Becoming an Athlete

I've had enough of this side-lined crap. I decided to sweat out my cold. The prescribed CrossFit WOD was well outside what i could do today (being sick all week), so I scaled it quite a bit. My WOD: Run 400 meters Rounded back goodmorning: 95 x 20 Run 400 meters Dips: 20 Run 400 meters Chin-ups: 15 Run 400 meters Dips: 20 Rest Chin-ups: 5 Crossfit WOD: For time: 21 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 18 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 15 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 12 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 9 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 6 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters 3 Hip-Back Extensions Run 400 meters

Hopefully this flu-like cold is gone soon. This stinks!!!!

I missed the 23 FEB WOD, so I made up my own, as 24 FEB was listed as a rest day on CrossFit.com I went with Complexes. Complexes are like supersets, but you never let go of the bar. You move immedeately from one movement to the next to the next. Last night I did a back/traps/shoulders complex that had me gasping like I had emphysema AND asthma. A) Bent row: 95 x 5, 7, 7, 5 B) Sumo grip high pull: 95 x 5, 7, 7, - C) Hang clean: 95 x 5, 7, 7, - D) Overhead press: 95 x 5, 7, 4, - Not bad for being sick with a sinus infection!!!

Round Rock Track Club is blessed to be run by Coach Calvin. This man is giving, encouraging, motivating an can tell these kids "like it is" when they need it. The children range in age from 5 up through high school-age. He had me on the verge of throwing up, and just kept laughing, as he saw me go from bad to worse with each successive circuit. Warm-up: 3/4 mile. Build up: Performed the following for 40 yards: Walking knee to chest Walking lunges Side lunges Loose skipping Accelerations (20yd jog + 20yd sprint): performed 10 times Work-out: Two conditioning stations set about 100 yards aparts . Did my best to sprint from one to the next, but it quickly became a crawl. 15 Jump squats (sprint 100 yds ) 25 prisoner squats (sprint 100 yds ) 10 each rotational pushups (sprint 100 yds ) 12 clapping pushups (sprint 100 yds ) 15 each lunges (sprint 100 yds ) 15 burpees (sprint 100 yds ) 15 each Mountain climbers (sprint 100 yds ) 12 burpees (sprint 100 yds ) 20 jumping jacks (sp...

For time: 50 dips* 400 meter 50 pushups 400 meters 50 barbell presses** 400 meters my time: 25 minutes * CrossFit actually called for ring dips, but I don't have rings. ** CrossFit actually called for 50 hand stand pushups, but my shoulders were DONE after the dips and pushups. The 45 lb. bar was all I could handle.

I had a 1:00 appointment to get my bodyfat % done. Stats: weight: 206 bodyfat%: 17.44 (seems high since I can see most of a six-pack lean mass: 170.1 Since the Crossfit WOD was going to be tough, I did a short arm workout and opted to save the WOD for that night at home. I based this workout off of Christian Thibaudeau's Mechanical Drop-Sets article. 1) Dumbbell mechanical drop-sets A. Alternating Dumbbell curl: 25 x 12; 30 x 8, 7, 5 B. Alternating Hammer curl: 25 x 4; 30 x 4, 3, 1 C. Cross-body Hammer curl: 25 x 4; 30 x 3, 3, 0 2) Reverse grip EZ Bar curl (Rest limited to 45 seconds) 55 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

I didn't write down Arlene's CrossPit workout , so I did it to the best of my recollection. I warmed up with jump rope: 100, 200, 200 Then performed the following circuit for time: A) Burpees: 20, 15, 6 B) Leg raise off bench: 20, 20, - C) Box jump: 25, 25, - D) Dip: 3, 8, - E) Ab wheel: 20, 20 time: 16 mins I puked on the 3rd circuit RIGHT AFTER burpee number 6. I called it a night after that.

Today's WOD was just a bunch of pullups. Since I did a bunch of pullups yesterday, I chose Sunday's workout, but modified/scaled to my equipment and capability. As prescribed on 15 FEB: 3 rounds for time of: Row 500 meters 21 Burpees Run 400 meters As I performed on 18 FEB: 3 rounds (no time) of: Seated Cable row: 120 x 21; 100 x 15; 100 x 10 Burpees: 21, 15, 10 Leg press: 90 x 21; 90 x 15; 90 x 10 After that I finished off with: 500 meter row: 2min, 11 sec A) Mountain climbers: 20, 20, 17 B) Pushups: 10, 10, 5

I didn't have internet access yesterday, so I couldn' find out what CrossFit's WOD was. So I just did some stuff. 1) Jump rope: 165 as fast as I could 2A) Chin-up: bodyweight x 4, 5, 5, 3 2B) Deadlift: 255 x 4, 6, 8, 5 2C) Dip: bodyweight x 4, 5, 6, 5 2D) Front Squat: 185 x 5, 6, 8, 6 3) Hanging knees to elbows: 5, 5

Fran is one of the named workouts in CF, and i was supposed to do it on Friday. The workout is simple, but brutal Superset two exercises: Squat thruster and Pullup Do three sets at 21, 15, and 9 reps each. Weight for squat thruster is 95 lbs. The 21 reps on squat thruster is tough, but doable. 21 reps of pullups, on the otherhand is WELL above my reach, so I used the weightassisted pullups. On the 1st set I got 10 kipping pullups, and 11 assisted pullups (80lbs) On the 2nd set I got 6 kipping and 9 assisted On the last set all 9 pullups were assisted. Total time: ~16-18 minutes. I was watching the clock at a distance but didn't have anything to write with. I thought I was going to puke after the set of 15&15.

Sunday's track practice was exactly what I needed. Not too tough, but enough to feel it today. We did lots of medicine ball exercises, focused mostly on core and posterior chain strength. After about 30 minutes of that, we did quite a few sprints from various starting positions: sitting, plank, sitting backwards, laying down, etc. It was about a 4 on a 1-10 scale of intensity.

My team at work was in town from all over the US, so we went out on Thurday night (12 Feb). I was too exhausted to workout on Friday, and had too much fun on Saturday with my fiance for Valentine's Day. So I missed 2 days. Big deal. I'm back on track already.

THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's WOD was by far the toughest I've done so far. So challenging in fact that I wasn't able to finish. As prescribed: For measured time 1) 45 Double-under jump rope 2) 45 reps Squat Clean at 135 lbs 3) 45 Ring Dips 4) 45 Double-under jump rope I can only do a few double-unders in a row before having to restart, so I did singles as fast as I can My scaled workout: 1) Jump rope: 100 2) Squat Clean at 135 lbs: 22 reps 3) Parallel bar dips: 45 4) Jump rope: 100 total time: 23 minutes I stopped at 22 reps on the squat clean because I failed on attempts 23 and 24. This movement completly crushed me!

Today's CrossFit workout was: Deadlift: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 I did: 5 mins on treadmill Deadlift: 135 x 10; 225 x 5; 275 x 1; 285 x 1; 295 x 1; 305 x 1; 315 x 1; 325 x 1; 335 x 1; 345 x 1 Superset 1: a) Kipping Pullups: 6, 6, 5 b) Woodchopper: 100 x 10each, 10each, 10each Superset2: a) Peck deck fly: 100 x 10; 110 x 10; 120 x 6 b) Peck Deck rear delt fly: 100 x 10; 110 x 10; 120 x 6

I didn't get started till after 10:00. This was an easy workout. As prescribed: "Cindy"Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of: 5 Pull-ups 10 Push-ups 15 Squats What I did instead: Complete 6 rounds for time: 5 Pull-ups 10 Push-ups 15 Squats 20 Swiss Ball crunches This was about 20 minutes. I'm really glad I added the SB Crunches. I have to say, many of the CF WODs have been on the easier than I expected in the last two weeks.

Good grief!!! I wanted to let the kids practice without dad hovering over them, so my fiance and I ran with the "big kids" while my son and daughter went with the "small kids" group. Basically it was two stations, set about 40 yards apart. We'd do a certain bodyweight exercise for 10-15 reps, then sprint to the station at the other end of the field. Once there, we'd go right into another bodyweight drill, and sprint back. We kept this up for about 94658203784518340573710940657261904056 minutes. Well, it felt like 94658203784518340573710940657261904056 minutes. I'm not even sure how many rounds we did. Burpees, mountain climbers, rotating pushups, staggered pushups, prisoner squats, jump squats, and lunges. All done with a nice 40-yard sprint in between After that we ran some hills. the hill is only about 15 feet vertically. We started with some high-kee walks up the hill, then worked up to a high knee "trot", and finally worked up to s...

The WOD as prescribed: 1) Overhead press: 5 x 1rep 2) Push press: 5 x 3reps 3) Push jerk: 5 x 5reps My results 1) 135 x 1; 145 x 1; 155 x 1, 1; 165 x 0, 0 2) 155 x 3, 3, 3; 165 x 3; 175 x 3 3) 135 x 5; 155 x 5, 5; 165 x 5; 185 x 4 (failed on 5th rep)

The Workout of the Day ("WOD") called for 5 rounds for time of: A) ~65lb Kettlebell swing: 25 reps / round B) Glute-Ham situp (AKA roman chair): 25 reps / round C) Back Extensions: 25 reps / round D) Hanging knees to elbows: 25 reps / round I scaled this back and added in some substitutions based on equipment limitations A) 35 lb dumbbell swing B) Leg raise off bench C) Barbell goodmorning D) Hanging kees to elbow My performance per round was A) 25 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 15 B) 25 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 15 C) 25 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 15 D) 15 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 10 total time: 22 minutes (using clock, not stopwatch) Observations : My spinal erectors are much more developed than my transverse abdominals. Knees to Elbows are KILLER. My conditioning (also called stamina) is better than most weight trainers. I should have stayed at 20 reps per round for the last 4 sets instead of reducing by 5 each set. I'm not sore at all! I can see that doing CF WODs will leave plenty "in the tank"...

I'm trying to follow the Crossfit daily WODs, but its been a challenge. Today was a rest day, but of course, I didn't rest. 1) Snatch grip high pulls from ground: 135 x 5, 5, 5, 5 2) Pistol squats: 6, 6, 5 each 3A) Medicine ball crossover pushups: 8, 8 3B) Mixed grip pullup: 4, 4 I didn't do much but it's better than sitting around all night.

Yesterday's Workout of the Day (WOD) was 30 Muscle-Ups and today was supposed to be squats for 5 sets of 5 reps. Since I did leg work for 4 days straight, there was no way I could have done 5 x 5 today. Instead I jogged 2 miles and practiced kipping pullups and muscle ups. I can't get the muscleups. I can do kipping pullups, but for less reps than standard pullups.

Since I did squat 1 rep max at lunch, I only did a partial workout Monday night. 1) Swiss-ball Dumbbell pullover: 35lbs x 15, 15 2) Inverted row: bodyweight x 12, 12 + isometric hold 3) Swiss ball twist: 10lbs x 14, 14 I was going to get 1RM for bench press last night, but was just too beat.

After getting crushed by the Squat today with only 345 pounds, I've made a couple simple decisions: 1) Sure, lets do this crossfit thing. I'll do my best to do the workouts as prescribed 2) I'm going to add two of three movement patterns to every workout: a. Rotational movements, e.g. Russian twists and wood choppers b. Bridging movements, e.g. side bridges and plank holds c. Back entension movements, e.g. Goodmorning and reverse hypers 3) I'm going to do some serious stretching no less than 4 days a week

Man, I'm still sore from the weekend running. but I attempted to get my 1 rep maxes today anyway. Squat: 335 lbs Overhead press: 155 lbs (down about 30 lbs) Deadlift: 275 lbs (NOT my real max!) I'm going to do bench press tonight. My deadlift SHOULD be around 400 lbs, but when I attempted 345 on squat, it stappled me to the squat rack pins!!! So my back was more than a little fatigued when I tried deadlift

I enrolled my kids in a track conditioning program. We've been doing this for about 3 years now. My fiance and I are running with the group (ages 6 to about 16). The workout is about an hour, with lots of emphasis on stretching, form, and progresssive buildup. We started with a 3/4 mile jog, then the stretches, and various forms plyos for 30 yards for many many "sets". After that we got to the real meat of the workout; 30 yard Accelerations. An acceleration is essentially a 10 yard jog and 20 yard sprint. I forgot how many times we ran that. I was winded by the time we started the Accelerations, and DONE by the time we finished. We concluded with more stretching. It amazes me to see how kids can be 100% exhausted, and fully recovered in about 3 minutes. It was tons of fun for the four of us to put forth this much physical effort together.

My legs hurt more than they ever have (1 FEB) as I write this. My fiance and I headed to our favorite 8 mile trail. - walked 1 mile - jogged 3 miles to the top of the dam - jogged back 1 mile - walked back another mile - jogged back 1 mile - walked back the last mile total: 5 mile jog, 3 mile walk AFTER all that, we went to Carnaval Brasilero and danced Samba from 8:00 till midnight. Now I'm no dancer, but holy cow! I am sore in more places than running alone has ever caused.

Well, this was the last of my old-school bodybuilding workouts for a while. From here on out, its going to be training for athleticism instead of mass. We changed the order up to make sure everyone got the equipment they needed without having to wait. 1) Pullup-Chinup Giant set: 2-2-2-2; 2-2-2-2; 2-1-1-1 2) Pre-exhaust leg circuit A) Band side steps: 20 B) Cross-over stepup: 24 C) Jump squats: 26 3) Squat: 185 x 10; 225 x 8, 8 4) Pushup w/ trunk twist: 16, 14 5) Dips: 6,8,10 6) Clean: 115 x 5; 135 x 5; 155 x 5; 165 x 5