Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun.

WOD 1 and WOD 2

I was looking forward to today's WOD or should I say WODS.  They both looked easy, but if there is one thing you learn real quick with CrossFit is that no workout is ever easy.

WOD 1
10 min amrap
5 Pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

9 rounds + 4 reps

Rest 5 mins

WOD 2
10 min amrap
Run 200
10 KB swings 70

4 rounds + 1 run

 

Both WODS are pretty basic and are simple. This is more about pacing for myself and not about strength. My focus was on being consistent. The problem is that I get so bored mentally with these type of WODS. They seem so repetitive to me that I tend to lose focus which in turn makes me lose count and I just wait for the time to finish.  WOD 1 is only half of a benchmark workout called "Cindy" which is 20 minutes total of the same movements.  I would need a professional counter and Johnny Deadlift holding a bamboo stick whacking me every so often to keep me motivated.

WOD 2 I had nothing in the tank for. My legs where just jello from the air squats. I literally saw an old man on a lark drive past me on one of my runs. The KB swings were  a nice break. Those were pretty easy for me. I really need to work on my running. It's getting to a point where I am starting to mentally fuck myself even before I begin.

I need to buy this shirt!

Heavy Days are Here Again

I am liking it. Once again today's workout focused on strength with a mix of skill work.

Tabata Hollow Holds

Skill: Toes to Bar

Strength: Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5
Max effort bar dips in between each set

15 minute cap

Rest exactly 3 mins between efforts

 145# / 13 reps

First off anything Tabata sucks. Choosing Hollow Holds as the Tabata. Pure Evil.  I joked around halfway through them that if this was my first day at CrossFit I wouldn't come back. 4 minutes of hell! It's funny because I dread doing anything Tabata, yet I kind of like the torture. The results are great as well. Painful, but worth it.

Tabata's follow this structure:

• Push Hard for 20 Seconds
• Rest for 10 Seconds
• Repeat this Eight Times
• Totally 4 minutes

We then went right into strict shoulder presses. The last time I did shoulder presses I did a 5 x 5 which equaled 25 reps @135# for each set.  The difference with this one is that I had to increase my weight on each set along with max effort dips also.  The dips were a killer. Totally sucked any extra energy I had in reserve. My sets went as the following:

• shoulder press 5 reps @95# / Max effort dips 13 reps
• 5 reps @115# / 11 reps
• 5 reps @125# / 10 reps
• 5 reps @135# / 7 reps
• 5 reps @145# / 7 reps 

Pretty happy with my weight. 145# is a lot of weight for 5 reps. I was shooting for at least 135# and I  honestly thought that with the dips thrown in there that there was no way I could achieve that. The 3rd set was pretty tiring. I had to walk out a few times so I could focus. Some days I can get distracted pretty easily with my surroundings. When that happens I tend to fail more often then not. I'm getting better at it though. I can recognize early on when it's happening. The only question is if I can reel it in in time.

Johnny Deadlift/Playboy then threw in a 10 minute 100 Toes to Bar to finish. Ugh!  First off I could barely hold myself up on the bar after doing a 145#'s for 5 reps. Plus, I did a 100 T2B a few weeks ago with Glen. Not exactly my idea of a good time, but I welcomed it anyway. I decided to do kipping T2B the whole time. I did have delusions of attempting to finish in the time limit, but I knew between 40 and 50 that I was taking too much time. I was having a tough time hanging onto the bar. I stopped at 70 and left it at that. That's 70 more than nothing. My flabs hurt...

Still pushing for Tabata Beer Chugs...

My Kind of Day

Oh Baby! I saw today's WOD and I was psyched. I really love heavy lifting days. I do well with them and they always make me feel good about myself and today was no different.

Skill/Strength: Squat Clean

15 mins to work to a heavy single

 205#

Strength: Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1

The weight of your first Front Squat should equal your heaviest Squat Clean

15min cap

 265#

I knew that my squat clean would fall somewhere between 205# and 215#.  My 1 rep max is still at 215#. I am still chasing that elusive 225# mark. With only 15 minutes to work I knew I wouldn't have time to attempt a PR.  205# at the 15 minute mark.  I was right where I thought I would be. What was great about it was that I shared a bar with Dork and Jack.  I love lifting with those guys because they motivate me to another level. We all have our strengths, but when it comes to lifting heavy it helps to have these Manimals with ya. 

Front Squats. I made sure I stretched out my wrists well beforehand. In the past I have either forgotten or started too late. With my flexibility still not there yet, it can become quite painful without proper stretching.  My last 1 rep max front squat was 245# I PR'd it by 20#!  265#!  Oh Baby!  I was super happy. Dork and I kept pushing each other and that helped me a great deal. We both attempted 275# a few times, but failed halfway. Oh well. I really can't complain too much. Overall one of my best days in weeks. Feel motivated again.

Dork

Chipper

And that is what I did. Saw this WOD last night and I wanted to do it, but I didn't. On paper the WOD didn't look bad except for that first part . Burpees!!!!

WOD

 50 Burpees
40 Situps
30 Jumping lunges
20 Pushups
10 Pullups (Chest 2 Bar)

6:58 Rx plus

I have to say I was pretty happy with my time. I could definitely improve, but overall I was right there. I was able to blast through the first 25 burpees pretty easily and then it went to shit, but it went the way I thought it would because I know I suck at burpees.  25/6/4/5/5/5 Ugh! I hate them! I knew if I could just get past the burpees I could breeze through the rest of the WOD. The sit ups weren't bad. For some reason I stopped at 25 and I had a bit of trouble getting my momentum back. The jumping lunges weren't as bad as I envisioned. 20/10  They used to kill me back in the day.  Sometimes those Goats fall off the mountain. Who knew? Push ups were easy, but again I broke them up for no apparent reason. 10/5/5  I could have substituted Handstand Push Ups here, but I'm no there yet. Well, at least for 20 reps. I could have done them, but it would have taken forever. I did PR with 4 reps earlier in the class. Getting there. The Chest to Bar pull ups were a little tough. I gave myself two no reps as I didn't hit the bar with my hairy chest. 

I had fun with this one. My recovery afterward was awful. My cold has moved to my chest and it felt like it was going to blow up after. It burned badly. Took about 20 minutes to recover. 

File that under.... COLDS SUCK!

Fight Through!

Had a tough time at the CraicHouse today. I don't know if it's the cold I am fighting off or I'm just perpetually tired, muscle wise.  When I saw today's WOD I figured I would do well, but I just didn't seem to have it.

3 rounds
Run 200m
5 Hang Power Clean @60% of the weight used for Strength work
10 push ups
15 Toes to bar

12 min cap

 9:18 Rx

Before we did the WOD we did some strength work beforehand. 

Hang Power Clean
Work to a weight for the following:
1rep on every 3rd min for 15min

185#

Figured no problem. I power cleaned 215# the other day like it was nothing. I thought I would be able to do at least 205# for 5 reps in 15 minutes. Nope. I knew right away that today was going to be a struggle. 185# was the weight I used for the 5 reps. Not exactly heavy, but I struggled a few times with it. It's frustrating because I know I can do it. I just have to keep plugging away and work through these periods of mental/physical fatigue.  In the end I will be better because of it. This I know.

The WOD itself wasn't really that bad. For the Hang Power Cleans I used 135#. That was a light weight for me and I was able to work straight through them on each round.  My only issue with the workout was the toes to bar. I'm usually pretty good with them. I had issues with my kip today and I couldn't string together more than 5 in a row. It was really frustrating.  Someday I'll reach that carrot.

I'm ready for my close up Mr Deville.

It's been a few days since I had a chance to workout. It's good for recovery, but I am still feeling weak and sore. I fear taking too much time off as I might become a lazy sloth again. Plus, whenever I take extra time off I feel like I am starting over and I hate that feeling. When I saw today's WOD I hesitated to go, but knew I had to.

5 rounds
3 High Bar Back Squats
50% max effort Deadhang Pullups
50% max effort Dips
Rest about 2 mins between rounds.

250# plus 7 and 7

I dislike doing squats for one reason. My legs are junk for days afterward. I can already feel them getting tight and sore. I always say every time after I do them that I am going to do some squats every week or so so when I have to do them again in a WOD they won't kill me for days after. Oops! Yea, I need to make a bigger note next time. I then had an issue with figuring out my 50% max effort on deadhang pullups and dips. I have no idea what they could be so I was guessing the whole time on what my 50% effort would be.  I know I have done around 15 deadhangs and I know I have done in the mid 20's on dips before.  I was definitely a bit off as I screwed around on my last set and did 10 pull ups and 10 Dips at which I stopped for no apparent reason. At some point I will find some extra time to figure out both. I was happy with 250# on my back squats. Last time I recorded 245# for a 5 x 5 rep max.  So I was happy I chose the right weight there. It was just heavy enough for the 5 rounds. 

I stayed after class and did yesterday's WOD. 

21-15-9
  Hang Power Snatch 75/45
Box Jump

10 min Cap

6:10 RX

This WOD was more difficult for me than normal. Yes I hate box jumps, but I was too distracted by Johnny Playboy and his photo shoot. I believe lululemon was taking photos for his ambassadorship.

I had to do my WOD in the back corner where the jump ropes used to hang. I couldn't be in any natural lighting that would take away from Johnny Playboy's shoot.  It was tough to be in that corner as there wasn't much room and I was restricted with my movements with being under the pull up rig. Let's see, I banged my head off the pull up bar on a box jump( it killed) and I couldn't fully extend on some of my snatches as I kept hitting the pull up bar going up. It was a tough quick WOD, but I would like to do it again at a later date. I think I should be able to finish within 5 minutes.

It was kind of cool watching the photo shoot. I have done them before in the past when I was involved with acting/modeling.  Jack was there with me and we had a ton of fun with John and the photog.  He seemed really cool. I of course couldn't help myself. I took some photos of my own. 

Oh Baby! Nice work Bro!

Membership has it's privileges.

L Sit, courtesy of Jack.

Looking good.

Now what do you want me to do?

Take my shirt off? I excel at that!

Halloween WOD

Coming for ya!

Halloween

5 rounds for time

Run 200m

30 Box Jumps  @24'

30 Kettlebell Swings @53#

RX - Costume

30:00

I wasn't really planning on working out today. My body has been in revolt lately and for some reason it feels more tired than normal. I didn't want to miss out on today's WOD though because I thought it would be great to workout in a costume with my fellow CraicHeads. The trick was to find a costume that I could have fun with and be able to function in as well. As you can see with the above picture I chose Jason. Easy costume to put together, but I had an issue with my lower half.<---That's what she said!

Now I knew that if I wanted to really go after this WOD I would have worn shorts, but have you ever seen Jason wearing shorts? It was bad enough that I had to wear sneakers, but I sure as hell couldn't have worn boots for my running and box jumps. I ended up finding an old torn up pair of pants I had gotten from Abercrombie a million years ago. They were perfect to wear for mobility reasons, but quickly turned into a nightmare halfway through my first round. My pants kept falling down. I was tripping on them during the run, but the worst part was trying to box jump with them on.  Why was I tripping on them every two seconds? I lost 40 pounds. Guess it's not a bad reason to have. John said that the time cap was 30 minutes and I used up all the time on purpose.  I wasn't trying to break any records today. I had a lot of fun with it. 

Kept costume on the whole time. RX!

We never looked better.

Tonight was the CraicHouse's Halloween party. Like any true CraicHead party we went late and had a ton of fun. Highlights include, drinking, arm wrestling, crazy Pukie tactics, shotgunning of beers, burpee challenge, food throwing, passing out, dancing, bread eating, walking into things, more drinking, jello shots, and more. I know there are pictures out there and I have a few, but they shall not be revealed. CraicHeads only.  I don't think I got home until 4am. Love our parties.