Still iffy

Roto virus - damn you. It is now Saturday afternoon and I have not felt 100% in 2 full days. Have not had a full meal since Thursday breakfast. I am down to 159 pounds and dropping. Luckily I am finally feeling better. I need to get my weight and strength back up. Tonight, dinner with friends who may be the best Italian cooks that I know. I see some non Paleo pasta in my immediate future.

That gets me thinking about the weight vs strength tradeoff. SInce starting Pete's Paleo Challenge and with this nasty bug, I have dropped about 5 pounds. Not like I had a ton to lose in the first place. So I am always wondering if weight loss will hurt my power or stamina at all. And what is my ideal weight? Given the deadlifts, cleans and heavy Fran that I have done in the past 2 weeks, I don't think I am weaker, but who knows.

What I need though is a true test. Max deadlift x1 or max clean x1. Luckily coming up this Friday is pick your own workout. I will spend 30 minutes working on one of these two tests of power. Then I will hit a quick met con. Fran? Ever since doing heavy Fran, I feel like trying Fran again. 95# sounds a lot better than 135# and those pullups will go a lot easier without the 45# bell around my waist. Can I beat the 5:19 from the summer? I hope so.

Man Down

What the hell happened to me? Was it the 2 brutal workouts on Monday and Tuesday? Was it food poisoning? Either way, I was puking and weak yesterday and now just a little weak.

I do not like feeling weak.

Super Sore

I am sooo sore. Have to take a rest. Wanted to do muscle ups, but I am flat busted.

deadlifts, double unders and sprint repeats

WOD 1 - Every minute 3 deadlifts and then max double unders. I used 275# and my double unders were awful.

But I was very happy with my effort to do all 8 rounds of 3 deadlifts touch and go. Form? Maybe not perfect. But to do that between struggling with double unders without any issues is a good sign.


WOD 2
Run: 3 x ( 200m + 400m)
Rest the exact time it takes you to do each interval in each set. Example: 200m run in 40 sec. rest 40 sec then 400m run, rest 400m time, back to run 200m, rest 200m run time…

That is a lot of explaining and I did terrible. Very slow.

Heavy Fran

It's Fran, but its heavy.

15/12/9 of thrusters with 135# and then pullups with a 45# kb.

The thrusters were hard. But I was able to do this (/ means I dropped the bar):

Round 1 - 6/5/4 = 15
Round 2 - 4/3/3/2 = 12
Round 3 - 3/2/2/2 = 9

And I did not spend too long staring at the bar.

Pullups with the 45# kb are tough. I did chin ups with a mild kip to keep the bell from swinging around. I could only do 2 or 3, and then 1 or 2 later on. But not too much rest. I will try to put the strap around my chest rather than my hips next time and see if I can do a regular kip?

This hurt less than Fran because the heavy weight forced me to stop. Even 6 thrusters at 135# is still just 6 reps. Does not hurt as bad as 10+ in a row at #95. Plus, Heavy Fran is 20% fewer (although 40% heavier) reps than Reg Fran, and I took 8 minutes vs about 5. So 20% less reps in 60% more time, means it is more a paced exercise. Now I have the Fran bug again, and want to beat my 5:20 PR. I bet I can.

Sunday Yoga

I am 3 for 3 and making slow improvements. Love it.

Hammerfist

20 minutes AMRAP
2 clean and jerk (80% or so of your 1 rep max)
6 burpee
9 wall ball

So I have been busy at work lately. Very busy. Only made it to CF 3 times this week, so I was a little angry and wanted to get the most out of this one.

I think that I have clean and jerked 200. 205 is my max clean, so maybe I could jerk that too if I had the correct technique. 80% of that would be 160 or 165. But like I wrote above - so I went 185.

Looking at the board, only 2 people went heavier then that all day. One being Jerry at 205 - but he is not human. Coach Sean also went 185, but he is a ton bigger than me.

So lets just say I bit off a big challenge. For 10 minutes I bulled through 4 rounds. In round 4 my back was arching on the jerks, so I decided to back off and keep up the intensity. Went to 155 and did almost another 4 rounds.

Wowser. That was a bruiser.

I am guessing next time we do cleans that 205 is not my PR anymore.

Progenix is Crap?

According to Brian McKenzie it is. Protein mixed with sugar.

He is pushing Stronger Faster and Healthier

Here is his blog post talking about it all. The guy is a bad ass and says what he believes. Without investigating the science, I trust him. He is talking some serious crap about some people, which is what I like about the guy. You know what he is thinking. Exactly.

So, I have ordered some products from SPH and the liquid fish oil is good. Easier to take than a ton of pills as i mix it in with my morning smoothie (water/protein/green food* and now SPH oil)


*The "Green Food" i Juvo brand Natural raw meal. A mix of a ton of veggies made into a powder. I have also ordered the designs for health brand, and go back and forth. Both are pricey, but I think worth it unless you eat the proper amounts of veg.

Cap Flush

Not sure what Cap Flush means. But 5 rounds of 12 push presses (95#) and 12 pushups (feet on 3 45# plates and hands on parallettes) means pain.

Round 1 was easy and unbroken. Round 2 was a rude awakening, and rounds 3-5 I was reduced to 2-3 reps and a break.

Time 11:44. Fastest in the class, but Pete went under 10 later. Now I am sore from the chest up.

Did a lot of warmup and mobility work before class - almost 20 minutes. Helped with my overhead position.

Christina

“Christina”

AMRAP 20 min

9 pullups
9 squat cleans 95W, 135M
9 KB Swings 45W,70M
9 Toes to Bar
9 push press 95W,135M
9 burpees

As rx.

After a week of bodyweight wods, yoga, travel and rest days - this hit me like a ton of bricks. I guess that is the point. I complete 3 rounds and did a few pullups to start round 4. I could not have done more, because even if I got through the squat cleans, I was not going to picket that kettle bell back up again.

Sunday Yoga

I had to bolt after 45 minutes due to a busy Sunday. But 45 minutes of yoga is waaay better than none at all. Slowly but surely, 2011 is the year I get stretchy.

Nicole Holt is a great instructor.

Crossfit Santa Clara

My company is moving a small office from Mountain View, CA to Santa Clara. Only 15 miles, but traffic there is a nightmare, and this will help the senior person out a lot. And me too, because CF Santa Clara is owned by CF Games 08 champ, Jason Khalipa.

Gave me a great excuse to get over there and see him.

He coached the class before the one I attended, but I got to meet him and say hello. He is not as tall as I expected, but very stocky and a ball of energy. His eyes are constantly darting around, and his he has a ton of energy. Then, his day was done, and I was ready to hit the wod. Angie - which is 100 of pullups, pushups, sit ups and air squats. A great body weight workout and I finished in just under 17 minutes.

Their warmup was very long - almost 15 minutes. 400m run and then a ton of lunges, burpees, jumps, etc. I was tired of being on the road, and was wearing down, but this wod helped revive me a little. Back home now. And happy to be here.

Kelly Starrett

After hitting the lunch workout with the group at Crossfit San Francisco, I returned to get my knee checked out by Kelly Starrett. I was worried, because for several weeks, I had pain when I squatted or tried to fold my right leg. Was it serious? It certainly was not getting any better.

Kelly is the master. He observes how you stand, or sit and translates that into a flexibility shortcoming. It is a little intimidating, when someone looks at you and you know you can't even manage to stand or sit without some major fault. Then he had me do a squat, and he immediately noted that my knee was not tracking over my foot. Not even close. Somewhere along the line, my lower leg had gotten turned and was fighting with itself. The side effects were pain when closing the knee joint, swelling and tightness behind the knee. Also, my hip range of motion was poor causing even more trouble when trying to squat.

That is a lot of crap wrong. And Kelly spent a long, long time stretching, pushing, pulling, and leaning on me. That little construction trailer of an office he has, most certainly has housed some major suffering. After some painful moments for me, we retested and things were much better. He sent me home with some homework, and ordered me to let him know how I felt later.

He also took time to be very complimentary on my fitness. When you have an injury and are feeling down, sometimes that helps, and between fixing me up and the little pep talk, I felt much better. And over the course of almost 2 hours, we talked Crossfit. Everything from how it benefits us, to my cartoon, our kids, mutual friends, and books by Tim Ferriss, Robb Wolf, and others. I am sure he had other stuff to do, but he is just so generous with his time.

Best part was, the next morning I woke up with no pain or tightness behind my knee. First time in months. Voila. He is a genius.
All time.

Crossfit San Francisco

Exactly 1 year since my last visit to CF SF.

And once again, hop off a plane, drive across town and hit a wod. Last year , it was heavy lifting Thursday - where I showed my feebleness in the back squat. Although I have improved, I was glad for something else.

This time, Carl Paoli - Olympic gymnast from Span, and the guy who taught Jason Khalippa a back flip in 20 minutes. Today, shoulder work. A huge volume twenty minute wamrup of lunges, skips, bearcralws, plate drags and walkouts. Very hard work.

Then 5 rounds of max rep sumble press. I used 50s which made it tough. Then used 35 to get some more volume. Then 4 minute tabata of burpees and v sits. A great finisher.

A great place, deep roster of great coaches and a great wod.

But I was not done. After a little coffee, I cam back for some knee treatment.

Tuesday - Unplanned rest day

Work sometimes gets in the way of life. So be it.

OH Squats - metcon with OHS and pullups

I finally got down and up with 135# in an overhead squat. Was it deep enough? Maybe. But I felt better with that weight then ever before, and that is good enough for a Monday.

Sunday Yoga

A huge thank you to Nicole Holt for running and Jerry for organizing Sunday CFOT Yoga. It felt good to do, and I bet benefits will compound the more often I show up.

First Friday, pick your poison: Linda

I have been feeling beaten up with my knee in pretty bad shape and my shoulder a little sore. Feeling sorry for myself, I chose and old school strength workout that did not require me flopping onto the floor at the end, or red-hot intensity. So I picked Linda.

10 reps of 150% bodyweight deadlift, bodyweight bench press, and 75% bodyweight squat cleans. Then 9 reps of each, then 8 and so on down to 1 rep of each.

I have recently dipped below 160#, and right before starting I weighed in at 159.8. Which is crazy because I was wearing clothes and it was mid day. Both things usually add a pound or two. But I used 160 so my weights were 240, 160 and 120.

So off I went. I had never done Linda, but watched a video of a guy do it in mid twenty minutes. He was insane. Jack B as done it in upper and mid twenties. All of those did the deadlidts without putting the bar down. I did not do that. I am sure it would have been quicker, but on my first time through, I thought I was leave some in the tank. Just in case.

Shockingly the deadlifts felt easy, pretty much all the way through. 1 rep at a time, but never really hard. The bench press was a breeze for me at 160. I never had to break those sets up. The squat cleans were a mere 120. But I was protective of my knee. I made sure every rep that I got a wide stance and forced my knees out on the way down. Below are a few pictures, one deadlift and one catching the clean. I feel like I did a good job of not pulling with my arms, getting under the bar and opening my hands at the top. Given that Melissa took these pictures above when I did not notice, it seems like I did that pretty well.

John Scott was also doing this, and we shared the bench press. Had to switch weights, which took a little time, but not much.

Time: 25:58.

I will do this again, and I will do touch and go deadlifts as much as I can. And once my knee feels better, the same for the squat cleans. I think a strong goal is sub 25 and an aspirational goal is 20 flat.

I also love my new AC/DC shirt. First album I ever bought and still loving them for working out to.

Rest Day

The WOD today was "Steck-con"

A long and horrible met-con. Plus I continue to heal my knee and shoulder.

Time for rest.

Snatch it up

Tough day. Sore shoulder in addition to a sore knee. Worked skills up to 115 . Then did the 9/7/5 snatch at 115 to go along with the 18/14/10 pull ups in 5:59.

Back Squats then 400m x4

Boy am I falling apart in 2011. My knee still hurts and my right shoulder has soreness behind it. Really limited my rack position.

Back Squat x 2 - 255

400m (More like 440) Sprints (er, Jogs) 1:59, 2:00, 2:02, 1:57

Strict Press, Metcon, Dips

WOD 1 - 12 minutes to find 1 rep max strict press: 180 today. Shoulder is sore. Add that to the list.

WOD 2 - 5 rounds of 5 press (135#) and 10 box jump (24"): 4:35

WOD 3. Weighted dips. Worked up to +80# .

Happy New Year to All

Hoping everyone reaches their fitness goals in 2011.

And what are mine, you ask?

Funny thing. Here I am. 41 years old. Great wife, great daughter, great job, and my fitness level is 1,000 times better than it was 2 years ago. I am not the best Crossfitter, but I am decent at most things, good at some, and great and one or two (strict press bodyweight plus 30# anyone?)

So in other words, it is pretty easy to take a casual attitude and just coast along doing the same old. Only that is not how I got this thing going. But instead, it is what I did for 10 plus years as I let things go. No specific goals, no direction, and no measurable standards.

For 2011, I am going to break it up into medium term goals. Goal #1 is tied-in with Pete's Paleo Challenge.

I am in it to win it. And by win it, I mean accomplish my written goal. To go from current 162 to goal of 157 in 12 weeks. As I wrote there:

I am ready for the PPC. Starting weight a sorta puffy 162. Goal=157. Sure, that sounds easy, but this is literally the "last 5" and I have not been lower than 160 since age 16. In 2009 I went from 187 to 165 while following the Primal Blueprint, in 2010 while being mostly strict - I lost a grand total of 2#. So this 5# is a solid challenge for me. Wild cards - 2 trips to Vegas in Q1. Brief, but I am gonna lose a lot of points there



So there you have it. I have a goal, I wrote it down, and I will let you all know how it goes.

Happy New Year.