A Major Mind-Game

So today I had a workout that consisted of 7 minutes of Burpee Broad Jumps for distance. What that means is I did a normal burpee, dropping down into a push up, but instead of jumping up at the top I did a broad jump which means I would leap as far as I could forward. I completed this workout at a park next to my apartments. Here was my thought process as it was my last workout of the day:

"I gotta get this workout in before work tonight otherwise I won't have time or motivation to do it. Let's see, it's 1:30 right now, I can get in a nap and get my workout in and still have plenty of time to shower before I have to leave."

- An hour passes by......

"Okay time to workout. Well maybe, I don't know. Haven't I done enough today? I did two workouts already and they both had me sweating, maybe I can call it good for the day? But you had this planned since yesterday. I know, but sometimes you gotta take it easy and and listen to your body. Is your body telling you you're sore? Well....no......But I feel tired though. Do you really feel tired or are you just cozy in bed because it's hot outside and your mattress is by the air conditioning? Okay so I'm relaxed, big deal. But it has been hot lately, and it gets hotter in the afternoons, it'd probably be safe not to go outside. Well are you gonna do it at the gym? Well I don't really wanna get sweaty before I have to work there. Plus people are gonna be on the walk/jog track so I'd probably be annoyed just avoiding them and getting out of their way. So why not do it now? It's 7 stupid minutes. Yeah, 7 minutes of one of my least favorite exercises. 7 minutes and you're done dude. Is Rich Froning(current CF Games champion) or Dan Bailey(well known games competitor) posting on twitter about how they almost did a workout but decided against it because they were too relaxed? No! They're posting about their 3rd workout outside in a football stadium located in the midwest(the same region you're heat wave is) and saying they got it done. Do yourself a favor: Lace up, throw on your shoes, don't check the temperature outside, and start walking to the park."

- 7 minutes of hot sweat ensues...

"......atta boy."

I ended up covering 130 Meters.


Everyone stop thinking and go crush your workouts the rest of the week!

BACK AT IT!!!

So WOW! haven't posted in a while. And for good reason, I've been extremely busy working, wedding planning, and being injured or sick. Sometimes all at once. But I promise you all, except when I was injured or sick. I still worked out every single day. I didn't really have a set routine I just did what I could when I could do it. But I don't want to bore you with ton of details. Let's just jump into what I did today.

Strength:

3x5 Back Squat @ 135lbs

WOD:

100 Pull Ups
100 Push Ups
100 Sit Ups
100 Squats

Now this was tough but I needed it. I found out that I can string together 20 kipping pull ups before taking a break. My push ups were all standard and full range, last time I eventually had to go down to my knees. And sit ups and squats were the same as always. Not too bad of a workout day.

Now to be honest, being busy and all can take away from blog posting and really by the end of the day I just don't feel like doing it. I will keep blogging but only when I'm up to it and excited about the day. Otherwise all you facebook people can see my updates on there. Thank you all for the continued support and have a great day with whatever you do!

Pat

Welcome Back Soreness

Another week down, and another week of workouts crushed. I not only did training of my own, but also started my participation in a 4-Week Warrior outdoor program with one of my co-workers here at the gym. Both factors have benefited me in my training and have left me sore STILL after 4 DAYS!!! Last week I set out some goals to work towards and many of those were accomplished. Here's a list of goals accomplished and what I'm working towards next:

• 10 1-Legged Squats each leg - Incomplete
• 30 Push Ups - Incomplete
• Static Hang 30 seconds - Complete. Next - Rope Climb 20ft 1x
• 30 V-Ups - Incomplete
• 25 Kettlebell Swings at 53lbs - Complete. Next Kettlebell Snatch 53lbs 30x each arm
• Run 400 Meters in 2:04 - Complete, Run in 1:34 - Complete, Run in 1:19 - Complete. Next - Run in 1:04
• Deadlift 1.5 x Bodyweight(270lbs) - Complete. Next - Deadlift 2 x Bodyweight(360lbs)
• Military Press 1/2 x Bodyweight(90lbs) - Incomplete
• 10 Medicince Ball Cleans - Complete. Next - Power Clean 3/4 x Bodyweight(135lbs)
• 10 Sitting Knees to Chest - Complete. Next - 15 Hanging Knees to Elbows
• 25 Wall Balls - Complete. Next - 45 Thrusters at 1/2 x Bodyweight(90lbs)
• Run 800 Meters in 4:20 - Complete, Run in 3:20 - Complete, Run in 2:50 - Complete. Next - Run in 2:20
• Row 500 Meters in 1:55 - Complete, Row in 1:45 - Complete. Next - Row in 1:32
• Vertical Jump 10 inches - Complete, 18 inches - Complete, 25 Inches - Complete. Next - Vertical Jump 30 Inches
• 20 Dips - Incomplete
• 20 Pull Ups - Incomplete
• L-Sit 10 Seconds - Incomplete
• Row 2000 Meters in 8:10 - Complete. Next - Row in 7:30
• 10 Dumbell Snatch each arm - Complete. Next - Power Snatch 1/2 Bodyweight(90lbs)

Finish in 15 Minutes or Less:
"Christine"
3 Rounds of:
500 Meter Row
12 Bodyweight Deadlifts
21 Box Jumps @ 24''

Result - Complete! Next - 1 Mile Run in 9 Minutes

So you all can kind of see where some of my strengths are as well as some of my weaknesses. I'm glad that I knocked out a lot of these and I can see there's still some work to do but I'm excited to start. As far as set up of the workouts go, I split up the movements into 3 workout days and save the challenge workout for the last day of week so I can get in a rest day during the week. For the Warrior Workouts we only work out Monday and Wednesday with the option of doing specific kettlebell strength and endurance challenges to earn points. The Warrior program is also very true to CrossFit, using a variety of equipment and having the participants work to full capacity in a very short amount of time. 8 minutes felt like an eternity in this class so I'm glad I'm keeping my conditioning up to par.

Well that's it for this week. Hopefully this was more interesting to read rather than a daily posting of workouts. Have a great Mother's Day and rest of the week and I'll catch up with you next week!

Training Update: 2 Months Down!

Okay, so obviously posting has been MIA for a while, but I still haven't stopped training. I've found out recently,(this week especially) that after a day of workouts and actual job responsibilities, it's tough to find the motivation to get up off the couch and write a post on the blog. It's also become too routine when posting things such as,"this is my strength workout" "this is my gymnastics workout" "this is the main crossfit workout" day after day. So I feel to keep myself sane but still hold true to updates is to save one post for the week on Saturdays when I'm primarily at a computer at work.

Well enough of that, here's the update:

This week through training I found out that as much as I have progressed in some areas of training, I've neglected other areas. I'm now trying to crank out more full-range handstand push ups, but strength has actually diminished in my regular push ups. Also there weren't much practice sessions with important CrossFit skills such as 1-legged squats and L-Sits. If I'm going to get better at these areas and increase in strength in the least amount of time. I need to be practicing more often.

Enter the Athletic Skills Progression Chart:
http://crossfitseattle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Skill-Levels-1-IV-spreadsheet.pdf

Essentially this chart covers all the important areas of fitness and skills that I'll need to do well next year at the CrossFit Games Open. I'll attack and pratice each movement each week until I'm able to do the prescribed benchmark. Once that happens I'll move up to the next level of exercises to practice. This will solidify my form and let me know that I'm able to actually able to do the movement rather than modify movements. From there I'll be able to actually do the prescribed workouts from CrossFit which should result in better times and a greater overall benefit.

Just so you know where I am now, here's my current goals I'm working towards or skills I've yet to test:

10 1-Legged Squats each leg
1.5 x Bodyweight Squat
30 Push Ups
Static Hang 30 seconds
30 V-Ups
30 Kettlebell Snatch 24kg/53lbs each arm
400 Meter Run in 2:04
1.5 x Bodyweight Deadlifts
Military Press .5 x Bodyweight
Handstand Hold 1 minute
10 Medicine Ball Cleans
10 Sitting Knees to Chest
25 Wall Balls
800 Meter Run in 4:20
500 Meter Row in 1:55
Vertical Jump 10 inches
20 Dips
1/3 x Bodyweight Dip
20 Pull Ups
1/3 x Bodyweight Pull Up
1 Muscle Up
L-Sit 10 seconds
2000 Meter Row in 8:10
10 Dumbbell Snatch 45lbs per arm
1 mile Run in 9:00

And finally,

"Christine"
3 Rounds for time of :
500 Meter Row
12 Bodyweight Deadlifts
21 Box Jumps @ 24''

I'll post my progress each week so you know where I'm at with my goals. Next week I'll also have upadates on some outdoor workouts I'll be involed in here at work that should encourage team competition similar to CrossFit.

Until next week!

-Pat

Training 2.15

Hey there everyone! Once again sorry for the delay of posting but you know how it is with busy schedules and all. Anyway, here's a look at what I did for Monday's workout yesterday.....

Strength WOD
Shoulder Press 3x5

Gymnastics WOD
3x5 Pistol Squats
3x5 Handstand Push Ups

Mainsite WOD

For Time:
2000 Meter Row
50 Alternating Pistol Squats
30 225lb Hang Clean(Substituted 95lbs)

Result - 12:25

Video Demo:

This wasn't too bad. My pistol squats are really improving, but I needed to sub the 225lb hang clean because I just couldn't get enough drive from the standing position. This did make me sweat but suprisinly not that tiring. Today's workouts you'll see that I'm going to start adding in extra stuff so not to get too comfortable with just this format of working out.

Training 2.14

Hey there everyone! So time for another update on my workouts. As you know, Wednesday was a pretty tough day for me and I definitely didn't feel fully recovered yesterday. So I ended up taking the day off with the exception of my Body Rock class. It was well worth it. Here's what went on today:

Mainsite WOD:

"Diane"
21-15-9 reps of:
225 pound Deadlift
Handstand push-ups

Time - 8:49

Video Demo

I felt awesome during this workout. I never thought there'd be a point where I wouldn't have to modify this workout and that day has come. I had to touch and go with the deadlifts because 225lbs is still kind of heavy for me. Handstand pushups were still short pulses considering I can only do a couple of full range ones. But I felt good about the time and my body felt good as well.

Gymnastics WOD:

Practice pistol squats 10 minutes

Strength WOD:

3x5 Cleans

Overalll, great finish to the week and can't wait for the next one!

-Pat

Training 2.13

Ugh......today's workout.....sucked. I was dripping with sweat and couldn't wait until it was over to lie down and passout.(Luckily I didn't.) Take a look at what happened:

Strength WOD:

3x5 Back Squat

Mainsite WOD:

"J.J."
For time:
185 pound Squat clean, 1 rep
10 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 2 reps
9 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 3 reps
8 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 4 reps
7 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 5 reps
6 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 6 reps
5 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 7 reps
4 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 8 reps
3 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 9 reps
2 Parallette handstand push-ups
185 pound Squat clean, 10 reps
1 Parallette handstand push-up

Time - 23:49

Video Demo:

I scaled the weight down to 110lbs and just used the handles on 2 dumbbells for the handstand push ups. The handstand push ups are harder when you don't have the full support of your palms being flat on the ground. But what I had to chip away at were the squat cleans. They took a lot out of me and were the reason I was sweating so much. I thought my time was pretty slow, but looking at the comments on CrossFit's website a lot of people scaled and everyone's time was at least 20 minutes or above. So I don't feel to bad about my time, but of course I'm always wanting it to be better.

So I got to thinking that it's time for another change of tactic to my program. Next week I'm going to ATTEMPT to do my skill workouts in the first part of the day, then proceed to do my harder workouts in the evening. Sometimes I may even do a couple of harder workouts at both times of the day. Don't get me wrong, I'm seeing great results, but if I want to shoot for that podium next summer then I have to step my game up and not get too comfortable in one routine of working out.

Until tomorrow,

-Pat