The Outside-Inside WOD

I rolled up to an incredible sight on the sidewalk out in front of the building that houses Crossfit NYC.  People were doing the WOD right there on the sidewalk...pushups, sit-ups, squats and Supermans subbed for back extensions.  Not that I'd be embarrassed to hit the streets with them, but something about the discomfort of pavement and/or cement takes a bit of the charm out of the WOD.  Granted if you're going to do a workout that would make the everyman vomit, you might as well throw in some unforgiving hard ground for good measure.  Safe to say though, if I had the option to do the WOD inside I'd happily take what comforts the floors of the Black Box afford me.

WOD
Three rounds for time of:
Run 100 meters
50 Push-ups
Run 100 meters
50 Sit-ups
Run 100 meters
50 Squats
Run 100 meters
50 Back extensions

Kevin went over the movements and gave us the choice to do the WOD inside.  There were cones set up on opposite sides of the room to measure out the runs.  Three lengths of the room equaled 100 meters.  I knew the volume of pushups was going to be challenging, but I figured at this point if I can't crank out 150 pushups in a WOD, well, I guess I'll just have to do less :).  And that, unfortunately, is exactly what I did...but for reasons other than capacity...

3...2...1...Go! I hobbled a bit through the first run...those lunges weren't letting go of me just yet, but I wasn't in enough pain to slow my pace down.  Either way 100 meters at a time was very doable, even if I needed to warm up through the first round before the soreness subsided.  I cranked out pushups 10 at a time, swung my arms out between sets, and got through them without much trouble.  Round after round the runs got better, the reps more fluid, and I definitely hit my stride, but I realized my pace wasn't to fantastic...

As the clock was in the 50s and I was starting the third round, I did the math and I simply didn't have time to finish and make it to work on time if I did 50 reps of each exercise.  Kevin told us before the WOD started that we could scale to 35 reps, and I didn't consider this for a second until now.  So I figured that's just how it had to be...rounds 1 & 2 RX'ed, round 3 scaled...not a big deal...still more than 500 reps total, and one hell of a workout.

WOD Time: 39:43

A big thanks to Anthony & Tim for continuing their tradition of doing the exercises alongside me for my last round, even though their workout was already done. Shout out to the street people…I’m sure there were plenty of Paleo-friendly snacks on the sidewalk no matter which way you turned your head. If you looked hard enough I’m sure you could see the remains of my quadriceps, which have been MIA ever since International Lunge Day.

And of course, thanks to Kevin P for allowing me to demonstrate back extensions going into minute 40 of my WOD, so the new folks can see what it looks like to lose control of your form, your balance, and your glands after 540 reps and running a 1/4 mile.

Home WOD #1

So it's been a couple of days and I have been on the foam roller, doing light (non-hip) mobility work, and taking Wobenzym regularly, and it's been working well.  I feel my hip far less than I did on Tuesday, and it seems I just had to give it some time.  So hmmm...a Saturday night at home...just me, my Abmat and a random crazy thought...

HOME WOD!

What better way to get back in action than a little home-grown Crossfit programming?  Maybe some air squats...yeah just air squats...and a lot of em...like 100 or 200...yeah that'll do it.  Then I called Scott in Miami, and he had the great idea of throwing in some situps.  Ahh...a couplet...GENIUS I thought (I'm a little slow on weekends).  So here it is....

Home WOD #1
4 Rounds for time
50 Air Squats
25 Situps

The tough choice was selecting the heavy metal channel or the hip hop classics channel...hip hop won, as it seemed they were in the midst of an LL Cool J-a-thon and that seemed like the right prescription for this WOD.  Got my towel laid out, filled the water bottle and it was go time...


3...2...1...GO! Man I have to say squats are my thing...I guess I violated the enduring rule in CF programming, which says when programming your own workouts, program your "Goats", or your absolute weaknesses.  Not this time folks...I was crankin out squats like they were nothing.  At less than 2 minutes per exercise I had a good pace going...the situps were like nothing (the Abmat really really helps).  I guess I'll program 50 of those per round next time.  But before I knew it I was cranking out the last round...20 unbroken squats, then sets of 10...unbroken situps and I was done...


WOD Time: 14:55

Felt great!  No hip issues, and so easy to get a solid sweat on...SO much better than surfing the web, blogging (sorry) or watching the tube.  Seems this might be a trend on Saturdays if I have any more three day weeks at the Black Box.  The jury's out on whether it'll make sense to do a home WOD if I've done four days already.  But this was a good one, and I'm preparing for mad quad burn tomorrow.  Hopefully by Monday I'll be fresh and ready to go...

Dip Fail

I didn't realize someone brought in a camera today

No problem...

I come back from a peaceful weekend with family...resting nicely and getting my legs back from last week's crushing, and I casually check the main site for my nice little Monday...HOLY SHIT!

For time:
75 Squats
50 Pull-ups
20 Ring dips
50 Squats
35 Pull-ups
15 Ring dips
25 Squats
20 Pull-ups
10 Ring dips

Um...OK then.  I guess there's some scaling in order for these pullups.  I mean I'm really happy with my progress lately, but 105 of them is a bit too big of a chunk to bite into.  I talked to Kevin about scaling and he sliced them down to 35, 20 and 15.  And I wasn't expecting the ring dips to be a walk in the park, but Kevin talked about scaling to box dips, and I figured I would give it a try at the RX'ed reps...I was so distracted by the number of pullups the dips weren't even a concern, even though they would end up being my undoing...

We warmed up with some standard stuff...some GHD situps (hadn't done these in quite a while...ouch!) and some good mornings with a PVC pipe.  MAN these were amazing for the hamstrings...I need to do more of them...felt great to get that heavy of a stretch with such a light movement...an excellent addition to my newfound mobility pallette.  Anyway we went through a couple of rounds, got set up and Kevin started the AC/DC...

3...2...1...GO!  The air squats were completely fine.   If there's an exercise in Crossfit I can handle any reasonable amount of reps in it's air squats.  I knew these wouldn't be a problem, especially after three days rest.  I broke up the pullups into groups of 5 at a time and rested about 20-30 seconds inbetween...maybe about a minute for the last two sets...the dips were TOUGH.  I broke those up too and got through the first couple of rounds.  By the last round of air squats I caught some wind and did them unbroken, but I really shredded myself during those pullups...15 very tough ones, and then I went to shit on the dips.  Had to do them one at a time, and I finally (with the entire gym already done and cheering) got full extension on the final rep...

WOD Time: 21:42

What can I say...I suck at bodyweight stuff.  I still have a lot of body weight to lose, so at some point the equation will flip and I'll be able to manage exercises like these a lot better.  For now I'll plow through and live to fight another day.

Peace...

Cindy - 2011-02-22

Today's WOD caused a major conflict for me, because I love deadlifts and would love to see where I'm at for sets of 3. But I've never done Cindy before, and I just had to set a benchmark to see where I'm at for that workout.  I missed it on Monday (we had the choice between Cindy and Mary), and as soon as I saw it on the schedule I knew I HAD to make up Cindy.  It seems to be one of the quintessential Crossfit workouts.  Firebreather Matt Chan says that Crossfit comes down to pushups, pullups & squats, so in a way Cindy is a true marker of your Crossfit metcon performance.

WOD
"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

I warmed up with four sets of three handstand pushups, with three abmats under my head.  I'm feeling great about these, and hopefully next time they show up in a WOD I can do them with some depth.  We'll see...
I also did some stretches with the PVC (shoulder rolls, shoulder dislocates, overhead squats).

Sara and I discussed where I'm at with pushups, as I still have to scale to knees.  I can do like 5 actual unbroken pushups, but my belly still drags me down and they're really brutal to try RX'ed.  So for something like Cindy I didn't have much choice if I wanted to get through multiple rounds.  Also Sara was saying that 10 rounds was a realistic expectation given my recent gains (isn't she always the optimist ;)  I was also planning on scaling the pullups using the 1.5 bands I've been using recently.  i wasn't anticipating a problem with the air squats, as I was actually not in any sort of leg pain for the first time in a while.  I crush squats under these conditions, and today was no exception.

3...2...1...Go!  I was doin pretty well out of the gate, and if pullups weren't involved I feel like I might have actually gotten 10 rounds.  But after the third or fourth round it was really challenging to get more than one pullup at a time.

Result: 7 Rounds plus 4 Pullups

I'm happy, even though it would have been nice to put up double digits.  Sara asked me what my Cindy number was in Elements, and I remembered that we did a half Cindy, and I couldn't get past the first round of pushups.  So if I was looking for perspective, there it is.  Progress is good, and today showed that my few months of Crossfit have paid massive dividends.

Peace...

What Rhymes with Phlebitis?

This is what I look like with Phlebitis

So last spring I was the shit.  I strutted my stuff around Planet Fitness like I owned the place.  I mean after all I was back up to an hour a night (and sometimes each morning too) on the elliptical machines.  But in April I kicked it up huge and went for those vertical super-motherfucker elliptical machines that made you look like you were rock-climbing your way through a seizure.  One night I finished 30 minutes on one of those bad boys and the pain in my knee was just mixed into my standard post-"workout" euphoria...that is, until I went to the doctor a few days later to explore the three bumps around my knee and calf that were hot to the touch.  Yep...Phlebitis. An inflammation of my veins that meant an increased chance I could end up with a blood clot.  Turns out all I could do (once they confirmed it wasn't in my "deep system", which would be bad) is wear compression stockings (think Tim Curry in Rocky Horror) for a few weeks and hope for the best.  I asked the vascular doc if the benchmark exercise had anything to do with it and he was certain that it didn't.

Fast forward to last week.  I'm coming off a week where I was near-debilitated from 225 air squats in a kick-ass WOD. I recover just in time for three epic days of snowboarding in Utah.  Just before the trip I discover a nickel-sized bump on my left calf.  By day three my quads are pretty cooked, so I take it easy and do half the runs I did the previous two days.  Regardless, the trip leaves me with some serious pain, mainly in my left calf. Fast forward to Saturday night (after seeing the doctor on Friday). Yep...easy to figure this one out.  I have Phlebitis again, albeit far smaller and more superficial than last time. So I promised myself that I would listen to my body and give it the time it needed to heal.  After skipping today's skill day (it would have been my first day back at CF in over a week) I tried some air squats tonight and it seems while the bump is there the pain in my calves has subsided.  I'm going to try tomorrow's WOD and see how it goes.  If the pain comes back at all I might just cash out with some pushups, pullups or something else that's not leg-intensive.  I know this life change is a marathon not a sprint, but it's hard not to at least get back in there and make SOMETHING happen.

A random aside...as part of the triage checkin at the hospital they asked me to hop on the scale to get a weight.  This turned into a pretty big moment as I haven't weighed myself since last spring. While that weight was 320 pounds I easily packed on 10-20 more before starting Crossfit in November. So here it went...the moment I was sparing myself as I realized that weight isn't nearly as important as the size of my pants (which it's not).  But lo and behold, even considering that I'm 4-5 inches smaller around the waist, and I know I'm so much stronger, I couldn't help but get pumped when she read off the number:

298.5!!!!

Holy shit I haven't weighed 2-something in YEARS. What a crazy milestone. It feels amazing to have come so far in such a short time.  And considering what must be significant muscle gain I feel GREAT about losing that much weight.  I've recently been thinking about tightening up my Paleo into the Zone but it seems what I'm doing is working well enough for now.  I'm maintaining probably about 90% Paleo, with the other 10% being the whey & casein protein I eat for recovery, as well as balsamic vinaigrette 1-2 times a week (many of my lunch salads have olive oil & balsamic vinegar).  I guess it's time for a post about diet sometime soon so we can break it down and maybe I can get some feedback.  For now I coast back into the Black Box tomorrow on a cloud.  This stuff is working so well.  I hope my veins hold out until I drop another 75 pounds or so :).

Peace and Love to you all...

Squat...Me Worry!

I came into today feeling pretty damn good.  I hadn't done a decent volume of squats in a while, but I figured if I could power through the 100 burpees last week I could make this happen.  I think out of everything I attempt at Crossfit, air squats are my strongest exercise.  I knew once I hit the third round it would take some serious focus to power through the last 50 or so.  So I was a bit worried about hitting all 225 of them.

Warmup
Handstand (held for about a minute...flirted with the pushup while I was there)
10 Jumping Ring Dips
Frog Stand (20 seconds)
Death Stretch (ouch!)
Hip Stretches

Pullups - So Sara tells me she knew I got 1/2 a pullup last week because she reads my blog...<blush>. She asked me to set up the band so I could show her.  I got halfway up a couple of times.  Then she grabs another band and puts them together.  BOOM! I did 3 or 4 pullups with multiple bands...kind of surreal to be traveling over the bar...even if it did take a truck tire's worth of rubber to get me up there.  Gotta start somewhere...we talked about scaling the 12 muscle ups for the WOD (see below), and she decided on 24 jumping pullups and 12 banded ring dips per round.  Before I knew it, it was go time...

WOD
Three rounds for time of:
12 Muscle-ups
75 Squats

I cranked through the first round without much problem.  Sara said I had the best squat in the room (she's a good motivator), and she also was on me to keep going whenever I was hunched over, feeling I couldn't crank out another 40, 30, 5 ...whatever it was.  A couple of the guys helped me through round two.  When I finished the squats one of them thought I was done and he yelled "time".  He obviously isn't familiar with my pace ;-).

In round 3 I did the jumping pullups 1-3 at a time, and slopped my way through the ring dips (likely a couple of sketchy reps in there for sure).  Then came the final 75 squats.  I was really giving it everything I had and I didn't know how I was getting through this one.  I hit 25 and I really didn't know where the other 50 were going to come from.  I had the guys on either side of me eggin me on and Sara in the middle...she was relentless.  The problem (at the time anyway) was that she's seen what I'm capable of.  So when I came up from 5 more and hunched over she just wasn't havin' it.  I just kept chipping away...5 more, 10 more, 3 more, etc.  Finally I got there...

Time: 23:09

I know I'm still miles away from RX'ing an entire WOD, but it feels great to be cranking out these high numbers of reps.  I'm hitting milestones left and right, and it feels amazing!

It's snowing already...again.  Looks like another shovel WOD is waiting for me at home, and with tomorrow being a rest day I guess it's good timing that I'll have to wake up and shovel, missing yet another Crossfit day so my driveway doesn't end up a sheet of ice. C'est la Vie...

Psyched for Thursday!

Vacation WOD #2 - Morristown

Back to Morristown I went for my first WOD since last Friday (4 days off inbetween).  There were easily 15-20 people this time, but everyone was able to find their own space to make the WOD work.

After some PVC stretches and talk about form, the warmup was:
(2 Rounds)
5 Air Squats

1 Bergener Warmup (45-lb bar)
10 Overhead Squats (" ")

We then did some minor pullup work to stretch out the shoulders, and then got set for the WOD.

WOD (as RX'ed):
(3 Rounds)
4-Minute AMRAP, 1 Minute Off
6 Clapping Pushups
8 Snatch Balances (95 lb.)
10 Lunges in Place (95 lb.)

I scaled the weight to 65 lbs. for my first two rounds.  Got through 3.5 rounds before I basically hit the wall.  I don't know if it was the extra day or two off vs. what I'm used to, or just my inability to really get the snatch balances happening with weight of any significance...but I felt like I was chasing it the whole time.  I was actually happy to crank out an extra half a round once I completed the third...

Either way, I showed up, which is saying something I guess, but it definitely wasn't me at my best...maybe next time...still very happy to keep it going during vacation.


Peace...