overhead squats and push pull training

Today it was good to be back at it. Absolutely in love with my Vibram 5 Fingers. Especially for oly lifts. Wow. Went in last night to a regular class just to see if i still knew how to deadlift after all the rolling. Felt pretty good. Felt great again today too. My fingers and wrists feel jacked from all the rolling but i'm still loving it. Nathan says we need to be in better condition so i'm going to try to not neglect anymore workout opportunities.

Warmup: 5 minute row easy pace

Then:
30 m lunge (facing forward down facing backwards back)
30 m lunge w/ oly bar in rack position (facing forward down facing backwards back)
30 m lunge w/ 75# in OHS position (facing fowards down and back)
30 m lunge w/ 75# in OHS position (facing fowards down and back)

Then: 4 rounds
4 OHS

75/95/125/135/

Then: 4 rounds

Pull 45# of chain 30m
Sprint 30 meters
Hold 25# slam ball locked out overhead while 3 other partners do same thing
Pull 45# of chain 30m
Rest

Then: 4 rounds lying on back:

12 med ball throws @ 8'
8 med ball throws @ 10'
4 med ball throws @ 12'

14/14/14

slackin on posting.

i realized i haven't posted in a while. while in mexico, i worked out all days but 1. However, i was trying to avoid the computer so i never posted. In mexico we did some great workouts. Glad Melissa had some creative workouts for us to do with limited space and equipment. We did some great workouts. One of my favorites was a 250meter lunge walk warm up. Since i've been back, my only exercise until today has been jiu jitsu rolling. Its been quite the workout. Today was my first workout with weights since i've been back. I went to 24hr fitness early and did my first workout using my new vibram 5 finger shoes. I really really like them and look forward to more workouts with them.

20 front squats @ 45lbs
3 x 10 back squats @ 135
3 x 6 back squats @ 225
3 x 4 back squats @ 275

2 x 8 bent over rows at 135lbs
2 x 10 bench press at 135lbs

Wasnt a great workout by any stretch but I was happy just to make it in and test drive the new vibrams.

Jits 11/27

worked on arm locks and guard passes in warm up.
Did some position training and then moved on to a 30 minute straight roll. Oh my goodness, that might have been one of the hardest workouts of my life. I felt really really good today. No pain. Just lots of sweat and lots of movement. Nathan said i improved 20% since last time. He reminded me to be playful. As an adult, we're aware when we don't know what we're doing and we become hesitant to try things. As a kid, if we're thrown into something, we don't know that we don't know anything and we just have fun trying. i'm trying to get into that space and i think it paid off. I had a great workout and i think i made a lot of improvements in my form. Tomorrow, i'm taking the day off from Jits but will train in the gym. Then we'll be back at it on Sunday. i think an occasional day off is good for the muscles, the joints, but also lets a lot of the information settle in too. Similar to how Dr. Gary got his first muscle up just by thinking about it for 24 hours, i've improved moves just by thinking about them a lot. ok, i'm babbling so its time to sign off.

Jits 11/24

Had a great session with Nathan. He taught me a few more sweeps and two more chokes. One choke i don't think i'll be able to use on most folks because of my short arms but i think it should be fun to try at least. We set out to do a 33minute straight roll during this session. I thought my knee cap came off at 28 minutes in and was in horrible pain. Fortunately, the pain was pretty much gone by morning. I was so relieved. The pain was so bad at the time, i was pretty certain something bad happened. I've been a little embarrassed because, i'm the only one who's been getting hurt during these things and i've never been "that guy". I've never broken a bone, sprained an ankle, or anything like that. So to be the guy who leaves every night with a minor injury is strange. Fortunately each injury has been very very minor and quick to recover from. I'm really enjoying the Jits since it gives me another thing to use my fitness for. I want to stay consistent with my early morning sessions as well since they provide me such an excellent foundation for everything else i do. What i love about Jits is the more i suck at it, the better the workout. kind of like swimming. If you're a good efficient swimmer, swimming can become almost effortless. If you're an inefficient swimmer, 100yards can seem like the workout of a lifetime. Jits feels like it might be the same way. In the beginning, you compensate for a lack of skills by just trying to muscle everything. After 30 seconds on the mat, I was barely able to breath and was drained of energy. As i learn more survival skills, i can conserve a little more energy. i'm very much enjoying the entire process. I'm not in a rush to be great at it. I'm happy to have another activity to challenge me and add to my training regimen.

Jits 11/23

Had a good session with Nathan and Ben(and Ben Jeffers too). Little Ben had some street moves he snuck in while dad wasn't watching. I think my adams apple is forever bruised from one of his street moves. Dont think he'll have to worry about bullies on the school yard. This session felt pretty good. Its funny how you start out and you have absolutely no moves and you're told to "do it". As an adult, its strange to do something knowing that you have no idea what you're doing. Each week, i feel like one concept solidifies. Each week becomes more and more fun. Feeling less sore after each session now too which is good. Been seeing Joanna weekly for massage work though which has helped a ton!

back squats

after rolling for a while, my joints and muscles have been killing me. was happy to move some weight again today.

Warmup: 5 minute easy row

Then: Back Squat warm up

Then:
3x5 BS @ 165#
3x4 BS @ 185#
3x3 BS @ 225#
3x2 BS @ 255#
6x1 BS @ 285#

Then: 30/30/Rest 2 minutes/Improve each interval

Frog hops: 24/30/36/47
Situps: 15/16/17/19

11/11/09 Jits

Rolled for an hour with Nathan. Worked on slow roll and guard passing. Tring to use less muscle and more technique. Difficult to do when your bag of tricks is empty and all you have is strength. Trying to reach a fatigue point that is near complete failure so that I'm forced to not rely on strength.  Really enjoying it. Mainly because my waistline is shrinking from it. I think I've lost 8 pounds since this all started.  I drove to gym this morning to join Ben and John but somehow I missed them. I swore it looked pitch black inside so I went back home after sitting there for 20 minutes. Sounds like I missed a pretty good workout. Darn. Maybe I'll get into the globo tomorrow to do something. Then rolling with the boys tomorrow. Running the muddy 5K on Saturday that John let us know about. That should be fun.  

Fun with the Airdyne

today was a fun one.  Schedule conflicts, transportation issues, sore ribs, and elbow pain made it difficult for me to hit the gym this week. Normally, I'd fall into a deep depression from not working out but fortunately the Jiu Jitsu training has done a good job at kicking my butt. I emailed John late yesterday to see if he was going in this morning and told him I thought I was ready to come back and test drive my rib cage after some days off.

I really enjoyed today's workout. The thing I love about the 5am sessions is the same thing I'm enjoying about the Jits. Comradre. There's something special about consistently sharing a discipline with committed people.  Its what gets me to the gym at that ridiculous hour and its what keeps me rolling on the mats after all the bruises and sweat.  In general people feel good about belonging to something. I think that's why religion works for so many people.  My religion involves wrestling with friends, dragging weighted recycling bins across parking lots, and yelling at my friends to row faster.  works well for me. I'm one of the happiest people I know.

 

warmup

row easy 5 minutes

 

workout

4 rounds of:

Airdyne for 5 minutes (15 seconds hard/15 seconds less hard)

goal 100calories or greater and improve on every round.

5 minutes rest between rounds.

 

Results

100 felt great but wasn’t sure I'd be able to beat it.

101 shocked as hell that I even made it without puking on the airdyne

93 gave it all I had and the tank was empty

106 dug deep and really emptied the tank. last minute was all hard.

fell off airdyne straight to the floor hoping not to have my heart explode.

 

tonight: rolling with Nathan and Jeff.

 

 

Sparrow's Dozens

Today I had the choice of doing something else and i was dumb enough to choose this one.

Its called Sparrow's Dozens

12 Rounds of:
12 deadlifts at 185lbs(about bodyweight)
12 pullups
12 pushups
12 25lb ball slams
52minutes.
Had to do straight leg ring rows on the last 3 as hands began to rip from all the pullups. Really glad i did this workout but was wishing i had picked what was behind door number 2 instead. Looking forward to jits tonight.

10/27 evening

Last night i met Nathan for some more Jits rolling. Boy was that intense. Nathan is so strong and so efficient that it was a major beat down.At one point i stood up and with just one leg, he was able to throw me to the floor with force. Even though i was unable to take a single dominant position, i felt like i learned a lot and got an amazing workout. Nathan was great about pointing out things i could do in the middle of a move. i have crazy bruises all over my arms this morning. Fortunately, they dont hurt. Looking forward to the next one. Its a great stress relief too. Nathan was reminding me to not get discouraged. The thing is, even i suck at it, i'm getting a fantastic workout. Of course, i hope to get better with practice but in the mean time, i am really enjoying the learning and the workout. Ordered my Gi(jits robe) yesterday. Looking forward to the next time we roll. I'm super sore this morning in my legs but i think that has more to do with heavy back squats and box jumps from yesterday. good stuff.

back squats & weighted pullups

Today's workout was all strength.

5 x 5 tall box jump (maybe 28 inches)

then

8x3 back squats first set at 225. 7 remaining sets at 245
then

Work up to 1RM weighted pullup.
1RM was 40K today

then

2 rounds of(4 were prescribed but time was running out and i was gassed trying to find my 1RM):
1@ 80lbs
1@ 60lbs
1@ 45lbs
2 clapping pullups.

then

5x5 box jumps on same 28inch box.

first jits class!!

i thought it would take several sessions before i felt this way but i'm totally hooked. it was SO much fun and SUCH a great workout. i still feel like im going to puke and i have purple bruises on my body. Omar is our instructor and he's fantastic. He's one of those real deal Gracie trained guys. He's very technical and an excellent teacher. He was able to give us some basics so we could start rolling around and having fun. Then Nathan schooled us some as well. I'm really looking forward to doing this on a regular basis. I could only describe as "like holding on to a bull in the rodeo. When you don't know what you're doing, you're basically just trying to not get choked for as long as you can. I'm sure we'll learn to play smarter once we have an arsenal of moves. For now, its just trying to stay alive on the mat. Good stuff. I guess i found my new sport!!!

single leg day

Most of todays workout was single leg stuff. Single leg stuff is great because it recruits so many secondary muscles for stabilization. It's also great because you dont need as much weight to get a great workout. I also believe it is safer in many movements because proper form is so critical just to do the exercise. With 2 leg moves, sometimes a strong guy can power through something with improper form and possibly hurt himself. With single leg stuff, if you dont have the form, chances are the weight isn't going anywhere and nobody gets hurt. That's not always true but for the most part, single leg stuff feels safer and really beneficial.

workout(from memory. may correct when John posts)

warmup 5 min row easy

Workout:
3x30m Lunge (Forwards & Backwards)
2x15m Lunge @ 45# (in Rack Position)
2x15m Lunge @ 75# (Overhead Hold)
2x15m Lunge @ 95# (Overhead Hold)

Then:
Work up to Heavy SLDL

Then:
4x4 SLDL @ 185#

Then: 5 rounds
15m Farmer Carry/Sled Drag (Forward) @ 2 x 40kg KB Farmer(1st round did 32k), 200# Sled +
15m Overhead Carry/Sled Drag (Backward) @ 2 x 25# KB, 200# Sled

photo courtesy of John

maybe my favorite workout so far

i absolutely LOVED today's workout. if its not my favorite one yet, its certainly near the top. Lots of explosive movements and a new move. the knee jump. Knee jumps are as scary as box jumps. reason being that if you dont make it there's no graceful way to land. You either make it or you fall on your face.

row easy 5 minutes
Then
2 x 10 (airsquats, 10 jumping air squats)

Then
Then work up to 1 rep knee jump
(Knee jump is: barbell racked on shoulder blades with knees on ground. Butt starts out sitting on heels while toes close to flat on the ground. As butt comes off the heels, hips drive to bring feet forward underneath the knees landing in deep squat position.)
pvc, 25lb bar, 33lb bar, 45lb bar, 65lbs

Then
begin one set every 30 seconds for 10 minutes=20 rounds
1 clean, 1 hang clean, 1 front squat
115lbs for all rounds.

Then
8x3 rapid barbell snatch
2 rounds at 95lbs
6 rounds at 105

Then
2min of 30sec db push press followed by 30 seconds of overhead db hold. If dbs drop below ears another set is required.
20lb dbs since last time i bombed with 25lbs.30 seconds above head is the hard part of this.
Round 1: 25
Round 2: 25
Round 3: 25
Round 4: 21
Note: might be good to do 25lbs next time

Then
4 rounds of
750meter rows faster than 2:45
2:37, 2:42,2:41, 2:43

We were supposed to do 300seconds of FLRS but 6:30 class began. next time.

rec fit 10/21

didnt register for class but they let me come anyway. walked in late after a very long day at work. Been trying to do some form of cardio every day to lean down a little. I snuck up above 185lbs and am now i'm back to just under 180lbs again. Would like to be a lean 170. Hoping Jits will also help with that.

today i went light weight wise not knowing what tomorrow's session has in store for me.

skill:
Med ball clean and presses. 50-80lbs
wod:
5 sets of
5 double db swing(30lb dbs)
5 renegade row(includes a pushup)
5 thrusters
5 db burpees

Short and sweet wod tonight and nothing that would beat me up too bad for tomorrow. Little nervous about tomorrow's morning workout. Looking forward to it though. My marathon and my marathon recovery still have me so excited about the current morning programming. I should not have been able to complete, improve, or recover in this last marathon. I was flat out irresponsible for even registering. I knew that what we all do in the gym(rec fit classes included) was potent but its nice to get a little proof in the real world sometimes. I think i was more pleased with my recovery time than the actual marathon itself. I got to visit one of our stores where several of the folks there did the marathon so we were talking about it today. I guess that's why its probably on my mind tonight. Looking forward to the next one. Eugene in may.

rec fit 10/20

went all out on the sprints until i was almost puking. barely survived the quad squats. Goal was to row over 1000 meters in the 6 rows total. That worked out but then i was almost cramping when the high pull came. good cardio workout for me. grabbing lighter weights on the days i come to rec fit classes and trying to just move faster. hard to not let the ego get in the way. would rather go heavy with the barbells and work on speed during these other workouts. getting nervous about ringworm, pink eye, and all the other stuff that i'm now hearing comes with Jiu jitsu. I'm going to bathe in Purell before and after every session.

partner 30/30

6x at each station

run
quad squat/quad hop
row
double kettlebell hi-pull

rest 90 seconds between rounds

mixed feelings about today's workout

Today's workout was a series of letdowns and failures but in the end it was a good workout.
here's how it went.

told my self "i'm going to do 500 thrusters for time"
got to 100 and decided i wanted to do something different.

Told myself "i'm going to do 100 bent over rows @ 135lbs.
got to 60 and decided i wanted(needed) to do something else.

told myself i was going to do 100 bench press at 85lbs
Got to 60 and decided i wanted to do something else.

told myself i was going to do 50 bodyweight dips.
got to 25 and decided i needed to do something else.

told myself i'd row 4K getting off every 4 minutes for 20 honest pushups.
got to 2000 meters and decided i should go home before my ego took any more abuse.

It was kind of a letdown because i was very disappointed in my inability to make myself complete each task i set out to do. Just another reminder of why i need to work out in the company of very hard working, motivating, and supportive people. Working out at 24hour fitness where people dont really workout is very tough. i would have been better off just doing the 10am class. that would have required waking up earlier though. Oh well. Got a great bike ride in the rain.

not sure what to call it.

today John was smiling big when we walked in so i knew we had some cruel and unusual punishment in store for us. i was right.

Started out not so bad but got pretty tough.

5min row

5 rounds: IGOx1rep/UGOx1rep of following:
5 50lb ball slam
10 honest burpees
15 24k swing igo8/ugo8/igo7/ugo7

Fun begins here:
heavy rope pulls, ring hangs, overhead ball holds, sprints.
Too hard to journal but it was great and very challenging.

Then 2 rounds of very quickly throwing 10 random weight med balls over highest pull up bar starting from squat postion. Weights ranged from 12-30lbs.

IWT

3 rounds:

12 high pulls(95/115/115)

2min row @<550m (550/552/553)

Rest 3 min between rounds



Rest 2 min + 3 min rest from last round.



3 rounds:

10 snatch(65/85/85)

2min lunge walk

Rest 3 min between rounds



4xRow very hard for 20sec/rest 10

Rest one minute and repeat.

1st time doing split jerks

Today was my first time doing split jerks. They came more naturally than some of the other things have. i really enjoyed them. I think the split makes things a bit more stable. Ran short on time trying to find a 1RM today. Felt like I got a great workout though. Felt good to move some weight after not lifting since a week before the marathon.

warmup:
5min easy row
3 rounds of:
20 squats
10 jump squats
5 hanging snatch(2 with pvc,1 with barbell)

10x2 Snatch high pull(goal is to pull 90% of 1RM of Snatch) with 2min between sets
95/115/135/135/135/135/135/135/135/135

Work towards finding 1rm or split jerk
5x95
5x115
5x135
5x155
3x175
3x185
1x195
1x205
6:30 class was arriving and it was time to pick up. Had 215 on the bar but didnt get a chance to try it. Guessing that 215 would have been my 1RM for day. Fresh, i'd maybe be able to get 225. Not sure. Its a confidence thing and it started to get a little scary getting under that kind of weight. the nice thing about a lot of these lifts is that i'll see significant gains from technique and confidence improvements. very very happy to be back in the gym. When i finished the marathon feeling great and knowing i hadn't really trained myself at running, i was really thankful for these workouts.

2nd Marathon. 4:02:05

i did the portland marathon yesterday and beat my last years time by 17minutes. I felt fantastic the entire time. I really have to say that the gym training we've been doing made such a HUGE difference. The marathon is more a test of mental determination than of physical ability. I think all the IWT and interval rows we've done really prepared me for this. I barely ran this year so i was actually half prepared to DNF the race. I was pleasantly surprised by how effective our gym training has been and how well it transfered into my running. I was shocked to get a PR. I think there were a few things that made this such a great race for me.
1. the ipod. music really helped.
2. Shirley helped me pace the first 17 miles smarter.
3. Smarter race nutrition.(thanks John! Hammer Gels saved my butt)
4. Jeff running mile 17-20 with me.
This was SUCH a different experience from last year. Last years marathon was one of the worst days of my entire life. I was even kind of mad at myself for doing it. This was quite the opposite. i felt amazing and even high from it. I am going to run it every year until i'm physically unable to complete it. I don't love running. In fact, i don't even like running. I look at the marathon as a measurement of where my mental and physical fitness is at.

Sept 25th.

Great workout to finish the week off. Felt pretty beat up going into today. nearly puked today and was even seeing spots after 60 seconds of work on an airdyne. Damn.

 

 

row 5min easy

 

x6(rep) barbell complex @ 95lbs without setting bar down.

dead lifts/bent over rows/hang cleans/front squats/push press/back squat/pushups

x 3

 

10->1 ladder

dead lift 215lbs/pullups/pushups

 

4 rounds

20 second row hard

40 second row easy

Calories:  14/13/10/11

 

4 rounds

15 hard/45 easy (not what was prescribed but what i did)

50calories total

Sept 24: Track day on the rower

very disappointed with my performance today. I was fighting a butt cramp through half of it so maybe that affected my performance but i was still disappointed. Workout was tough mentally so I had to ask myself if gave it 100% mentally. Not sure. wondering if i was allowing the cramping to excuse my poor performance. oh well. i made it into the gym and did work hard.

5x
1000 meter row with a goal of 3:30 per 1000m.
rest 3 minutes through active recovery.
Actual times: 3:30(good)/3:30(good)/3:44(not good)/3:44(not good)/3:37(at this point, i was pleased to get under 3:40)

This was a VERY challenging workout for me. Both mentally and physically.

Sept 23: Recfit workout

trying to get as much met conditioning as i can before the marathon so i went to the eve class.

workout:
4 rounds:
6 x medball squat, Carry, then 10 jump squats
100#/100#/100#/30#(back starting to spasm)

How many rounds in 10 min
10 40lb db push press
250meter row.
120meters shy of 7 rounds.

5 min snatch test
89 @ 16k

Sept 22: IWT with Back squats and snatches

another fantastic workout. 2 of my most favorite moves in the world. Back squat and snatch.

warmup 5 minute easy row

3 rounds of:
10 snatch at 95lbs
immediately followed by 2minute 18inch box stepovers
rest 2 minutes
------------------------------
rest 3 minutes
------------------------------
3 rounds of:
10 back squats at 185lbs
immediately followed by 2minute row > 550m
(551/552/555)

5 minute ring hold in pushup position.

Night:
Biked from office up lovejoy>cornell right and up thompson to 53rd and back down 53rd to cornell. Great Hill climb. A little short considering the ride back is all down hill and fast.

Sept 20th. Great Run

Ran 12 miles at 9 min or better pace on an empty stomach. Felt great. Hip flexors and IT bands got a little tight but after some heavy lifting this week, i'm not too surprised or worried. Intentionally did the run on an empty stomach to simulate glycogen depletion sooner. Looking forward to the marathon. Its such a great mind phuk. Hoping to get another run in this week with Jeff.

best workout EVER.

so i thought tuesday was the best workout ever but today topped it. This may be the last deadlift i do until after the marathon. i want to make sure my back doesn't get tight for that. going to work really hard until about 10 days out. then i may just row and run for the 10 days before the marathon.

warmup: 7min easy row

find 90% 1RM on deadlift(essentially get warm for next part of workout)

Then begin Deadlifting
3x5 230lbs
3x4 275lbs
3x3 320lbs
3x2 365lbs
6x1 410lbs

3 rounds
20sec row/10 sec rest with 100+ meters rowed in each 20sec interval
Round 1(102/101/101/100)
Round 2(101/101/102/100)
Round 3(113/113/113/111)

brutal IWT

today was a brutal IWT session. what a welcome back to the gym workout. These workouts continue to get more demanding. i love the barbells and all the explosive movements. This one was WAY harder than it looked on paper. Those squats felt like a thousand pounds by the time they came around. Really happy to survive that workout.

7minute easy row.

3 sets:
12 barbell high pulls with 70% of your 1RM for clean.(135#)
row 2minutes at a 550m or > pace.(551,551,554)
rest 2 minutes between sets
-----------------------------
Rest 5 minutes(including 2 minutes from the previous block)
-----------------------------
3 sets:
12 Front Squats at 50% 1RM(135#)
row or airdyne HARD for 15 seconds/less hard for 15 seconds for 2minutes.
rest 2minutes between sets
------------------------------
Rest 5 minutes(including 2 minutes from the previous block)
------------------------------
3 sets:
8 deadhang pullups
8 pushups
8 24k kb swing
8 atomic situps
60 meter farmer carry with 2 32k kbs in each hand.
Rest 1 minute between sets.

5k for time

my goal was to get under 19:56 and got 19:33.4. I'm ok with that. I was up until midnight and had a poor diet yesterday. i'm sure i have room to improve and now that i know it wont kill me, i can learn from this row and work on it for the future. i may toy around with Damper settings. 10 may have been a death wish.

box squats

i've always read that the best way to improve your dead lift is to do more box squats. I never understood why but i'm hoping it will start to make sense to me now that we're doing some. i used to do some light box squats at globogym but never consistently enough to measure the benefits. i love squats and am happy to be doing more of them. i'm so happy to be spending so much time with barbell lately.

warmup
7 min easy row not using foot straps

10goblets@45lbs
10goblets@53lbs
10goblets@70lbs

(below were back squats)
3 box squats @ 195
3 box squats @ 205
3 box squat @ 225
5 x 3 box squats at 245lbs (probably should have gond 20lbs heavier)

6 sets of 5 rapid broadjumps. aka "depth jumps"

5 sets of 10 1 leg deadlifts holding kettlebell(5 reps each leg per set)
24k/24k/24k/32k/32k

300seconds of hold. 1st attempt using slosh pipe. complete the remaining seconds on rings in pushup position.
sloshpipe: 1:45
ring hold: 1:30
ring hold: :30
ring hold 1:15(this was the hardest part of the workout. OUCH!!!!!)

great run

Yesterday morning, Jeff and I went for what we thought was an 11 mile run. When we completed it, Jeff looked it up to discover that the course was 8.5. i'm ok with that because the run felt really good. I felt pain free and light on my feet. It was probably the most comfortable run i've had in a long long time. i'm feeling way more optimistic about the marathon now. The arctic monkeys released a new CD. i'm trying not to overplay it now so that it has an adrenaline effect on me when i put it on my ipod for the marathon. Music can really carry me through tough workouts and runs. Shirley said she's going to sign up too. She had an injured back and foot but had one acupuncture treatment that healed her. So i guess she's in. sweet.

training paid off

so i've been working on my cupcake consumption for the last few years and today it paid off. About 2 weeks ago, our resident champ Kara asked me if i would be her partner in the cupcake eating contest. i was so honored but then i became nervous. i know she is competitive and ALWAYS wins these sorts of things. As the day approached, i became a little nervous about letting her down. Especially since i was hearing stories of Chris B eating 2 entire pies by himself. I've done 3 triathlons this year. last year did the marathon. I've competed in numerous tennis tournaments, swim meets, water polo meets, fencing tournaments, and even a few dance competitions. Not once was i more nervous than today. I heard people saying "look at sean, his hands are shaking". I think maybe i was afraid kara would kick my ass if I let her down. Turns out, she was worried about letting me down. Fortunately, she coached me on the technique of eating half a cupcake and a sip of water at a time. turned out pretty well for us. We placed second just behind the youth heat. I felt great afterwards and even had one of Joe's bratwursts. i haven't eaten since and am a little disgusted with myself now. tomorrow, i have plans to run 12 miles on an empty stomach. Maybe that will make up for at least one cupcake. Kara was impressive today and i'm so glad i got to be on her team. I'm just now ready for more food 8 hours later. Oh, and i did FGB too. My butt, shoulders, and forearms were hurtin like mad from Friday's lunge/push press beat down so i had to reach in the cabinet for some vitamin i this morning.

400meter march

today's workout sounded pretty simple but it was a great challenge in many subtle ways.

400M lunge walk with 25db in each hand stopping to do 5 push presses after every 10 lunges. Shoulders hurt from push presses, forearms hurt from holding 25lbs for half an hour in each hand. Legs hurt from lunging. Mind hurt from wondering if i'd get through it. I'm really curious to see how i feel tomorrow. It wasn't heavy weight so it may be one of those where i'm surprised about how sore i am. We'll see. i think i'll do FGB tomorrow with adjusted expectations that i might be worthless. i'm mainly looking at FGB as a chance to burn some cupcake and burger calories. A good buddy of mine told me that his wife asked if he had a thyroid problem and said she was worried about him. He said it almost made him cry since he thinks she was trying to imply that he got fat. If she framed it as genuine concern for a possible medical condition, it doesnt sound as bad as telling him he eats too much. I told Melissa that if I start getting fat from my new burger addiction or my competitive cupcake eating just to stop me and say "Sean, you're fat" and not to ask if i have a thyroid problem. Ever since i've been doing these intense workouts, i can't seem to satisfy my hunger and protein craving. I'd love to do a few day cleanse some time before the marathon. i may have to take a burger and burrito sabatical soon to lose some weight before the marathon. we'll see. i could do the lettuce burgers that crossfit portland was talking about. that doesnt sound so bad.

clean ladder

today was clean day. I'm very comfortable doing regular cleans but squat cleans are a whole different story. I can get the weight up pretty high but I can't squat under it with any sense of comfort or confidence. The idea of catching 200+ pounds centimeters from my throat and directly above my knees scares the hell out of me. I may try to get in some time soon to practice more. The key is to use a weight heavy enough that requires the squat but not so heavy that I can't do it. Got to watch the boys move some serious weight today in the gym. Daniel got a PR by 20lbs. It was pretty impressive.

 

Warmup: 5 minute row easy pace

Then: 3 rounds
6-way BB Complex:
- DL
- Bent Row
- Hang Clean,
- FS
- PP
- Back Squat
6 reps of each

65#/75#/85#

Then: 
Clean Ladder:
10 reps @ 45#
9 reps @ 45#
8 reps @ 65#
7 reps @ 65#
6 reps @ 85#
5 reps @ 105#
4 reps @ 125#
3 reps @ 145#
2 reps @ 165#
1 rep @ 185#
1 rep @ 205# (missed) Got it up to my chest so if I could have squated under it, I may have had a shot.

Then:
5x (1-6) Partner Pull-up Ladder (Total of 105 pullups. Did first round and a half dead hang)
 

I just registered for the Portland Marathon

so i'm committed now. i just registered for the portland marathon. i should be freaking out. i haven't run more than 12 miles this year. I think Shirley has a hurt foot so she might be walking it this year. not sure. i will be sure to bring my ipod to this race since that will get me through.

Liz is a Triathlon Super Star!!!

this weekend was the portland triathlon. It was harder than i anticipated and i was still sore from Thursday's workout but i had a good time and looked at it as a really great workout. Jeff and Liz also represented for Team Recreate. In fact, Liz got first place in her age group and got to represent on the actual podium. She's an amazing athlete and has great pacing strategy on the run that cracked me up when i heard her sharing it with Lisa over the phone. i'm going to try it for the next triathlon. I must admit, that this race wasn't a confidence booster for the marathon but i'm still up for doing the marathon.

that workout SUCKED!

I had to check my watch to see if it was April 1st when I saw the workout on the board this morning. I thought it had to be a joke.

 

Here it was.

 

Warmup: 10 minute row: no straps/nose breathing only

Workout: for form and time

100 pullups (tore hands at 88 and had to finish with 12 straight leg ring rows)
30 TGU @ 12 kg
100 pushups on pushup board
30 TGU @ 12 kg
100 V ups
30 TGU @ 12 kg
100 air squats
30 TGU @ 12 kg

 

It took me well over an hour to finish this. I had to go upstairs to complete it. On an unrelated note, I gave into Todd's peer pressure to try a Korean Taco truck called Koifusion last night. I have to say it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!! And the cart owner Jae was quite possibly the nicest guy on the whole planet. His food was clean, natural, and delicious!!! I was blown away by how friendly he was. And it wasn’t that sticky sweet bs friendly. It was so genuine, you almost wanted to invite him over for family dinner.   

hard month began today

Workout:
5 minute Row @ Easy
Pace
Then:
3x20m Lunge
3x20m OH Lunge @ 45#
BB
Then:
3x20 pass thrus
3x10 Goblet Squat @
53#
Then:
5x4 SLDL @ 135#
Then:
Work up to Heavy OHS
heaviest completed rep was 135. Had the strength to do more but not the form

Then:
5x3 OHS @ 80% 1RM
(Went with 115 since i knew 135 wasn't a true 1RM. 115 felt light.)
Rest 3-4 minutes
between sets
Then:
4x (20sec Work/10sec
Rest) Row @ >110m pace per interval(that was the goal. struggled big time and didnt make the cut. was in the 90s for set 2 and 3)
Complete 3 sets, Rest 3
minutes between each set

Triathlon training day

This weekend is the portland triathlon so today Jeff and I biked and ran. We did the 1 lap of the bike course and the entire running course. pushed it on all the hills. for the runs, we ran 1 minute fast, 1 minute walk for 3 miles. Felt really good to get out there without it being too hot outside. Tomorrow's a hard day in the gym. i'll probably row a light 5k on wednesday, workout hard thursday and completely rest friday and saturday before Sunday's event. looking forward to it.

1 minute abs, arms, legs,butt,back,mind

WOD: 1 Minute Airdyne. 33calories

Recovery: lay on sandbags for 15 minutes while trying not to puke or cry in front of arriving 6:30 class friends.

burpees suck

todays workout was great. back squats followed by a nice chipper.

warmup row 5min

2 warm up sets of back squats
45lbs/135lbs
5 sets of 5 with goal of inching past 80% of 1RM weight
135/185/205/245/265
Did Rippetoe style. Felt really comfortable. I'm used to squating in a squat cage with safety bars just below my squat depth. Its a lot easier to fail in a squat cage without getting hurt. working on getting comfortable under that weight out of a cage. So far, it feels pretty good.

Chipper
10 dead hang pullups(straight through)
20 24k kb swings
30 box jumps on 24 inch box
40 pushups on board. chest to board.
50 situps with hip flexors disengaged. shoulder blades to floor and touch feet on the up.
60 Maxwell 6 count chest to floor strict burpees
10 dead hang pullups(straight through)
time: 16:47

airdyne to hell and back

today's workout was called something like "to hell and back". John bought an Airdyne over the weekend and we got to use it in today's workout. its brutal. seems easy at first but there's no recovery motion in it so its all work the whole time. its amazing.
warmup
5minute on rower easy
2 minute on airdyne easy

Workout(for time. not easy)
50meter row
40meter airdyne
30 meter row
20 meter row
10 meter airdyne
20 meter row
30 meter row
40 meter airdyne
50 meter row.

I think the workout is named wrong. Should be called to heaven and back. the 50meter sections are the real hell. the low numbers are not so bad. i think this kind of stuff is going to make the marathon a lot more fun.

bridge pedal

Did the 8 bridge 24 mile bridge pedal yesterday.  Also rode 9 additional miles yesterday for a total of 33 miles on the bike. Might either rest or do a light jog tonight. Aaron and I are going to run the Portland Marathon this year.  Last year, i read a little about Chi running. sounds like some folks say Pose running is better. On Saturday's run, i tried pose running and do think it felt a little better. They are so similar though. This year i'm not going to run any long runs before the marathon.  I might run more frequently than i did last year but i'll run shorter faster runs. i bought a wristwatch so i can run intervals.

 

 

Great workout

Today was a great workout. Met up with Jeff for an 8 mile bike ride followed by 32 minutes of 2minutes at 85-90% effort followed by 2minutes of recovery walking. It was FANTASTIC. Would have done more but I'm still really sore from thursday.Trying to condition my body to run faster. Good stuff. Going on another ride tonight and 26 miles tomorrow. Glad the heat wave ended so I can hit the pavement again.

interval rowing

Today's game:
15 intervals
30 seconds work/90 seconds active recovery still rowing on the rower
Must row at least 150meters first interval. Each interval must be the same or greater than the previous interval. If you do the same meters for two consecutive intervals, then you must go further by at least 1 meter in the following interval. If you dont, pack up and go home(Well that would be the GymJones rule). I felt that i paced it pretty well but on the 12th round, i went one meter shy than my requirement. i definitely had that meter in me but i was getting cocky with my pacing and wanted to do just the required amount and no more. I was actually pretty upset that i did that. The rules were simple and i had the energy so didn't like that miscalculation through me under. The last 3 rounds were guilt rounds. i was rowing hard to redeem myself for round 12. Doesn't really work that way, but thats how i dealt with it.

Round Meters Rowed
1 150
2 151
3 152
4 154
5 154
6 156
7 156
8 157
9 158
10 158
11 159
12 158 (this should have been 159)
13 162
14 165
15 183

tabata thursday and 1RM deadlift

i've been working on thrusters on my own at 24 hour fitness but it didn't help me much today. we did 15 rounds of 20/10 65lb thrusters. The lactic acid burn was unbearable. i wasn't out of breath and my legs felt just fine but the burn in my shoulders was almost too much to take. On the positive note, i got a PR on my deadlift. My dead lift is now 2.62 x body weight. i'd love to get to 3x bodyweight. i have a lot of dead(fat) weight i could stand to loose. when i used to be lean i was around 165. i'd be thrilled to get to a lean 170. In the past, i always wanted big muscles. Now that i'm becoming interested in triathlons, i'm on a mission to be stronger at a lighter body weight. i think everything will be lot more fun if i'm not lugging around dead weight that isn't part of the engine.


Deadlift 1RM: 475lbs
Tabata reps(20on/10rest no setting bar down. 65lbs)
9/7/5/6/6/5/5/5/5/4/0/5/4/4/10

Max deadlift attempt tomorrow

Tomorrow is max deadlift day. Looking forward to it. I usually have one good pull in me so I'm trying to decide what weight to go for. I'm trying to figure in the John effect. When he's in the room, I always seem to lift a little more than usual. May have to have some coffee too. Would like to hit 500lbs before the year is up. Had to use tape to hold the 2 1/2s on the ends last time I tried. Been trying to watch videos of light guys lifting 500lbs. Not for form tips but just to see that its possible. Sometimes(most of the time) the mind is the biggest obstacle in reaching goals.

Tuesday fun

2X
10 push jerks with 2 24k kb
Row 4min
(1100/1060)
Rest 1min

Rest 2 min
2X
24k kb goblet squat times 10
4 min stepover
Rest 1 min

Sunday

Sunday’s workout was the good old row/pushup workout. in a pinch, that seems like such a great bang for the buck.

 

4000meter row for time getting off on every 4 minute mark to do 20 strict chest to floor pushups.

Struggled to keep the 500m pace under 2:00. Usually, that’s not too hard to do.

Then I did 50 thrusters with an oly bar.

Then I practiced snatch form with just a barbell.

 

Chest is sore but everything else feels good.

 

 

2K for time

Today was a row workout
2k for time
Rest 7min
1k for time
Rest about 4minutes
500 for time
7:00/4:17/1:35

I was thrilled with my 2K time. The other 2 times weren't so great but I'm ok with that. I really wanted to get a 7min 2K and I did. Its a good day.

Snatches

Today we worked toward our 1RM at barbell snatch. Only the second time I've done these but I think they come pretty naturally. Just need to get more comfortable in the overhead squat position.

Warmup:
Easy 10 min row

Find 1RM for snatch
Found it at 135
I got 145 overhead but I didn't receive it locked out. I pushed it up a little.

95lb barbell
1 snatch,1ohs,1hanging snatch every 30 seconds for 10 minutes.

10 24k kb swings, 30 FLR
9 24k kb swings, 30 FLR
8...
...
1 24k kb swing, 30 FLR
Did all ring holds straight for 30 seconds.

Back squats and slosh pipe.

Today was a great workout. Much of it was using 80% of 1RMs for lifts I'm not entirely certain what my 1RM is. I feel like it worked out ok though. Never did back squats outside of a squat cage. Kind of scary at first.

Warmup:
Row easy 500m

Workout
3 sets:
8 snatch high pulls 85/95/95
Row 2min (551/552/565)
Rest 2 min

5min rest(including last 2 min rest)
3 sets:
5 back squat @ 225lbs
2min burpee broad jump
2min rest

150 seconds of ring holds in pushup position
150 seconds slosh pipe overhead

S.M.M.F

today i did what John said is called an S.M.M.F. A single movement mind phuk. Its as much mental as it is physical. I intended on doing 500 thrusters for time. But after the first 100, i knew that 300 would be a stretch and decided to aim for 300. I could barely move when it was done.

workout:
300 Thrusters with 45# oly bar for time(i lost track of time).
2 sets of 15 bent over barbell rows @ 135lbs
2 sets of 10 parallel bar dips focusing on eccentric movement being.

I got some funny looks from folks at the gym when i was doing my thrusters. I think they were wondering why the guy lifting just the bar was sweating so much. Tomorrow, i plan to row and not break any muscle down.

this week at work i had some meetings i had to be at around 5:30am. That threw off my sleep and workout schedule but i hope to get back into the swing of things this week. May try to hit up folks for a bike, run, or swim this week.

Good workout

Warmup
10 wall ball shots
10 ball pushups
100 jumprope
Two times

10 squat cleans
Row 3min at >750m
For 3 rounds with 90sec between rounds
95/115/115
777/757/755

5min rest

3rounds
10 front squat (115/125/135)
3min of box step overs
90 sec rest

90 sec slosh pipe
150 sec front ring hold in plank position

drink lots of water(not fitness related)

So the web series Melissa is in debuts soon and we got to see an early preview of the series last night with the whole cast. www.wageslaveseries.com It was pretty fun. It inspired Hannah to try her own shot making a video. Melissa now has Todd's old laptop and Hannah was quick to figure out how to throw something together with imovie. She whipped up this little video in while we were all snacking in the kitchen. I told her i wasn't this comfortable with her dangling glasses of water over a laptop that's worth more than our car. Her first video is about drinking water and lemonade. I asked her if her next video could contain more computer friendly props. Here's Hannah's video. Todd said that this laptop was probably overkill for what he would have kept it for. I just wanted to show him that its being put to good use. :)

rowathon

Great workout today. i saw the words frog hop on the board and almost went back home. i dreaded them much more than the rowing. Fortunately they were a different kind of frog hop that was much friendlier to my hips. i'm starting to feel store from yesterday's overhead squats. .


Warmup: 10 minute row easy pace

3 rounds:

6 sets of 30 row/30 active rest (keep rowing just slower) @ >150 meter pace for work period

4 minutes rest in between rounds

then:

3 rounds:

4 sets of 30 on/30 rest Frog Hops (hands on head)

2 minutes rest in between rounds

Row:
Round 1
151
152
152
151
151
151

Round 2
151
151
152
152
152
150

Round 3 (challenge was to stay above 155.I was trying to stay above 160)
159
163
161
160
160
160

Frog Hop
Round 1
10
11
12
13

Round 2
14
15
16
17

Round 3
20
25
30
46

tri pics

first pic is me feeling strong out of the swim. pic 2 is coming in from bike feeling fantastic. last pic is hamstring cramp pic 20 feet from the finish line after a balls out sprint from a about 100 meters out. The run was actually better than the pic shows. good times. :)

blogging again

i'm very excited by the recent workouts i've had. i was THRILLED to improve my Triathlon time between last month's Blue Lake tri and last weekend's Hagg Lake tri. I've always heard that Hagg Lake is harder but i managed to go a lot faster. John gave us a lot of great advice that i think paid off quite a bit for this last tri. Oh, and Trevor made me a pre race dinner of amazing chicken, potatoes, and salad. That along with having my friends(Ben,Jeff,& Shirley) race with me, made for such a great time. Now, i need to start bugging Liz to see if she's in for the midsummer triathlon. One of my goals is to do a half iron man sometime. The way the workouts and nutrition have been going, i may get there someday after all. i'm going to get back into tracking my workouts since i've been doing some new exercise and want to keep track of my progress. For a while, i thought, i'd only track benchmarks and 1RM stuff but now, i want to get back to tracking.
Warmup: 5 minute easy row

then 3 rounds:
20 pass throughs
5 goblet squats (24 kg; push knees out @ bottom)

then find 1 RM OHS

Sean: 115(this weight actually felt a bit light but i decided to use weight i could manage without dropping) I like this lift.


5 sets of 2 @ 80% of 1RM OHS

Working loads:
Sean: 95


then for time:

30/20/10

OHS @ 35% BW
Ring pushups
(note:Pushups were done 2 at a time starting half way through the second set)

3
Time: 8:52

2 minutes of torture

Today’s workout was called 2minutes of torture or 2 minute torture. Doesn’t sound that bad but there are 8 2 minutes of torture so it kinda hurts after a while. I LOVED it though.

 

As many rounds in 2 minutes. Then rest 2 minutes between.

 

Thrusters: 42 (65lbs I think)

Ball Slams: 68 (20lbs)

KB Swing 70 (24k)

Situps: 44

Sprints: 34

Pushups: 42

Power Clean: 31(95 lbs I think)

Row for Cal: 40 (damper of 10)

 

It was a really enjoyable workout. Hard but I had a lot of fun. John was extremely generous with his time this morning getting up crazy early without even doing the workout. He’s tapering for a climbing trip. That was very cool and much appreciated.  I notice that as I get leaner, I’m able to move a lot better. I still have a ways to go for sure but the small changes to my body composition are really noticeable to me in these workouts. Looking forward to the next one.  Started taking fish oil again. I think that’s helping quite a bit too.

 

 

Jonescrawl

Had a great workout this morning with John.

Barbell complex x 5 going up in weight each round.

6 dead lifts

6 bent over rows

6 hang clean squats

6 front squats

6 push presses

6 back squats

65/75/85/95/105



Jones Crawl

115% of bodyweigh(210#)t dead lift X 10

25 box jumps 24 inch



Time: 4:49



4 rounds 30/30

Push press followed by 30 second overhead hold

Total: 50

20lb dbs

good vibrations

today was a great day at work. our HR director's son play these big quartz bowls and stopped by to perform for us. He rubs a rubber mallet around the bowl and it creates a vibration that fills the room. He then plays many bowls at the same time. A few months back a woman came into the gym and healed Nathan and Melissa by vibrating into their backs. This made me think of it. We went into one of our empty spaces in our unused building and laid on the floor while he made these amazing vibrations fill the room. It was incredible. i'm doing a poor job capturing the experience in writing but it definitely had an impact on me. i guess in tibet, the whole bowl thing originated with metal bowls. Some people have successfully used the sound and vibration therapy to heal. Also, today a new person at Sprint accidentally deleted my phone number from the sprint system and released it from Sprint's control. The manager of the call center called me back later to say that the employee came to her just before breaking the news to me and said "you're about to have an irate customer you may need to talk to and he may want me fired". She just assumed i would go nuts over her error. The funny thing is she flat out admitted her mistake and i was so shocked by her honesty, i couldnt be mad. It would have been so easy for her to blame "the system" or just hang up on me(sprint used to do that before they were compensated on customer service). She told me the truth and owned her mistake. That is SO rare these days and i was kind of impressed and in shock. What's to be mad about? When someone admits a mistake, apologizes, communicates what needs to be done to fix it, and follows through, you cant complain really. The manager said that they were all listening in on her call with me waiting for me to blow up. Maybe it was the vibration sound ceremony that made me handle it so well. They said they are used to people freaking out over much less. i'm checking today off as a good day.

Big 5 55

Tri training is going well. Went on a 3 mile run with Jeff yesterday and felt really good. Legs are stil very very sore as are my triceps and lats(not sure why on the last two)
Today we did a great workout that helped get blood flowing and reduce soreness.

10 -1
Ring pushups
Box jumps
K2E
Gobsquats with 24K
Dead lift @ 185

Short and sweet and just right for the soreness I was still feeling. Will probably row or run tonight.

Great workout

This weekend went on a great ride with Liz to vancouver lake where we swam for a while. It felt really good. Then I went to the Tom and Misha workshop. Sunday went to KB sport practice which I really enjoyed. Ate and went to movies this weekend. It was great. Todays workout was fantastic. One of those ones that doesn't look so bad on paper but really hurts. I loved it though. Ben and John are really supportive and make being up early a little easier with their motivation and hard work.

Thrusters
25 @ 65
20 @ 85
15 @ 105
10 @ 115
5 @ 135
Time: 7:30
1 squat minute 1
2 squats minute 2
3 squats minute 3
....
24 squats minute 24
16 squats minute 25(stops there)

toxic lake swimming is an extreme sport

i'm not much of an extreme sports guy but the folks at work think i am crazy for swimming in toxic lakes. At least Shirley and Liz were smart enough to wear wet suits. Read the sign.

learned a few things today

1. swim at least once within the 2 years prior to competing in a triathlon of any distance.
2. eat breakfast.
3.dont attempt to dead lift 500lbs 2 days before a triathlon.
4. Run at least more than once in the 6 months prior to competing in a triathlon.
5. riding bike to work everyday doesn't count as cycling training.

I think those are the most important things i learned today.
The Blue Lake triathlon was a BLAST. Shirley, Liz, and I had a blast. It was SUCH a good time. Liz took 7 minutes off her time from 10 years ago. We decided to call the Blue Lake triathlon our baseline and decide how to train for hagg lake. i must say that i wasn't prepared for it(no surprise). I need to get into the pool. I used to swim 5 times that distance every day for 5 years. However, it felt like eternity today. Shins got really tight too. Water wasn't very cold. Cant wait for the next one. I'll try to find pics to post.

got a pre

so i'm still catching up on sleep after getting in line at 4:30am to get the palm pre. Its even more amazing than i expected it to be. I love it love it love it. Doing the blue lake triathlon this weekend with Liz and Shirley. REALLY EXCITED about it. I walked Hannah to school today so i didnt get to have my normal protein breakfast. i've had cake for lunch and buttery sugar coated pastries for lunch. tonights workout should be interesting. bummed that 1rep deadlift day is the day before the triathlon. was hoping to try for a PR but also want to not be sore for saturday. We'll see. I'm really excited for the tri. had a bad week of flat tires last week and finally discovered a bunch of glass and metal in my tires. think it was from the hagg lake roads. Got new tires and have been good so far. The palm pre is the coolest gadget i've ever seen. wow. Todd was feeding me play by play text messages from the apple wwdc in SF. It was pretty cool for me to be able to share updates with folks before anyone on the web had even published anything. I told Todd he was making me look good and "in the know". I owe him a cheeseburger when he returns.

missing my vitamin i

OMFG! I cannot believe how painful life is without ibuprofen is. i quit(for the 2nd time) after an article john forwarded me. the article talks about reveling in your soreness and savoring it. for some reason, cindy just killed my biceps and forearms. i cant even extend my arms. made deadlifts feel really heavy today. People are starting to camp out at the wilsonville sprint store but still nobody in front of the downtown store. i've never slept on the streets before but if I see a line forming tonight, i'm jumping in it. if no line tonight, i'm biking down at 5am to get in line.

lovin the butterfly with a painfree shoulder

So a few months back I swore off butterfly kips. it was at a time when i was having a lot of pain. Well since i found joanna, i have no more pain and today's butterfly kips felt absolutely amazing. I was able to do 5 pullups in the time it used to take me to do 3. I felt like i could have done a million. Even though it was a mini cindi it was the first time i wasnt gasping during it and the only thing slowing me down was muscle failure on the pushups. I was doing chest to bar pullups and chest to floor pushups so i am absolutely thrilled. I could have gone faster on the whole thing but always remember burning out in the past. My 15minute cindy was only 2 rounds shy of my 20minie cindy. i like that. i've been going 5 or 6 times a week for a few weeks now. And at night, i'm trying to do an hour of some sort of exercise. I am feeling pretty good. i've been eating better than i ever have before. JOanna has worked miracles on my hips and shoulders. She said my muscles were so tight that they weren't all performing the roles they should be. As a result, supporting muscles were doing work for primary muscles for many activities. She warned me that i'd probably see a decrease in my strength for a while before getting stronger. Well, she was right. feeling much better and lifting pain free.

good sunday

so today was a fun day. Melissa and I kayaked around hagg lake for 3 hours while volunteering for an open water swim event today. it was great exercise. Then Jeff showed up and we all rode our bikes around the lake. It was actually not too bad. It was fun. i wanted to get some tennis in tonight but by the time we ended our day, i was so fried from the sun, that i couldn't muster up any energy. I got one of those nike ipod chips for my shoe. i need to get down to a track to calibrate it for me. Looking forward to the week. countdown begins for the Palm Pre release at on Saturday morning. I didnt even camp out to see star wars but i might consider camping out to get one of these.

cant grip anything anymore

my forearms are SO fried from today's workout. i learned a little lesson from the last time we did Helen and tried to slow the run down a little. Didnt get a PR but did do 2 minutes better than the last time we did it. I stopped once around the corner where John couldn't see me and i chalked up when i probably shouldnt have. Those two things cost me the seconds that prevented me from getting a PR. John had a good point that so many times when we think we need a drink or need more chalk, we really dont. At the time, I really though I needed it because my grip was going out. The reality is, i probably would have been just fine without it. The run is, by far, the worst part of Helen. I can tell when im carrying extra bodyfat and when i'm feeling leaner. Its funny how just a few pounds can make the difference. i'm feeling a little leaner than i did before our last helen. The running shoes probably helped a bit too.(thanks to John for the email to bring the right shoe). All the regular 7:30 folks were in at 6:30 and it was great to see them. Went on a steep bike ride with Aaron and Jeff last night. Liz, you're invited on the next one. So is anyone else thats up for it. :)It was a pretty good climb. i was talking to Todd and turns out that used to be part of his regular training ride. It was great to go out with 2 guys who at the end of the ride, wanted to eat lean meat and vegetables and not get a pizza and beer. All my other friends drink a lot more than i'd like to drink so i feel like i spend less time with them. unfortunate.

2 trick pony and the 80$ muscleup

Today i heard the term one trick pony and realized i'm kind of a one trick pony. Nathan, said i have a couple tricks since i can kinda row for being well under 6 feet tall. I need another trick. Deadlift is my other trick. i think i need one more trick. Ever since 80s day at the gym, hannah has been obsessed with wrist sweat bands. She wears them for days at a time. I think she sleeps with them on too. I've seen her wrist turn all prune like and sweaty from wearing them. much like a finger that's had a band aid on too long. Well, Nathan encouraged hannah to do some ring pullups which she can now do a couple of. She heard people mention muscleups and now thats her mission. She asked if i'd buy her 20 wrist bands if she gets a muscle up. I said sure. It would be worth the 80$ to have at least one Teisher get a muscleup. She's certainly motivated more than i am. Today has been a good day but i dont really have a good reason why. its been very quiet in my department. Also the Palm Pre cell phone is coming out next weekend. I literally have inappropriate dreams about this phone. Next to my bike, and my Simon Miller jeans, i think thats the only other "must have" material object. well, i do want to someday have a Bathys wrist watch and a Herman Miller Eames chair. Then my material collection will be complete. I figured, for an american, that's not too bad.

Tina had a great idea.

Today Tina decided to mix it up by assigning partners who have never been partnered before. I thought that was a wonderful idea. Dont get me wrong. I love all the partners i've ever had but it was really nice to mix it up. it allowed us to get to cheer others on that we dont usually get to cheer for. i think half the reason we go to the gym is for the sense of community and this really enhanced it. It was an honor to be partnered with Nadine even though it wasn't a timed workout. :)I knew Nadine was really strong but i dont think i realized just how strong until i was her partner. it was pretty impressive. we learned how to cook chicken a few weeks ago so that's all we've been making. We're slightly modifying the only recipe we know and its been pretty good. Melissa has been making mashed cauliflower which tastes just like(close enough) mashed potatoes. I noticed my weight snuck up to 185. I dont mind though because I actually feel leaner and stronger. I dont care what the scale says as much as I do how my speedos fit. Speaking of speedos, gonna try riding with the recreate triathlon team this week. Hoping others will want to join us. Since I blog early in the day, i'm not going to track my normal wods or diet in here. i'm very much on track with my diet lately so i'm not concerned. I will track my benchmarks, PRs,and strength workouts here.

2 days off

i took sunday and monday off since i had done 6 days in a row. I used to feel totally thrashed and sore after 6 days in a row but by saturday of this week, i actually felt pretty good. Friday's dead lifts felt really good. I've read many times that the best way to get better at the deadlift is to not deadlift. I'm sure thats not entirely true but i do think the deadlift is such a blast to the nervous system that too much can actually hurt. Seems like whenever i take a long break from it, it feels easier to come back to it. I felt pretty good on our sets of 3. We've been hanging with Stella for the last few days so we've had some good entertainment and some great walks in the sun. Getting excited to do some triathlons this summer. :)

great Sunday

I had a great Sunday of exercise yesterday. Road my bike 12 miles or so and did a great workout at 24hr. I did the workout that John shared with me of rowing 4000meters and getting off on the 4 minute marks to do 20 strict pushups. The clock doesn’t stop for the pushups. It was brutal in the best way. When I was done I had to laugh at how different I’m probably perceived at 24hour fitness compared to recreate fitness. At 24 hour, I was easily the fittest and hardest working guy in the entire building. People were actually staring at me because I don’t think they had seen anyone ever work so hard on a Sunday at the gym. It felt really good on the ego and actually kept me going. I was later thinking about how different that is from my efforts at Recreate. I try my hardest at Recreate but I get dead last in EVERY WOD and I’m often the guy people are laughing at or worried about for consistently getting dead last even after giving it 100%. It doesn’t bother me to get last because I know I’m giving it 100% with 100% ROM but if it ever does get to me, I’ll just go to 24hour for a workout and a quick ego boost.  

 

Didn’t log my diet but keeping calories, sugar, and grains pretty low with at least 200grams of protein a day. half of that coming from whey protein powder and half coming from whole foods(not the store). Already noticing a very slight decrease in body fat(or water weigth) which I’m happy about.

 

 

 

staying on track

usually when i fall off the blogwagon, its because I fell off the fitness wagon. well, i've actually been doing pretty good. our home laptop died so maybe thats my excuse. Today was another one of those days that i finished 29 minutes after everyone else did. i'm glad that my ego can take getting dead last. I know that i'm getting stronger though by doing real reps. I was reading about gym jones and they said that they don't count partial reps in their gym. I like to pretend thats the case at our gym and i want every rep to count. It also gives me more value for the money. Today, I did stiff legged deadlifts at the gym as i continue to work on strengthening my lower back. I think the coach thinks i'm full of crap and learned all i know out of Flex magazine. I don't think he knows that i majored in Health and Fitness promotion in college for 3 years before switching to Psychology. Or that I'm a certified personal trainer. Oh well, as long as i reach my goals, guess it doesn't matter too much. I have been trying to really limit grains and white foods. I've been eating more vegetables and chicken. I did my first run of the year last night with G$. Finished it with some stair running that was brutal but so wonderful. getting ready for a sprint triathlon in july. pretty excited to try it. Going to work on some tail pipe and smmf workouts during the evenings along with some more running. Really need to get my aerobic and mental fitness dialed in.

Workout:
dead lifts
225/275/315/335/365(only did 3 stiff legged of the 5)
2 Laps then
30/20/10
24k 2hkbs
full goblet squats
chest to floor pushups
knees to elbows mt climbers
DFL

Diet:
8am 46g whey protein. 6 oz antioxidant juice.

friday

so, i'm committed to going more often now but only busting my butt 4 out of the 6 days a week i go. I'm working on stiff legged dead lifts instead of normal ones. I can get weight past my knees just fine but on my last PR attempt, i couldn't lock out. For most folks the lockout is the easy part. I am working on getting my stiff legged deadlift up as high as i can in weight slowly so that i'll be able to lock out my PR. Nothing more frustrating than getting a heavy weight off the ground, past the knees, up the thighs, and then not be able to lock out.

Band walk
Squat band walk
Monster walk/lunge walk
Bear crawl/frog hop
Inchworm
15 wall squats

Strength: Stiff Legged Deadlift - 2 warm up sets of 5, then 5 work sets of 5 reps, followed by 10 x-chop to halo

225/245/275/315/335 (this is a stiff legged 5 rep PR for me)
WOD:

As many rounds in 12 minutes of:

10 kb swing (24k)
10 figure 8 to hold (24k)
10 push ups
10 double unders
Run 1 lap

4 full rounds barely

Diet:
8am. 2 oranges, 4 strawberries, 8 blackberries, 46g of whey protein.
12:30 Lean body shake

thursday's workout

3 rounds:
10 pumps
5 spiderman
75 jump rope

Strength: Push Press - 2 warm up sets of 5 reps each, then 6 work sets (3-3-3-1-1-1) followed by 8 ring rows:

/95/135/155/185

WOD: Grind

3 rounds:
3 sandbag get ups (heaviest bag)
10 power wheel roll outs
1 min. rest

2 rounds:
12 weighted sit ups (45/45/45)
5 plank (20k/20k)
1 min. rest

Diet
8am 46g whey protein
noon: lean body shake
4pm: lean body shake
5pm: 3 big sugar cookies
7pm: 6 oz chicken breast with hummus

tough one today

Today was a pretty tough workout for me. It was only the second or third time i've ever thought to myself "I can't do this". It wasn't that much worse than many other workouts we've done before but when you're in the middle of it, it feels like the hardest thing in the world. i'm so glad i came today. i've been doing pretty good on the diet. last night Trevor came over and made steak fajitas. pretty damn delicious.

10 goblet squats
10 figure 8 to hold
10 x chop -> halo
Row 250 meters

WOD: 5 round for time

30 mtn climbers
25 2 hand kb swings (24 kg)
20 ball slams (20#)
15 med ball cleans (20#)
10 old coachburpees
5 A2B
run a lap

Not sure what my time was but it was sometime after the 7:30am class began. :)


Diet:
8am: 46g whey protein
1pm Lean Body Shake

day 2 of no grains

i've been trying to not eat any grains or sugar lately. not paleo since i chug the hell out of processed protein drinks. But i'm trying to limit sugar and grains at least during the week. So far so good. Today's workout was good. i had lots of energy. I think it could have used one more round in the tabata cycle. I've never been heard saying that before.



3 rounds:
10 pass through
10 OHS
75 jump rope

Skills:

3 rounds:
pull ups (worked on kip)
10 weighted push ups (15/25/35)
double kb clean & press (20/25/35)

WOD: Tabata - 20 sec. on/10 sec. off; 6 rounds at each station; 90 sec. rest between stations

Jumping pull ups
Row
Rope snap
Jingle Jangle

Diet:
7:30 Blue Thunder Protein drink
8am: 23g whey protein
6pm: burrito
8pm: 3 pieces of amys pizza
8:30pm: 2 Steak Fajitas

a workout from the book of Frieh

so tonight i was stuck downtown in the rain and went into 24hr to stay dry. I remembered a workout John recommended i try if i ever wanted a fun workout and wasn't feeling creative. well today i rowed 4000meters at a sub 30 stroke sub 2min pace. Every 4 minutes, i hopped off to do 20 strict pushups and then jumped back on. It KICKED my butt!!! I feel so good.

monday front squats

Today we did front squats. At the beginning of this cycle I was able to do reps of 245. Now, it feels like a million pounds. Not sure if all my biking has weakened my legs or not but its strange. I feel like i finally got the kettlebell snatch figured out. Got to squat with Ben which was cool. We dont often get to workout together. my legs were still a bit sore from the heavy med ball cleans on saturday.

1 round:

10 halo
10 around the body
10 figure 8 + hold
10 good morning
10 spinal wave
10 goblet squat
10 cossack
5 windmill
5 clean & press

Strength: Front Squat

2 warm-up sets of five, then 6 work sets (3-3-3-1-1-1) followed by 5 ring dips: 135/155/175/225/245/255

Wod
ball slam (20#ball)30/24/20/16/12/8/4/2
kb snatch (16k)15/12/10/8/6/4/2/1
11:04

Diet:
1pm lean body shake
4pm muscle milk
5pm latte
7pm muscle milk
8:30pm 2oz rare piece of flank steak

harder than it looked

today's workout looked pretty easy on the board but it wasnt all that easy.

warmup.
marching stuff

skill
crosswalk 44K in lower hand/36k above head hand.
k2e
box jumps

WOD
single kb for 5 rounds of:
45 sec flip squat 20k for all rounds
45 sec left snatch 4 rounds with 20k. 1 round with 16k
45 sec right snatch 4 rounds with 20k. 1 round with 16k
45 sec figure 8 to hold 4 rounds with 20k. 1 round with 16k
Super Plank

Hardest part was being able to grip the kb during the snatches.


Diet:
11:45am: Lean Body Shake
3pm: muscle milk

started to get chubby again

I think i may go back to 5 days/week for a while. I was able to stay leaner when i was doing 5 days a week. I feel a lot stronger with 3 days a week but with Speedo season fast approaching, I think i'm going to go back to 5 days per week. To make sure i don't burn out, i think i'm going to really focus on sleep, water, and better nutrition. you can tell when i'm eating like crap because i don't blog. i need to get back into it and even blog on the days i eat crap.


2 rounds:

10 pass-through
10 OHS
75 jump rope

Skills: 2 rounds:

8 double KB snatch (25/25)
10 ring push ups
250m row

WOD: Partnered with Highschool Football John - 30 sec. on/30 sec. off for 6 rounds at each station with a 90 sec. rest in between stations

Bear Crawl
Wall Ball (20)
2-hand KB swing (32K)
Side to side jump

Diet:
8am: 46g whey protein

still no pain

had another pain free workout. i still cant do passthrus but who caares. my front squats didnt feel nearly as strong as they did the last two weeks. My hip flexors felt pinched at the bottom of each squat. It wasnt bad but it definitely wasn't as comfortable as the last 2 weeks were. i'm not complaining. i still felt good. i did kb fran which was fun. several of the guys today did deadhang pullups for fran. I'm glad because i dont kip anymore and i thought id be the only one still doing pullups when the class was done. good workout for a monday.

front squats
highest set of 5 225
kb(16k ea) fran with dh pull ups: 12:00

diet:
7;35am: Muscle Milk

maybe i'm healed

i did push presses today!!! i was nervous as hell to try it since i couldnt even push press a 25k kb over my head a week ago. i'm pretty darn happy about that. i didnt go heavy and i was proud of myself for not letting my ego want to throw more weight on there. Nathan would have been proud of the common sense. Well it also helped that John and Ben were there to remind me to go light. :) My pullups feel like a million bucks too. i think i want to try max pullups again soon. i think i'll get a pr for sure. i think i can now do as many dead hangs as i can kips. that isn't saying much because i never had a great kip to begin with.

workout
crawls 'n hops 'n stuff

skill
push press 5X5 with 5 pullups between
95/95/115/135/135


Diet:
8am Muscle Milk
12noon: muscle milk
4pm: muscle milk
7pm: burrito
10pm: muscle milk

almost back to 100%

today was another exciting day for me. it was the first day, i've been able to do pain free pull ups in a long long time. the time off was so good for me. Was able to do them all completely pain free in good dead hang form. Now, the only things i still can't do are passthrus, heavy tgus, and right arm presses. I may have also set my a new gym record for taking the longest to finish a WOD ever. I dont know if its supposed to be this way, but i reach complete muscle failure on let circuits. These grinds kill me with lactic acid burn more than anything. i could barely pedal my bike to work for the first mile after leaving the gym. it was probably good though to keep my legs moving.

workout:(thanks John for remembering the workout. I've been lost without Nadine here to copy from) :)
Run 2 laps
leg circuit
25 2 hand swing (24 kg)
25 deadhang pullups
50 russian twists (35#)
leg circuit25 2-hand swings (24 kg)
25 mtn climbers
50 sit-ups
leg circuit
25 2 hand swings (24 kg)
25 mtn climbers
50 pushups
Row 1000 meters
40 minutes to finish it.

Diet:
8am: Muscle Milk
9am: egg burrito and cherry juice
12pm: muscle Milk

2nd day back

its my second day back after having a cold. My chucks ripped on me today. :( Never thouhgt i'd care about a pair of chuck taylors but i kinda grew fond of this pair. the liner ripped and is bugging the hell out of my heel. its ok. thats definitely my biggest problem in my life right now so that aint so bad. workout was good. i was partnered with Jonas which is always a treat. worked out with a great group today. My shoulder is still not able to lift much and i still cant do pullups. Maybe thats another reason my squats are improving. i'm too injured to do anything else. :) I could only swing 24k for heavy kb swing. 40k used to be challening but very doable. Today, i couldnt imagine even lifting it off the ground.

workout.
skill:
kb snatch(very light for me because of shoulders)
Play fetch with yourself and a med ball.
kb swing 24k/24k

wod. partner 30/30 x 6 rounds with 90 rest between each of the stations
sprints outside
jumping pullups
wall balls with 20#ball
rope snaps

Diet:
8am: 46g whey powder with water
12pm: 1 fish burrito(disgusting)
5pm: Muslce Milk
7:21pm: Muscle Milk

almost all better

today i was back in the gym and of course, they had to do the hardest workout ever. Its the workout that brings everyone closest to puking. last time we did this workout my ego got the best of me and i went way too hard. i wanted to die when it was over. i was lying in the driveway afterwards. People thought it was because i was trying to cool off and catch my breath. i was actually hoping for a truck to run over me to put me out of my misery. Today, even if my ego wanted to, my lungs wouldn't allow me to go too nutty. i felt like i was only getting half breaths so i tried to push it but not cough up a lung and die. we did front squats before the wod so my legs were already pretty taxed too. i was very pleased with my squats today. i can tell that my core is getting stronger from all of our core work. nice to see how it transfers into stronger squats. today i did 4 reps of what was only weeks ago my one rep max. i think 3 things contributed to this. 1 is that i'm working out less. 2 is that my core is getting stronger. 3 is that i've changed my stance a little and try to focus on driving with the hips more than quads.

Workout
5x5 front squats
135/135/155/185/245(x4)
Wod:
Row/Slam/Run
2:12/2:27/2:18?

Diet:
8am: 46g Whey Protein powder with water.
12pm: Muscle Milk
5:30pm: Muscle Milk

had a great barbell workout today

since i'm getting over a cold i didnt think my lungs could handle a met con today. instead, i ended up doing a barbell workout on my own. I recently changed my stance and its made all the difference in the world. My hips feel really good and I'm pretty pain free. I brought my old climbing chalk bag into the regular gym. i dont think they like that but oh well. Hannah lands in a coupld hours from Florida. i'm so excited to have her home. it was only a week but it felt like she was gone for a month.

workout
Back squats
5x135
5x225
5x245
3x265
3x275
1x285

Stiff Leg Deadlifts
5x135
5x185
5x225
5x275

Dumbell Partial rep Bench Press
45lbs x 20

Diet:
9am; 2 eggs, 1 corn tortilla, 4 oz vegetarian chilli
Noon: one slice veg pizza
4pm: 30g whey protein powder
5pm 3 eggs, 2 corn tortillas 4oz vegetarian chilli

still under the weather

went to class wednesday night and it may have been a bad idea. stayed home sick yesterday. I feel like crap today too. Probably going to get in some heavy back squats tomorrow. i've been working on just feeling comfortable under the bar. I notice that my deadlift improves more from doing back squats than it does from doing deadlifts. I'd go to rf tomorrow but i dont think my lungs can handle a wod yet. Coughing a bit too much for that still. Still trying to figure out my ideal training schedule. I think it may end up being monday through thursday at RF. Back squats and bench press on Fridays, saturday and sunday off. I may also chose do do one of my 4 rf workouts at light weight to treat it more of a cardio workout than a strength workout. While i was home yesterday, i spent a ton of time on the foam roller and with my band watching old knight rider episodes on hulu.com. I'm at work today and nobody wants to get near me since i sound so sick. i actually feel better than i look. Hannah is coming home from florida tomorrow. i'm SO excited to see her. I feel so old having a daughter who is old enough to email. I feel like i was just changing diapers and getting spit up on yesterday. Time flies by so fast. I'm trying to stop and be more present in each moment since it can fly by so fast. I'm also trying to not work so much when i'm at home. i know i say both of these things often but i really want to remember to actually follow through with them.
Diet: 8am 1 orange
9am: lean body shake

think i'm catching a cold

so i was excited to get back into the gym and now i have a cold. :( bummer. Last night's workout had mixed emotions. I did front squats instead of thrusters and i was able to comfortably do 5 reps at 225. Not long ago, that was my max. i used to make sure my knees and feet were facing forward and never tracked forward at all. Now, i allow myself to stand with my toes facing out and track over my toes. That made all the difference in the world. I was really excited about how good the squats felt. I also have been spending a lot of my own time just getting under heavy barbells. not necessarily lifting them but just trying to get comfortable under or around them. last nights wod kicked my butt and i only got 4 rounds. it brought me down quickly from the high of the front squats. Today felt a little better but i still feel a bit compromised. Not hurt or anything. Just not quite 100%.I was telling Todd last night that my biggest fear is having an injury end all this for me. I think as long as i work on form and continue to strengthen my core, i should be ok and able to do this for a long time.

workout(courtesy of Nadine's blog. thanks Nadine)
Warm up:

Band walk
Squat band walk
Monster walk
Lunge
Bear crawl
Frog hop
Inchworm

Skills:

3 rounds:

5 snatch (20#)
5 1-leg kb deadlift (16k)
5 1-arm kb overhead squat (20 kb)

WOD:

Partnered with Jonas: 15 sec. on/15 sec. off while partner goes, then switch to second exercise and repeat. 6 rounds of every exercise; 90 sec. rest between stations.

jingle jangle/mountain climbers
rope snaps/kb swing
power wheel crawl/power wheel leg curls
ring rows (straight legs for first three rounds, then table top)/push ups

Diet:
8am Muscle Milk
Noon: Lean Body Shake

coming back today

i took a week off to spend time with Hannah and to let my injuries heal. It was a great week. Ate lots of food, saw some movies, relaxed. Got another massage and my shoulder is feeling a lot better. I went back to the massage therapist and she was able to get my shoulder back into position. It was the most painful experience ever and i still cannot wait to go back to her. I feel really good today. I'm looking forward to getting back into the gym.

Diet:
8am Lean Body Shake
12:30am Lean Body Shake

got mustache handlebars

i finally got some mustache handlebars yesterday on my bike. I just lucked out. i was at the bike shop next to the office and i only planned on getting my brake hoods raised a little. The shop owner remembered me asking about mustache handlebars and gave me the pair right off his bike(well we traded bars and he charged me a tiny bit) It is a dreamy experience to ride a bike with those bars. Everything else in my life was absolutely perfect and that was just the icing on the cake to get those bars. Today we did deadlifts in the gym. I only made it to one of the previous workouts in the cycle so i wasn't too sure what id feel motivated to do today. Nathan was experimenting with a very non traditional motivational support technique which turned out to work so i guess he knew what he was doing. I got a PR out of it so i guess it worked. If my parents would have tried that technique, maybe i would have learned to play the piano or been a better boy scout. Jonas is a damn champ and I am glad i got to share a bar with him today. he's so strong that i think it makes those around him feel stronger. i had a burrito for breakfast so i'm off to a good start.

workout:
deadlifts and play day. i took my time so no play time for me.
I don't remember all the weights i did but i got a PR so i'm happy about that. Especially considering last week my back hurt so bad, i couldnt do anything.

Diet:
8am: Amy's OG Frozen Burrito

im healed(mostly)

i just had one of the best massages of my life. It hurt a bit. I think I actually cried a little but after it was over, i feel AMAZING. it wasnt the typical rub down relaxation massage. It was deep tissue with nerve flossing. She was a miracle worker. I'm going to go once a week for a while. It was a very educational experience too. She gave me suggestions of ways to position myself for pain free form. She said that i shouldn't pay attention to the clock so much when doing overhead stuff since i've trashed my rotator cuffs to the point of tendonitis. I am so happy i went. She's an extremely gifted healer and only works through word of mouth. She has a great space in NE. She has a sliding scale too for folks who don't have much disposable income. She said she never wants finances to be a reason for not getting needed work done.If anyone wants her number, let me know. :) Also, had the best day ever at work. Our information security Auditor informed me that we passed a compliance audit that our team has been preparing for since March. It was one of the most challenging and time consuming projects i've ever been responsible for. When I received the email of our successful audit, I was so relieved and happy that i almost fainted. Life could not be any better.
Workout:
(i'll copy it from Nadine's blog later) :)
Diet:
8am Muscle Milk
12 Vegisaurus Sandwich from Hopworks
6pm Chicken kebabs from Arabian Breeze