I was tired today

It took a lot of effort to head to the gym for squats and deadlifts. I did it and I'm glad, but I am looking forward to a week "off" in a couple of weeks. I'll be on vacation and I'll be active, but I won't do any lifting. I think these old bones need a little break.

I've been eating on the fringes lately. I've been cooking less and eating more food from the outside. Even though I'm making healthy choices, I realize my nutrition is not nearly as good when I do this. No wonder I'm feeling tired and a bit sluggish lately. I know I was sick for a week, but it's more than that. Nutrition really is a big part of the game.

Running hard, hard running

The Crossfit WOD today was to run a 5K, which is what I had planned too. Perfect.

What wasn't perfect was the way I struggled....mightily...when I ran that 5k. Did I really lose that much not running for a week and a half? Is it the remnants of my cold clogging up my respiratory system? Is it the spring pollen in the air? Did I just get lazy? My 5k time was 24:26, and it damned near killed me running it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I tacked some abs on after for good measure. No 5k on Thursday. I'm going to run some 400m and 800m sprints. Saturday, I'm going to run some short Tabata sprints too. I need to get back to where I should be.

Catching up

I ran over the weekend for the first time in a week and a half, and it felt like it. I had a very tough time, but I pushed through my HIIT run and was glad that I did.

Today, I did an UBWO. I added the CF WOD to my shoulder workout. Well, I kinda did. The WOD was:

Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Instead, my mind read that as push presses. Not the worst thing in the world. I did end up having a really good UBWO today. I was feeling lazy before I went, and I feel great now. I knew it was going to be one of those kinds of days.

My nutrition was horrible over the weekend, featuring too much of the wrong foods, and too little of the right ones. I need to focus a bit more on my eating.

Angie, angie, aint it good to be alive?

Today's workout was special. I did my normal heavy chest and shoulder workout, and instead of doing my normal back, I did the Crossfit WOD. It's a fun little number called Angie. She goes like this:

For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats

Pullups 10:10
Pushups 5:45
Situps 5:02
Squats 5:14 Total time including transition was 28:11. Not a great time, but not too bad for my first Angie.

The squats were extra fun after the leg workout yesterday. The pullups were a bit of a bear, and my lats and biceps were on fire by the end. The pushups would have been much easier on a non-chest day. I wish I had still done some dips after Angie. I'll do some ring dips on Saturday.

If you see someone hobbling around

for the next couple of days, that will probably be me. LBWO today. Squats, deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts. Standing calf raises with heavy weight. Abdominals. I feel great...and I'll be sore for days to come.

I've missed cardio this week due to my cold, but I'm getting my lifting in. I'll do my UBWO tomorrow, and hopefully run on Friday night and again Sunday. I'll see.

At what magic point

does your body go from being sick to getting over being sick? Is there a moment when all of the cold virus has been killed and your white blood cells are carting the corpses away through the mucous membranes? Are a large part of the virus organisms dead and the remaining ones being overrun by the defensive cells of the body? At this point, I wouldn't say I was sick, but I am "recovering". If I try running, my respiratory system is still affected by the remnants of the cold, and I perform accordingly. I'm just curious.

Anyway, I had a rather sedentary weekend, and I was feeling quite sluggish all morning. I attributed a lot of it to the aforementioned "recovering" nonsense. I didn't know how well my UBWO would go today, but I went anyway. I had a great workout, and I feel one hundred percent better. My breathing is clearer, my body has awakened, and I feel human again. I know some of it was the cold, but if I lay dormant, my body does not like it. Not one bit. Of course, there are those days here and there when I'm happy to make an exception.

For Shoulders today, I did a CF WOD from yesterday:

Shoulder press 3-3-3-3-3 reps

It's funny. I did this with no shoulder pain at all. In fact, when I work out, the shoulder feels great. It's only later on that it hurts. I'll see how I feel later.

I wasn't about to miss my UBWO today...

especially after missing my cardio workout yesterday. For the past couple of years, very time I get a cold, I get a swelling in my inner ears that causes a temporary bit of dizziness every time I lie down or sit up. This makes for an interesting bench routine. Sit on the bench, lie down, take a deep breath. Wait for the head to spin and then stop. Push out the set and rack the bar. Sit up, and wait for the head to spin and stop. Repeat. Now, that's a FUN way to do a workout.

Well, I did it. Bench, pullups, presses, dips, chins. I'm glad I did.

For the second week in a row, my lower body has some significant DOMS. Deep squats and deadlifts are my friend.

So...at least I understand

why I've been so tired and unmotivated the last couple of days. I had a cold roll in last night. I was hoping it was a bit of pollen crap going on, but no such luck. I've bailed on cardio today. I made sure I would by leaving my gym clothes at home....I don't trust myself enough to bring them in just in case.

Anyway, I was going to write that I should have taken yesterday off, but I don't think I should have. I was getting a cold anyway. What good would skipping the workout have done? I have upper body tomorrow. I'll have to see about that.

In case you can't guess, I HATE missing workouts. In fact, I've set goals for myself and a plan to acheive them that assumes I won't miss a workout. That keeps me motivated to carry on even on those days I don't feel like it. How am I going to hit a 300 bench by the end of the year if I miss this workout? I'll be a day behind in my weight progression! Some people would (and do) declare this as an obsession. Maybe. I just know myself. If I allow myself to think that missing workouts is acceptable behavoir, then I'll start missing them. Then a few more. Then a few more. Then I'm screwed. Obsessed? Honestly, most people that are fit take a hard line. You have to. To do otherwise is to give in to mediocrity and a less than fit and healthy existence. I just can't do that. I've had my warning signs. I'm NOT going to ignore them and die young.

The key is finding a balance. You need to work out enough, but still leave time for eveything else in your life. It's one of the things that has attracted me to both BFL and CF. You don't spend countless hours a day exercising. I think that's counterproductive anyway, but that's another topic.

With these toughts in mind, I've bailed on the tracker community again. Spending time on there was taking up far too much time, and I wasn't getting much out of it anyway. In fact, when I'm not at the gym working out, I don't want to think about it constantly. That can cause burnout, and it's too important a thing to allow burnout. Besides, it's gotten to the point that 70% of the tracker threads are about crap that has nothing to do with fitness and health. I wasn't on a team, and don't want to be. I wasn't getting anything out of participating, nor were very many other people. I did get some credit from someone last week for a change in their behavoir, and that was nice. But all in all, it's too much effort for little reward. Besides, most people out there really just want to hear what they want to hear, and they are going to do what they want anyway.

Enough babble for one day.

Sometimes you earn your stripes

Too little sleep. Scratchy throat. Sore shoulder. Tired. Distracted. Feeling lazy. It's leg day. What do you do?

You go to the gym, and do your legs. And you feel damned good that you did. I briefly toyed with doing the Crossfit WOD for today:

Five rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

I may try that one tomorrow instead, depending upon how I feel. I'll have to scale the overhead squats if I do. I need more practice with them. Instead, today I did my squats, deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, weighted step-ups onto a bench, and calve raises under a heavy barbell. I'm glad I forced myself.


I'm really beginning to feel comfortable with full, below parallel squats using proper form. It takes a bit getting used to, but I'm hitting it correctly right now. This is important, because as I continue to raise the weights, that form is going to be critical.

I really can't believe how much time I've wasted over the years doing shallow, partial squats, leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls. If you're going to spend the time pounding out the reps, why not accomplish something? Same thing goes for some upper body stuff I've done over the years. Time that could have been spent much more effectively. Live and learn.

It was one of those days

That I found myself running along on the treadmill, thinking...why the hell do I do this?

Fortunately, these days are few and far between. Today's workout:

Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run

Rest as needed between efforts.

I did it on the treadmill at a 1.0 incline.

My times were:
3:40
3:30
3:20
3:10

I "rested" 2 minutes between the runs by walking at 4mph.

After the last 800m, I walked for two minutes, and ran one more half mile at 7.5mph.

I also did a rather long, painful ab workout along with a bunch of sets of back extensions.

I'm glad I stuck with it today!

Planning time

I was asked by one of my readers why I haven't yet made the complete switch over to Crossfit. There are several reasons for this. The first is that I don't feel like I've mastered the Olympic lifts enough yet to feel comfortable moving to the CF workouts entirely. I am planning on working Mark Ripptoes Starting Strength program first. Of course, I will still add some of the CF workouts to what I'm doing. I love the met-con aspects of the CF workouts. Those workouts are much more taxing than simply running or rowing.

Once I've gotten to where I should be in terms of strength and my ability to perform certain lifts, then I'll need to decide if I go 100%. I've got a bit of a shoulder issue. I'm really wondering if 100% CF may cause me to suffer injuries due to the repetitive stress of some of the high rep movements. I hate using age as an excuse, but I'm not eighteen. My recovery times are not what they used to be. I'll see how I feel at that point, and proceed accordingly. Either way, I will participate in a lot of the CF workouts. I'll keep on working them in as I deem them to fit.

Speaking of CF, the WOD on Saturday was a 10k run. I got myself some new running shoes, and tried them out yesterday with the intention of running a 10k. I've never run that distance before. I was running at a fairly moderate pace, and finished a 5k in 25 minutes. My calve was knotting up a bit, so I decided to shut it down rather than rick screwing myself up. I wish I would have known I was only going for a 5k. I would have run faster.

UBWO today. I'll add the CF WOD:

Hang power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Loads were 115-115-135-135-135-135-135. Not heavy, but I really tried good form. I think I did okay. I felt a little weak today in my lifting, especially on the bench. I didn't really eat enough this weekend, so I'm not surprised.

Fun.

Serious DOMS

Lower body is wiped. I love it!

Upper body today. I pushed out an excellent workout. Nothing special to report. It's a rest day on Crossfit, but not here.

Cardio and ab day

I decided to run a 5K today. For a twist, I didn't run it in the HIIT format. Instead, I ran it at a constant pace with a target of finishing in 21:30, which would have shattered my previous record. I wanted to speed up for the last minute only. I ended up slowing down three times for a minute at a time. At one point, I paused the treadmill so I could retie my shoe. I ended up with a 22:10 time, five seconds faster than my PR. I won't call it a PR though, because of the pause for shoe tying. I will say it was very hot in teh gym today. Maybe I was being a wuss for not pushing myself hard enough?

I know a couple of runners who I may be able to ask for suggestions on the best way to get faster times. I was spent at the end of it, and had to force myself to hit my abs. I did, and I'm glad.

Make it count

One of the things a lot of people question about both Crossfit and BFL is whether or not the workouts demand sufficient time to obtain the desired results. We live in a culture that advances the thought that more is better. If twenty minutes of exercise is good, thirty is better, but not as good as sixty, which is not as good as ninety, and onward. The truth is that this is one of those quality time type things. If you put in the proper amount of effort and do the right exercises, you will have excellent results. Nobody needs to live at a gym to be fit, muscular, and healthy.

Anybody looking for maximum results should stick with compound exercises using free weights. I see this topic coming up pretty often. A lot of people spend time trying to isolate small muscle groups and/or using machines rather than free weights. There are number of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is that it's easier. Plain and simple. Performing very taxing, compound movements takes a lot of effort, both mentally and physically. It's a lot easier to hop onto a machine and push out a few reps than it is to perform exercises that tax the entire body. The thing is....taxing the entire body is what nature intended. When we lift a load, our entire body works together to move the weight. When we try to isolate muscles or use machines that provide unnatural support or cause us to move the weight through unnatural planes of motion, we are working against nature. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I can pretty much guarantee that compound movements burn a heck of a lot more calories than isolation movements.

When you're at the gym, you need to ask yourself why you are there. If you spend sixty minutes working out, why not make it count as much as you can? Leave it all there on the gym floor. Of course, a very small percentage of the population may be bodybuilding or fitness competitors that must tailor each muscle just so for aesthetic reasons. I understand that. I'd still argue that the core workout should still be compound movements. For the rest of us, get the most out of your time. Stick with the big movements using free weights. You'll be amazed at the results.

LBWO today. Squats, deads, Step ups, standing calve raises. Fun. Maybe I'll finish with some box jumps. I haven't done them in a while.

Another intense cardio day

Today was cardio day, and I decided to do the Crossfit workout named Michael...thanks to Kelly for the idea! The CF WOD was all heavy shoulder work, and with a bum shoulder and having done an UBWO yesterday, I was sticking with my cardio.

Michael is three rounds for time of:

Run 800m
50 Sit ups
50 Back extensions

My time came it at a bit disappointing 23:42. The runs were good. I lose time on the back extensions and a little bit on the sit ups. I also lose time moving from the treadmill area of the gym to where I can do sit ups and back extensions.

I'm not completely displeased, because my last Michael my time was 24:44, and the time before that was 25:51. I shave a minute from last time, and that time was a minute less than the previous time. That is certainly progress. I finished with some mountain climbers with the knee going to the opposite elbow for good measure. I was wiped out by the time I finished.

May have to give in...

Saturday, I attempted to run a 5k outside. I was fast for the first 2.2 miles, running at about a 21 5k minute pace. About a third of the way into the last .9 miles, I hit a wall. I slowed to a walk, ran again, then walked a bit more. I ended up crossing the 5k line at around 25 minutes. That was a huge disappointment, especially considering how fast I had been going for the first two thirds of the run. I was talking to someone the other day about the difference between the treadmill and the road. He pointed out that you can't just stop on the treadmill. You have to slow it down or turn it off. When you're running outside, your legs can stop in a split second if your mind sends the message. No time to argue with yourself. I'm angry I listened. I won't allow myself to do that again. I fried my abs afterwords as punishment.

Other business...the shoulder is hurting a bit more the last week or two. I've decided to do only light weight and high reps for my shoulder work for the next month. I go on vacation in about a month, and I may shut it down entirley for a week. I've been working out for almost two years, and I really haven't had any downtime other than a very occassional missed workout. It wouldn't kill me to take a week off to rest, would it? Maybe some light jogging. Right? Somebody tell me yes! It's probably time. I just find it a bit annoying, because it really seems as if I'm making some dramatic progress lately. Laying off will surely bring it to a halt.

Another great workout

I had an UBWO scheduled today. I did heavy, low rep chest and back today. Instead of a normal shoulder workout, I did the CF WOD, with modifications. The WOD was:
"Gwen"

Clean & Jerk 15-12- and 9 reps

Touch and go at floor only. Even a re-grip off the floor is a foul. No dumping. Use same load for each set. Rest as needed between sets.

First off, I misread this as 21-15-9 reps. I decided to use 95 pounds. If I go too light, my form is all over the place. It's really hard to properly do a clean if the weight is too low. You most likely end up doing a reverse curl instead. After beginning, I realized there was no way I was getting in 21 reps at this load. This routine quickly becomes a met-con routine after 7 or 8 reps. I did what I could, breaking up my sets long enoough to catch my breath before starting. I ended up doing the full 45 reps, although not as instructed. I don't have a baseline for Gwen, but that's okay. It was a great total body workout. I did some bicep work and weighted dips with 50 lbs on the belt. Finished up with cable fly/pullup supersets.

I seem to be more motivated now that I've been regularly adding CF WODS to my routine. I seem to be progressing more too. Hmmm. That should tell me something!

Inherited memory?

Why is it that brewing coffee in the morning just smells so good and makes you feel good...almost nostalgic. I had a fine childhood, but nothing in particular linked to the smell of brew going...other than the fact it was brewed every morning. Even people that don't drink coffee often enjoy the smell of it brewing.

Throughout history, knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation via stories-sometimes written, sometimes spoken, sometimes in pictures. Maybe there is a passing down of a story using the olfactory senses when it comes to coffee. Maybe I think too much.

I'm running a 5k today and hitting my abs. If I hit a PR, I'll update it oout in the margins.

EDIT-NEW PERSONAL RECORD!!

Oh...and Mr. Pukie tried to make an appearance. I pushed him away just before he said hello. Good day! http://www.crossfit.com/journal/images/pukie.jpg

Legs

I've been doing one full LBWO each week, and one lighter, higher rep one on the weekend. Of course, I also do my running three times a week. I'm working a full range of motion in my squats. My goal is to increase my squat weight by at least 100 lbs in a year, and then work on another 100 pounds. I may move along quicker than that, but that remains to be seen.

I got a laugh at the gym. While I was busy doing my ass to the grass squats today with a fairly moderate weight, there was some guy next to me "squatting" 315 lbs. Okay, that's not a huge amount, but it's enough. I'd say he went down around six to eight inches, and then came back up. People really, really need to check their ego at the door. It is completely pointless to do this exercise with such a limited range of motion. Yu're not at the gym to impress anybody. You're there to make progress....and you ain't gonna do it working six inch squats!

Cardio day with abs

Today's Crossfit WOD is:

Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run

Rest as needed between efforts.

I did it on the treadmill at a 1.0 incline.

My times were:
3:51
3:38
3:26
3:16

Rest was 1 minute between runs.

My pace was too slow. I should have done much better. Now I have a baseline for next time.

I also fried my abs and lower back.