Tag Archives: Crossfit

Week of Rowing

Both of my paid workouts this week had 5 rounds of 500m rowing. Eh. My whole body hurts… it hurt already, then last night, I was the only one to show up for class, so Dave & Wladi made me do this:

500m row
10 back squats (185lbs)

This took me 19:37. I was really trying to beat out my friend Ryan who did this in 17 and change… I was doing really well too until I hit my 4th round. By that time, my legs were all but shot and I couldn’t do more than 2-3 squats at a time. Still, I am happy to have finished in under 20.

This morning for open gym we did 2 WODs, both with a partner, both 3 sets each, both for time. The first was:

3 rounds (taking turns)

5 push ups
7 squats (used a 25lb dumbbell and did it like a goblet squat)
9 burpees

The second one was also 3 rounds (taking turns)

200m run
7 wall balls (14lb)
9 SDHP (25lb kettlebell)

I didn’t track the times that me and V got on these. I am really proud of her for doing good full push ups on everything during these workouts. Sure, it took a little longer, but that’s the only place the strength will come from. Plus it gave me rest which I really needed today. I am so damn sore from yesterday that everything today just felt absolutely awful. I am not kidding. Victoria even pointed out to Dave that I looked really miserable while running. And I was. I hear Dave did a little impression of me… I’d love to see that =)

Dead Row Ups

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I haven’t written about it on this blog, but this past weekend we both had stomach viruses. Victoria got it from the kids in her class and had it REALLY bad. So bad in fact that she had to go to the ER really early on Friday morning.

After the ER visit, she felt a lot better. It was inevitable, though, that I would get it… which I did the following day. Mine was not nearly as severe as hers but it is lasting longer. I haven’t yet gotten to the stage where I can eat my normal diet all day every day. Things like meat and vegetable are still sort of nasty sounding at times.

Anyway. I felt better enough to go workout last night. Since I wasn’t feeling completely better I made a little deal with myself that I would take it slow, do what I could, and generally just not push as hard as I normally would.

The workout was 5 horrible rounds of:

500m row
30 sit ups
15 dead lifts (Rx’d @ 195lbs)

I think I finished this in 25:06 (it might have been 25:04, but I don’t remember). If you read my blog, you know that like to do some math when we do long workouts like this so here goes.

Total Work Done

2500m rowed (that’s a little over 2 miles, I think)
150 sit ups
14,625lbs dead lifted (that’s 7.3125 tons)

Victoria cracked a joke when I said I would take the sit ups slow. She said something along the lines of implying I was already doing that. Funny. Well, I took them slower than I normally go. During the warm up sit ups (2 sets of 15), I literally felt like I was going to hurl every time I sat up. I think this was a good choice.

I tried to keep a good ~2min pace on the rows. I think at one point I was in the ~2:30 area, but quickly got it back down after some heckling from the coaches.

The dead lifts were challenging as well and I tried to take them in small sub sets. They also made me feel like I was going to hurl. Hopefully today won’t be as bad and I can push a little harder.

18 Minutes of fun…

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… if by “fun” you mean “breathing really hard and feeling like death” then, yes, fun. This workout was pretty challenging but all kidding aside, it was fun. Here it is:

3 minutes each of

Row
Clean & Jerk (Rx – 135lbs)
Jump Rope

This workout is 18 minutes long no matter what your fitness level is. We were told to calculate a score by adding calories burned on rower + number of clean & jerk reps + number of jumps. My total came out to be 713, which I was pretty proud of. Here’s how my reps looked:

	1	2	Total
Row	50 cals	37 cals	87
Clean & Jerk	12 reps	13 reps	25
Jump Rope	309 jumps	292 jumps	601
	371	342	713

Wow! I came out swinging! The first round felt great! I felt strong on the row and clean & jerks. I got into a great rhythm on the jump rope. We got a 1 minute rest before round 2, then it all went to crap. I felt like I was rowing as hard as I could on round 2, but I am sure if I were in a real boat, I’d have been slowly drifting down a lake.

The clean & jerks were worse. I felt gassed and weak every time I tried to get a rep. To my credit though, I didn’t mess any up or waste any reps like the last workout with cleans. The fact that I got one more clean on my second round can only be attributed to Wladi yelling at me to get back on the bar and do one more.

I was trying like hell to get to 300 jumps on the second round. I had Duan AND Johnny U encouraging me to go but I just kept tripping up on the last 50 or so jumps. Close… maybe next time.

When will I learn…

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… that it’s NEVER easy despite how I think it looks written out? I think I should just make a template for these posts as I am about to say again that I didn’t feel like working out last night. I was drained from the day and it’s activities. With all of that, I didn’t want to do anything at all.

The workout last night was all bodyweight (except for the v-twists):

15 – 9 – 6

V-Twists (20lb medicine ball)
Lunges
Mountain Climbers
Push ups
Sit ups

I really thought, for some reason that I’d get this done in 10-15. I was wrong. Once I started in on this one, I knew it was going to be closer to 20. In fact, it was 19:23.

If you add it up, it’s 90 reps of everything (v-twists, lunges, and mountain climbers were actually double b/c you had to the amount on BOTH sides), which is more than a 21-15-9 workout (double in fact as 21+15+9 =45).

Again, ab work was my weakest link and slowed me down the most. The v-twists followed by sit ups killed.

In other news, last night for dinner, I tried my hand at some home made gyro meat. My grandmother recently gave me a vertical rotisserie that she had just sitting her garage (boxed, unused). I found a recipe on foodnetwork.com by Alton Brown, which, cannot be bad. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but it was really just delicious.

As we are paleo and hardly ever eat dairy (i.e. no Tzatziki sauce), I made a lemon/olive oil dip for the meat. Overall it was delicious and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Here’s the recipe if you are interested:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gyro-meat-with-tzatziki-sauce-recipe/index.html

New Dead Lift Max

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I didn’t really feel good today. I woke up early to take my grandparents to the eye doc. My grandfather has to get his eyes dilated and well, he can’t really drive after that, so I was their humble driver.

I got home and worked for a while, then I just didn’t feel good. My stomach hurt, I was tired, I felt very blah. I didn’t feel like doing anything physical tonight. At any rate, I sucked it up and decided to go to class (also b/c I had to bring V’s bag of clothes hehe).

There was almost no one there tonight b/c of the UT game. Whatever.

The workout tonight was:

3 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 2 – 1 Dead lifts
Tabata Pull ups

Both V and I hit PRs tonight on dead lifts. This stuff is really paying off and there’s no better way to gauge it than “I can lift heavier shit than 5 months ago”.

My sets looked like this:

1) 315lbs
2) 325lbs
3) 335lbs
4) 355lbs
5) 380lbs
6) 405lbs
7) 410lbs (this was a bonus b/c I didn’t really have much problem with 405lbs).

I have a feeling that I could have maybe bumped it up a but more, but I was starting to get fatigued and I didn’t want my form to suffer. There will always be a next time. It’s only January and I have already surpassed my goal for a 405lb dead lift. W00t!

Needless to say, my grip was shit when we got to pull ups. I got 36 in over 8 20s sets. Ouch.

You’re Pushing It

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… well, I am, but that was all I could think of for a title.

Despite my (still) super sore legs and general malaise at the end of the day yesterday, I decided to drag my sorry ass to work out at the 5pm class. I checked the workout on the site and saw that there was no running. My spirits were uplifted slightly due to this AND the fact that I felt I could wear my Vibrams. When we got there, I was pretty nervous when Dave said “let’s go outside”.

I have never run in my Virbrams. Dave gave us the choice of either a Tabata sprint OR “Death By 10 Meters”. I lobbied for Tabata sprint, because that’s a 4 minute thing as opposed to potentially 20+ minutes for DBTM. It was effing cold out and I wanted to get back inside ASAP. Tabata sprint it was.

My first few sprints were great, actually. Wearing the Vibrams is a constant reminder for me to try to POSE and not smash my heals on the ground. I did smash my heals a few times and I quickly switched back to POSE. It also helped that I kept hearing Dave scream “PULL! PULL! PULL!”.

When we got back inside, the workout was:

40 push press (65lbs)
30 squats
20 ring dips
10 double-unders

Looks simple, eh? I don’t know what I did to deserve this punishment, but I finished it in 15:33. I hear I still beat a 55 year old man by about 18 seconds. Thank goodness =).

The push presses were, surprisingly NOT the hardest part of this thing. They were challenging, yes, but the ring dips were by far the things that made me want to throw a tantrum, throw up, then quit. Johnny U didn’t so I guess I couldn’t either.

The squats went by pretty quickly. I did my first set unbroken, my second set in breaks, then, with Chad’s coaching (i.e. “Do this set unbroken, don’t stop, I don’t care if it hurts.”) my third set unbroken. Nice.

I did my first set of ring dips 1-3 at a time with some kipping to mostly full reps. The rest of the sets were pretty much me jumping up and holding myself for a second or 2 before crashing back down to the ground. They seemed never ending.

The double-unders also got me frustrated. I did the first set of them alternating between singles and doubles, only counting the doubles. The next two sets were 30 singles. I tried a bunch of times on the second set to get a double under, but just couldn’t do it. Oh well, I guess I need to practice those.

A Hobbling Start to 2010

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It looks like 2010 is finally here. Yay.

I commented on a post that my friend Stephanie wrote a few days ago regarding new year’s resolutions. Her posting is really good and I suggest you read it. Anyway, one of the things I mention in my comment was how this is the first year that I can remember that I am not resolving to “lose weight” or “get in shape”.

Since joining CrossFit in August 2009, I have been in the process of “loosing weight” and “getting in shape”. In fact, 2009 (the latter half) took us through quite a few changes in lifestyle that I am very happy with in the “health and fitness” area.

The first two workouts of 2010 have left me hobbling around like an old man. My quads are pretty much sore to the touch and mobility has been … difficult. If you read my blog, you are probably well aware that this is not a strange occurrence.

Friday Noon – New Year’s Day

AMRAP 10 min

10 OH Squat with PVC
7 Medicine Ball Cleans (14lb)
5 Burpees

A LOT of people showed up for this one. I would say 30ish (maybe more) people came. Nikki and Robin split us up into 2 large teams. Each team then made three rows. Squats in the back, then cleans, then burpees. You could not rotate to the next exercise until everyone on your entire team was done.

Our team got in 9 or 10 sets. I don’t really remember. We lost, but still got a really good workout. They followed this up with a Tabata sprint around the parking lot. There were some times were I actually got into the pose and felt really good, but we all know how I feel about running.

Saturday Morning – Open Gym

400m run
21 wall ball (20lbs)
12 pull ups

My time was 15:15.

I felt really horrible during this workout. I felt like I was going to have the runs during my runs. The second I set foot outside the door and started running, my stomach felt terrible. Couple that with the cold air and I can just complain all day long. Really, my biggest problem was that I never felt my lungs open up. Usually when we do these heavy cardio workouts, the running really sucks for me for a few minutes, then I can feel my body adapt and breathing gets easier. That never happened on this one. I felt like I was behind the whole time… I could never catch my breath.

At any rate, it was still a fun morning as Ryon and Stephanie came up to our CrossFit to workout with us. It was great having them there and I think they had a good time.

After this workout, V and I went to Massage Heights to cash in one of the Christmas presents that I bought for her/us. We had the couples room for 1.5 hours of blissful pain. I told the therapist that my legs needed the most work. Although I try to roll my legs out pretty regularly, the sides of my quads still get really tight and sore.

She did some pretty deep stuff on my back, which felt great/hurt like a mother fucker and then moved on to my legs. I had to hold back screams and probably some tears as she started digging into my IT bands. She went on to tell me that she thinks I have some adhesion going on between one of the muscles on my quad and my IT band. The only ways to get break this up are body work and stretching. I guess if I had to put ONE new year’s resolution into words, it would be to stretch a whole lot more than I do now.

I. Hate. Sit-ups.

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Yesterday was the first time back to any physical activity in over a week. Although I wouldn’t say I was dreading it, it was definitely on my mind during our week off. I was a bit put off when I saw what the workout was and that it consisted of two things that I just outright suck at and one that I have never done. But then again, train your weaknesses, right?

Here’s what we did last night:

5 dumbbell snatch with each arm (40lb)
30 double-unders
30 sit-ups

My time was 16:07.

I could have gone heavier on the dumbbell jerks, I think, but there were no other dumbbells heavier than the 40 pounder. I was going to originally going to go with 25lbs using the “I’ve never done these” excuse, but Dave wouldn’t let me. Thanks b/c I don’t think 25lbs would have felt like anything.

I didn’t get an “Rx” on this one because I didn’t do ALL double-unders. I counted to 60 jumps and put in as many double-unders as I could. Some rounds I got more, some, I got less.

The sit-ups just killed me and were responsible for my slow time. I am still just slow at them and I get cramps in my side, shoulders, and abs and am just miserable whenever sit-ups are being performed. Meh.

Crossfit Doom

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I must be going through withdrawals of Crossfit, video games, or both. I had a dream last night that was really vivid and just flat out weird.

From what I can remember, the dream started out with the whole CFCP gang gathered on a hilltop overlooking some lake. I want to say it was lake Travis, but I don’t know. The Dave came out and pointed out where our WOD was going to be which was really far away. Why didn’t we just gather there, I wonder.

We then were at this place. It was a dilapidated building in some city at night. Dave says “anyone here ever play Doom?”. I raised my hand because, duh, I used to play that all the time.

Then, he describes the WOD which is 6 20-minute rounds of Doom. While he’s describing what exactly “Doom” is for the people that didn’t get it, he’s telling us to do things like crouch-walk a lot, do lots of rolls, and to do lunges whenever possible. I’m thinking it’s pretty hilarious that this dude wants us to think about lunging when we are being shot. Oh well, guess I’ll probably win.

We got 5 minutes to take positions, then the clock starts. I remember only a few specific things about the actual WOD/game. I remember at one point Dave sitting on a car on a roof top signaling me to “come over and check this out”. Whatever, man, not fallin’ for that one. Say hello to my Uzi and see you next round, Mr. Tillman BWWHAHAHHAHAH!

At another point, one of my parents friends named Russ was on one of the floors in some crappy run down building and he was trying to break through the floor to get at something in between the floors. He asked for my help… nice try. Good thing I had that shotgun in my back pocket. Better luck next round, sir!

In between these things, I remember just doing a lot of running and dodging through various different hallways, staircases, secret passages, and buildings. It was all very frantic.

At some point ( I am assuming 20 minutes later in dream time ) the round came to and end and we all gathered. In this dream, even though everything seemed like live ammo, if you were tagged, you didn’t die or splat or anything, you were just “out” for the round and you got to come back for the next one.

As we got ready for the next round, Dave explained that there was a new area added but we’d have to figure out how to get there (fly, duh). The goal of that island was to get to the 5 smoke stacks that had letter pods on them, and change the letters to say something. I can’t remember what we needed to change it to, but this clearly required team work. One to toggle the letters on the inside and one to verify on the outside.

As soon as the round started, I ran to the edge of the map (which happened to by my parents back yard in Staten Island”), jumped over the back wall, did the Neo thing from the Matrix (you know, that thing he does before he flies) and took off headed for the new island (which was in the middle of NY harbor… a city built on a giant island of ice… go figure). What’s weird about flying in my dreams is that it never seems fast. It always seems like I am floating and drifting towards my destination as opposed to superman style flying, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, as I am drifting slowly towards this weird island, someone comes up next to me. I don’t know who this was, but I know it was female and she volunteered herself for my team. Sure, whatever, I was going to do it myself, but don’t get in my way. I have like 8 weapons somewhere on my person.

When I land on the island, it’s got this wild west theme, but there are barriers everywhere made out of destroyed cars. Interesting.

In don’t really remember much else and the dream ended shortly after this, but I do remember that the people on this island were just straight up assholes. I remember walking into a saloon type building with lots of people in and they were all just mean, horrible people.

Yeah… I don’t know where that dream came from… must be the MS water =)

Team Workout

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The Holly Jolly Challenge for 2009 at Crossfit Cedar Park came to an incredibly fun conclusion yesterday! Thirty days of strict paleo eating, food logging, and many many workouts (maybe a few too many) are now behind us and I have to say that, other than the feeling of being overworked (I think that this is also due to all of the holiday prep activity on top of the probably too many workouts), I feel really good. A few days of rest and relaxation are definitely in order and hopefully, I will come back stronger and ready to go.

We had a really great team (Me, V, Paula, and Jody)! We all did really well with eating with really minimal cheats. I think that we all learned quite a bit about paleo eating over the last month as well. Personally, I would say that I have about doubled my knowledge in this area from reading and listening to Robb Wolf’s podcasts (sorry, I know I don’t shut up about them). If you haven’t listened to them, you should… they are amazingly informative.

I would say that Paula and Jody carried the team in the “extra points for workouts” area. In the end, I think they probably did 20-30 more mini workouts that V and I did. Way to go, ladies!

The coaches at CFCP wouldn’t really tell us what the workout for the final day was going to be. Nikki hinted at it earlier in the week by saying “bring your running shoes” and “no pull ups, no sit ups, just one small piece of equipment”. Needless to say, Victoria and I were both nervous on Friday night. We had no idea of what was in store for us.

The workout wasn’t really all THAT terrible. We had to run 2.6 miles as a team carrying a 25lb plate between the 4 of us. They didn’t care how the plate made it back to the gym, who carried it, or for how long, etc. At the last 100m, the whole team must finish at the same time, but only 2 sets of feet can be on the ground at once. If you fail to do this, you have to repeat the last 100m until you get it right.

The time it took our team to do this was 30:31 and I thought we did a really awesome job. Jody, who I am naming the MVP of the WOD Quad, I think carried the plate the longest. The worst thing about it was just that plate is awkward in shape and size. 25 pounds doesn’t seem like a lot when you pick it up, but man, try running with a plate that’s a little over a foot in diameter. It bounces, it does’ stupid things to your balance, and other annoying crap.

The nice thing about worrying about what to do with the plate was that it made the run go by really quickly. From constantly jacking with the plate and trying to figure things out, by the time we knew it, we were turning around the last corner and on the home stretch. When we got to the door of the gym, he had to then figure out how to cross the finish as a team with only 2 sets of feet on the ground at any given time. Although we pondered the idea of wheel-barrowing, we decided on piggy back. Jody got Paula and I got Victoria. We broke the garland finish line all together as a team. We then hung around and cheered on the last team to come in.

Unfortunately, the winner was not known yesterday due to the amount of work that needed to be done to figure it out. Hopefully we will know soon. I think we are in the running for one of the top three places, but I am not sure where we will place.

Overall it was a fun challenge and I think, very beneficial to all that participated and tried to actually eat paleo (as opposed to cheat at every meal, then do 6 WODs to make up the points). My only regret is that I didn’t record and “before” data like pictures, my weight, measurements, etc. For the next challenge I certainly will. There will be a next one, right? Can’t wait…