whoops - never posted...

It dawned on me after Wednesday's workout that since the competition, I don't think I've been putting my all into things quite as much as I should be.  I don't think I've necessarily been sandbagging, I think I've simply let alot of things get in my head.  The back strain, and whole slew of other mental BS that is my issue that I need to get over.
However, I had not quite come to this conclusion when we did Wednesday's workout, and it suffered in large part due to the mental crap...and possibly it was also just a bad lift day.  The push part of this is Bench press - 3 rounds of 3 reps for weight.  I did 135 / 145x1 /140x2 - pure suckage when you consider my 1 rep max is 155.  LAME!!   Deadlift, I did 225/255/275.  275 is the weight that mentally says "Bite me!" ...but I got 3 in.  Again - with a 1 rep PR of 308 - these should be higher.  I think that's what struck me on my way home - I feel like I've stopped "going for it". 

Thurs - Stations # 2, which is Pullups, Wallball (16#), Slamball (16#), Sit ups and Box jumps.   3 rounds, 1 minute at each station.  Pullups I did in one blue band, with all the band set up, it was just going to be easiest, and I think it equates about the same as red+mini.  I did test though to be sure I could do a dead hang in it before the workout - rules is rules don't ya know!  I knew I scored pretty high last time, at 275, so I was gonna have to push it.
Round 1- 100  - what?  I have never scored 100 in a round before....ever.  This was something new...
Round 2 - 102 - again, 100??....AND I  went up in round 2?? I think this is another first!
Round 3 - 91 - ok - this time, I held true to my usual form.  But 91 ain't shabby!!
My total score was 293...7 measly reps away from 300.  DRATS! That would have been beautiful! But I think I did pretty darn good anyway!  Nice improvement, and I did go for it on this one.  Of course, I wouldn't have come close without the situps.....The situps took me there.

Today - a new one.  It's like a bright shiny new toy! Only this one wasn't so fun.  It was an ass-kicker through and through.   8 tire flips / 6 Handstand pushups / 4 front squats (125#), now here's the real kicker - 5 rounds for time, 20 minute cutoff. It was me and Jonathan.  I wanted to use the upside-down-rubber-band contraption (using green and green), we tried it - CRAP! I could not kick up into the handstand without assistance (I need to work on that, in a big way!!)  So I went first, using the girl tire (the big girl tire, not the little girl tire).  Ironically, the tireflips were the easiest part - they winded the hell out of me, and I will have bruises from the 40 flips..but in this whole thing - they were the easiest and least painful!  Let me just say this about handstand pushups after doing 8 tireflips - if it's possible to catch your breath upside down, I haven't figured out how to do it.  Short of breath, upside down, trying to breath and do a handstand pushup - just an ugly combination.    I ended up getting through them all - but they weren't pretty, I thought I was gonna collapse at several junctures, and my range of motion was rather pathetic - especially at the end.  From the handstand pushups - we go to the front squats.  125 should be heavy - but it's pretty far from my PR, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. What I did not take into consideration was the toll the tire flips took on my legs and the HSPU's took on my arms.  To say the front squats were painful would not be an exaggeration.  Legs, really didn't want to squat, and arms, really did not want to go up.  The sad part, we were only doing 4 of them, but it felt like 14.  I swear I almost dropped the bar several time, in the last round, there's not doubt, it was sliding off the sweat.  In the end, I DID actually complete all 5 rounds under the time limit - barely under, but it was under. My final time was 19:56.  Despite it's misery, I have to admit, I really like the heavy metcons, I think they are doing their magic, if I just let them, and get out of my head.
Oh one other thing took me by surprise, so I just have to comment on it!  I was reading all my various usual stops...on one of them, the writer has been doing Crossfit for 2 years, and just did her first snatches with a barbell.  I found that very odd, but it makes me uber-glad that my gym doesn't fear the barbell, sheesh how boring to do all of these with KB's and dumbbells all the time!! I would hate that!

The bean concept -I just don't get it!

I'm trying to get my head around a concept that makes absolutely - zero sense to me.  It's part of the whole "Paleo"eating thing. I get most of it, and it makes sense...all except the legume thing.  Legumes and beans are bad.  I don't get that. I understand cookies, cake, and ice cream (wah!) being bad (yes, I know, not a real difficult concept), I even understand the bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes being bad.  I'll even go so far as to say, I understand why dairy would be in that category...not that I necessarily agree, but at least I understand it.

But really, beans??  So green beans are the enemy?? - ok, maybe not enemy, but a bit of a foe.  I'm not certain I'll ever be able to get my head around that one - and I'm not sure I'll ever want to.  Taking bread, pasta, rice, cookies, candy, cake, ice cream etc, out of a diet is hard enough, but then to take beans out?? No.  just no.  You just can't convince me that green beans, and black beans are the devils candy....just not gonna happen.

Now onto the last week or so.  I've got to get better at this whole keeping track thing, because going off memory, is not so good.

Last Friday, we did 5 minutes each of Turkish Getups (16kg), Cleans (95#) and Handstand pushups for reps.  With a 2 minute rest in between.

We've only done this one once before, but I remember REALLY liking it.  That like, proved true the second time around. In fact I was downright geeked after this one.  I feel like I kicked some good old fashioned ass on it.

On the TGU's I got in 19.  Way up from the 13 I did the last time.

Cleans - 29, again, way the hell up from the 18 I did the first time - although, I will say - the first time I did squat cleans, this time, power cleans.  There is a huge difference between the two.

Handstand pushups - These were done hook feet, but I was really working on full range of motion - I may have been 1/2 inch off the ground on some of them, but I know the range was a heck of alot better than it has been in the past.  I got in 35, up from 27. 

To say I was stoked when I left was an understatement.  I actually felt like I totally kicked ass on a workout, and I haven't felt like I have done that in a while.  

Saturday, we worked on Bench and DL's.  My bench was not so good.   We won't even go there. Deadlifts, I worked on my "breakthrough", and I think most of it carried over, except when we got to the uber-heavy weight.  I was able to do a set of 4 at 275.  Then went for a 1 rep PR.  HA! Not so much.  I tried 305. Getting it off the floor is the easy part...it's the part when the bar is between your ankle and knee cap that I tend to lose it.  Oh well, next time I just might be able to do it. I was probably a bit worn out by the time we got there.  I will say this, when we got to the park to "play"   ...me=toast.  I had a completely empty gas tank.  Note to self - bring food next time!

Tuesday - Box Squats  3-3-3-3-3-3-3
These are basically squats, but you actually sit, and kind of rock 'em forward.  Kind of funky.

I did these 135/155/165/185/195/185/165.  Not spectacular, but not bad, we were working on form.

Tonight - 4 rounds x 25 reps each of Wallball/Slamball.

This is such a pure and innocent sounding one.  It's not.  It's evil.  I tried to keep pace with Jimmie tonight - it worked fairly well, until about the last round, then I about croaked.  This one takes the wind out of you, like nothing else.  I ended up finishing better than last time - taking off about 1:10, with a time of 11:12.  I said I would go up in weight if I got my time under 10 minutes.  So, I guess that means, I'm staying with the 16 lb balls next time..  

That's it, came home feeling pretty good.  Then read that beans were bad, and have been slightly obsessed in my puzzlement since then.   If beans are bad, there's just no justice in this world.

Deadlifting a Turkish Whore!

Deadlift - Functional Focus:

This was interesting.  We did reverse deadlift, which I have never done before.  We didn't go super heavy just focused on form.  After a couple sets of these, we went onto regular deadlifts, but using the opposite stance that we normally do, which for me, would be Sumo stance.  Can't say that I like it much.  Which is ironic because Sumo is how I originally learned to deadlift.  I changed my stance once I hit about 225 or so, and have never looked back.   Well, this was a revisit to Sumo-land,  and just not so good.  Given the choice, I'll go regular stance, thank you!

Turkish Get-up 1-1-1/Front Squat 1-1-1:

I don't think we've done TGU's for weight in a while, so I was a bit curious about how I would do.  That, plus my shoulders have been a bit twingy and off since Lucifer's Lunges and the 45 dips that Friday.  Nothing major, just not 100%.  I started at 50 with the barbell. That was fine, my left shoulder seemed a bit weaker than usual, but not bad.  Went to 60, again, definitely harder with the left hand than with the right.  Last set, I went to 70, hoping to match my previous PR.  It was definitely more difficult - but got the left one. Did the right. Once I got to the top, the barbell was trying to twist and turn on me, as I was descending, so I ended up having to try to muscle it into position with my wrist and forearm - not an easy task!!  I ended up doing the whole thing - but my arm kind of collapsed as I going into the final lay back position.  It may not have ended pretty, but I'm still counting it.  As I was writing up my score, I realized that I hadn't hit 70 before - that had only been successful on one arm - so in reality - I had just hit a new PR! YAY ME!

Front Squats after TGU's. Not so good.  We were a bit rushed for time - since the TGU's took most of the hour.  I started light, I admit it.  125.  Not a problem.  Then, silly me, watched Z, who I had been matching on the weight thing all night, easily squat 165.  He's not a big guy, my thighs are twice the size of his, so 165 should, in theory be no problem.  Not to mention the fact that I have done it before.  Well - I think the 40 lb jump may have been a bit too much after the heavy TGUs.  I plopped down like a lump.  Last round, I went way back down - going with the thought that the important thing is to get it.  So - light at 135.  No problem. Not the most impressive night for Front Squats, but the TGU's were cool!

Kelly - 400m run/30 box jump 16"/30 WB 16# - 5 rounds - 30 minute cutoff.

Kelly is an evil whore.  All I'm gonna say.  This one is pure torture.

No excuses - no nothing.  I did the exact same as last time - didn't finish before the cutoff. I got in 3 rounds plus the run and Box Jumps.  30:50 - about a minute quicker.

Physical effects of this one: let's see  lower right back pain, by the box jumps of round 2 or so(the usual place I get it when running, still can't figure out why), round 3 major foot cramps in the arches of my feet (if you've had this pain before, you know it's terrible.) I haven't had it much with CF, but it struck today!  Lack of oxygen - to the point the hair follicles on my head were all tingly and goose bumpy.  I think that's about it.   I have a sad, sad stamina.  I've never had much tolerance for lack of oxygen, but I should have a better lung capacity by now....at least I think I should!  UGH! Frustrating!  The rest of it, just comes with the territory.  So - yes, better than last time, but not really anything to brag about,

Mish-Mash

Kind of a mishmash of stuff the last coupla days.
Thursday was a brand spankin' new thing. It sounds rather horrible, but it really wasn't bad:
- 5 minutes turkish getups for reps (16 kg)
- rest 2 minutes
- 5 minutes cleans for reps (95#)
- rest 2 minutes
- 5 minutes Handstand pushups for reps

Whether this workout was meant this way, or not, I'm not certain, but what I really liked about it, is that it was the right amount of balance between cranking out the reps, and focusing on form. This was not designed to go nonstop for 5 minutes.
The TGU's were no problem, I ended up getting in 13, this was actually alot less than I thought I would get, I guess they take longer to do one than I realize. I had a momentary pause, but never really took a break.

Can't really say that for the cleans. I went for the full pop, 95# on them. There was definitely rest in between. You had your choice whether to do full squat cleans or power cleans. I went with the full squat - for the added leg work?? Not sure why, it just happened that way. I got in 18, which I was ok with, because I felt overall my form wasn't really shabby on them. A couple were not so good, but overall, they felt better than they had in a while.

Handstand pushups, I did with Hooked feet on the bar - on average, probably 1/2 range of motion - some were more, some were less. I think I got in 27 or so of these. After the other two, it was a bit woozy-ing to be upside down, and my head was dripping like a waterfall! Overall, I probably could have gone at this a bit harder, especially on the cleans. But I did want to actually do as many of them correctly as I could - and still get up from the squat. Towards the end...there was some definite leg burn going on.


Friday was Functional Focus Day!! Woo hoo! I love FF days! When I showed up it was me and the boys. The big boys - the "A" game boys. The Top Dudes of DEFY! As we were warming up we were chatting about yesterday's workout, most of the boys take Thursday off, so none of them got to do the workout up above. They all had kind of a sad little puppy dog look to them about it, and it was readily apparent that several of them would prefer to do yesterdays workout than todays functional focus. Well, when Jonathan looked at me and asked if I would be up for repeating yesterday's workout, who was I to deny them??? I said sure. I knew the TGU's and cleans were not going to be a problem, ironically it was the HSPU's that I wasn't sure about. On the second or third verification from J that this would be ok instead of Functional Focus, I said, how about if the boys do the workout, and I'll kind of do my own thing. The FF was based on Cindy. So instead of 5 minutes of TGUs, cleans, and HSPUs. I did 5 minutes of pullups/pushups and squats - not for numbers but focusing on better form.

Pullups, of course sucked. Although I have decided I'm going to try a different method on these. I'm working both grips. I am in the red bands until I can get at least 7 nonstop deadhang, feet never touching the ground with both grips. Once I can do that, I will move to the minis. In my mind, if I can do 7 nonstop deadhang in reds, I should be able to do 2 or 3 in the minis. Once I reach 7 in the minis, I should, in theory be able to do at least one true dead hang. This could be more of my pullup BS thinking, but I'm going with it for now. Testing this one out.
Pushups - I worked on form, and I think it's getting better. I tried to keep my elbows in, shoulder blades squeezing together, and I don't think I did bad on those.
Squats - were fine, I did air, and overhead and front with pcv pipe. Front squats with the PVC are weird. All I'm gonna say...the pipe is too light to truly get the correct feel.

Deadlifts 3-3-3-3-3. Today was not my deadlift day. I started at 245 (I meant to start at 255, but encountered some really bad math on my part!), then 255. Apparently last time I did 3's on these I went as high as 270. So for the 3rd round I tried 275. Got 1 in. Tried it again the 4th round. Nope. Got the bar off the floor - supposedly the hardest part...but after that, it wasn't moving. Big strike out round 4. Last round I went down to 255. Thinking I took 20 lbs off, this should not be a problem. I got in the 3 reps, but they were sad and ugly....and heavy. There were a couple things going on that probably affected my performance, which, I won't necessarily get into - but definitely affected my focus on doing the actual lift itself. I'll leave it at that. I don't feel like I've had a really good DL day in a while - actually since last time I broke through to the 255 PR - many months ago. That day, the DL's felt unlike they ever had before, or have since. I'm not sure what I did that day, but I'm ready for one of those again in the DL arena.

I figure the Hawaii effects must have run their course by now, so now, no excuses - time to kick it up a notch.