Have Barbell. Will Travel

I saw today's WOD and was somewhat excited to do it.

3 Rounds for Max reps

1 minute each station

Air Squats

Push Press 45#

Sit ups

Ball Slams 

Rest 1 minute between rounds

These are the type of WODS that I need to help improve my speed. I am cardio challenged and anything that doesn't allow me to rest too long in between movements and sets is hugely beneficial for me. I should do Fight Gone Bad style workouts more frequently. 

Unfortunately I had some issues today trying to get to the CraicHouse.  I couldn't make the noon class like I prefer so I decided to sign up for the 6:30pm class. Hoping that I could sneak out of work for an hour. It is literally only 2 minutes away from work so it really couldn't be anymore convenient, but little did I know that it could be....

Because of the holiday I had an overflow of salesweasels at my store today. Those who played hooky on Monday where seriously interfering with my ability to crush WODS today so now I wasn't going to be able to make the box at all. I settled in at work and starting sampling some potential future products. I remembered something about Caveman Steve telling me a story about how he signed up for a 6:30 class and he was glad he did because he was the only one there. I knew that Glen was pulling doubles for the past week while John was on vacation and I didn't want to make him stay any longer than he needed to.  I texted him  the following.

Me:  I signed up for the 6:30 but all these salesmen keep coming in so I can't make it. Drop off a 45# bar later and a ball and I can do it tonight.  :) 

Glen: Are you drunk or serious?

Me: Serious. Not drunk yet.

And who shows up at my store with a 45# bar and a 20# med ball, Glen, Coach Condor and Pete.  Oh shit! What did I just get myself into?

It seems at home.

After having a brief chat and a quick quality control session it was time to get to work. I knew going in that my kryptonite would be air squats. My legs suck and when I have to do a ton of air squats my knees start to kill me. I am not fan. The push presses shouldn't be too bad early on. 45# doesn't seem like much but I know with history that that shit is gonna get heavy at some point. Sit ups, should be fine and slam balls will hurt later. 


1st round 156 reps


2nd round 128 reps


3rd round 121 reps

=405 reps


I was right, my knees started to hate me. This time though I could feel them in the other rounds doing sit ups. That definitely affected me more than I thought because sit ups I can usually breeze through. Push presses were exactly as I thought. That shit got heavy toward the end.  Halfway through I had to pull a Teehan and take my shirt off. I was dying. 


This is exactly what I needed! I really can't thank Glen enough along with Coach Dizzle and Pete for showing up and making my night. This just proves to show how much of a community we are and what we are willing to do for each other. Although I was miserable at the end I was glad I accomplished it. At 9pm after sampling tequila, wine and beer. Who knows how many reps I could have gotten clean, sober and at noontime. 


Here are some videos The Condor took.


This is Glen's demonstration of Slam Balls. Priceless! By the way, Pete is a born Quality Control Expert!

Glen yells at me. If you listen I believe you hear me telling him to F off around the 8 second mark! Ha Ha

This video is only great because around the 10 to 12 second mark someone knocked a beer over. You can hear it and see me look to my left. 

This is me doing my best Teehan impression minus the chiseled body, natural good looks and speed. Bastard!

The aftermath. Miserable while everyone else enjoys a beverage. Caveman Steve randomly stopped by towards the end and was able to watch the final round of carnage.

I'm still trying to figure out if they really stopped by for my benefit or for a beer. Maybe a bit of both, but in the end we were all happy. Well everyone was happy. I was miserable. They did leave the bar behind. Do I smell future back room WODS....

Last Week's Recap

 11/11/30

I had a tough time getting back into it last week after that competition. Yes my back was still tender, but emotionally I will admit that I was bagging it a bit. I was joking around about my pussification with Johnny Deadlift. I wasn't serious about anything, but there was definitely a moment where I thought I was done with it. It sucks when you know you should be better, but your body just isn't there yet. I told him I was having a tough time focusing again. He showed me no mercy and called me out on it.  He told me to get my ass into the gym. Listen to him and he'll take care of the rest, but he can't help me if I don't come in. He's right. I am too far along to just quit. Christ I am Tony No Bread! What kind of an example would I be if I did that? He was right. Next WOD... I'm there!

Oh Shit! Box Jumps. Of course....

WOD
10 mins to complete
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Pullups
Box jumps -pause at the top
 

Rest 3mins then
 

10mins to complete
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
KB swing 53#

Situps

6:35 WOD 1

4:24 WOD 2

Total: 10:59 Rx 

Really???  Box Jumps on my first WOD back? My back isn't fully recovered yet and I was hesitate to come in and do this one, but I had to get my ass back in there. No excuses. Just take the Box Jumps slow. That's exactly what I did. 

How this WOD works is you do 10 Pullups then 10 Box Jumps. Then 9 and 9 and 8 and 8 and so on. My only focus on the first WOD besides not destroying my back anymore was to do all of the pull ups unbroken.  Unbroken! Yea Baby! The pull ups weren't hard, but sometimes I lose focus and just drop off the bar for no apparent reason. I needed to stay focused which I did. Now the box jumps started to hurt a bit toward round 7. I just took my time with them and I finished with an okay time. 6:35.

I knew I would fly through the second WOD. Kettlebell swings and sit ups are not a problem for me. I was able to transition between the both pretty well. As I got closer to the end I went beastmode and finsihed, had a cigarette, milked the cow and brushed my teeth by the time anyone else finished. 4:24.

I made up some serious time here which helped my overall time @ 10:59.  Besides my back being a bit sore. I felt pretty good after this one. It was good to get that first WOD over with and to tell my psyche to go fuck itself!  Again...

12/1/30

This one didn't look so bad. Ha Ha 

WOD
Row Your Wallballs Off
 

Row 500m
25 Wallballs
100 Double unders
25 Wallballs
Row 500

10:40 Rx

Oh the joys of rowing. Actually the last time I rowed I felt pretty good afterward. Good as in barely able to breath and flopping on the floor good, but nothing was sore afterward. Bonus!  The 1st 500m row went exactly as I planned. I took it easy and finish around 1:40. Unfortunately the second 500m row killed me! My knees swelled up and I think I added another 15 seconds to my original time. My knees and thighs were on fire for hours after. I don't think the swelling went down til the next day. I never know what's going to happen with me and the mighty rows. Less swelling would be nice though.

I was worried about the wall balls here. I wasn't sure if they would affect my back or not. Especially when the day before where those Box Jumps reignited that burning feeling in my lower back. I ended up having no real issue with these. I went unbroken on the first 25 and I think I almost went unbroken on the second 25. No pain!  

Double Unders. I felt those would hopefully seperate me from the group. Not! I had a tough time finding a rhythm early on. It was extremely frustrating. By the time I reached 50 I was pissed. It took way too long for me to get there. The second 50 I crushed. 35 and then 15 I believe. I should have had that done in a minute tops! I think I need to put a little extra time back into the DU's again. Just so I can stay comfortable with them on a consistent basis.

Overall this WOD was hard. I couldn't believe how gassed I was halfway through. Even though it crushed me it felt good as well. Trying to stay consistent here. Next time I will blow through those double unders and finish under 10 minutes. 

12/2/30

My schedule wasn't really working for me today. I texted Mr. Deadlift to see if he was around in the afternoon so I could sneak in. That didn't work so he suggested 10am. That also didn't work. Shit, I really wanted to keep this going.  Finally he just texted me, "Make Time!"

I don't know if that last text had a subconscious affect on me or not, but for some reason that may never be understood, I woke up at 5am. I tried to fall back asleep, but that was a no go. I walked around the house like zombie, trying to figure out what to do. I looked at the clock. Do you know what it said?

Make Time!

I quickly ate something, played with my son real quick and left for Glen's 6:30am class. I walked into the middle of the 5:30am's WOD and Glen just pointed to me to spot The Condor. He looks up at me on the bench and the first thing he said was, "Is that TNB? It's like seeing Santa Claus!"  Ha Ha  Lets just say that I rarely go to any early morning classes.  Afterward, Glen brings me over to the 6:30am group and introduces me.

Glen: "This is Tony No Bread. You probably won't ever see him this early ever again."

TNB: "Hi"

Glen: "Did you pull an all-nighter?"

TNB: "Not this time."

The WOD....

WOD
4 rounds – each scored separately
Max rep bench press in 1 min @ 100#'s
Sprint 400m
10 burpees

score = reps/time

post best and worst round

This WOD was brutal! I underestimated how difficult this would be.  My times for the rounds are the following. My best is is green and my worst is in red. Pretty easy to figure out.

1. 43 reps and 3:24
2. 26 reps and 3:44
3. 24 reps and 3:40
4. 21 reps and 4:05 

When I came in after my first run I could barely lift myself off the ground for my first burpee. My arms were toast form the first 43 reps. WTF did I get myself into here? I actually thought I could do more than 43 on the first set. I was flying. I think I had 30 in 30 seconds, but all of a sudden it went to shit real quick. That got heavy! I was wondering why everyone needed a spot. It's only a 100 pounds.  Geez...

As usual my runs sucked ass. Like I had on cement shoes. My times weren't that bad, but if I could ever get that leg transplant I would be all set. Fun WOD, but my chest was sore for days afterward. Glen even made us do a 5th round for shits and giggles.  Thank Glen.

By the way, I love you guys and I love Glen, but you can keep your Craic O'Dawn classes to yourselves. Way too early for me. My ass was dragging later at work. I still need a nap!

Energy Levels

Today I went to a 5:30pm class for the first time in a long time. I prefer the noon class where my energy levels seem to be at it's highest. It's funny how your body can get use to a certain time. I don't know if it's more physical than mental, but I look at it like this. There are morning people and there are nocturnal people like myself. There are people that thrive at all times of the day. Everyone is different. I used to feel great around the 5:30 to 6:30pm class, but I trained my body and mind to an afternoon mentality. Can you see where I am going with this???

I am looking for any excuse to why I wasn't better than I was at today's WOD.

3 rounds for time

200 meter run

15 Kettle Bell Swings 70#

15 Push Ups

15 Pull Ups

11:50 Rx

Who knows? Maybe it's because I expected to do better. Maybe it was because I saw the run as only 200 meters and figured it wouldn't crush me. GOAT! Maybe it's because I had to work out next to Paul T.  Maybe it was because I didn't get enough sleep. Maybe it was because the moon wasn't aligned with Pluto. Maybe it was because I stepped on that ant earlier and it gave me bad karma... 

It really doesn't matter what it was. I just didn't have it today. You know what? That's okay. You can't be a rock star every time you come out.  Not like that happens to me too often anyway. I did everything Rx. My time wasn't really that bad. Just disappointing to me, but I did it regardless of how I was feeling and that's okay.  Everything is a gain. I gained confidence in myself knowing that I can still be there without that extra something and if it was simply because my energy levels weren't there than that's fine. I will crush this WOD next time around.

P.S. I heard someone is going to the Halloween Party as TNB. I think that's fantastic. 

P.P.S. I still need a costume!

I should buy this!

Unintentional Rest Day

There is always an excuse to not workout.

The key is to find the reason why.