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