Monthly Archives: February 2012

Escape in the gym

Walking to my car after work this evening, I felt light in my step and like my head was a little higher. It’s been a tough past week for me, so I was surprised that, despite all the crap I’ve been dealing with, I can still walk with confidence and keep a smile on my face with little effort.

I’m sure it has to do with supportive friends and family, but I think another key component for me has been my time at the gym. I can go there and the rest of the world fades away. It’s just me and the WOD or that barbell. Nothing else matters.

This past week I’ve also made some fantastic progress, so walking away from the gym, that feeling of accomplishment follows me. It lingers and helps guard against all the negative. Don’t get me wrong — the negative’s still there, but it doesn’t affect me as much.

Monday

Drop Snatch 3×3 add drive 1×4 –> 45/45/50, 55/65/75/80
Hang Power Snatch + OHS 1+3×4 –> 50/55/60/65
Jerk Recovery 3×4 –> 55/65/70/70
Jerk BN 1×5 –> 70/75/75/85/95

I did a behind-the-neck jerk at 95# — first time I EVER put 95# over my head. EVER.

Tuesday

3 rounds: 800m run / 15 Clean & Jerk
Completed 2 rounds + ½ run in 20 min @ 65#

Wednesday

Hip Power Snatch + Snatch Grip Push Press BN + OHS 3+3+3×4 –> 45/50/55/55
Snatch off blocks 2×4, 1×4 –> 55/55/55/55, 60,60,60,60
Clean Jerk 2×3, 1×4 –> 60/65/70, 75/75/80/85
Back Squat 80% 3×5 –> 120/120/120/120/120

On Wednesday, it was the jerk again, but this time from the front rack, where I made a PR of 85#.

Thursday

Skillwork –> Hang Snatch progression / Turkish Getups
3 rounds: 5 DB Turkish Getups (R) / 5 DB Power Snatch (R) / 5 DB Turkish Getups (L) / 5 DB Power Snatch (L)
Time: 12:37 @ 20#

Monday (today)

Hip Clean + Front Squat 1+3×4 –> 55/65/75/85
Clean off Blocks 2×3, 1×4 –> 85/95/95. 95/90/95/100/100 (extra)
Jerk Recovery 3×4 –> 55/60/60/65
Thrusters by Feel 3×5 –> 75/75/80/80/85

Today it was the cleans and thrusters were I felt really proud. I’ve only tried 100# once before with cleans, and it was a single from the floor. A single off the blocks? I don’t think 100# is my max anymore. Plus, I don’t have a record of it, but 3 85# thrusters is damn good for me. It shows my overhead strength is improving.

Zach posted another training video, and it shows me a few times. Check it out:

Competitions

One of my goals for 2012 is to take part in several competitions, and it seems like competitions are all everyone is talking about online and at the gym.

Registration for the Crossfit Open began February 1, plus my gym started a new campaign to encourage athletes to think of themselves AS ATHLETES
and challenge themselves in competition.

I set a goal for myself to compete in SOMETHING before March 31. I have been eyeing this clean competition at Blackbox Strength in College Station, but with my job, web project and family, I just can’t leave town. Then I really wanted to sign up for this kettlebell challenge, and Andy said “Go for it!”, but low and behold, the date falls on the first Saturday of Spring Break, which is the first full day of SXSW Interactive. I’m not missing a moment of SXSWi. It’s too important for my career.

Then I saw Bettys on Boards will be April 14, but then I realized I have this huge grand opening for the Circle C Clinic that day. There’s still hope. Bettys on Boards might happen early enough. We shall see.

So I signed up for the Crossfit Open. The gym was encouraging everyone to do it. I’m a bit nervous, but I’m also excited. It will be fun. Hard, but fun. I’m trying to think of myself as an athlete, even though I’m nowhere near the level of the elite athletes who will be competing.

Competition is important. It gives you something concrete to work toward.

I also signed up for the Cap 10K. I’ll be running the timed race alone this year (unless someone steps up and wants to run with me – hint, hint). I’ve decided to experiment a bit and not really train for this, other than the short 400s and 800s I normally run in workouts. I just want to see what happens. My goal is to beat my time from last year, which was just over an hour. I want to come in under an hour.

Crossfit this week has been tough. I didn’t finish either WOD.

Tuesday
3 rounds
500m row
12 Thrusters (M 95# / W 65#)
21 sumo deadlift high pulls

Completed 2 rounds + ½ row @ RX (cutoff 15 min)

Thursday
Floor Press 5×5 → 65-70-75-75-80 (3 reps)
3 rounds
50-50-50 ab-mat situps
5-4-3 Wall walks
50-50-50 Double Unders

Completed 2 rounds + 50 situps (Cut off 15 min)

Are you competing in anything? How will you test yourself?

The strength and power of decision

I read a blog post from one of the coaches at my gym a couple of weeks ago that really impacted me.

Crystal Nelson, who used to be my assistant coach in Zach’s class, wrote about how the simple act of deciding to do something can make the difference in whether you accomplish what you want or you don’t. Read her post here.

What she wrote about isn’t exactly new to me, but it set off a light bulb in my head — an epiphany I guess — about how to approach the really tough stuff in my life. If I think about it, everything I’ve ever accomplished has been because I decided firmly that I was going to do it. There was not waffling or wishy-washiness. I got double unders because I DECIDED I was going to practice and learn. I finished the Tough Mudder because I decided I was going to persevere and see it through to the end.

That’s not to say that the simple act of deciding to do something is some magical elixar. I don’t yet have the strength to do an unassisted strict pullup, so deciding I’m going to do a pullup isn’t going to make that happen. But what I can do is decide it’s important to me to develop that strength and from there things can really start happening.

I’ve been thinking a lot about decision and my mindset this week, particularly in Olympic Lifting. I am still deciding what to do beyond developing my strength. Do I want to be an Olympic Weightlifter? Is not making that decision holding me back in class? These are really good questions that I’m not sure how to answer right now.

I am loving my morning Oly class. I feel more in my element. I’m more relaxed — partly because I’m not rushing back and forth from work, but also because I’m also not interrupting work and my thoughts, so I’m not struggling to keep my head in the gym. I also feel stronger: I’m a morning person. It’s just my time of day.

Monday
Drop Snatch + OHS 2+3×4 → 45/55/55/60
Cleans off Block 2×3, 1×4 → 65/75/80, 85/90/100/100
Jerk Push Press 3×4 → 55/55/65/65
Front Squat 85% of max 3×5 → 110/110/110/110/110

Wednesday
Hip Power Snatch + Push Press (BTN) + OHS 3+3+3×4 → 50/55/55/65
Snatch off blocks 2×4, 1×4 → 50/55/55/55, 55/65/65/65
Snatch 1×4 → 65/70/70/70/70
Snatch pulls off bucket 3×4 → 70/70/70/70
Heavy Push Press 5×4 → 65/70/75/80 (4 reps only)

Push up challenge

Andy sent me this video the other day of First Lady Michelle Obama doing push ups on Ellen’s talk show.

My take:

  1. I’m glad the first lady actually exercises, considering her thing is fighting childhood obesity.
  2. For the record, I wouldn’t have stopped. I don’t care if she is the first lady, I would want to win.
  3. I was yelling at her and Ellen to go chest-to-ground the entire time I was watching this video.

My cholesterol

I’ve decided to laugh at the huge divide between my experience with nutrition and the gospel that organizations like the American Heart Association preach, particularly when it comes to cholesterol.

They say: Eat “4.5 servings” of fruits and vegetables a day.

I say: Eat tons of vegetables! Some fruit! Way more than 4.5 servings!

They say: Eat “at least three 1-ounce-equivalent servings a day” of fiber-rich whole grains.

I say: NO! to grains. Read this, this and this. Then come talk to me.

But I was hired to do a job, and since I haven’t yet convinced my co-workers and company that Paleo is awesome, I still have to write articles that reflect what the company believes: stuff like “fat is bad,” “whole grains are good.” That kind of stuff.

So I found it kind of ironic when my doctor’s office (a different place) mailed me results from the blood panel they did on a recent wellcheck, and everything LOOKED AWESOME.

Total Cholesterol: 232 (This is high — it should be 125-200 mg/dL)
HDL (good cholesterol): 122 (range to be is is > or = 46 mg /dL)
Triglycerides: 32 (range to be in is < 150 mg / dL)
LDL (bad cholesterol): 104 (range to be in is < 130 mg / dL)

So the skinny is this: even though I regularly eat eggs and bacon, coconut milk, coconut oil, organ meats and other foods and other fats and meats despised by the American Heart Association, my cholesterol is high on the side of “good” and low on “bad.”

Hmmm….

Arm torture

Those hang power cleans I did yesterday came back to haunt me.

Hours after my Thursday workout class, while at work, my right wrist and forearm started acting up. And then it tightened up. And then something that felt like fire shoot up my arm and into my thumb.

I had to stop using the mouse.

It passed and I eventually got back to work, but when I showed up for my appointment at Next Level Chiropractic this morning, I made sure to tell San about it.

And then he tortured me.

Ha-ha. No, seriously.

They do less adjustments at Next Level — mostly they use active release technique to work on the areas that pain you. A lot of the coaches at my gym use them. In fact, my coach recommended them for my hip because of the severe shifting I was showing in squats.

My shifting is better, but the right wrist — my computer wrist — acts up. Sam says it was probably poor form on the hang power cleans that got me. He said reverse curls will do it. He just about nailed it, because Zach was fussing at me Thursday morning for the bar swinging way out in front of me during the hang power cleans.

Grrrr… so that was my morning. I was tortured. After Sam worked on my wrist, they had me lie on a table and get all iced up. I was sore for a while, but I’m feeling much better now. Good enough for a strength workout in the morning.

I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be spending time with my barbell. What are you doing?

Hello, body. This is brain.

Dear Body,

I know you must be pretty annoyed with me right now. You’re sore and achy, and even a little hungry. Since we started down this road 3 years ago, I’ve pushed you past what you thought was possible. When you scream out to stop, I ignore you. I tune you out and you can’t convince me to quit.

I can be kind of stubborn in that way.

But I promise you, the benefits are real. You are stronger. Remember yesterday when you cleaned 105 pounds? You’ve never lifted that amount from the ground in your life. You never even tried. But you’re capable, and I know you’re growing stronger.

And because you’re stronger, I’m stronger too. I feel more confident, and I spend less time worrying about what other people think about me. I feel sharp and alert. I still feel like a college kid, but without any of the awkwardness and uncertainty that plagued me all those years ago.

You are amazing for putting up with me. For putting up with the bruises, fatigue and pain. We are on a journey, you and I. And we will never be the same.

Best,
Brain

Wednesday
Olympic lifting
Hip Clean x5 w/ bar, 3×4 by feel → 35, 55/65/75/85
Clean off block 3×3, 2×2 → 85/95/100, 95/95
Clean 1×5 → 95/100/100/100/105
Back Squats find heavy single 120/125/130
-then- 85% x3, 90% x2, 95%x1, 90%x3 → 110/115/125/115

Thursday
Crossfit Class
Back Squat 5×3 → 95-105-115-135-(no time)
3 rounds: 15 HSPU / 10 Hang Power Cleans
Time: 5:57 @ 75#