Saturday, September 29, 2012

Saturday Workout

Warm up for today was 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
The prescribed workout was 3 rounds for time:
  • 100 yard walking lunges
  • 50 push press (45/33)
  • 10 tire flips
My wife and kids read this one on line after I left and decided to come watch because the kids wanted to see me flip tires. I performed the workout as prescribed and completed it in 24:35. I struggled a bit with the push presses, any overhead move seems to give me trouble. I knocked out 25 in a row the first round but by the last round I was doing sets of 10 before taking a couple seconds to breathe. The tire flips were fun, I had not done them before. Since I had someone there watching I got a couple of pictures. The kids got to try out the rowing machines as well which I think they enjoyed.




Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up starts with 200 single under jump ropes. Interesting change from the 400 meter run we usually do but I am uncoordinated as hell. Then 3 rounds:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 GHD sit-ups
  • 10 pull-ups
The prescribed workout was 30 clean and jerks (135/95) for time followed by a 1 mile run. I loaded up with 135# and tried to pick the thing up and there was no way I was going to clean that. I bounced around for a bit and settled on 105# to start but after maybe 3 I had to drop to 95# where I left it for the remainder of the 30. I completed these in 8:29. Next the mile run which I had not done at this gym before so I was not sure where to go. They directed me but I missed the turn around mark on the ground for some reason and turned around at the end of the road instead. I completed the run in 9:29 but I do not know how long it was other than it was more than 1 mile. I have been doing a mile in something like 8:00 minutes lately.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Wednesday Workout

I was out of town for work yesterday so could not make it to the gym. I instead rolled my ass out of bed at the hotel at 5:30 am and did my own workout.
  • Run 1 mile
  • 50 burpees
  • Run 1 mile
I did the first mile in 8 minutes and then started pumping out burpees. By the end of the 50 I was gassed though and walked maybe 100-200 meters at the start of the second mile. I finished it up in 22:43 according to my phone and the mapmyrun application. I am not 100% sure of the time on the second mile but I think it was something like 9:30, slow as shit. I will probably try to do this one again next time I travel to see if I can improve.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Monday Workout

Coach Michele was nice enough to repeat 3 of yesterdays 100 rep exercises during the warm up today for us so that was nice. We started off with a 400 meter run as usual and moved on to 3 rounds of:
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 abmat sit-ups
  • 10 push-ups
surprisingly I knocked all this out with no problem. When I first saw it up there I thought it might be a little tough for a warm up after yesterday. The prescribed workout was the following for time:
  • 30 toes to bar
  • 30 deadlifts (185/135)
  • 30 double unders (90 singles but not Rx'ed)
  • 30 hang cleans (95/65)
I have never done the toes to bar move before so coach Michele gave me the quick run down while I was waiting for Jackie to finish her warm up. I am usually the first one there and done with the warm up before everyone else. I tried one and was surprised I was actually able to get my toes up to the bar. If you don't know what this is have a look at this video, they make it look much easier than it is. I looked more like the bad examples by the end. I then went to set up my weights. I put the full weight on each, 185# for deadlift and 95# for hang clean, and tried a rep. I thought it didn't seem too bad so I figured I would try the weights as prescribed. I started off pretty good with the toes to bar and actually got my toes up above the bar for about the first 15. I did not do them unbroken though, this is a pretty hard pone to hold on to the bar on. After 15 I was doing maybe 3-4 at a time and not quite getting my toes above the bar. By the end I was looking a bit sloppy and doing 1-2 at a time but I finished it. I did all the deadlifts with the prescribed weight but did stop a few times during the 30. I stated off doing maybe 5 at a time and finished doing sets of 3. I did 90 single unders rather than the double unders which I just can't seem to do. Someone else there was doing doubles and only doing one at a time because they were tripping every other time. They then would take time reset and start again repeating the process. My thought is I would rather do the 90 and be able to keep moving through the whole thing and get a better workout from it but what the hell do I know. Finally came the hang cleans, check this video out for a demo. I did this one with the prescribed weight of 95# as well and started off strong with a couple sets of 5 but by the end I was doing them 2 at a time. This one is tricky as when you get tired you really need to concentrate on getting yourself down low in the squat position so you can get under that bar. I finished in 17:12 and I am pretty happy with that, especially considering I think this is the first workout I have done without scaling the weights.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Saturday Workout, on Sunday

My parents were here yesterday so I did not go to the gym for the Saturday workout. Instead I went in this morning. The other owner was there today, Coach Michele's husband. He seems like a nice guy. The workout today was a repeat of one we did on September 9th, "Angie." If you recall I did it incorrectly at home that day so today's is a better representation of my performance. If you don't remember you can check out that post here. The workout is prescribed as follows for time:
  • 100 pull-ups
  • 100 push-ups
  • 100 sit-ups
  • 100 air squats
The rules are that you have to completely finish one exercise, all 100, before moving on to the next. That is where I screwed up last time and it apparently made it much easier. This time I did the progression as you are supposed to and recorded a time of 26:30 which is 7:01 slower than the last time when I did it wrong. I used a blue band on the pull-ups after about the first 15 and was doing jumps by the end with a slow drop on the way down. I made sure to get my chin above the bar on every one of them though so that is good. I also did the last 15 push-ups on my knees but I was getting my chest all the way to the floor for the whole 100. The sit-ups were done as ab-mat sit-ups as we were told to do by coach Jay. If you don't know what these are you can check this video out. I used a ball for the air squats to make sure I was getting down below 90 degrees as you are supposed to do. The air squats were probably my strongest move in this workout and I rolled through them with minimal breaks and even when I did break it was maybe a second or two. The sit-ups are probably a close second best and I clearly suck most at the pull-ups as usual. The lesson of the day is 100 pull-ups is a lot of pull-ups.

Edit: I forgot the warm up. Ran 400 meters followed by 3 rounds:
  • 10 PVC arm circles
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 dips

Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up today started with a 400 meter run, shocking. We then did 3 rounds:
  • 10 hip extensions
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 push-ups
The workout was prescribed as:

For weight:
  • Clean & Jerk 5,5,5,5,5
For distance:
  • 10 minute row
I had coach Michele walk me through the Clean & Jerk since I have not done this one before. I have done cleans but no jerks. If you are unfamiliar with it you can see some instruction here. I probably need a bit of work on my clean movement as I felt off on it part way through the workout. I went over and grabbed 33# bar and practiced a few with that to get back into the feel of it before I continued the next set. I did the 5 sets with 75#,85#,95#,105#,105#. I think that with a bit of practice on the clean I could up this a good bit pretty quickly. I did not seem to have much problem on this one with the jerk part, I can be a jerk no problem. I hit the rowing machine for 10 minutes at at the finish I had completed 2377 meters. Not bad I guess but I would have liked to have hit 2500 meters at least. Something to shoot for next time I guess.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wednesday Workout

Warm up started with 400 meter run. we then did 3 rounds:
  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 air squats
  • 10 ab-mat sit-ups
From there the workout was prescribed as 8 rounds of the following for time:
  • 10 kettlebell swings (53/35)
  • 10 weighted lunges (53/35)
  • 10 clapping push-ups
It was explained to me at the start to simply use the kettlebell for the weighted lunges and hold it up high under the chin with both hands. The kettlebell swing is one of the exercises where I think they prescribe way too much weight every time I see it. Perhaps I am just a wuss but it seems to me there are very few people out there that should really be doing kettlebell swings with 53#. I started off with the 35# kettlebell and after the first round dropped to 30# which is plenty for an 8 round cycle. This is a move that seems to me it would be real easy to do wrong and the consequences of that could be really bad. If you do not know what this move is you can have a look here. I think I probably go down too far on this one and get the legs a little more involved than this guy does and I also go up a good bit higher on the front end as well. I do try very hard to concentrate on getting the hips moving and having that be the core of the movement but I will admit that as you get tired it is easy for this exercise to fall apart which is why I think the weight needs to be right for you. I did the lunges with the 30# kettlebell as well rather than a 53# as prescribed. Again, that is a lot of weight for a lunge at least for me. I might have been able to do the 35# but I had the 30# kettlebell there for the swings so I used that. I also modified the push-ups. I did not come all the way up for a clap but I did go plyometric with them and made sure to push my hands up off the ground on every one of them. They did not get real high but I did what I could do on those and all 80 were plyometric. I completed the workout in 13:01 with the modifications mentioned above.

This is a good example of what I was talking about in my last post that the workouts are no more dangerous than others if you use your head. I could have gone out and tried to do this workout as prescribed so I could show off for the ladies but I would have run a much higher risk of hurting myself. The bottom line is my days of needing to show off for anyone are long over and that to me is a good place to be if you are going to walk into a crossfit gym. If you are young and stupid and trying to show off some of these workouts will likely bite you in the ass and the consequences could be a serious injury. Be smart and scale the workouts as needed and you should be fine. That is not to say you should be a slack ass out there. I was working my ass off on this one but I was doing it with weights that I was able to control through this somewhat complex moves in a manner that I felt was safe. Make no mistake though, I was wiped by the end of that 13:01.

I cooled down with a 200 meter run and a bunch of stretching as I normally do.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

What is this crossfit thing

I have been saying for a while that I need to put a post together explaining what crossfit is but I just have not found the time. Well I figure I better just go ahead and do it or I never will. So what is crossfit? The "dictionary" definition of crossfit from the folks at crossfit HQ is constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements but what the hell does that even mean. The bottom line is that what crossfit is to you is going to depend a bit on how and where you do it. It seems that each crossfit gym has it's own approach and then there are always those that do it at home on their own. The common thread seems to be that it is a general physical preparedness program which pulls its movements from many disciplines and generally times the workouts. It is often called the sport of fitness and that is probably as good a definition as any although it doesn't really tell someone who hasn't done it what it is.

If you start to do crossfit you can expect to do Olympic lifting, calisthenics, gymnastics moves, plyometrics, running, and all kinds of other crazy shit you may never have thought to do if you were not doing crossfit. You will do what is called a Workout of the Day, or WOD for short, each day you do a crossfit workout. If you belong to a gym you will do it there and will generally not know what the workout will be until you get there and see it posted on the whiteboard. If you work out at home you will likely grab a WOD from one of the gym's websites. In general the gym's will post their WOD every day so you don't need to membership to get access to that. If you go to the gym you will do the workout with a group of people that show up at the same time as you and almost always the workout will be timed in some way. This is one advantage of joining the gym over doing it on your own, I find I work out way harder with the others around than I do by myself.

Crossfit gyms are pretty expensive if you compare them to your typical Bally's or similar gym. I pay $135 a month for mine with a 3 month membership and that is pretty cheap for a crossfit gym. The thing is you are paying for the programming, the workouts being posted, as well as the fact that you have a coach present and watching you during each workout. I usually do not need much feedback from the coach but when I do the lifting, which I am unfamiliar with, it is nice to have her there and the feedback is useful. For this reason you can't really compare the price to the standard gym unless you look at what a trainer, classes, or both would cost there.

Because of this model it is important that you find a gym that has a good set of coaches and someone who knows their shit doing the programming. This is one of the big knocks on crossfit. It takes nothing more than a weekend long $1000 class to get a Level 1 trainer certification and that and the $3000 per year affiliate fee are really all you need to open an affiliate. You can see the details here on the crossfit HQ site. Because of this there seems to be a wide range of quality out there ranging from great to piece of crap. Most crossfit "boxes", they call the gym a box not a gym but this just makes me sound like a douche so I won't use that term any longer, will let you try at least one class and come visit before you join so you should.

Most of the complaints about the program have to do with poor form on Olympic lifting and I could see that. Some of the people are much more interested in their time than their form and this can be a real bad way to look at it. If you find a good gym with a good coach and are smart about what you are doing you will likely not have any more risk of injury from crossfit than you would with most other programs out there. For a detailed article bashing the shit out of crossfit you can have a look here but there are others out there that are a bit more even handed and reflect more what my experience has been such as this one. There are also some videos put out by crossfit gym's that try to explain what it is and some of them are pretty good but remember the source, they are gym owners. Have a look here, here, and here for some decent ones.

Some of the naysayers are part of the reason it took me so long to finally take the plunge with crossfit but I have to say that I have not found most of the problems that people who complain about it mention. I also noticed over time that most of those that were complaining had never really done crossfit but were more complaining about people they have met who are crossfitters or they just can't stand the founder of crossfit, Greg Glassman. I have to agree with them on both of these points. Greg Glassman seems like an asshole and he is also a fat out of shape dough ball that I don't really want to get my fitness advice from. Had I seen some of his videos and interviews prior to trying crossfit I might never have done it. Just ignore him though because he really has nothing to do with your local gym and you will never have to interact with him. I also have seen some of the crossfit douche-bags that come in and take their shirt off before the workout starts to show off their pierced nipples while they do their workout. They then proceed to do their pull-ups with a green band and lifting with some of the worst for you will ever see. I would love to punch these idiots in the face but for the most part they are also harmless and you won't see many of them.

Bottom line for me is this is a varied workout routine that keeps me interested. The gym does the programming so I don't need to think about what I am going to do I just show up and do what they tell me which saves me a lot of time over what I was doing, all my own programming. I really like the community feel of the gym where people will cheer you on if they finish before you. I like the fact that it feels like a sport rather than just a workout. I like the fact that I am seeing results and getting in shape. I am not suggesting this is for everyone but I like it, at least for now, and I think I will stick with it. If you want to find out more fitbomb has some good posts on the program as well here.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday Workout

We were still at the beach today, just got home a bit ago. I got up this morning and went to the club house at my aunt and uncles house, which has a gym, so I could do the workout. According to the website for the gym I attend today's workout was 5 rounds for time:
  • 15 push jerks (95/65)
  • 400 meter run
I started off with 5 minutes on the elliptical just to warm up and then did a modified version of this workout. They only had dumbbells in the gym so I used those to do a modified version of the exercises, you can see it in this video. I started with 40# dumbbells and made it through almost the first 3 sets with that. I dropped to 35# dumbbells with 4 reps left on the third set because my form was starting to break down. I completed with that weight. I guessed on the 400 meter course but when I got back to their house I used the google earth ruler tool to measure it and it said 410 meters so I think it was pretty damn close. I completed the 5 rounds in 18:15 which I think was pretty good and I was pretty well spent by the end. I did some stretching to end it off and then walked back to the house.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Saturday Workout

We are out of town visiting my aunt and uncle this weekend so no gym this morning. I did my own thing today instead. Ran maybe 800 meters to the local playground for a warm up and then did AMRAP in 20 minutes:
  • 10 burpees
  • 10 knees to elbows
  • 20 air squats
I made it through 7 rounds plus the 10 burpees and 8 knees to elbows on the eighth round. If you don't know what knees to elbows are have a look here. That is all.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday Workout

Warm up  today started with a 400 meter run, surprise. We then did 3 rounds:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
The workout as prescribed was 10 rounds for time:

  • 10 wall ball shots (20/16)
  • 10 slam balls (30/20)
Seems pretty easy right? If you are unfamiliar with wall ball shots you can see the move here. Slam balls can be viewed here. The wall ball shots kicked my ass last time I did them when we did the filthy fifty workout. When we did that one I was going pretty strong until I hit this move and I just died trying to knock out 50 of these things. This time I felt a bit better and I did start out with the prescribed 20# ball. I had to drop the 20# to a 16# ball after the first 3 sets of 10 though but I finished off with that and even on the last set I did the first 7 wall ball shots unbroken before having to take a bit of a breather for a second. I did the slam balls with the prescribed 30# ball and that thing got heavy as hell by the time this thing was over. This was the first time I have ever done this exercise so I was a bit slow and I am not sure I was slamming it as much as I should but I certainly got a workout. By the end of the 4th or 5th round I was taking short breathers between exercises and by the end my lungs were screaming. There were only 3 of us there and I finished last behind both of the women there although I was using heavier weights. My quadriceps were still sore as hell this morning when I walked in from the Wed. workout with the thrusters but I was able to get through it and I feel pretty good. I finished in 15:09.

I am certainly feeling like I am getting in better shape very quickly. I was not in bad shape before but this is really kicking it up a bit and it is also a lot of fun.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Forget the Steroids

I saw an article this week about a Stanford University developed device that is designed to change the core temperature of an individual very quickly. The news articles I read, one of which is here, take the angle that this device is better at performance enhancement than steroids. I also found a more detailed article which explains a bit of how this thing works as well as some of the methodology used to get some of the amazing results. You can check this one out here. The discovery of performance improvements in athletes from this was apparently just something they stumbled on but they got great results with a lab staff member. according to the Stanford University News:
...the glove's effects on athletic performance didn't become apparent until the researchers began using the glove to cool a member of the lab – the confessed "gym rat" and frequent coauthor Vinh Cao – between sets of pull-ups. The glove seemed to nearly erase his muscle fatigue; after multiple rounds, cooling allowed him to do just as many pull-ups as he did the first time around. So the researchers started cooling him after every other set of pull-ups.
"Then in the next six weeks he went from doing 180 pull-ups total to over 620," said Heller. "That was a rate of physical performance improvement that was just unprecedented."
Apparently the heating of muscles causes the enzyme they use to create chemical energy to change into some unusable state which is what you feel as muscle fatigue. This change in state reverses as the muscles cool down and thus the fatigue goes away. Cooling the body eliminates  your fatigue and allows you to continue working without damage to the muscles. Sounds like pretty powerful stuff to me but I can't see paying the $3000 they are asking for it. The articles is worth a read and there is an interesting video on it below. I would not be surprised if you see some form of this available much cheaper in the years to come although it seems they have been at this for a while.

Wednesday Workout

Warm up started with a 500 meter row and then continued with 3 rounds:

  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 ab mat sit-ups
  • 10 air squats
Next came the workout "Daniel" for time:

  • 50 pull-ups
  • 400 meter run
  • 21 thrusters (95/65)
  • 800 meter run
  • 21 thrusters (95/65)
  • 400 meter run
  • 50 pull-ups
I had to scale the pull-ups as usual. The first 10 I knocked out without any assistance then used a blue (very thin) band up to 35 and switched to a green band (thicker band) for the final 15. On the second set of pull-ups I did roughly the same breakdown but switched to green earlier and by the end was doing them in sets of 3-5 and jumping as well. 50 pull-ups at the end of this work out is hard as shit. If you are unfamiliar with band assisted pull-ups have a look at this video for how it works, ignore the grip. On the thrusters, here is a video demo, I was unsure what weight to do so tried a few different weights before we started the clock and settled on 85#. Coach Michele watched me getting set up and corrected me on depth on the front squat part so I made that correction. I actually grabbed a 16# wall ball and put it on the floor behind me and when I did the squats made sure my ass touched the ball, sorry to whoever will be using it next. I made it through most of the workout with the 85# on the bar but dropped to 75# for the last 6 reps. I feel pretty good about that since I was only slightly in front of the men's tee for most of the workout. I completed the workout in 26:39, not bad I think.

This workout is named for Daniel Crabtree, a SFC in the Army National Guard who was killed in Iraq on 06/08/2006 from a IED attack. To find out more about Daniel have a look at this link. Always remember when you are doing these workouts where these names come from and why. When you think you can't finish or it is just too hard think about how hard things were for these people and their families and pick your ass up and keep going.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Monday Workout

Warm up today was a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds:

  • 10 pull-ups
  • 10 ab-mat sit-ups
  • 10 walking lunges
This was followed by a two part workout starting with

  • Overhead squat 3,3,3,3,3
This is simply 5 sets of 3 on the overhead squats. The linked video gives a real good instruction on how to do this exercise. I probably look ugly as hell doing it but hey I am working on it. I did 65#, 65#, 65#, 75#, 75# for my reps. I think if I were to do this again I might start slightly lower and try to increase the weight each time. I am having some troubles trying to figure out what weights to use on some of these lifts because I have not really done these before so I don't really know where to start. this exercise in particular strikes me as a bit squirelly on the back so I want to be pretty careful with it. Coach Michele was watching me throughout and made a few comments on adjustments I should make as going through. Keep in mind this part of the workout is not timed and is more about strength and form.

After that we did As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 10 minutes:

  • 20 air squats
  • 20 push-ups
  • 10 burpees
I made it through 4 rounds plus 16 air squats in the prescribed time.Cool down was just some stretching and I again added some of my own stretches as I usually do.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Saturday Workout

I had a cub scout event to do with my son on Saturday morning so the plan was I was going to skip the gym Saturday and go on Sunday this week. When I woke up Saturday and had a look at the workout for the day on the website it was all things I could do at home so I figured I would knock it out before the popcorn sale. I warmed up with a 400 meter run and then was ready to do the workout. The prescribed workout was Angie. For time:

  • 100 pull-ups
  • 100 push-ups
  • 100 sit-ups
  • 100 air squats
I completed the workout in 19:29 but looking online at the rules for this one it looks like I cheated. I broke it up into 4 sets where I did 20-20-30-30 of each and it appears you are supposed to complete 100 of each exercise before moving on to the next one. Oh well, guess I will see what happens next time this one comes up at the gym. I don't have pull up bands at home so I was doing jump pull-ups after the first 20 because there is no chance I can do 100 strict pull-ups. It was still a good workout either way and I was sweating like crazy by the time I was done. My back and abs are pretty sore today too so it seems that it did the trick.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Friday workout

Today's warm up started with the obligatory 400 meter run. I think they might be a bit lazy on this one although it is a good way to get your blood moving at 6:00 am. The warm up then consisted of 3 rounds:

  • 10 Air squats
  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 abmat sit-ups 
The workout was "Jack," As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes:

  • 10 Push press (115/75)
  • 10 Kettlebell (53/35)
  • 10 Box jumps (24/20)
So my weights and such get a bit confusing here. I put on the 115# and tried a push, no go. I dropped down a few times looking for something I could do the 10 reps of without my form suffering too much. I ended up settling on 85# but only got through 2 rounds with that before I dropped it to 75# for the rest of the workout. I started with the 35# kettlebell on the swings but after the first set dropped to 30# and finished the workout there. I did the box jumps at 24" as prescribed. I completed 7 rounds and everything but the box jumps of the eighth round. I felt pretty good about that. I have been noticing the men's prescribed weights for these exercises are crazy high for me. There are some guys that do them as prescribed at the gym but most of these guys probably outweigh me by 40#, maybe more. I am now trying to start with the women's prescribed weights and go up from there. I noticed also that the women at this gym are almost always scaling and some of them by a lot. The one girl today did the push press with 43# the first round and 33# for the rest. This is one of the nice things about crossfit, it is scale able to whatever fitness level you are at and I have never seen anyone at the gym give anyone any crap about scaling. It is really about improving yourself and not so much direct competition with the others on weight. Compete on time if you like but not everyone is going to be doing the same weights. I still think some of the prescribed weights are too high for the speed of these workouts when you consider these are skill lifts that require good form. This is actually one of the big criticisms of crossfit.

On to the workout name, "Jack." There are many named workouts in crossfit, some have arbitrary women's names but are not named after anyone in particular and are collectively referred to as "The Girls." Others have interesting names like "Filthy Fifty." There are a few that are named after particular crossfitters and then there are the "Heroes." The "Heroes" are named after fallen military fire and police in general. Many are named for special operators who have died in the recent wars and today's workout is one of them. So who is "Jack?"
Army Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, of Bethany, Oklahoma, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash., died September 29th, 2009, in Jolo Island, Philippines, from the detonation of an improvised explosive device. Martin is survived by his wife Ashley Martin, his parents Jack and Cheryl Martin, and siblings Abe, Mandi, Amber and Abi.
This is another thing that I like about crossfit, it isn't all about getting bodies in the gym.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Wednesday Workout

Today's warm-up was kicked off with 200 single jump ropes. I suck bad at jumping rope and the longer I am doing them the more crappy I am at them. I made it through but by the end I was only knocking out about 15-20 at a time before I was tripping over the rope. The warm-up continued with 3 rounds:

  • 10 air squats
  • 10 ab-mat sit-ups
  • 10 pull-ups
The workout seemed easy enough going in. 7 rounds for time:

  • 5 deadlifts (225/155)
  • 400 meter run
I upped my deadlift from last time when I had done 135# to 155# so I was hitting from the ladies tee. I originally put 185# on the bar and tried to deadlift that prior to beginning the workout, no go. I think I could probably add a little more next time though just not 30#. I completed the workout in 19:08. There were only 4 of us there and I finished second although 2 of the others were deadlifting 225#. I was actually leading going into the last 400 meters but the one guy kicked it on the last 400 and beat me by :07.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Buy Organic or Not

There has been a lot of talk in the news today about a new study by some Stanford University Center for Health Policy scientists comparing organic and non-organic foods. You can read a bit about it on most any news site but I read the NY times article on the subject which you can find here. Maybe the most surprising thing to me was the fact that while 38% of the non-organic fruits and veggies had trace amounts of pesticides 7% of the organics did as well. So while you have a statistically better chance of getting pesticide free produce if you go organic if you are unlucky enough to be getting yours from one of the sources that are in the 7% you might be better of going with non-organic. Perhaps this contamination is due to neighboring farms spraying their crops but the reason does not really matter if your organics have it. At the very least this study should cause people to question their reasons for paying the extra for the organics and possibly think about if they can verify that they are indeed getting what they think they are.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day Workout

Had to wait until 9:00 am to go to the gym since they are on modified hours for the holiday. There were a ton of people there today, so many that they had to modify the workout for some since they did not have enough rowing machines. The warm up was 400 meter run followed by 3 rounds of:

  • 10 push-ups
  • 10 back extensions
  • 10 PVC arm circles
The workout was the following for time:

  • 500 meter row
  • 10 burpee pull-ups
  • 20 air squats
  • 20 burpees
  • 20 pull-ups
  • 40 air squats
  • 40 back extensions
  • 60 air squats
  • 500 meter row
I completed the workout in 16:44. I was pushing real hard on the last row to catch up with Jackie who was rowing next to me. She is one of the people that is usually there for the 6:00 am classes with me every morning. She was a bit ahead of me going into the row but I caught up and we finished at the same time. When we finished she said she kept looking over to see where I was and was trying to keep ahead of me. This is one of the great things about these workouts, you work really hard with someone next to you doing the same thing. Some of the people ran 400 meters instead of rowing since they don't have enough rowers for that many people.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Saturday Workout (This looks so easy)

Seven of us showed up for the workout this morning at 9:00 am. My right quad had been a little sore yesterday in one particular spot so I was a bit worried about this morning but after sleeping it felt fine this morning. Th warm up was a 500 meter row followed by 3 rounds of:

  • Mountain climbers
  • Hip extentions
  • PVC arm circles
Then on to the workout.
3 rounds for time:

  • 100 meter walking lunges
  • 30 ab mat sit-ups
  • 30 push-ups 
When I first saw this I thought is said 100 walking lunges which really didn't seem like much but even after I realized it was 100 meters I still thought this one looks easy. Well it only took me the first 100 meters to realize my legs were going to be screaming by the end of this one. I did pretty well though and completed the entire thing in 18:29 with the only modification being I needed to drop to my knees for the last 10 push-ups. It hurt like hell getting through that last 50 meters of walking lunges though. I am finding that the workouts, like this one, that have only bodyweight stuff that I can do at home I excel at relative to others in the class. The workouts that have things I have never done like Olympic lifting or rope climbing are another story.

One thing I am noticing about these crossfit workouts is it seems the endorphin rush is much greater than with most any other type of exercise I have done in the past. Not sure if I am imagining that but it is amazing how good you can feel at the end of a workout that so thoroughly beats the crap out of you. I can certainly see how people get hooked on these and end up going every day.