Feeling Good

I've gotten a great many compliments as of late regarding my attitude change.  It's amazing the influence you can have when you pull back the bullshit and move toward the good. The biggest thing I have learned was that I couldn't control what happened to me, but I could control how I reacted to them.   <----Truth    I'm sure there are some people who read this and might not really believe my good intentions yet. I guess only time will prove them otherwise.

I am starting to see how important goal setting can be towards ones progression. Regarding life, work, gym, or anything. When you set yourself a goal you conscious and your subconscious begin to work together to achieve it. You start to figure out ideas and plans to target that goal. Obstacles come up, but you get around them. Your subconscious is so powerful that the more you remind yourself or your goal the more it seems your mind will work towards achieving it. Set goals people. I demand it from you. Just make sure they are specific. Anything vague will not be enough. You need to have details.

I spent the better part of this weekend working. I did however have a chance to blow off some steam with some CraicHeads on Saturday night for a surprise party for one of our members. I found myself not really drinking too much as I have tried to stop drinking for only special occasions. It seems to be working as of late. I think I'll keep it up. Gotta get RIPPED!  :)

I was happy with today's workout. It was a complex of 3 Front Squats and 3 Push Presses. I was unsure about my legs a bit since it has been a while since I squatted. I was actually more worried about the push presses as I know I have lost some strength as of late. I ended up finishing at 195#'s. I was more than happy. I actually felt like I could have done 205. I was dialed in today, but I wanted to make sure I ended on a high note. It's important for me at this point to leave the gym with a positive outcome then a negative. Down the road it might be a bit different, but I am happy I got after it today.

I can't wait for tomorrow.

Take That!

As I sit here in my office I start to think about yesterday. Easing my way back into things takes a lot of focus. I need to constantly remind myself why. I haven't revealed to many my reasons, but I have them clear in my head and that is what motivates me. I was walking around work last night and I kept saying to myself, "I'm only limited by my excuses." Is there anything else I need to say? I think not.

I can take a few things from yesterday and build off of them. I did the workout "Grace" in the afternoon. This has always been my favorite workout because I can just lift heavy shit. 30 reps for time of clean & jerks @ 135#.  I was a little worried coming into it because I haven't lifted like this in a while. My previous best time was 3:58. I mentally prepared myself to not be upset if it was worse. I fully expected it to be. Um... 3:14. A 44 second PR. Really? I haven't done shit in months and I PR. I'll leave it at this. As I was walking out Johnny Beefcake asks me if I had a PR. I said yes. His response, "Imagine if you were in shape." That was all I needed to hear.

I did something last night that no one would have ever expected. I got home around 11pm and figured if I was going to stay up late I might as well take advantage of it. I'm nocturnal by nature so lets get some work done. I mapped out 3 miles around my apartment  and proceeded onto my task. Yes, maybe the planets were aligned correctly. Maybe it was a little providence. I don't know. All I knew was that I had to get it done.

The run itself wasn't bad. At no point was I winded. Which I was even more shocked about. Besides my lower back raring its ugly head I was happy. Except for that giant fucking rat that jumped out of nowhere. I chased that motherfucker down like it was bacon! Shit, I gotta go. My office is out of toilet paper.

Till next time... cock punching my way through the day!

New Beginnnings

Things have been tough for me the last few months and I will admit that I checked out more often than not. In many facets of my life I found it hard to stay motivated. Well guess what? The pity party is over with. It's time to move on and "Get Living."

I recently came back from The 2012 CrossFit Games. Holy Shnickes! It was freaking insane. Between the WODS, the competitors, tent city, the fans, athletes and CrossFit celebrities, I couldn't get enough of it. I would like to talk more about this at a later time, but just listen to me for once. Get your ass there. It's an experience you will not regret. Unless you're a globo gym rat who doesn't like to stare at insanely fit women and men. These individuals give it a 110% every time they are out there. It's a sport that hasn't even reached it's pinnacle yet. It's only going to get bigger. Be a part of it or get the fuck out of the way!

What I was more shocked with than anything was the number of people who knew me or of me out there. More shockingly were the amount of athletes, the names of CrossFit who knew of me. It was fantastic meeting them and it was great to make even more contacts and establish relationships even further.

I love CrossFit and if there was a regret I had over the last few months was that I let it get away from me. No more. As someone said out there. I thought you were a bigger national presence then you are. You're wasting an opportunity.

I am in the early process of trying to figure things out. I'm focusing on myself and my body. Going to get back in shape and crush these WODS again. Learn and absorb as much knowledge as I can and hopefully by this time next year I will be helping people with their journey.  I love CrossFit and it's been good to me the past year. I just lost sight of it. I know my love for it can help someone else.  I've reached people already. Lets make it bigger!

Stay tuned...

I know this will get your attention!

Where Have I Been?

Actually I haven't been anywhere. Just lost track of updating for a week. Trying to move forward in my life so some things had to take a backseat. Not my WODS though. I was pretty consistent with that at least. Instead of boring you with everything I did last week lets just say that I have continued to make progress mentally during my workouts. I think that is the most important thing for me right now. More so then ever. My mental capacity seems to be growing and I see it transferring over to my everyday life.

CrossFit is about many things. Working out, nutrition, community, friendships, but there is also that mental toughness you can achieve. Whether you come in with it or not. In the end you can make huge gains in CrossFit and more importantly life if you open yourself up to it. I seem to be making that transition. Albeit slowly, but it's rising faster than usual.  It's up to you as an individual whether or not you can achieve this. Some people are born with it, some people need to find it.  I once had it a long time ago. It's on it's way back. I look forward to tomorrow and I haven't said that in a while.

Quick note. 12.3 sucked ass! Box jumps and I do not get along at all. Kills my lower back. I had a goal of 7 rounds, but figured I would do 6 plus. Back tightened up and I fell 7 reps short of 6 rounds. I thought about doing it again, but I chose not to because I didn't want to torture myself for another 18 minutes. 12.4 is right around the corner and it will more than make up for it.

Today's WOD...

5 x 5 Deadlifts - same weight

365#

All I gotta say is that on the 5th set that shit got heavy. Basketball and 12.4 later! Oh!  Here is our latest montage at the Craichouse...

.

This shit should inspire you!

12.2 in the books

WOD 12.2 for the Opens...

As many reps as possible in 10 minutes

75 pound snatch, 30 reps

135 pound snatch, 30 reps

165 pound snatch, 30 reps

210 pound snatch, as many reps as possible <---Yea right!

60 reps

In my head going in I imagined 70 reps. After watching a few people on Wednesday night I quickly learned that anything over 60 would separate most people. My new goal, 62.

I have snatched 175 pounds before so 165 shouldn't be a problem. That was until I realized that after doing the first 60 reps I'd have lifted 6300 pounds already.  Yea that first one at 165 should be real easy. Actually the first rep transitioning from 75 pounds to a 135 pounds was brutal. That's a 60 pound jump. Awful!

The first 30 reps at 75 were pretty easy. I broke in up 20 5+5. I thought about going straight through, but I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. I don't remember what my split time was, but it was pretty fast. Like I mentioned earlier, that first rep at a 135 pounds was awful. I was genuinely shocked at the weight difference at first. I managed to make my way thought 135 at a steady and consistent pace. No failed reps! I was pretty focused and I had completed my 30 reps at the 9 minute mark. That left me with just enough time to get my two reps. Well, that didn't work out the way I had hoped. 

My first rep I brought it just above my shoulders and tried to push press it up.  No way that was happening after everything I just lifted. That left me with one more chance. Pretty much the same thing happened on that one as well. My body was exhausted at that point. I had planned on split snatching my 165's, but in the heat of the moment I forgot. If I could have gotten underneath those two attempts I might have had both reps. C'est la vie. 

Coach Glen pulled me aside afterward and loved how focused I was. He was happy that the snatches didn't get into my head which it can easily get into any one's. Even some of our better CraicHeads let it creep into their heads. He was impressed that I didn't do my walking around the bar bullshit,  I didn't get angry, cry :),  no kneeling down at the bar, any of my bad WOD traits that slow my times up. We were talking about how recently I have been able to go straight through on most WODS of late. My focus seems to be there along with my cardio. Part of that is definitely basketball on Wednesday nights. Every week I can see a difference with my breathing. Also, with my ability to focus at the gym. I have been able to shut out my bad habits because I have so much shit going on in my head with my personal life. I said to Glen, "I've been dealing with so much shit, there's not enough room left in my brain to worry about the WODS." My workout should be a chance to tune everything out. Hopefully I can continue to build on this going forward.

Recovered

I took a personal day off on Monday even though I really wanted to do the WOD.

Christine

Row 500

12 Deadlifts @bodyweight

21 Box Jumps

IOU

At some point I would like to sneak this in. I don't mind rowing and deadlifts are in my wheelhouse. The only issue here would be my box jumps. They are improving, but they still suck. I wanted to hit this mainly because it reminded me when I DNF'd at the Providence competition.  Tweaked my back transitioning from deads to box jumps or on a box jump. Not really sure. Mostly my pride on that one. Thank God for my boy  Bill Mello who hooked me up with an ice pack. Saved the day. I still have it if you want it back Bill.

Tuesday's WOD

Strength: 5x5 Front Squats-same weight for all sets

Skill: 20 Toes to bar between each set

185# Front Squat

Toes to Bar

Last time I did 5 reps of front squats it was, where else? Providence competition and that was at 215#. I was toying with 185# or 205#. I did a few reps of each and felt a bit tired so i chose 185#'s. Afterward I felt like I could have gone a bit heavier on the front squats, but I was happy with the weight regardless. Shit does get heavy after a while. Usually around the 4th set my wrists finally get loose which makes this movement a bit easier. 

The Toes to bar are coming along nicely. I have been able to do them for a while now. My flexibility sucks and I really shouldn't be able to do them, but my kip more than makes up for it. I tried to do the first 20 unbroken, but I lost my grip going into my 17th rep. I was pissed! The next two sets I broke up into 10's. The 4th set I broke into 5's and then I struggled a bit on my 5th set. Got them done though and as I type here 2 days later I can still feel the effects when I move or laugh. 

Wednesday's WOD

21-15-9

Row for calories

Pull ups

5:50 Rx

I actually did pretty well with this one. I kept moving the whole time. The only issue was and it was a big issue were that my hands were toast form the day before's T2B. I could barely grip the bar doing warm ups. I knew then that I was going to have a tough time. With a workout like this I would have tried to do butterfly pull ups, but with my grip issues I thought it would be best to stay with a kip instead. I just didn't have the hand strength.  

The rows were easy peasy and the first set of pull ups were done with 16 reps and 5. I was mad because I know I can do 21, but what can you do. The rest of the WOD went along like you would imagine. Was pretty happy with myself at the end even with my grip struggles. I'll just have to hold some cold beers later for recovery.

I played basketball again last night and I am really enjoying it. My shot was off a bit more than usual. I made plenty of baskets underneath, but outside... only a few. I couldn't get there early enough for the shoot around. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! So instead I rebounded, boxed out and basically pushed people around and cleared paths for my teammates. Gotta use this strength somehow.

Stopped by the CraicHouse afterward to watch and see what WOD 12.2 was for the Opens.  This one might be in my wheelhouse. We'll discuss this later.

On a side note. TNB might be going global soon. Getting named dropped on crossfit radio tonight on the Crossfit Journal. Check it out on journal.crossfit.com   More to come.

Burpees

After my extended rest I finally hit Open WOD 12.1

7 minutes as many reps as possible

Burpees

80

So I ended up doing exactly what I thought I would do. Yes, in my mind I wanted a 100, but with the way my legs are and my lower back I wasn't really surprised with this number. It was truly 7 minutes of hell. Not a fun WOD at all. It literally crushed everybody. Even the mighty Teehan broke his cherry on this one. 

I could see why people attempted this a few times. There is always ways to improve and also game play it as well. For days I had worked out a couple of strategies and it worked, but I just couldn't get it going. In my mind I knew I could do better and I contemplated doing it again the next day. The only problem would be that my body would probably tell me to Fuck Off. Since that is a term I have grown accustomed to as of late I decided not to listen to my body this time and I dragged myself in there the next day to attempt it again.

When I walked in Johnny Deadlift asked what I was doing there.  I told him and he said that no one has ever done better the next day without rest. Gee, that was comforting. I said I might surprise ya. Inside I was regretting my decision to come in. In my head I thought that I would be lucky to hit 70 with the way I felt and past experiences watching other people attempt back to backs this week.  At that point I just decided to do it and chalked it up to extra cardio. Hey it can't hurt right?

7 minutes as many reps as possible

Burpees

83!

Oh baby! Not only did i survive, but I actually did better. Yes it's only 3 reps, but if you've done this workout those 3 reps aren't easy to get. I used a different strategy here, but basically I just wanted to keep moving as much as possible. Dare I say that I might be tempted to try this WOD from time to time?!?!?! For once I proved John wrong. It might have been my first victory over him besides drinking for time.

One final thought. I will never, ever, ever complain about burpees in a WOD again. After doing this twice 10, 20, 30 burpees in a WOD is nothing now. Thank you headquarters!

p.s. Still need to get that t-shirt made.