Perfect blend today

By the way, I did my half hour of power on Saturday, and even added on minute of situps. Honestly, I felt like the one minute rest was too much. I've done filthy fifties where the only rest you get was gasping for air until you could actually do something more. As soon as I started getting winded, I had a minute to rest. Next time I'll try with 30 seconds rest and see how that goes. I'll run longer at the end to make it a half hour.


Today's workout was a perfect blend of BFL and Crossfit. It was upper body day, so I did my chest routine first. For back and shoulders, I did the Crossfit WOD:

She is named Fran, and she seems easy...but she is one nasty bitch.

21-15-9 reps for time of:
95lb Thrusters
Pullups

My time was a lousy 9:22.

This is where the BFL workout hurts me, and why I'm adding Crossfit stuff. The total body cardio you get with Crossfit far surpasses anything BFL throws at me. I was gasping for air on the thrusters. My legs and shoulders had it in them, but I had to stop for air. BFL also isn't about speed, as Crossfit is. Anyway, I have a baseline for Fran now.

I finished up my workout with a few sets of heavy dumbbell curls and weighted dips. Then I tacked on some Cable flys and pullups for good measure.

I did some work around the house the other day. Since I've been focusing on heavy, compound movements, lifting and moving some heavy stuff around the house was an eye opening experience. Things that I used to perceive as being a bit heavy were ridiculously light to me. Funny how being in shape actually helps you live every day. Go figure.

Progress is simple...but it ain't easy

When you go to the gym at the same time every day, you get to know the faces of people that do the same. Over time, you notice the people who are making progress, and you notice the people that make no progress at all. How can someone go to the gym for months and months and make no progress? I think there are two factors at play. Exercise intensity and nutrition. To make real gains, you’ve got to have them both, unless you are within the five percent of the population that are genetically blessed.

I see some people that work out hard every day. They push themselves to the limit, and end up drenched in sweat and exhausted from their efforts. But they never change. How can that be? Nutrition. Eating…or should I say overeating. I can pretty much guarantee that these folks eat too much, eat the wrong foods, and in many cases drink more alcohol then they should. You can work out an awful lot and still gain or maintain weight. If you’re not in a caloric deficit, you’re finished. It’s that simple.

Then there is the other group of people. They come to the gym religiously and spend an hour or more on an elliptical machine or a treadmill or a stair climber. They may even run through a machine circuit for strength training. (I won’t get into a discussion of how useless I think machines are right now.) What I will say is that these folks put in all this effort, and they never break a sweat. They go on endlessly, and they aren’t sweating or out of breath or taxed in the least. Now, either these people are the most amazing, in shape athletes in history, or they aren’t pushing themselves at all. I have a particular opinion on exercise. I really believe you’re either moving forward, or you’re moving backward. I don’t think you can stay in place. If you just try to maintain, you will eventually begin to decline. Anyway, this group of people may work out every day, and their eating may be okay. They just aren’t expending enough calories in the gym, nor running up their metabolism high enough, because they aren’t working hard enough. If you’re going to spend the time at the gym, get something out of it! Push yourself to the limit, and you will get tremendous benefit.

Almost

I ran my 5k in 22:35 today, beating my best time by one second!!! I thought I missed it by five, so I'm thrilled...kinda. I felt myslef losing it over the last three or four minutes. I tried to make a push at the end, but had little left in the tank. I'll settle for my time, and try to do better next week.

Second almost? I think I saw a six pack almost trying to poke it's head out of my midsection today. I've seen the muscles before under a layer of fat...but this is the first time it really looked six packish. Still have a way to go, but I was shocked!

I think this is going to be my Saturday workout:

Half Hour of Power

1 minute mountain climbers max
1 minute rest
1 minute air squat
1 minute rest
1 minute jumping jacks max
1 minute rest
1 minute of bicycles
1 minute rest
1 minute push ups max
1 minute rest
1 minute 16" step max
1 minute rest
1 minute jumping pull ups max
1 minute rest
1 minute plank
1 minute rest
1 minute bear crawl
1 minute rest
1 minute side shuffle w/ knuckle touches
1 minute rest
1 minute wall sits
2 minute rest
6 minute walk/ run
Followed by nausea, dizziness and rapid heart rate........

Can't wait...

Funny quote

The NY Times had an article on Crossfit the other day, which compared it to a cultish religion. This was picked up by Gawker, which wrote:

Crossfit, via the NYT—CrossFit is an internet-based cult of fitness for psychos, itinerant preachers, ex-killers, and crazy people of all stripes. I have met some people who do CrossFit, and they are scarily in shape and also not at all fun to be around. All you have to do is complete the psycho workout routine posted online every day. Sample, from Friday:

For time:
15 Handstand push-ups
1 L Pull-up
13 Handstand push-ups
3 L Pull-ups
11 Handstand push-ups
5 L Pull-ups
9 Handstand push-ups
7 L Pull-ups
7 Handstand push-ups
9 L Pull-ups
5 Handstand push-ups
11 L Pull-ups
3 Handstand push-ups
13 L Pull-ups
1 Handstand push-up
15 L Pull-ups

Post time to comments.

Seriously, just forget CrossFit. It will make you insane.

To which a Crossfit "cult" member replied:

Hmm...maybe the slogan "CrossFit puts the 'F-U' in 'fun'!" isn't winning over the hearts of the general population.

That quote cracked me the hell up!

Anyway, The Gawker article is kinda funny, no? Oh yeah, and kinda pathetic....because that is the way the rank and file thinks and lives. We all know the reason most people aren't in shape is because they don't want it bad enough to earn it. Then they make fun of us to make themselves feel better. Okay, I can laugh at myself too. But when I'm done, I'm going to workout and get into even better shape, while the laughers fall further into the abyss. Good times, huh?

Lower body today. I'll be hobbling around all afternoon. Yuk it up, baby!

Hard run today

I was going to try to beat my last 5k time today. I decided to increase the speed of each leg by .1 mph from my last run. I made a mistake, and actually increased the speed by .6 mph. I damn near killed myself. That had me on a pace to run the 5k in 20:59, which was significantly faster than my PR. I ended up slowing down and had a good run, but I just ended up doing a normal HIIT instead of a 5k. I'll give it another shot on Thursday. Maybe I can get it done in a 22:15. I'll see.

Exactly HOW big is your hand?

I've probably added about 7-8 pounds of fat since I was at my leanest. Part of me hasn't been overly concerned, because I am trying to add muscle mass and I want to make sure I don't shortchange myself on nutrition. But part of me does care, because I can see fat that wasn't there nine months ago....and that's how it starts. When I reflect on what the issue is, I really think it comes down to portion sizes. I've not been as careful as I should be, and that starts adding up after a while. I'm giving myself another month, and then I'm going to get very strict. I'd like to be leaned out by the end of July.

I've given some thought to entering and official challenge, but I don't thing I will. BFL is first and foremost a bodybuilding competition. I'm more concerned about health and performance than pure asthetics. Even so, I'm pretty convinced I could win in my category...except that I just will not shave my body and do that whole oiling up thing. I have no desire. Show me one male BFL champion that didn't. The judges would toss me out because of it, no matter how amazing my progress. It's marketing, folks. And a somewhat hairy guy just isn't going to look right in their marketing materials. That could be a mistake on their part. The message of the ordinary guy succeeding and all that. But I just don't see it happening. I'll win in my own book, which is the one I really care about anyway.

UBWO and then some

RunI did my UBWO today instead of tomorrow. I was very please with my performance, especially considering my body has been flirting with a bit of a cold that caused me to skip my run on Tuesday. I had something left in the tank, so I decided to do the Crossfit WOD. It was:

Four rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
Rest 2 minutes

This is the first time I've done this one, so I wasn't really sure of the pacing. Anyway, my time went like this:

1:40
1:30
1:30
1:18
Total time 11:58

Ran on a treadmill at a 1.0 incline.

This is a workout best done outside. I was nowhere near as wiped out as I should have been. The treadmill kept on displaying a message that it couldn't attain desired speed. No shit, I mumbled to the damned thing. Treadmills are not built for sprints. If I ever do it again on one, I'll crank up the incline and see if I can match my time. I want to feel like I've got nothing left when I'm done, or I'm not satisfied.

I expect to be sore tomorrow

I pushed out an excellent LBWO today. I'll be doing some juggling of my workouts the rest of the week due to scheduling. I need to stay on track, and I will.

Two for the price of one

I've got two thoughts today...aren't you all lucky?

The other day, I was having a conversation with someone that was trying to convince me to commit to a pump and run, which is maximum reps bodyweight bench press followed by a 5k. When I talked about my 5k time and likely reps of BW bench, she told me that I'd do great in my age group. That's the rub. I may be chronologically in my age group, but I'm NOT in my age group. I REFUSE to let that limit me in any way, or become a crutch for a lesser performance. I think too many people settle for less than they are capable of by using age as an excuse. It's good enough for a _____ year old. I'm calling bullshit on that. I'm not doing it....not that I wouldn't get a little rise out of scorching a twenty five year old!

Next topic....I was watching television the other night, and some cutesy ad came on marketing some drug for RLS. Restless Leg Syndrome. Come on, already. Are we really getting to the point that every fucking person on this earth has some strange affliction that we require permanent medication for? The number of new "afflictions" identified by the pharma industry is ridiculous. Why don't these companies put their efforts towards development of drugs that can cure life threatening illnesses and diseases instead of bullshit made up afflictions? And I can guarantee that the vast mojority of these afflictions can be directly linked back to lifestyle. It's a piss-ass message to send. Live like a jackass....we've got a pill for that. Enough already, isnt it?

I can imagine a team of doctors and pharmaceutical employees sitting around and discussing people with IDHASS-I Don't Have Any Syndromes Syndrome. We HAVE to come up with a drug for that! That just cannot be. There must be something REALLY Really wrong with them!

Going nowhere slow

After running 1.1 miles as a warmup, I did some Tabata sprint intervals today. I ran eight intervals of :

Twenty seconds sprinting followed by ten seconds of jogging.

I finished up with another mile jog and two sets of 100 situps for speed.

One thing I really noticed is how slow I’ve gotten. Even with lifting weights, biking, swimming and jogging, my sprints are pretty pathetic. I realized that I rarely have cause to sprint any more. Even when I’m playing with my kids, I don’t sprint. They’re little kids. I don’t really HAVE to…and besides…if we’re playing tag, I have to let them catch me, right? When my older kids come over, we may throw a football around, but the lawn has a limited amount of usable space that doesn’t really allow you to get up any speed.

I’m anxious for the warm weather to come. I’m going to add once a week sprint training to my routine. It will have a tremendous positive effect on my cardiovascular fitness, and will help in all areas of my fitness.

I also need to hit my abs at least three times a week. I’ve been hitting them at most twice a week, and sometimes only once. That isn’t nearly enough.

The mental game

During todays workout, I accidentally loaded ten extra pounds to one side of the bar when I was benching. Upon starting my lift, I could tell something was off. I struggled, hit the pins on the way up, did another rep, hit the pins again, and, feeling weak, racked the bar. I knew I'd had a tough week and was tired, and I was sitting there thinking I've finally hit a wall. I started thinking aboout dropping my weights down and ramping them back up again to try to get over the hump. In sixty seconds, I was ready to abandon my entire plan! Then I realized the bar wasn't balanced. The total weight was less than I've done in the past. I fixed the imbalance and plowed through my workout. It really is amazing how the mind can shut the body down in an instant....or build it up.

Anyway...now I'm wondering about purposely creating an imbalance with the weights. I think that would provide one helluva challenge during a workout. Hmmmm....need to think about trying that.

I read an interesting article the other day

It discussed placebos that had been used in various medical trials. The more expensive the placebo was, the better it worked. The conclusion of the study was that the mind and your belief in something plays a huge role in the outcome.

It's interesting how this applies to a BFL lifestyle. It really shows that a positive outlook, visualization, and determination really can propel you forward towards your goals. Likewise, convincing yourself you will struggle and fail will much more likely make it so.

There is also a direct connection to the supplements so many BFLers gobble up like candy. I can't tell you how often I've read people saying they can lift more now that they are on creatine, or recover better on glutamine, or blah blah. How much of that is in their head? How much does the belief that these things work actually make them work harder and lift more just because they believe?

The only real way to measure these things would be to administer these substances to people without their knowledge....without them knowing they were getting anything at all. Not that you could do something like that...but if you could, I think you'd see that the supps might not do much at all.

Anyway...second time this week I hit a record 5k. Today was 22:36, 11 seconds faster than Tuesday. Wow. If I shave 11 seconds every week, I'll be at a 20:30 5k in twelve weeks! Yeah, right. But it does show that you need to really focus on challenging youself. I guess I've been a bit of a slacker with my running.

It's been a long time

Since I've been this wobbly legged after a LBWO. I've started on my squatting program. Deep, full, ass to the grass squats only. I'm gradually move up from the realtively light weights I'm doing now until I reach more respectable weight. I'm really focusing on form and a full range of motion. I'm topping them off with some leg presses for good measure. My ab workout was intense too. It seems as if I'm kicking it up a notch. It's about time...

Fast 5k

Today's Crossfit WOD was a 5k, which happens to coincide with my BFL workout. Did some stretching and a good warmup, and ran myself a 22:47 on the treadmill with a 1.0 incline. That may be a record for me. I didn't have any issues with the groin/ab thing, so hopefully that's all done with.

I was all set

to write that I was dissatisfied with my workout today. I struggled a bit with the weights on my bench. It goes to show that eating right really does provide the fuel your body needs. Free day yesterday, feeling a bit weak today. No surprise.

Anyway, I did some extra work since it was high rep day, and I earned my stripes. I'm wiped, and can put a checkmark next to kicked ass in today's workout. I feel good.

I listened to my body

and dismounted the treadmill today when I felt that twinge running from my groin into my lower abs on one side. Keep your mind out of the gutter! ;-)

I got on the bike and had a good ride instead. That didn't give me any discomfort at all. I walked for a few minutes on the treadmill afterwords, and did five minutes on the Concept 2 rower too. I don't feel like I get as good a cardio workout on the bike as I do running. My legs burn too much before I get that complete cardio exhaustion....but I do feel other benefits from riding. I can really feel the muscles all through my legs when I ride. It's a different kind of conditioning than running. It's a balance. Anyway, I figure I'm better off doing this than getting laid up and doing nothing, right?

I'll have to figure out what to do with the shoulder too. I guess. If I have to....

I toyed

with the idea of doing the CF filthy fifty yesterday for my cardio. Instead, as I wrote yesterday, I ran on the treadmill. I thought about doing their WOD today too, but it was leg day.

So...I did a LBWO today, but that slight pull in my lower left ab/inner thigh was acting up. I started squats, but slipped over to the leg press machine instead. I forgot how much easier leg presses are than squats, but at least I was able to get a leg workout in. I did work my abs too, although not exactly in the way I would have preferred.

Cardio day

It was hot as hell in the gym today, but I pushed myself to an even faster run than I did last week. I'm probably going to do some sprints over the weekend, weather permitting. They will help me increase speed on my HIIT runs too.

At some point, I'm going to have to take a week off. I often feel like I got hit on the shoulder with a hammer right where the collar bone and shoulder meet, and I've been feeling a tightness in my left groin/lower abs when I start running. It loosens up a bit after warmup, but my body may be trying to tell me something. I need to plan a bit of downtime in the somewhat near future. Maybe. I'll see.

I should sleep for more than five hours

if I want to maximize my workout performance. I'm not saying I didn't push myself and have a good workout. It just could have been better. I'm formulating my plan for lower body,shoulders, and cardio this week. I'm moving forward. Eating was pretty good this weekend, and seems to be back on track. It's about time.