New 100's PR!

I train 6 Day on now & rest Thursday, which I always look forward to more then any other day, until it is Thursday.  Bu the time the day is here I feel good and want to train. Normally I go on an easy run but today it is really nasty out and I decided to do a comfortable 200 Burpees while listening to a Podcast:

200 Burpees
Time: 13:17

Yesterday was the day with the PR.  I normally don't get super high volume on Wednesdays because of my schedule and I like to get my rest started early.  Here is what Wednesday looked like:

Hinshaw Run I stole
12-6-6-3-3-3-3
-1 Min Rest between each-
(Run out 12 min -rest- run back 6 -rest- run out again 6 -rest- run back 3 -rest- x 4 (Total time 42 Min including rest)

Total Distance: 4.65 Miles

1 Rep Power Clean & Jerk
325 (Failed 335)

Regional 100's WOD
100 WB 20#
100 C2B Pull Ups
100 Pistols
100 DB Snatch 70's

Time: 21:43

The snatches sucked I just didn't want to do them.

5 Rds:
7 Strict MU's
20 Strict HSPU

Time: 14:48 (Did this in 19:27 2/16/17)

That was it.  I ended up hanging out with the girls relaxing for the night and had a glass of wine.  I haven't had a drink in awhile and won't again until after regionals.

NU

Surprise! Reebok clothes!

We went to Indianapolis yesterday to visit and help judge WODs at Crossfit Indy North for the Open, see friends, and hang out with family. On my way down I got a text message that someone from Reebok wanted to talk to me. When we arrived I started judging individuals and in between heats began talking with Jeremy, Reebok rep, about Crossfit and everything in between.

He had seen me at the Great Lakes Invitational, The Arnold, and my un-finished Fran video. After he saw the video he e-mailed it to there corporate execs, after seeing it they wanted to have me wearing Reebok gear in all my videos and when I train. Nothing official but he wanted my sizes and they would begin sending me Reebok gear! How cool!! I am not sure when I will receive anything since the Crossfit line does not release until May 15th, but hopefully when I am all healed up I will have some gear to wear. I am excited, as you can tell, and am very positive for the future.

on a side note they extended the WOD 1 deadline for the Crossfit Open until March 27th because of issues with registering athletes. Thia gives me one more week of hope. I am going to play it smart, but you never know!!

IF ANYONE HAS ANY EXERCISES THAT I CAN DO AS I RECOVER PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY!!

NU

Weighted Vest

I realized awhile back I need to start using a weighted vest. Two problems.....the box only has one....and it will make the WOD's harder then they already are. Well, today when I arived there was a WOD that was perfect for it....a WOD I have done a few times.....and one that sucks. But before the WOD I worked on the Squat Clean to get good technique at the bottom:

Squat Clean

135# x 2
155# x 1
165# x 1
185# x 1
195# x 1
205# x 1
215# x 1
235# x 1
245# x 1
265# x 1
275# x 1 (FAILED)

I felt great about my technique. These were some of the best Squat Cleans I have ever done. I actually caught the 275# but could not stand with it. I have been working on my Front Squat but realized that once the weight get up there and I catch it in the squat I am much lower then in a normal front squat so I need to practice getting real low with a pause....then stand. Never thought Olympic lifting was so technical.....but now I need to try my Snatch with my new found love of the technical side of it. Hoping to only see my lifts get better in weight and with my technique. Once I finished these I popped on the 20# weighted vest and got ready for a beat down.

3 Rds

15 Hang Clean 135#
15 Burpees

4:31

My PR on this was just about 2 weeks ago and I got 3:41. The weight vest changed everything. I liked the change up though because that little change wrecked me! Loved it though.

Then I PR'd on Max DU's

64

I rarely try to do that but I picked up the rope and said 1 time through and I got 64 so I was happy with that.

That night:

HSPU Hold - 1:46

Push Ups w/ 40# weighted vest

40 push ups then
:40 second rest
40 Push ups no vest

Chels made me do the push ups and it sucked! I could not drop but could hold myself any way possible.

NU

Push ups

Went to the box this morning ready to work. Warmed up and then:

Max 3 Rep Power Clean

3 x 185#
3 x 205#
3 x 225#
3 x 245#
3 x 255# (failed 2nd rep!)

Then did 29 butterfly pull ups

WOD:

AMRAP 15 Min:

Max Push ups
1/2 Gasser (50M and back)

Finished with 153 Push ups and 12Rd.

I averaged just over 12 push ups a Rd. This starts to get hard to do push ups in the later Rd. Think i should have got more push ups....but those pull ups effected my push ups more then I thought they would (that's my excuse). Hoping to get a WOD in tonight sometime if I can.

NU

Yoga....Finding My Center

I planned on going to the box but when I woke up at 5:30 my body was calling for a rest day. I really thought about going in but felt that it would be more beneficial to my body to take it easy.....so.....i slipped down stairs and pooped in my Rodney Yi (sorry Rodney if I spelled that wrong). And....my gosh that did not feel like a rest day. I could barely stretch and anytime I would get into a movement everything would tighten up. Sometimes Yoga is harder then a long metcon.

But, like Rodney says..."Find your Center," I guess that is supposed to make everything better. I will tell you Rodney is wrong. I cannot find center nor find comfort in many of the movements. And my breathing...out the window....it is so uncomfortable when you are all twisted to get a breath in. I do really enjoy the aftermath and how well I feel when I am finished.

Will have to hit it hard tomorrow because I have a meeting early in the morning and cannot make it to the box. Have to get at it early.

NU

All for a dog....and I do not Care!

So......after everything today.....I decided to take a half day at work and spend time with the wife and baby. It was great. I told myself I was going to relax and take the day off. Sparty would not like that! He would want to RUN.....RUN....and RUN!

I was sent a challenge by The Lion to beat him in a few WODs, one had a lot of running and new it was perfect for Sparty. He told me if I beat his scores I could name this WOD. Well, I had a goal to do this WOD and name it Sparticus (it is unofficially Sparticus because I need the ok from him first).

Chels and I decided to make it a ritual every 9/29 to do this WOD in his honor. It was KILLER. After starting I thought there was no way that I would finish, let alone beat his time. As i got going I got better and ultimately finished with a score of 254 (The Lion got 234)

WOD:

AMRAP 30 Min (Each Rd is 5 Min with no rest between).

Each 5 Min Rd starts with an 800M Run, then with the remaining 5 min you complete AMRAP (As Many Reps/Rds As Possible) for the exercise listed in that Rd.

Rd 1 Chest 2 Bar Pull ups

Rd 2 HSPU (don't know how you got 50!)

Rd 3 Thrusters w Oly Bar (45#)

Rd 4 SDHP w Oly bar

Rd 5 Box Jumps 20'

Rd 6 Burpees

Total 254 (score for each Rd listed up top)

Sparty would be happy and I will continue to do this whenever I feel the need. Thanks Steve (The Lion) for this WOD! It helped me and my wife.....she did it to but instead just ran 3 miles because she figured it would be a constant run anyway. She wants to do it with me until she can eventually get a couple of reps in. I know she will! This was a worthy WOD and felt like a train smashed me a few times.

NU

Active Rest

Told myself yesterday I was going to do Hang Clean when I got home.....Until I saw they were on the menu for today. I also told myself and Brandon (owner of Crossfit South Bend) that I would not be in to save myself for FGB (plus I needed a day off) ....of course that did not happen. I held off on the cleans and went in this morning. I am still not sure if it was smart on my part because I truly need a day off, which will not come for awhile now. In the Box we did:

15 Minutes of 2 reps every minute 75 - 80% of Max Power Cleans.

Used 185# (should have used around 225#, would have ben rough)

After this went outside and ran sprints

10 x 50M with :30 sec rest between.

Nice easy day but my shoulders are shot from the muscle ups and the cleans did not help. I am hoping to feel better tomorrow to hit my goal of 420 for FGB. I am not sure how realistic it is considering I did the workout for the first time last week but I know I will try!

NU

Muscle Ups

So I have been working on muscle ups randomly to get better at them during workouts. I was able to get into the box early with Brandon and I new this was something that I wanted to work on....but before that I had to do a WOD at home. The wife and baby left to a friends to do a DVD workout so I had a free half hour. I wanted to hit running and body weight so I did:

400 M
50 Air squats
20 Paralette Push up
400 M
40 Air Squats
20 Paralette Push ups
400 M
30 Air Squats
20 Paralette Push ups
400 M
20 Air Squats
20 Paralette Push ups
400 M
10 Air Squats
20 paralette Push ups

13:34

Workout was good and actually made me more tired then I expected. Hoping to hit a few like this at home a week.

I left for the Box about 10 minutes after this. Got there and did 20 MU's. No time but I think I will be doing 30 for time soon to set a mark at what I need to beat. After that did band pulls and runs with Brandon. Then some OHS's with 185. Shoulders were shot. Great day. Tonight I will do some Power Cleans.

All in the search to get better.

NU

I like Chippers....like.....THE DIRTY DOZEN

I have been writing down workouts I want to do like a mad man. Everyone I write I look at it to make sure it will make me uncomfortable and that it will make me better. I knew I had a day off from Crossfit Football (Wed and Sun and OFF days). So, I was contemplating what I would do.....the decision was simple once I jumped on the main site. A chipper! A chipper is a long workout with multiple movements, sometimes high rep, low rep, high weight, low weight.....it is an anything goes workout. Here is what sparked my eye:

For time: THE DIRTY DOZEN

25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents (12 Ft rope)

I walked in and said..."I am doing the Main Site WOD!" The gym ended up doing it so I guess I didn't need to really emphasis I was doing it. But, I wanted to make sure I got to! This was also a good workout because FGB is this Saturday and instead of doing that workout I was able to do something like it that I could push through the whole way. There were a few hick-ups....I had to really break up the ring dips, knees to elbows, wall balls after the first 15, and the KB swings (used a 70# DB). All in all I was happy......I can do better with lots more work:

12:35

After the WOD I did some snatch work:

3 x 135
3 x 155
2 x 185 (failed on the second one and tried 2 more times with no success)

Working hard to get better....rest of the day will be off and hope to spend quality time with the Family after work!

Last nights Deadlift workout:

3 x 2 325#
3 x 2 345#
1 x 1 375#

Felt lighter and had little rest between sets. The 375# felt very heavy though and my back was still a little sore from last time. Going to continue to do this twice a week, increasing weight and reps when needed.

NU

Unsure?

I was unsure all day yesterday what I was going to do today. I was not going to be able to go to the gym because of work and the WOD posted for the football page was one I wanted to do but I did not have KB's. It was 5 Rds 1 minute on 1 minute off. Try to get 30 KB swings with 2 Pood (70#). I decided multiple times what to do and finally when I woke up I decided on the fly.

I took the dog on a 20 minute run and then grabbed my Oly bar and stepped outside. I decided to use 65# and do swings with it. The same workout from the football page. 30 swings and every time you did not get 30 in a minute you had to do 1000 row (or in my case 100 SDHP with 45# (which I still owe Chelssie 2000 M Row (200 SDHP). The workout did not go as planned:

Rd 1 - 25 swings
Rd 2 - 23 swings
Rd 3 - 21 swings
Rd 4 - 23 swings
Rd 5 - 25 Swings

Which ultimately means I have a whole lot of SDHP to do tonight. 700 to be exact!

Geeze....I am hoping to get them done tonight after deadlifting. I am planning to do RDL's and then get at least 6 sets of heavy deads before jumping into those SDHP's. I am just hoping my traps stay in tack for tomorrow mornings WOD at the box. This better make me better!!!

NU

Developing Myself

This morning I woke up with my back still sore from the Deadlifts....which made me excited, "I am getting better when I am sore this long!" This where I will maintain my focus with two days a week of strict deadlift work to increase my back and hopefully maintain constant soreness! (well...maybe not constant, but hopefully some)

When I got to the gym this morning I knew that they had a good WOD on the football site from the night before:

15 Min AMRAP

2 Power Snatch w/ 75% of your max (Max is 200#)
2 Rds
3 Pull ups
6 push ups
9 box jumps 20"
= 1 Rd

Before the WOD our stength work was 3 x 5 Front squat Max effort an 3 x 12 GHD sit ups. Warmed up and then did:

3 x 5 255# (the last set was rough)
3 x 12 GHD

For the WOD I had been talking with Brandon about scaling up and decided this was a good WOD to do that to. I am hoping to add or make every workout harder when possible...some don't need any help! My scaling up was:

15 Min AMRAP

2 Snatch 155# (correct weight)
2 Rds
3 chest over 2nd bar (belly to pull up bar)
6 Ring push ups
9 Box jumps 24'

Finished with - 7 Rds

Immediately after I did a Split Jerk for Max weight. Got 225# but failed on 245# and was to lazy to pick it back up to try again. Weight gets heavy when you are tired.

I need to work on my form for the Jerk because I do not do it enough and normally push press the weight up instead of using a strict jerk.

This WOD was a one good and I was able to maintain a good pace throughout which is what I was hoping with my modifications. I am beginning to love the body weight WODs with some heavy weight thrown in so I can work on constantly moving while fatiguing. Taking the rest of the day off.

NU

Deadlifts....trying to get to know them better

I say and say it.....over and over....Deadlifts are my worst lift! The reason it is my worst lift is because my max is just over 400#. Not sure exactly because what it is because I have not done it in a long time. I tell everyone how I want to get better at it but I have not had a program to get better. So I made a ten week schedule to use. Last night I warmed up to 325# then did:

3 x 2 325#
3 x 2 345#
1 x 1 375#

Feeling it in the lower back which is exactly what I am wanting. I know I have time to get better and I know it takes time. My goal is 475# by Sectionals, I know that is a long shot but I will work to get it.

Today I decided to do Nancy but after watching the journal about scaling up Wods. They explained it that sometimes we scale people down, why not up? So....I scaled to 115#:

5 Rds
400 M
15 OHS 115#

14:24

This was tough, I almost wanted to stop because I could not go unbroken. But, that is what I need to work to go unbroken with that weight on Nancy.

A couple hours later I ran some sprint intervals:

3 x 400 m
3 x 200 m

Felt good, but definitely want to get faster. I will do intervals 3 times a week as long as the weather holds up. Increasing the amount I run weekly to bi-weekly. I feel I need to get used to running, I may end up putting in air squats or pushups while resting for the next sprint.

I came up with a WOD I want to try for tomorrow if I am not a fan with what comes up on Crossfit Football. The WOD is:

AMRAP 20 Minutes:

10 HSPU
20 Toes 2 Bar
30 KB Swings 55#
40 DU's

This should be good, and if I like the WOD I will pull this out in a couple days. This one should help me with some weaknesses.

NU

Fun With the Girls!

The nasty Girls, ones that can strike fear in a crossfitter. I know for me they do. So.....I decided why not make a monster Nasty girl. I will call her.........Burfranisagracindy! The monster I now know it as. I went to the gym this morning to attack it after doing some Front Squats working my way up to 245# x 3.

Burfranisagracindy:

10 Burpees
Fran
10 Burpees
Isabel
10 Burpees
Grace
10 Burpees
10 Rds of Cindy
10 Burpees

25:50

My goal was to finish in under 24 minutes (like an idiot I think it should go better then it actually did). I figured I could get Fran, Isabel, and Grace in under 4:00 leaving me 10 minutes to do the rounds of Cindy and :30 seconds for each sets of burpees. After finishing I was initially upset but realized that I was closer then i thought.
I had made a bet with my wife that if I did not do it under 24:00 I had to Row 2000k immediately after. Lets just say that didnt happen....i uh...had to be somewhere after I finished! HAHA...

This workout helped me realize I need to examine my training and really push myself past the norm. I want to get better and be great at Crossfit, and I have to do this type of programming. Next up will be Deadlifting tonight (what I feel is my work lift). Wish me luck!

Feeling like I got a little bit better today!!! Always a good thing.

A great PLAN...that somehow changes

I went to bed last night having the perfect plan in place for what I wanted to do for my workout since I was not going to the Box because my wife would go instead while I stayed home with Jada.

The plan was to do an AMRAP for 20 Minutes:

10 Burpies
5 HSPU
5 DL 245#
15 Air Squats

But......I woke up feeling wrecked....(do not know why since I had the day off????) Looked at what I had down and thought....the yoga made my hamstrings tight so I do not think dl's are a good idea...ill do those tomorrow...then I saw 10 burpees and thought that is a lot! So i modified it. Instead I did this:

AMRAP 10 Minutes

5 Burpies
5 Paralette HSPU
15 Air Squats

Finished w/ 7 Rds + 3 Air Squats....had to end up breaking up the Paralette HSPU into singles as I got farther in. Thought it would be better to do a short Body weight metcon becasue tomorrow I am going to kill my body.

And the workout that will do this to me is....dun dun dun....

10 Burpees
Fran (21-15-9: Thrusters 95# - Pull ups)
10 Burpees
Isabel (30 snatches 135#)
10 burpees
Grace (30 Clean and Jerks 135#
10 Burpees
10 Rds Cindy (5 pull ups - 10 push ups - 15 Air squats = 1rd)
10 Burpees

Came up with this two days ago and thought this would be perfect because tomorrow is open gym. I have no expectations except to go with minimal stoppage. This one should help make me better!!!

That is the ultimate goal!

NU

Much Needed Rest

One of the hardest things for me to do is rest. I always feel that when I rest I get worse.....and I want to get better. Today is a truly needed day of rest. I have been pushing hard and my brain has been turning to find new ways to push myself and enhance my fitness. I did not totally rest though, I did my Yoga DVD, which makes me feel amazing when I finish. Recommend it to everyone...don't do it as much as I need to, but I do stretch every day.

I have made up a few WODs that I hope to be able to use in my training. I am also going to start do a painstorm, or something like a painstorm at least once every two weeks. They should be fun.

A painstorm is a workout designed in the old country (across the Atlantic) that are long and hard WODs. It was made because when people met they did not want to do just FRAN since they all travelled so far, so they made sure to get the most out of their visit.

A simple one to list is 500 Thrusters with the Olympic Bar (45#). Sounds rough but very intriguing to me. This will come up in the near future for me to do I assure you.

Already looking forward to my AM workout tomorrow!

Still trying to get better.....even when I rest!

NU

Muscle Ups!!!......AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Well, woke up and went to the box, a normal early morning ready to go. Off day in the box since we are following Crossfit Football so the WOD was supposed to be "easy" (hard to imagine for Crossfit).

9 Hang Clean 185#
15 Toes 2 Bar
6 Hang Clean
15 Toes 2 BAr
3 Hang Clean
15 Toes 2 Bar

Well I thought why not throw in some things I need work on. I new I needed to get used to GHD's in WOD's and doing multiple reps. I also thought I can do muscle ups pretty easily and consecutively but have never used them in a WOD. So.....why not throw them in? Decided to tweak the workout for myself.

9 Hang Clean 185#
15 Toes 2 Bar
15 GHD Sit Ups
3 MU's

6 Hang Clean
15 Toes 2 Bar
15 GHD Sit Ups
3 MU's

3 Hang Clean
15 Toes 2 Bar
15 GHD Sit Ups
3 MU's

Well......let's just say work needs to be done. This is the first time in a long while that I have failed multiple reps on a workout. After the first round went smooth and I repped the 3 MU's and then on the 2nd rd I failed the 3rd MU (here is where issues started. Not sure how many trys it took but I know I looked at B and said I think I am taking a DNF on this. He said no!, and I was finally able to get it. The 3rd rd was worse and I ended up finishing the workout, but in ugly terms:

15:40

then immediately after a 2 minute rest did 50 burpees

2:26 (this really sucked!!)

Still trying to get better and have a lot of work to do!!!

NU

PR

I have been trying for a long time to get a PR in Snatch. Of course I worked and worked and nothing, 195# and thats where I stayed. And I only got that once. So it had been awhile since I tried so I said what the hay. Even though I am still so sore. And you know what....I got 200#. And I know I can do more, so my goal is 225# and I just moved up.

After that I decided to try FGB since we have the fundraiser in 2 weeks and I had never done it. The workout was tough but I was expecting my body to be dead afterwards because of all the horror story (which the reason my body didn't feel this way is because I could have pushed just a little harder, that will be determined to be true or not next time). I wasn't sure what a good number was but told myself I wanted 400 during the fundraiser.

I ended with 392 reps, counting for myself in the box because everyone else was busy. They said there will be judges so hopefully that knocks me up a few points. I was happy with the showing though.

Thought about doing death by Clean and jerk per Mikko Salo, but the wife and baby needed to get home, save that for tomorrow after the WOD. Still trying to get better.

NU

Todays WOD

Here are some picks from the weekend:





Todays WOD was a good one but hard for me because of how sore.

We did Max 20 rep Back squat:

185# (rough because of soreness)

WOD:

AMRAP for 15 Minutes:

5 Ground to Overhead 185#
7 ball slams 20#
9 Pushups (hands off the ground)

5 Rds + 6 slams

Crossfit Fittest in the Region

Well, the competition is over and there ended up being 4 WOD's. It was so much fun! There were 15 Elite Men that competed and all were awesome people. I also wanted to say thank you to Crossfit Crown Point for putting on the event. The first event went well and I got 2nd place overall behind Brandon who is the owner of Crossfit South Bend where I train. I got 9:12 and he got 8:28 just killing the workout which was:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Deadlift 225#
KB Swings 1.5 Pood
Chest 2 Bar pullups

The 2nd was one that I felt really good about:

21-15-9

Burpees
Thrusters 95#
Box Jumps 24'
Then Ground to Overhead Max within 5 Minutes for the workout

I finished 1st in 6:48 and Brandon got 2nd place in 8 Minutes something (cant remember exactly, sorry Brandon).

The Ground to Overhead I did 255# which was exactly what I was shooting. I was excited and won that part of the event also.

The 3rd workout was a Max wattage on the rower in 3 rows. This one I got 5th place on with a pull of 614. Not what I would have hoped for but it was my first time and had no idea what to expect.

The final WOD is a hard one to explain:

3 Rds:

There was a 5 Foot wall and you had to throw a 40# sandbag over and then jump over doing this 5 times
sled push that weighed around 165# 100M
then switch a grab a sled weighing around 165# and pull it back 100M
last 15 OHS 95#

I finished 1st in 8:33 (4 Minutes faster then 2nd Place)

I was very excited and won overall, but Brandon was right there the whole time and we really represented the gym going 1st and 2nd place overall. I can't wait for another competition and signed up for one in Baltimore that is Nov. 6th that I am hoping to be able to compete in. We also have decided to have a competititon in the Box in January. Very excited!

Deadlifts

I have to do deadlifts Saturday and of course, Jason (the owner at Crossfit Roselle) decided to put some Deadlifts in our workout yesterday.

500 M Row
25 Deadlift 225#
50 Double Unders
25 Deadlift 225#

7:03

The workout was hard and the Deadlifts killed my back. Making my decision to take off the next two days easy.

The Strength Wod was AMRAP Body weight OHS. I weighed in at 173# but decided to do 185#. The goal was to get 15. I failed on 15! Sucked.

Next was AMRAP pushups. I got 78. Not bad but I want to get 100, so I have work to do. THen came the Wod which is listed above. Good day but my body will thank me for 2 days off and then be mad again on Saturday when we do some fun WOD's at the competition.

NU