The best laid plans . . .

 . . . well, that's not me. But the point is the same.  I had a general idea of having started my own backyard Crossfit gym by now.  Unfortunately, life likes throwing challenges my way.

Because my brother-in-law killed my lawnmower by using 2-cycle mixed fuel, I went and bought a lawnmower I think he cannot break.

I least I don't think he can ruin this one.  You'd think him being a beaner, he'd know how to tell one type of lawnmower from another!  And it's not racist, dammit! I'm beanish, too!

It's 20" Scotts Classic Lawnmower.  I used to have one similar when I was a young'un.  I used to love that thing.  When my dad bought a powered mower, he thought it was the greatest thing ever.  No.  It fucked up my lawn.  It cut it, yeah.  But it did a horrible job.  The new ones now-a-days are awesome. But I figured if I was going to have to mow the damn lawn, I'm going to do it with some amount of pride.

My dad was pissed I wouldn't use it.  I told him I'd use it in the backyard.  The backyard was effin HUGE.  Most of it was mowed with the powered one.  The closest ten yards were trimmed with the push mower.  My dad was satisfied with that.

Anyway, because my yard looked like shit, I was gonna start working on it myself. I went to the Depot, bought the mower and immediately got a call from my mom.  She needed some stuff for the restaurant.  Crap.  I went to Smart and Final, got what she needed and headed off to the restaurant.

Halfway there, I received a call from the daughters mom (who is back in town and taking care of mommy business) asking if I can pick up my godson (he's 10). She's in a meeting arranging stuff for the daughter and her cheer career.  So sure. Why not?  I see where the day is going.  I picked him up, went to the restaurant dropped off my moms supplies and headed off to drop off my boy.

It was near dark by that time. Dammit! The days are supposed to be longer!

We waited for the daughter and her mom. We were hungry. We went to Subway. I got the Turkey/Avocado on 9-Grain, he got the BMT in a flatbread.  We went back home, ate our sammiches and waited some more . . . while kicking his ass in Halo.  He wanted to play Call of Duty, but I suck. He doesn't.  I play to my strengths.  But I must say, he's getting better. I only beat him seven out of the 10 games we played.

She finally got home, we shared a glass of wine and I split.  I got home and finally began putting the mower together.  It was twenty minute job that should have been a five minute job had I actually decided to read the stinkin' instructions.  You know how it is. Ahh, ignorance is bliss.

My brother got home with his girlfriend (hot by the way, he knows I'm committing a sin), fresh from the gym.  I asked them if they want to participate in my Crossfit workout the next day.  I let them know what we'd be doing (modified Fran: 21/15/9 of thrusters and pull-ups).  They are eager.

Dumbasses.

Then I got a call from the daughters mom.  She forgot to tell me that my godson has footballl sign-ups tomorrow.  I should be home by 7pm at the latest.  Plenty of time for a warm-up and that bitch Fran.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Crossfit update: 04/04/2012

Just a heads up for anyone who cares:

I've been on a Crossfit hiatus because of scheduling conflicts.  If you go back and check my previous posts, I only went to the gym about six times in one month.  Obligations come and go, and one of those obligations will soon let up and my schedule should open for me.

But . . .

Instead of taking the class, I'll be doing Crossfit at home.  I've already sold a bunch of my plates and raised half of the money I needed to replace them with bumper plates.  I didn't think I'd need to, but after trying some of the workouts with steel plates . . . well I didn't want to damage my bar or ding up my floor.

Speaking of which, I found a local feed store that has the horse stall mats for about $40.  They're 3x6's and nice and solid.  They'll make great flooring for my home gym.  I've got a full size adjustable power rack with a pull-up bar (not that I can do a stinkin pull-up), a couple of olympic bars, a couple of benches (though I don't like benching) . . . I think I've got a decent setup.

All I need now is a jump box (or plyometric box) which I'll build.  There are plenty of plans out there for them and I'm going to make one of those rectangular, multi-sided jump boxes (30"x24"x20").  If I need to go bigger, I'll begin stacking plates like at the gym.  There was this one dude there that was going from a standing jump, over four stinkin' feet!  It was awesome.

I also need to start finding landmarks on my street for distance when the WOD involves some sort of run. I've got access to one of them wheel measuring things so I can find the distances.

I do plan on visiting CF Ranch and see if I can set up a per visit plan with them, just so I can make sure my form isn't jacked up.  Last thing I want to do is get hurt while working out.  Hopefully my brother and I can spot each other.

You should begin seeing more of my love/hate of Crossfit here soon after April 15th.  I'm going to miss taking care of "The Daugher", but she won't be too far away.

GD

p.s.
i will also begin running more.  i know it's not needed with cf, but i miss running. it's therapeutic. a great way to just run problems away.

p.p.s
not gonna check, too lazy. run smiley :)

Crossfit Ranch: Day 6

Man! Only day 6! I've gotta hit the "ranch" more often!

Tonight was truly a friggin workover.  My windpipe is raw from trying to catch my breath. And the worst part is that I didn't find out how much time it took me to complete the workover! I'll have to see what the coach wrote down on Wednesday.

The warmup were pass-throughs (pvc bar to help loosen up the shoulders), lacross ball to loosen any knots in the shoulder blades and begin working with double-unders. I can't do double-unders to save my life. It's gonna take a lot of work to get the double-unders figured out.

The workover consisted of rowing, medicine ball cleans, kettlebell swings and double-unders (doubled jump rope to make up for the double-unders). Sounds easy right? Nope.

Workover -
300 Meter row
30 / 20 / 10 (30 reps each, 20 reps each, 10 reps each) of:
Medicine ball cleans
Kettlebell swings
Double-unders
End with 600 meter row

I was done after the first set of medicine ball cleans. Everything after that was a blur of pain and exhaustion. It was so easy to want to cheat, but I'd only be cheating myself. I cut each rep into sets of five except for the jump rope. I'd do half of those before attempting to catch my breath. At least until the last set of 10 (doubled to 20).

The 600 meter row started out ok, until I hit the 50 meter mark. My forearms were already numb and trying to keep a grip on the row handle was getting difficult. Add on top of that trying to breath . . . UGH! I just closed my eyes and worked! I did the last row in 2 minutes, 43 seconds.

I'm WORKED!

GD

p.s.
exhausted. something about grammar. run smiley :)

Crossfit Ranch: Day 5

I didn't have a chance to go for my run last night and was really looking forward to Crossfit tonight.  I didn't have a chance to get home until after 9 and I was just exhausted.  I haven't gone to sleep that early in years, but I definitely needed it.  For the first time in a LONG time, my alarm woke me up.

The stress relief of a good workover was really needed. I ended up blowing off an obligation I had previously commited to, but I'm not going to sweat it. Someone else could take my place. I needed this.

Tonights workover was great.  We started with what the coach called a Crossfit Football (CFFB) warmup. All the following were 20 yards, out and back for a total of 40 yards.

CFFB Warmup:
Sprint
Shuffle Step (side step)
Karaokes
Backwards run
Sprint

Rest one minute, repeat.

We then prepped our bars for the following workover:

21 / 15 / 9 - Deadlifts (185 lbs) and box jumps

21 reps, 15 reps and 9 reps for time of the deadlifts and box jumps. When I finished as many as I could, I'd feel a bit light-headed. All the tightening of the muscles (legs and core) . . .

Same thing with the box jumps. After I finished with all that I could do, I'd get light-headed. I hope that's normal . . .

Friday is the Crossfit Games Open Challenge.  The only one I think I won't be able to do is the toes-to-bar.

This is the workover- (Youtube links for a couple of'em)
As many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of the following:

15 box jumps (24" box)
115 lbs push-press - 12 reps
9 Toes-to-bar

Coach Tommy said if I can't do them, I'll be doing the some scaled down version of the toe-to-bar. I'll tell you how it goes.


GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Not many options . . .

Sometimes when you believe your locomotive is gaining momentum, and a wild-ass mountain appears and you slam right into it.

That's pretty much the gist of the shit that's been happening lately.  As with strip-clubs, it's been an exercise in frustration. You can only control what's in your power to control. I've had no control of the crap I'm dealing with. You're not allowed to quit family, and I love work . . . most of the time.

Usually the way I deal with major issues is look for the positive and roll with the punches. I've been doing that for years and it works.

But for some reason, I haven't been able to deal with it psychologically, lately. The funny thing is, there is no major issue! But a ton of smaller issues (a TON) have come together and metamorphosed into some huge  . . . THING . . . and has come to bear ALL of it's collective mass at once!

And I've not had time for ANY of my usual outlets!

Crossfit? Nope. By the time I'm free, class has LONG let out.

Running? Maybe, but I've been needing some positive attitude around me to get me out of my funk.

I know the running excuse sounds excruciatingly lame, but the funk is so HEAVY that I can't psyche myself up enough for a night run!

I don't care how late it is tonight when I get free, I'll be going for a run. Maybe I can run some of these problems away . . .

GD

too fed up to check. run smiley :)  for me!

Crossfit Ranch: Day 4 Afterthoughts

This one was difficult.  I've learned that it'll always be difficult.  So on to the demos.

The following will have Youtube links:

As stated in the previous post we had to complete 100 Ring Pushups, but every minute on the minute we had complete 3 Thrusters.  I was completely drenched by the time I was finished.

AND I DIDN'T EVEN DO FULL ON RING PUSHUPS!

I could barely do 3 of the damn things.  The coach made me do them at a 45 degree.  That was still one hell of a struggle.  On my first set I completed 21, then on to the thrusters.  After that, I was only finishing about 8 per round.  I took a whole minute to rest up at one point because I couldn't even do one thruster.

I eventually finished in 11:52.

As originally posted, I couldn't even use my arms for about 30 minutes. I would've found it unsafe to drive that way.  When I was finally underway, I tried driving as I normally do and found that I had to use both hands to steer. I actually had to use my own body weight to steer the damn car!

I wonder how I'll do tonight. Last Friday I let you know that the Crossfit game Open qualifiers are on.

This is what's in store for tonight:



75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
135 pound Snatch, 30 reps
165 pound Snatch, 30 reps
210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

I'm gonna try my best, but I know where I'm at and I don't see passing the 135 (or even many).

With all the crap I've been dealing with at work, this is going to be a GREAT stress reliever!

GD

p.s.
too lazy and stressed to check. run smiley :)

Crossfit Ranch: Day 4

This is a crosspost from my FB account.  I really don't feel like attempting to retype everything again right now.  I'll be posting afterthoughts tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to move my stinkin arms.


Ugh! Today's warmup was the regular stretches. But tonight there was a twist. Foam roller for 10 minutes: legs, back chest. More work on kipping (gonna take a while before I get up there) and began learning the wall-assist handstand.


The workover tonight was another hell of a bitch! It was similar to last Wednesday tonight it was thrusters and ring pushups. You do ring pushups using the gymnast rings set low to allow a pushup. You gotta keep your arms in tight, so you can comfortably complete a pushup. I was allowed to scale my pushup by being at a 45 degree angle for the pushup. I have no upper body strength. Noodle arms.


Workover:
Goal is to complete a total of 100 ring pushups at quickly as possible.
But every minute on the minute, complete 3 thrusters then onto attempting to finish your 100 pushups.


It took me 11 minutes 51 seconds. It took me 30 minutes to recover. I couldn't lift my arms well. I had to use both hands on the wheel to steer.


GD

p.s.
unbelievably wrecked. run smiley :)

I flaked today . . .

Something came up today and I didn't have a chance to make it to the gym in time.  As a matter of fact, I just got home.  I'm going to have to find a way to make it to the gym tomorrow.  I may have to take an extended lunch because I won't be able to make it in the evening.

Gotta blame the daughter.  I won't go into details, but it's her fault dammit!

GD

Crossfit Ranch: Day 3 Afterthoughts

After Wednesdays workover, I was pretty sore the next day and got worse Friday.  By Friday evening, after the warmup, the soreness was nonexistent. I've already described what we did that night. What I didn't tell you was what I was feeling before the workover.

When I got there I got my pvc pipe and started stretching out.  Pops was there with me.  When I came time to do the actual warmup, Pops helped me out and described all the exercises we were to do.  We went through one round before the elite Crossfitters began the workover.

We had an opportunity to see what we were going to put ourselves through.

I hadn't done burpees or anything similar to it since high school. Again, a reminder, I graduated back in 1992.

There was a lot of people in the gym that night, more than I'd seen ever.  Apparently there's another gym in town that is working on getting their Crossfit certification and the coaches and members of that gym were over to compete.  There's a qualifying series going on right now for this years Crossfit Games.  Tonights workover was part of the qualifier.  Next week will be another.

I knew our coaches did the workovers, but I rarely saw them really worked over. They usually do their routines earlier in the day.  Every once in a while Tommy (one of our coaches) will be finishing his workover when we show up and we see him pretty beat.

Today we got to watch ALL our coaches bust ass like mad men. They did their seven minutes of burpees.  As the clock was counting down, the whole gym started getting louder. Pushing everyone to keep going, no stopping allowed. Once in a while you'd hear "NO REP". Two extremely frustrating words you don't want to hear when you can barely concentrate.

There were about 6 Crossfitters that did the workover before us.  Most were on the floor when that clock finally hit seven minutes, too exhausted to even speak.

I started getting nervous about this workover after the first minute.  By the time they were done, I was shitting bricks. I was psyching myself out, thinking "THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!"

But Pops, ever the mentor, talked me back down to earth.  He reminded me that we had already done this, on Wednesday.

A quick reminder:

Every minutes on the minute

3 squat cleans

As many burpees as you can for a total of 50

I had to take that advice to heart and tell myself that I COULD do this.

I was still nervous, but now it was a weird anticipation. I didn't want to do it, but I was curious to find out how many I could pump out.

Jeremy was a coach from the other gym I spoke about earlier. He got us ready for the workover.  He had us begin the warmup all over again.  So I ended up doing 3 rounds of the warmup instead of the two.  Jeremy was a GREAT coach! He's very open and friendly and explains and demonstrates everything.

Anyone looking for a first trainer, Jeremy's your guy. Like Pops, he helped aleve our fears about what we'd just seen.  He explained what we had to do with burpees.  All we had to do was do the work right.

I completed 63 total burpees.

I'm am frickin sore.

I don't want to move my arms above my head.

I don't want to move my arms.

I wish I could do everything with just from my forearms to my hands.

But I've got things to do today and there will be pain involved.

As a cousin always reminds me, no I won't die.

GD

p.s.

to in pain to check grammar and spelling.  run smiley.

Crossfit Ranch: Day 3

Todays workover was . . . well let me start with the warmup.

Today the warmup involved starting out with arm rolls.  One minute forward, alternating small to medium  circles.  Then another minute backward, again alternating small to medium circles.

Then we had 2 rounds of the following (Youtube links to all exercises:
Bear crawl across the gym (about 30 feet)
7 hand release pushups (drop to the floor, lift up hands)
Bear crawl back across the gym
10 mountain climbers

As usual, the warmup really gets you warmed up.

As usual, the workover was a near blackout event.  It was one simple exercise. Completing certified burpees. The coaches had us stand up straight and raise our arms as high as possible.  From there, they measured 5 inches to a ring. To make a burpee, we would start at a standing position.  When time starts we were to drop to the ground and thighs, hips and chest were to touch the ground. Come back up and jump up to have BOTH hands touch the ring . . . and repeat . . .

. . . for SEVEN FUCKEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had longtime Crossfitter next to me.  He completed 90 burpees.  He looked like a weightlifter.  He sure as fuck didn't move like one.  He moved like a normal person, not like a stereotypical side of beef moving all robotic-like.

I myself completed 63 burpees.  I nearly died.  It was another near blackout event. I never thought something so simple could really beat the crap outta you.  Jeesh!

GD

p.s.
again, too wrecked to check. run smiley :)

Crossfit Ranch: Day 2

Boooooy! Was today another eye opener!

Tonight our warmup included the usual pvc pipe arm shoulder stretches, and some type of hip/leg stretch called the Perfect Stretch.  That one felt GOOD.  Hip flexor and hamstring is what I think is what I heard it stretches.

Perfect Stretch
You drop a knee and put one foot as far forward as you can. Make that shin perpendicular to the floor.  Then drop your elbow until you can touch your ankle and hold it a minute. Switch legs. This Youtube link actually has what I think is a better example of stretch. I think he calls it the Worlds Greatest Stretch.

The next thing we did was begin learning how to do a Kipping Pullup.  That was pretty fun at first, until you realize the bar will develop pretty big calluses on your hands eventually.

Kipping Pullup
Hang on the bar and begin swinging your hips back and forth. You want to gain enough momentum to begin actually clearing your hands from the bar at the top of the swing.  When it comes time to actually COMPLETE a kip, you'll be pushing away from the bar at the bottom and pulling yourself over the bar at the top.  I don't know if this makes any sense with words, follow the link to Youtube.

Next was making sure we had learned how to squat-clean. I had trouble with this one at first, it's not really a complicated maneuver but I haven't done any weight lifting since high school dammit!  But it's weird how the body remembers how to do something even after SO LONG (20 years for me).

Now for the workover of the day! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I NEVER thought I would make that sound when working out.  At least at my age.  Now I understand why you kinda have to scrunt (scream/grunt).  It does sound dirty when I say it out loud.

Anyway, the workover:
Every minute on the minute
  3 squat cleans
  Countdown to 50 burpees

Here's what it involved for me.  I made the mistake of pausing and dropping the bar after every squat clean.
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
At the start of EVERY minute we were supposed to complete 3 squat cleans before starting our burpees. Once the squat cleans were done, do as many burpees AND KEEP COUNT OF YOUR FUKEN BURPEES!!!!!!!  I wish I could emphasize how important that last part was, because trust me when I say the coaches are sadist mofo's!
There's a reason why they tell you to grab a piece of chalk before doing something like this.

YOU.
WILL.
FORGET.

I forgot. The coaches took advantage of that.  At one point, I actually rested a full minute because I couldn't push any more.  Then I got back on that damn bar and did the squat cleans and did a bunch of burpees.  They let me do that for 12 minutes.  I was in blackout zone by that point.  I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, but last person had finished 4 minutes before I did.  One of the coaches was going around asking for times from everyone. When he finally got to me, the other coaches joined him and asked for my time.  I was still doing squat cleans and was just about to start my burpees. I told him I didn't know. They acted all astonished and told me I had been done for a while now . . . all while they were all smirking at me.

While I was still trying to catch my breath and not pass out, one of the coaches came up to me and told me that was a bit of punishment for not keeping track of my progress.  I couldn't help laughing at that. I actually appreciated them doing that.  I don't know why. Weird.

I'm grabbing chalk every TIME I walk into that gym from now on.

GD

p.s.
really fricking wrecked to check grammar. run smiley :)

p.p.s
i'll be heading out to the beach tomorrow.  my bud'll be surfing, i'll be running.

Crossfit Ranch: Day One Afterthoughts

Do you remember me mentioning the old guy the gym calls Pops?  Well last night he worked out with Anant (sp) and myself.  Anant is fairly new to this as well.  He's been here it seems a month or two.  Pops started 5 months ago.  Anant had a hard time with the workover. after the warmup. 

Just a quick refresher on what we needed to do last night:  21 Deadlifts, 300 meter run AMRAP 20 (As Many Rounds As Possible for 20 minutes)
Anant was working with 75 lbs for the deadlift.  He completed 3 rounds.
I was working with 135 lbs for the deadlift. I completed 4 rounds and finished all the deadlifts on Time.
Pops was working with 145 lbs for the deadlift. he completed 5 rounds.

Pops is a BADASS!  He's gotta be at least 55, maybe 60.  He was the Terminator out there!  He didn't stop at all! Deadlifts completed, BOOM! Run Completed, BOOM! Round after round.  If I fought through the near blackouts, I could've kept up with him, but I gotta work on my stamina.  The mass wasn't too much a problem . . . at first.

Starting out each round of deadlifts was easy enough. It's finishing the deadlifts where your heart is pumping real hard and you're causing pressure to your system by tighting most of your major muscles that you begin really feeling it.  On my last round of deadlifts, my vision was beginning to fade on the last five.  By the time the coach was calling out the seconds left to the workover, I was really starting to black out.  I dropped the barbell right when coach called time, and everything did go black for a second (I think it was a second).  I found the nearest power rack somehow and leaned against it while everything came back.

I think I was a bit sloppy on the last few deadlifts.  My back does ache a bit, but not from strain.  More like soreness.  Maybe it's just the way it's supposed to feel, I was doing deadlifts after all.  Pops was breathing hard, but he recovered a lot quicker than Anant and I.  I can't wait to get to his level, hopefully I can surpass it.

I'm still debating either going running or Crossfit.  I've got to do one or the other and right now, I think I'm still in favor of Crossfit.

GD

p.s.
not as wrecked but tired and too lazy to check grammar, run smiley :)

Crossfit Ranch: Day One

Today was my first "real" Crossfit class. Not much different from what we were doing before. We again allowed ourselves to get beat to shit!

I got there and began my stretches. It's a set of exercises using pvc pipe we were recommended that we do before the actual workover. After that, it was the warmup of the day. Today it involved a rower and air squats. In this case 10/20/30. We started with 100 meters of rowing, 10 air squats, then 200 meters, 20 air squats and finish with 300 meters and 30 air squats. Then we were asked to do 15 deadlifts and 15 jumpboxes.  I was actually able to use a real jumpbox this time. Anyway, I thought that was the workover.

NOPE.

The workover was deadlifts first and then running. Simple, right? Nope. It was 21 deadlifts, 300 meter run. As many rounds as possible for 20 minutes. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO . . .

I completed 4 and a half rounds. I finished the last set of deadlifts just as he called time! When I dropped the barbell, I thought I was gonna black out! I had to find something to hold onto while I recovered.

I was pretty wrecked tonight, but my legs weren't in pain like they were last week. Just completely exhausted and workedover. I will be going for a run tomorrow. If not, I'll be hitting up Crossfit again tonight. I'm thinking that'll be more likely.

GD

p.s.
too wrecked to check, run smiley :)

p.p.s
i had to add one more item above in the warmup part.  i completely forgot about it last night because of how tired I was.

Fundamentals III: Day after feelings

Last night was the last of the Fundamentals class for the Crossfit class.  So, now it's up to me if I want to join up . . .

This last class was a lot more relaxed compare to that first two.  The first two involved pushing you way past your comfort zone and proper technique.  This last class involved safety and technique.  Primarily because we'd be dealing with MASS.  Namely barbells and barbells with different sized weighted plates.  The coach really wanted to emphasize technique.  Nobody wants to get injured and by knowing how to lift that kind of mass, you'll "enjoy" a better workout.

Oh, and do you remember the girl that was taking the first class with me on Monday.  Well, I've gotta apologize to her.  She didn't flake.  She went in the next night to take the second class because she had school Wednesday night.  How do I know that?  She took the third class with me last night.  She too was suffering burnt legs.  But we were both busting ass with the mass!

Anyway . . .

So what did we focus on.  Well, we started with Dead-lifts. A fairly simple exercise that I liked.  It really felt good in the glutes, stretched them out.  Then we did the Front-Barbell-Squat.  That one hurt.  I had a 45 lb bar and having to squat with burnt legs, not fun.  It hurt, but I was able to do it.  Then the coach had us do it with more mass.  I had to add another 30 lbs to the bar, oof.  But again, I did several.  Next was the Overhead-Squat.  This was pretty difficult.  The coach had me start with the 45 lb bar to finesse technique, then moved me over to the 75 lbs.  This one was hard. But not as hard as the next one.

The Clean And Jerk (and some variation of it).
The Clean and jerk was difficult.  But then he put some variation to it I can't recall the name of.  It involved starting with the clean and jerk, and then shouldering the bar going to a full squat and powering back up to an Overhead-Press.  FUCK!  That was fucking excruciating (I apologize for any sensibilities I may have offended with the previous statement, but FUCK!)

Once passed the clean and jerk, I let doubt cloud my confidence because how much it hurt to go that deep with the squat.  But then dropping to the full squat after the clean and jerk and powering through the pain to the Overhead-Press was the real painful part.  I think I only accomplished that last one because the pain made me push through to the Overhead-Press.

I don't know why, but I'm really looking forward to next week.  I must have a some masochistic streak in me or something.

I'm going for a run tomorrow morning, hopefully I can work out the soreness with it.  I'm really looking forward to stretching out my legs after almost two weeks of no running.

And I can't wait for Monday.  The Crossfit experience will be an adventure!

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check, run smiley :)

From my FB: Crossfit Fundamentals II Class

This is a repost from my Facebook Status Update.


Just got back from my 2nd Crossfit session. I think I pulled a butt muscle.
All day I was debating actually going to the class.  I was so sore I was hoping we weren't doing legs again.

My hopes were dashed when I was told what we would be focusing on. Medicine ball cleans (lifting a 14lbs ball with a proper squat).
Jump boxes (supposed to have been a 2ft box, gave me a 1ft box)
Wall Balls (lifting a 14lbs ball with a proper squat and tossing it up about 3 feet and catching it)

We did three different sets: 20 each, 15 each and 5 each. When done with the last set of five, get on the row machine and row 500 meters.  It took me about two minutes for the 500 meter row.

The whole shebang was 13 minutes, 27 seconds.

There were several times during the workover that I saw myself quitting.  I was halfway through it when I threw in the towel (in my head). For some reason I don't understand, I had started the box jumps again and kept going. It was kind of surreal, like I was feeling the all the pain but I was outside of my body.

I can see how this is going to help later with my running.  I'm building legs, core and cardio.  I hate the pain, but you definitely feel this is going to improve my running.

On somewhat of a side note.  Kenny the coach is a jerk (not really).  When I first stepped into the gym he ask why I was there.  I told him it was to improve my running and that I had a goal for April 1st (Santa Cruz Half Marathon).  He said he could help with that.  He is the certified Crossfit Endurance specialist.

What sucks though is that he saw me run during my last run on Monday.  By that point I just wanted to finish the damn session and I was so exhausted that my running form was soooo out the window.  That's when he critiqued me.  I know what I did wrong, but I couldn't feel my legs by that point.

He asked to check my running form today before starting todays lesson.  But my legs were so gone today, that taking a shit was an adventure in itself.  Would I be able to bend my legs so sit on the toilet?

So, again, my running form was nowhere near what I consider proper. Again he critiqued.  I just shook my head and said, "Uh huh. Okay."  What else could I do?  He's seems to have been one of those ADD kids that never got over it.  His focus is ALL OVER the place.

But he does know his shit.  Everything he was telling me was exactly what I need to work on.  He's going to be a monstrous help . . . when I can walk again.

The following is not in my FB post:

GD

p.s.

way to hurt and tired to check. run smiley . . . eventually :)

Fundamentals II tonight

Just a quick update:

I'm still in pain.  The soreness alleviates when moving.  But when I stop for a while and get moving again, it takes time to walk normally.  I don't know what's on tap tonight as far as the workover, and if I didn't have the SCHM deadline coming soon, I wouldn't be going.

But I doubt the Crossfit coaches would put people through this torture and then ask them to come again a couple of days later if they didn't work out another part of the body.  At least I hope not.  Cause I don't know how long that 21/15/9 will take this time, but it certainly WILL NOT be anywhere near 10 minutes.

GD

p.s.
too in pain to check.  try to run smiley :)

What the hell did I get myself into?!

So . . . .
I hurt.
My legs still feel wobbly.

Not as bad as last night though after the work-over.  Let me explain why I use "workover" instead of "work-out".  I while back I started reading this running blog of a barefoot queen.  Her blog is called Running Naked On Sharp Pointy Stuff. She is smokin' hot and a badass ultra-runner.  I don't think she's broken the 100 milers yet, but she's running 50k's.  She doesn't run those ultras barefoot, though.  I believe she's running in Merrell Trail Gloves.  Her topics are crazy diverse and funny.  And they do get you thinking at times.

She's has a trainer who has helped her improve her running and general strength.  But she calls the work-outs, workovers.  It's what I'll be doing until the Santa Cruz Half Marathon coming April 1st.

From her blog:High Intensity Intervals. I do high intensity interval training. These would be my workovers above that say "rounds of:" as part of the description or most of my running or cycling. These circuit exercises are short in duration (between 5 and 20 minutes) and usually involve more than one repetitive movement, (unless I'm doing running intervals). If you're around me while I'm doing any sort of high intensity interval training you will hear lots of inappropriate expletives escaping under my breath. And trust me. I will be breathing hard. These workovers usually have me teetering on the edge of passing out. Apparently, even though this type of interval training generally tends to be short in duration it increases your metabolism rate and burns calories even after you've finished your workover. Which makes it a perfectly efficient late-night-I-don't-have-much-time-to-do-a-workout-workover. These workovers tend to leave me feeling... well... "worked over" and sometimes I'm sore for days.

 The bolding at the end is mine to illustrate the point of what I'm feeling right now.  I posted what we went through on my Dailymile, but I figure I'll describe what we did.

When I walked in, I was given a waiver to sign.  It was along the lines of "if you die, it was YOUR fault".  Not really, it what I feel every time I sign a waiver.  But in this case, it was actually pretty close.  There was only myself and a cute girl (Janet) taking the Fundamentals class.  She'd come in once before and hadn't completed the requisite 3 classes.  Jesse was our trainer for the night.  He started by letting us know that we were to do our warmups before starting any of the workovers.  The warmups were to primarily loosen all the joints and "open up" our shoulders and hips. 

We used a 4' pvc tube for the shoulders.  We'd hold it comfortably wide, elbows locked and pull it from in front of our hips, over our head and behind our hips.  It felt pretty good!  Then we'd twist the bar around ourselves, again with our elbows locked.  Start in front of our hips, swing one arm over our head (elbows locked), end behind our back and swing other arm to complete the motion back to the front.  Then we did some leg-swings side-to-side and front-to-back.

He showed us how to do a proper squats (regular and front?) and we did several of those to make sure form was good.  Next he showed us how to do a kettlebell swing.  I've always done kettlebell swings by ending at shoulder height.  He showed us to end directly above our head, body rod-straight.  Next he showed us how to do slam-balls.  He gave me a 20lbs slam-ball.  Kinda awkward to hold when you're tired.

By the time we were done with the lesson, it was time for our workover (he called it a workout).  We were to do 21/15/9's.

It involved doing the following as fast as possible:
21 Air Squats
21 Kettlebell Swings
21 Slamballs
Run 100 yards
15 Air Squats
15 Kettlebell Swings
15 Slamballs
Run 100 yards
9 Air Squats
9 Kettlebell Swings
9 Slamballs
Run 100 yards at the end yell time.

My legs were wobbly even before we started the workover from the lessons and warmups.  After the 21's I could barely run.  My form was incredibly OFF.  I could barely keep my head up.  That was really bad.  I was trying to run, but my legs were so numb and my heart was pounding and I was fighting to catch my breath.

Janet was doing better than I was.  She'd already started the squats for the 15's by the time I got back from the run.  She was out the door by the time I had finished my slamballs.  But when I got back she was struggling with the squats.  She stopped several times during the 9's so that I was our the door before her.  Trust me, I was not competing against her.  I needed to get this pain over with!

Jesse was pushing us both, but here's the funny thing.  His trying to push us, didn't work for me.  He was behind us both urging us on.  At one point during the 9's, he snickered.  I don't know why, but THAT worked!  I finished at 10:22.  Jesse said to go lay down and spread my lungs.  Fuck that.  I've tried that before and I always feel worse.  I just kept walking around, head up trying to catch my breath.  Janet came in at 11:41.  She said she was going to puke . . . she didn't.

I haven't felt that worked over since high school.  It was horrible, and exhilarating. I can't explain it.  Somehow I've got to go back on Wednesday and complete the second Fundamentals class.  Let's see how that goes.

GD
p.s.
too much in pain to check.  try to run smiley :)

Tonight's the night we'll make hiiii-story!

Crossfit, yoooou aand I!
And I'll take (almost) any risk to (turn) back the haaands of time,
And (work out) with yooou (at the gym) tooo-niiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Those are my paraphrased lyrics to Styx's "The Best Of Times".  Speaking of which, several years ago I had the opportunity to see them in a small venue here in town.  I'd purchased the tickets and everything.  I ended up giving them up to a couple of other friends because some family drama had occured the evening prior and we were still roiling from weirdness of it.  Nothing bad came of it, just . . . weird and just dealing.

Anyway . . .
As you can see from the "lyrics", I am looking forward to my first experience with Crossfit tonight.  If I keep up this restlessness, I'll have expended all my energy before even stepping into the gym tonight.  I've gotta relax.  So far the plan is to pick up my cousin from his apartment and head over to the gym.

That's it.

I only have a general idea about it.  Tonight's about form.  Wednesday is the heavy lifting and the REAL workout.

Can't wait!

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Crossfit. Hmm, sure.

Actually I'm pretty excited about it!  So I found out there is a Crossfit gym here in town.  It's in the industrial part of town, sort of where you'd expect a Crossfit gym to fit in.  It's called Crossfit Ranch.

I gave the gym a call and asked if I could stop by, check it out and maybe get some info on what I need to do beforehand. My cousin went with me.  A couple of years ago he went through the Monterey Penninsula College Firefighter Training Program and completed it.  He got his ass beat during the program and when he graduated, he let go.  He's nearly as overweight as I am now so when I told him I was going to check out the gym he wanted to join me.

He's an experienced former gym-rat so I thought his input couldn't hurt.  Some of the trainers were there and we were given the "tour" by Tommy.  I think he's the main go-to guy and the one that puts up the posts on their website.  He was informative and very positive.

I've tried to go to a couple of gyms in the area before, but there was always a feeling of insincerity from the people there.  Again, this may have been me projecting my insecurities of being a fat boy in a gym.

The point is, I didn't get that feeling from ANY of the Crossfit Ranch personnel.  They were down to earth and I got the feeling that they actually accept new people as a challenge.  To see what they can push this new person to.  How good of a mentor/coach they can be.  They really got me excited!  I wanted to start that night, I was so pumped up!

Sadly, I've gotta wait til Monday.  Apparently any new-to-Crossfit members have to take a Fundamentals class.  And it's three classes that fall Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  One is a basic forms and technique class.  The next is an intensity class in which to see how far you can push yourself (that's the impression I got at least). And the last class is a refinement of form and technique.

The idea I got from Crossfit in general is that these are meant to eventually do on your own.  Eventually build up your own home gym and do your work-overs (to steal the term from Krista at her blog) at home.  I've got a full compliment (and then some) of Olympic weights, power-rack and other gym necessities that sit unused by me.  My brother uses the shit outta-'vum.  That WILL CHANGE!

I will absorb as much as I need from the gym there and eventually fly from the nest.  It'll probably take a year or more before I'm comfortable enough to go off on my own and return every so often for refreshers or just camaraderie.

Who'd a thunk I'd be looking forward to a Monday . . .

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

The running pain . . .

So I've had a hard time getting out and running.

It's not lack of motivation (though definitely a factor) it's also muscle soreness and hamstring pain.  The hamstring hurts enough that when I first start walking, I have a limp.  Once it loosens, I carry a normal gait though the pain is still noticeable.  I went for a 5k run Sunday afternoon and I had to stop because I was getting tired faster and beginning to ache bad along the hip flexor, thigh, hamstring and foot.  It truly sucked.

I've been using a rolled up towel and a bench corner to do my own version on deep-tissue massage.  It's been helping a lot, surprisingly.  I guess it loosens it up enough to allow whatever other muscles and whatnots connected to it to function properly.  I took a rest day yesterday and I'm going for another 5k this afternoon during my lunch hour.

If this continues, I'm getting me one of those handheld personal massagers to really work the friggin muscles.  I miss going out for runs!  According to DailyMile, I logged less than 8 miles last week.  I had been on an upswing when this crap started buggin' me and holding me back.

I've got to start logging in longer runs soon.  I have a Half-Mary coming up April 1st, 2012.  I have a countdown timer that says I have 60 days, 20 hours and 18 minutes to go.  Two months.  I've got two months to get to at least 8 miles non-stop to be able to complete The Santa Cruz Half Marathon comfortably.  I know I can do it if I can manage this hamstring problem.

I believe my feet are strong enough now to not cause me the problems I've had before when logging longer runs.  I've been better at keeping my runs up and consistent.  I believe my form is better (except for the hamstring thing) and I am trying to relax more on my runs.  When I'm feeling good, I'm running good.  When I'm feeling bad, I'm running ok.  That's definitely and improvement from when I first started.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check spelling and grammar.  run smiley :)