wod – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

A Word About P90X3 and Summer WOD Pictures (of the workout!)

As you all know very well I am a very big P90X fan, so much so I am actually a Canadian Beachbody Coach. However, the rumours surrounding the release of P90X3 have me a little worried. For a start, the big THING is that it’s only 30 minutes. Now, I have done a LOT of P90X and P90X2 workouts and for the most part after round 1 they are usually only about 40 minutes. I tend to shorten the warmup a little but I don’t listen to Tony ramble on, I skip to the next movement or even better skip ahead and then catch up while he and his pals rest and hang out looking cool and making pseudo sexual jokes about chokes and oil. My hope is that this next iteration is exactly that, as I always say to my kids at gym, More Work Less Talk! There should be some changes, I am guessing that they saw the Tapout XT video series and decided that was exactly what P90X needed, a little butt kicking MMA conditioning. So I am cautiously optimistic and I will happily ignore the 30 minute spiel and hope that it doesn’t include the warmup or cool down so they will be basically the same amount of work with less “50 years old” chirping from good old Tony.

For myself I am WAY behind where I wanted to be a few weeks ago but I am feeling OK. I wanted to have been to the Crossfit box at least a handful of times by now which I haven’t. I had hoped to be doing the gym conditioning with the kids which I haven’t either mostly because of my very sore shoulder which I have half a mind to go to the clinic to get referred for xrays or an ultrasound because it’s still hurting like hell from 2 weeks ago when I did dips at the gym with the kids.

Speaking of the kids, here are a few pics of the workouts they are typically doing at the moment. So for those of you following along at home (ex-gymnasts) keep up if you can!

RehabD6 – Rehab Recap

As far as I can remember I didn’t do anything on Saturday since I had coached Friday and worked all day. Sunday I did a basic Olympic lift workout managing to stick with my 70lb barbell for now and covering off the basics:

5 rounds of:

10 Squat
10 Deadlift
5 Power Clean
5 Clean and press

Sure doesn’t sound like much when I look at it now but my legs were very sore from wide leg squatting 2 of the sets. My back was very sore Monday morning while getting ready for Wonderland but it was workable. Monday after Wonderland I needed to work on my pullups again so I did the following poor impersonation of a workout:

10 rounds of:

5 pullups
5 ring dips

That is really pretty sad but again, I am really all about making sure that what I do isn’t disabling me afterwards and so far I think I have a good handle on my limits. It’s Tuesday and I have to coach Wed and Thurs but I think today I need to pull off a WOD type full body workout and I am actually ready to try the med ball cleans again with the 35lb wallball. I must add that I also did a kettlebell workout at work on Friday (I almost forgot) and while it was once again rather small, it was a large victory to know I can KB swing with a 45lb KB and survive. Maybe that means I can add some KB to my med ball cleans today.

All in all it’s been a pretty good few days, the parents are in town which is great for us and for the grandchild and I am still managing to get some physical work done. Things are indeed looking up from a functional aspect. I am still very sore in the mornings and EXTREMELY tired no matter how much sleep I get. I do seem to snap out of both very quickly but I think I do need to get more rest.

How Do I Start?

I received a familiar request the other day, to help someone who is a little overwhelmed about starting to lose weight after the birth of her baby. Although maybe a little heavy handed, this was my response and it’s pretty universal.

The first thing that you have to do is make a decision. Not a decision that you can go back on but a final decision to change.
Second you need to set your larger goal. Your larger goal is nothing to do with losing weight or any of the challenges you have, your larger goal is to be honest, true and faithful to yourself. If you can commit to being honest with yourself and not accepting the old excuses then you are on your way.
Third, stop listening to yourself, you are only confusing the issue.
There is a voice inside your head that wants to derial you. You can either try to change the voice then change your life or you can simply stop paying attention to it until it starts to help you not hurt you. You are smart enough to know the right thing to do but that voice always finds a way around it.
What is better? Food you make at home from simple ingredients or fast food? You already know the answer. What is better, spending an hour watching a tv show or 30 minutes working out and 30 mintues making your food for tomorrow? Same hour, different results. What would you think of someone feeding a can of coke to a baby? Why would you treat your body with any less importance? Six months from now you will be 6 months older, but will you be different? That’s the big question. If you really want your life to change then you have to make some changes in your life. Here they are:
1. Find 30 minutes every day to exercise. Walking is not exercise. If you want to count walking it had better be up and down a flight of stairs.
2. Drink only water and if you have to, coffee.
3. Eat food with one ingredient. If it has more than one ingredient, you don’t need to go near it.
4. That means lean protein, fruits and veg, nuts and seeds (in moderation) and if you want to, a little dairy (yogourt is allowed with no sugar).

Understand that when it comes to fat loss everyone wants a magic pill or fix. That’s why the diet pill industry is doing so well. Well, here it is. Your body creates a substance that forces your body to store calories as body fat. How would you like to turn that process off? It’s not magic, it’s insulin. Eat less sugar and grains and your weight will come off.

Lead by example for your child. What you do will mould who she becomes. Kids learn directly from their parents in EVERY aspect. Be a good role model for yourself, for her and for the people around you who will eventually come to you and ask how you did it.

But do it now. You didn’t start six months ago, if you had, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Due to Halloween, Wednesday’s bootcamp didn’t happen. Instead I opted to do a little Olympic lifting and for the first time since my back went out I did the whole thing with my usual 135lbs. It was the pretty standard 80 reps but with 20 KB swings added in after every round. That kind of threw my week off a little and this was probably one of the times I should have dragged out the P90X2 DVDs and done a pre-programmed workout. Thursday I decided that 100 pullups and 200 pushups would be good since I felt like it had been a while since I had done pullups and I can feel my competence fading. So I did 20 pushups with 10 pullups for 10 rounds after a short warmup with the 55lb KB. Friday I coached and since I had only one athlete who required some extensive stretching I joined in and ha d a good 40 minutes of lower body stretching which felt amazing. Saturday I was a little adventurous and did my Cleans, Clean and Press and Squats with 135lbs for sets of 10×3. Then I decided I would increase my deadlift to get me closer to my goal which is bodyweight. I know, it’s not exactly spectacular but with my history it’s as far as I am willing to go at the moment. That said I managed sets of 5 x 2 with 135, 155, 165, 185 and 205. I was pretty happy with the results and the following 2 days did not produce much in the way of soreness or compromised mobility. That said, I knew that there was only one thing I should do to end the week and promote my recovery and mobility ready for bootcamp Monday so I busted out the Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony and worked out all my kinks and crunchy bits. It was a good week all in all, maybe not the toughest I have ever had but doing Yoga really made my week.

Ya, shocking.

10.26-29 – The Long Weekend

It was Canada Day here this past weekend and so that meant a long weekend and an extra day off from coaching. After Bootcamp cardio during coaching on Thursday I took Friday off and took Saturday as an Olympic lifting day in order to try and work a little on my shoulder strength and mobility. It’s a little foggy now but I think it was something like:
25 Shoulder Press
25 Squats
25 Clean and Press

Although I was only using a light weight to dedicate my concentration to my form it was still a bear to get the mechanics of the press correct without compromising my lower back.

Sunday I took in an X2 Yoga class, which was actually very enjoyable and although I do like the Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony, it’s a little dry. At least with X2 you have others to watch and emulate.

Monday was a DIY WOD out on the balcony, I decided to take a familiar apporach and do things I enjoy but also get some pullups in since I am disappointed in my ability on the chin up bar recently.

10 rounds:

5 Pullups
10 55lb kettlebell swings
15 Pushups
10 Full Squats
5 Ring Dips

It was a satisfying workout, I am still a little disappointed that Â I didn’t get in a RKC workout this week but I can always get that done next time.

Tuesday will be bootcamp bodyweight day, a return to the shcedule!

R8D33 – Risky Business

I decided to try the WOD from yesterday’s Fitbomb entry which looked like this:

Strength:

Turkish Get Ups (45lb KB) (I made it through 15 per side, 1-2-3-4-5)

Metcon:

5 sets:
12 deadlift 155lb
9 hang clean 155lb
6 push press 155lb (it was actually jerk press but I decided to push)

I got through the first set OK but felt like my back was not comfortable with the weight so for set 2 I dropped back to 115lbs instead. The last thing I need right now is a back injury after all. I managed to struggle through 4 sets and for the last set since my back was aching I decided to do 27 pullups instead. Since I had done 15 turkish get ups each side to start I figured it wasn’t a bad workout overall. However, I know that my strength really needs work since I stopped going to the gym and doing static weight training.

I’m not going to dwell on it though, if I can only deadlift 115 for my workouts instead of 155 it’s not the end of the world, no matter what the demon in my head tells me.

R4 D74 – Beginning of the End

Since without a plan, nothing ever happens, here is the push to the end for Round 4.

W 74 – TGU plus WOD
R 75 – Â RKC Swings
F 76 – P90X and Insanity Fit Tests
S 77 – 5K run
Y 78 – off

M 01 – Round 5

That should about do it. I am at Wednesday now and the way I figure it I should be able to put round 4 to bed and get Round 5 ready to go by Monday. It’s going to be a bit weird, since my workouts have been somewhat sporadic over the last 2 weeks but I think there is still some value to doing the fit tests anyway. For what it’s worth, my weight is down, my back seems to be bothering me much less and my feet seem to enjoy doing everything barefoot so all in all I suppose I am reaching my goals of general fitness and as Tony puts it, “less vulnerable and moreÂ durable” out in the real world. The question is, what is my fitness goal for the next round? I think I am at the point where I need to start documenting weights again. Much as I wanted to get away from that particular facet of working out, I think at this point I need to see my reps and max weights increasing in order to justify my efforts. Moving away from following a DVD schedule means you are vulnerable to coasting and losing sight of the goal at hand. Since I will be moving towards more Olympic style lifting and Crossfit type work, I guess note taking will be par for the course.

Round 4 Day 36 – Barbara

Barbara

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

I only managed 4 rounds after which I was incapable of doing another pull up. My round times were:

4:45
4:30
3:15
4:40

Pretty sad, actually. It also brought into glaring clarity the need for me to add some abs to my workouts since I gave up Ab Ripper long ago. My core is strong, but not strong enough to endure lengthy isolated movements. The push ups and squats were no problem. Hopefully as the weight continues to fall, the pullups will rise…

WOD’s I Have Done

Here is a list which will be expanded as I do more. In addition, there is a great list of the descriptions of the “Nasty Girls” workouts here:

Nasty Girls

(Thanks to Colin McNulty for the hard work)

Fran:
21 Thrusters 95lbs
21 Pull Ups
15 Thrusters 95lbs
15 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters 95lbs
9 Pull Ups

Chelsea:
Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Cindy:
AMRAP in 20 minutes:

5 pull-ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats (Air Squats)

Fight Gone Bad:

Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Box Jump: 20â€³ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Barbara:
Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

Elizabeth

21 â€“ 15 â€“ 9 Reps

135lb Clean

Ring Dips

Elizabeth:
21 â€“ 15 â€“ 9 Reps
135lb Clean
Ring Dips

Sally:

For time, x 5, 2 minute rest between sets
30 wide push ups + 10 wide pull ups
30 regular push ups + 10 reverse pull ups
30 military push ups + 10 narrow pull ups

Round 4 Day 32 – El Improvisario (FGB)

I don’t know if that is even a word but my improvising skills are getting better and better as I try to keep up with some of the signature Crossfit workouts. Today, as promised, was Fight Gone Bad but since I lack the basic necessary equipment I had to improvise.

The workout Rx (as prescribed) is like this:

You rotate through five stations, spending one minute at each:

Wall ball: 20 pound ball, 10 foot target. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Sumo deadlift high pull: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Box Jump: 20â€³ box. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Barbell push-press: 75 pounds. Each rep is scored as 1 point.
Row: Your butt off. Each calorie burned (according to the monitor) is scored as 1 point.

Rest one minute, and then repeat the five stations. Rest another minute, and then repeat it all again. Three rounds total.

Wall ball is simple, just throw the ball at the 10ft target and catch. However, once you catch the ball, you have to go into a full squat at the bottom.
SDHP is also a simple move if you know the mechanics of a deadlift. Even if you don’t, as long as you keep your head up and back flat you should be OK with only 75lb.
Box jumps can be anywhere from 18″-24″ depending on Â your comfort level
Row – Since there are many people who don’t have rowers at Â home, you could sub outdoor sprints or treadmill running in a pinch. Since many of the WODs include sprints or short distance runs I don’t see the harm in this but your score would be off.

For me, working in my basement now that winter is closing in, this was going to be a challenge. I didn’t have the ball or the height to do wall ball and I have read that you can sub thrusters instead if you want. Not knowing this, I opted to use dumbbells and throw it as high as I could which in a 8 or 9ft ceiling basement isn’t far. I should probably have used more than a 20lb DB too but I can try that next time. For the SDHP I wanted to use the bar not only for the pull but also as a target to jump over for the box jumps so I put 25’s on the Olympic bar, rested the bar on 2 small boxes and had a decent set up. With my back history it was important that now I am moving back into Olympic lifts that I go easy so having the bar a little higher than it would normally be with bumpers was a bonus. The bar was only about 18″ off the floor so I had to make sure in my jumps I was clearing it by a decent margin. As you have figured out, my SDHP was done with 95lbs not 75.
I used 35lb dumbbells for the Push Press which left me 5lb short.
Instead of the row I had to run on the treadmill and since Â the treadmill we have doesn’t like me running on it the fastest I can go is around 5mph, after that I blow the fuse.

So there you have it. With the warm-up and the WOD it was about a half hour workout. 3 rounds of 5 minutes plus extras.
My counts were (I am sure) pitifully low but here you go:

DB throw – 30 – 40 – 40 (110)
SHDP (95lb) – 8 – 10 – 10 (28)
Jumps – 14 – 15 – 14 (43)
Push Press (35lbDB) – 20 – 15 – 16 (51)
Run Â ?

Without counting calories – 232

Round 4 Day 24 – Chelsea

Day 20 – Rest

Day 21 – P90X Â Chest and Back

Day 22 – Insanity Cardio Power and Conditioning

Day 23 – Today.

The plan is to do a 20 minute Chelsea. Chelsea is supposed to be 30 minutes but I don’t think I need the extra physical stress that the extra 10 minutes would inevitably bring. Of course, not having done Chelsea before I may not make it to 20…

Chelsea:

Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Your score is the minute that you fail to complete the exercise. If you fail to do the 11th set on the 11th minute your score is 10. If you pass the 30 minutes, you can score Chelsea as Chelsea +3 if you managed to go to 33 minutes.

I will be wearing my new Vibram Five Fingers and I also wore them to do my insanity workout yesterday. So far so good.

.. The aftermath…

My official Chelsea score: 21.

The whole workout from music on to music off was under 30 minutes. It was a tough one, but very enjoyable. However it was a rude awakening that the first time I did the circuit it took me almost 45 seconds. It was then I realized that regardless of how little work it seemed, it was going to be tough. There was not a chance in hell that I was going to make 30Â minutesÂ though. Everything seemed to give out at once. I was suddenly struggling and dropping off the bar at 4 pull ups. I was still strong with the push ups but getting back up to do the squats was eating my seconds. Chelsea was good. I will try again for sure but the goal of 30 seems so so far away…