Sunday, March 20, 2011

Once a week

So, I’ve been away for a while now and I’ll just highlight some of the workouts from this week. It’s been a good week for some new PR’s and some improvement since I’ve been in Afghanistan. Past the three month mark now, only 3 more to go.

The diet is still the hard thing out here. I’m working on eating as healthy as I can and will really work on my diet when I get back and can start cooking for myself. I think that is when I will see some of the more persistent fat start to melt away. For now, I don’t worry about the scale or the look. I worry about the results and at this moment I’m seeing plenty so I’m not worried.

Past week’s workouts:
3x3 Press
125, 130, 135

Dead lift’s on the minute. 1 on minute 1, 2 on minute 2, and so on.
135#’s 20 + 5
Rest 5 minutes
225#’s 10
Rest 5 minutes
315#’s 2 + 2
This one hurt and my hammies were tight as hell for the next 3 days.

Cindy
20 min AMRAP
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 sit-ups
I knocked out 15 rounds plus 8 push-ups. This is three rounds and change more than I did two months ago and I felt great after the workout.

Today:
7 x 1 Bench press w/ dumbbells
90, 95, 100, 100, 95, 95, 95 (first time I have ever pressed 100’s)

Then:
21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 Push-ups
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 Sit-ups 7:37
3 min rest
21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 Box jumps (30”)
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 Kettle bell swings (1.5 pood) 12:18
I have been slacking like crazy on my burpees. Tonight when I get to post this I’ll see where I left off. I’ll be making them up over the next couple of days until I’m all caught up. I have some good friends on their way to Australia that are doing the 100 day challenge with me. So, I need to get back on the trolley.

Friday, March 18, 2011

To Hell with the Army

So, my internet has been cut.  In their spare time, a few people set up internet for about 300 people on base.  Apparently it was cutting into their real work time and the Army knee-jerked and decided to shut it down.  I can't access blogs, including my own, on a government computer.  So, I will only be able to post about once a week or so since I don't really feel like waiting in line to use a computer at the MWR just to post.  I'll keep going and it should pick up in a few months when I'm finally out of here.  I'll try to post tomorrow about this past week. 

Friday, March 11, 2011

Well Rested

Today I felt well rested.  It’s been the first time in a long time.  Today was a good workout morning.  I had tons of energy and wanted to do more.  I cut it a bit short to make sure I wasn’t too wasted for tomorrow plus, I’ve needed a bit of rest lately.  The two-a-days have been putting the hurtin’ on me.
WOD
12 min AMRAP
3 x 185# bench press
5 x 185# Squat
I finished 8 rounds.  
Followed by some Power Clean form practice.  I am moving more weight a lot easier than I have ever done before but I could still use some work.  I think the next time I go in to work on them I will bring my camera and tripod and tape myself to see how my form is.  
I also did my 50 double unders and knocked them out in 2:52.  I was excited.  I made it to 25 in record time.  I was super winded but I’ve approached them with a much more relaxed style and it’s paid off for me.  

Thursday, March 10, 2011

One of Those Days

Today I thought my alarm had gone off twice and that I had one more coming.  I was wrong and over slept.  I still had plenty of time to come in and workout.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  I think that these two-a-days that I’ve been doing and the no rest days is already catching up to me.  
Morning workout
3x5 Dead lifts
265, 285, 295
I could have gone a bit higher but like it said, it was an off sort of day and I didn’t want to push it.  
3 rds for time
15 75# squat snatch
15 burpees
16:39
This was supposed to be 5 rounds but I was running out of time and needed to get to work.  I also did 50 double unders in 3:29.  This was my best time yet and I knocked out 15 and 10 unbroken.  I still have to use two single unders in between.  One to decelerate and the other to get set.  When I can knock them out 25 at a time consistently I’ll move on to DU’s with only a SU in between.  
Afternoon
3x7min intervals w/ a 3 min rest between each.  I ended up having to stop after two intervals.  Today was gorgeous outside and I figured I would try running outside.  I only have my five-fingers to run in and no other shoes.  So, I underestimated how many tiny, caltrop-like rocks were on the running trail.  After the second interval I called it so my left foot would stay intact.  That and I can’t run as fast as I need to maintain the level of exertion necessary when trying (unsuccessfully) to dodge tiny rocks.  I had forgotten about the burpee challenge and made up yesterdays’ two.  I didn’t count the burpees from the workout.  They were during my warm-up.
Day 3:  3 (5) Burpees  Total:  6

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Biking

I haven’t been on a bike in a while.  Exercise bike or regular bike.    Today the treadmills were taken and I got on the bike.  I enjoyed it. 
Today’s workout:
30 min hill climb on bike.
I didn’t have a hill to climb and most of our workout machines are broke out here so I couldn’t use the hill climb function.  So, I just put it on 13 and did my best to maintain a better than 3 min mile pace.  I was able to knock out 10.82 miles in 30 minutes.  

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

How Long is One Minute?

Normally I consider the minute to be the time equivalent of dollars to money.  They’re not worth much and you can’t do much with just one.  To me, and most people, time is one of the more precious commodities out there and we never have enough. It’s the one thing in which, once it’s gone you can never have it back.  As I look at the list of goals that I would like to accomplish in my lifetime, the efficient use of my time becomes a big deal to me.  Today I was reminded of how much you can accomplish in one minute.  
If you ever want to know the eternity that a minute can be do some sprints.  Initially the minute isn’t so bad.  You take your rest and the next minute of work comes.  Now you start to notice the halfway mark.  Soon after that you start breaking it down into 20 second intervals.  Hoping that the next 20 seconds will somehow go faster than the last 20.  Then it’s 10 seconds.  Soon you stop focusing on time and work on your pace.  It keeps your mind off of the time.  Then you start to wonder if you turned off your music in your ipod would your body use less blood in your head to transfer those sounds into something you can understand.  Maybe that blood would go to your legs or lungs to give you more oxygen.  Then you wonder if closing your eyes would have the same effect.  
Ok, I’m taking it a bit far but I’ve said it before, sprinting hurts.  You can accomplish a lot for yourself in that minute.  If you do anything hard for a minute you can accomplish a lot.  And, like dollars, minutes add up.  

Afternoon:  
1 minute ladder (Rower, damper setting 5)
1 min on, 1 min off, 1 min on, 50 seconds off... 1 min on 10 seconds off, 1 min on 20 seconds off... 1 min on, 1 min off, 1 min on and done.  
All efforts are all out.  
Morning:
Helen
3 rds for time
400m run (Subbed row today due to gym size)
21 kettle bell swing 53lbs
12 pull ups
13:55
I feel that this was a pretty poor showing.  I wasn’t really into it this morning.  It was one of those morning’s where you don’t want to get up at all, much less go kill yourself at the gym.  I’ll do her again one of these days and see what I get.  I think my shoulders are finally getting to the point that I can start kipping again.  We’ll see.
100 Day Burpee Challenge
Day 1:  1 Burpee Total:  1 Burpee

Monday, March 7, 2011

I Wish That I Knew What I Know Now, When I was Younger

Today was a strength day.  It was some hard work but time in between each set for me to think.  For some reason I remembered when I first started working out.  A little about me, I’m a nerd.  I like reading, playing video games, reading comics, and other nerdly things.  If it wasn’t for the fact that there was plenty of backpacking and a great cycling program in my boy scout troop, I wouldn’t have been very active in my younger years.  
So when I finally realized that I was starting to get overweight after high school I joined a globo-gym and hired a personal trainer.  I learned about the nautilus machines, was introduced to the hack squat machine, and lunges in a rack.  There was the calf raise machine, bench press, and the lat pull-down machine.  As I look at what I was doing compared to now I wasn’t lifting smartly, my form was off, and I was stuck in the 3 sets of 10 mode no matter what the workout.  On top of that I was working my muscles in isolation which is rarely how they work in the real world.  They work with each other so why work them separately.  The exercises that I knew were limited and the amount of variety I had was not that great.  This lead to me not enjoying working out.
Fast forward to now.  I’ve read Starting Strength and have cleaned up my form so that I’m doing my lifts correctly.  I’ve gone from hack squats and lunges to proper squats, walking lunges, dead lifts, press, push-press, jerks, cleans, and snatches.  I’ve introduced kettlebells, jumping rope, sprints, rowing, burpees, and box-jumps.  I’ve learned countless others that allow me to slap together a workout that will not only push my strength but my endurance as well.  I’ve gone beyond the three sets of ten repetitions.  I’ve come a long way and still have far to go.  Weights that seemed impossible years ago, hell three months ago, I’m now moving with far greater ease than I would have ever thought possible.  
The whole point of this isn’t to lament what could have been but to celebrate how far I’ve come.  I could have kept doing the same old things but instead I kept searching for new and better ways to do things.  With a bit of knowledge, hard work, and the willingness to stick to it (probably the hardest part of the formula) you can make great fitness strides in a far shorter time that you would have ever thought possible.  
I was thinking about my poor burpee performance from yesterday’s Filthy 50.  I figure burpees are like pull-ups.  You’ll never get better at them if you don’t do them.  So, tomorrow I’m starting the 100 day burpee challenge.  It works like this.  On day one, you do one burpee.  On day two, you do two burpees.  On day 50, you do 50 burpees and on day 100, you do 100 burpees.  If I miss a day I have to make it up on the next day.  There’s no pushing the workout to the next day.  I imagine this will suck around day 50 or so but I’m really hoping to see an improvement in my burpees.  
 Today's workout:
7x5 Press
95, 105, 115, 120, 125, 120, 120
7x5 Bench Press (dumbbells)
55, 60, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Gut Check

Every once in a good while you need a good gut check for a workout.  Today was that day.  It was a Filthy 50 morning.  I was very happy with my performance until the burpees.  They took me nearly 10 minutes alone.  I don’t know why I was having so much trouble with them.  It looks like it’s time to do some burpee work.  If there ever was an exercise that I’ve never heard anyone say are fun, it’s burpees.  There is nothing pleasant about them.  
I realize I complain a lot about my workouts but I really do like them.  There are even exercises that I like.  I like dead lifts.  I like cleans and snatches (take that last one how you want).  I think the Olympic lifts are fun.  They are explosive and I need a dose of that in my life.  I’m not big on being explosive.  If I were to have a power animal it would be a sloth.  This is because I don’t like moving faster than necessary.  What’s the point?  This is part of the reason why I like Crossfit.  It ensure it get the intensity that I know I need in my workouts.  
Filthy 50:
For time
50 box jumps (I only have a 30” box)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 kettle bell swings (35#)
50 lunge walks
50 knees-to-elbows
50 push-press (45#)
50 back extensions
50 Wall ball shots (20# ball, 10 ft target)
50 burpess (boo!)
50 double unders
42::06.  
My time on this was nearly two minutes slower than my last time.  I am about 5000ft higher in elevation but it’s no excuse.  If I can knock my time on my burpees in half I would have knocked 5 minutes off that time.  
I came back to the gym in the evening to knock out a Tabata row, the treadmill was taken.  I maintained 100m or more per interval.  I’m pretty beat and I’m sure that I’ll sleep like a rock tonight.  
I did not do so well on my calorie intake today.  I’ve been doing good all week and today I ended up having some cake and ice cream.  It was Sunday but I still need to be better about my eating habits.  I’m definitely watching my portions and I’m consuming more protein but I’m trying to balance it with fruits and veggies.  
Tomorrow will be a strength day.  I’m looking forward to it.  

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Spiced Winter Ale... Yeah or Nea

It sounds great.  It’s cold and snowy out here and this would be the perfect thing at the end of the day.  The only problem was that Murphy was against me on the brew day.  I started this bad boy up and right after I added the hops the hot plate I was using stopped working.  I had no way to get a fire going quick enough to finish the job since all the wood was wet.  I tried keeping it as warm as I could for as long as I could but no dice.  
It’s light on flavor, tastes a bit watered down, and there is no hop aroma or bitterness to balance out the sweetness that does come through.  There is a good spice aroma and I think this beer would have been great but it was not meant to be.  
For the hops to add bitterness they need to be boiled.  The bittering agent in hops is a resin that needs the high heat to be properly broken down.  The longer the boil the more bittering flavor you can extract from the hops.  I had none of it.
Oddly enough I’m not as upset as I thought I would be.  I’ve learned something.  I’m also not brewing under ideal conditions.  I’ve had two that have turned out awesome so far and two more in the hopper that I have high hopes for.  With three batches left unbrewed.  I’m hoping a bit of magic will happen in the next week and the Spiced Ale will somehow get better but that’s just wishful thinking.  

Cardio and Double Unders

Today was a 2k row for time.  7:42::5.  I looked online and compared my results to some of the other members on the Concept 2 webpage and I’m around 7 or 8 hundredth down the list.  I have a ways to go and I can’t  wait until this one comes around again.  I know I can do better.  
Double unders are still the bane of my workout existence.  Today I did two rounds of 50 with a three minute break in between.  It took me 4:02 and 3:30.  Occasionally, I can knock out a few unbroken but normally for me to have any consistency I need to do a double under and then a single under.  Today it wasn’t working and I seem to be having issues with my timing.  So, I added two single unders followed by a double under.  I was able to produce greater consistency.  My goal was to shoot for 5 at a time.  If I hit that I would keep going.  
The plan is to keep this up until I’m consistently hitting 5-10 at a time.  Then I will up the number until I’m comfortable.  Then I’ll move back to my single unders followed by double.  I don’t know if I’m the only person that has had this much trouble knocking out double unders.  
I type all of my posts into a word processor that checks for spelling.  I rarely use it to check my grammar but I was curious today and it ended up starting at the top of the document.  In an earlier post I used the word bitch to describe a workout.  The workout was a named workout and the name was a woman’s, much in the way that hurricanes used to be named after women.  My proofreader told me this:  Bitch - sexist.  Avoid using this word to refer to women.  I can’t fault it’s logic but it tickled me.  

Friday, March 4, 2011

Running isn't easy

Actually, running can be fairly easy if you just slow your pace, shorten your distance, or run downhill.  What I should say is that sprinting is hard.  There is never a moment when sprinting doesn’t suck.  Even when you start to be able to maintain a pace with less effort or for longer distances, you need to kick it up a notch past that to really sprint.  It always stays hard.  The only good thing about sprints is how glorious it makes the most pedestrian of acts -- breathing.  I love sprints because of how hard they are.  Not only am I getting in better shape physically but I need to push myself mentally.  It’s not easy because who really enjoys being out of breath to the point that your lungs are burning and your legs are on fire?  The gains though are worth it and you see them fairly quickly.  
Morning
3x5 Back Squat
185, 205, 215
21-15-9
95# Sumo Dead lift high-pulls
95# Overhead squats
Afternoon
Tosh
.13 miles, .26 miles, .39 miles 
Rest exactly how long it takes you to do the previous sprint
This one sucked a lot.  I haven’t ran in a couple of months and I had to use a treadmill.  I thought my five-fingers were cutting into my feet but it was actually a developing blister.  So, I ended up forgoing the last iteration of the second round and did it on the rower instead.  I also knocked out round three on the rower.  
I love seeing results.  It makes the working out worthwhile.  Not only in how you feel but performance is a big push for me too.  I’m at around 5,000ft of elevation so when I first got here my cardio sucked.  I’ve pushed through for about three months now and it paid off today when I got on the treadmill.  No stellar performances but when I first got here a ten minute mile was no fun.  Today when I hopped on there it felt too slow.  An 830 pace was feeling pretty good.  

Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Good Day

Today was a good day.  Some mornings you wake up and feel like sleeping in.  Actually, this is most mornings for me.  Each morning that I get up and go to the gym is a small victory.  Score one for the good guys.  Today I made it in there and knocked out a good strength workout.  I like those days.  You still have to push every bit as hard as if you were doing a timed WOD, you just aren’t breathing as heavy.  
5 rds, rest as needed:
1 Press
3 Push-press
5 Jerks
I started with 135 for two rounds but the second round I couldn’t complete without racking the weight once and my form was going to hell.  I dropped to 115 for two more rounds and then up to 120.  This was followed by:
4rds
10 GHD sit-ups
10 Back extensions
10 Knees-to-elbows
No time component to this one but no real rests either other than the walk from the pull-up bars to the GHD rack.  
I’m excited for tomorrow.  I’ll be racking my Nut Brown Ale and tomorrow is another two workouts.  Both should be a ton of fun.  

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Mistakes are bound to happen

Too bad sometimes they’re rookie mistakes.  I was in the middle of brewing a batch of Irish Red and someone who hadn’t seen the process before came in and started asking questions.  I don’t mind this at all.  I love my hobby and I’m willing to share what knowledge I have with those who care to learn.  On this particular occasion I allowed myself to become distracted and completely forgot to cool the boiling wort before I put it into the plastic carboy.  It did not turn out well for the carboy.   I would have thought they were made of a bit sterner stuff.  The carboy is ruined but the wort was still usable and I had to put it into a different bucket so, all is not lost.  
I had another mishap recently.  I was brewing a Spiced Winter Ale and right after I brought it to a boil and added the hops the hot plate died.  I did not find this out until about 20 minutes into the boil.  At this point there wasn’t much I could do.  I put the lid on and kept it as warm as I could for an hour.  I’m hoping that it broke down enough of the hop resins to provide some bitterness or I’m going to have a fairly sweet beer.  I had a yeast starter standing by so I wasn’t too worried about any bacterial infection.  I bottled it just last weekend so I’ll be able to tell you in about a week.  

Barbara is a Bitch!!

So, it's been a while since I rowed.  Yesterday was normally my rest day but since I'm really trying to increase my cardiovascular health and threshold I've started doing the Crossfit endurance WOD’s.  I completely forgot to warm up first and paid the price with a very tight back about midway through the workout.  Yesterday’s endurance workout was:
3000m row.  85% RPE for 1500, 1 min break and then 95%RPE for the next 1500.  
First 1500 - 5:38::3
Second 1500 - 5:54::3 
Today was deads and Barbara.  I was completely wiped after this one.  I was in the first round and wanted to just stop.  I was able to push through and finish.  It took a lot to restart after each three minute rest.  
Strength:  
Dead lift 3x10, 1x20:  225, 225, 225 and 185.
Barbara
5rds for time:
20 pull-ups
30 push-ups
40 sit-ups
50 squats
3 min rest
7:19, 7:42, 10:39 (this round hurt me), 9:22, 7:53
I thought I was going to vomit after the last round.  My shoulders are still a bit hurt and I weigh a bit much to be doing kipping pull-ups.  So I had to do everything strict.  I really don’t mind but it really slows me down on any pull-up WOD.  
As I said before this one really hurt me today.  I had to dig deep and it felt great to push through and complete.  My times weren’t stellar but I’m happy with a finish.
This evening I did a Tabata run at a 7:30 mile pace with a 12 on the incline.  This was a horrible choice and I should have gone with 10 to start with.  I got to round 7 and had to get off the treadmill before I fell off.  I was a little angry at myself for two reasons:  one for quitting and two for starting off harder than I should have.  After I was able to breathe again I did two sets of 50 double unders for time with a 3 minute break in between.   3:26 and 4:05.  I am getting better at them.  Unfortunately I’m still not consistent.  

Monday, February 28, 2011

New Rings

Just the other day I received the gymnastic rings that I had ordered.  So I figured it was time to use them in a workout.  So far I have no complaints about the rings.  They are of sturdy construction and are perfect for the workouts I plan on doing and they weren’t too expensive.  The only thing I’ll need to do is put some grip tape on them and they’ll be perfect.  Here’s today’s workout:
Strength: 
3x10 press 95 lb. (last set was broken)
1x20 press 45 lb.
I was surprised to note how much these were working my triceps too.  I’ve been reading Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength” and so far it’s given me tons of great information on cleaning up my form. 
WOD:
21-15-9
225 lb. Dead lift
Ring dips
11:32
After I finished I worked on my double unders.  I did 50.  I’ll have to start timing myself.  I’ve got the jump and timing down.  My biggest problem now is that my arms start to stray outwards which shortens my rope and causes the rope to hit my feet.  

SINS Body Transformation

I’m starting this from Afghanistan because I’m currently stationed here.  Luckily I have about 3 months left.  This has been the most consistent I’ve been with working out and I love the way that I feel, how strong I’m getting, and how I’m looking.  I’ve been following the Practical Paleolithic blog for about two months now and decided I’d throw in on the SINS Body Transformation Challenge.  I’ll post before and after photos at a later date.
I already had a few goals in my head but this gives me a much reason to write them down to come back to again and again for motivation and to follow my progress.  Since I’m not too sure how long or short it will take me to reach some of these goals I’ve given myself some extra time to work towards them.  So without further ado, my goals:
  • My current 1RM squats is 245 lbs.  By the end of the year I want to hit 300 lbs.  
  • My current 1RM Deadlift is 335 lbs and by the end of the year I want to hit 400 lbs.  
  • I want to bench press 300 lbs by the end of the year.  
  • I want to be able to do 50 unbroken double unders before the end of my deployment in June.  
  • As of this moment my handstand push-ups are only as deep as two ab-mats.  By the end of this deployment I want to knock out at least 5 with my forehead touching the ground.  
  • I want to be able to do a muscle up again.  I want 5 unbroken by the end of the year.  
  • It’s a bit tough to eat paleo style in a military dining facility I will work to make healthy eating choices and watch my portions.
  • I would like to drop 15 lbs by the end of my deployment.  
  • I will continue to workout 3 day on and 1 day off with strength training and WOD’s.  
  • I will start adding cardio endurance WOD’s 3 days on and 1 day off into my current workout routine.  
  • I will get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
  • I will listen to my body and take rest when I need it.  
  • I found online these training sheets from Level 4 Crossfit Seattle.  I have most of the Level II knocked out.  I want to be well on my way to completing level three by the end of the year. 
I think that is a great start and puts my thoughts into words.  These will eventually become action.  Wish me luck!