Monday - WOD

Waiting on HQ to post Monday's workout.  I'll update here when it goes up.

6am / 6pm as normal no matter what it is.

5 RFT
5 Deadlift 225#
10 burpees

Saturday - WOD

A no equipment quick WOD.

Tabata squats

Friday - Rest Day

Rest/Makeup Day.

Crossfit Games Starts Today

I don't know how much you guys follow the Games, but they start today.

HQ dropped a hidden bomb on athletes last night with a Swim test.  Friday's starting WOD at the games is:

For time:
210 meter Ocean swim
1,500 meter Soft-sand run
50 Chest-to-bar pull-ups
100 Hand-release push-ups
200 Squats
1,500 meter Soft-sand run


Personally I think it's awesome to see the swim in the games.  I guess the rumor is that it's been coming for a while now.  Given that we live on a big lake don't be surprised if we get wet in the future. :)

Thursday - WOD

Rings!

Three rounds, 12-9- and 6 reps, for time of:
135 pound Squat clean and jerk
Muscle-up

Wednesday - WOD

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
Rest 2 minutes

Tuesday - WOD

"Jackie"

1000 meter row
45 pound Thruster, 50 reps
30 pull-ups

Subbing 1000 meter row for 100 SDHP

Community Building

I would like to start putting some things together for us to work towards as a group (if there is interest).

Through the course of the year there are a lot of fun and competitive events that I think our group would find fun and entertaining.  Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, and the Urbanathalon are just some of the things that I think we'd collectively find fun and challenging.

I'd like to propose seeing what all is out there, collectively agreeing to and committing to, and training for some of these events throughout the year.  I think it would be an amazing thing to collectively work towards conditioning for some of these events and then caravaning/carpooling to them as a group.

Let me know what you guys think!

Monday - Rest Day

Monday Rest day.

Saturday - WOD

7:30

One of my favorites..

"Helen"

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Somewhere along the way

A little fitness history of me.  I grew up a normal rug rat out getting dirty and running around.  I don't think my parents did anything intentionally damaging to me from a physical fitness standpoint.  There were cookies and ice cream along the way for sure - but it wasn't excessive or abnormal.

I played baseball pretty enthusiastically through most of my childhood.  I also golfed a little bit and dabbled in high contact sports like football and wrestling and also managed to learn Taekwondo as well.  I wouldn't consider myself a prodigy or some sort of gifted athlete who was going to become the next Cal Ripkin Jr. or Tiger Woods but I definitely had the agility, coordination and the analytic skills necessary to pickup just about any sport and at least develop some proficiency in it when I chose to.

It was in my pre-teen and early teen years that I really found a sport that I was passionate about; inline skating. Now before you start thinking goofy 80's spandex and crazy fitness blading that's not it.  The skating I'm talking about is ramps, rails and street.  Grinds, spins and gnarly falls.  It became fairly central to who I was for a long time.  It really wasn't until my late teens and early twenties that I recognized how much joy (and pain) the activity brought to me.

Of course through those years I remained active and while not a specimen of fitness I certainly wouldn't have considered myself terribly out of shape.  I ate poorly, I partied hard, and generally did what you do at that age and consider yourself indestructible.  At that age you shrug off injury and you simply don't pay attention to what you eat let alone how you train for those types of activities.  That sport is hard on your body and if you don't prepare for it it will destroy you.  In fact you see "pros" in that sport that generally don't last much past their late teens and early to mid twenties.  Those that do have adopted training regimes outside of the sport that help build that base needed to continue.

My mid twenties hit and that is when it happened.  The event, the fall, the wake up call - whatever you want to coin it.  7 feet straight down to concrete, completely out of control.  7 feet doesn't sound like that far but when you consider the amount of speed and power that launched my body in motion prior to the absolute force of the fall I'm going to guesstimate that it's like getting hit by a car going 30 miles an hour.  Except metal and plastic bend and break - concrete does not.

I know people talk about those near death experiences where they see all kinds of crazy stuff.  I'm just going to say that the only thing that went through my head on the way down was 'god help me'.  After the hit the only thing I was thinking was 'this is it, I'll never walk again'.  Somehow miraculously I managed to walk (limp) away from it.  In retrospect maybe it was divine intervention.  Maybe it was luck.  I can't know.  I do know that I recognized that I was not in any sort of physical condition to continue doing what I was doing.

The worst of the damage was what happened in my head.  It would be almost two years before I'd muster the will to put skates back on my feet.  And in those two years I replaced what physical exercise I had done with sitting in front of the computer and continued a general unhealthy eating habit.  I ballooned up to just shy of 250lbs on my 5'9ish frame.  And there I stayed through the remainder of my 20's.

I was 31 when it all hit me.  That epiphanous moment where I realized that A. I had a problem.  B. I was headed down the same unhealthy road of my family and C. if I wanted to continue to do things I enjoyed in life I was going to have to make a change.  That was my trigger point.  Now, ask my wife how I am when I commit to something.  My guess is she'd respond that I don't just 'do' anything - that when I decide to do something it's done at 110% intensity.  I think my take on it is that if I'm going to do something I might as well research everything and do it completely rather than miss details.

The problem is that I had no idea where to start.  I had no context for fitness and it was never taught in school.  So I started where I think a lot of people start with P90x.  Yes the infomercial program that guarantees results.  I certainly won't knock the program, it does work.  In that three month period I shed almost 50lbs and made some modest basic strength gains on general isolation movements.  I also gained some baseline stamina off their plyometric workouts.

I followed that up with a round of the same companies Insanity workout.  In retrospect, a horribly ruthless program that does nothing but destroy your legs for 8 weeks.  I made it about 6 and a half weeks before I had to quit due to sever muscle problems in my legs.  Waking up in the middle of the night to both legs completely lock-jawed out is no fun.  And a really good way to terrify your wife.

It was around the same time that I found Crossfit.  First workout, Fran - because lets be honest who doesn't do it as one of the very first.  I was a mess.  I was also sold on the fundamentals even if at the time I was less than committed to doing it daily.  It would be almost a year later before I committed to doing the workouts.  When I did I started simply enough with a call to Facebook friends to join me for the journey.  Fortunately I was blessed to have some equally committed companions along the way that have really helped form the basis  of our own little garage gym community.

I get asked a lot by friends and family what Crossfit is and I usually respond with the standard; Functional movements, constantly varied, done at high intensity which is the standard Crossfit prescription.  However it's so much more that I now have to follow that statement up with the add on that really I need an hour of their time, a white board and a marker to explain it.  Yes, it will kick your but.  Yes, you will get stronger.  Yes, you will run faster.  Yes, you will run longer.  Yes, you will loose weight.  Yes, you will be in the best shape of your life.  Yes, you will be ready for anything life can throw at you.

The significance of all this is that today marks the day 3 years ago that I started down the path of restoring myself physically.  I think it's important for me to share the story because through this process not only have I found personal physical redemption but I've also been given an opportunity to share, coach and help others find the same.

Friday - WOD

How convenient, a wallball wod just after I picked up a medball!

Skill review: Squat

Three rounds for time of:
30 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball (10.5 foot target)
75 pound Squat snatches, 30 reps (movement initiates with barbell below the knees)


Scaling option:


30 Squats
Trainer Bar Squat Snatches 30 repts

Thursday - Rest Day

If you missed a wod this week and want to get one in Thursday please let me know that you plan on being there.

16# med ball is in the gym.

Wednesday - WOD

 I've moved the times to the right hand side of the blog.  The schedule is pretty much the same and will only shift with my school schedule in the fall.

New toys are here!  abmat, speed rope (I'll get double unders if it kills me), and chalk!  No more slippery hands!

Weighted push-up 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Mr. leg cramp

Mr. Leg Cramp is reminding me that it's important to stay properly hydrated.

Tuesday - WOD

6am

Skill review - Squat

"Mini - Manion"

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
135 pound Back squat, 29 reps

Monday - WOD

6am
6pm

Three rounds for time of:
135 pound Overhead squat, 10 reps
50 Double-unders

CFL1 Reflections

The CrossFit level 1 cert was amazing.  The HQ trainers were all ridiculously knowledgeable, dedicated and passionate.  I was fortunate to have an all-star line up at the seminar.  The break out sessions were a wealth of knowledge on technique and coaching progressions that I can only hope to retain everything that was shoved in my brain this weekend.

I got to see Brandon Pastorek who is one of this years Crossfit Games competitors do a flawlessly perfect fran in 2:38.  We were also treated to the HQ seminar staff performing various WOD's on the lunch breaks.

It was humbling to realize just how little I knew about common movements and the associated progressions.  I almost wish I had an entire week to spend learning from these fine folks.  It was a really cool experience and definitely only further inspires me to continue on with the workouts and take on a more active coaching role.

Thursday to Sunday - No WODS

Had a great session last night with Eric and Ben.  Wasn't planning on getting a double in but the call to burpees was just to much for me to resist.

If you weren't there, you missed out!

Thursday and Friday are off days as I recover for the weekend.  After reading through some recounts of past CFL1 certs I am pretty sure Saturday and Sunday are going to be brutally intense.

I'll post a bit via Facebook over the weekend and will have info posted for Monday.

Wednesday - WOD

6am
&
6pm

Wod makeup day.

Tuesday - WOD

6am

For time:
21 Pull-ups
21 Handstand Push-ups
18 Pull-ups
18 Handstand Push-ups
15 Pull-ups
15 Handstand Push-ups
12 Pull-ups
12 Handstand Push-ups
9 Pull-ups
9 Handstand Push-ups
6 Pull-ups
6 Handstand Push-ups
3 Pull-ups
3 Handstand Push-ups 
Handstand push-ups are "nose to floor" and pull-ups are "strict" or non-kipping.

Monday - WOD

6am

Snatch one rep every minute on the minute for 15 minutes.

Sunday - WOD

wuwu!


2pm.


Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
145 pound Deadlift, 20 reps
20 Push-ups
145 pound Deadlift, 10 reps
10 Push-ups

Saturday -WOD

8am @ SJHS track.

Friday - WOD

Friday we'll be meeting at St. Joe high school track @ 6pm.\ for wod goodness.

Thursday - WOD

Quick house-items:
Friday and Saturday the Garage will be closed due it being re-purposed as a garage sale.
Friday and Saturday we will be meeting at the St. Joe high school track for something a little different.  Invite friends - it should be fun!  I will post reminders tomorrow night and Friday.

@6am

@6pm (Please let me know if your coming)

"DT"

Five rounds for time of:
155 pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155 pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155 pound Push jerk, 6 reps

Wednesday - WOD

Morning @ 6am

Evening @ 6pm

Three rounds for time of:
135 pound Front squat, 12 reps
12 Burpee pull-ups

Tuesday - Rest Day

To get in sync with the main site Tuesday will be an off day.

Wednesday we'll be back on rotation with the main site.

4th of July -wod

We are in route back to the ranch.  Ill be hitting a 4th evening workout @ 6.

Shoulder press 5x5

Short Metcon:
times 3 for time
12 burpee -pullups
400m run

Friday -WOD

Run 5k

Extra 20burpees