Crossfit: Tabata Something Else

"Tabata Something Else"

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Score: 275, not bad for getting back into the swing of things.

I then did some bench press 2x12x115, 2x8x135, and 5x5 squat clean and jerks with 115 pounds.

Crossfit: Deadlift

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps

I did 135x8, 225x1, 275x4. Again, taking these slow and concentrating on good form.

Crossfit: Nate

"Nate"

Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings

Post rounds completed to comments.

I did a modified Nate today, still not quite ready to ramp up the intensity yet. Probably two weeks of modified work before I start hitting all gears.

I did 11 rounds in 20 minutes of:

3 - dips / 3 - pull-ups
4 - 95-pound shoulder press
8 - 50-pound dumbell swings

Crossfit: Mr. Joshua

Mr. Joshua

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps

I didn't do a thing while on vacation last week, which was probably a net positive. I was feeling banged up, fingers, shoulders, elbows. They all deserved a week of rest. I did get to the gym yesterday but it was way too crowded for any type of Crossfit exercise so I just took it easy with some light freeweight work. But today I decided to do whatever Crossfit exercise was at the bottom of the front page at crossfit.com. But I decided to lighten it up a bit and I only used 135 pounds for the deadlifts and I just did regular incline sit-ups instead of glute-ham situps. The running was done on a treadmill.

Lap 1: 4:16.75
Lap 2: 5:03.44
Lap 3: 5:09.59
Lap 4: 5:06.23
Lap 5: 5:18.74

Total Time: 24:54.75

Certainly this was not a 100% all out effort but it was a good workout to start getting back into the fold. I also did 5 sets of 5 reps of squats with 135 pounds simply because I felt like doing it. Sometimes my lower back gets sore and doing squats cures it right up.

Remodeling...and Crossfit II - Electric Boogaloo

For the past two months, the gym I use has been remodeling, adding a room and installing new floors. The result being a very cramped and ever-changing workout area. Poorly designed for the Crossfit-type workouts. And horror of horrors the power rack has been decommissioned the entire time as it is too much of a pain to dis- and re- assemble. What foul demon would approve of such a decision?

Anyway, the re-organization of the gym (and PS3 Grand Theft Auto) has fed into my slight but definite slacking off of my fitness regiment, I'm ashamed to say. Luckily this time I do not need to search for the antidote for my workout doldrums and despite my ranting about the set-ups involved in with the Crossfit workouts, I think I'm going to jump back in following the WODs once again on a 3-1 schedule as that seemed to work best for me. I'll just adjust the set-ups and such to suit my needs and resources. I often think about just buying all the equipment to have it at home to setup however I please but my gym is 100% free and I'm a simple living kind of guy so buying equipment when 95% of it is already available at the free gym is something up with which I just cannot put. But if I win the lottery, another story.

But first vacation! Today's my last day of work and I won't be returning until December 8th. I know, how cruel to update this blog and then leave for vacation. But I wanted to make sure I get back on track after vacation so I'm keeping myself accountable here.

Still Here

Still here. Still working out. I must admit I get a little pissed off at some of the Crossfit workouts so I've gone away from them for a while. I hate thw WODs that are a pain to set-up and running between the squat rack and the treadmill and a place to do handstand push-ups. Truthfully, if I were waiting for the squat rack, I'd be pissed at me so I hate setting those types of workouts up. I'm sure it could be solved by joining a Crossfit gym or getting my own equipment but neither of those options are going to happen so I just say F-it and do my own workout.

Interestingly, I went back to doing the Simplefit workout and found that I was seriously gassed trying to do Level 5-6. I guess I lost some, well, something from not doing those workouts every week. And honestly, I liked the way I felt doing the Simplefit workouts more. I can't really put my finger on it though. I definitely liked the addition of the full squat cleans and thrusters from Crossfit.

I still Helen and other WODs that don't require a lot of dancing between stations, just work effort.

Crossfit: Helen and Griff

I did both Helen and Griff yesterday. I knew whichever I chose to do first would greatly affect my time on the second. I did Helen first and finished in 13:26 (a new PR by 21 seconds) and then I did Griff, which took me about 3 minutes longer than the first time I did it.

I also tore another callouse. I think it was because I used parallel bars for the pull-ups on Helen which have a different effect on the hands when doing kipping pull-ups.

Crossfit: Squat 5x5

080805
Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

I figured I'd skip over Griff and do the 5-5-5-5-5 back squat today. Since Griff doesn't require a gym, I can do that over the weekend. I'm planning Griff, Helen, and/or the dumbbell snatch WOD for the weekend because none of them require me to go to the gym.

Back Squat:

5 x 135
5 x 155
5 x 185
5 x 200
5 x 200

I've done 5 x 205 before when doing a Stonglifts 5x5 routine but my form on the 5 x 200 today was much better (at least the first one was). Very little forward movement until the last couple reps of the second set of 200.

Oh, I also warmed up with 3 rounds of 5-10-10 of pull-ups, push-ups and squats. After the squats I did some ab work and 3x10 dips with a 12 pound dumbbell.

Crossfit: 080802

080802
Row 1000 meters
85 pound Thruster, 21 reps
15 Pull-ups

Row 750 meters
85 pound Thruster, 18 reps
12 Pull-ups

Row 500 meters
85 pound Thruster, 15 reps
9 Pull-ups

Rest 2 minutes between each round. Time each round separately and post times to comments.

This Crossfit-brand WOD looked pretty interesting and as usual, tougher to actually do than you'd think. I think I figured this out with after about the first 800 meters rowing at around a 1:52 per 500m pace. Why do I always look at a workout round by its individual exercises? It's like you see rowing and say, "that's not too bad", 85 pound thrusters are "10 pounds less than the 95 pounds I normally use" and "only 15 pull-ups?". But then you go and do them in a round as fast as you can and you suck wind.

Anyway here are my rounds:

Round 1: 7:31
Round 2: 6:40
Round 3: 5:03

Dumbbell Bear, deadlifts, squat clean PR

I did the Dumbbell Bear yesterday with 30lb bells. 5 deadlifts, 5 power cleans, 5 thrusters every minute for 20 minutes. I like it because your rest time can be increased by decreasing the time spent performing the exercise, so there's an incentive to performing at full capacity. I know I've said it before but it's one of the best workouts I've ever done.

What else have I done, some 5x5 workouts, intense sprint intervals on the elliptical machine. Today I did some 5x5 deadlifts workouts, nothing to write home about but afterwards I tried some squat cleans and was able to do 175 pounds, and that's a new PR.

My right shoulder still gets sore. I feel it's getting better but I've been trying not to do anything to aggravate it. I don't think it's a bad injury or anything, just taking a while to heal.

Keeping at it

I've been keeping steady. I've taken to ending my workouts with a 500m row trying to beat my record everytime. Last week I got a 1:47.2, today I beat that with a 1:45.7.

I did the WOD with the 50 reps of all kinds of stuff this past week. It took my 43 minutes but I doubled up on the walking lunges (50 each leg) and there was a lot of walking between stations. Plus I was just plain tired and the burpees did not got fast at all.

I've been throwing 5x5 strength workouts in there as well, so instead of a push press workout that's 3x3x3x3x3, I'll do squats (or deadlifts), presses, and barbell rows.

I must still be in shape because today I did Fran in 8:54, as prescibed, and a new record for me. In fact, I shaved more than three minutes off my previous time of 12:36.

Still Here

Thanks for the worried comments but I'm still here, I'm just not having any motivation to post results. Getting a bit bored with that whole aspect.

I got a bad blister from under a callous on my left hand that slowed me down a bit.

But I did the 10k the other day in about 55 minutes. I did the press/push-press/push-jerk workout (minus the push-jerk). I did 115x5 for 5 sets of push-press and then I did 135x5 for two sets and 145 x 5 for 3 sets of push-press. I did some squats just because I felt like it using 135, 155, 175, 195 for a pyramid of 10-8-6-4-6-8-10. That was kind of fun since I hadn't done anything like that in a while. I did the 5x5 deadlift workout today doing 225, 300, 300, 300, 300x2, 225x3 plus some dips and pull-ups.

I'm a little pissed because I tried barbell thrusters the other day and still had sharp pains in my right shoulder.

So I've been working out, just not reporting.

Angie KB

I didn't workout yesterday because the lawnmower broke. It's a self propelled mower and the transmission cable snapped halfway through my 3/4 acre yard so I finished the other half pushing the damn thing. Of note, when a lawn mower with a transmission breaks, it doesn't magically turn into an easy to push lawnmower, it's quite difficult. Like pushing a sled in football. But I ordered the replacement part and decided I'd workout today and so i did Angie, at home, in the basement because it looked like rain.

Weird thing, last time I did Angie I got a 27:26. Today, even though the pull-ups were in the basement where I have difficulty kipping, and given that I've been in a bit of a funk recently, I beat my time and got a 27:17 today. Cool. Plus I added 100 Kettlebell swings right after in an additional 6:14.

Back in action

My shoulder feels better after I did a light Dumbbell Bear workout the other day. I still feel a twinge sometimes doing overhead presses but not as much as before. It's also not sore all the time either. So I've got that going for me. Someone in the comments mentioned a connection between shoulder soreness and pull-ups. I've already gone through that a few months ago when I was still doing Simplefit. Shoulder dislocation exercises took care of that problem and sinceI've been doing those, I haven't felt any shoulder problems from pull-ups in a long time. But bench presses, well, they always make my shoulders sore. I'm 100% sure that was the reason for my shoulder soreness. Both shoulders, but right shoulder more than left.

Anyway, over the vacation I only took Thurs through Saturday off. I then did light workouts Sunday through Wednesday, and took yesterday off. The entire time I didn't feel right, just tired, and not strong at all. It wasn't a good rest week. I felt like I was dogging it when I should be trying harder. Today I decided to go all out and I was going to do Angie at the park on the way to work but I realized I could do Angie anywhere and if I'm going to work, I should probably go to the gym. So, I made up my own routine and it went like this:

Warm Up
Range of Motion Exercises (about 10 minutes)

3 rounds of:
10 wall-balls (15 pounds)
10 back extensions
10 push-ups
10 sit-ups

Workout
21-15-9 reps of:
135 pound full squat cleans
pull-ups
bar dips

Time: 29:12

Followed by 3x25 GHD sit-ups.

Sore shoulder

My right shoulder is so sore from the bench presses. I hate bench presses. I'm never doing them again. Weighted dips from here on out.

Crossfit: Lynne

"Lynne"

Five rounds for max reps of:
Body weight bench press
Pull-ups

Post reps for both exercises in all rounds.

I used 185 because I'm around 183.

I did this yesterday:
4-14
4-14
3-10
2-10
1-8

My chest was still sore from the 100 dips from the previous day. I'm on vacation so I'm taking a few days off. I don't want to get so attached to the Crossfit WOD's that I don't take the time to make up my own workouts anymore. I can see that happening. I'll drive to the gym at work on my days off to do the Crossfit routine and that's exactly what I was trying to avoid. So I think I'm going to take 1-2 weeks off and not even look at the Crossfit website.

Crossfit: 080628

080628
For time:
45 Double-unders
135 pound Squat clean, 45 reps
45 Ring Dips
45 Double-unders

Post time to comments.

I took some Tylenol PM last night because I had a headache and when I woke up I was pretty groggy. Everything felt heavy and I felt pretty tired. Still, I was determined to take this one on as best as possible. The first round of double-unders went terribly. No rhythm and I couldn't string together more than 3-4 reps. The squat cleans were slow but good form. I started out doing about 5 before I needed to rest. I can normally get about 10 in a row before a rest. I finished up in sets of 3 which isn't so bad. I'm glad I finished all 45 reps. No rings so I did 100 bar dips. Someone was waiting to use theleg press machine which sort of interfers with the dip station and I wasn't being all that quick about the dip reps so I cut that off. Probably would have taken another 6 minutes to do that last 35 reps. The last set of double unders was pretty good. I was stringing 5-7 together in a row. Total time 34:32.

Crossfit:

080627
3 rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing, 21 reps
95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
21 Pull-ups


My time: (as Rx'd)

1st round: 8:59
2nd round: 11:56
3rd round: 14:11

Total Time: 35:08

Phew, that was a killer. Mostly because you're sucking wind from the get-go. Running, thrusters, kb swings and pull-ups, you need a lot of air get through a round like that.

Crossfit: Fight Gone Bad

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Damn, damn, damn. Why don't I read the instructions! Well, this is good and bad. Last time I did Fight Gone Bad I scored a 282 and my goal for this workout was to break 300. But today I scored a 271. Why? Well, I remembered that the first time I did it I didn't fully lockout my hips on the box jumps. I was just jumping up to the box as fast as I could. This makes a big difference. Also, I remember the first time I did this workout, I noticed that by the time I got to the rowing station and got strapped in, I only had about 45 second of rowing work available. I didn't think that was fair so I re-set my timer to give me a full one minute. That's how I was able to get 15 calories on the rower but only managed 11 for each round today. That's not how it's supposed to work. So a score of 271 is great considering I made an exercise more difficult, the box jump and didn't reset for the row machine, I mean if I got 15 calories for each round today, my score would have been 283, one rep better than last time.

But here's the difference, I FORGOT TO TAKE THE ONE MINUTE REST BETWEEN EACH OF THE THREE ROUNDS!!!!!!! ARRRGH! So not only did I not get the benefit of the one minute rest between rounds, I also got cheated out of about 30 seconds worth of total wall ball time going from the row machine to the wall ball. At least I cheated up and not down. Is two minutes of rest and 30 seconds of work time enough for me to get 29 more reps and break 300? I dunno, stay tuned until next time.

Oh yeah, I should point out the wall ball is 15 pounds, same as last time but not as Rx'd. I don't have a 20 pound wall ball.

Crossfit: Snatches

080624

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Post loads to comments.

Ok, it's official. I stink out loud at snatches. I did about 50 reps including warmups trying to get one good full snatch but the best I could muster was a catch in half-squat with a slight pause then somewhat quick drop to full squat and back up. I think that was with 75 pounds. I'm pretty sure the problem is shoulder flexibility as I just can't catch the weight at the bottom of the full squat. My arms don't get back far enough and the result is the bar falling forward. I did reps with 65 pounds, 75 pounds, 85 pounds and one with 100 pounds which was basically a power snatch caught in a 1/16 squat position followed by an overhead squat.

See, I'm the opposite of Brad who has been cautious on the overhead squat but apparently throws up snatches like he's tossing his mortar board at graduation day. I feel cautious on the snatches but overhead squats seem fine to me once I get the weight in the right place.

I think it might be good to replace wall-balls with snatches with a light bar in my warm-up.

It also doesn't help that my gym doesn't really have a good place for bailing out on a lift. I can probably get away with doing it once in a while. I don't think they have any stated policy against olympic lifts and bailing or anything like that and I don't want to be the reason they institute one so I'm sure part of it is mental as well. This is when I really would some weights at home where I could practice without worrying about making a scense but oh well. Adapt, improvise and improve I suppose.

Ooh, Fight Gone Bad for tomorrow. That should be fun. Last score was 282. I'm going to break 300 tomorrow just to make up for the terrible snatch performance.

Crossfit: 5k

080623

Run 5 K

Post time to comments.

Time: 24:42
Distance: Outside, somewhat hilly, approximately 5k.

Crossfit: 50 Muscle-ups

080621
For time:
50 Muscle-ups

Post time to comments.

I did 50 jumping muscle-ups in 12:30. I wore some skin off the upper portion of both arms too, ouch.

Then I did 50 regular pull-ups and 50 bar dips.

Dumbbell Bear

I didn't feel like messing around with my rings the last two days. I can't do muscle-ups so its either 150 pull-ups/150 dips (yuck) or working with jumping muscle-ups. I think I'll do those early tomorrow morning when no one's around. Plus, i think I'm going to switch to a 5 in a row Crossfit schedule Monday through Friday. So it'll be good to be two days behind. I'll take one or both of the weekend days off, depending on how I feel. I'll find something to work on during the weekend if I'm not resting, like handstands, or planches or something like that, skill work, etc.

But today I decided to do the Dumbbell Bear, 5 reps each of dumbbell deadlift, power clean, and thruster every minute for 20 minutes. I used the 35 pound dumbbells. I made it through about 15 minutes before I had to take a little extra rest to finish the last 5 rounds.

Then I did 3 rounds of weighted pull-ups/dips with 25 pounds. I managed 3 reps of pull-ups and 5 reps of dips each round. So, 9 pull-ups and 15 dips.

Crossfit: 080620

080620
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Thruster, 10 reps
10 Pull-ups

Post rounds completed to comments.

10 rounds and then a half round (5 thrusters 5 pull-ups).

Tough one.

Crossfit: Total

080619
"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Post total to comments.

Eh, a good and bad day. I hit 230 again on the squat which is 5 lbs more than the last total but something I hit that max during the overhead squat, front squat, back squat workout. I also hit 140 on the shoulder press but there may have been a very slight push press. It's hard to explode on a max shoulder press without thinking there may have been a push in there. IF so, it was definitely a small one.

The deadlift is where I fot into trouble. I was feeling frisky and tried to deadlift 375 (25 pounds more than my previous max). I failed, twice and pretty much lost all my energy in the attempt because I then failed at 370, 365, and 360. I didn't even try 350 but I did do 315 twice.

Anyway, I'm just going to count the increase in squat total. So,

Last Crossfit Total:
Back Squat: 225
Shoulder Press: 135 (push press on 140)
Deadlift: 350
Total: 710

Today's Crossfit Total:
Back Squat: 230
Shoulder Press: 135 (small push press on 140, failed 145)
Deadlift: 350 (failed twice on 375 and once on 370)
Total: 715

Crossfit: 080617

080617
Seven rounds for time of:
75 pound Shoulder Press, 21 reps
21 Back extensions

Post time to comments.

I got a 30:29 but the back extension unit and the place where I can shoulder presswith a bar are on complete opposite sides of the gym and there's about a 30 second walk between stations. Looks easier than it felt but I need shoulder workouts because I think they are my weakest link. Currently, I can still use my arms which is a bonus. When I was warming up I had 65 pounds on the bar and was pressing it and for a second I thought, "Well, 10 more pounds isn't going to make a difference, this will be easy." Easy once maybe, twice too, even easy 12 times, 147 times however and it becomes more difficult.

Crossfit: 080616

080616
For time:
50 Sit-ups
50 Double-unders
50 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Sit-ups
50 Burpees
50 Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

22:28 As Rx'd. Sit-ups were done on an incline sit-up bench and I got a brush burn on my backside that still stings. I also have a couple of nice lash marks on my shins from failed double-under attempts. I figured walking lunge was 50 steps with each leg so that's what I did.

Putting Burpees after the double-unders and lunges was pretty sneaky.

Crossfit: 080615

080615
Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps

Try to increase the load on each of the fifteen sets.

Post loads to comments.

OK, I'm back to one day behind the posted Crossfit WOD. I like that schedule because I like seeing what's going on the next day so I can plan any extra work I may want to do, like form work, etc. For example, I wouldn't want to do weighted pull-ups and then find out I have WOD the next day with 150 pull-ups. Looks like tomorrow's(for me) WOD will be done outside at the park. I like those. But on to what I did today.

Overhead Squat
1x65
1x85
1x105
1x110 (PR)
1x115 (PR)

Front Squat
1x125
1x135
1x145
1x155
1x165 (PR)

Back Squat
1x175
1x195
1x210
1x230 (PR)
1x230 (F)

I really started to lean forward on the 230 attempt but eventually straightened up and locked out. The second attempt didn't go anywhere. I felt very stable on the Overhead Squats.

Another Day

I'm taking another rest day. Because, that's why.

Crossfit: Michael

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

My Michaels are always different and they're always on a day when I'm not at the gym so I always need to sub back extensions. Today I just did a sort of standing back extension with a 12-lb medicine ball. The track I use is 413m long so my 800m is really 826. The first 413m I ran was 1:33 and the first 826m was 3:22. I think maybe this weekend, I may try to run a sub 3:00 800m somewhere that's flat and measured and not a treadmill. I think I can do that. I could probably go to the highschool track one morning.

Round 1: 7:04
Round 2: 7:59
Round 3: 8:17

Total Time: 23:20

Crossfit: 080612

080612
Seven rounds for time of:
10 One legged squats, alternating
12 Ring dips
15 Pull-ups

1 - 2:30
2 - 3:25
3 - 3:59
4 - 4:37
5 - 5:14
6 - 4:41
7 - 4:30

Total time: 28:59

I did the usual warm-up, range of motion type things, samson stretch, but I omitted pull-ups and dips from the warmup and did 3x10 1-pood KB swings.

the only thing that wasn't as Rx'd was the one legged squats because I can't do them free standing I need to hold onto something and I'm sure I help myself up here and there but what are you going to do? The pull-ups slow me down at home because I can't kip as freely in the basement. But again, variety is good.

I finished up with some clean and jerks with the 1.5 pood KB and then some ab work.

Crossfit: Ice Cream

Anyone ever read the thread Breyers Every Night on the Crossfit Message Board?

The thread is basically how some dude noticed that eating ice cream every night actually caused him to lose body fat and increase performance on the WODs.

I just wanted to point out here (since I don't have a message board account) that I've noticed the same thing in the past. When I eat ice cream, I tend to drop weight. I've been eating it every night for the past 4 days (and a few times the previous weeks) and I've really notice changes in fat and well, see below for some PRs in the WODs.

I'm not sure whether its a sustainable benefit. I usually only eat ice cream 3-4 times a year but I'll eat the stuff every night until it's gone. I'm guessing it has something to do with tricking your metabolism to work overtime while your eating healthy overall. Plus, ice cream is pretty low GI and the fat keeps the sugar from entering you bloodstream quickly, so insulin response is diminished.

I'm think that not everyone would see benefits either. I just thought it was an interesting thread in that I had noticed myself but always convinced myself that I was trying to find excuses to eat ice cream. Maybe I should buy more ice cream.

Crossfit: Deadlifts

080611

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Post loads to comments.

Compare to 080425.

Didn't feel like resting today. I was scheduled for a day long business trip tomorrow so I made an effort to get to the gym today and count tomorrow as my rest day. I was a little concerned about doing deadlifts on a scheduled rest day but I felt pretty good during the warm-up so that concern was lifted.

Warm-up
ROM movements, arm swings, toy soliders, grape stompers, butt kicks, all that jazz.

3 rounds of:
10 reps - 15 pound wall ball
10 reps - back extensions

3 rounds of:
6 reps pullups
6 reps dips

Workout
On 080425, I started with 3x225 and finished with 4 sets of 3x295.

Today:

3x225 (Warm up)

3x305
3x305
3x305
3x305
3x305

I then did some bench presses and noticed how much I had improved on those I was benching over 200 pounds pretty easily and I've always been terrible at the bench press.

Then I did 3x10 side bends with a 24 lb bar held overhead and 100 v-ups (not consecutively, that'd be nuts).

Crossfit: Griff

080609
"Griff"

For time:
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards

Post time to comments.

Warm up:
3 rounds of:
5 pull-ups
5 dips
5 squats
Plus about a 100m jog between the monkey bars and the parallel bars. So i did the pull-ups, jogged to the dip station, did dips and squats then jogged back to the monkey bars to start the next round.

1st 800m: 3:29
1st 400m backwards: 2:39
2nd 800m: 3:53
2nd 400m backwards: 2:37
Total Time: 12:40

Happy with this. It was outside and I think the track I run on is a bit over 400 meters. Hard to tell, I measured it with Google Maps. Yeah, I just measured it again and I get 413 meters once around the track. My best 800m time is 3:20 on the treadmill so getting 3:29 on a non-flat track on 826m is good in my book. I'm wondering if the backwards running is going to cause some soreness. It's an odd movement but I usually do it for bit when I cool down from long distance running, but certainly not a half miles worth, maybe 30 seconds at the most.

Update 1, Oooh, I cracked a top 5 on logsitall (for now):
Update 2, damn, down to 7th place. Eh, still top 10. :)
Update 3, Damn, down to top 10. But I would argue I should be nine because my 800ms were 826 and my 400m were 413. That's easily a 7 second difference. ;)

Crossfit: 080608

080608
Ten rounds for time of:
12 Burpees
12 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.


28:23 as Rx'd.

120 pull-ups isn't so bad, and 120 Burpees aren't stomch-churning, but put them together and it's a sweat inducing workout. I did this outside this morning, just as it started getting nice and hot and humid with the sun shining right in my face. I finished the first 5 rounds in 12:30 so I didn't lose to much steam over the second half.

Crossfit: 080607

080607

Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Squat clean, 7 reps
15 Handstand push-ups

Feet over the Smith Machine bar for the hand stand push-ups.

Time: 15:07

Crossfit: 5x5 Back Squats

080605

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Post loads to comments.

Warm-up:
ROM movements
3x10 12-pound wall-ball
3x10 back extensions
1x10 15-pound overhead squat
3x5 pull-ups
3x5 dips

Back Squat:
45x5 - warm-up
135x5 - warm-up

185x5
185x5
190x5
190x5
190x5

Althought this isn't a PR, I felt good about it as I've been working on keeping the bar lower on the back and my back "closed". When I was doing Stronglifts 5x5 I worked up to 205x5 but my form on that was suspect. I was leaning forward on almost all reps and I was getting caught up in increasing the weight each workout so I was cheating a bit on the depth of the squat. The 25 reps above were all good. Minor leaning forward on the last reps of the last two sets but I caught it quickly. Keeping the bar lower on the back helped the leaning.

Crossfit: 080604

080604
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
15 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
45 Squats

Post rounds completed to comments.

5 rounds plus 4 pull-ups. That's about the same as what I got on the last Cindy, but 4 pull-ups extra. I'm not sure what that means. Is it good or bad that you get the same number. Would it take me exactly 20 minutes to get 65 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, and 225 squats?

Crossfit: 080603

080603

Hang Power Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Post loads to comments.


95
105
105
105
105
105
105
105
105
105

Could have gone a bit heavier but couldn't get rid of the little push press on 105 so I decided just to just stay there and work on it. Rather work on getting it right with 105 then pushing 115 into place.

Crossfit: 080601

080601

For time:
135 lb Squat clean, 10 reps
50 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 8 reps
40 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 6 reps
30 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 4 reps
20 GHD Sit-ups
135 lb Squat clean, 2 reps
10 GHD Sit-ups

Post time to comments.

My time: 17:56

I was a little anxious about starting this. I was sore from yesterday's workout but once I started it felt good. I only had one power/clean, front squat mistake. My traps are killing me right now. The sit-ups were done on a bench with my feet underneath the barbell I was using for squat-cleans so that helped my time.

I'm glad I have a rest day tomorrow.

Revelation

I was outside cleaning the grill and I realized that I had been in the deep squat position scraping the grills for about 20 minutes when I realized that I was comfortable in that position. Then I thought back and pointed several other times when this was the case in recent weeks as well. It's almost like that position is as comfortable as sitting. I rarely kneel down anymore to work on something. I also don't bend over at the waist much either. I find myself just squatting down and doing whatever I have to do, changing the air filter on the mower, fidding with the water heater, or cleaning the grill. I even enjoy the stretch it provide. I don't get tired because I'm not up on the balls of my feet anymore. I guess the increased flexibilty from Crossfit has allowed my heels to remain on the ground during the squat and if you can do that, there's really no reason for any muscles to get tired.

I think for the most part, this is an uncomfortable position for most Westerners as they are not used to the position. Which is why you can have a lot of fun watching a drunk Westerner use a squat toilet. Not me though. I'm safe from that embarassment.

Crossfit: 080531

For time:
135 lb Thruster, 10 reps
50 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 8 reps
40 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 6 reps
30 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 4 reps
20 Double-unders
135 lb Thruster, 2 reps
10 Double-unders

Post time to comments.

Felt great today. I've been eating pretty clean. Warmed up with 3 sets of 5 pull-ups, 5 dips, 10 squats.

Workout (As Rx'd): 18:32

Cooled down 3 sets of 5 pull-ups, 5 dips.

Crossfit: Total

Crossfit Total
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Post total to comments.


Last Time - 04/06/2008:
Back Squat: 220
Shoulder Press: 130
Deadlift: 320
Total: 670

Today:
Back Squat: 225
Shoulder Press: 135 (push press on 140)
Deadlift: 350
Total: 710

All new PRs, sweet. I think I sabotaged my shoulder press though. I did 135 a few days ago for 5 reps (3+2, but it was a bar I don't usually use and I sometimes suspect it doesn't weight 45 pounds), then yesterday on my rest day I did rotator cuff exercises. I like the way they make my shoulder feel but I think it led to some weakness in my shoulders. Oh well, I'm still happy. The back squat was a little shaky but I went past parallel. It's just that I started to dirft onto my toes but caught it, pulled it back and went up on my heels. I tried 355 after the 350 but I didn't have enough to get it off the ground.

I'm a Master

Well, maybe not at Crossfit, but I just handed in my last research paper for my last class for my MBA program. Assuming it's a semi-coherent read, I should graduate. I started almost 3 years ago and I remember the first class and thinking I made a big mistake because it was going to take so long to finish. Instead, it seemed to go by rather quickly. I think it relates a bit to working out and getting fit. You basically just need to show up and do what you need to do for that day. You need to break down larger goals. "Getting my MBA" is a big goal and doesn't allow for much focus. But breaking it down into "Read one text book chapter per weekday night" or "complete one review question every other night" or "find 4 usable source articles this week" are short-term goals that help get you through the day, week, month, class, and ultimately the entire program. Same thing goes for fitness. You can't start out 100 pounds overweight, barely able to do one bodyweight squat and start focusing on goals to lose 100 pounds and squat 200 pounds. It's too much, you must to break it into chunks. You should start out with a small, easily achievable goal that requires only a bit of work and effort. There is momentum in setting and accomplishing goals. Success builds on itself. I mentioned here before that last July (see far left photo above) I basically gave up ever being fit again because I just couldn't bring myself to eat right and increase my intensity at the gym. I was zombie walking through your standard 3x10 weightlifting routine and hating it. I was 35 pounds overweight and it just seemed like it would take forever to get fit so why bother? I decided to give it one last try and made a simple goal of tracking everything I ate for 2 weeks. If after two weeks, I didn't like it and didn't make any progress, then I promised myself I could eat 3 pizzas a day and buy a kegerator. Instead I lost about 10 pounds those first two weeks and the success kept rolling. Today I'm more fit than I ever was before, plus I'm smarter because we all know that degrees directly correlate with increased intelligence. ;)

Crossfit: Shoulder Press

080528

Shoulder Press 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Post loads to comments.

Me:
115x3
125x3
130x3
135x3
135x2(failed on last rep)

Not bad. I was looking back on 080503, the workout with the shuolder press, push press, and push jerk, I hit 1 rep of 130 then failed twice on the next two singles. Today, I did 3 reps at 135, then another 2 before I failed. I have been working on keeping my elbows forward on the shoulder press. Maybe that has something to do with it. Nothing like taking your old single rep PR and doing 3 reps with it.

Crossfit: 080527

080527

Run 1 mile
Two minutes of each:
Row
30 pound Dumbbell thrusters
20 pound Medicine ball cleans
Double-unders
Pull-ups

Post total time and total reps plus calories (from row) to comments

As Rx'd:
1 mile: 7:30
Row: 31 calories
Thrusters: 20
Medicine ball cleans: 22
Double-unders: 20
Pull-ups: 22

Total time: 17:30
Total reps: 115

Crossfit: Jason

"Jason"

For time:
100 Squats
5 Muscle-ups
75 Squats
10 Muscle-ups
50 Squats
15 Muscle-ups
25 Squats
20 Muscle-ups

OK, even with the rest day there was no way I could do 4x the pull-ups and dips for muscle ups after the 150 pull-ups I did Sunday. That'd be another 200 pull-ups plus 200 dips, that's ridiculous. My arms were shot and I'm quite certain it wouldn't have benefitted me in the least. So, I subbed 5 ring pull-ups and 5 ring dips for 5 muscle-ups. I know it's not the prescribed substitution but like I said, my arms were shot. I finished this workout in 31:30.

I see tomorrow's workout has pull-ups too, nice, I guess someone won't be happy until my hands are torn up. They were sore on Sunday and I actually saw blisters this morning.

Crossfit: 800m and Pull-ups

080524
Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Pull-ups


As Rx'd

Round 1: 8:31
Round 2: 10:58
Round 3: 12:18

Total Time: 31:48

I did this at the park. A couple of kids came by the pull-up bars with their father and wanted to do what I was doing. The father lifted them up and they tried and tried but couldn't get out one pull-up. I smiled as I was doing sets of 5. I said, "Come on, you guys hardly weigh anything. Pull!" The older kis managed to get about halfway up and I told him that he should keep practicing if he wanted to get big and strong. The father asked me how many pull-ups I usually do. I told him that today I was doing 150 and his jaw dropped. "150 Pull-ups?!?" "Yeah," I said, "plus the half mile runs in between."

Then he picked up the kids and walked away. I think he might have thought I was a looney.

Crossfit: KB Swings, Sit-ups, Back Extensions, K2E

080523

Five rounds for time of:
2 pood Kettlebell swings, 25 reps
25 GHD Sit-ups
25 Back Extensions
25 Knees to Elbows

Did this at home. Only have 1.5 pood KB. Also, no GHD so folded my sandbag in half and stuck my legs under a shelf and I was surprised to realize that they felt a lot like GH sit-ups. For back extensions, I just did stiff leg deadlifts with the 1.5 pood kettlebell.

Here's my workout:

ROM warm-up (arm swings, shoulder dislocations, toy soldiers, butt kickers, etc.)
3 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 5 push-ups, 5 squats.

WOD:
1.5 pood KB swings x 35
25 Sand Bag Sit-ups
25 Stiff Legged Deadlifts (1.5 pood KB)
25 Knees to Elbows

Round 1: 5:24
Round 2: 6:28
Round 3: 6:40
Round 4: 7:00
Round 5: 7:20

Total Time: 32:52

I spent about 15 minutes on the heavy bag.

Then I did 3x10 side bends with the 1.5 pood KB.

Then 1x15 ring push-ups, raised my feet up 1 foot and did 3x10 ring push-ups.

Crossfit: Deadlift & HSPU

080522
Five rounds of:
Deadlift, 3 reps
Handstand push-ups, max reps

I subbed standing shoulder press for HSPUs. Just cuz.

Deadlift;Shoulder Press

Round 1: 225x3;95x10
Round 2: 300x3;115x5
Round 3: 300x3;115x5
Round 4: 300x3;115x5
Round 5: 300x3;115x5

I finished off the workout with 4 rounds of max reps of pull-ups. About 8 per round partly because my grip was shot.

Rest Day

I decided to ride my bike to work today for something different. I see that tomorrow's WOD involves deadlifts and HSPUs so I'm guessing a little bike riding won't interfer too much. It's a little over 15 miles to work, takes about an hour. I never mind the ride to work. It's early morning. It's a great way to wake up. The sun is rising. It's cool. Traffic is limited and 90% of the ride is quite rural past farms and open meadows and I'm never in a hurry to GET to work. The ride home is a different matter. More traffic. More people. The asphalt has been heating up all day and I've spent all day working and the ride isn't 15 miles anymore, it's 15 MORE miles that day. To top it all off, the ride home is uphill, overall.

If I could figure out a way to only ride to work and drive home, I'd ride to work everyday.

Crossfit: Row / Burpees

080520

For time:
Row 1000 meters
25 Burpees
Row 750 meters
50 Burpees
Row 500 meters
75 Burpees

a.k.a "Yuck". As Rx'd, 32:13. Those last 75 Burpees sucked royally.

Crossfit: 080519

080519

For time:
75 Push-ups
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 50 reps
50 Ring Dips
45 pound Weighted Pull-ups, 30 reps
25 Handstand Push-ups

Ran out of time and (more importantly) energy on this one. I did 75 bar dips. I did one pull-up with 45 punds, realized that dog wouldn't hunt, then did 12 reps with 25 pounds, and the remainder with 20 pounds. Then I did 26 HSPUs with my legs over the Smith Machine bar. Total time: 30:57

Crossfit: Clean & Jerk / 400m

080518

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
95 pound Clean and Jerk, 15 reps
Run 400 meters

I did this as Rx'd and got 3 rounds plus 1 rep. I did full squat cleans and alternated randomly between push jerks and split jerks.

I could have done better but didn't eat all that well Sunday night and this morning.

Crossfit: Michael

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Last time I did Michael, I subbed supermans for back extensions. Total workout time was 24:13. Today was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like running 800m outside so I decided to sub Burpees for the 800m run. Since my best 800m so far was 3:20, and since I can do about 50 burpees in about 5 minutes, I figured about 35 Burpees per round would be a fair substitute. I also subbed "Good Mornings" for Back Extensions. I used a 1-pood kettlebell held behind my head for the good mornings.

Round 1: 7:40
Round 2: 9:18
Round 3: 9:59

Total Time: 26:58

Crossfit: Cindy

080515

"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

-OR-

"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups


I chose Cindy because I can't do Handstand push-ups, but I'm working on them. I got 15 rounds. That was pretty much what I was shooting for. I was pretty confident I could get 10, pretty pessimistic about 20. This is the same workout as Level 8 Day 1 at Simplefit. I'm glad because today's workout shows I can still put up respectable numbers with the Simplefit program. I think that's important because it shows I'm on track with what I want. I don't want to get stray from that and suddenly find myself doing arm and leg curls and wrist curls, spending 2 hours in the gym and not being able to do a single pull-up.

Crossfit: Deadlifts

080514
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps


225
275
300
315
340(PR)
345(f)
315
315

Today was supposed to be a rest day but I felt like I had a lot of energy this morning. I'd rather have a weekend rest day anyway. I'll do Cindy tomorrow. Hopefully the WOD after Cindy isn't a gym WOD and I can do it outside or at home. Once the weather gets nice I start disliking the gym.

Crossfit: 30 Muscle-ups

080512
30 Muscle-ups for time

Post time to comments.

If you cannot do the muscle-ups do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips.

I was going to take my rings to the park today but it was cold and wet. My plan was to do 60 jumping muscle-ups. I think that'd be a fair sub. But like I said, cold and wet and so I just went to the gym and did 120 pull-ups and 120 dips. I did 30 rounds of 4x4. I had a pretty good pace getting half-way done around 12 minutes but it started getting harder and I finished in 32:03.

Crossfit Overhead Squat

080511
Overhead Squat 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 reps

65-85-95-105-115x1,110x2-115-115

I had to bail on the 115 attempts a couple of times, but I only dropped down in weight the first time. I realized it's not really a weight issue. If you lose focus for a split second on overhead squats that bar just goes and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it other than get out of the way. It's an interesting exercise. You don't really fail on the power side so much as keeping everything in the shoulder girdle, arms, and core tight. You can't allow that bar to get out from right over your center of gravity at all or you lose it.

Crossfit Update

I'm still here, just not updating as often.

I had a bad day on the last Elizabeth WOD. I couldn't even clean it once, which is queer because I did the workout as Rx'd before. I think I ate like crap the night before though and then skipped breakfast. Not a good combo. I can generally do one or the other without a big impact but not both. I ended up doing squats with 135 pounds and I did 2x the bar dips.

I did the 4 rounds of 800m runs. I did them all in 3:20 (9mph on the treadmill on 2% incline). That's better than last time.

Diane: 05/10/2008

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

I did this in 12:36. Deadlifts at 225 but for handstand push-ups, I had my toes hooked over the smith machine bar. I probably should have done 2x the reps on those but I didn't.

This morning I did Fran as prescribed:

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

I did it in 13:12 today, better than the 14:12 I did last time.

Crossfit: 50 Burpees

080504

For time:
50 Burpees

Jump one foot above reach each rep.

Time: 5:31

That's a little disappointing because I've done 100 Burpees in slightly less than 10 minutes before. But I've never done them so soon after Murph or yesterday's shoulder workout. Murph really taxed my cardio-pulmonary system, I could tell. I was breathing hard for 51 minutes and my breathing muscles got sore.

Crossfit: 080503

080503

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Compared to 080408

Shoulder Press: 125,125,130,130(f),130(f) Followed failed reps with a push press at that weight.
Push Press: 135-135-140-140-140
Push Jerk: 115-115-120-125-130

Overall, a general increase in weight. Shoulder press didn't feel that much stronger. I have a hard time starting that and have to concentrate not to involved a little push. Push presses and push-jerks definitely felt stronger than last time.

Crossfit: Murph

"Murph"

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

To punish myself for not getting to the Crossfit gym on travel, I made myself do Murph yesterday. I broke the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats into 10 rounds of 10-20-30.

Total Time was 50:58

Here's the breakdown:

First Mile: 8:35
Round 1: 1:58
Round 2: 2:28
Round 3: 3:01
Round 4: 3:08
Round 5: 3:04
Round 6: 3:21
Round 7: 3:34
Round 8: 3:22
Round 9: 3:36
Round 10: 3:51
Second Mile: 10:58

Back Home

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to go to the local Crossfit gym. With my MBA final paper being due and having to do work at my hotel at night in addition (grr), I was pretty much exhausted. Couple that with the fact that I asked a local if he had any knowledge of the Crossfit gym on that particular street and he responded, "Gym, on that street? I wouldn't go there without a gun strapped on." and my motivation to get there significantly wained. I still would have gone if I didn't have all that extra work.

Anyway, I managed to do the Dumbbell Bear on Tuesday and Thursday along with some swimming in the pool. That worked out pretty good because the Crossfit WOD's I missed were pretty focused on thrusters and the Dumbbell Bear incorporates 100 of them.

Crossfit: Hang Power Snatch

080426

Five rounds for time of:
95 pound Hang Power Snatch, 15 reps
Run 400 meters

I didn't do this yet but I'm about to. I'm leaving for a week of travel for work but I'm stopping by the gym first to do this workout. See how dedicated I am? I was practicing the hang power snatch yesterday in anticipation and I did few reps with 85 pounds so I think I can do this as Rx'd. Although, I anticipate much pain and I think my forearms will be very sore as well.

If I picked a good hotel, I should be able to update later tonight, if not I'll be too busy spraying for bed bugs.

UPDATE: This workout was a killer. I finished in 28:00. Sometimes I had to throw a little press in because I didn't get low enough to get straight arms but overall I did some pretty good power snatches.

Rest day tomorrow and then Tuesday morning I'll be dropping in at the local Crossfit gym.

Crossfit: Deadlifts

080425

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps.

135x5 (warm up)

225x3
295x3
295x3
295x3
295x3

Crossfit: Angie

"Angie"

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

As RX'd, 27:26.

Rest Day

I definitely need a rest day but I still wanted to do something this morning so I went to the gym and hit the racquetball around for a while, then I worked on Overhead Squat form and did the Burgener warm-up just to get things moving and then practiced the form on the full squat clean.

I basically did a 25 minute warm-up routine which was beneficial in that it got sore muscle and joints moving. I wouldn't necessarily do it every rest day but it seemed to fit in here.

Crossfit: Weighted Pull-ups

080422

Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

1xBW (180)
1x10
1x15
1x25
1x30
1x35
1x40
1x45(failed but did chin-up right after the failure at the pull-up)

Crossfit: Back Squat

080421

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

135x5
165x5
185x5 (form was difficult on these but good overall)
195x5 (form not that great, no reason to move up in weight)
195x5

Crossfit Shoulder Press

080420

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


95x3
115x3
125x1, 120x2
120x3
120x3 (degenerated into a push press on these)

Bad workout day, lots of excuses. I ate like crap all weekend, drank too much beer, and my shoulder was sore from Friday's workout.

Rest Day

Crossfit: Michael

"Michael"

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups

Since it was so nice today, I rode my bike to the park (about 8 miles round trip) and did this workout there. I was kind of bummed because I couldn't figure out a way to do back extensions at the park. The picnic tables were occupied, the parallel bars hurt, and the bleachers didn't line up right, so I just subbed supermans. Personally, I think the 50 supermans were harder on me than back extensions, because I rarely do supermans, and at any rate it certainly didn't effect my time. The track I ran around isn't regulation and is about 420 meters around, so I actually ran about 840 meters.

Round 1: 7:52
Round 2: 8:12
Round 3: 8:08

Total Time: 24:13

Crossfit: Elizabeth

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips

I mentioned before how I had a mental block about dipping under 135 pounds during cleans. It's like my body thinks it's going to get crushed if I dip under the bar with authority. Never mind that I shoulder press 130 pounds, and front squat 135 pounds easily. There's just some block that makes me dip under the bar timidly and results in the bar not getting to the rack position fully or quickly.

"What can I do to get over that?", I asked myself. "Do Elizabeth as Rx'd.", I answered, "no matter how long it takes." "That seems scary I said to myself." "I've never squat cleaned 135 pounds because of my stupid mental block and now you want me to do it 45 times?" "Yes," I said, "now quit being a sissy."

So that's what I did, as far as the full squat cleans go. 135 pounds, 45 times. At first many reps were really power cleans followed by front squats. My wrist and shoulder flexibility is improving but still tight. As a result, I sometimes don't get my elbows up enough and I don't grip the bar tight enough and this leads to the bar getting in the rack position with my pinky and ring finger slipping off the bar. That makes lowering the bar extra-difficult. After I noticed these errors, I started pulling through on the first pull and dipping under with authority and keeping a good grip on the bar and in the second and third rounds, the cleans got very smooth. Sweet.

As far as the dips go, I was going to bring my rings to the gym but figured I'd just sub bar dips x2 since I was focused on doing the cleans. I've seen suggestions that bar dips sub for ring dips at a 3-1 ratio but I think that's only for muscle ups*. I have rings at home and I know my bar dip to ring dip ratio is 2-1. I believe muscle up ratio is 3-1, as in 3 dips and 3 pull-ups for one muscle up. Because a muscle-up is much more than a ring pull-up followed by a ring dip, more than 2 ring pull-ups followed by two ring dips too. If you don't believe me, try one. I can't do one without jumping into it.

Oh yeah, my time? 35:12

Plenty of room for improvement but at least I kicked that mental block.

*My bad, it is 3-1 sub in the Crossfit FAQs. Damn, I'm going to bring my rings next time. I know for a fact that 21-15-9 rings dips is hella easier, at least for me, than 63-45-27 bar dips. I'm not just guessing either, I've done ring dips, and while they're harder, I know I could do 21 rings dips way faster than 63 regular dips, so be it, I half assed it on dips today. But I did do weighted dips yesterday and bench pressing after the Crossfit WOD because I didn't look at the next day WOD, so it's not a total wuss-out.

Crossfit: Nancy

"Nancy"

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

I'm glad I worked on OHS a couple of days ago. I had no intention of doing this workout as prescribed as I had to bail a couple of times at 65 lbs. the other day. Even when I was warming up and getting my stations ready, just the bar seemed a little heavy. What was neat though was after the run in the first round, someone was using my OHS station so I grabbed the 6 foot 35-lb. bar for my first set and because it was shorter, my grip went wider than I usually go, right up to the collars. That pulled my shoulders back and I basically found the good OHS form, serendipitously. Still though, OHS are tough, by the last round my arms and my entire upper body were shaking trying to keep the weight steady. But at least I've got my form down.

Loads for the 5 rounds of OHS are 35-45-55-60-65

Round 1: 3:18
Round 2: 4:02
Round 3: 4:38
Round 4: 4:37
Round 5: 4:48

Total Time: 21:26

Rest Day

Yay for a rest day.

Crossfit: Hang Power Clean

080414

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

Results:
95-115-135(f)-135-135-135-135-140

I guess 140 is my PR. I've never done this workout before and I know I never just randomly power cleaned 140. I don't like my form on these though, I'm not dipping right. I think it's more of a mental thing, like being hesitant to drop under the bar. But I did thrusters at 135 yesterday so I know I'm not going to get stuck or anything. Anyway, afterwards I did about 35 reps with 65 pounds, just working on the form. I did eight sets because that first 135 failure was a mental failure, I wasn't focused and expected it to go up a lot easier than it did.

Afternoon Update: Owww...traps....so sore...

Crossfit: Quarter Gone Bad

080413

Five rounds for total reps of:
135 pound Thruster, 15 seconds
Rest 45 Seconds
50 pound Weighted pull-up, 15 seconds
Rest 45 Seconds
Burpees, 15 seconds
Rest 45 seconds

I was going to scale this workout but when I was warming up, I figured I'd give it a whirl as Rx'd.

Round 1: 3-1-4
Round 2: 2-1-4
Round 3: 3-1-5
Round 4: 2-1-4
Round 5: 2-1-4

Total thrusters: 12
Total chin-ups: 5
Total Burpees: 21

Total Reps: 38

I guess it wasn't completely as Rx'd though because I did a chin-up with the 50 pound weight instead of a pull-up. But I was completely under load for the 15 seconds workout period, for example the thruster sticking point was locking out at the top so the 2-reps were really when I failed to lock it out at the top on the third rep. Same thing with the chin-ups, I did one rep and then pulled and pulled for the second but I just couldn't get my chin over the bar. I almost had a second rep in the 3rd round but the dumbbell fell from between my feet and I nearly shot through the roof. Burpees are burpees, I probably should have done 5 for all rounds and I wasn't as intense as I should have been, I'll admit it.

Later I worked on my overhead squats and then did some dips/pull-ups.

Crossfit: 10k Run

080412

10k run: 56:31

Eh, not my best outdoor 10k. I have done it consistently under 45 minutes but I haven't run that far in a few months. I was also hungover which didn't help. Lots of hills on this run too.

But I will say that 10k has a way of clearing up hangovers, one way or another.

Rest Day

Since it's so nice I decided to take today off. I could have gone for today's WOD at Crossfit, run 10k, but I decided to take my rest day today instead of tomorrow. I had stuff to do this morning and then this afternoon I had to transplant a tree that had what could be the most vast root system I've ever seen. The neighbor's windows were rattling when I was chopping those roots. That was about a 45 minute workout so rest day my ass.

Crossfit: 080410

080410

Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps


Awesome workout:

225
300
310
320 (Old PR)
330 (New PR)
335 (New PR again!)
340 (failed twice)

I was just gassed on the 340 try. The first attempt I didn't even get it off the ground, the second try I managed to get it off the ground but only about 5 inches before crapping out. I probably could have done 340 if it wasn't n the last rep. So next time this comes up, I'll try something like 225, 300, 330, 340, etc.

Crossfit: Kelly

"Kelly"

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

Couldn't do it as Rx'd because I could only find a 15 pound ball. To compensate I made sure to throw it over the 10 foot mark each time, around 15 feet I would guess and the box was about 26 inches, so there.

Anyway:

1st round: 5:07
2nd round: 5:58
3rd round: 6:27
4th round: 6:38
5th round: 6:49

Total time: 31:00

Dang. I was hoping for an under 30 score. Oh well, next time. In addition, this workout is a killer. My 400 meters could have been faster, my box jumps were good. The wall balls were the killer because you get to the point where you can barely keep your balance at the bottom. I didn't take and measured rest anywhere. Rest was basically walking to the treadmill and getting it up to speed and then a few deep breaths before starting each station. Not sure if maybe 30 seconds of rest between rounds may have been a better idea.

Rest Day

I still went to the gym today but only did a warm-up and some hanging leg raises and L-hangs. Light workout about 20 minutes with warm-up and cool-down. Tomorrow's WOD (for me) doesn't involve direct abs or pull-ups so I could make sure I didn't work anything that's going to be targeted tomorrow. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's WOD, looks like fun. I like the one's that look easy but experience tells you you're going to be pretty beat afterwards.

Crossfit: 080428

Tuesday 080428

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps


Shoulder Press: 125
Push-Press: 130
Push Jerk: 115

I'm assuming the ideal here would have been to move up in weight on the push jerk* but my shoulders were fried and I could barely hold decent form at 115. I was debating on whether I should do a rest day today or the workout. I sort of wanted to get back on the Crossfit cycle were I'm doing the 3 workouts in a row then taking a rest day. I swapped a rest day for a WOD on Friday so I'm off cycle now taking my rest day after the first WOD in the official "cycle". But I guessed that it really doesn't matter all that much as long as you're doing the workouts.

*Maybe not, I was looking at some of the comments and it seemed lots of people went down on the push jerk or kept it about the same as the push-press. I also didn't think about increasing the weight each time. I figured you stayed at the weight you chose. But to be honest. The shoulder press was 5 pounds below my PR. I probably could have went to 135 in the push-press so I guess the workout was better than I thought. I'm going to be sore tomorrow though. Good thing it's a rest day.

Crossfit 080406

080406

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

Use as many sets each minute as needed.

I made it through 10:00 minutes and then I did 5 pull-ups in the eleventh minute. That's 53 pull-ups. I did it in my basement where I can't get a full kip in because I have to bend my knees to keep from hitting the floor. I also tweaked my right lat muscle on the very first pull-up so I was stretching it during the rest time for the entire thing. I'm sure that didn't help my score. I could have probably gone a couple more minutes if I went to the park today but it's rainy and cold so F that.

I then did some kettlebell swings (3x15) with the 1.5 pood bell, tabata squats (16 score), and hit the heavybag for 5 3-minute rounds.

Crossfit Total

"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep


Back Squat: 220
Shoulder Press: 130
Deadlift: 320

TOTAL: 670

Saturday: Rest Day

Rest Day Today

Crossfit: Gwen

"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.

I used 95 pounds. I'm still working on my form for Olympic style lifts although I can definitely tell my rack position is getting better. Many of the reps I noticed how the bar sat on my shoulders almost like it was made to be there, no pain, no slipping, nothing. Fatigue made me drop my elbows a few times leading to a bad rack position.

I can't say I did this as Rx'd because I re-gripped off the floor several times. It was more like:

8-4-3
6-3-3
5-4

for the reps of 15, 12, 9. But my forearms were on fire during this workout.

Technically this should have been a rest day for me following the 3 on, 1 off program but that's why I like staying a day behind the WOD. This morning when I woke up I figured I'd check the WOD, if it was some kind of Olympic Lift or something where a power rack and barbells were needed, I'd do it today. If bodyweight stuff I could do at home, I'd rest today. The gym I go to is on the way to work so it doesn't make much sense to take a day off today only to go to the gym tomorrow when I don't have to work. Plus, I didn't feel tired although my core is sore and I felt it on every C&J rep.

Crossfit: 080402

Crossfit 080402

Five rounds for time of:
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
25 Back extensions

Post time to comments.

1st Round: 2:11
2nd Round: 2:27
3rd Round: 3:06
4th Round: 3:08
5th Round: 3:48

Total Time: 14:42

I did the sit-ups on the back extension device at the gym so it wasn't quite the same thing as doing it on a horizontal glute-ham machine but I'm positive I got a similar workout because I was able to perform the leg straightening and noticed how that provides more power to the movement and after round 2 I started having thoughts of whether I really wanted to do all 5 rounds because my core feels like jelly now and I'm pretty sure it's going to be sore for a few days. I also did a 20 squats set @ 135 pounds, then 3 sets of 10 assisted pistols just for the heck of it and because I had some time to kill.

Crossfit 080401

Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run

Rest as needed between efforts.

1st round: 3:49
2nd round: 3:35
3rd round: 3:26
4th round: 3:21

TOTAL TIME: 14:12

Crossfit: Fran

"Fran"

Three rounds, 21- 15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

This morning, as Rx'd, rounds of 4:36, 5:37, 3:59, for a total of 14:12 for the three rounds.

I need to work on my thruster with the bar in position on the squat. An improperly healed collarbone tends to interfere with the position of the bar in the rack position resulting in me holding more of the weight with my wrist to ensure it doesn't slip and bang the collarbone, which hurts, but also puts strain on my wrists. I think with better flexibility though I could find a better and more stable position for the bar.

Dry Skin Tip - Olive Oil

My hands get very dry and crack during the winter and it's uncomfortable and a pain in the ass. I heard on the radio someone talking about using olive oil for their face so this weekend I figured it wouldn't hurt and used a dab of Extra-Virgin (you don't need a lot) as a lotion for my hands. It was almost like a miracle cure. All the cracks are gone and the dry skin is about 75% gone, except for the callouses from pull-ups and such but even those look better and less likely to tear.

Here's some more Olive Oil Tips

Crossfit: Fight Gone Bad

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

I did this today. The only thing that wasn't as Rx'd was the wall-ball because I could only find a 15 pound medicine ball. Otherwise, everything as Rx'd.

Rounds of 91, 95 and 96 for a total of 282. I'm not sure if people keep track of every rep of every exercise or not. I'm not going to but if I had to figure I would guess it was about 25 wall balls, 20 sumos, 21 box jumps, 15 push press and 15 calories. Something around there. I don't know what it is but I just feel better after these workouts than low-rep high-weight workouts. Not necessarily more tired or like I've done more work but I feel energized more whereas the other workouts pretty much wipe me out for most of the day.

See what I was talking about, I'm not in order, I skipped the Split Jerk WOD because I can't do it at home and the gym only has 10-pound bumper plates so I'm kind of limited. I guess if something like that comes up I can just use regular plates and go as heavy as conditions permit, or I could work on my squats or overhead presses or overhead squats for that matter.

Crossfit: "Helen"

"Helen"

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

I did this as Rx'd (got to use my new kettlebell) on Saturday, 03/29/2008. I finished in 13:47. I had been neglecting my running and sprinting while focusing on Stronglifts and it showed when I started the first 400 meters, my legs felt like molasses. I know I can get that under 10 minutes.

Update

It's funny, I've not made a major effort to stay on the Warrior Diet but I find myself gravitating towards it now a lot more. I mentioned before that I had a natural inclination to eat that way feeling more forced to eat breakfast because it's "the most important meal of the day" rather than actually feeling hungry at breakfast. Whenever I stray and eat during the day I find it's most often because I'm bored or because other people are eating. And when I eat during the day, I'm pretty useless for the next 2 hours after eating, feeling lethargic and tired. I've tried eating zone meals during the day, and they help a bit, but even the perfect zone meal can make me feel blah. I think it's a good time to re-dedicate myself to the Warrior Diet. My 30-day experiment wasn't such a good measure of the diet because of being sick the last three weeks. What I do need to do is change my eating window. It was 6-10 P.M. but that was a little late and I started having trouble falling asleep if I ate too much after 8:30. Many times I didn't get home until 6:30 so that gave me a 2-hour eating window for that was just too small. I'm thinking I can bring my leafy green salad to work and eat that during the last hour of work and then have a 5-9, or 4:30 to 8:30 window that would fit much better for me. Or, I could probably even change my work schedule so I get to work earlier, then workout after work and then be able to eat right after the workout. It might be nice to get home earlier in the day during the summer. However, the gym is way too crowded for me in the afternoons so I'd have to my own weights and power rack, something I've been considering. Which brings me to my next point.

Changing workouts. I love the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. My squats and dead lifts increased by a ton. But I've always had a problem moving heavy weights consistently. My joints get sore and I feel tired and overall it just becomes an unpleasant experience for me. It could be mental or maybe I'm just not tough enough but there you have it. So I think I'm going to start following the Crossfit workouts. I'm going to stay a day or two behind just so I'm not waiting for the WOD to post. I've already started and feel fairly confident I can do most of the workouts as prescribed with a few subs here and there. I've spent about 21 weeks doing Simplefit's basic program and that really changed my body but I enjoy the mystery aspect of the Crossfit WOD and being able to see what other people scored. I think Simplefit has a random workout generator too but I'm just curious to try Crossfit and see how that works. I'll keep track of my workouts here. I'm a little off right now as far as following the workouts but I'll get on track soon enough.

Back on

Mild congestion and cough is the only remaining signs of the 3 week sickness I've been dealing with. I haven't missed a workout although my eating habits are effected when I'm sick. I've had nothing but a banana today and after a few days of eating normally (breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack), I'm now quite hungry. I can't wait to tear into some food when I get home. When I think back on the experiment, I realized that I already was eating similarly to the Warrior Diet, at least during the week. I often skipped breakfast, worked out, had a shake and then an apple sometimes later in the day before dinner. Many times though I'd grab a pop-tart in the morning or bring leftovers with me for lunch under the misguided notion that I wasn't eating enough during the day. Truth is, I really enjoy skipping breakfast and not having to worry about lunch. Plus I enjoy being really hungry for dinner.

Finally, a light appears

I've never had a cold or flu or whatever that was so on/off. I first thought I was getting sick over two weeks ago and it didn't hit me fully until just this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, I actually feel like I'm getting better, rather than the symptoms just disappearing. I'l still a bit stuffed up but the caughing has subsided. I'm proud that I didn't really miss any workouts either. I don't think working out with the cold prolonged anything, my wife and several people I spoke to also mentioned they had oddly long illnesses recently with symptoms that come and go.

Anyway, on to a new challenge. Partly from clicking around on Beast Skills, I want to incorporate more challenging bodyweight positions. To me, nothing says fitness more than being able to handle your bodyweight with ease. What I'd like to do is work on my muscle-ups, handstands, hand stand push-ups and the straddle planche and front levers. Dragon Door has an article on progessing through the planche and front levers that I plan to incorporate into my training. In fact I'm going to start it right when I'm done here. Besides looking at Beast Skills, the other thing that motivated me was that, to my surprise, I can now do one rep of one-armed push-ups. I had bought Pavel's Naked Warrior book several years ago and practiced them for two months without getting anywhere and gave up. I pretty much gave up on them and then a few days ago I tried to see if they were as hard as I remember and I surprised myself by actually doing one. I also really began to see definition in my abs when I started doing L-sits off the pull-ups bar so I know these types of exercises really sculpt the body. There are no fat noodle armed gymnasts. You can see in the photo series at the top of the page right where I started doing L-sits, right between photos 4 and 5 the weight didn't change much but I started doing the exercise 3 times a week.

Right now, I can't balance more than 10 seconds in the frog stand, and the tuck front lever is probably less impressive than that. I cannot free hand stand long enough to impress anyone so I certainly can't do any free hand-stand pushups although I can do 1-2 hand stand push-ups using a wall for support. I cannot do any muscle-ups although I can do pull-ups on the rings and dips on the rings without problem.

So, I guess by the end of summer (I'm not sure how long this takes, I could be giving myself too much or too little time) I'd like to be able to do the following:

Minimum 20-second free hand stand
(then) 1 Free Hand Stand Push-up
1 Muscle-up
(then) 2 Consecutive Muscle-ups
Working for Time on the Advanced Tuck Planche
1 Tuck Planche Push-ups
Working for Time on the Advanced Tuck Front Lever
1 Advanced Tuck Front Lever Pull-up

That all seems impossible right now. But I've always thought the Flag was one of the coolest moves to show off. Sure, a 500 pound deadlift is nice but you can't say, "Hey, watch this!" with any spontaneity with deadlifts. Anyway, I figure I'll practice these 3 times a week and see how far I get.

Sick

I can't believe that it took 10 days of feeling sort of semi-sick for the full blown cold to take hold. Can you believe that yesterday and today I am sicker than I have been over the the past 10 days when I said I was sick? This is ridiculous.

I still managed to get to the gym though. I feel better when I'm working out. Then I sit in the sauna and alternate sauna/cold shower/sauna/cold shower for as long as I can stand it. That usually helps decongest me. The fake decongestants they sell at the stores because of meth heads certainly don't help. Now I've got to go show my ID to the grocery store and fill out a bunch of papers to get real cold medicine. I'm sure that put a real dent in the meth problem. Idiots.

Day Thirty - Finale

Technically yes. I was originally interested in the Warrior Diet and my belief is that you need to try something to find out if it will work for you. So I promised to try it out for 30 days and see what it was like. One problem was that I've been sick for the past two weeks or so which led to a weak finish. I switched from a goal of fat loss to one of muscle gain halfway through. But I'm not looking to go "off" the diet. There's a lot of good things I learned. I don't plan to count calories anymore and I don't plan to post what I ate when and a daily diary of experiences. I'll post occasionally as I learn new things and probably more during a planned phase to cut down for summer where I think I'm going to follow Crossfit workouts and get out of the weight room more. I find I get depressed when I workout indoors during nice weather.

Below is a list of things I learned about the Warrior Diet that pertain to me only. That is, I'm not saying that you'll experience the same thing, maybe you will but it's also quite possible you won't.

1. Quality is important. The quality of my diet increased tenfold with the Warrior Diet. It was very difficult to gain fat eating high quality foods. Even eating 3000 calories of high quality foods resulted in some fat loss. It seemed that when I slipped up and ate processed sugars/cereals/breads the fat went back on quick.

2. Energy is not a problem. I had more energy while fasting than I ever had eating breakfast. I hit several personal records in Simplefit and Crossfit-type workouts and weight lifting. My deadlift 5 rep-work went from 205 to 275 and I 1-repped 300 yesterday. Working out on a empty stomach was a little weird the first two days but the energy was always there and I just kept telling myself that my body could do this. That there was no reason I needed to eat something to accomplish work. My body has a designed system to deal with these circumstances and I'm exercising that system.

3. Focus is enhanced. I had a class during this experiment and that papers had to write were much easier to focus on. A couple hours of work would go by in a snap. It was just easier to focus on things.

4. No hunger pangs. I can count on one hand the number of times I said, "Damn, I'm hungry." It may have been my mental state in that I readily accepted the fact that there's absolutely no need for me to be "hungry" 3-4 times per day. People can go 30+ days without food and yet I should think that because I didn't have breakfast that I'm unable to function? That's B.S.

5. Processed foods burn out your taste buds and make fruits and veggies taste bland. Stay away from processed foods and sugar. The flavor of fruits and veggies will increase many times. Many people say they do not like fruits or especially veggies. You need to train your taste buds to savor the delicate flavors once again. When I was eating processed foods I never had salads at night. Now, I find carrots very sweet and parsnips too. Berries taste like candy apples taste candy-coated.

6. It's fun to be actually hungry. While I don't feel hungry during the day, when I start putting my salad together to break my fast I get really hungry and can't wait to tear into it. Eating is much more satisfying when you're really ready for it. Plus, speaking of quality, I think I ate about 6 bags of spinach over the last month. I'd eat 3-4 cups (chopped) in a salad every night. I ate more spinach this month than probably over the past 3 years.

7. Stay away from foods with a high Gycemix Index during the day. Nearly all processed foods have high GI but natural foods do as well. But you need to experiment. The Warrior Diet book says apples are bad and bananas are good but GI tables show bananas rank higher in GI than apples. I crashed once after an apple but never after a banana. You need to experiment and find things that don't raise your insulin levels.

8. I may have had some trouble sleeping when I ate too soon before going to bed. I seem to remember several days where I just couldn't seem to fall asleep. I wasn't able to put the circumstances together though. If I had to guess, it was a combination of eating too much, too soon before bed. The second week I really over ate like a pig and I think that may have had something to do with it.

9. I can't really get all that enthused about all the minute details about the Warrior Diet that Ori recommends. All these freaking supplements (deer antler velvet? milk thistle?) and people asking if it's OK to boil broccoli instead of steaming it and whether 1% milk is better than 2%. None of those specifics is going to magically make you drop 20 pounds. You need to eat well and exercise to lose weight. Supplementing with Ori's Special Warrior Milk or Warrior Protein made from the protein of special cows isn't going to increase your health exponentially. Eat good quality foods, the more they look as God made them, the better. Strawberries=good, Strawberry Flavored Skittles = Bad.

10. Exercise. I like the Stronglifts 5x5 as a strength-building program and I recommend it to everyone that asks. I'm using it now and have been for a while. My strength has increased dramatically. You can easily do this for a year without needing to change. I also like Simplefit and Crossfit type workouts and throw those in every once in a while, on weekends, or if I can't get to the gym. In the summer I like to get outside for my workouts and so the strength training usually suffers although I manage to fit in benches, squats, and deadlifts in some fashion. I think you should always fit those into a workout routine, even if it's only to maintain a certain level of strength until you get serious again. Once again, you need to experiment. You can't go expect to go through a program on autopilot without recording and evaluating results.

11. Counting Calories. For most of my life, I didn't believe one had to do it. However, I tried DietPower and it opened my eyes to the way I was eating. I had a lot of saturated fat in my diet and the quality of my calories was pretty poor. After nearly a year of using the software, I no longer use it on a daily basis. I have a pretty good idea of when I'm eating well and when I'm not. Same thing with the Warrior Diet, I can tell between a good day of eating and a bad one and I can tell the different between a sub-2000 calories day a 2500 calorie day and a day above 2500 calories just by how I feel at the end of it. I would say that if you have trouble losing weight, you should at least try counting calories so you know for sure how things are going. Measure everything. If you don't get results then at least you've eliminated a variable and getting fit and healthy is mostly about eliminating variables.

12. I think there is something to the benefits of intermittent fasting but I'm no scientist. I think the idea that humans evolved to make the best use of foods in that manner makes a lot of sense. You'd nibble here and there on what you found as you hunted and when you finally made the kill, you ate as much as possible. This doesn't work with the modern foods available though, you can't nibble on Pop-Tarts and candy and Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and bagels and then eat a BK Broiler and fries. You need to imagine yourself hunting in the wild, maybe you get a handful of berries, maybe find an apple tree or walnuts.

13. Bored Eating. I found on the weekends that I would open the fridge just because I was bored and looking for something to do. Then I'd shut the door remembering I was fasting. I wonder how many people who eat 4-5 meals a day engage in bored eating. Like, I'm bored, I guess I'll go find something to eat. Even if it's a healthy choice of food the idea that you're eating because you're bored and not really hungry is kind of unhealthy in itself. I did this quite a bit in the first few days of the Warrior Diet. I'd eat carrots or apples or bananas because it was "lunch time" and I was looking for a break instead of actually feeling like I needed a snack. I really learned how to identify when I really needed a little something.

14. Alcohol: I didn't drink any beer on this diet. I had a a few glasses of wine one Sunday but I really couldn't fit beer in and I love beer. There just didn't seem to be a place for it. I generally like beer with a meal or without a lot of food in my stomach. But I didn't want it after a 20 hour fast and I was too stuffed after the overeating phase to want any beer. Just what I experienced.

15. Supplements I did take: Multivitamin daily and a post-workout why protein shake.

16. Oh yeah, Ori recommends working out right before the overeating phase. That's great but I can't do that because I have to work out in the morning. I didn't find it that big of a deal although on the days I was able to workout in the late afternoon, it was enjoyable to have the overeating phase right after it.

17. I also have a suspicion that my reduced carbohydrate intake during the first week played a large role in the rapid weight loss. Perhaps the same thing would have happened without the intermittent fasting. I do happen to think it's easier to reduce carbs and calories eating once a day rather than 5-6 meals a day, at least for me.

Like I said, I'll still post things as I learn them. I still need to post my final measurements and a photo. If you have questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Day Twenty Nine - Exercise & Undereating

How many days was I supposed to do this, 30 days, one month? Well, Happy St. Paddy's! I was up coughing and congested all night last night but managed to get to the gym this morning. I feel better after working out even when I'm sick so I make a point of doing that. I had a very good workout, moved up in weight on everything and felt pretty good about it. Deadlifted 300 pounds for the first time evah, so that was nice and that was after squats. I'd like to be able to do twice my bodyweight 360 pounds doesn't seem that far off for deadlifts but every pound feels heavier when you get up there. One thing's for certain, there's no need to worry about muscle loss on the Warrior Diet, at least not if you're an amateur. Eat the right foods and you'll be fine. Although this morning I did have some walnuts and some apple/raisin/couscous salad for breakfast as an experiment and I felt that was a pretty good thing to do. I don't normally eat breakfast at all but when I did before trying the Warrior Diet, it was a Pop-Tart or Granola bar, something with a lot of sugar and probably very high Glycemic Index. Even with the banana I'll have later and the post-workout protein shake it'll still be less than 600 calories during the undereating phase.

I feel bad that it wasn't a proper experiment in that I bailed out on the losing fat portion of the diet somewhat. I'm a little curious to see what would have happened had I continued how I started the first week, which resulted in the 6 pound weight loss. But I got scared that maybe a lot of that was muscle and it didn't make sense to sacrifice muscle with fat loss in the middle of winter. I think it might be a good idea to try that in a month or so before summer comes.

I guess I still need to take some final measurements and probably post some final photos. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I won't look as ripped as in the first week photo (certainly not in the midsection), but I may have added more muscle. I haven't made measurements in a while and with being sick my weight/bodyfat readings are all over the place. I'll try to post something this week sometime.

Will I continue? Probably not as strict a undereating/overeating dichotomy. I think mostly what I learned is to control the carb crash that I really didn't think I was experiencing. I touted many times that carbs don't effect me when it's apparent to me now that garbage carbs do. They're responsible for poor morning energy and afternoon sleepies. At least that's what I figured out because I suffered from none of that on the Warrior Diet. I also enjoyed not having to eat lunch or prepare something to take with me. It was very freeing to know that I can go 20+ hours without eating and feel nothing but increased energy and focus. It's funny now to hear people say at like 1:00 P.M. "OMG, I'm so hungry, I haven't had anything since breakfast." Really? Do you think you'll survive? I'm no conspiracy theorist but it certainly seems better for the food industry to keep you eating 4-5 times a day rather than once. Yeah, you may eat the same amount but on the Warrior Diet, I find I like wholesome food that I can buy in bulk a lot better. If you don't eat for 20 hours, when you final get to it, you don't want potato chips. You want a whole chicken, avocados, apples, nuts, bulk steel cut oatmeal, carrots, err, I need to stop, making myself hungry. That was the best part of the Warrior Diet, re-learning the delicate flavors of natural food. Eating processed food blows out all your taste buds making fruits and vegetable sugar bland and unflavorful. Try it yourself, take a bite of apple then eat a fruit-roll-up, then take another bite of apple. The second bite will probably taste like bland mush.

I'll probably post occasionally in the meantime, but not 3-4 times a day anymore, that gets old quick. Hopefully what I've put up here can inform others thinking about trying the diet. I'll still monitor and try to answer any questions. There's only one way to know if something will work for you.