Friday 30August2013

I woke up today feeling off. Slept fine, but just the stressors of life + a 'few' of our members being sick and STILL coming into workout might have something to do with it. I would love to know what other coaches think about when their members come in sick, seeking a higher level of fitness. I never understood people coming in when they are sick, I am at the point where I am almost a prick about it. You come in and fill your water bottle up that you have put your mouth on. You sneeze on your hands and grab a jump rope, sweat and put it back. You wipe the sweat from your brow and grab a barbell. You breathe hard on burpees and sweat all over the rings.

I guess I am crazy for thinking that would spread to EVERYONE IN THE GYM!

Stay away. Having your immune system weakened while trying to get better is a lose lose situation. When you train you tear your body down, sleeping+diet+rest help build you back up, so why do it while your sick?

Anyway, I felt off today, no sick symptoms just felt off. Did some easier stuff, no conditioning.

2 Snatch above knee + 2 Snatch below knee + Snatch,
 *today I actually moved the BB really well, I didn't go heavy but everyone of them fell into the perfect place, it actually was amazing going in with low expectations of weight. I worked to a measly 205, but felt fast and didn't stumble anywhere. (Reid Worthington, no laughing...posting snatches at 300#) It did feel good just to get some technique in, and could tell I was not recovered from the weekend due to the high heart rate after that complex.

Followed with 5x5 good morning and 5x5 press @ 75%.

I am going to San Diego this weekend with the lady, hopefully relaxing.

Thursday 29August2013

Today was a good day, it was spent with good friends talking about important things. Life changes and we have to roll with its curveballs. Football season officially started and my life got that much better : )

I am currently watching USC vs Hawaii and my only thought is, man it would have been cool to play at Hawaii. I really want to go to Hawaii, anyone want to spot me some cash?

http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/06/snatch-strategies.tpl
This article is on the Snatch, I'd love it if someone who knew a bit about the lift gave me their insight on this SHORT article.

A)
 emom for 7': 25 DU + 4 muscle up
 emom for 7': 6 box jump @ 30'' + 6 C2B pull up
 emom for 7': 10 wall ball + 8 pull up

My Friend, Wednesday 28August2013

There are few days out of the year that I remember a specific date. What I mean by that is remembering a day that has true significance to me. The 28th of August will always be a day that means something to me, something that means more than a sunny day closing out the end of summer. No 28th of August will ever be defined by work issues or relationship quarrels. The day to me, is a burning candle, it is one of silence and it is one not of me. It is one of the few days out of the year that I am constantly reminded that it's ok.  Life isn't bad and mine is great. What I do is not that important rather what I believe in, and at the end of the day what is life without people we care for or the people that care for us.

I am incredibly lucky to have met great people in life, some that I do not talk to on a consistent basis yet still have affected my life greatly, some have made me into the person I am today. There are also some that I can not talk to anymore, our time together was cut for whatever reason and that is all I have to hold on to. I am not very emotional, and try not to look into things too much but every so often, on the 28th of August I miss my friend. He helped me in more ways than one and I wish for my selfish sake that I could share a beer with him. I would want to know stories of his college years, and all the dumb things we would have done. Most of all I would have wanted to hug him as we used to do often. The hug meant nothing to us at the time but looking back means everything to me. It was a bond, one that only years can create along with experience that are irreplaceable. A son should never outlive his parents, and a friend should never have to notify those parents that their child has passed. It is tragic and the world keeps spinning, but my world doesn't spin the same on the 28th of August for this day my world had changed because someone close to me was taken. My friend I miss you, and I wish to meet again.


I am not posting my training today.

Tuesday 27August2013

What you do simply proves what you believe. What you do simply proves what you believe. What you do speaks so much louder than what you say. I cannot hear what you say because what you do screams over what you say.

There is a reoccurring theme here. Why does our society talk so much? I feed into I guess with this blog, but too often I hear people talking about how they are going to do something or what they want. Go out and get it, put a plan together and do some work.

A)
 PwrCln + 2 hi hang pulls + Cln below knee + Power Jerk + Split jerk (this was nasty), 7 sets
 Front squat 5x5@75-78%
 then: 12' amrap
          6 burpee box jump @ 30''
          8 StOH @ 135
          12 T2B

B)
 4k row**
 **second 1 to second 39 can be at any pace you desire, second 40 to second 60 is @ 2k pace
  score is total time (fast, less fast)

Monday 26August2013

I was up at 2am, black gold by 230am, and at the gym by 4. It was not necessarily how I wanted my Monday to go, but rolling with life's punches.

It was good to open, it's always good to open. As much as I dislike setting my alarm incredibly early, I love getting to the gym in the dark. I love the peace, the silence, the lack of bull shit and phoniness. It is great to hear nothing but the crickets, the stillness of the air, and the calm of the weights as they sit idle.

That is until I blast 2pac at 415am.

A.
 20' amrap where all exercise must be done unbroken
  3 muscle up, 5 deficit HSPU, 8 KBS@70#, 25 double under

B.
 OHS, 8-5-3-3-3-3
 SnPull 3x3@100%

C.
 20' recovery run.

Saturday 25August2013

Consistency! Breathe! Control your head! It is easy for me to coach an athlete and remind them to be consistent, breathe, and control their head but different when it comes to me. I have to constantly remind myself just as other athletes to control my head regardless of my 'emotions' at the time. The work will still be there regardless if I feel good or not, so regardless of the emotion, control the head and carry on.


Work to heavy power jerk out of rack
 then for total time:

500m row
 
     5 hang clean @ 155
    10 HSPU
    15 wall ball
     x3

600m run
 
   5 muscle up
   10 deadlift @ 225
   15 box jump @ 24''


100 double under

Friday 23August2013

Today I woke up exhausted. It's rare to wake up at 430 and have 3 training sessions before 2pm and coach/work. Today I just did some active recovery and feel better now. Tomorrow back at it.

10' run
10 walk
x3

Thursday 22August2013

Today was a good day, started at 430am even though I did not have to be up till 530, but such is life. For some reason I had an itching to go in and train, and nice little easy 20' EMOM. Cleaned up a bit, coached the morning classes followed by our usual training time of 1030. After some lifts and a short AMRAP I rested a bit, did some emails, chatted and then went back at it again at two. This type of day is incredibly rare but I went with it. I hit my 90% clean and jerk pretty easily 3x, was pumped about that and overall moved pretty well. It never hurts to get to train with Chris Spealler, a stand-up, humble, hell of a Crossfit Athlete.

I am a nerd when it comes to physical fitness, I am 100% interested and in love with finding out how to make the human body move more efficiently, with more weight, at a faster rate. Crossfit is a different breed than real sports. Crossfit athletes really do not know what is being thrown at them so there is no 'right' way of training nor is there one single way of accomplishing the same goal. I think I know one thing, then I see evidence and talk to someone else that gives me a totally different answer. The more I learn the more I don't know. All I know and can do is train, record and assess. Maintain if not promote what is already good, fix what doesn't work.


A
 EMOM for 20'
  odd', 250m row
  even', (alternated back and forth) 10 wall ball/10 HSPU, 10 KBSwing @ 88#, 25 DU

B
 C&J@90%, 3x1
 10' AMRAP Double Under
 ***EMOM player must complete 3 snatches @ 65%
 *3 snatches then as many double unders as possible, once new minute begins, player must complete 3 more snatches

C
 3 Hi Hang High Pulls + Snatch, work to heavy
 Back Squat work to heavy 3
 5 RFT: 5 power clean @ 205, 10 HSPU

Wednesday 21August2013

"Each weekend you prepare for the two weeks each summer when you wake up each day and really ride, or climb; the only imperative being to go to bed tired."

How many of you gut through the week to only live on Saturday? Why can't we find a way to live on a daily basis, maybe not for the whole 24 hours but for minutes, maybe even half hours, but what about being consistent with feeling alive and not feeling a slave to someone or something else. What do you live for? 

I had a rest day, I loved it. I walked around, I foam rolled and did some mobility. I was very fatigued from the last two days.

On a great note we got Progenex to install a juice bar and display case today. It looks phenomenal, come check it out.

Lift hard, heavy, and run fast.

Tuesday 20August2013

I am glad for a rest day tomorrow.

Attitude. I walk around (the gym mostly since thats where my life takes place) a lot and like to watch people. I watch their body language. How they say something is equally as important as what they say. Positivity to challenges that come to you is the only way to go about them. When something gets hard it's so easy to focus on the negative and incredibly difficult to push away those thoughts and create something positive out of those difficult situations. "Clearing the mechanism" Was a common line from a movie I liked "For the Love of the Game".  I have something similar that I say to my gym "control your mind", if one can control their mind; their anger, negativity, defeat, or their closed mind, they will be able to move forward that much quicker.

How is your attitude? Are you committed to being great at something? You either have it or you don't, flat as that. If you don't know you don't have it, get out of the way to the rest of us that have it.


A.
 Sn Pull+Reverse RDL+Sn+2 OHS+Sn Balance, 7 successful sets
 then: 5 StOH @ 165 + 5 muscle up x 3
 rest 3' after 3rd set
 then: 7 deficit HSPU + 7 box jump 30''
 followed by 100ft of rack lunge @ 165

B.
 PwrCln @ 70%, EMOM for 10'
then: 12' amrap
  10 KBS @ 70
  20 burpee
  40 double under

Monday 19August2013

We all love Mondays. We had long weekends; weekends where we didn't sleep enough or have enough time to wind down. It seems as if Monday's can be days of excuses or days of positive hope. To me I find they are just another day. I started doing a double training session day 4x/week, it bothers me, ha ha. I find myself incredibly lazy sometimes, other times not so much. Anyway here was today:
(I will not write warm ups or cool downs, as I use them sometimes for prehab/rehab work and no one really needs to know)

a.
 front squat 8-5-3-3-3
then: 3 RFT: 1000m row, 21 thruster @ 115#

b.
 split jerk of boxes 3x1@92%, 3x1 rear jerk work to heavy
then: 3 RFT: 800m run, 21 C2B pull up

2013 SoCal Regional

Regionals 2013

I have said it before to a few. I am unaware of why I do the Crossfit Open and why I continue on to compete at regionals all well knowing I will not make the top 3. It is a love hate relationship, one that tests my mental state more than anything physical. Competing in Crossfit has nothing to do with anyone else but me.

I hate to lose, I hate to finish 2nd, or 3rd and obviously last. With that thought I find it hard to understand why day in and day out I put so much focus on making myself stronger, fitter, and more mobile; because anyone that REALLY attempts to do that understands that it is a full-time commitment, not just 60-90' a day. But why go at it? Why go into competition knowing you do not have it? I asked myself a lot going into the 2013 Reigonal. I had a lot of change on my plate. I helped open a gym, legal matters that ensued, my mental state was off, and most of all I woke up at 230am everyday, 7x/week I was up at 230am without the ability to go back to sleep. This began 3.5 weeks prior to the weekend of SoCal regionals. Fatigue and sleep deprivation make cowards of us all, but the severity of that fatigue and sleep dep. and how we respond to it, are what define as individuals. 

I compete because it brings recognition to the gym I represent. I compete because it tests my mental state. I compete because there is an odd camaraderie shared between special people. Being an alpha male and knowing you aren't putting your best foot forward is a hard pill to swallow. In 2012 I finished 13th, and prior to my sleep issues my goal was to crack the top 10, which I felt was not out of reach. However, barley even being able to train a few times a week let alone attempt to get a double day in there prior to the event, led me to hope to be able to even warm up, let alone compete at a high level. I had trained all year, went to bed early, trained hard and smart, to lead me 4 weeks out of the competition to not sleep. It was an interesting situation, at one point I was going to opt out of it. Why do it? Why show up to something knowing I won't be able to do my best? I was throwing in the white towel. Before the towel left my hand I was convinced that it wasn't about how everyone perceived my best foot, I was brought back to reality and had to re-learn that this competition is about self-discovery. To discover how I react to adversity. Adversity was an understatement and on Saturday I found myself in the final heat with some of the top Crossfit athletes in the world. Sunday came and the lack of sleep had caught up to me; I had little energy, not enough to warm up and compete so I felt at the time not warming up would save some energy for the actual events. Thats what I did and fell down the rankings which is fine, and going into the final event my goal was just not to kill myself climbing the ropes. I didn't die, ha ha which is good, but holding onto that rope was incredibly difficult, cleaning 225 felt like a chore more than a warm up. I gave that weekend my all, and I hope despite my 25th place finish that I represented my community well. I did my best, which was 'worse'. I hated and loved every second of it. The people that supported me, that talked to me on the phone at 3am, that did everything they could made it an experience I'll never forget. 

2014 will be a great time and I can't wait to get back. I have decided to post on a daily basis, some with writings some with just the days training.