30WOD Day 11 – Back To Work

doubleunderI did have to take 2 days off this weekend due to the wedding although I did get a short KB workout in on Saturday. Friday and Sunday were shot and so today which is Monday I went to the Ark site and was faced with this:

Front Squat (3-3-3-3-3)
Take 20 min to build to a 3 RM
Metcon (Time)
3 RFT

15 Front Squats @ 95#/65#
10 Power Snatches @ 95#/65#
500m row / 400m run

Since I was interested in the Squats and Power Snatches but also realise that my Double Unders really REALLY need work I decided on the following:

5 rounds

10 Squats
5 Power snatches 95#
10DU

Given that my DUs suck so bad it actually took about 3 minutes for each set of 10 with lots and lots of singles mixed in. At my best I was able to string together about 8 reps of 3 singles plus one double. I was really sucking wind after the first 3 sets but at the same time very happy at the high intensity I was able to maintain throughout. I will also say that I don’t work out with shoes on and each time I failed on a DU i smashed my toes with the heavy rope which was massively unpleasant but also provided suitable motivation to get it right.

The title is a misnomer because today and tomorrow I am off work. I also got a call from Crossfit Ark informing me that they have been trying to put through my payment and it’s not going through but if I want to quit or stay I should go and tell them. I should do that…

I will say one thing for this 30WOD, it’s entertaining and that takes away a lot of the pain and suffering of having to do some of the work. That said, I am constantly concerned about the bodypart cycling but as of yet I haven’t really had to sub anything due to that reason.

 

30WOD Day 7 – Light Vs Heavy

cupcake memeYesterday was a light day, only 50 squats plus front squat practice which I admit I skipped due to the fact that I can’t do front squats yet and I needed something that I could manage. So, not having a rope to climb I improvised and pulled my 55lb 100ft rope over my chin up bar 10 times for each 5 rope climbs. It’s harder than it sounds, let me tell you. I then coached all night and today before coaching again I have to do something resembling the following but enough to make it a heavy day since I may not get the chance to work out tomorrow or Saturday. I have a wedding to go to, it’s my cousin / Goddaughter so it’s a pretty big deal but the opportunity for working out may not present itself.

So… the push press will be 95, I don’t have a rower so I will have to do a 3 minute run, which for me, sadly is around 400m.

Metcon (AMRAP – Reps)
RX’D

3 min AMRAP
Push Press @ 75#/55# Sub 95#
1 min rest

3 min AMRAP
Box Jumps @ 32″/24″
1 min rest

3 min AMRAP
Calorie Row – sub 400m Run
1 min rest

3 min AMRAP
DU – Sub singles
1 min rest

3 min AMRAP
Push Press @ 75#/55# – Sub 95#

Score Total Reps

The workouts have been pretty good since coming back from Cuba, varied and intense like I wanted. I just don’t want to get into a place where I have to skip 3 days because of a wedding…

Saturday, 08/02/2014 57 Chest only 200 reps timed. 70%
Sunday, 08/03/2014 58 Oly lift Full Monty @95 240 reps 70%
Monday, 08/04/2014 59 Pullups and dips and curls 70%
Tuesday, 08/05/2014 59 off 69%
Wednesday, 08/06/2014 60 30WOD 1 box jumps wallball T2B 70%
Thursday, 08/07/2014 61 Running and pushups 400m + 25 pushups x5 70%
Friday, 08/08/2014 62 1RM DL plus Power snatch and skipping (+1 and 40) 70%
Saturday, 08/09/2014 62 off 70%
Sunday, 08/10/2014 63 DL 200 plus Power snatch 95 5×5 with 40 skips x5 70%
Monday, 08/11/2014 64 Handstand practice plus deadlifts and air squats 70%
Tuesday, 08/12/2014 65 Cardio, shuttle on off 3km 71%
Wednesday, 08/13/2014 66 Rope climb / pull plus 5×10 squats 71%
Thursday, 08/14/2014 67 Press and cardio 71%

30WOD Day 5 and 6 – Not Quite…

your-photo-showsHandstands, as has long been the case, are not easy for me. My balance while inverted is not something I have a great deal of control over. I think it’s because my control of my body is largely restricted to large muscle groups rather than the fine motor control it takes to achieve and maintain an inverted stance. That and getting 250lbs upside down is a massive undertaking. I mean how many guys my size do you see doing handstands? Not many I bet. Anyway, I was not to be defeated before starting so I diligently coached myself into a handstand in the basement before going out onto the deck to do some handstands against the wall. I noted the lever position, the arms high, the head position while inverted and even the force from an arched position into a straight body. But the chance of anything like a pushup happening was absolute zero. I did get a bit of a thrill from holding the handstand away from the wall, if only for a second or two, however the pain it brought across the top of my back and into my neck was not welcome. So I moved to the WOD and ended up doing the squats and the deadlifts and kick to handstand instead of handstand pushups. It was still a pretty good workout and I can now say that I have started on the journey to mastering a skill that (like pullups once upon a time) was something I considered beyond my reach.

Day 6 I decided to do some running, and because my distances were a little messed up I ended up doing almost 3k. I was supposed to do the following:

100m run 100m walk
200m run 100m walk
300m run 100m walk
400m run 100m walk

then repeat for a total of 2k. I actually ended up doing an extra 500m at the end of each round to get me to 3k. It was not bad, my legs are sore from the handstands which is weird and I skipped the posted WOD which I will do tomorrow as show below:

Front Squat (3-3-3-3-3)
Take 15 min to find a 3 rep max Front Squat
Metcon (Time)
RX’D

For Time

5 Rope Climbs
50 Front Squats @ 95#/65#
5 Rope Climbs

 

30WOD – Day 4 – Milestone Achievement

power snatchI managed to get to grips with the power snatch, I was seriously afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to handle the overhead position with any kind of weight but after some no weight and low weight reps doing the motion I actually managed to do 5 sets of 5 with 95lbs. I know it was supposed to be 115 but since I had already overextended myself by deadlifting the 200lbs the day before I thought it best just to try and take the fact that I actually did the power snatch as good enough. I did find it a bit tough getting into the full extended position, not really because of the weight but rather the tightness across my upper back in that arched pinched position. I have to admit I was a little impressed with myself, but I also know that getting to the point of doing a proper squat snatch is not something I can see myself doing. I do have a mobility issue with the overhead squat deep position, I just can’t get my body into position under load. I can get there with a 45lb bar and probably even with 95lbs but any more, any kind of actual weight and my positioning is too badly compromised due to my poor shoulder mobility and back fear / mobility. Anyway, never to say never, I know that I should work on my overhead squats and my front rack squats because they are both pathetic.

Today promises to be tough too. It’s handstand pushups. as you can see from the Rx weights I am a VERY long way away from doing these lifts as Rx’ed. My deadlift has maxed out at 205 and I have yet to learn how exciting it is to do a handstand pushup. So I will do what I can, my kids at gymnastics will be filled with mockery I am sure to learn that I have been “working on” my handstands. I still also need to get my kip, ring muscle up and bar muscle up, all things that I think I really should have.

So today will be interesting, hopefully I will get to do a handstand pushup of some kind and will then be able to boast 2 new skills this week!

Metcon (No Measure)
15 min Handstand Practice
Holds
Kipping
Strict
Free Standing
Shoulder Touches

Metcon (Time)
RX’D

5 RFT

7 DL @ 275#/185#
30 Air Squat
7 HSPU
Metcon (Time)
Foundation

5 RFT

7 DL @ 185/135
20 Air Squat
10 Push-ups

30WOD Day 3 – I Hurt All Over

the-pain-of-being-overweight-is-far-worse-than-the-pain-of-working-outThis is turning out to be very painful.

Sure, I haven’t run in 8 months why would 2km of light jogging.. and I do mean light jogging not what anyone would look at and think, “Hey, look at that guy running” make that big of a difference? Well, let me tell you my ankles hurt, my feet hurt my calves are excruciating and as far as I can tell my spine has fused itself. I know it’s only been 2 days and honestly even though I took a week completely off working out to recouperate I didn’t think it would be this bad. Then again, I can’t remember the last time I did toes to bar or waddled fast enough to have to catch my breath. That said, this is why I am doing this in the first place, to get some work outside my bubble and increase my total work done.

But it hurts.

This can also serve as a pointer to anyone thinking of joining a Crossfit box that you can, with a little equipment and a little training get as much of a benefit from working out at home as you can being at a gym and that was really the whole reason behind this site in the first place. To prove the gym isn’t the be all and end all of fitness.

What ended up happening yesterday was 400m run with 25 pushups starting every 5 minutes. As it turned out I took 2.30 to do the work so it was a 50:50 work split which is exactly what a partner WOD is supposed to be.

On to today.

Deadlift (1-1-1-1-1-1)
Take 20 min to find a DL 1 RM

7 min AMRAP

20 DU
1 Power Snatch @ 115#/75#
20 DU
2 Power Snatch @ 115#/75#
….

or, if that is too hard:

7 min AMRAP

40 SIngle Skips
1 Deadlift @ 135#/95#
40 Single Skips
2 Deadlift @ 135#/95#
….

keep adding 1 Deadlift a round until the 7 min cap

I think I will do both, since my DU suck so bad I will do the 40 singles with PS first for 7 minutes and then 40 singles with DL as Rx second. My goal is to try and get up to a 200+ DL today and push on from there. If I can get my DL up to 300 by the end of the summer I will be happy, in fact, my goal if I recall is a bodyweight DL by summer end.

 

30WOD Day 2 – Out of my comfort zone.

comfortzoneYesterday went OK, the toes to bar were harder than I thought but once I had done one set they got easier. I recall this being a lot easier back when I was still 230lbs, now I am flirting with 255 and my physiological systems are not happy. That’s why I am pushing a little harder towards HIIT right now and distancing myself from my bulk and strength cycle that I was on during spring and early summer. I probably am a couple of months off, timing wise, I should be cutting during early spring but not to worry, it will still happen.

Today is a little more challenging to complete since I don’t have a rower or a partner, however running will have to suffice. I have to admit also that not knowing what I am going to be doing ahead of time is challenging to me, a little annoying and it grates on my slightly OCD side.

Metcon (Time)
PARTNER WOD

Alternate partners each round until each partner has completed 5 rounds each

500m row

25 Push-ups

30 min cap

So basically it’s going to be a 2k run (I have a 400m circuit I will use) and 125 pushups. Pretty basic and simple but I haven’t really run anywhere since Cuba at the start of the year on the beach so my calves and shins may not be thanking me tomorrow.

The alternative would be what?

Yesterday was jumps and shoulders and abs so really no strength component to speak of. That would mean I could do any one of the 6 days from the R12 list. However, since I am striving to stick to HIIT and to give my body a bit of a shock I am going to go with the running and pushups. I just hope I can make the 30 minute cutoff…

How do I feel? Well, the last few days have looked like this:

Saturday, 08/02/2014 57 Chest only 200 reps timed. 70%
Sunday, 08/03/2014 58 Oly lift Full Monty @95 240 reps 70%
Monday, 08/04/2014 59 Pullups and dips and curls 70%
Tuesday, 08/05/2014 59 off 69%
Wednesday, 08/06/2014 60 30WOD 1 box jumps wallball T2B 70%
Thursday, 08/07/2014 61 30WOD 2 Running and pushups 70%

So to be honest I am kind of sore everywhere but not too sore anywhere. At least at this point I am well balanced in my workout since coming back from Cuba last week and my 7 days rest that try to get in once a year. Catching up is never fun, but kind of an enjoyable necessity once you are into it. As far as weight goes, I lost about 7lbs in Cuba but I am once again filled with glycogen so I would guess my weight is 257 or thereabouts. I would like to get back to the 230-240 area sooner rather than later, and I think this HIIT will be the most efficient way.

30WOD Time – R12 REMIX

7e65aa0bdc2bc94c2724cac776e54ddbI gave up my Crossfit membership, mostly by default I suppose I just hadn’t been there to make use of it. That said, I think I am going to shake things up a bit with my workouts and try to do 30 days of WODs. Actually, I should call the gym and make sure they didn’t auto renew me…

I think it’s about time that I did something that I can actually track on here. It’s been a long time since I actually followed a prescribed workout system and that didn’t even go so well because I was so used to being off plan so to speak. In fact, R12 lasted exactly 2 days and if that’s not a massive failure then I don’t know what is.

R12, as you will recall, was supposed to look like this:

Bench and ring dips (HEAVY)
Deadlifts and sprints / laps (LIGHT)
Cleans and Squats (HEAVY)
Press and KB swings (LIGHT)
Pullups and 95lb Deadlifts / cleans / clean and press
Cardio / Yoga / MMA workout
Off

However I was blinded by my quasi-resolution to work out with the girls at gym and that simple thought completely derailed me. What I really need is to commit to something. Anything. Because like I always tell my kids…

somethingnothingNow I have to admit I like the look of R12, so much so that instead of choosing between the Crossfit Ark WOD and the typically significantly harder Crossfit.com WOD I think I will make my choice based on R12 or Crossfit Ark WOD. I know there will be WODs that I just won’t want to do or may not be able to do effectively and that’s when the R12 can come to the rescue. The problem I have with WODs typically is that they are not a complete system of workouts when done as a daily routine. I have gone over it before so I don’t need to rehash it but basically as a daily workout, the WODs can be woefully insufficient as a balanced system. That is where having a structured, balanced system in place can help out. When the WODs for the week don’t add up to a single movement of chest press or curling movement, the traditional system can fill that gap. If you think that I am inaccurate in my assessment, just check out the follow up I did with an example of that week’s WODS. 

So, just like day 1 of when this all began back in June of 2009 I am jumping in on a whim and I am going to stick it out and see how I feel. My plan is to do the WOD that is posted for the affiliate I was a member at here in Aurora, Crossfit Ark, but I may make it easier on myself and make a choice between that and whatever they post over at Crossfit.com. The Crossfit.com workouts are  however so I will probably just stick to the Ark.

Day 1 of 30WOD

Metcon (AMRAP – Reps)
5 Rounds of

1 min of DU
1 min rest
Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)
RX’D

14 min AMRAP

20 Box Jumps @ 24″/20″
15 Wallballs @ 20#/14#
10 T2B

 

Since I can’t actually do double unders it will be 15 minutes of DU practice.

At Last Carrot Cake V2.0

 

carrotcakehomemade no flour or sugar

Big thanks to Primal Palate (dot com) for the recipe and instructions.

Pinterest that pic, it’s awesome!!

Ingredients

 

Process

  1. In a food processor, using the grating blade, shred carrots.
  2. Place carrots in a large ziplock bag.
  3. Pour maple syrup over carrots and let marinate in the fridge for an hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 325°F.
  5. In a small mixing bowl, add sifted coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
  6. Make date mixture with 10 medjool dates and 1 tablespoon maple syrup.
  7. In a large mixing bowl or kitchen mixer, blend eggs, vanilla, melted coconut oil, and date mixture.
  8. Add dry ingredients to wet and blend.
  9. Remove carrots from the fridge, and drain the excess maple syrup from the carrots using a colander.
  10. Stir grated carrots into cake batter.
  11. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with coconut oil.
  12. Pour batter into pans.
  13. (For easy removal, line pans with parchment paper)Bake for 35 minutes.
  14. Test center with a tooth pick—if the tooth pick comes out clean, then the cakes are done.
  15. Remove cakes from oven and cool.
  16. Frost cake with cream cheese frosting, garnish with walnuts, and serve.

 

Hitting My Stride – Finally

burpees0likes1I think I am finally finding a way to satisfy my cravings for certain workout types and managing to put to bed my fear that my intensity and time are lacking. So far I have managed to integrate HIIT rope work with each workout, I have started to get back into kettlebell workouts and I am testing my bootcamp type workouts before coaching. This means I am generally doing the following:

3 bootcamp style workouts – bodyweight, jumps, abs and functional movement
2 barbell workouts, maintaining my bench press workout and a multiple movement Olympic lift session or two
1 cardio or true HIIT workout with chinups, med ball cleans wallball etc and a bit of sprint or running work.

The schedule is still a bit random but it is tied down by the days that I do the bootcamp workouts. I have to say that adding back the functional movements like chin ups, burpees, vsnaps etc has brought back that feeling of mobility and fitness that I was missing after slipping down the Gym Rat slope after starting Body Beast in the Spring. I have gained quite a lot of size and strength but also I admit a few pounds of fat. So in turning back towards bodyweight workouts and HIIT I am going to start whittling away at that extra stored energy and hopefully be left with additional strength as protection for my ever present back aches. I do need to get a few pounds off and the sooner the better.

I did toy with the idea of getting back into a P90X or P90X2 schedule as a base for my workouts but until the extra crap is out of the basement I don’t really have space in front of the TV in order to do that. Next move then, get rid of the extra treadmill (I think my wife may have already sold it) and clear some space in the gym to enable the winter workouts to start. It’s premature I know but I think it’s going to take a little more planning than I think, and maybe a flat screen on the wall…

In addition, I did make some more purchases for the gym last week from Fitness Avenue (who have moved down the street from where they were), including:

40LB Kettlebell
Adjustable plyo box – heavy and sturdy as hell, full metal construction 16″ to 28″ height
55lb 5o ft sleeved undulation rope
45lb dumbbell
55lb dumbbell

The rope is fantastic, I have been donig undulations with it but even better is hanging it over my chin up bar and pulling it through like you would pull a heavy sled. If you wrap it twice it’s incredibly hard to pull through, great for grip strength and full back pumps!

Too Easy

I have recently been trying to increase the intensity and duration of my workouts without much success. I hate to admit it but there really is a massive difference between being coached (or following a DVD) and trying to coach yourself. Even for me, a long time coach and personal trainer it’s just too hard, there is really is truth in the notion that you can’t coach yourself. It’s like trying to strangle yourself or hold your breath until you pass out, it’s just not possible. Recently I have been doing more Crossfit type workouts and over the last 2 weeks now that coaching is starting again I have even done some bootcamps which have served to remind me of just how easy I have been on myself over the summer. I did HALF of one of the bootcamps from 2 years ago when we did them every week and I thought I was going to die. However, it did give me a brilliant idea of how to properly coach myself at least 3 days a week and that is just to follow the bootcamps the way we used to do them. I know for sure it was a large part of my getting down to 230lbs along with following some form of DVD workouts (I should check that)
Having checked I was doing bootcamp once a week and also doing RKC, an insanity workout, a TapoutXT workout, a barbell oly lift workout and a P90X2 workout. That’s 6 days a week, 5 of which are pre-programmed activities you just follow and don’t deviate. Maybe I should get back to that, since being on my own not following someone is not really working me as hard as I would like.
That said, I need also to start a little more cardio and an insanity workout once a week would definitely cover that. I need to get the second treadmill out of the basement to get some room back, that is a big thing since with it in there the amount of room to actually move around is severely restricted.

I have also just realized 2 things. Round 12 was a complete bust and I can make the best carrot cake in the world.