Grit

I always get excited to head into the box. Even though there is definitely less excitement for wods with running and rowing... and burpee pullups. Today was one of those days that I literally couldn't wait to wake up and get started.

Here's what we had:

I was a little worried about the Rx weight. It was right on the edge of my comfort zone for that many reps. I debated going down a little bit to something I was more confident in, but 155 felt good during warmups, so I stuck with it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get through all the reps unbroken, but I was okay with that. At least the kb swings I could push through.

I managed to get through the first 10 deadlifts unbroken, but had to halve the reps until I got down to reps of 4 and 2. Most importantly, I kept good form the whole time. I know what it's like to have a sore back from deadlifts and I didn't want that to happen again.

The kb swings went fine and I did manage all those unbroken. It's all in the hips. If it were just arms, those would have been singles. With hips, they were doable.

My time: 4:49 Rx

I'm glad that there was a prescribed weight for this wod. It made me push myself farther than I would have done without it. With no weight listed, I probably would have stuck with something in the bodyweight range. By going out of my comfort zone, I found that I can do more than I think. I was really proud after that.

Tuesday Time

Went into the box this morning thinking I was going to be doing some squats... turns out that I was going to be doing some deadlifts instead. Good thing that I opted to still were pants. Today was even the first wod for my coworker Alexis. Yay for new people!!

Part one: The Deadlift Complex

Warm up set: 10 reps @ 115

5x3: 145-160-170-180-185

I felt good throughout the whole progression, even at the top. I almost opted to do 180 twice, but then I thought just a little more, so I went with 185. That's a new 3 rep max for me. My last was 180. Breaking barriers, that's crossfit for you. 

Part two: The Metcon

I was pretty excited to do this. Box jumps and pullups, some of my favorite moves besides the OLY lifts. I even had another breakthrough during this. For the longest time, I have been trying to speed up my box jumps. They were ok, I just couldn't bounce from the bottom. I always had to jump up and step down in order to jump again. Today, unexpectedly and without even thinking about it, I was doing it. I realized in the middle of the first 21 reps. It was such a cool feeling.

Not gonna lie though, air squats after box jumps were not the easiest to complete. The first round I had to do them in sets of 5. The only round that I was able to complete all the way through unbroken was the round of 9. Even though I had to keep repeating in my head "don't let go of the bar" over and over again to get through it.

My time: 5:53!

Yeah!! Two awesome days in a row. I wonder what tomorrow has to offer?

Back Again

Sorry for the absence. My sister visited for a week and things were just busy. Like getting home exhausted every night busy. I think I need a vacation from her vacation here.

Anyways, on to today's workout.

Here's what was on the menu. I was actually a bit excited to do this.

Mind you, that does only say 1 round. Not 7, that's just the way some people write. Going into it, I figured about 15 minutes to finish this. My goal was to get through every thing unbroken, but I had a feeling that 25 bag slams was just not gonna happen after the KBS. I was right. I went unbroken until 15 bag slams, then I had to take a break get some blood back in my arms. Managed the pushups in sets of 5, hand release of course.

Then... BURPEES!!!

Holy cow. Those hurt. It's only 15 right? Wrong! It felt like 100. I just kept thinking "don't stop" the whole time. They were very slow at the end.

Now to finish with TGU. Those are tough because you want to go quickly, but at the same time you can't because you could hurt yourself easily. I don't know about you, but a face full of kettlebell in the morning is not something I want.

Stayed strong and guess what? Blew my hypothetical time out of the water!

My time: 9:47!

I was pretty proud of this. At the end, I could see the clock and I was concentrating on not stopping. I was stoked at that time. Especially after the mini-wod warm up that we did. That was tough!

Back at it again tomorrow. We'll see how many people show up. It was packed this morning. I counted 22 as we went out for the warmup jog. Never though I'd see that in the morning. It's awesome!

Here's some shots of my past couple weeks.

Enjoying the company of my sister.

Of course we hit up Disneyland.

Crossfit right of passage: my first hand rips.

Played with some rays at SeaWorld.

Hoku got tired and had to take a nap.

Bryan's last wod at CFEV. Gonna miss you!!

Oh (cr)happy day!

**Sorry this post is late. I went home, cooked dinner, and passed out til this morning. At least I feel a bit better.**

Today is not one of my best days. Woke up tired... I think because someone else was hogging the bed, plus I had to get up twice(!) to pee. Apparently, staying hydrated will do that to ya. Plus, I was just achy enough from yesterday's ring pullups to feel it.

Nevertheless, made it to the box for this:

But that's not it. Due to the fact that it's a relativel short wod, Casey added in some strength before we started. Not that I would mind. I live for strength. Unfortunately, a heavy strenth session before this wod has left my entire body aching for the remainder of the day. I also forgot my fish oil this morning... everything is just against me.

The unseen strength portion included 3x3 of heavy deadlifts and push press. I started with the deadlifts. My three "heavy" sets were at 165, 175, 185. 165 isn't too bad for me. Don't ask me to bust out more then 10 of those though. I was happy with getting the 185 with good form and rhythm for all the reps. A couple months ago, my 1RM was 180. Constant improvements even if you're not working that specific skill. It's what I love about CrossFit.

I didn't go so heavy with the push press due to my shoulders being achy. After warmups, I did 75, 85, and 95. I wanted to get to 100, but really I was just too lazy to add the extra plates when we were already close to the actual wod starting. Maybe next time.

Tabata is tabata. I don't think anyone actually cheers for doing tabata. After the first round it sucks the rest of the time. Here's the breakdown of my sets:

Pullups: 12-6-5-4-4-4-5-5

Burpees: 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5

Situps: 11-10-10-10-10-10-10-10

Hey, at least I was consistent in my pacing of the burpees and the situps. 4 seconds to do a single burpee. Does that sound slow to anyone? I don't think I ever timed myself on them before, but I feel like they should go slightly faster than that. On the pullups, I felt great the first round and then immediately ran out of gas. Looking back, I think that needed better pacing. It was a battle for each pullups after the first round. My arms and hands just did not want to be hanging from the bar.

A good day at the box. I really liked the strenth and the metcon portioning. My body definitely feels it too, even though I wish it didn't feel it quite as much. Tomorrow is going to be another challenge to get through. I'll just hope for less shoulder involving exercises. Ha!

Here was dinner. I managed to get down a burger without too much trouble. It was tasty.

Barbells and Rings

I'm woke up this morning hoping for a good metcon... I got this instead:

No biggie. I like squats. Ring pushups? Not so much, but gotta get them done. Plus, we haven't done them in a while so they need work.

Due to the large number of people that showed up this morning (odd because normally everyone is in recovery mode from the weekend) we were broken into two groups. I was in the second and would be doing the ring pushups first.

My strategy was to do sets of 10. Um, yeah. That worked for the first 10. After that, it was just as many as I could do at once. Usually, I got out 8 or 9. By the time that I made it to 40 though, I had to break it up into 5 and 5. My chest was burning and my forearms were becoming raw. Nothing like the rings to start off the week.

Next, it was on to the squat work. I grabbed a bar and did some warm-up squats. We had already done some during the group warm-up. Then a loaded up a mid-weight and a few more warm-up reps. I was hoping to do the 20 reps at body weight but... when I went to see how 10 reps felt at 115, I knew there was no stopping.

The first 5 felt good. The second 5 were a bit tougher. The last 10, went 1 by 1. Every one I had to get set and focus again. I know that 115 isn't that heavy, but c'mon... I ain't that big either. I got through all 20 without setting the bar down.

On a side note... did you see that last play in GBvsSEA??? Craziness!

It was so misty in IB this afternoon, you couldn't see the end of the pier.

Isn't my girl the prettiest?

Friday (not-so-much) Fun

I woke up this morning, stumbled into the bathroom and squinted to read the wod. After I read it, I wanted to go back to bed.

Here's what I saw.

How is that supposed to be any fun? Get-ups suck... and 76 of them sucks even more. I, however, don't pick and choose the wods that I want to do. I do what is programmed. So I got dressed and trudged into the box.

I expected this to be hard. Believe me, it was. Not helping was the fact that I've still got bruises on the back of my forearm from the kb c&j earlier this week.

I started off by aiming for 5 reps before switching hands. That worked for about the first half of the get-ups. Not so much for the other half. Those had to be done in 2s and 3s. Finally after about 25 minutes, I made it all the way through. I was way more taxed than I thought I would be. I just laid there for another few minutes before moving. Talk about a whole body workout... that's whole body!!

Hope that everyone has a great weekend!

On a side note, it must be fall now, because after the haze, some fog rolled into IB this afternoon.

Forgetful me...

So I forgot to post yesterday's workout. Bummer too, because I really enjoyed it (or as much as you can enjoy a wod while it's going on). I felt that it was right up my alley.

Here's what was on the menu:

Yay for me! Short rowing distance, followed by strength skills. I live for these. They are not always kind to me though.

My goal was to be under 15:00 minutes. I figured that was reasonable considering it was five rounds, I definitely expected to be slowing down on the C&J and pushups by the last rounds.

The rows felt good. It was a good distance because I could keep good form and still feel like I was rowing with the pack. Usually for me to even kinda sorta keep up with everyone else and not feel like a total loser, I pretty much have to go buck wild on the thing. Not my style. Each of my row splits was about 1:01. Couldn't break the 1 min barrier but I tried.

The C&J went flying by, especially in the first round. I did 5 straight with one arm and then switched so I could avoid putting the kettlebell down unnesassarily. It worked out. I did slow a bit by round 3, but not too significantly.

The pushups went fine in the early stages and sucked a lot by the end. In the last round, I couldn't even do 5 unbroken. My arms would just not lock out at the top. Boo. Still...

My time: 11:00! Woo. Smoked my goal.

Now, fast forward to this morning and this moderately confusing thing.

Once explained it was simple enough. Do all the front squats each round, then do all the push press for that round. The goal is to not put the barbell down until you've completed all five rounds. Seemed not bad. For the first three rounds it wasn't. Then the fourth round started and it was like I hit a wall. After the front squats I had to drop the bar. I just couldn't seem to inch it forward enough to grip it for the push press. Down it went. I finished the 4 push press and the last round with another try.

Active rest was to jog a lap around the block and then get ready to start again when you were ready. Here we go... same result. I felt great through the third round, then just couldn't keep the bar up anymore. I mean, sure I could have stood there in the front rack position for a while, but that wasn't going to help my arms let the bar roll forward to press it any easier.

In the end, it turned out to be a much tougher wod than I anticipated. I guess that's my fault for underestimating those two lifts.

On a side note: Whole30 day 18 is almost over. Things are winding down, only a week left. I'll be ending after 25 days, instead of 30. My sister will be in town to visit and I would hate for her to miss out on some of the truly great San Diego and SoCal offerings because of me. This is only her second trip to SoCal ever in her life, so might as well get some In-n-Out and mexican in there. Oh and another trip to Disney, where this time, I will be indulging a bit.

Dinner last night. A new fave. Green chile chipotle taco meatballs. 

And a new PR!! I cleared the 30in box today!! Woo. Big things happenin'.