kettlebellguy

Archive for August, 2009

CrossFit at 6AM. Had to pull out the hoodie this morning. The temperature has really dropped on the last day of August.

Steve, Dave, Will, Tomas, Eric, Miranda and Eric with Brian coaching.

Workout included deadlifts (and no running or squatting) so I was a happy camper.

I was happy with my performance this morning, falling right in the middle of the pack. The combination of rowing to deadlifts is tough. I had worked on pull ups with Will prior to class so my arm were already burning.

Eating—On track, no issues.

What hurts today—Had a great night of sleep. Only up once and even slept until the alarm when off at 5AM which almost never happens. Heel is doing much better this morning, just a bit of soreness. It’s clear that the heel issue is directly related to my physical activity. The extra arm work with the pull ups is causing some muscle soreness in my forearms and biceps but I have no problem dealing with that. Saturday night I did have a headache that I am tracking to the onion I cut up. As I have gotten older I am very sensitive to smells, especially flowery perfumes. Maybe the onion triggered the headache. It did go away after I went to bed and Sunday was headache free.

Fight Gone Bad—Checked this morning and our team is 73rd out of 354 teams and top team in Ohio.

Ten boxes in Ohio have signed up for Fight Gone Bad. As you can see CrossFitLeagcy is leading the pack.

Free Saturday Class at 9AM and there was a good crowd. Several brand new people and a couple of people from the afternoon-evening classes that I had not met before.

photo Brian Yoak CrossFitLegacy
Our workout this morning was a partner workout. I managed to confuse myself and throught that we were doing one round and the our partner do the next round and continue to rotate. Actually we did 5 rounds without stopping. Another example of how life can sneak up behind you and kick you in the ass. If we stopped during our rounds our partner had to do a burpee. Let’s just say I had to do one burpee and my partner Jerry did not have to do any.

My squat was not the deepest squat and my push up was not the deepest push up but I kept going. This is the real difference I have found since starting paleo. I can set a pace and just keep going. That is a big difference.

As far as I know no one threw up. I was focused on what I was doing and then focused on counting for my partner Jerry so a bomb could have gone off and I would have not noticed.

Will continues to be relentless in his determination that I will accomplish deadlift pull ups and catch up to everyone one the 100 days of Pull Ups. He worked with me before and after class. He apparently sees a potential in me that I don’t yet see in myself so if he is willing to work with me I am going to embrace that, even if my arms fall off in the process.
photo Brian Yoak CrossFitLegacy
Eating—On Track. Will be putting a roast in the crock pot later today.

What Hurts Today—Heels are slowly starting to recover from the double unders. My forearms are feeling the impact from the increased pull up work. Very bad night sleeping, was up at 2. Debbie got sick prior to us going dancing so we stayed in last night.

Fight Gone Bad—I set my goal at $500.00. I have $360.00 now so I need another $140.00. I think that is doable.

CrossFit at 6AM. Miranda, Will, Dave, Steve, Tomas and Angie with Brian coaching.

Another week of workouts has flown by. Some fun with a partner workout this morning. While one person does the movements the other is resting. Because of odd numbers this morning Steve, Dave and I teamed up. Steve and I worked at the same time.

I did really well on the Power Snatch (well, actually I do a muscle snatch most of the time). Still working to refine my technique. This move will become more and more easy as I correct the flaws in my form.

My burpees were a real mess this morning. I tried the first round going all the way down to the floor but my back is not having it this morning. I went to using my 6 inch box rather than going all the way down to the floor. I also think I am just a bit tired. We have really worked hard this week and my problems with my heel spills over to my back and hip. This happens because my walking gait is changed when my heels hurt which impacts my hip, which impacts my back. All that stuff is connected together.

As you know Will joined our class this week and has taken on the project of getting me to do pull ups with out any assistance. I do them unassisted and he just gives me a push at the very top to get my chin up over the bar. We will see how successful this is. Having someone take an interest in what you are doing and helping you is something you don’t find in the big gyms. Most of the time people don’t even talk to each other, much less try to help you.

I am such a loser. Yep, I am. As you may know I have been stuck at 248-247 for weeks. One of the things I decided was to not change my plan and stick to my Paelo. On the strength side I have made real improvements and today I finally got my reward on the scale. I got on the scale after the WOD and was down to 242. That’s five pounds down this week. (19 pounds since Febuary when I started at 261).

My mind set was such that I would have been happy to stay where I was or only drop a pound but this was a nice surprise. I knew something was happening because I am starting to lose my pants, they are just falling off.

The job now is to just stick with it and regardless of what the weigh in might be next week just accept that as the amount I am suppose to weigh that day. Over time I will actually become the weight my body really wants to be.

Eating—On track, proven by my weight loss and strength and performance increase. Time to get another pot roast going in the crock pot for the weekend.

What hurts today—Even with increasingly difficult WOD’s and work loads I am feeling good except for the heels. I really believe the double unders are the culprit in this issue so hopefully time will correct this and I will just avoid double unders. With all the heavy lifting this week my arms, shoulder, back and legs are fine.

Fight Gone Bad—For Labor Day we are going to have one workout at the gym at 7:30AM to work on technique and strategy for the actual Fight Gone Bad workout on September 19th.

We have a Free Saturday Class tomorrow morning. Again anxious to see how many people attend. Two weeks ago we had 22, last week my count was 17.

I am on vacation after today until the 8th (day after Labor Day).

Debbie and I have arranged with Ben and MaryAnne to go to In Flight Ballroom (use to be Fred Astaire) tonight. It has been several years since we have all been out dancing together so it should be an experience, especially with my heels acting up. I think I will wear my warrior shirt. CrossFitters can dance, right?

CrossFit at 6AM with Stacia, Miranda, Will, Steve, Tom and Ralph with Brian coaching.

Still nursing my sore heel back. It’s a bit better but it will take awhile to recover from the double unders. I know this is just a mechanical problem. Several years ago I went to the podiatrist for the same thing and the best suggestion was to get the pads that lift your heel up a bit in your shoe. Over the years this comes and goes.

This mornings workout included running. I could have rowed but I have finally wised up enough to know that going from rowing to cleans would be no fun so I might as well stick with the running.

I went with 115lbs for the power cleans. Much to my amazement I was the first done with the first set and first out the door for the run. My lead did not last long. I was really strong on the cleans and would do even better if I could keep my arms straight longer. I start using my arms too soon in the lift. At least I understand what I am doing wrong now. It takes a long time to even come to grips with what you are doing wrong. It’s only when you understand what you are doing wrong that you can start to fix things.

I was also surprised at my endurance this morning. Once again I never stopped. My cleans were unbroken and I went from running to cleans with no rest. Another example of increased endurance over the past two months. If I was able to run faster I think I would have come in at the front of the pack on this WOD.

Eating—On track. Making green, red, yellow peppers and onions with ground beef today. Weigh in day tomorrow. I sure feel leaner. Yesterday I almost lost my shorts because they starting falling down as I was walking. These are shorts I bought at the beginning of summer that fix snug.

What hurts today—Just the heels. It’s just really annoying and I know it makes me look like a gimpy old man so I am really ready for it to clear up. As far as back, shoulders, arms and legs I feel great. Also, no headaches at all this week. I keep forgetting to comment about headaches because I have had so few recently.

Fight Gone Bad—We are up to $743.00 total for the gym. I have $360.00 (48% of the total, not that I am keeping track or anything). My internet friends have really come through for me. If you are one of those that has already contributed I really appreciate your support. I am also hopeful that when other people in the gym see how good we are doing they will jump on the band wagon. Hopefully some will try to beat my numbers. Several people signed up yesterday. We are leading all the gyms in Ohio. Here is a link to my personal donation page.

CrossFit at 6AM with Will, Eric, Dave, Tomas and Steve with Brian coaching.

I have made a major life decision. No more Double Unders. I proved to myself and everyone else that I am capable of doing a double under yesterday. What I am not capable of doing is living with the after effects. I don’t know what is wrong with my feet that causes me such pain in the back of my heels but I do know that Double Unders set it off. Yesterday evening when I went to the grocery store I found myself in the middle of the parking lot wondering if I was going to go down. That’s right, I felt like I was going to end up on the pavement because of the pain in my heels. I did make it to the door and to the security of a shopping cart. My worse fear was coming true, I was a little old man clinging onto the handles of the shopping cart to make my way through the store.

It is senseless for me to continue to beat myself up with the double unders. I would like to be able to do them with everyone else but from a fitness perspective I think I can still do singles, get a good workout and be able to walk without assistance.

I did not sleep well and I took a pain med prior to class (did nothing for the heel pain) so I was not at the top of my game this morning.

We worked on max Pull Ups this morning. Eric and Will went at it with no assistance. Will has added a new level of performance to our morning crew. To make his Pull Ups easier he straps on a 50 pound plate around his waist and does warm up Pull Ups so that the workout pull ups seem easier. The rest of us used various bands for assistance. I had enough bands going to launch a small space station into orbit. I really am working on doing the full pull up motion and at least giving my muscle a clue of what a real pull up would be.

Then we got to row.

According to my records we last did 500M rows on 4/15/2009. Jason, Angie, Terry and Tomas. For that workout we did 4 X 500M.

My numbers were 1:55/2:00/2:00/2:01 and Tomas was 1:53/1:57/2:01/2:04

I feel I could have gone better on the rowing if not fighting against the pain in my heels and the effect of the pain med. Based upon that I am really happy with my numbers. A clear consistence improvement from April.

Along with hard work this morning was a lot of good fun.

Eating—On track. Feeling leaner every day. Even on days when I am not doing well on my workouts, I am doing better than I did prior to starting the Paleo.

What Hurts Today—As already mentioned my heels are the major problem right now. I have to start protecting them. If I don’t I am going to lose ground because of the pain. After the heavy lifts of Monday and Tuesday I am feeling good everywhere else.

Fight Gone Bad—CrossFit Legacy popped up to 74th out of 328.

Abuse of the chain may cause injury–As I was waiting for the row to start I was looking down between my legs at the handle for the rower chain and noticed that there is warning “Abuse of the chain may cause injury”. With my somewhat odd sense of humor I was not able to keep a grin from fighting its way to the surface, even in the face of the upcoming row.

CrossFit at 6AM. Will, Stacia, Miranda, Tom, Eric and Steve with Brian coaching. Charlie was also there to coach us along. That was a nice surprise.

I have to make the note that as I reviewed the deadlifts from Monday I realized that I had the heaviest out of everyone that lifted yesterday. That did make me feel good and things like that keep me running and doing all the other things that I am so slow at. Everyone needs to have something that they are good at to keep you going when things are tough.

Had a lot of fun working on the Push Jerk this morning. Steve and I were paired up over in the “Active Adult” area and we tore things up. We had plates everywhere. Although we did not get 100% of what we wanted it was not for lack of trying. Steve was really working hard and demonstrated a really unique way of getting the bar back on the rack. I like working with Steve because he can add good. I am just as slow determining the weight on a bar as I am running.

I got a little greedy and wanted to pull a little Charlie on Eric so I went slow forcing Eric and Will to finish their last lift before me. Once they both locked in to 175 I knew I had to go 180. I got the first two jerks but was not able to lock out the third. Thank goodness I am not a competitive guy or this could be ugly.

Being a jerk early in the morning is fun.

Although only getting 7 rounds on the metcom sucked I was really happy about two things. I did all the double unders. Ok, one at a time but I did them all. That has never, ever happened or even come close to happening. It was just some kind of magic and I was able to do them. Next step is to start chaining them together. The other thing I noticed that that I never stopped, not once. I have been finding that happening more and more where I am able to keep moving on the metcoms. That is a significant improvement. Paleo?

I talked to Charlie for a few minutes about Paleo and that it is not really designed as a weight loss program but an eating plan to help with strength and endurance. That is supported by my results. I think I will continue to lose weight but at a slow pace. The change in my performance is undeniable. I have my documentation and the comments of coaches and fellow crossfittters to support it.

Eating—On plan. Made some more of the chicken with sun dried tomatoes.

What Hurts Today—No back issue from yesterdays deadlifts. Biggest issue continues to be my right back heel. I have also noticed that I can do the pass through movement during the warmup without pain. For the longest time I would almost throw up because of the pain when doing the pass through but that is gone.

Fight Gone Bad—Checked and we are down to 155th out of 318 teams.

photo Brian Yoak CrossFitLegacy

CrossFit at 6AM. Dave, Will, Stacia, Angie, Eric and Tomas with Brian coaching.

Will tried out the 6AM class for the first time today. I’m hoping that he joins us as much as his schedule permits.

Working heavy this morning during the warm up and for our deadlifts.

I was able to hold on to my place as heaviest lifter in the 6AM class, doing a 15 lb Charlie on Eric. This was Will’s first time doing deadlifts with us and I could tell by the look in his eye that things will be different then next time he lifts with us so…..my hold on the deadlift is likely to be in jeopardy. Here are our deadlift results.

Following the deadlifts we did a 1/2 Cindy.

Eating—On track. Had the Pot Roast over the weekend. Also made another big skillet of the red, yellow, green peppers and onion with ground beef. Getting hungry for the chicken with sun dried tomatoes again. The pair of shorts that I usually wear on the weekends started to fall off this weekend so something is changing even if the scale is not changing.

What hurts today—Restful sleep, lots of dreaming. Just slight soreness in back right heel this morning. Anxious to see if the deadlifts this morning do anything to my back. We will find out in the morning. No headaches.

Fight Gone Bad—Going to start daily tracking of FBG information. We are 145th out of 316 today.

photo Brian Yoak CrossFitLegacy

As we were getting ready to start the workout this morning one of my regular morning workout buddies expressed some apprehension that the room was filled with so many athletic people. I think he felt better when I explained to him that they only seemed so fit and athletic because we were in the room.

His comment points out one of the great things about CrossFit, the opportunity for all levels of fitness to work along side of each other and be successful.

Although I was not moving fast this morning it is significant that I never stopped to rest. I was able to continue moving at a consistent pace. Also, I did regular push ups. Last thing I needed was my knees grinding into the blacktop, so the situation forced me to change up my push ups. I don’t know that my shoulders will every support going all the way down to my chest but I had decent depth and good speed.

Fortunately it was early morning and the tar had not yet begun to bubble on the blacktop as we did our run, squats, push ups and sit ups. That could have become a sticky situation.

We did 1 400M run for warm up and then 4 more for the workout. That totals up to 2000M or 1.2427424 miles. My hate affair with running continues. It seems we are doing more and more running. All I can do is continue to embrace the run. I have been trying to figure out why, when I was a child, the books said “See Dick and Jane Run”. I always wondered, why don’t they walk sometime? Obviously my dislike of running is related in someway to a childhood trauma.

I don’t have time results. My best recollection is that I heard someone getting done around 13 minutes and I think I was 17 something. I did not come in last, I think there were one or two people behind me. Since we were outside without a big whiteboard to post times as people finished up it was not as easy as usual to get things recorded.

Here is a video Brian put together of the morning, including Justin’s muscle up. Justin weight’s in at 265 lbs. Brian missed the first one so in typical Justin style, he just did another one when Brian got back with the camera.

FREE Saturday Class at Crossfit Legacy from Crossfit Legacy on Vimeo.

Eating—On track. Big pot roast in the crock pot with carrots, celery and onions.

What hurts today?—Feeling really good. Tender heels this morning. No headache.

See related CrossFitLegacy link