Alright, it was my first day working out in a crossfit gym so I dragged my brother in there with me so that I wouldn’t be the only dude who hasn’t done this before. The WOD on this particular day was a bit more for the experienced crossfitters so the instructor had my brother and I pare down the WOD from the day before and race ourselves. Good times! Not surprisingly my brother showed very well for himself and I got a lot out of the work out. Afterwards my brother and I jumped on our mountain bikes and hit the WO&D trail and shoot off on an off road mountain biking trail for a bit as well.
It's been a couple days of movement and work and the like but I'm finally settled again. I woke my brother up at 0700 this morning to catch his work out. We ran a 5k before most the neighborhood was even out of bed. The run took us past McDonalds......I was looking over there like, look at these nasty people eating nasty food this early in the AM. Get it out.......get it out of your mouths right now! In relation to food, as I was out running errands I caught a grilled chicken salad at a restaurant. I was happy I ate healthy but I know I need to hit the grocery store and eat at home in order for me to eat the way I need to be eating. The run was fine, my brother could have kicked my ass if he wanted too but he was cool and kept a decent pace and hung with me. After the run I drove immediately over to Capitol Ju Jitsu and became a crossfit memeber.......its time to get serious about all this!
WOD:
5k run - with my very in shape little brother
Time: Wore a watch and frickin forgot to start the timer. 30'ish minutes.
Alright so what a difference a day makes. I actually lisened to my body yesterday and crashed out and today I had a rockstar work out. All in all I felt like my cario was performing much better then it has in the past and despite the lousey upper body workout from a few days ago I clearly did better on the pull up bar then any other day in my entire life, save for one. WOW! Huge thanks to my boy Rex for hooking me up with the WOD.....here goes.
WOD: 20 Minutes as many rounds as possible. 3 Pull Ups (I was impressed with my performance as this has NEVER been a strong suit for me. I modified this workout by jumping up and catching the bar and using the momentum to assist in making sure I did at least 3 every round. I felt considerably stronger at this exercise then I expected....and winded may I add!) 5 Dumb Bell Swings - 55lbs (I was using a kg dumb bell that worked out to be about 44lbs. I know I need to work more on my form but I liked this exercise) 7 Burpies (I had some strong finishes here as well. Even when exhausted I felt that my 110% was being put into it. I felt significantly better at this exercise then I have when I've done them in the past)
Number of Rounds: Who knows? I forgot to count but I would say 10'ish.
Weight: 199lbs (FINALLY broke the 200 mark! F' YEAH!) - Light clothes, no shoes
OK, basically I hit a wall on this day. It was a busy day at work and my attempt to work out at the end of the day wasnt realized as I sat in a chair and found myself falling asleep sitting up. For all those who know me, you know just the act of sleeping is a rareity. This was a sign, I didnt push it, it was bed time.
OK, so I go walking into this workout thinking I'm pretty-kinda OK when it comes to upper body......maybe? What a bunch of crap! The good news is my cardo felt great, the bad news is I felt like every muscle in my arms was crapping out of me way, way, WAY too soon! I was like, "I'm not done yet, arms stop failing on me!" LOUSEY! Yeah so here’s the stats, I kicked off the bench with too high a weight for my ability.....shocker coming from Mr. Over Confident here.....so some time was taken up by mending my pride.....and the dropping weight down to something that I could manage before I reached failure again....and again....and nearly once more. All in all, IT WAS A WAKE UP CALL.
WOD: 21 reps, 15 reps, 9 reps Arch touch vertical jump (Completed as Rx - not pretty but Rx) Bench Press - Body Weight (What a joke, I started at 132lbs and after 7 reps I knew where this was going so I dropped the weight to 88lbs. That drop in weight allowed me to pick up the speed of the reps significantly. I did push to failure a few times before the WOD was over but eventually after some impromptu rest breaks all reps were accomplished.) Clapping Pushups (And again, I completely forfeited the "clapping" after about...umm...number TWO. I had to stop several times to give my arms a chance to recoup as they literally were giving out on me. All were pushups were completed but again many a rest break was needed. )
Time: 10:30
Weight: 200.5lbs (Lightest I've been in over 5 years I think - Still trying to break under 200)
So I’m at lunch today with a friend who is in phenomenal shape. Does he not get up from the table and get a huge bowl of fatty-ass desert and come back singing the “I’m in a bad mood, I need comfort food” song. Little did I know later that day I too would be having a bad day. Something was on my mind and my trainers plan to go light today and just do dead lifts to give me 1.5 days off in order to get adequate recovery time for an intense upcoming metcon was just not getting the anger out of me. So….in my pissed offness....instead of turning to “comfort food” as my chiseled genetic tyrannosaurus of a friend did earlier at lunch, I turned to my “comfort workout” and after a brief stretch and walk I made the decision to go for a run after completing the dead lifts. The run sucked but it gave me time to think, I kept an even pace for as long as I wanted too but it was clear to me that I was running through pains that will most likely manifest themselves in worse ways in days to come. I did a bad thing, but it could have been worse and in the end I probably burned as many calories during my “comfort workout” as my buddy took in with his “comfort food!”
WOD: 5x5 Dead lifts (1st set was 132lbs and the rest were 176lbs.)
***It should be noted that I spent more than an exorbitant amount of time testing the weight to find what was appropriate because this was my first time ever trying this exercise. I look for this to be a much smoother process in the future but at least I know where I am right now. ***
Off the workout routine 3 Mile Run (at a 6.0mph average pace for 30 minutes) Time: 29:54
OK, so it wasn’t that bad…..ok maybe it was but it’s done now and it kicked ass. Might I also add it’s nice doing the majority if not all of the workouts outside. It assists in getting acclimated to what is my normal work environment and nothing beats knowing you pulled off the time in triple digit heat. ENJOY!
WOD: 400 meter run Dumb Bell Push Press -50% body weight - 20,15,10,5 (1st set 39lbs, rest at 28lbs ) Full Sit-ups -Chest breaks the plain - 20, 15, 10, 5 - Rx 400 meter run
Alright, here’s the deal!! First off I'm writing this blog to keep myself locked on and for all those people out there who "have to work at it." I have always worked in testosterone laden, ego charged, hyper-competitive industries and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the years click by I have noticed that when it comes to physical fitness, some "have to work at it" and some don’t. I'm NOT one of the lucky ones. It never ceases to amaze me that some of my corporate friends who haven’t been to a gym in years still look great (and still talk smack about everyone else) while I come home from a couple month long work trip where I ate great and worked out harder than ever and I still pale in comparison. Bottom Line: Who Cares? Truth of the matter is I'm still chipping away at years of unproductivity myself. 2 1/2 years ago I weighed in at approximately 40lbs heavier then I am now, and "now" aint all that great. I have a long way to go but I'm re-motivated.
Secondly; let me say that my current physical condition is completely my fault. Although my genetics allows me the unique ability to gain weight just by watching a Pizza Hut commercial, that translates horribly to physical fitness and more often than not the watching of said commercial culminated in me ordering the pizza. My bad!! If someone said that eating right is 2/3rds of weight loss they would be right. I have had to drastically change my eating habits.....and it sucks....really badly.
Lastly I have learned that my "style" (or lack thereof) of working out may not have been the best after all.......enter CrossFit. My issue was that IF I ran on the treadmill, I ran until it became easy and then I would maintain that pace nearly indefinitely. Then I would most likely stop running all together and then work my way back up to "my pace" and repeat the above over and over again. Progress was never really made in the long run.
I am in the ultra-beginner stages of CrossFit but I like the idea of short high intensity workouts….the reason why: results. As you will see I will need to pare down several if not all of my workouts in order to complete them. This is a test in starting from scratch and working my way up. This is a logbook for “the rest of us” the “have to work at its” of this world. So here goes…..
WOD: 5 Rounds for Time 15 Box Jumps 15 Knee to Elbows - Maybe 5 total completed as Rx. Rest were best effort/knee ups. 15 Clapping Pushups - Did regular push ups instead Completion Time: 12:36
