37-39 and another PR

I did Kelly in about 30minutes. I forgot to check the the time at the start of round one, plus the box wasn't high enough neither were the wall balls. Taking those things into account I added a bit of time to what I think I had. So at least I have an idea where I should be. Got an interesting response from another co-worker stating it looked exhausting. I could hardly breathe when I responded, without stopping, that that was the idea.

I did Deadlifts the next day. Wanted to hit 300 but no. I hit 285#lbs though so that's a new PR. I failed it once and I did not look pretty when I got it. with veins popping red face and the like. So many people were more concerned that I may hurt myself with my workout as opposed to paying attention to their own 5 minute break between sets. I never felt an ounce of pain from doing the workout.

I did Helen at the gym with Coach D. It was open gym day and I looked at what others had done. Some of them were a little daunting especially as I was dehydrated from being out and about all day. Anyway did Helen in 13 minutes even. The last run was killer and oddly it was the first two sets of KB swings that were the hardest.

I have been asked to do the Petawawa iron man at the end of the summer. Don't know if I want to or not. I currently don't feel at all ready for it. time break out the ruck I guess.

36

Did the 1x 5 shoulder press 3x5 push press and 5x5 push jerk. I used 95 lbs for the first exercises complete and and for the first 2 sets of the push jerk. The last 3 sets were at 85lbs. I was happy, but not satisfied, given my shoulders are notoriously weak. Unfortunately there was a week in which I really did not get a good work out of any sort. I would do sets of push ups etc here and there but nothing that could be considered a work out. I need a couple more hours in the day.

I had a bit of extra time after the workout to work on some things so did a few weighted pull ups and dips. I also held myself off the ground on parallelettes four or five times for ten to fifteen seconds. Slowly building to that 10 second L sit. Then I did a 135lb Power clean. Good for level II.

33,34,pr's,35

So its been a few days.

#33 was four times 800M with as much rest as necessary in between. I never let myself get 4 minutes of rest it always around three. It was also on a treadmill so I could measure the distance accurately, just over o.5 miles. times were 8:15, 8:15, 8:10, and 8:08. I can go faster next time. I think the treadmill makes it easier to get good times too.

#34 3 rounds of 30 GHSU's and 25 back extensions. I couldn't do 5 rnds due to time again never thought this exercise would be so difficult. Plus I had to use a big ass rubber ball and a smith machine and bench to try and make a GHD. At any rate my abs and back felt exhausted for a couple days.

PR's. Sunday was rest day so I just played around a bit. I did a Turkish Get Up on each side with a 50lb Db. They weren't the prettiest thanks to my core being destroyed from the day before. I also did one on the right side with the 45lb Oly bar. Thought that was kinda cool because it is so awkward. Tried it with the lefts side and on I lost it on the way day bring my leg back around to the front. Oh well. Then I tried Deadlifts. I warmed up a bit and tried 260lbs for the lvl II 1.5 times BW DL. after i got that twice I thought maybe I counted wrong and had some confirm it. Then I did two more at 275lbs. Not earth shattering but way better then the last time I did DL's. Technique and confidence were here.

#35: KB Trifecta brought a co-worker in to the CFL so they could see what it was like. bastard beat me in the WOD. 10 KB swings 5 Kb cleans, and 3 KB snatches at 1pd as many rounds in 20 min. I got 19 rnds and 10 swings. co-worker got 23 rnds I think....jackass.

32 Fran

Fran 12:30 with 75lb Thrusters. Its a PR but the time I was looking for. I think I am likely not efficient enough on the Thrusters. Add that to the list of things I need to work on. Failed to mention handstand play the other day. I have no confidence that my shoulders will hold me so I almost put my head through the wall. Apparently I looked pretty funny. I am going to have to alter my goal to maybe one Handstand pushup seeing as right now I don't even have a handstand.

31 5 rnds 1 min each with 1 min rest 25# DB lunges, abmat situps, tuck jumps.

I did the WOD with two other people. Got my ass kicked. I did tuck jumps, they did heavy rope skipping. I can't skip to save my life. If I could I'm certain my score would have been a far sight better then 367 reps. While I was getting 20-30 reps on the tuck jump others were 40-60 reps on the skipping. The linges and situps were all fairly close. I think if I learn to skip better, I can easily hit 400.

Tried handstands, sort of had one for about 5 seconds, needed help to get into position though.

29 75 Pull ups/dips 30 Baby Barbara

Both of these workouts were scaled for a time crunch. The pull ups and dips were instead of muscle ups The goal was 120 to simulate 30 MU's. Not enough time though so 75 is all she wrote. I started doing Barbara and realized I wouldn't finish it in time for work so I halved everything. It took 19 minutes and I found perhaps halving it was too much of a reduction. I'll have to figure out something else or get my sorry ass to the gym twenty minutes sooner next time. Both workouts felt great and again generated conversation among other coworkers in the gym. I have posted the skill levels in the gym hoping to get people to try something new.

I now have a cold and am quite congested. I fought it off for about three or four weeks.

28 CFWUx1 BWUx1 1111111CJ.

Personal best on the C&J 105# not that its a great number but its still better then it was. Myself and a couple of co workers were discussing staring a fitness competition at work. A way to generate friendly competition and maybe get people off the couch a couple more times a month. Maybe stop them from eating McD's and Wendy's. A few people are into unfortunately other people think it sounds like work. Too bad. but its not done yet.

26 and 27 FGB and 5x400M run

Did Fight gone bad, however I did not have access to a rowing machine so a substituted 4lb SDHP's which sort of sucks because your already doing them earlier in each round. Didn't keep score, but it would not have been very good anyway. I lacked the ability to work for the full minute in second and third rounds.

The WOD is 4x400m but I couldn't remember that so I ran a fifth. Used a treadmill so the results are a bit hard calculate. The treadmill is definitely not ideal for this. It takes so long to get up to speed that you waste precious time just building to the sprint. That being said my fastest time was right around 1:18. Can't tell for sure thought till I get to track and run it there for a PR.

Brought out the rings. A co-worker who has been doing some crossfit on their own was working out where I set them up. He was familiar with the muscle up but had been able to do one in the past. I tried a couple without success and then he tried. I simply showed him the false grip and before you know it he did one. First try. Motivated by his success I tried again, no luck. He mentioned that it did not look like there was enough intensity at the top of the pull up on my last try. So I went hard the next time round. Not sure how I did it but I launched through the rings and had to let go because I was basically flying forward. So still a failure. No MU for me today but the other fella got three so good for him. I will do my WOD quickly and then head down and try again tomorrow.

25 Run 5K

5K in 21:57 on a treadmill. 23 seconds faster then exactly one month ago without doing any running in between. Interesting. Tried some of the tests from the 4 levels of fitness. I did three level 2 skills. I did 30 PU and 1x BW BP, 15 Hanging knees to elbows, and 20 dips and 1 1/3 BW Dip. I felt great.

Spoke with an Olympic lifter at work showed them my legs when I explained the last WOD. She was impressed that I had done them right. Today in the gym a guy doing 'deadlifts' with about 70lbs suggested I might have been doing them incorrectly. I corrected him.

Good day.

24 CFWU x1 4rds x20each 24"box jump, 20lb med ball clean, 2060%BW deadlifts

WOW. Day with coach Dave. Worked on Deadlifts, SDHP's, Med ball cleans and Box jumps. I was better at these skills then the others in that I required less corrections. That was a confidence boost until the WOD. This WOD really demonstrated my lack muscular endurance. Never being gassed on the last two rds, I was gassed before I did my first deadlift. Scored a time of 29:54. I was in a lot of pain, none of it bad, but pain none the less. Somehow I ended up with rug burn on my forearms, nothing serious almost gone and its only 28hrs since. My legs show how close I addressed the bar on the DL's.

All in all lots of fun.

23 Lynne CFWU x1 ( 7strict PU's)

Knowing I was going to do Lynne yesterday I weighed myself upin waking up, 170lbs. Wow, okay I had hoped I would have gained some weight but I beleive I have become leaner because as strong as I have ever been so its good news.

I tried one rep of 170lb BP and found it difficult enough to the point that I would be getting one rep, maybe, by the end of the workout. So instead I did 135lbs or about 75% BW. Pullups I intended to keep strict but found myself kipping. By the end though I could only do one so to increase intensity I added 15 jumping pull ups.
So here's the breakdown:
1) BP 8 PU 18 kipping
2) BP 6 PU 8 kipping
3) BP 5 PU 3 strict
4) BP 4 PU 1 strict 15 jumping
5) BP 7 PU 1 strict 15 jumping

I wasn't sand bagging. The reason for the increased BP on the fifth round was thast I had to wait about a minute to get back on the BP as it was being used.

Cool thing happened though. Afterward I still had time before work so I did some squat therapy. tried some pistols-yeah right. then some Turkish getups with an 8kg med ball. One of my co-workers was watching and tried the pistols, he did a lot better then me. Then he tried the Turkish get up and didn't do too bad. He would probably do well at Crossfit if he would give it a shot. Another co-worker and friend of Steve's was in the gym and asked about the TGU as well. I explained to him a bit about a crossfit and that Steve is right into it. So he tried Lynne. Afterward he said he had enjoyed it and really felt the impact of the straight work no rest style of exercise.

21 Diane, 22 7x3reps Hang squats

I like the idea of counting workouts, it helps keep you honest. I looked back at my schedule and figured that I had completed about 20 workouts since the new year.

Diane: 12min. I knew going in I couldn't do it with 225# deadlifts. I started with 135's and was surprised that I couldn't do 21 straight reps. I switched to 115# for the 15 and 9 reps. This was quite manageable and I was able to crank them off with great intensity. I had to use a bar on a smith machine to support my feet the handstand pushups. Workout felt great.

3-3-3-3-3-3-3 hang squat cleans: 75#. I started at 45# and paid attention to my form as best I could. The last 4 sets were all at 75# I think I could do more but I would not be able to concentrate on my form as much. It felt great today. Bit of a surprise following the workout I had to help some gear from one to the other. The gear was mainly in big bulking bags and weighed about 40#'s each. We moved them about 70 steps. Another good workout! We worked steady for the better part of an hour.

A quick word about diet. I have been following a zone like diet for sometime. My wife has pneumonia , my daughter was ill several co-workers and 'clients ' as well. All I got was sore throat for two days and a minor cough. I have no hard and fast proof but I have to think a healthy diet and therefore healthy immune system has something to do with it.

Finally there is a semblance of normalcy in my sched.

AAAAAAARRRGH!!!

So this last week and a bit have more then just a little frustrating. For the first time ever since I started crossfit I felt like I had an unjury of some sort. My shoulders have been quite sore. Not a good sore like you get from a hard workout. A bad sore like there may be some damage to a ligament. To top it off My wife and daughter are both sick, our primary babysitter is out of province ,our secondary sitter is has a medical issue and has been in and out of the hospital. So in comes the back up. Who can come in for the while I'm working. Unfortunately I can't stay after work for a work out because I am also their transport home.

A couple more weeks like this and I will be back to being the skinny fat guy I was was a year ago.

The other day I did pushups, at a controlled pace for reps with out much of a warmup. I got 26. Wow thats bad. So after a few more exercises I tried again. This time I went at about 95% speed and got 32. Better but still bad. I'm a little curious as to why a few months ago I would be able to 40+- and now not so much. At any rate I have a PT test coming up in May. It involves pushups, 'curlups', and sit and reach stretch and a mile and a half run. Scoring is dependant on your age group and gender. A certain number of points are assigned based on the how well you did. Last year the push ups and curlups were perfect; the sit and reach was horrible as I am about as flexible as a steel rod. On the run I needed 9:21 I think for perefct, and I got 9:30. With this mind I will continue to do crossfit but I will ensure I have maintained my perfects and improved my others.

It is hard to stick to a diet that your significant other has no interest in. I buy the groceries so it should be no problem. But if I don't buy what she wants then she'll go out and get whatever it she was looking for. And it typically involves lots of refined carbs and/or unhealthy fats.

Perhaps I should change the name of my blog.

PS I hate shoveling snow.

Groceries

So cruising through the grocery store I had to remind myself that I am not only shopping for me but for a pregnant lady and a toddler. They aren't going to be cool with eating everything I might want to try to help me stay in the zone. In the mornings we all have a weakness for cold cereals. I found one: Khashi Go Lean, (not the crunch) that has 13g of Protein per serving. It also has a decent amount of fibre and is low in sugar. The ratio isn't perfect but it why better then anything I've seen. Also I found Red River Oatmeal. I think it has about 1 block of protein for four blocks of carbs. This is longer cooking stuff (7minutes in the nuke) and it is also low in sugar. I had it once in Meaford or Gagetown can't remember where but I didn't mind it. Other then that lots of fresh fruit an veggies which all of us like to eat more now then before. And for those days when she has he cravings frozen yogurt why lower in sugar. Oh and for breakfast I picked up egg white and bacon style ham. 3 grams of P per slice and 0.33g of F. Should go well with the oatmeal as a complete breakfast. I actually want to go eat it now. All in all I think I did pretty well. A few cheat foods in the house to prevent us/me from breaking down and gorging myself on junk at some point.

Currently the whole house is fighting a cold, we all sound silly.

I think as test to set a benchmark for this part of my transformation I should figure out how many pushups and situps etc I can do. Then I can use it as a comparison down the road.

ANGIE

Today I did Angie, I felt good going in and started well. However I let myself get distracted by other people. I finished in 35 minutes. I think I could have done it in 32 or better. I decided to try doing 10 sets 10 for everything so 10 pullups, then 10 pushups, 10 situps and 10 squats. It was working well until the 8th set. At that point I was no longer able to sets of 10 pullups . The pushups were the next most tiring but I was still able to do sets of ten. No real problem with the situps or squats. The light went on a bit with the squats too. I felt them much more in the hip then the legs this time.

Given Dave's blog on hand care I have to laugh. I now have a callused blister on one of my fingers. I'll give it a day or two and see what happens but I think I'll be getting a callus remover soon.

Disappointment over the time but excitement over what certainly felt like an improved squat.

CFWUx2 15min 10PJ/5PP/3P @45lbs

I am weak. The WOD I did today with Dave H sounds quite easy, yet it kicked my ass. I have learned that my shoulders are quite tight. I have also remembered why I would cut back the intensity on some workouts. It has to do with my job performance, I have to be able walk and run. After Tuesdays workout I am sure if needed I could run but I would not be near my best. I need to remember that I have to go full bore when the after effects won't harm my job performance. I do still feel like puking after several WOD's a month., but perhaps not enough.

I think my diet though improved will be a large obstacle to me making my goals. I find it hard to impose my diet on my wife and daughter.

The beginning

This blog is an opportunity to record and share my journey from man to beast. I started crossfit on my own about April 1, 2007, after Dave H told me about. Since that time I have done only crossfit, One exercise with Steve S, and two with Dave H. I also worked one morning with an Olympic Weightlifting coach. Other then that I have been on my own. Most people in my gymn have just looked at me like I'm crazy and even question whether or not I know what I am doing in the gymn. A few people get it and we just smile and continue to work.

In the beginning:
Workouts: mainly weights or running heavily influenced by body building type workouts.
Fitness level: for Globo gymn I was average. For crossfit not even close.
Weight: 195lbs
Height 6'0"
Diet: Poor to say the least. Few fruits and veggies, lots of pasta. Very irregular meals.

After about three months:
Workouts: Crossfit
Fitness level: Beginning to make a mark on the crossfit scale. Still a beginner CFT
Weight: 177lbs+-
Height: N/C
Diet: Zone like. Lots more fruits and veggies virtually no pasta, breads were of the wholegrain with flaxseed variety. I say zone like because I did not weigh anything and basically followed the idea after reading the book of increased protein and healthy fats and making sure everytie I ate I had carbs protein and fat.

February 2008:
Workouts: N/C
Fitness level: greatly improved can do many of the WOD's as Rx'd or close to it.
Weight: N/C
Diet: Not much of a change, trying harder to get things into blocks and have 4-2-4-2-4-2 day.

This marks a change in my workouts as well as now I am training with Dave H at a Crossfit gymn when the time allows. First w/o yesterday, with dave H. Today If I was horse I would be on my way to the glue factory.
4rnds of 50 squats and 500m row. 18:24 not great but it was after some good squat therapy.
my splits were fairly consistent for the row. 1:58:8/1:59:0/2:02:6/1:57:8.

The transformation begins!!