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Archive for November, 2008

13 Spartan Training Rules

1) Lactic acid is the Spartan’s friend. The Spartan knows the value of anaerobic failure, and actively seeks it out. If he falls on his face, he waits only as long as necessary to move again before he continues. 2) The Spartan takes no breaks between exercises, unless it’s to shove a non-Spartan out of the way. 3) The Spartan runs. He does not use Stairmasters, or stationary bikes, or ellipticals. He runs. 4) When the Spartan cannot run, he walks. When he cannot walk, he crawls. When he cannot crawl, he has failed. 5) The Spartan hits big muscles, like the back, the pectorals, the quadriceps and the glutes. He knows this means he is building functional muscle that will assist in the destruction of his enemies and in the production of testosterone (of which the Spartan has more than the average man). 6) By contrast, the Spartan does not waste much time on small muscles. They will grow as the result of functional exercise that hits the big muscles (see above). For example, the bicep is only useful in that it assists with chin-ups, and scaling enemy fortifications. Anything else is vanity. 7) The Spartan abhors cables and machines. This is for two reasons. First, to activate stabilizer muscles, the Spartan must depend on himself to balance the weight, not a machine. Second – look up the adjective “spartan” in the dictionary: “strict and austere.” You should be able to do a Spartan workout in a FOB. 8 ) The Spartan fears only one thing: his workout. The enemy pales in comparison to his workout. If he doesn’t fear his workout, it isn’t hard enough. 9) Puking is acceptable. Quitting is not. If he gives up here, he gives up in battle. This is unacceptable. 10) So nature abhors a vacuum, so the Spartan loathes missing a workout. A Spartan can complete a workout in his grandma’s basement, a hotel room, or in a city park. 11) If the Spartan is not in pain during his workout, he is wrong. 12) The Spartan never cheats. He maintains proper technique throughout his training, because he knows that smooth is fast, and that he will be mocked mercilessly for, “girly pull-ups”. 13) The Spartan knows the value of the basics: the push-up, the pull-up, the chin-up, the sit-up, the squat, and the dead-lift. He also knows the importance of variety, and seeks out different techniques of the above.   Aurthor unknown. Taken from a post found at ZEN to fitness!

EXTENDING MY “BEST IF USED BY” DATE

9AM Saturday Crossfit class. Chris, Monique, Eric with Brian and Jerry coaching. Charlie was also there but did not do the workout with us.

Charlie helped me out with a good tip on my double under rope jumps. I was able to do two in a row. It’s a slow process but I will get to the point of being able to do a good set of double unders.

The warm up was 2 X 10 of the following:
pullups
pushups
squats
dips
lunges

The Skill for today was snatches. We worked them using PVC pipe. These require bending the wrist back which impacts my ganglion cyst (not is a good way).

Here is the workout for today.
10 Front Squat (95 lbs for first 2 sets. Backed down to 65 for last set)
10 Pull-ups
10 Renegade Row
10 Wall Ball

**AMRAP 15min***

Chris–6
Eric–5
Monique–4 + pull-ups
Terry–4

EXTENDING MY “BEST IF USED BY” DATE

Enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and brother in law. I took Mom but Debbie was ill so she did not go.

We got to walk through their new home that is in the process of being built. I don’t want to say it is big but their basement has more square feet than my entire house.

I am trying to get started on a “sugar elimination” phase of my life. I have to say that on Thanksgiving I was quite successful. When I saw anything that might have sugar in it I quickly eliminated it by shoving it in my mouth. There was an apple pie that I have to admit I abused….and enjoyed it.

Debbie had to get up at 2AM this morning to be at the store by 3AM to get it open at 4AM. She worked until 11AM. She said people were lined up to get in at 4AM. She works at a J C P outlet store. I got up with her and was not able to go back to sleep which is typical. Needless to say we are both moving slow this afternoon.

The snow in the front of the house is gone. Still snow in the back. It should remain warmer through tomorrow so hopefully I can finish cleaning up the leaves. This is the first time that I can remember having such a deep snowfall before I was able to get the leaves gathered.

Was at Crossfit at 6AM. We had Dave, Eric, Kelly and Ron with Brian and Jerry coaching. Ron had been out for two weeks with illness. He was still coughing and expelling what appeared to be bits of lung. It was nice to have him back. He has a good sense of humor and works really hard.

Our skill was Med Ball Cleans. The squats that are part of the clean really wear me out. By the time we worked on the clean and did our warm up I was ready to go home. There really is some truth to “our warm ups are your workout”.

We called today’s workout “Black Friday”.

10 KB/DB Swings
15 Lunge Steps
20 Med Ball Cleans
15 Pull-ups
10 Burpees

***AMRAP in 18 min****

Results

Eric–3
Kelly–3
Ron–3
Terry–2 (I was able to complete two full sets and the swings, steps and cleans of a third set)
David–2
Wanda–3
Caryn–3
Jerry–3
Brian–4

I really had to work hard on this one. I used a 45lb KB for the swings. The Med Ball Cleans were killing my back and legs. I had to break them into mini sets of 4 or five at a time. I don’t know if everyone else’s back gets tired (I am saying gets tired instead of “really hurts bad” so I don’t sound like a complete whiner.) Once I stop I am fine and when I think about it my back has not really hurt for several weeks. I did the first set of burpees in the normal way but moved to my modified version for the second set.

Here is a youTube video that is a good representation of medicine ball clean technique that we covered in our class this morning.

Jerry Hill’s CrossFit Tip; Medicine ball Cleans

Ted, Eric, Matt, Kelly joined me for the 6AM class with Brian and Jerry coaching.

Brian changed up our warm up and activiation routine with butterfly setups and some other new tricks. For jump rope we did 30 seconds slow and 30 seconds as fast as possible.

For our skill we spent a long time working on snatch technique with the PVC. Once in a while I can get it. There are just so many things to remember to create the correct form. I have found that one of Jerry’s favorite things to do when we are practicing with PVC pipe is come up behind you and push your back and see if you fall over. If you have the correct form you should be solid as a rock.

I was still sore from yesterday’s workout so I knew that whatever we did today would be hard for me.

We did Barbara (or at least tried)

20 Pull ups
30 Push ups
40 Set ups
50 Air Squats

5 sets (3 minutes rest between sets)
The goal was 5 sets but we only did 3

Results (Total time)

Matt–22:52
Eric–22:56
Kelly–23:00
Ted–26:45
Terry–28:14

I was really falling behind this morning. I really lose time on the set ups and squats. The intent was to do 5 sets but when it was taking the fastest people 22 or 23 minutes to get done with 3 it became clear that we were only going to go with 3 sets.

The snow has stopped but the ground is covered by several inches. All the roads are clear and we are expecting temps in the 40′s today and nice weather tomorrow.

Debbie, Mom and I will be going to Columbus tomorrow for dinner with C and M. Mom might stay for a couple of days but Debbie and I have to get back for the dogs and Debbie has to be at work to have the store open at 4AM on Friday.

I am cointinuing to enjoy having a couple of days off work. I have at least 1 day off each week for the rest of the year.

Brook Burke was the winner last night on “Dancing with the stars”. I was right on with my prediction. On week one I said it would be Brook or Lance. Brook was the best technical dancer but I think Lance should have made 2nd place over Warren.

In the Crossfitlegacy blog today Brian put out a 30 day diet challenge based on eliminating refined sugars from our diets. I am in on that.

Crossfit at 6AM. Just Eric and I with Brian and Jerry coaching.

Skill time was spent on various push technique. Much attention to form with endless quarter inch adjustments of feet, shoulders, heads, hips and butts for Eric and I.

WOD was:
Diane
Deadlift 225 lbs (did 195)
Handstand push-ups (assisted with bands, this is another very long term goal)
21-15-9 reps, for time

Results

Terry–8:35/195lbs
Eric–11:30/205lbs
Angie–6:55/95lbs
Gary–7:14/155lbs
Caryn–8:01/85lbs
Wanda–8:31/115
Chris–8:54/185lbs
My time was 8:35

Here is an example of Diane.

Travis Does Diane in 3:29*

Ted, Dave, Eric, Kelly, Matt and myself for 6AM class with Brian and Jerry coaching.

Our skill for this morning was Kipping pullups. They are too complicated for me to describe so here is a video that gives an example. It was fun to work on this skill but I am still working on just doing a plain old pull up. Kipping is clearly a long term goal for me.

FRAN

21-15-9

Thruster & Pull-ups

Men–95lbs
Women–65lbs

Results

Matt–6:39/65lbs
David–7:45/65lbs
Terry–7:49/65lbs
Kelly–8:12/65lbs
Ted–10:15/65lbs
Eric–11:32/95lbs as Rx’ed

Not one of my favorite workouts. Too much shoulder work.

We did have one of those “wish I had a camera” moments when Jerry was demonstrating his “double under” technique and …… his pants fell off. Fortunally he was not going comamdo so no damage was done. It would have made a great “funniest video” moment.

Had to clean snow off the truck this morning. It was snowing when I went to bed but stopped during the night. Not as much snow as I though we would get.

6AM at Crossfit. Eric, Kelly, Dave and myself. Brian and Jerry coaching.

Here is the great and powerful Coach Jerry instructing us this morning.

WOD was a team activity. We only had enough people for one team so of course, our team won.

250 meter row
10 pull ups
15 knee to elbow (or knee to belly in my case)
20 split jerks
25 wall balls

Everyone started with a different activity. The trick to this WOD is that only one person can be doing one activity at a time. For example, if you were doing pull ups the next person could not start their pull ups until you were done. This pushed everyone to keep moving so that you did not hold anyone up.

Time–21:02. My real challenge was going from the wall balls right to the rower. The person in front of me was always done with the rower by the time I got done with the wall balls so I never got a break in between those two activities.

This was my first week with 5 Crossfits in a row. I am feeling good. Even my new cyst is not causing any problems. It only creates a problem when I have to push my wrist back. As long as the workout does not include that movement I am fine.

Brian catches me in another great action shot. (this was right of the rower, onto the floor)

Starting vacation today through next week. Did a little work this morning but hopefully will not have to work anymore today. Looking outside now the snow is falling again. Possible 2-4 more inches. This is turning into a real mess. We still do not have the leaves picked up. With all this snow perhaps it will be next spring before we finish the leaf cleanup.

6AM Crossfit. Tom, Eric and myself. Trainers Brian and Jerry.

Well, the cyst is still here. It was not my imagination. Got a wonderful idea on how to get rid of it from Davie at CrossfitCS (Crossfit Central Scotland) in Motherwell, Scotland.

“There is the Scottish way of treating a ganglion
Get a bottle of whiskey
Take a drink
Hit ganglion REALLY hard with bottle
Take another drink
Done.”

Works for me.

We worked on bar bell snatch as our skill this morning and incorporated that into the WOD. I did well with form on this and actually felt that I understood how to do it. Not to say I did it right.

WOD
7 Snatches
10 Air squats
AMRAP for 3 minutes/1 minute rest/5 rounds

Terry 11 sets
Eric 10 sets
Tom 9 sets

I was using 105 lbs (I think). Eric was using more, not sure the exact amount. He is way ahead of me in adding weight to these lifts. That is how I was able to get one more out than him. Tom did great as our newbie with the practice bar.

The snatches were a real drain on my back. I think I could do just a few at a heavier weight but my back will not hold up for more than a few reps at a time. I am fine once I stop but my back is screaming while I am doing the snatches.

Here is a little picture video from the last few days at Crossfitlegacy

This morning our skill work was on Kettlebell snatches and barbell thrusters. I did great on the snatches, having done thousands of them in the past. For everyone else, this was their first time. It was great to actually know what was going on for a change. With the Kettlebells I have loaned to the gym we now have enough for a group of 4-6 people to work together.

As usual, my right shoulder was hurting a bit. It always hurts. When we started the thrusters I noticed a more pronounced pain on the bottom of my right wrist. Brian could tell I was having a bit of touble with the thrusters and ask how I was doing and I mentioned the wrist pain. He looked at and felt my wrist and the next word out of his mouth was ganglion.

Bottom line, now that the day is over there is a dull pain and a marble size “thing” on my wrist. I don’t know if it just popped up or if it has been there and I just now noticed it. Using the internet to self diagnose I have determined I have a Volar Wrist Ganglion. Hopefully this will be something I can just ignore. If the pain continues or impacts my movements I may need to smash and rupture the cyst with a violent slam against something hard.

Sounds like a fun workout Crossfit, the “Ganglion”

First movement: Slam wrist onto something hard (sissy option, have someone else slam something hard on your wrist)
Second movement: Check to see if ruptured.
Third movement: If not ruptured, repeat.
AMRAP

The red area on the bottom of the wrist in the picture below is where the cyst has taken up residence.

The real irritation is that all these little things that hurt really slow me down and wear me out. It is tiring when ever move you make hurts.

Our WOD was:

10 Thrusters ( I used just the 45 bar to see what happens with my wrist)
20 KB snatches (35 pound, 10 each arm)
20 Renegade Rows (25 lb dumbbell, 10 each arm)

5 Rounds for Time

I came in fourth out of five. Anytime I am not last it’s a good thing.

Last night set a low temp record, 14 degrees for the 18 of November. Snow still on the grass but roads are ok now.