel so much more confident and energetic. ok, i'm babbling. i'm still working and needed a little distraction.

workout
fran: 7:49

diet:
3 lean body meal replacement shakes
2 pieces of pepperjack cheese

i dropped my first barbell.

so i recently commented about how i've never dropped a barbell before. lastnight in front of the entire class Nathan ordered me to drop the bar. Its a lot like trying to pee in your wet suit when you're surfing. Its ok to do but you're conditioned not to pee your pants so it becomes difficult to do while surfing. Well, dropping weight is similar for me. I have been conditioned not to do it for so long that doing it felt really uncomfortable. One of my classmates said i drop weight like a girl. You'd think after an entire day with Steve "Rambo" Maxwell i'd be dropping weight in a very manly way. I guess not. I thought dropping the bar would be similar to breaking plates at a greek restaurant. nope. instead it was like trying to pee your pants on purpose. oh well. i ate a donut for lunch today and that's all i had. I'll blame the sugar for why my blog has gone into the gutter. i'll try to get back on track tomorrow. i ran out of meal replacement shakes and all i know how to eat are donuts and cupcakes. I went to my first night class in a while and i'm glad i did. Got to see all my evening friends which was such a treat.

workout:
none.

diet:
2:30pm: apple fritter

cert

so yesterday was our Steve Maxwell Kettlebell Cert. it was quite valuable and entertaining. i've learned lots of things. One memorable thing i learned is that "you don't put your tongue in your grandmother's mouth" Steve put things in terms we could relate with. That certainly helped me with my lunge. Steve was a great guy. I'm glad i attended the cert. i thought i'd be more sore today so i didn't work out today. i feel surprisingly good today so i probably could have worked out. oh well. A day off never hurt anyone. Fun group of people too.

Looking forward to Sunday's Cert

i remember 10 years ago when i was way into bodybuilding magazines reading about this mysterious new russian gym tool that was yielding amazing results. it was the kettlebell. from that day on, i've been fascinated by them. I love everything about them. The raw primitive design, their versatility, their effectiveness, and most of all how graceful they can look when used correctly. when Rhonda introduced us to Recreate i think that was the first thing i got excited about. Then i fell in love with all the people and have been hooked ever since. On Sunday we'll be meeting a kettlebell celebrity. I met Sam Beam of Iron & Wine a few years ago and just today Hannah was asking me if he was the only famous person i've ever met. I think Steve gets to count as the 2nd famous person i'll get to meet. Today's workout was a good one. It was deadlifts and i think i went up too fast. I was sharing a bar with Hercules John and thought id stay on the pain train as long as i could. :). Next time i need to remember that he's way fitter than me and i need to go up a little slower. We worked on muscleups today. i swear it feels like its years away for me. i can pullup to my chest, i can dip to my armpits but i can't even come close to a muscleup. im not bummed or obsessed about it. would be cool to check it off a list of accomplishments but its certainly not haunting me. I figure it will come when it comes. 20 deadhang pullups is still my goal before the end of 2008.

warmup(i only got 2 rounds)
10 pushups
15 goblet squats 16k
20 2hkb swings

wod
2 warm up sets of 5 deadlifts both at 225
5 sets of deadlifts with 5 deadhang pullups between
225/275/315/345x3/345x3

Skill:
muscle up attempts

i feel like i've been on candid camera

So other than the best news ever tuesday night, this week has been a rough one for me. Fallen trees, power outages, phone issues, etc. Work has been one thing breaking after another and much of it has been completely out of my hands and unrelated. I keep expecting someone to jump out from behind a wall and say "smile you're on candid camera. This has all been a practical joke" Hoping today is a smooth one. Today was a GREAT WORKOUT. Thursday sessions often seem to be some of my favorites. We spent a lot of time on the rower today but it was broken up which made it tolerable. Today's workout was a good variety that i felt worked the whole body pretty evenly.

warmup 3x
pvc pass throughs x10
pvc overhead squat x10
5 spidermen

warm up 3 sections

SectionA (i think i did 5 sets)
sandbag half moons x 10
10 k2e(surprisingly this was the hardest part of the workout. had to break them up)

SectionB(I think i got 3 rounds of this(did it after section c though)
mr. spectacular with 45lb kbs x 7
10 ring swings(10 seemed like too few reps and i'm never one to say that)

Section C(as many rounds in 10 min)
Row 250m
db push press 35lbs x 10
got 6 rounds and about a 100m of rowing into the 7th.