Been having a rough go of it lately. Everyday routines have been tough. John got on me earlier this week to get my ass in gear. To lose myself for 1 hour a day. He's right and so I did. It helps for a bit. Just have to keep moving forward.
Today's post is dedicated to Glen though. Glen has been busting my balls to get my blog back on track. So here I stand @ the CraicHouse typing this post while Glen devours another dozen eggs. Soon we'll be crushing back room beers again my friend! Until then I'll keep up the pace up for you.
WOD
50 Lateral Bar Hops
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlifts
PVC Overhead Squats
50 Lateral Bar Hops
Rx weight 185#
6:06 Rx
I really wanted to come under 5 minutes, but those last 50 jumps were brutal. My legs were literally jello. The Deads went about how I planned. I breezed through them with ease and the pvc overheads were fine. Easy with no weight. Now I know how Johnny Deadlift feels when he overheads 135# for reps. All day baby!
Been a relatively good three days @ the CraicHouse Yesterdays WOD was a 5 rep max Thruster. I ended up doing 176#. Sic. I really wasn't sure where I would end up considering I loathe Thrusters and along with my 1 rep max being @ 195# I figured I was in for a long hour. Now I am excited to see where my 1 rep max might be at.
The third WOD I hit this week was 6 min AMRAP 10 KB Swings @ 70# and 10 Push Ups. Brutal. My total was 10 full rounds plus 1 rep. My hands and arms were toast. I was really happy that I did all the swings unbroken. Felt pretty good.
Until next time, please remember if you drop a piece of meat on the ground I will still eat it!
I had a pretty busy day planned today and I knew I was going to have trouble getting into the CraicHouse. I tried to make arrangements with John to see if I could come in at another time. Unfortunately we couldn't make any times work. Ballbag! I really wanted to hit this one. Then a miracle happened. John and Glen swung by after they were done at Craic with 2 plates and clips for the bar Glen left behind from a few days ago. It was 7:31 at night and it was on like Donkey Kong!
Malcomb warm up. One beer and go time! Who needs to get loose?
I didn't have any clothes with me so I did it in my jeans which felt a bit awkward. Of course halfway through I pulled a Teehan. If there is one thing in CrossFit that I am getting better at at a furious rate is the Teehan Pull Off!
I gotta tell ya, this one was tougher than I thought. First off it was later at night as opposed to my peak time of afternoon. Secondly, I had zero room for movement. Well, I had just enough room for the range of motion I needed. There was no moving around or dropping of the bar uncontrollably. Inches either way and I would be banging into something. My space was limited, which could work for me or not.
I have a habit of kneeling down and resting in front of the bar. It usually means I am mentally dogging it as opposed to resting. Glen always calls me out on this and did so before we even started. Everyone was on a tight schedule and Glen clearly stated that if I knelt down at anytime he is just walking out. He is also keeping the time and had to leave within 9 minutes of the workout. Lets just say that there was no room for fucking around.
I banged out the first 25 right off the bat. Glen kept saying you're not stopping till you hit 25. Sometimes when I have number in my head I cut myself short of potentially maybe doing more than that target goal. Did that make sense? I actually felt like I should have gone to failure and then started again. Who the hell knows? I suck at most of these things so who am I to game play on movements I am not efficient enough to wipe my ass with.
Regardless, I gave 100% in that moment and I cannot thank Glen and John enough their friendship and their desire to make me better. Friendships aside, their devotion pays more dividends then they probably will ever know. You're a fool not to become a part of this family!
Here are some videos of my rather sloooow "Randy" It was kind of funny. John sent me the vids and I responded back with mucho appreciato <--- TNBlish It was funny. I said to John, "Well even though I suck, at least I look good." He responded with a new TNB motto...
"Look better while sucking!" Ha Ha My own self deprecating humor got the best of me here.
B.C. is now B.T. <-- cryptic! I was looking good till I realized I was working out!
If there is one thing that I always excelled at right away when I came to CrossFit it was lifting heavy shit. Throwing around hundreds of cases a week at my work has probably help build build that foundation. Almost out of the gate I was rather shocked at the amount of weight I could throw around. I never really lifted when I was younger and when I saw Olympic movements on TV it was always intimidating. Plus they make that shit look easy. By no means am I the next Louie Simmons, I prefer to have a neck.
I'm gonna hire him to crush Teehan
Today's WOD:
5 Rounds for time:
5 Bench Press
5 Deadlift
Increase Weight each Set
Rest as Needed Between Sets
BP 225 / DL 375
Oh Baby! I felt strong today. I don't know if it was because of the extra rest or the aligning of the planets, but I had it today. I knew that my 5 rep max on the bench would be at 225. I have done that rep scheme twice recently and I always struggle with the 5th rep at that weight. This time I had no problem. Probably could have gone a bit heavier, but I wasn't sure. Next time I will attempt to establish a new 5 rep PR.
My Deadlifts felt incredibly strong. I played around on the board trying to figure out my sets with the weight. I came up with 2 plans depending upon how strong I felt after the 2nd set. My main goal was to take the board. Sorry Johnny D. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out where my 5 rep max would lie. My 10 rep max was @315# but that was a while ago. When I finished @375# I knew I had more in me. I am thinking that I might have been able to hit 395# if not real close to it. I told John afterward that I could have PR'd my 1 rep max that night. 425# I wanted to try, but after 25 reps and a lack of time I really couldn't. I just hope I feel this way again soon so I can attempt it.
Good day. With no TapeFactory anymore and Teehan as a no show I had the board. Dave C put up a strong number as well @345# Sic! All I could think of was I was in a Conan the Barbarian Movie. This scene kept running through my head.
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 presseswere 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....
So today I finally made it back into the box. It has been over a week. 11 days to be exact. That is an eternity for me. Besides when I tweaked my back this has been the longest layoff I've had besides those multiple years leading into CrossFit when I became a manatee.
I wish I was this cute
I knew coming in today my ass would be handed to me a bit. My cardio sucks anyway so with the extra time off I knew I could potentially be miserable. I haven't exactly been taking care of myself too well as of late. I haven't been able to get enough sleep. My diet has been shit. I'm not eating bad, but more of a lack of eating. I could tell something was up. My body has been in slow motion as of late and I feel like I have lost some muscle. I had to get my ass back in there. I blame Johnny Deadlift for going on vacation. Hey, I gotta blame somebody. He always lights a fire under my ass!
Don't Fart
Todays' WOD,
Row 250m
21 Box Jumps 24in
21 KB Swings 53#
Row 250m
15 Box Jumps
15 KB Swings
Row 250m
9 Box Jumps
9 KB Swings
Row 250m
13:34
I started off well, but somewhere between my first 21 KB Swings and my 2nd Row I got wicked dizzy. I wouldn't say I was seeing stars, but I felt like I was gonna pass out. I think the lack of care toward my body caught up to me today. I also forgot my water bottle so I had to go into the bathroom and drink from the faucet. That didn't help much. I got the sweaty pale look going on. It sucked. A WOD that I realistically should have finished within 10 minutes took longer than anyone. I was hugely disappointed, but wasn't surprised. These layoffs tend to do more harm to me than good. I felt like I got punched in the face.
I'm sorry for being a lazy bum. I promise I will start updating again. I got my hands on a macbook air and I am now available to write with ease as often as I want. Be afraid! Be very Afraid!
Last Saturday I went over to CrossFit Florian for their Grand Opening. I was hesitate with my back still being pretty tender. I knew it wouldn't be easy when I saw the WOD.
3 Rounds
21 Box Jumps
15 Thrusters @95#
9 Pull ups
I don't remember my time maybe 10 minutes
I knew I would have some issues with my back with those fucking box jumps mixed in with thrusters. My thought process was to move as fast as I can before the pain would seep in. That worked out well for one round at least. Ha Ha
I burned through the 1st round pretty quickly. Everything was unbroken. About 5 or so jumps into my second round of box jumps I could feel my back getting angry with me. I slowed it way down, but that didn't seem to help. When I finally got to my thrusters I had to switch my weight halfway through so I could finish. Once again people were telling me I should have gone lighter because of my back, but per usual I did not listen. I wanted to impress my friends at their opening. I have come a long way, but as it goes to show I have an even longer way to go. On another note the pull ups were fun. I decided to do butterfly's so I could show off. Unbroken on all of those. Too bad it wasn't a pull up WOD. I would have dominated. Well, maybe done okay...
Bill and Beau's place is great. Great energy and a fantastic atmosphere. It was so great to be around so many positive and like minded people. I loved hanging out with my fellow CraicHeads and seeing former members for the first time in a while. The highlight of the day was watching Johnny Deadlift vs Paul Teehan battle each other in the final WOD. Until they ripped their shirts off it wasn't official. Oh Baby!
Congrats to Bill and Beau on the opening of their box. I wish them nothing but success and can't wait to go against them in the years to come. Big shout out to all the the CraicHeads, Florians and future Crossfitters who participated in the event. It was a tough WOD which made those after beers oh that much more enjoyable. Stay thirsty my friends.
Here are some pics from the day.
Me, Jack, Paul, Sean and Thom. Jack always laughs in the face of WODS!
