Wowza, big cycle for me in terms of inches lost and body fat percentage lost. I'm still incredibly sore from working out hard this week, but it seems like it is worth it thus far.
I know, I know, very boring headline. It's not easy to be consistently quippy with titles 3 times a week. Instead, I will just tell you what my workout entailed on a particular day. Here was today's workout:
Snatch: 1-Rep-Max
then:
Overhead Squat: 3-3-3-3 -3-Second Pause in the bottom of each squat
L-Hang: Accumulate 2 minutes together as a class
So I eventually worked up to a 1 rep Max of 105 for the snatch lift. I think I would have done better if my arms weren't quite so sore from Wednesday. I've been told my form is improving (though still a long, long way from perfect.)
The L-Hang had the potential to make me the enemy of the whole class. You see, in an ideal world, time for EVERYONE would stop if ANYone in the class let go of the bar. Obviously, me dropping every two seconds would have made it a very long afternoon for everyone. Luckily, the gym owners are nothing like the Kobra Ki from Karate kid (well, a little like them suppose in that they could kick my ass if they wanted to.) They let me drop and didn't hold the rest of the class to my defects.
One day though, I'll be able to keep up with everyone else. For now, I'm just happy with getting better.
Wednesday's workout was called "the JJ" and it brought torture with it.
For time:
1 Squat Clean @ 185 10 Handstand Push-ups
2 Squat Cleans @ 185 9 HSPU
3 Squat Cleans @ 185 8 HSPU
4 Squat Cleans @ 185 7 HSPU
5 Squat Cleans @ 185 6 HSPU
6 Squat Cleans @ 185 5 HSPU
7 Squat Cleans @ 185
4 HSPU
8 Squat Cleans @ 185 3 HSPU
9 Squat Cleans @ 185 2 HSPU
10 Squat Cleans @ 185
1 HSPU
Here is what it is supposed to look like:
Obviously, I am not yet capable of that level of basassery. Instead, at the instruction of Rob and Laura (the, once again, incredible owners of Crossfit South Metro) I did the squat cleans at 95 lbs and did 2 regular push-ups (which quickly devolved into knee push-ups) for every 1 prescribed HSPU.
Now, unfortunately, even that proved a little daunting for me. I got through the first 6 rounds in 15:29 before Laura came up to me and said "Nick, I think you've had enough. You should stop now, otherwise your body will be mad at you."*
*Mom, you should be happy to see I am indeed getting individual attention.
In the end, my body is still upset with me. I have achieved a level of soreness unseen since the Fran. My pecs, triceps and legs were killing me. I've decided to try to turn my pain into comedy. I've been going around the office making awful jokes. E.g. "hey, do you have any tape? Crossfit is leaving me RIPPED." Of course, the really funny part about this is that a) I am no where near "ripped" and b) my intense soreness makes the flexing that goes along with the punchline incredibly painful. I tried to find a video of someone on youtube doing these jokes, but unfortunately, when you search for "sore guy with bodybuilding jokes" on you tube mostly you just get dude who are unironically wearing comoflauge tanktops talking about nutrition. Lame.
After a hiatus on Wednesday due to pestilence, I got back to crossfit today. Here was the workout of the day:
Snatch
1-Rep-Max (I got to 105 lbs.)
To contrast, this dude, who is NOT a wuss does about 472 lbs. Holy mackerel.
then:
As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 5min of:
3 Power Snatch @ 95 5 Burpee Box Jumps
A few weeks ago, I said burpees are the worst. They are, don't worry. But Burpee box jumps add a whole new level of hell to it. Check it out:
Now, I did not jump as high, or go as fast as that guy. But I got a few rounds done. Four to be exact. Plus, I got 2 extra snatch lifts in.
Alright, alright. We are a little more than three months into this fitness adventure. Time to see how things are going.
Yes, these stats were taken a day early (on Friday) so it won't be perfect. But whatever, the point is to stay accountable and that's what I aim to do.
After a terrible week last week, I started this week off well by getting to crossfit today.
Today's workout started with finding out maximum level sumo deadlift. Here is what that looks like:
Eventually, I got up to 255 pounds on this. Not bad, I suppose.
After that, we did something a little more interesting. Today is the 6th birthday of Emma, the daughter of one of the crossfit regulars. When Emma comes into the gym, her favorite thing to do is run away from Teeko, the adorable dog who belongs to the owners and the unofficial mascot of the gym. It is adorable:
In honor of this, Rob (one of the owners) designed a workout to simulate running away from the dog in as many ways as possible. For six minutes, each participant would go as fast as possible and complete this cycle as many times as they could:
-3 Muscle ups (I'll cover that shortly)
- 110 meter run
-7 box jumps (the goal is to jump on top of a box 24 inches off the ground.)
For those of you unfamiliar with muscle ups, they look like this:
You can probably guess my reaction to people telling me to do this.
In any case, I did not do that. Instead, I did 6 ring rows and 6 assisted dips. In the end, I got through 2 full cycles, and a thrid which I completed all the steps up to 3 box jumps in 6 minutes. Tiring, but it leaves one feeling satisfied.
Sorry, I've been busy the last few days and haven't had time to update the blog.
In related news, I was terrible with cheating last week. I took the day off work last Monday to help Laura bake in her psuedo-tryout as a baker at the Aster Cafe (She did really well, they hired her to make some cakes Saturday, no word yet on how they were received though.) In any case, I ate a lot of those baked goods. Hopefully I'll be able to recover and lose some weight this cycle, oofda!
It doesn't help that I didn't get in to Crossfit last Monday or Wednesday. Unfortunately, I was otherwise disposed. Still, I got in there on Friday for maximum weight clean and jerks. Here is what it looked like:
As always, this example shows someone who is much less of a pussy than I am.
Eventually, I got up to 130 pounds. This was less than all but one of the other men in the gym, and more than all but one of the women in the gym. This middle ground is where I end up a lot; and it's not a terrible place to be.
In my quest to remain active (even on non-crossfit days) I agree to do activities that I have never tried before. Heck, at least (I figure) it will give me something to write about. With that in mind, my friend Max and I went out and played a game called JohnBall. A week or so ago, I saw the video posted below and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I posted a message on Facebook seeing if anyone wanted to get a game together, low and behold a guy I went to high school with (but hadn't seen since) has a regular game every Sunday. For those of you unfamiliar with JohnBall, it looks like this:
There are many different variations on rules, but the basic rules are always the same. Players are armed with plastic bats and they try to hit large rubber balls at other players without coming into contact with the balls themselves. It is a lot of fun, and way more tiring than one would think. I do believe I will be back at some point in the not too distant future.
As I've said before, the owners at CrossFit South Metro are amazing people, and they are doing incredible things to help me get in better shape. That said, sometimes they are absolute devil people who should just go fuck themselves.*
*Just kidding. They are much stronger than me and I fear their physical domination too much to actually talk shit about them.**
** still, fuck those dudes.
Today, they put me through hell. Given, I am an enormous (literally and figuratively) pussy (only figuratively), but this was the hardest I have ever worked, and I didn't even do the proscribed plan.
Here was the proscribed plan:
Cycle 1
Within 10 minutes:
-5 dead lifts at 275 lbs (I did 135)
-Burpees*
-5 dead lifts at 275 lbs
-Burpees
-5 dead lifts at 275 lbs
-Burpees
-5 dead lifts at 275 lbs
-Burpees
-5 dead lifts at 275 lbs
-Burpees
This is a burpee. It is awful. Especially for a large man like myself.
You get the remainder of the 10 minutes to rest until the next workout cycle.
Cycle 2
Within 10 minutes:
-5 snatch lifts* at 175 (I think... I just did the 45 pound bar)
-5 burpees
-5 snatch lifts
-5 burpees
-5 snatch lifts
-5 burpees
-5 snatch lifts
-5 burpees
-5 snatch lifts
-5 burpees
This is a snatch lift. I ended up only being able to lift the bar with no weights.
Why? Because I am a pussy. We've been over this.
You get the remainder of the 10 minutes to rest until the next workout cycle.
Cycle 3
Within 10 minutes:
-5 overhead squat thrusts at 125 pounds (I just did air squats at this point.)
- 5 burpees
-5 overhead squat thrusts
-5 burpees
-5 overhead squat thrusts
-5 burpees
-5 overhead squat thrusts
-5 burpees
-5 overhead squat thrusts
-5 burpees
For those of you keeping track at home, that is a shit load of weight lifting and 75 goddamn burpees. AfterI was done, I just sat down and tried to breath, even though it felt like my lungs refusing to inflate. I was coughing up a storm, feeling a terrible headache and generally wondering what the hell happened. Good golly, miss Molly did I feel in rough shape. Still, I'm proud I did it. I'm very much looking forward to the day when I am in shape enough to start doing these proscribed workouts.
