ALL OR NOTHING, MORE OR LESS

Play New Sports

2011-12-31T13:13:00.003-06:00

"Regularly learn and play new sports” is one of those super-inconvenient Crossfit bylaws that I have quietly maneuvered around…like not eating dairy. I am not a sporty guy, and Crossfit alone pretty much exceeds my fitness limitations, so there’s never been room for anything else.

But last Thursday night my friend Alex invited a few of us to attend an adult gymnastics class at Elite Champion Gymnastics in Plano.
I had no idea that such a thing existed – adult gymnastics.

Seriously, old people doing backflips. I imagined that the liability waiver required just to attend such a class would be several inches thick.

When we walked into the facility, it was filled with ponytailed little girls doing some serious werk…floor routines, balance beams – I scanned the room expecting to see a panel of Eastern Bloc judges sitting behind miniature flags and scoring panels. I also started to look for the EXIT.

But just as the wiser angels in my head were beginning to whisper their cautionary warnings in my ear , a very friendly coach named Marcus came over to introduce himself – and asked us to sign a waiver (just a single page).

The adult class was about to begin, and a graceful exit strategy for me no longer seemed to be an option. The class consisted of a mixed crew. There were the athletic former- cheerleader types as well as a few beginners . I felt an allegiance to neither of these groups – even the beginners seemed pretty athletic, and I was definitely the “old guy in the room”.

One of the first activities was a backflip. Yeah…we STARTED with a backflip. While this movement seemed like a deal-breaker to me, Marcus was very confident and had us use this giant foam roller that kind of guided you all the way through the movement so all you had to do was extend your arms until your hands reached the floor behind you. No problem , “I got this” (well, I shuffled around and stared at the floor a lot at first).

From there we moved around the facility which was filled with all of the traditional stuff that you would see on TV during the Olympics…parallel bars, trampouline, pommel horse, rings, etc. Our coach pretty much let us take all of the equipment for a closely-supervised “test ride”.

It was tons of fun trying the stuff that looked “cool” …but I also got ‘played’ into trying stuff that was way out of my comfort zone – like a backflip into a pit of foam cubes. I really almost walked away from this one, until I think someone called me a lil’bish. I am sure it wasn’t very pretty to watch, but I survived my first journey down into to “the pit” with a lot of help from the coach.

This adult gymnastics class is held every Thurs night…since Thurs is our programmed “rest day” at CFDC, I am thinking that this gymnastics class might become a regular thing. At 40+ years old, there are some realistic limits to what I can do, so the hard part will be to resist the urge to do the fancy, cool stuff.

But even during just this first class, it was easy to see how the movements and technical training would translate directly into some benefits at Crossfit. Regularly Play New Sports was not one of my 2012 Crossfit goals, but I am going to pencil-it-in.

Murph (Christmas Eve @ Crossfit Fresno)

2011-12-24T19:56:00.002-06:00

48:50 Rx'd

ACO 2011 & Goals for 2012

2011-12-12T21:07:00.014-06:00

So I have told myself several times in my head (and on this blog) that my pursuit of Crossfit is recreational, not competitive. But I am sitting here recovering from my All Cities Open 2011 hangover, just immodest enough to think that ACO might have been something that I could have tried this year.

I have never felt this way in the past and this change-of-heart has nothing to do with any sudden acceleration of athleticism or strength – to be honest, I have not seen at lot of progress. I personally have not changed… but I think that ACO has….

Clearly, ACO has grown to become a huge event, and CFDC has definitely honed their event-plannning skillz over the past 3 years; it’s a very well-organized, exciting all-day party, even for the casual observer (that I was).

Maybe it's just how I remember things, but in previous years, it seemed like most of the WODs that had been programmed for ACO were designed for a very specific type of athlete: the super-strong type.

This year however, the WODs seemed to be much more rounded out – they included a lot of everything, but you didn’t have to be a monster lifter to get your name on the board -- you just had to be terribly, freakishly fit (and if you happened to be a freakishly-fit-monster-lifter, then last Saturday was YOUR day at ACO).

Now, I am not saying that I could throw down with any of the competitors that I saw out there on Saturday; they were all amazing athletes that bring skills, strength, endurance and most importantly the “mental game” to Crossfit that I find truly amazing. But, when you look at the WODs, besides the HUGE volume of work that had to be done in a single day – there really wasn't a single event on Saturday's menu that would have been off-the-charts impossible to finish as a stand-alone WOD:

Event 1: Anaerobic Power

1 min max cals airdyne

2 min max meters burpee broad jump

No rest between movements

Event 2: Lactate Buffering

In 2 min: 1/2 gasser (track sideline to track sideline)

In remaining time, AMRAP deadlift (60kg men/45kg women)

1 min rest

In 2 min: 1/2 gasser, in remaining time, AMRAP front squat (60kg/45kg)

1 min rest

In 2 min: 1/2 gasser, in remaining time, AMRAP shoulder to overhead (60kg/45kg)

Event 3: Strength

In 2 min:

Take 5 stones from ground to over yoke as fast as possible (42 inch yoke)

Women: 42#, 73#, 93#, 116#, 142#

Men: 116#, 142#, 173#, 207#, 246#

Event 4: Aerobic Power

As fast as possible:

100 box jumps

80 KB swings (53#/35#)

60 pushups

40 pull ups

20 ground to overheads (60kg/45kg)

Event 5: Power

25m sled push AFAP, 3 attempts, rest as needed

...OK....Event 3 (Atlas Stones) would have been a public-humiliation ritual for me. But I could have at least gotten the first or second stones off of the ground.

...The 60Kg lifts in Event 2 would have been heavy for me.

...And Event 4 is just nasty.

But the point that I am making here is that the WODs did not require any high-tech movements – no double unders, no snatches, no muscle ups, and no one-rep max Oly lifts. Technically, the skill level of the work was very manageable for anyone, especially for anyone who has been doing Crossfit for a while.

If last Saturday’s event is a blueprint for future ACO’s....I'll say it: I would like to think that I might be tempted to allow myself to dream about maybe considering to participate some day.

For this monumental shift to occur, however, there would be several goals that would have to be met first…and since this blogpost is written just 2 days after ACO, in the final month of 2011, what better time could there be for setting a few Crossfit goals for 2012:

1) Get Double-unders: it’s about time. I can do single double-unders, I just can’t string them together yet.

2) Get Oly Lifts: I want to take the lifting seminar in January – I don’t expect to ever become a great Oly lifter – but I would like to improve my technique so that I can at least perform each of the standard lifts safely and somewhat efficiently

3) Get Mental Game: I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be on the field, standing there amongst the other competing athletes, in front of that big crowd, cameras, music – and I’ve never competed, ever, in a real athletic event. So I would have to find some way to overcome the temptation to turn off the lights and lock myself in the house on game day

4) Get Box Jumps: I got no rhythm

5) Get Endurance: uhuh

Endurance is actually the area that I feel like I have actually seen some progress. Last Friday there was a WOD that I would have DNF’d not so long ago:

5 sets, 4 minute running clock each set:

400m run @ 90%

20 burpees

walk rest in the time remaining

It’s common knowledge that I am not a runner, and I will loudly bitch to all that is holy every time a running WOD appears. AND burpees? The phrase “rest in the time remaining” was like a knife in my heart. With a 4 minute cutoff, “Time remaining”, my ass.

But I got through each round – I did not rest between burpees either, they were all unbroken. And even though I only had about 30 seconds of rest left before the next round started, I was able to keep up with the pack and kept a consistent pace for each round.

Granted, five rounds in 20 minutes is NOTHING compared with ACO's 5 WODs in the same day. And much of this blogpost is likely just the result of some motivational heroin that got transfused into my soul on Saturday while watching my friends compete.

But at the very least, the 5 goals listed above are "in stone" now, I’m committed, it’s a done deal.

Bring on 2012.

2k Row

2011-11-30T21:32:00.002-06:00

7:57 (Previous attempt: 8:07 in September)

Backsquat

2011-11-30T06:17:00.002-06:00

206# x 1 (11/29/2011)

New Game Plan: "Moderate-elite Fitness"

2011-11-01T12:33:00.003-05:00

My big training issue is that I am kind of a pussy.

Yeah, I said it.

I mean, I’m dedicated. I am really consistent about showing up every day, but I usually put in just enough effort to get me through the WOD. If JMez or one of the other "motivational firebreathers" is there ready to shame-me-in-public for lifting “girl weight”, I might try a little harder. But not much.

My new goal is to try and break this cycle…which is not going to be easy as it requires a lot of discomfort. And to be honest, I think that I’ve been doing OK by just doing what I am doing.

But at the end of the day, what’s the point of being obsessively dedicated if I am not going “all in”?

AND it’s not cool to always be the guy who finishes last.

So a few nights ago, we were doing some profane number of HSPUs in a timed WOD. My knee-jerk reaction was to grab an abmat to place under my head to eliminate some of the range of motion – even though I am pretty good at HSPUs.

Dean was coaching that night and he pretty much snatched the abmat from out of my hands. Yeah, I gave him a little attitude (he can take it) but got through all of the HSPUs sans the abmat… albeit my time results sucked for the WOD because of the added difficulty. After the WOD, Dean advised me not to worry about the time so much and just to go for the added difficulty.

So last night, the WOD was 3 rounds of OHS (10 reps, unbroken) and a 400m run – an unsavory combination, coupled with kettlebell swings and burpees (equally hellish). My usual strategy would have been to go super light (68#) for that many OHS (to save myself for the running)…so I jumped it up a little (88#)…which was just heavy enough to be unpleasant for most of the reps and kind of nasty and unstable for the final few.

My comfort zone for kettlebell swings at this point rests at 53#. So I went with 70#.

To be honest, the heavier weight for OHS and KB swings was still manageable. Yeah, I struggled a little on the last few reps of each round of OHS, but that’s probably what was supposed to happen. I was still pretty slow compared to everyone else, but it felt good to basically “keep up” with the pack in terms of time, reps and weight.

.

Family Business

2011-10-26T18:00:00.005-05:00

And look, tell me you ain't did it, you ain't did it
And if you did, then that's family business...

I’ve spent some time lately talking to friends about Crossfit – some of these conversations were with actual Crossfitters, some were with people that were just humoring my tendency to ramble on [and on] about all things Crossfit.

And curiously, few to none of these conversations were about Fran PRs, box jumps or proper chalking technique. The conversations were really about community. And family.

I can’t say enough about the people that I have had the opportunity to get to know through Crossfit. Although we all come from different backgrounds, Crossfit really attracts a certain type of person that is impressively accomplished…or in my case, truly hopes to evolve in that direction. Through my Crossfit box I am constantly amazed and inspired by the people that I have come to know and what they are able to achieve in and out of the box – community volunteers, lawyers (lots of them),fashion designers, music artists…and most recently, a potential Olympian.

Indeed, being around these over-achievers can be very intimidating. But their passion for what they do is also contagious. I would never have stuck with Crossfit for so long if it was not for the passion of the coaches and the friends that I have met through CFDC. And I am serious about all of this being contagious -- it’s no coincidence that I have managed more than a few challenging situations and taken a few risks during the past 2+ years that I have been around these people…grad school and a recent career transition were definitely influenced by what I have learned [about myself] through my Crossfit experience.

However, just like any family…there will be fights, hurt feelings and disagreements… and occasionally a little drama and dysfunction.

But unlike your traditional, unnerving family reunion or awkward gathering in front of the fireplace, the genius of Crossfit is that once the WOD starts, it doesn’t really matter who is running next to you or who you’re sharing the bar with. In fact, once the WOD starts – there really isn’t much of an opportunity to think about anything else but the WOD.

A few of my good Crossfitting friends have recently questioned whether or not Crossfit was right for them. It wasn’t because they did not enjoy Crossfit or did not recognize the value of it. It was the other stuff. The family stuff.

Although I would miss-them-something-huge if they decided to “leave the nest”, I understand why they feel the way that they do. In such a large group of diverse, determined, intense people, it’s easy to feel marginalized and disenfranchised occasionally.

The Crossfit experience is intense. Everything is amplified – the music, the heat, the pace…there are many times that I have attempted to stumble back to my car in a post-WOD stupor, shirtless and covered with chalk totally oblivious to my general state of in-public wreckdom or even where I had left my car. And I think that it’s natural to establish a common bond with the people that go through this type of experience with you on a daily basis – even though outside of this intense environment, you may have totally opposite political views, cultural backgrounds, social values, etc.

I know that I have benefited from the generous encouragement of everyone at my box and the diverse backgrounds that they all have. And even though I may not be the typical jock/Prefontaine-quoting firebreather that is the Crossfit standard, I try not to let that prevent me from taking advantage of the opportunities that Crossfit has to offer. Instead of the politics and drama that can occasionally torture and divide us, I just try to enjoy the process and its results.

For better or worse, the family stuff is a big part of Crossfit…but just like 20 rounds of Cindy, you have to manage it and maintain your focus or you’re going to walk away very unhappy and perhaps cheat yourself out of a potentially rewarding experience.

PR: Front Squat

2011-10-19T21:40:00.001-05:00

163#

PR: Press

2011-10-18T20:50:00.000-05:00

132#. Finally.

UPDATE: Summer Fitness Challenge 2011

2011-10-17T22:57:00.000-05:00

The fitness challenge is over. Winning the challenge was realistically never going to happen, but I had been hoping to add a little intensity into my “game” through my participation.

To be honest though, I can’t say that much changed while I was following the plan…sure, during the challenge I managed to avoid the cheat meals that I would normally indulge in once or twice a week. But I totally failed to comply with any of the guidelines for The Zone as I had originally intended.

Indeed, that fancy scale with the digital display that I bought when the challenge started looks great on the kitchen counter, but to date it’s "all show, no go".

I started out with the best intentions – I listened to the coaches, I memorized Rob Wolff quotes. Carefully measured cups of spinach and painstaking attention to every little gram of almond butter seemed like a small price to pay for “CFDC abs”.

But in the environment of my bachelor’s kitchen and the reality of my limited cooking skills, making that added effort to go “Zone” just seemed like too much.

I will swallow my fish oil and will pass by the half-and-half and the whole baked goods section at the supermarket – but please don’t make me measure my food into little blocks. OK?

Even without the Zone I did see results. I managed to lean up a little through this process (dropped my body fat by 1.5%)…and I did experiment with a “cauliflower mash” recipe that I really like. So although I am short a few dollars for that fancy scale, I have no regrets.

Summer Fitness Challenge 2011

2011-07-19T09:40:00.001-05:00

So, rarely do I volunteer for anything that has “challenge” in the title. I got nothin’ to prove. I am not the type of guy who dreams of confetti pouring down on me while parading down Main Street perched on top of a convertible.

But when CFDC launched their Summer Fitness Challenge, I decided to sign up “just for the experience”. And because I wanted the t-shirt.

However, rather than individual results, the challenge this year is being driven by team results. Which is a whole different thing.

Although I may not be an adrenalin-enraged competition junkie, I am a group-minded guilt whore. I hate that feeling of being the guy that didn’t pull his weight. And in this competition, my weight is the benchmark to be measured.

My strategy for the competition was to introduce The Zone Diet into my already Paleo-friendly eating habits. CFDC hooked-me up with a lot of general information about The Zone (which I had heard about but never tried) and even did the math for me to figure out how many Zone blocks I should be eating every day. It all seemed very easy. I got this.

So I went to the store and bought everything that I was gonna need. Healthy food, measuring cups, a scale – I discovered that when it comes to competition, I am great at retail-based preparation.

But once I got home, I ran into some roadblocks.

First off, I discovered that my "Paleo-compliant kitchen/pantry" was hiding some deep-dark secrets. Half-n-half, popsicles, chocolate-covered almonds…if I was going to commit myself to this competition, these little dietary crutches that I had somehow held onto since I started patting-myself-on-the-back for being so “Paleo” were gonna have to go.

But old habits are hard to break…so rather than throw them out, and go cold turkey, I decided to finish what was left of these items and then just not replenish them once they were gone. Currently, most of my non-Paleo supplies have dwindled to nothing, and I am rationing about 3 popsicles that are still left in my freezer.

The other obstacle was just the process of measuring food into Zone blocks. What a huge pain. I had thought that buying a cool, high-tech scale would motivate me to actually use it. But, not-so much. It is sitting here on my counter, totally neglected.

I have printed out some lists of foods and their corresponding Zone blocks. They are sitting here next to the high-tech scale.

Some of my teammates have already racked up some impressive points in this competition. My guilt-driven motivation is reaching its breaking point. I just gotta start doing this – and once it’s part of my routine, it will all be OK….I think.

I am going to try and start breaking down my meals into Zone blocks one meal per day. Tomorrow I am starting with breakfast. For sure, tomorrow.

Look Up

2011-07-03T10:12:00.004-05:00

It’s been a while since my last update here. To be honest, I have been waiting for something remarkable to happen. A benchmark, a milestone. Just waiting…and admittedly, not really doing that much.

For the past few weeks I have felt like I am on a long, scorching hot, Texas plateau. I have been doing the WODs, but have not seen a lot of progress; and I have sandbagged a lot more than usual.

I have no excuses to offer…there are plenty of areas that I could really be working on. Double unders, jerk, snatch…the list goes on.

Of all of the skills that I really suck at, however, there was one that I always really, really wanted to be able to do…the muscle up.

Before hitting my "2011 Summer Plateau", I had often gone to the box on my rest days to work on the rings to prep for my 1^st muscle up. I was optimistic. I had been given advice from every coach at CFDC and several members. For over two years I chased this goal pretty consistently always believing that “today is gonna be the day”.

And then I gave up. Several months ago I stopped even trying…I figured I was too weak or too old or too something…it just seemed like no matter what I tried, it never worked.

And then finally, last Thursday night….
I had just gone into the box to hang out. My buddy, Chris had said that he would be there and it’s pretty rare that we seem at the box these days so I thought I would at least stop by to say HEY. When I got there, some of the guys had been working with the rings so they were all set up and ready to go. Thursday is our official “rest day” at CFDC. But there were lots of people practicing and making up WODs around me, so I decided to just jump up on the rings for a bit so that I didn’t feel like such a slacker amid all of the work that was getting done.

I jumped up and grabbed the rings with ZERO expectations. I found my “false grip” which I had already determined to be totally pointless. I locked out my arms and half-heartedly faked a kip.
Somehow, I landed with my shoulders on top of the rings. I was totally unprepared for this to happen and my elbows started to turn out. It hurt like hell so I jumped off and landed not-so-gracefully on the ground. My shoulders ached. WTF was that?

One of the CFDC coaches, Chase, was watching the whole thing. He told me that if I had held the position and stabilized myself on the rings a little better, I could have pressed up. Huh? He was talking like I almost did a muscle up.
Chase took me over to some rings that were lower to the ground, and just let me sit there at the bottom of the dip and practice pressing into the muscle up. I was still kinda freaked out… Chase had no idea that this was the Holy Grail of Crossfit exercises for me…that I had tried and failed this move a thousand times. He was talking like I was gonna do a muscle up. Today.

After practicing the drill with Chase, we went back over to the high rings. I went through my usual routine, found my false grip, kipped and BOOM. I was up there.
Suddenly a group formed to watch. The pressure was on. Was it a fluke? Nope, I did it again.

At my age, it’s very rare that I get to “knock one out of the park”. In fact, I have never kicked a goal or hit a homerun. I don’t know what it feels like to score the winning point in anything. But my first muscle up was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It’s been three days and I still feel it.

It may sound over-the-top, but there is nothing in recent memory that was harder than getting on top of those rings for me. It requires strength, but that wasn’t the hard part. I have seen guys who are not as strong as me achieve a muscle up on their first attempt. The hardest part of the muscle up is the athleticism that some people are gifted with…and others, not-so-much. I am convinced that some people just have a natural physical awareness and know how to control their movements efficiently. Clearly, I am not one of these people. But through this experience I have learned that over time and a lot of good coaching and support, pretty much anything is possible.

Here it is....I tried to get greedy and failed on the 2nd muscle up, but I think the first one is legit. Big thanks to Noah for capturing video evidence of my big day.

OHS

2011-04-08T21:43:00.002-05:00

125# (5#PR)

He(L)en.

2011-04-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

12:53 Rx'd

I broke up the kettlebell swings (11+10 reps) each round so that I could catch my breath a little. My pullups were unbroken the first two rounds; had to take a break on the third round. But the running is what really slowed me down. I run so slooooow. But overall, I am satisfied with my results tonight. I can remember back not so long ago when I could not Rx this WOD....I also remember not being able to go through any of the movements unbroken, without rests. I kept moving throughout most of the WOD, and I never rested for more than 10 seconds.

Competition

2011-03-21T14:33:00.005-05:00

Around this time of year, there is a lot of excitement about the Crossfit Games.

As I have said before, I am not a fan of The Games…and that’s not an easy attitude to maintain. You watch the clips on YouTube, and see friends training like mad at the box, and it’s hard to resist the urge to get a little amped up.

But flashy videos aside, I am becoming increasingly convinced that I will always be more of a “recreational Crossfitter” (rather than a competitor). And even though I may not be as determined and ambitious as some (many?) of the athletes that I train with, I feel equally dedicated to pursuing Crossfit in the long term.

One of the coaches that I respect a lot at my box recently offered two of his own observations about The Games, competition and Crossfit in general:

1) Despite the agony of some of the training that we do, it's enjoyable. It's a pleasurable activity

2) The main feature of this game that we play is competition.

I totally agree with observation #1. The 800-meter, Rx’ed, weighted, hand-ripped, AMRAP’ed, sweaty, for-time 60 minutes that I spend at the box is usually and simultaneously the best and worst hour of my day.

And I can see how the 2nd assertion would likely resonate with a lot of Crossfit athletes.

But the definition of competition for #2 relies upon a group dynamic…and how the combined strength and dedication of the group empowers success for both the individual and the group as a whole…

I consider myself a “team player”. I enjoy my friends at the 7PM class and our group dynamic – nothing makes my day like when a buddy conquers his/her first muscle up or double under. And they have certainly all been very supportive of me as I am often The Last person to finish the WOD –they never let me quit (unless I maneuver a way to sneak out the back door).

The group dynamic is a part of what I enjoy about Crossfit.

However, and this may sound selfish, when I approach a WOD, I am not focused on achieving a PR, or beating anyone else’s time or what may be achieved individually or as a group during the WOD. Really, my one and only goal is to get through the WOD without injury and with minimal embarrassment (as in anything that might involve paramedics or a 9-1-1 call).

So, if Crossfit is SO difficult and I am not competitive about it (in terms of what I expect of myself or the athletes that I train with), why do I do it? Why is Crossfit generally the favorite part of my day? Why have I been going back to this box filled with over-achieving super athletes 4-5x per week for almost two years?

In reference to Crossfit and the question “why do we do it?”, that same coach at my box offered what I think is another enlightened observation...it's that moment when you totally lose yourself during a WOD; when you are totally unaware of the world around you. During a WOD I am not thinking about my job, my mortgage or the lawn that I need to mow before the neighborhood association starts riding my ass. It’s a wild, reckless ride that takes you to a totally different place that’s hard to find at any other time during my daily routine. And you don’t have to be a super athlete to get there (thankfully)…Crossfit makes it happen, for everyone.

That is why I do it…

If everyone did Crossfit and could experience that moment several times per week, I am certain that the mental health industry would go bust…there would be no need for “anger management sessions” and “interventions” – it’s a daily dose of mental, physical and emotional therapy.

OK. Next question: Why do I keep going back?

I was never an athlete…mainly because I am not very athletic. But I enjoy being active and fit. Crossit offers a totally non-judgmental environment for even the severely uncoordinated to search for and maybe even find their “inner athlete”.

You can’t run fast? Run as fast as you can. You can’t lift that weight? Scale it down. It’s the only organized-athletic environment that I have been a part of that encourages you to try over anything else.

Unfortunately, I feel that The Games somewhat alters these dynamics that I enjoy so much about Crossfit. Competition requires an awareness of self. It measures and compares an individual’s capacities and limitations. You are ranked, publicly in preparation for and during The Games, and the pressure’s ON.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I know that a lot of people feel a rush from that kind of high-level competition –it’s what gives them that extra push. But I have seen very smart competitors and gifted athletes rip themselves up in preparation for The Games. I have seen athletes that I consider friends get angry and frustrated…and even a little mean. I have seen amazing athletes become discouraged because they failed to meet certain expectations that were arbitrarily set by The Games. For them, it may be worth it.

For me, The Games adds to the already high level of intensity that is intrinsic to Crossfit…and that can be a little overwhelming. Even for a non-competing observer.

But The Games and its qualifying events occupy a very small part of my Crossfit world. The remainder of which is very cool.

It’s been two years and I still can’t do a double under, and a muscle up seems equally impossible. Oh yeah, and my jerk form is crap. Even if these basic Crossfit movements elude me forever, I am OK with that. I am more than satisfied with my status as a “recreational Crossfitter”. If I ever do get an MU or a DU….that would be cool too, and I plan on continuing to try. But meanwhile I am just grateful for the many friends, and sense of balance that Crossfit has given to me, and an overall level of fitness that may not be worthy of The Games, but is enough for me.

Culture Shift

2011-03-07T15:06:00.000-06:00

When I first discovered Crossfit, I made a great effort to share my good fortune with the world. I was the guy who posted his first Fran time in his Facebook status (just ONCE. And I have matured a lot since then). I tried to recruit friends to do Saturday morning “free WODs”. I wore my Crossfit t-shirts to the supermarket to buy coconut milk and Sunbutter.

I was pretty shameless.

All of my efforts resulted in a huge movement of Crossfit haters that I am totally and individually responsible for creating. Crossfit is not for everyone, I get it.

But lately, my Crossfit-hating friends (and family members) have been trying to beat me down, not with their own reasons for rejecting Crossfit (“it’s too hard”, “I don’t have time”, “I’m addicted to gluten and Cheetos”, blah, blah, blah) but with a new reason for why I should reject Crossfit.

“It’s gone mainstream”, they say.

I admit, one of the attractive qualities of Crossfit for me was that it was kind of edgy and “underground”. It rejects the traditional gym culture and widely accepted treadmill-philosophy of fitness (literally). For the ultimate non-jock like me, that scored them a lot of extra-cool points.

Of course, this dynamic also creates a reverse-snob effect that Crossfit kind of perpetuates. There’s no shortage of “globo-gym jokes” amongst Crossfitters and the tendency to stamp “Forging Elite Fitness” on anything stationary only fortifies the argument that Crossfit does have its own kind of ego problem.

But now that Crossfit boxes seem to be outgrowing the boundaries of grassroots exclusivity into strip malls and fitness clubs, my Crossfit-hater friends are quick to point out the hypocrisy of the new mass appeal of Crossfit. How can it be elite if everyone is doing it?

First of all, despite the “elite” fitness that Crossfit claims to forge, Crossfit was never “elitist” to me. In every box that I have been to, the athletes come in all shapes, sizes and athletic levels -- some of them are elite athletes, and many of us are not. But all are always welcomed.

OK, a part of me wishes that it could stay as it was. I am not a fan of corporate sponsors and big Crossfit events like the Crossfit Games. I think that the stardom of athletes and the promotion of the games distracts from everything that I enjoy most about Crossfit.

But whether Crossfit achieves mainstream appeal, big corporate sponsorships or even globo-gym-level recognition is irrelevant – Crossfit will never be for everyone (the Equinox crowd will never give up eucalyptus-scented towels for torn, chalked hands and ab-mat burns).

And there is no hypocrisy, no moral conflict with promoting Crossfit to a mass audience. Elite fitness has nothing to do with exclusivity. Hell, if I can do it, anyone can do it.

Nightline clips, the Crossfit Games and its celebrities will bring new interest to Crossfit and that might turn off some hardcore Crossfit veterans and empower some of my favorite Crossfit haters. Personally, I like to see the new faces that graduate from the on ramp classes into my regular 7PM class. And I like to see the coaches enjoy some success and recognition for all of their hard work. As the box grows, so does the programming…it’s a win for everyone, really.

Thinking out-of-the-box

2011-01-13T13:12:00.002-06:00

Get used to being uncomfortable.

Become comfortable with uncomfortable.

You hear a lot of that in Crossfit. And I get it.

I can remember when I was uncomfortable with just showing up at CFDC for a WOD. Now it’s like a second home to me.

I can remember when the idea of doing some impossible number of just about anything made me sick and nauseous. I am now able to breakdown even the nastiest WODs into manageable units and can usually find a way to get it done.

My comfort level with Crossfit has definitely increased, especially within the safe, familiar zone of CFDC.

But after all of this time that I have been doing Crossfit, I had never visited a totally foreign box…with unknown coaches and WODs and expectations. I have friends that visit boxes whenever they travel all the time. Like it’s no big deal.

It really shouldn’t be a big deal. I have never experienced any element of the Crossfit community that is not extremely positive, welcoming and supportive.

But I am very good at maintaining a regular routine; and breaking that routine always requires some mental gymnastics from me.

So I was definitely uncomfortable about visiting Crossfit Fresno when I went home for Christmas. Although I had been following their website and had even exchanged a couple of emails with the coaches in Fresno before my visit, I kinda started to freak out a little before their WOD on Christmas Eve morning…

What if I can’t keep up during the WOD?

What if I unwittingly break some kind of obscure Crossfit code?

What if they have to call paramedics?

My dad came along with me to watch the show. Honestly, even though I was nervous, I wanted to show off a little for him. I was hoping that the WOD would be an old familiar friend…Cindy, Barbara, maybe even Helen? (OK…..not Helen.)

No Such Luck. The Christmas Eve WOD at Crossfit Fresno:

For time: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of

Wall Balls, 20/14 lbs

L pull-ups

So, wall balls maintain a suck factor that’s right up there with thrusters and burpees for me. And L pullups? I had never seen this in a WOD before.

This was not how I had planned this.

Besides this curve-ball WOD that I was trying to deal with (with my dad in the audience), there was another layer of pressure that was becoming increasingly uncomfortable when I arrived at the Fresno box. When you visit a box that you do not belong to, you kind of have to inform the coaches where you are from…it’s called a drop-in, because they just don’t want people off the street who have never done Crossfit before trying to matriculate into a group WOD without some basic training. You can only “drop in” if you are from some other box.

So when I met the coaches at Crossfit Fresno that morning…who were both very nice and totally cool, I let them know that I was from CFDC.

Their follow-up question was logically “how long have you done Crossfit?”…when I said “almost 2 years”, I could see the coach doing some form of Crossfit algebra in his head about what my fitness level “should be”. I quickly backpeddled and explained that I was really just at the beginner level on a lot of the skills and was gonna do my best not mess up the pace of his class. My response was panicky, nervous and unnatural. Like a teenager trying to use a fake ID for the first time. I was in total freak mode at this point.

The coaches, John and Rosanna took us through a nice long warmup. Lots of stuff that I had done before. They kept the class together and focused. It felt good. They explained the WOD and let us find some “real estate” along the walls and at the pullup bars. They also let us have some time to practice the movements.

Once the timeclock started, there was a comfortable familiarity that clicked inside of my head. I’d been here before.
I started the first round of 21 wallballs…hell, I’ve done a lot more than 21 wallballs before at CFDC. And a California wallball is the same as a Texas wallball.

I got this.

I transitioned into the first round of L-sit pullups. OK, so I had never done a WOD that included L-sit pullups before…but we had practiced them at CFDC and I knew that I could do them. None of this was foreign territory.

John and Rosanna were full of encouragement and energy throughout the whole WOD, just like the coaches at CFDC. It was all very familiar. And comfortable.

My final time for the WOD was 17:35. Rx’d.

And I managed to get through all of the L-sit pullups. It was a great WOD.

The coaches at Crossfit Fresno were great and I am looking forward to visiting them again the next time I go home. But I also think that some of the credit for getting through the WOD in Fresno goes to the coaches back at my box in Dallas. I am clearly stronger now than I’ve ever been, physically and mentally. And during the toughest moments of the Fresno WOD, my CFDC friends and coaches back in Dallas were all in my head. I couldn’t be the guy from CFDC who DNF’ed a WOD in Fresno.

Beguiled

2010-12-03T14:30:00.002-06:00

...meet Cindy:

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

5 pull-ups

10 push-ups

15 squats

All of the movements are your basic high school-PE-class kind of stuff. But Cindy’s sexiness is in her simplicity.

Cindy was actually my first workout at CFDC. On that day I crashed a Sunday members-only open-gym and had no idea what Crossfit was.

My confidence was way up that afternoon. I had been going to my mainstream gym regularly for years and had been working with a trainer. I thought I was in shape.

But after the first few minutes of Cindy’s special brand of bullshit, I was hurting, bad.

It was very humbling (I vividly recall the moment I resigned myself to do “knee pushups” in front of some inexplicably fit SMU co-eds that day).

But it was a great introduction into Crossfit programming simply because no matter how athletic you may (or may not) be, Cindy can easily illustrate what fitness is – in 20 minutes or less.

The numbers of reps for each movement are all deceptively reasonable and there are no weights to scale. It’s just you, the time clock and maybe a little chalk. Come on, you’ve done these exercises since grade school, right?

But no matter how many times you take Cindy to the dance, within a few minutes you’re always cursing yourself for letting her break your heart all over again.

OK, that’s a lot of metaphors. But seriously, Cindy’s style is all about her deceptive simplicity, which is why she is my favorite girl.

Cindy 12/1/10: 16 Rx'd rounds + 5 pullups

Mixed Bag

2010-11-09T11:33:00.002-06:00

A. Deadlift 5RM

B. 1 attempt max kipping pull-ups

C. AMRAP push-ups in 4 minutes

Last time we did deadlifts I got a PR for 3 reps 315#.

Last night I got 295# x 3 reps.

My previous attempt at max pullups was about 20…must have been over 6 months ago.

Last night I got 31.

I sandbagged on the pushups – 81 last night (I was/am still sore from the benchpress/ring dip WOD that we did on Sat)

Endure

2010-11-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

I hesitate to even document any details about last night’s WOD. In principle, it was one of those endurance WODs that I typically hate:

15 unbroken KB swings, 2/1.5pd

400m run @ 90% effort

rest 2 min x 3 sets

+

20 box jumps, 24/20" box

90 seconds burpees @ 90% effort

rest 2 min x 3

+

AMRAP in 5 minutes:

10 Knees to elbows

10 Push-ups

As everyone should know by now, there are few activities that I hate more than running. And running after kettlebell swings certainly does not “sweeten the deal” for me.

But last night I seemed able to keep up with the pack during the running. For the first time. Ever. And I kept the pace fairly consistent…around 2 minutes per 400m lap up and down Dyer Street, dodging traffic in the dark.

The worst part of the evening for me was the box jump/burpee complex. It’s very frustrating to be able to kip and do semi-difficult stuff like handstand pushups and then NOT be able to jump on top of a box. It took me FOREVER to get through a short round of box jumps…seriously, you could've boiled pasta (but don’t…it’s not Paleo).

300# Club

2010-10-26T10:30:00.001-05:00

Last night I finally broke the 300# ceiling on my deadlift (315#x3). My last attempt was 300#x1, and I can remember hitting that wall hard…there was no way that I could lift anything heavier that day.

So last night, 315# felt good.

The Sport of Fitness

2010-10-20T11:10:00.004-05:00

This year has gone by so quickly. I never would have guessed that I would stick around for a 2nd ACO. This whole Crossfit experiment was supposed to be short-term…it was going to be too hard to sustain in the Texas heat. The winter months in that warehouse would be way too cold.

But here it is, Year 2. And once again, CFDC is prepping for competition: All Cities Open.

CFDC hosts this event, so we are the “home team”. I attended ACO as a volunteer last year and it seemed like a massive undertaking at the time… this year they are expanding it to an even larger venue.

I am planning to volunteer at the event again and I am really looking forward to watching my friends go through the process of training for this and representing (some of them for the first time) in front of the extended family of Crossfit athletes.

I cannot imagine what it takes to even sign up for something like this. You don’t know what the competition WODs will be until just before the event. So all you can do is train for any contingency. The WOD may be something you’re good at…or it could be your worst nightmare. Either way, you have to step up in front of a highly competitive (but very encouraging) community of friends and strangers and beast through it.

So ACO really does require everything that “the sport of fitness” phrase describes in the context of Crossfit. It’s the mental victory over the unknown, the athletic realization of the technical requirements of each WOD, and the physical strength and endurance that each WOD will require.

Based on these conditional elements, I think it’s fair to say that competition-level Crossfit is not part of my game. I think that competition-level Crossfit requires a level of mental AND physical athleticism that really can’t be learned in just one year, or two, or five or 10. It has to be a part of who you are and how you manage a challenging situation. Those skills go far beyond just mastering the “double under” and the “clean and jerk”.

But it really is an honor to workout alongside these athletes who can compete at that level. There really is no other situation where I could train with and learn from such a great community of people.

This year has been amazing. Even though there are days that are frustratingly difficult, I very rarely bail out on a WOD [anymore]. Even though there’s still a lot that I suck at, this training is a transformative opportunity that I recognize and appreciate. I may not be a competitive-level athlete, but I feel like I have become a recreational athlete; and I’ve never really been any kind of athlete before.

To Rx...or not (Helen)

2010-10-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

So today we’re doing Helen.

3 rounds:

400m run

21 KB swings (53/35#)

12 pull-ups (chin over horizontal plane of bar)

The last time I did this WOD was in November of last year. I used a 35# kettlebell and a red band for the pullups. My time was 13:50.

I know that I can do this WOD without a band now, so that’s progress.

Because I am an idiot, I am tempted to try and Rx this…but I have never used a 53# kettlebell in a timed WOD before. That weight could definitely break me.

I think that the wise-man’s choice here is the 44# kettlebell. That jump between 35# and 55# is huge. 44# seems reasonable.

Scaling is tricky biznass but figuring this stuff out is a part of the workout. I can remember working out at my old gym and just doing 10 reps of “something”, moving on to the next exercise and doing another “10 reps”. There was never any question about doing 10 reps...it's what I always did. Over and over. There were no strategies or mental negotiations. The mental strategies that Crossfit requires is often just as intense as the actual WOD for me.

We’ll see what happens. I really want to try and finished this in <10 minutes this time.

Barbara:deceptive beyotch

2010-10-12T12:49:00.001-05:00

When I checked the WOD online yesterday, I literally smiled. It was not just a smile, it was a full-on-shit-eating grin:

“Barbara”

5 rounds for fastest times:

20 pull-ups

30 push-ups

40 sit-ups

50 squats

Rest 3:00 between each set

Lately, every WOD has seemed to include some element that I totally suck at (double unders, snatch, jerk, etc.). But Barbara is not that technical…she’s a "grinder WOD", just a lot of work with a few exercises that I actually kinda like (pullups and pushups).

Barbara. I started thinking that I would finally get to post an “Rx” after my time on the blog.

I get to the box and the 7PM class is peppered with some new members who look kinda nervous, so I am thinking that I may even NOT be the last guy to finish all 5 sets (Rx'ed!). I had a good spot on the pullup bar, right next to the chalk bucket. What else could I ask for?

Sam said to use the first round as a benchmark for the rest of the WOD. If we can’t finish the first round in 3-4 minutes, scale back. Round 1 took me over 5 minutes. WTF?

For the next 4 rounds I scaled back each of the reps by 10 (10 pullups, 20 pushups, 30 situps, 40 squats).

But each round still took much longer than 3-4 minutes (approximately 4.5 minutes per round).

And once again, I was pretty much the last guy to finish.

Barbara is a deceptive little beyotch.

Although the workload was intense, it was manageable. But I required a lot of time to get it all done. The pullups and pushups fly by quickly. But it takes me forever to get through the situps. And I rest a little after every 10 squats.

Could I have pushed a little harder to get a better time? Definitely. Especially during the squats.

But I think that there is also an athletic component that is required in order to own a WOD like Barbara. For one thing, the guys who made the best times seemed to breeze through the situps. It took my forever to get through the first round (and the following rounds) of situps. The reps were not above my fitness level…I can totally do 30-40 situps without pushing too hard. But each situp takes me a few seconds to complete…I don’t “fly” through them like I should.

Also, although I think that my pullups have definitely improved over the past few months, my kip seems a little outta control…when I push my head through at the bottom of the pullup, I seem to hyper-extend too far which I think adds a couple of seconds to each rep. If I want to be able to Rx a WOD like Barbara, I am going to have to find a way to move more efficiently.

So Barbara did not go as planned. At all. By the end of the WOD I had tempered my bravado and was just happy to finish.

Now that I can do these workouts (i.e. I am strong enough to do 20 pullups), I need to start working on refining the mechanics so that I can do the exercises more efficiently.

The Original Human Diet

2010-09-20T11:33:00.001-05:00

So I picked up Robb Wolf’s new book, the Paleo Solution this weekend.

I had just finished the Saturday WOD at CFDC, had lunch at Kozy with some cult members and was wearing my “On To The Next One” t-shirt”. With Robb’s book-in-hand, I felt like a total Crossfit tool.

The book is very easy to read and does a good job of breaking down a lot of diet mythology, especially about fat intake. Before I started to learn about Paleo, I used to avoid fat at all costs while making sure that I ate lots of “healthy” brown rice and oatmeal. To my frustration, despite all of my non/low fat choices, I could not get lean.

For the past year, I have learned to not be afraid of fat, especially when it comes from sources like nuts, avocados, coconut, and leaner cuts of meat.

And as a result, I feel like I am more fit than I have ever been in my entire life…and I am visibly much leaner.

To be honest, I cannot say that Robb’s book provided a great deal of new information for me…the coach’s at CFDC and some online sources like Mark’s Daily Apple have been very informative. But there are a lot of recipes at the end of the book that seem to justify the price of purchase…right now, I am OK with the routine and can manage a 90% Paleo-friendly lifestyle without much effort, but adding new items into my standard-menu rotation are still a big challenge.

Test Day

2010-09-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

OHSx30 (75#)/50 burpees: 7:51

Run off

2010-08-18T17:02:00.002-05:00

I showed up for a run WOD.

In August.

Really, that’s all that should need to be said.

We ran 800 meter loops around the block. THREE TIMES.

Fortunately, there was a sudden cloudburst somewhere in the Metroplex and the temperature had fallen below the triple digits by the time we hit the pavement. But it was still tough.

First 800m: 4:15

Second 800m: 3:50

Third 800m: 3:54

Obviously, I sandbagged on the first round, which is kind of how I roll. I don’t get the mentality of intentionally killing yourself out-of-the-gate when you know you’re going to need some gas in the tank to get through the last two rounds. I am a conservative saver, not a spender (when it comes to WODs).

Apparently, I am the only saver at the box. Ever.

That being said, I don’t feel like I could have run that much faster than I did. So the other thing that I “don’t get” is how do these kids run so fast? Even though I was never the last guy to finish, most of the pack was WAY ahead of me from the very beginning. Do I need new shoes? New socks? New legs?

What a difference a PR makes

2010-08-12T10:46:00.001-05:00

There was a pile of work waiting for me on my desk this morning. I would usually collapse into my chair with my face in my hands on days like this, but I got a PR last night in a 110-degree box.

I got this.

My last PR for cleans was 135#. That was way back last year, before my injury. Last night I got 145#. Biyatch. Granted, that's not a huge PR, but I'll take it (I know, I said I was not a “PR” guy in the previous post, but it’s a whole new day.) I noticed Spencer spent a lot of time working with everyone last night and the advice that he gave me made all the difference.

Over the past couple of weeks it’s been hotter than hell in Texas, and it’s been more fun than ever in the box. The last time I felt this giddy (yeah, I said “giddy”) was just before I got injured, so I am going to take this slow and not get all crazy. I finally feel totally recovered, and even stronger than before the injury.

Today is a rest day.

Psychological Extortion

2010-08-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

Last night was weird. According to the whiteboard in the box, we were doing 3 sets of presses and then a rowing time trial (1500m).

I like presses…even though it’s an overhead lift, the movement is not technically complicated like snatch. As long as I don’t use my legs too much, I can usually get through a few half-decent presses without getting yelled at too bad by a coach.

The rowing part of the WOD was going to be a chore though. 1500 is not a comfortable distance. I start to lose vision at right about 900 meters.

Before the WOD starts last night, Corey informs me that Ronnie is telling people that if I don’t row 1500m in under 6 minutes he’s gonna quit CFDC.

Ronnie is probably one of the strongest guys I’ve ever met. And he’s not the kind of strong guy who would kick sand in your face at the beach – he’s just a great guy that's always willing to help you out with form and give you lifting advice.

I was not quite sure why Ronnie would stake his CFDC future on my rowing results. I mean, I knew he was joking, but even the joke started to mess with my head a little. Friendly competition is like crack at CFDC; everyone gets hooked on it very quickly, even when it’s just a friendly joke. People were going to be watching my row time now. Ronnie put my row time on Front Street.

One of the advantages of the 7PM class is that you can kind of gauge the intensity of a WOD from the whiteboard which displays the results of people who completed the same WOD in earlier classes. I usually look at the overall results on the board and set my own goal somewhere towards the low to middle range.

Based on the results that I saw yesterday for the row, I would have normally set my sights somewhere between 6:15 and 6:30 for the 1500m row. Under 6:00 was clearly going to require a less-than comfortable pace.

Well, long-story-short, Ronnie and Corey had played some kind of Jedi-mind trick on me and I consequently coughed-up a lung during the row. I finished in 5:42.

I am still not quite sure why that happened. I am not at all motivated by PRs. I am not trying to be a hero, a firebreather, a hoss – at my age, I feel satisfied with just showing up and ‘getting through’ a WOD without injury.

But while I do not feel motivated by PRs, I think that the team element that often exists at CFDC does kind of resonate with me. In a team WOD, I know I push a little harder in order to not let the team down…I will cruise during an 800m run on my own, but will not fall behind on an Indian run. Ronnie’s joke kind of triggered that same kind of challenge, and I admit, it kinda worked.

Gwen

2010-08-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

Was doable @ 95# (with a Salmiakki hangover). Kind of wish I'd tried 105# or 115# but this was just my first date with Gwen so I will know better next time.

I am way too comfortable with the 95# bar -- it's my standby favorite for just about any WOD that requires a jerk or press. Gotta force myself to add more weight.

My Treatise on Personal Trainers

2010-07-29T13:58:00.000-05:00

A friend at work recently came to me for some “training” advice. I got all excited, ME (no one’s ever asked me that before). I assumed that it was carte blanche for me to launch into a huge 1-man Crossfit commercial (as if my co-workers hadn’t heard enough already). But by the time I’d already told him about free Saturday workouts, Murph, the thin layer of post-WOD chalk that will start to build up in your car, the “badge-of-honor” torn hands and what it’s like to kip for the first time…my co-worker asked me to lower my voice and stop waving my arms long enough for him to say “no, I was thinking about getting a personal trainer…can you recommend one?”

So here is my cheap-seats primer on personal trainers.

For someone who was not born into this Jock World, as someone who still only just barely has a visitor’s pass, being told what to do by a trainer or coach is a relatively foreign concept.

That being said, I am 100% certain that I owe what little athleticism I have achieved to the trainers and coaches that have had the patience to work with me. I am not athletically gifted…that I can lift any amount of weight without hurting myself and others is only attributed to some legit trainers and coaches that I have met over the years.

I have also learned (through experience and observation) that there are all kinds of different types of trainers and coaches. Some are good, some not-so-much. But the type of trainer that you hire to help you to achieve your fitness goals really depends a lot on how you relate and connect with their training style (these are just generalizations and are not characterizations of particular individuals…really):

“The Mentor”: Provides all sorts of guidance during your training session. Trouble at home? Is the boss on your ass? This guy has the answer. He will tell you what to eat, how to talk to girls at parties and will tell you why the other trainers in the gym are total DBs. If he was not a trainer, he would be a great bartender.

“The Jock”: Athletically gifted and cannot understand why your body does not have the god-given grace and strength that he has enjoyed and taken-for-granted since childhood. Can be a great motivator if you have extremely high self esteem (or anti depressants), otherwise, you’re screwed.

“The Educator”: Makes regular references to muscle groups, technical movements, training theories and gym equipment in Latin. Progress is tracked in PPT and Excel.

“The Buddy”: If you were not paying this guy (a lot), he would’ve made a great neighbor, cubicle mate, or brother-in-law. But you are paying this guy (a lot). So you kind of start to question why this guy who tells great stories and laughs at all of your crumby jokes is also racking your weights for you. Weird. Oh yeah, you’re paying him. (A lot).

“The Drill Sergeant”: Not a lot going on here except for yelling and motivation through negative reinforcement. Probably does not spend a lot of time correcting form or spotting you during a lift. But will certainly make everyone else at the gym assume that you’re a badass just for putting up with his abuse.

“The Stroker”: The whole session leaves you feeling like you just aced the SATs without even studying. You know that the praise is not earned or deserved because you showed up late and a little drunk for the session. This type is often found teaching bikram yoga where the room’s so f’ing hot you’d probably believe anything they tell you anyway.

“The Chick”: Nothing is more motivating to a guy than to be challenged by the fairer gender. Really, if the bar that some roid’ed-out-trainer dude talked you into loading with more weight than you could push collapses on your chest, that’s his fault. But if that same tonnage was loaded on the bar by your chick trainer and you drop it, well, you’ve just failed at the one task that god designed into your chromosomal identity: to show chicks how strong you are. Any guy who intentionally hires a female trainer is either (a) totally whipped and could not figure out any other way to spend 1 hour 2x per week with her (b) crazy.

In the end, whether you hire a trainer or have the good fortune to stumble into a box with a great team of coaches, I think that it’s a personal decision that only you can make. I know that working out at a mainstream gym just does not work for me anymore. I also know that Crossfit does not work for certain people or accommodate their fitness goals or limitations.

And all kidding aside, I have worked with many really good trainers in the past, many of whom embodied a little bit of “all of the above” qualities (though I’ve never had a female trainer, I just made that up). All you really need is a lot of communication about your goals and limitations and trust; trust that your trainer is knowledgeable and dedicated to helping you achieve your goals.

No "I" in "Team"

2010-07-26T14:40:00.003-05:00

Of all WODs, there is no WOD that makes me want to bolt for the parking lot like a “Team WOD”.

Granted, it doesn’t take much to rattle my pre-WOD chain. Hell, I start to break a sweat when someone just randomly introduces herself as “Cindy” or “Barbara” these days.

But the “Team WOD” represents a special brand of hell for me. They seem to trigger all of my memories of PE and the unique torture that was “shirts vs skins” and being last to get picked for kick-ball and…the list could go on and on.

All of these nightmare flashbacks were placed on Fast Forward in my head last Thursday for this “Team WOD”:

In teams of four, two rounds for time of:

70 thrusters (155/105lbs.)

50 chest-to-bar pull-ups

100 meter buddy carry

I spent the whole day stressing about this bad boy. Seriously. It was the 7th grade all over again. Oh yeah, and I really hate thrusters.

So anyway, I show up at CFDC before the WOD, and park a little further away from the box than usual, just in case I need to make a low-profile exit. Victoria gets us through the warm-up and casually tells us to break into teams for the partner WOD. Like it’s no big deal.

Luke asks if I am on a team and I shrug my shoulders like a freshman who got caught walking across the Senior Patio. So now, suddenly I am on a team.

I notice Curt loading up a 95# bar for us to use. I had planned to use 65#...maybe 75# if Victoria shamed me into it. But WTF, 95#!

But it’s a Team WOD. And here is that special ingredient that makes a Team WOD an especially hellish experience: peer pressure. Am I gonna be the guy who says 95# thrusters will make my spine collapse like an accordion? Hellz no.

We broke up both rounds of 70 thrusters into rounds of 5 reps for each team member. Even though 95# was kinda heavy, I was able to do 5 reps. And once I got through the first round of 5 reps, I knew I could get through the WOD. (Although I had to use a sandbag for the buddy carry).

The peer-pressure element of the Team WOD is definitely effective. While I can somehow justify letting myself down in a WOD, letting down the team is a different story. And getting through the WOD together as a team was, dare-I-say-it…kind of fun.

“Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable” is kind of like a Crossfit cliché. Well, there is nothing more uncomfortable for me than a “team dynamic”. I’m the lone wolf. The tumble weed. Whatever. But I can see the benefit of forcing yourself to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while…or even on a regular basis. And with very few exceptions, CFDC provides a very encouraging environment. Who wouldn’t want to be on the team?

Murph

2010-07-06T13:08:00.001-05:00

I finished my FIRST Murph at 11: 21am on Saturday, July 3, 2010 after 1 hour and 6 minutes of mind-numbing effort. I seriously think that Murph was the hardest thing that I’ve tried to do in recent memory.

I had spent the week leading up to this experience anxious and doubtful. At first I had only planned to do a “half Murph” because I could not imagine that I would be able to complete the full mile run/100 pullups/200 pushups/300 squats/mile run.

But after some encouragement/hazing from my box-mates on Facebook, I started to think that maybe I could try partitioning the pull-ups/pushups/squats into 20 rounds of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats). Although Cindy is by no means a pleasurable experience, she’s familiar – not an “unknown” the way Murph was for me.

And really – that seems to be the source of a lot of my Crossfit anxiety: the unknown

The programming is constantly throwing something in that is new or different to try and achieve “muscle confusion”. That unknown element is always extremely intimidating to me: “what if I cannot do this?”

The night before Murph, that was the phrase that was going through my head. I went to bed early that night reassuring myself that I could still scale down to a half Murph if things started to turn bad.

Saturday morning: once I got through the 1-mile run and started my initial rounds of Cindy, I somehow started to get used to the idea of allowing myself to consider doing a full Murph. Each round of Cindy took me closer to this goal…until finally, covered in a chalk and sweat, it happened.

I won’t lie, once I got through the 20 rounds of Cindy, I kind of cruised through that final 1-mile run and even walked part of it – I knew that I was going to finish – that was my only goal, I was not really even thinking about the time.

But now that I’ve had some time to process this experience, I think that it was a mistake to not focus more attention on the time. After the Performance Intelligence seminar last year, they taught us to approach these challenging WODs from the perspective of what can be “controlled”…and when it comes to Murph, the easiest element to control is the pace – any able-bodied individual can get through Murph as the movements are very simple – it’s just the pace/intensity and the amount of time it takes to complete the full workout that will cause you to run out of steam/hit-the-wall prematurely. Pushing yourself to go faster through the movements is certainly going to make it harder – but by slowing down to a more manageable pace, there is no reason to think that a reasonably athletic person cannot finish a WOD like Murph in about an hour (as I finally proved to myself).

I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday replaying this experience in my head…I was more than a little dehydrated, sore and callused, but very, very happy.

Rehab

2010-06-09T16:12:00.000-05:00

It’s now been over a month since I’ve been able to return to the box after my back injury. While I was injured it seemed like all I could think about was getting back into my routine. My motivation to get better was driven by my desire to continue doing Crossfit.

Now that the back pain is gone, channeling back into my old routine has become very difficult. I am weaker for sure – I definitely sacrificed some strength by spending six weeks on a couch, taking muscle relaxers. My endurance capacity also suffered – getting through each WOD is more of a chore than ever before. It feels like I am starting out all over again.

But aside from just being physically WEAK, I seem to also have a mental handicap that did not exist before. After all of the physical therapy and consultation about proper form to avoid injury, I’ve become hyper-conscious of doing anything somewhat risky. And the “risky” category pretty much includes everything that we do – lifting weight overhead, anything that requires extending my back, fast-paced, timed WODs, etc.

During the first couple of weeks after returning to the box, there were several WODs that I just walked out of – there was no way that I could finish them, physically or mentally. Over time, it’s gotten a little easier, but the mental wall I’ve built up is still pretty tall. If there’s ever a minor excuse not to finish a WOD (like not enough room on the pullup bar), I totally seize the opportunity to bail.

The coaching staff does not look favorably upon WODs uncompleted, so I’m going to try and finish them out from now on. But overcoming this injury has been tougher than I had ever expected.

I’m looking forward to the WOD this Saturday at Northpark. Crossfit and La Duni. FTW.

Humbled & Injured

2010-04-20T15:06:00.000-05:00

OK, so there has been an unusual pause in prolific blogging here lately.

Truth be told, the last time I worked out was on March 17th.

The WOD on that day was as follows:

BENT OVER ROW

7-7-7-5-5-5

3 rounds AQAP:

4 Handstand push-ups

8 Ground to Overhead, 135 pounds

12 Burpees
I did great on the bent over rows. HSPUs: no problem. Then came the 8 ground-to-overhead reps.

I’ll admit it. I was feeling kind of juiced. It was a good night in the box, the music was loud, and I was feeling strong. With a little encouragement, I decided to do the ground-to-overhead reps with a 115# bar (that’s the heaviest I had ever tried to do an overhead weightlifting movement during a WOD).

On rep 5 or 6 of the 2nd round, I felt a little pain on the lower left side of my back. But I was almost done and the music was good, so I decided to finish it out.

I did really well that night and finished the workout in under 10 minutes, but something didn’t feel right.

I woke up the next day and the pain had officially arrived. My annual physical was scheduled the following morning so I decided to ask the doc if she recommended anything. She said just to let it rest for a few days.

By the following Tuesday (March 23), I was still in a lot of pain and decided to call the doc. She phoned in a prescription for a muscle relaxer – which only knocked me unconscious for a while, the pain was still there.

At this point, I was not going to work, living in my pajamas and only picking myself up of off the couch when absolutely necessary.

By the following week, it was clear that I was not making any progress, in fact it was getting worse. I went back to the doctor and had an x-ray (which detected nothing unusual) got another prescription (for a steroid) and a got a referral for a spinal specialist.

I could not imagine that I had a spinal injury (I envisioned neck braces and life confined to a wheelchair). So I decided to see a sports medicine doctor instead. He took a brief look and put me in physical therapy.

My first PT appointment was on April 13th (almost a month after the injury occurred) and I immediately started to feel some relief afterwards. I asked the therapist when would I would be able to go back to my “normal routine”(including Crossfit) and she guessed it would take about a month. ONE MONTH!

Well, today was my 5th PT session, and the therapist and I are both pleased with the results. The therapist actually recommended that I start easing back into my Crossfit routine…YES!

Apparently, the injury involves a spinal facet. Not sure about all the details, but it sounds like I probably hyper-extended my back to far when trying to do the heavier ground-to-overhead reps.

I am planning to start back at Crossfit next week…slowly. I have lost tons of strength (and weight – thanks to that muscle relaxer prescription, I didn’t really eat much for several days). But I am anxious to get back into the routine, paying extra special attention to avoid hyper extending my 41-year-old back.

On Becoming A Caveman

2010-03-15T16:30:00.000-05:00

I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog writing about my workouts, but not so much about my diet. Managing my diet is a big part of my fitness routine, but it seems like a very difficult topic to write about without a lot of formal nutritional education. Which I do not have.

So the information provided herein is only about my personal nutritional plan or “experience”. It correlates directly with what I have been taught at Crossfit and researched on my own…though I am not capable of explaining how or why it works, I have become convinced that it does.

Going Paleo

In the beginning, I cannot say that I was very enthusiastic about the diet recommended by the coaches at Crossfit – Paleo. It seemed very drastic, extreme…and unreasonably restrictive for me to incorporate into my lifestyle. In a nutshell:

No dairy (my biggest hurdle)

No grains/rice/bread/potatoes

No legumes

After learning about Paleo, my first thought was that I would never again be able to eat a meal at my grandmother’s house. No tortillas? No tamales? Arroz con pollo? The list goes on and on.

Setting those fears aside, I slowly ventured into the shallow end of the Paleo dietary pool. I did not dive in head first…but took little strokes in order to allow myself time to adjust. The first step was to eliminate grains, since I really didn’t eat that much bread anyway….or so I thought.

Breakfast was never going to look the same again. No oatmeal. No granola, no whole grain bagel. After two or three mornings of fruit and yoghurt, I started dreaming that I could “smell toast” coming from my breadless kitchen. Finding an alternative to eggs in the morning became my mission in life (don’t get me started on eggs).

But I decided to stick with it and go a little deeper.

Suddenly, the lunch menu disappeared. No tuna sandwich (previously believed to be a healthy choice in the cafeteria). No grilled chicken wrap.

Basically, all I had left to choose from was the salad bar. Those first few days were a huge red flag to indicate the dietary severity of this situation that I had voluntarily entered into.

But slowly, over time I have discovered ways of making a Paleo meal out of just about any culinary situation. And when faced with a crisis, have learned to just “go with it” and a enjoy a good cheat meal when necessary.

Breakfast has become much easier now through two recent discoveries: Sun Butter and Coconut Milk. Since peanuts are a legume, not a nut, peanut butter is prohibited from the Paleo diet. I tried almond butter as an alternative, but it really was just a bland nutty paste…it did not taste like peanut butter. Then Carrie from the gym mentioned something called Sub Butter, made from sunflower seeds. YES. It really does taste just like peanut butter – though not as sweet. Smeared on apples, it’s a great breakfast snack before I go to work.

And if you are eating peanut butter…or it’s tastey sun-butter equivalent, it’s impossible not to crave a tall glass of milk (not Paleo). Enter So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage. This stuff looks like and has the consistency of whole milk – though not as rich. When I first bought it (at the recommendation of Dean, coach/nutrition counselor at CFDC), I was expecting a sugary “pina colada”-type drink. This stuff is actually very mild though….and goes great with the sun butter. I am also planning to try using it to make fruit smoothies in the near future.

So Delicious also makes a coconut milk creamer (thankfully, coffee is Paleo) – thereby eliminating the need for any form of dairy to reside inside of my refrigerator.

I also learned that just about any meal can be ordered or arranged in a Paleo-friendly form. I will often ask for the turkey burger from the grill in our cafeteria and place it on some salad from the salad bar rather than bread. Pasta day? I just go with the vegetables and chicken in some marinara sauce.

Dinner for me is often just some grilled flank steak, chicken or pork chops and onions served with some steamed broccoli or cherry tomatoes, and maybe some fresh avocado. For dessert I will have some fresh fruit…chilled red grapes have been my favorite for a while. (Unless I splurged for a gluten-free Hail Merry Tart).

I also buy a lot of fruit, seeds and nuts to eat as snacks throughout the day (as I type this I am munching from a bag of walnuts, almonds, pecans and raisins that I mixed up in a plastic container this morning). No-sugar added applesauce and beef jerky also makes the occasional mid-afternoon appearance.

I can’t say that I am very scientific about the portions that I eat…I generally just eat when I am hungry until the feeling goes away. That being said, it was never my intention to incorporate Paleo into my lifestyle in an effort to lose weight. It was more of a decision just to try and eat a more healthy diet that would compliment my Crossfit routine.

However, between the Paleo diet and Crossfit, I have seen some significant changes. I have been at least 75% Paleo or more (currently I would say that I am close to 95% Paleo) for the past 8 months. Over the past year, my weight went from 185# down to 165#. I feel that I am much more athletic now – at least I can get through a metcon without having to rest (as much)…I can do 25 pullups unbroken and can get through quite a few handstand pushups, without a mat. My max bench press has fallen a little, down from 225# to 205#...but I think that’s a small price to pay for the gains that I have made in other areas.

So overall, I feel like this is plan that is working for me; and allowing for a weekly “cheat day”, I think that it’s a plan that I will be able to sustain for a while (as long as I can afford it…eating “real food” is not cheap). If anything changes, I’ll post an update.

Cultfit

2010-02-24T15:00:00.002-06:00

I have heard Crossfit described as a cult in different articles online and even by friends and members of my own family (LYDIA/VICTORIA/MEL/MICHELLE....DAD).

cult
–noun
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.

Although a tough WOD can become very close to a spiritual experience (with flashing lights and moments of ecstasy included), the religious-worship aspect of the above definition really doesn’t work. There are no specific rites or ceremonies involved with Crossfit other than posting our results on the CFDC blog...and chalking up before pull-ups.

I see Crossfit (at least the brand of Crossfit that I have become familiar with at CFDC) closer to the type of experience that you have when you are on a team. While there is a healthy sense of competitive rivalry amongst the team members, there is also a lot of encouragement and support that is exchanged, particularly after a victory, whether shared or individual.

And just like any closely-knit team, there is a certain aspect of conformity, “group think” and maybe even a little hero worship at CFDC. I have a whole drawer full of CFDC t-shirts -- my favorite is the “WWCD” (What Would a Caveman Do?) -- the uniform. Many of us tend to eat at the same restaurants and shop at the same markets (the bonds of “Paleo”). I may even look up to some people based solely on their Fran time and their OHS technique.

But again, even though these influences may extend outside of the box and into our every-day lives, the Cult charge still seems a little hyperbolic.

That being said…I have resisted adorning my vehicle with the CFDC decal…and do not wear my G-Shock very often…these are conscientious efforts to resist the complete conversion. I guess you could say that while I’ve tasted the Kool Aid, I am not drunk with it yet.

On to the next one...

2010-02-18T13:56:00.000-06:00

So two nights ago I was able to Rx a metcon – even though it wasn’t an epic-nightmare-kind-of WOD, I was still pleased with my performance that night. I definitely feel like I have made progress in my endurance and overall athleticism over the past few months.

Last night we did clean & jerks. My progress in this lift…as well as some of the other strength training exercises that we do (snatch, over-head squat, etc.) is not as noticeable.

It’s not really a strength issue for me. I know that I am strong enough to jerk/snatch/squat more than I am currently.

I think that my problem is more of a mental thing than physical.

When I watch some of the more advanced athletes attempting these strength exercises (with very heavy loads) – or any of the WODs that we do for that matter, they seem to be much more confident and deliberate than I am. They seem to pick up the bar already deciding that they will execute the lift.

I am much more cautious. Everything that I do in the box is controlled. My kipping pullup does not have the same momentum because I lower myself rather than push myself off of the bar. I lower myself slowly during a squat, depriving myself of any bounce at the bottom. And my jerk is a press -- a slow, controlled, push off of my shoulders. Even my benchpress is slow and controlled.

So when the coaches instruct me to be more aggressive, I think I know exactly what they mean…and what I need to do. But even though I have been doing these routines for many months now, I am still not very comfortable with throwing a weighted bar over my head.

So now that I have achieved some success at my ability to get through some these WODs (Rx’ed sometimes even), I think I need to dedicate some time to conquering some of these mental challenges that are dogging me. All I can imagine is that the more familiar I become with the movements, the more confident I will be with them…so I plan on showing up at the box more on Sunday afternoons…

JD Salinger, January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010

2010-01-28T16:30:00.000-06:00

I found this letter written by the author of the Catcher In The Rye, explaining why it's hero is "unactable". Not surprisingly but very nostalgically, the voice of the letter echoes that of Holden Caulfield...which is especially nice, on a day like today.

I Never Win

2010-01-25T14:07:00.000-06:00

So last week I was taking a break from a tedious translation job by surfing through some of my favorite blogs. After reading through all of the posts over at CFDC, Dailykos and Eschaton, I stumbled upon a contest that they were running over at Ivy Style (ok, yeah, I took a pretty long break).

I usually don’t enter online contests because they often seem like just a ploy for Viagara sales reps and unfortunate Nigerian bankers to collect my contact information. And also, because I never win.

But the Ivy Style contest caught my interest and I decided to roll-the-dice.The contest asked you to submit an answer to the following question:

If you could travel in time and visit yourself as a “schoolboy” (i.e., teenager) in order to give yourself some advice that age and wisdom has brought, what advice would you give?

Great question. Surprisingly difficult to answer.

I started to think about all of life’s lessons and tried to come up with something both prescient and witty from my experiences overseas and throughout my career.

But of life’s lessons that seem to be most present in my mind lately, the education that I have received from Crossfit resonates the loudest.

I submitted the following: “You will always be your fiercest critic and most formidable rival. Make that be your advantage, not an obstacle.”

This submission was the direct result of all of the WODs that seemed impossible until I finished them. Crossfit has taught me that I am capable of so much more than I ever expected of myself, and that the only thing preventing me from achieving my goals, is usually me.

My submission won.

Front Squat

2010-01-06T11:45:00.001-06:00

165# x 5

2010

2010-01-05T15:36:00.000-06:00

It's gotta be a better year.

Press

2009-12-03T11:37:00.001-06:00

115# x 3. PR I think.

Going Deep

2009-12-02T11:21:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday I experienced my first WOD outside of the CFDC box.

Crossfit Deep is located in Deep Ellum, just a few miles away from CFDC, and it was great to see a lot of familiar faces as soon as I walked through their big bay doors.

I have had the opportunity now to work with several Crossfit coaches and each one of them brings something different to the table. I knew all of the Crossfit Deep coaches through CFDC…but they had definitely changed things up a little for their box in Deep Ellum. Crossfit Deep has a different energy than CFDC which was a lot of fun to experience. And it felt good to step out of my comfort zone a little and spend the morning on their somewhat familiar turf. Oh, and they got a pommel horse and parallel bars over there – very cool.

Last Saturday’s WOD at Crossfit Deep involved a lot of running [I hate running] – essentially we ran a 5k during the WOD. But I think that the new environment and running a new course made it a little easier…and the weather was perfect. I got through the WOD without too much visible damage.

This Saturday is the Lumberjack 20 Hero WOD – Crossfit Deep is hosting so I will be going back for a 2nd visit.

Thanks Eric, Georgia, Koy & Russell and everyone at Crossfit Deep for last Saturday – looking forward to another fun WOD this week too.

Power Clean

2009-11-19T10:52:00.000-06:00

135#

$%&#@!

2009-11-18T11:01:00.000-06:00

So after all of this grand prose that I posted here yesterday, I went to the box to deal with Fran and totally threw out all of my new-scaling knowledge.

When I last bumped into Fran, I finished in just under 10 minutes with 75# thrusters and a red band for the pull-ups.

The goal last night was to finish in around 5 minutes. So no matter how much I had improved since my last Fran, I knew that I was going to have to scale back.

So I walk into the box last night, hyper-conscious of Fran’s presence. The 6:30 class was working hard…

Spoke with Neal and told him about my previous Fran time and he recommended that I scale back on the pull-ups by using a thicker band. Advice I should have taken.

INSTEAD, I glance over at the pull-up bar to see Kason kill his first set of 21 pull-ups, unbroken, without a band.

So suddenly using a thicker band for my pull-ups becomes very uncool.

I decided to stick with my narrow red band and drop the weight of the bar from 75# to 65#.

I ended up finishing Fran at around 8:14, over a minute faster than my previous attempt, but far short of the 5 minute goal.

The pull-ups pulled me down, hard. I had to finish the last set of 9 pull-ups doing just 1 or 2 at a time.

I probably could have shaved 2-3 minutes off of my time by using a thicker band and that much closer to the 5-minute goal.

Scaling Back

2009-11-17T12:35:00.000-06:00

Learned a lot about Crossfit last week after receiving a crash course in “scaling”.

After years of going to the gym and “working out”, it seems that I’d fallen victim to the “go big or go home” theory. If you weren’t lifting the heaviest weight you could, that meant that you weren’t putting in serious effort.

And I’d been carrying that theory with me into all of WODs at CFDC, in error.

Pace yourself rather than attempting the 21 hspu’s unbroken in Diane?

Use the 35lbs kettlebell instead of 53lbs for Helen?

REALLY? But I can do more than 10 HSPU’s. And I can swing a 53lbs kettlebell…

In hindsight, there have been many attempted WODs that I was unable to complete. I had obviously loaded the bar too heavy or attempted movements at an unreasonable pace for myself. (Like being unable to complete the last round of HSPU’s during Diane and having to sub with dumbbell presses.)

While my pride was telling me to go for it, the coaches at CFDC had been telling me otherwise all along– I just had not heard the message, until last week.

Apparently the quality of a workout does not necessarily mean a fully loaded barbell. Depending on the WOD, It may mean just a 45lbs barbell. Or it may mean breaking up a set of pull-ups instead of trying to string them all together unbroken.

I think it’s gonna take me a while to be able to calculate the right amount to scale back for each WOD…but setting aside my ego to scale back and go lighter at times will also be a challenge.

Helen

2009-11-10T10:36:00.000-06:00

So it’s been a while.

After going back to LA to attend a U2 concert with my cousin, I returned to Dallas and brought back with me some kind of ebola-type virus. I was not just “sick”, I was stuck in bed, unable to move for about 4 days.

By the time I was able to return back to CFDC, about 10 days had passed and I was feeling very weak and unmotivated.

But it’s amazing how a few good WODs can kickstart you back online again. It’s not just the rush you get from moving around a bit after a long break…it’s also all the people at the box that you start to miss when you are away too long. Last Friday was a particularly grueling workout to attempt after being sick for a while…400m runs + max rowing, completed in pairs for 5 rounds. My lungs were on fire after the first run, but Carrie paced me all the way through, long after I would have quit on my own. It felt really good to be back.

So with my confidence back and my motivation on high, I checked the blog on Monday morning to find out what the WOD would be: Helen.

I had done Helen once before, and it was no joke. 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pullups, repeated for 3 rounds.

Throughout the day I had been following the CFDC blog as “scaling” had been a primary topic…being able to scale back a WOD just enough to get the job done is a skill to itself. Your instincts tell you that scaling back is weak and humiliating. But really, unless you are a champion athlete, scaling is usually necessary in order to complete most of these WODs within the predetermined time constraints.

Just after joining CFDC and some humiliating defeats (involving wall balls and pull ups), I quickly learned the value of scaling…but then I started to scale back too far. There have been several WODs that I’ve been able to breeze through thanks to some overly generous scaling back. It started to use scaling as a crutch that I could use to avoid the “humiliating defeats”, but this also resulted in cheating myself out of achieving that “sustained self destruction” zone that superior Crossfit athletes incorporate into their daily WODs.

So after a lot of inspiring commentary on the blog yesterday, and fully recovered from the ebola, I felt ready for Helen. After talking it through with Neal, and listening to Sam’s advice, I realized that scaling back a little on Helen was not only reasonable, it was required. I decided to use the “lighter” 35lbs kettlebell and set aside my pride and found the most narrow band I could find for the pull-ups (I had started out thinking that I could do the pull-ups without a band. Ha.).

From the first round, Helen started to play with my head. Going from the 400m run directly to the kettlebell swings was tough. But jumping onto the bar for the pull-ups was where I started to seriously fall apart. It’s amazing how difficult 12 pull-ups can become – I was very grateful to Neal at this point for recommending the band…

I finished last. Which actually was the only reason that I was able to finish at all. By the 3rd round I was so tired and oxygen deprived. But since everyone else in the box had already finished Helen, I had a huge cheering section to count down for me. When Noah, Dean, Chase and the 7PM crew surround you and say “don’t drop that kettlebell!”, it gets really hard to even think about dropping it, no matter how badly you may want to.

The last round of pull-ups was painful. The last few pull-ups were done one at a time. But I finished. 13:50.

Obviously, if I had not taken the scaling advice, I would not have finished this WOD under the 15 minute cutoff. I think that finding the right balance between scaling back and not scaling back “too far” requires a lot of overall self awareness as an athlete – knowing what your limits are. And it also requires some athletic maturity – being able to set aside your ego and establishing goals that are reasonable and achievable. It became very clear to me at the end of Helen that no one really cares if you are using a lighter kettlebell or a band for pull-ups. It’s all about the effort.

Deadlift

2009-10-24T12:30:00.002-05:00

PR today: 300# x 3 (previous PR 255# two weeks ago)

Skillz

2009-10-16T13:51:00.000-05:00

The new program that we have been following has allowed me to PR a few times and gain some more confidence with the Oly lifts. The movements and technical aspects of the Oly lifts seem to slowly be coming together for me. Finally.

Following the “3-days on” pattern, I’ve been doing the Oly-lift WODs Mon-Wed and have been showing up for the skills workshops scheduled on Thursdays.

The skills workshops have been very cool. Apparently there are certain skills that people acquire over the course of a life that I never have. Of these include: rope jumping, rope climbing, cat skinning (no felines involved), standing on your hands, and many, many others. The skills workshops have allowed me to spend time in the box working on some of these activities without the pressure of a WOD involved.

Last night we worked on handstands and “skin the cats” on the rings.

I am pretty good with the handstand pushups…I can do about 10 in a row with a couple of abmats under my head. But these aren’t freestanding…I use the wall for support. Last night we worked on freestanding handstands…lots of fun. Kept thinking that I had no biznass doing this kinda stuff at my age, but it was still fun.

Skin-the-cats are done on the rings. You pull your legs up over your head so that you are in an inverted hang…then you slowly lower your legs behind you…it’s hard to describe but the final position finds you twisted, suspended with your ass in the air, your head facing the ground and your legs hanging in the air. I’d seen people do these in the gym before…it’s not pretty (kinda looks like your arms might pop off at the shoulders). But it was fun to finally learn how to do it.

I hope that “Skills Day” continues…I need help with a lotta skillz. Being able to just “work on stuff” without the pressure of a WOD has been really good.

PR...again. And again.

2009-10-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Fri: front squat/185lbs (PR)
Sat: deadlift/255lbs (PR)

Something's going on.

PR

2009-10-06T11:49:00.006-05:00

Although I’d been faithfully going to the gym for years before joining CFDC, I had never proactively tracked whatever progress, if any, I have ever made. Not being a serious athlete, tracking progress seemed kind of like a vanity pursuit.

I held onto this mindset for a long time, even after joining CFDC. For many months, I didn’t even post my stats on the CFDC blog – posting my embarrassing results for everyone to see just seemed like an extra helping of humiliation.

Then, one night Sam gave the 7PM class a lecture about goal setting. The lecture followed a WOD that I cannot remember other than it was particularly hellish and I had been unable to finish it. In my demoralized state, Sam’s words became hyper-motivating.

Basically, he told us how we needed to use the experience of each WOD as a building block for measuring our individual progress – regardless of the starting point.

Sam added that we needed to post our stats to the blog after every workout, and to know what our personal records (PRs) are for every lift and WOD. As a coach, he promised to help us achieve our goals, but that we needed to track that progress on our own…and, he asked, if we weren’t tracking our own progress or setting specific goals, what were we doing at CFDC? Good question.

After that, I started posting my results to the CFDC blog every day…no matter how unremarkable they were. I also started to use this blog as kind of a WOD diary.

There are some athletes at CFDC that seem to PR (PR’ing is a verb at CFDC) whenever they step into the box. They can’t help themselves from PR’ing.

I am not one of them.

But a few months ago, I attended an Olympic lifting seminar during a Sunday open gym session. Spencer had us work on overhead squats – which I had never done before. At first, just holding the bar over my head in the squat position was hard to do…but by the end of the session, I had become comfortable with the movement and had been able to add 20lbs to the bar. That was my PR that day. 65lbs.

Last night, we did overhead squats again.

Now, I don’t know why but whenever it comes to these lifts and WODs, I have a bad habit of focusing on bumper colors. Green (10lbs) and black (15lbs) are safe. Yellow (25lbs) might be OK. Blue (35lbs) and red (45lbs) are insane. Illogically, this goes for all exercises…no matter what I may have PR’ed in the past. It’s like I am totally discriminating against myself "on the basis of color".

So I decided to go for the yellow (“might be OK”) bumpers…which would be a 95lbs-overhead squat, and a big PR for me.

Unfortunately…or as it turned out, fortunately, I was sharing a bar with a great group of guys who were seemingly color blind.

We blasted through the green plates, and then the black ones. Next we started mixing up the bumpers with some metal 5lbs plates. Then came the yellow ones.

I achieved my goal with the yellow bumpers: 95lbs overhead squat. PR. Mission accomplished.

But while I was busy patting myself on the back, the guys had set two blue plates onto the bar. 115lbs.

The guys went through their sets while I started looking for my keys and a good reason to go home early.

When it was my turn at the bar, I was able to get the weight over my head, but I was really nervous about lowering into the squat. I lowered myself a few inches and started to freak out. I decided to return the bar to the rack to avoid having to dump it.

Just as I set the bar down, Neal suggested that I take the squat down as low as I could and then bail out if I got stuck.

This comment represents another mindset change from my previous gym life. It’s OK to bail on a lift? Just drop a loaded bar in the middle of the gym? No one does that at 24 Hour Fitness.

But this is CFDC. And Neal’s suggestion made a lot of sense…there was no reason to freak out about bailing out if I had to…

Without that cautionary hesitance to avoid dropping the bar at all costs, I tried again. And managed to do 3 not-at-all-perfect overhead squats with a 115lbs bar – each one progressively lower at that bottom of the squat. PR.

Cleaning Up A Little

2009-09-24T12:13:00.001-05:00

Since I joined CFDC in April, I’ve probably received instructions on how to do a clean about a million times. I can do all of the steps in slow motion, but once some weight gets put onto the bar, I can tell that I am not doing it right. That moment when the move transitions from a deadlift into a front squat always prevents me from adequately doing a clean with any more than a 95lbs barbell.

So last night we did cleans again.

Well, the rest of the 7pm class did cleans while I tried to figure things out. I was getting a lot of good advice all along, but I was unable to translate what I was supposed to do into the movement.

Towards the end of the WOD, while everyone was removing the plates from the bars, Chase and Ronnie threw me a suggestion: forget the front squat, just deadlift the weight and release the bar at the top just to see how high it will go using only the momentum generated from the deadlift. It was only a 115lbs bar at the time, but when I released the bar at the top of the deadlift…it went pretty high – much higher than I thought it would.

It sounds simple, but this was kind of a Crossfit epiphany for me.

The exercise helped me to somewhat visualize the deadlift/front squat “transition moment”. All night long, Tyler and Chase had been telling me to get my arms up higher and quicker…which all seemed fine, but my brain wasn’t registering “why”. Now it suddenly became clearer…if I can get under the bar quick enough while the bar is in the air from the momentum generated during the deadlift, I should…theoretically, be able to transition into the front squat with some additional weight added to the bar…

OR, the weight of the bar will force me to crumple over like a tin can.

I’m going to try to go to the open practice on Sunday to find out.

Pantry Confession

2009-09-23T14:08:00.001-05:00

Last night, Sam gave a hardcore speech about the decisions that we make outside of the box that affect our performance in the box. Specifically, decisions relating to diet and rest.

While I understand where he was coming from, I could feel the pressure starting to build as he made his argument.

Even before joining CFDC, I tried to maintain a healthy diet. But attempting to follow the recommended diet at CFDC, Paleo, has required a lot more dietary discipline than I am used to.

Eliminating grains, pastas, bread, etc. has been no problem (although sometimes I dream about toast).

But eliminating dairy has been my biggest challenge…I mean, ordering a hamburger without the bun is forgivable, but no cheese?

My other big challenge hits me as soon as I wake up: breakfast.

No half & half in my coffee? No yogurt? No bagel with peanut butter?

I know that Sam was talking to the whole group last night, but his words seemed to be directed at me and my guilty pantry.

If I could only figure out a breakfast…that required very little preparation, I think I could be relatively faithful to Paleo (the standard Paleo breakfast seems to be eggs…which I like, but just cannot prepare in the morning).

I’ve thrown out the bagels and half & half…my breakfast lately has been a protein shake mixed with some flax seed oil at home and a few almonds and some fruit when I get to the office. I am sure that the protein shake offends all of the tenets of Paleo…but mixing water with some powder seems to be all that I am capable of in the kitchen before I leave for work in the morning.

No Rest For The Wicked

2009-09-18T10:25:00.002-05:00

The recommended schedule at Crossfit is to take a “rest day” after every 3 workout days. I usually go Mon-Wed and take Thurs off.

As I was getting ready to leave the office, I told Michelle, a co-worker that I was going to take a rest day from Crossfit and maybe take a spin around Northpark before going home.

So I make it to the parking garage attached to my office and notice my Nike gym bag in the backseat of the car.

Nope. It’s a rest day.

So I am driving down Royal in the direction of Northpark and I start thinking about the WOD: run 600m, 30 glute-ham stitups and 30 glute-ham extensions.

Ordinarily, I would have no problem excusing myself from this WOD even if it wasn’t my “rest day”…I hate to run. In fact, my biggest challenges at Crossfit always involve running or some other cardio-intense activitiy (rowing, burpees, etc.). Also, it doesn’t help that I am THE slowest runner in the whole gym. Always.

The more I tell myself how bad 600m x 4 is going to be in the rain, it becomes increasingly apparent that I cannot skip this WOD. Not this WOD.

So I did it. In the rain…OK, it wasn’t really rain, but it was still very humid.

Once again, my time was way slower than anyone else (24:20), but I was just happy to get it done.

I left the Nike bag at home today.

Tonight's WOD

2009-09-16T15:44:00.003-05:00

21, 15, 9 burpees and thrusters. For time.

I've decided that the first set of burpees will be the big win. Once I get through those, it will all be good.

Tabata Learning Curve

2009-09-15T12:37:00.001-05:00

I remember my first tabata interval, pushups. I’d started out thinking it would be the easiest-thing-in-the-world. 20 seconds? HA! All day long, buddy.

It’s amazing how long 20 seconds starts to feel after 4-5 intervals. By rounds 6-7 I was doing…girl pushups.

And I really sucked at tabata intervals for a really long time.No matter what the activity happened to be – wall balls (hell), burpees (hellisher), I would set all kinds of PRs during the first 20 seconds and then die on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds until I had nothing left.

So I eventually figured out that a steady pace was essential to completing a tabata.

By finding a sustainable rhythm, I was able to start completing all 8 intervals and stay faithful to the 20 seconds “on”/10 seconds “off” cycle. I don’t do girl pushups anymore.

Last night we did “Tabata Something Else”: a tabata complex for pull-ups, pushups, situps, and air squats.

Setting a good pace for a single tabata was the only frame of reference I had, so trying to incorporate 4 different tabatas into a single workout was intimidating.

My WGP was to keep a steady pace from the beginning and not try to go “all out” or I knew Iwould be on the ground gasping for air at the end.

I kept faithful to my WGP, and was able to finish the entire complex while staying faithful to the off/on time cycle.

But even though I had a solid workout and was proud that I’d maintained consistency throughout each interval, I walked away feeling less than satisfied. First of all, I was able to walk away…everyone else was on the floor motionless.

For all 4 exercises I had accomplished only 215 reps. Although I don’t really compare myself to the other athletes in the box, this total was really low. I know that I could have done more.

By conserving my fuel for rounds 7 and 8, I had cheated myself during the first 6 intervals.

Balance is the key I think. My WGP for my next tabata WOD will be not just “sustained effort” but “MAXIMUM sustained effort”…if Casey is out there puking on Dyer, I should be out there with him. FTW.

Roosters & Pistols

2009-09-11T10:49:00.002-05:00

It was an interesting week for me at Crossfit.

Since the box was observing the Labor Day holiday, I went to the Saturday WOD armed with a WGP to compensate for the extra rest I would be enjoying. But the enthusiasm for my “win” suddenly crashed when Sam told us we were going to be sprinting. Outside. 100m. x10.

Fortunately, Carrie, Tyler and an amped-up Saturday crew were able to get me back into my WGP mode, and it ended up being a lot of fun. I am definitely not a runner, but I was able to make pretty consistent time on each of the 10 sprints.

Then came Sunday. Wow…who knew that I would be so sore just from running. My calves, quads and hamstrings ached…getting out of bed on Sunday was tragically comedic. This is why I hate running.

On Tuesday morning, I checked the CFDC blog to find out what the WOD would be: 5k run. Really? REALLY?

I thought about this WOD all day at work. I started out very positive. Sometime around 11am it was “OK, we’ll eat a good lunch and then see how we feel”. Around 2PM it was “let’s make sure we keep drinking water – gotta stay hydrated for the 5k”.

By 4:30, the supportive voices in my head had been hijacked.

When I left my office at 6PM, I couldn’t even look at the gym bag in the backseat of the car. I drove straight home and went to bed early. Humbled.

The next day when I checked the CFDC blog, JoDee had written about how challenging the 5k had been for her to complete…but that she felt really good about how she had been able to pull it off at the end and finish it. I was incandescently jealous. I should have gone that night. Even if I had been the last guy to complete the 5k, it would have felt better than defeating myself by not even trying.

On Wednesday night we did clean & jerks. By far, not my favorite lift. Before we started the WOD, Chris asked me how heavy I planned to go – I said 95lbs. He kind of rolled his eyes like I was joking – “no, really….ur gonna go heavier than that!”…”no, really, 95lbs!”.

I ended up doing 135lbs x3. PR. With better technique, I think I could go even heavier. It was a good WOD on the heels of the 5k that I deserted.

Last night we did pistols and hand-stand-push-ups (HSPUs). The pistol is like a squat – on one leg. I wasn’t able to complete the range of motion and go all the way down, so I placed a box beneath me that I could lower myself down upon. We had to do 14 rounds of 3 pistols on each leg and 3 HSPUs.

I finished the WOD in 15:30 – not a stellar time – the cutoff was 15 minutes.

But I’ve started to look forward to any WOD that includes HSPUs. It’s like the only fairly-intimidating exercise that I can do with confidence – granted, I do them with a couple of abmats under my head…but I think I can reduce that down to 1 abmat pretty soon. HSPUs are FTW…or as Carrie says, FTMFW.

I had planned to go to the 6PM class tonight, but there’s been a schedule change – no classes after noon today until Monday morning. This schedule change totally made me realize how addicted to Crossfit I’ve become. How can I go 3 days without a WOD?

This drastic situation required extraordinary measures. I decided to go to the 7AM WOD this morning.

I had never been to a morning WOD – first off, I hate to get up early. Next, I wasn’t sure how well I would be able to manage at work after a tough WOD. 3rd, there are some logistics issues to consider…what to eat before the WOD?....shower at the gym or drive back home?....

I ended up eating some applesauce before the WOD which held me over just fine…then I came home and had a real breakfast and a shower.

Except for the waking-up-when-it’s still dark outside part, it was a nice way to start the day. We’ll have to wait and see how hard it is to get through the entire workday.

Labor Day

2009-09-08T11:39:00.004-05:00

So a few years ago I bought this house in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas just north of White Rock Lake. It was built in the 50’s and sits on a pleasant, tree-lined street. While it’s not especially large or remarkable, it has those elements that people have in mind when they say that a house has “character”. Whatever that means.

The decision to buy this house was largely influenced by my younger brother. Although he is 4-years younger, he always seems to have about a 10-year head-start on all of those general commitments that adults make: buying a house, settling down, raising a family, saving for retirement, the list goes on and on.

My brother bought his first house when he was just a few years out of college. He bought the house at the beginning of the real estate bubble in Northern California. He soon became “house rich” and used his real-estate windfall to buy progressively impressive residences while I sat back and rented. The downturn in the housing market has not been kind to him, but he’s kicking it in a beautiful house in a gated community that overlooks the 9th hole of some country club in Central California now.

When I moved to Dallas in 2006 I was still a renter and was saddled with some heavy California-real-estate baggage. The weight was lifted when I learned that a small house in a decent neighborhood didn’t have to cost upwards of $500k. There were actually quite a few homes in really nice Dallas neighborhoods that seemed like bargains compared with the options back home.

So I bought the house in Lake Highlands.

Now, another difference between my brother and I is that he seems to have inherited a “handy” gene from my dad. While I often have trouble just using common appliances and power tools, both my dad and my brother will even take them apart and manage their repairs (if something stops working I hide it somewhere in the junk pile in the garage and head over to Home Depot for a replacement).

So, while mainstream homeowners may feel that painting a room is a minor weekend project, for me it is a trial of blue tape and drop cloths.

This weekend I painted my hallway. It was my 3rd attempt in less than a year.
The first attempt was really not my fault. The guy at Restoration Hardware informed me that a shipment of “Stone” paint had frozen on a truck AFTER I had tried to smear the stuff all over my walls. Instead of the sophisticated earth tone on the chip, the result was a mottled mural of unintended swirls and textures.

I also blame the good people over at Restoration Hardware for the failure of my 2nd attempt at painting my hallway. “Atmosphere blue” is not the sophisticated grayish blue that you see on the chip. It’s the kind of blue that might remind you of peacocks…or eye shadow on a streetwalker.

After living with the “atmosphere blue” calamity for several months, I decided to take advantage of the long holiday weekend and try again. This time I went with Restoration Hardware’s “cappuccino”. I’m liking it. It’s not beige. It’s not khaki. It reminds me of a camelhair coat.

So, you could say that Restoration Hardware has hosed me a couple of times now. But when their color palette is true – as it was when I painted the den in “flax”, the colors have a very soft texture (RH calls it “subtle velvet”), especially when light hits it. They also have a very limited collection of colors…which works in my favor; I get overwhelmed trying to decide on “brown” over at Sherwin Williams because they have like a million different shades of “brown”.

Next home-improvement challenge: wallpaper. Maybe.

"Only Slightly Dead"

2009-09-03T11:26:00.004-05:00

It’s been an interesting week at Crossfit.

Monday was a hard fall after the Performance Intelligence seminar. But it was also a huge learning experience. It became very apparent that just listening to Dr. Bell for 7 hours wasn’t going to magically change anything – I would have to put in some effort.

So then came Tuesday night: Death By Pushups.

Confidence was good that night. The movement is not complicated, I understand the proper form, and no heavy lifting, just hard work. I followed my WGP and managed the workout just as I had planned. 11 reps…followed by an obscene number of situps that Carrie peer-pressured me into.

That brings us to Wednesday: NANCY (5 rounds for time of 400m run + 95lbs overhead squat, 15 reps).

I think that in the Crossfit world this would be considered a “metcon” workout (metabolic condition, i.e. serious pain).

I started out running down Dyer Street during the 1st 400m run at a good pace. I even chatted up JoDee a little during the uphill part. All part of the WGP – a relaxed, confident pace in a natural state. FTW.

Got through the first set of OHS, not perfect but OK. Stepped out of rep #15 and got ready to run. Uh…where’d my legs go?

Round 2 got me rattled. Legs felt like Jell-0. My 400m run was much closer to a jog-walk. Neal and Carrie were chasing each other back into the box from their 2nd (3rd?) run, just as I was starting mine.

I won’t describe the play-by-play. But at a certain point, Dr. Bell, WGPs and my “win” turned into vapor. I had nothing left. If my vision had not been blurred by the oxygen deprivation I would have snagged my car keys and headed for the door.

That last set of OHS’s were surreal. I couldn’t see anything or feel anything. Everyone else had already finished Nancy so I was center stage. Chase and Tyler were yelling “don’t drop that bar!”…I can remember losing my balance once and throwing the bar from the overhead position…but that’s about it. (I had never dropped a bar from that high before...I was a madman at this point.)

When it was done, I kinda just sat on the floor for a while; my arm was twitching and I was using the sweat covering my eyes to mask tears. Today’s CFDC blog was titled “Only Slightly Dead”. Quite right.

But even though I was the last guy to finish, I think that I can count last night was a win. The great thing about CFDC is that even when your WGP fails, there’s a Plan B to get you through it, the coaches and the rest of the 7PMers.

Since Monday was such a blow-out, I am thinking about skipping my rest day and going back tonight to try and redeem myself for a 4th WOD this week.

What happened???

2009-09-01T10:16:00.002-05:00

Fresh from the Performance Intelligence seminar on Saturday, I walked into the box ready to slay dragons last night. But from the moment the WOD started, I totally lost my drive. It was a timed workout, and all I could think about was how slowly I was moving. Sam seemed to call out every lost second as I fumbled from one movement to the next.

How did it all go so wrong? I'd listened to Dr. Bell. Took notes during class. Even walked around with her book in my backpack all day. What the French?

Last night’s WOD was complicated: 2 timed rounds of power cleans, hang cleans, push jerks and sprints. From a vocabulary retention perspective, I was somewhat lost from the beginning despite all of Sam’s best efforts and his whiteboard glossary.

And I know that there must be a night-and-day difference between a push jerk and a push press, but this is only because I always seem to be doing one when I am supposed to be doing the other.

My confidence level at this point is in the negatives...and the WOD hadn't even started yet.

I had set up my barbell in the back of the room with some of my favorite 7PMers, Carrie, Casey and Chris. They were all way ahead of me the whole time. I didn’t even complete either round before the 5-minute cutoff.

According to what I learned at the Performance Intelligence seminar…I’d followed none of it. I guess I just thought that understanding the concepts was enough; that the process of actually developing a WGP was just a classroom exercise...like creating the outline before starting a first draft – who does that?

I totally allowed the clock to control the workout. Rather than focusing on the activity, all I heard was seconds ticking away. My focus was on the end result, not the process.

Even though all of this had been addressed during the seminar, just understanding the concepts did not organically result in a WGP. Once the clock had started, all I heard was the clock.

Tonight is “Death By Push-ups”.

My WGP is to focus on form – chest-to-deck every time, full extension at the top. I can do the movement; so the movement will be my focus. I am not going to establish a max rep. My “win” for this workout will be to complete as many pushups as possible with correct form.

What's Your Win?

2009-08-30T11:03:00.004-05:00

So I got up a little early on Saturday morning to learn how to be a champion.

As I’d written in the previous post, I was not expecting any silver bullets from the Performance Intelligence seminar – in fact my expectations for this sort of thing are usually kind of low. I never really expect that a stranger or even a coach is going to understand what drives me or what may cause me to succeed or fail.

Well, as expected, silver bullets were not distributed. However, I think that the seminar did provide me with some new tools to help me understand and even control what goes through my head before, during and after a WOD.

The seminar was led by Julie Bell, who has written a book called Performance Intelligence At Work, The Five Essentials to Achieving the Mind Of A Champion. Dr. Bell did an excellent job of breaking down the factors that go into a successful workout.

As simple as this may sound, I had never really spent much time analyzing how I approach a workout. The mad dash from Irving to the box in the middle of rush hour traffic after a long day at work usually consumes the focus of my concentration just before a WOD. By the time that I arrive at the box, all I have going for me is the adrenaline rush born of weaving through traffic on 75. I do not have a WGP.

Dr. Bell introduced our group to the concept of a Winning Game Plan (WGP). The WGP can be applied to any type of goal, not just a WOD. The development of your plan requires that you define what exactly you hope to achieve, and then the method for achieving your “win”.

I though that this concept was really interesting, and I have a feeling that the WGP is going to become a model that I base many of my decisions on in the future. Is staying up late watching HGTV going to help me with my WGP? Does Haagen Dazs 5 Mint Ice Cream contribute anything to my ability to realize my WGP?

Dr. Bell also delivered some helpful advice regarding an issue that plagues me every day at that box, confidence. She broke this one down very simply: “be confident in your ability to create the outcome, not in the outcome itself”. This means that your confidence should be inspired by only that which you can control.

For example, I cannot control whether or not I am going to be the fastest runner, or the strongest lifter in the box. Any doubts that I have of ever actually being the fastest or the strongest will effectively destroy my chances of executing the WOD with confidence.

However, I can be confident of my ability to lift a certain weight that I choose, because I am in control of that decision. Or I can run at a certain pace that I set. By focusing on the areas of the WOD that I can control, I can eliminate self-doubt and establish confidence in my own abilities.

It sounds like common sense, but I had really never thought of breaking down the elements of a WOD like that. It kinda makes sense – I am going to at least give it a try.

The seminar included a workout that Spencer customized for each participant based on some of our individual challenges. I was assigned “Death By Pull-ups”. This WOD requires that you do a certain number of pull-ups in consecutive order, every minute (minute 1, 1 pull-up/minute 2, 2 pull-ups, etc., etc. until you die). I really hadn’t planned to workout during the seminar, (I thought it was just going to be a seminar), so I didn’t feel very prepared for the Death By Pull-ups challenge. I did make it to Minute 10 though.

At first, the insertion of the WOD into the seminar had felt like a distraction. I had planned on a "rest day"...what did pull-ups have to do with my silver bullet? But afterwards, we all got together and kind of analyzed our WODs while it was still fresh in our memories. What went wrong? What went right? This conversation kind of brought everything together in "realtime" during the seminar.

So in summary, while it was very indulgent to dedicate a whole day to all of this introspection, I think that I walked away with several benefits from the Performance Intelligence seminar.

A foundation for understanding some of the mental obstacles that occur with not just every WOD, but any challenging situation
A proactive method for building my confidence
A formula for developing a Winning Game Plan
Some excellent feedback from Dr. Bell, the coaches and other members of CFDC

Other than that last bullet item, I think that many of the benefits could probably be realized just by reading Dr. Bell’s book (though, I have not read it yet). But #4 was also a huge benefit – spending a whole day listening to other members and coaches talk about their individual experiences with Crossfit, what drives them and what challenges them, was also very interesting. The personal feedback that Dr. Bell and the others shared was definitely worth the price of admission.

Performance Intelligence Training = FTW

Silver Bullets

2009-08-28T10:32:00.001-05:00

My friends have decided that Crossfit is more of a gym than a cult, and I may agree with them a little. It is definitely a powerful, addicting force that plays with your head, especially after you start to notice some progress being made.

That being said, I don’t think that I am a mindless drone when it comes to fitness. I am not the type of guy who subscribes to Men’s Health and maintains a cupboard full of supplements and vitamins (OK, a multivitamin, some protein powder and flax seed oil…but really, that’s about it).

It’s not that these things are not good resources for some people, but I’ve decided that my time and money are better spent in the box and at the grocery store than anywhere else. There is no “silver bullet”.

Contrary to all of this, I’ve decided to sign up for a “Performance Intelligence” seminar that is being sponsored by CFDC.

As I have shared here on the blog already, my mental challenges now seem to be surpassing the physical challenges of these WODs lately. While my head tells me that these obstacles can only be overcome by time and conditioning, I am hoping that this seminar will give me a jumpstart on the process.

It’s not cheap. In fact, the cost of this one-day seminar could subsidize several trips to the supplement store and a few years worth of subscriptions to Men’s Health. But so far, the coaches at CFDC have not let me down, so I am gonna roll the dice and take what I can out of this opportunity.

The seminar is this Saturday. I will try to post a few kernels of new knowledge when it’s done.

Mentally Challenged

2009-08-21T14:30:00.001-05:00

While I am learning a lot about training, nutrition and fitness in general at Crossfit, I am also learning a lot about myself. At 40-years old, I feel pretty good about where I am – I’ve got a good job, I’ve travelled a lot, I’ve got good friends and a very close and supportive family. I’ve achieved a sense of balance that keeps me going and optimistic.

But when it comes to Crossfit, nothing that I have achieved in life seems to prepare me mentally for the 10-15 minutes that I will have to dedicate to any given WOD.I can spend the entire day consulting on multimillion dollar projects – in two languages, yet step into the box and feel like a nervous kid on his first-day back to school again.

Last night during the “Grace” WOD (clean & jerk x30 reps for time, 10-minute cutoff) was a classic example:

Can I do 30 reps?
That’s a lot of weight.
Am I gonna have to go first?
What if I can’t finish before the 10-minute cutoff?
What if I drop the bar on my head?

Because of the 10-minute rotations last night, Sam asked me to jump into the 2nd heat instead of the 3rd heat as I had planned. That gave me 10-less minutes to mentally prepare (or totally work myself into a panic, take your pick). He even set up a bar for me, asking “are you gonna do 115lbs?”.

I didn’t really answer…I think I might have mumbled something.

Sam kinda looked up at me and said “yeah, you got 115”.

The decision was done. 115lbs.

Why couldn’t I have made that decision on my own?

Why does this box turn me into such a psycho?

Sam totally made the right call – 115lbs. Neal and the other guys helped me get the 30 reps done and it was both a physical release and a mental relief.

Anyway, the minutes leading up to the start of the WOD are always the most stressful part of my day. Seriously. Forget the mortgage, traffic, conference calls and deadlines – it’s the few minutes of pre-WOD prep that can totally screw with my head. How heavy? Who should I partner with? Can I do this? Can I sneak out the back without being noticed? Where’s my water bottle?

While I have seen improvements in my strength and endurance since starting Crossfit, I have not yet learned to conquer these questions and doubts.

Back on the wagon: Nate

2009-08-20T10:43:00.002-05:00

So, after last week’s crash, I’ve reassembled and got myself back on the path. Tuesday and Wednesday were good nights at Crossfit.

Last night was a “hero” workout: Nate. The workout was dedicated to a Navy Seal who had fallen while serving in the Middle East. There are a lot of Xfit members who are in active duty or have served in the past – this is not a world that I am familiar with, nor do I tend to wear my patriotism “on my sleeve”. But before we got started last night, Koy personalized the WOD with some information about the Navy Seal that last night’s WOD was named after. It definitely put the 20-minutes of discomfort that the WOD would certainly bring into perspective.

The WOD was a combination of hand-stand-push-ups, kettlebell swings and – wait for it: muscle ups. Even though the WOD specified sets of just TWO muscle ups, if you couldn’t do a muscle up the substitute was 4 pullups and dips…for EACH muscle up. While two muscle ups are no joke, EIGHT pullups seemed to be over-the-top. Nate.

I ended up completing 7 rounds, each round consisted of 8 dips (parallettes), 8 pull ups, 4 handstand-push-ups and 8 kettlebell swings (I used the 35lbs kettelbell) in 20 minutes.

This WOD was fun, though it would have felt even better if I could have done the two muscle ups. Going to start dedicating some time every day to getting this.

Jury Duty

2009-08-18T21:57:00.004-05:00

I know native Texans who have never been summoned for jury duty.

I’ve only lived here for 3 years, but apparently Dallas County Courts decided that I needed to perform my civic duty. Starting at 8:30am this morning.

I never leave my house before 9:00am, so this civic-duty thing felt very harsh when the alarm clock went off. It was still kinda dark outside. Weird.

I arrived at the court house downtown and paid $8 to park. So the $6 they pay you to show up for jury duty doesn’t really mean very much.

I submitted my juror form at the bailiff’s office and was told to sit in a big room with about a million other people who had the same unfortunate luck that I did. The room had theater-like seating which was kind of nice. Except the seats didn’t recline, which would have been fan-tas-tic because my early-morning fatigue was rapidly starting to set in.

We all got sworn in and then sat through a short video about what an effing honor it is to serve as a juror, blah, blah, blah. Then we got excused for a short break. Just 10 minutes into being a juror, and already a break. Nice.

I went down to the cafeteria located in the basement of the courthouse. Cash only. I only had enough cash on me (after being hijacked by the parking attendant) for a cup of coffee. Fortunately, the cafeteria was only serving the usual Texas-style fare that was either fried or smothered with gravy. Or fried and smothered with gravy. Just the coffee, hold the coronary, thank you. $1.65. Styrofoam cup, no fancy sleeve like at Starbucks.

I went back into the big room where we viewed the video and tried to doze a little while I nursed my coffee. Started to get bored so I shot off a few sarcastic emails to friends back in the cubicle farm at work. I gotta admit, jury duty is, despite the early-morning hour, still better than work.
Finally, after about a million hours, they called my number and sent me upstairs to a court room with about 40 of my peers. PEERS? Most of the potential jurors looked more like criminals themselves.

Granted, I was kind of excited to get into the court room. I’d never been in a court room before. I was ready for a scene out of Law & Order. Not so much.

The lawyers were kinda tired looking. The case was a "slip-and-fall". Not sexy. There were no Armani suits or crystal decanters on mahogany tables. The judge looked annoyed. Plaintiff and defendant were there too. They kind of looked like the stereotypes that you would imagine would be involved in a slip-and-fall (which is probably why the judge looked annoyed).

The voir dire process took FOR-EVER. The lawyer for the plaintiff was trying to make sure that none of the potential jurors had ever slipped and fallen before. Good luck with that, most of these people dragged their knuckles on the ground when they walked. None of the lawyers ever asked me any questions. Apparently, they had removed me from the jury before they ever met me. Would have been nice if they had just kinda said “no thank you” from the get-go and let me go try and raise enough money to claim my car back from the lot. Meter’s running guys.
Anyway, it’s all done now. Civic obligation: satisfied.

Though, it was all kind of anti-climactic. Once you get me outta bed and at a courthouse at 8:30 in the morning, it would have been nice if I could have sat around and watched all the Perry Mason stuff. I mean, this is Texas, I wanted to see some crazy-wild-wild-west-style justice, and maybe a Sherriff Beauford T. Justice character. But nooooo. What a bust.

Falling off the wagon

2009-08-16T20:08:00.002-05:00

I was on a roll. Up until last week I was eating Paleo at least one-meal per day. I was going to Crossfit 5-6 times per week and even Rx’ing some of the WODs. I was feeling good -- like maybe I had turned a corner in my Crossfit journey.

Then I ran up against the curb.

On Monday of last week I showed up at Crossfit, changed my clothes, warmed up with the group and then lost my nerve. It was hot. I hadn’t slept well the night before and my head ached. I think the WOD was some kind of Olympic lifting…not my strong suit. I actually slipped out the door before anyone could notice.

Tuesday morning arrived after another restless night with very little sleep.

I skipped the workout on Tuesday.

I skipped Wednesday. Got my dinner from the Wendy’s drive-thru.

By Thursday I was so disgusted with myself that I decided to take another day off.

I didn’t even pretend to myself that I was even considering working out until Saturday morning. I actually showed up Saturday – and Sunday too, but was totally without any motivation.

So yes, along with a string of days that I didn’t even bother to go to the gym, I have actually driven to Crossfit, parked the car, filled my water bottle and stood around pacing the floor a few times without working out.

Thank gawd tomorrow is Monday and I can try and start the week with a fresh slate. I miss the workouts.

But at the same time, after a short break it gets harder and harder to jump back into the routine. I know that this is true with any fitness routine, but I think that a short break becomes much more of a hurdle with Crossfit. Each WOD feels like much more of a “building block” than a traditional gym workout. The mental toughness required to read the WOD board and then jump into it on your own or with a partner (which is often the case) is much more intense. If you were able to complete the WOD the previous day, it’s just so much easier to find the confidence to complete the WOD on the following day. So here it is, Sunday night.

My gym bag is packed. It's gotta be a better week.

"Do you want to feel a clean, close shave?"

2009-08-06T22:51:00.005-05:00

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are certainly icons for certain segments of American pop culture. I remember that famous poster and Charlie’s Angels, Thriller and moonwalking…but I was either too old, too young or too whatever at the climax of their fame for any of the nostalgia to really grab me when they died.

Granted, both of these celebrities passed away during the same week that my mother did, so her loss certainly blunted the impact that anything else could have had on me at the time.

But today I learned that John Hughes died. Now, that name echoes all kinds of nostalgic images for me.

His movies were like the soundtrack playing in the background of my adolescence. I don’t know what the actual timeline is, but it seems like he released a new movie during each of my torturous years that teenagers require in order to make that awkward leap between frustrated youth and the real world.

Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Sure, these movies dealt with the typical teen-angst stuff…first kisses, virginity, rejection, geeks, jocks, etc. But they were also extremely relevant to the excessive materialism of the 80’s.

John Hughes’ films almost always exposed, parodied, romanticized and/or critiqued the dog-eat-dog world of high-school class wars in a way that was palatable to us all, whether you were a “geek, sporto, motorhead, dweeb, dork, slut, or butthead”.

But I think that the reason why these movies seemed to leave such an impact, at least on me, was because they were so in-the-moment. While we are all laughing about the over-the-top parody of the “jock/princess/criminal/basketcase/brain” syndromes in the Breakfast Club, or the struggles of Farmer Ted and Jake Ryan over their feelings for Samantha in Sixteen Candles, those of us in high school at that time knew how all of these characters really coexisted in the contemporary American high school that John Hughes had merely recreated for the screen. We were those characters...or at least wanted to be (in the case of Jake and his red Porsche 944).

Of course, if you were from a different generation, none of these characters would seem unfamiliar as they have existed since whenever high school was invented. But the characters in Hughes’ movies wore the clothes that we did, the haircuts that we had, drove the same cars, used the same slang and listened to the same music. They belonged to a uniquely 80’s cultural aesthetic that I knew and lived every day. "Geek, can I be honest with you....?"

Tabata Squats & Pull Ups

2009-08-06T10:59:00.002-05:00

Last night was fun. A Texas thunderstorm started to roll in just as I was leaving the office for the 7PM class at Xfit.

By the time that I'd pulled into the parking lot, raindrops were just starting to hit my windshield. I found Carrie and Kason in the gym and immediately got the 4-1-1 on the WOD. After the humiliating experience that I’d had the night before (which I have not written about here on the blog…just can’t stand to relive it…), I needed to have a good night. Carrie’s run-down from the 6PM always gives me “my edge”.

Koy started us with an 800m Indian run…which means that our whole group had to start in a single-file formation – the last person in line sprints up to the head of the line in a constant rotation. The Indian run is my favorite way to run our 800m route around the block. Even the uphill part along the row of warehouses that I hate is less of a chore when you’re running with the pack. It’s even more fun in the rain. By the time we made it back to the box, I had totally recovered from a long day at work and was ready to "slay dragons".

The WOD was two rounds of tabata squats and pull-ups or muscle ups. As I explained earlier this week, the muscle up is a milestone that I have not reached yet. I hope that someday we get some technical training on how this movement is performed…cuz even with all of my Internet research, I still don’t think I get it.

With Carrie’s “Cliff’s Notes” from her 6PM WOD, I was able to kind of estimate how I was gonna get through the tabata squats and pull ups. And amazingly, I was able to stick to the plan. I found a steady pace for the tabata squats – nothing crazy because I did not want to "run out of gas" on the last few rounds of 8 (as I usually do). I was able to hit at least 10 squats for every round this way. No records broken for sure, but respectable (for me).

Although I’ve come a long way with the pull ups, they are still really hard, especially after tabata squats when oxygen is at a premium. The goal defined by the WOD was max reps in 3 minutes. In my first attempt on the bar, I was able to do 10 pull ups (without a band). After that, I did groups of 5. By the very end of the second set, I was only able to do 2 or 3 at-a-time. In the first 3-minutes round I was able to do 30 pull ups. In the second round I did 20.

The 7PM crew has become like a little family now that I look forward to hanging out with every night. Even though today is my rest day, I brought my gym bag with me to work just in case.

Time to Muscle Up

2009-08-04T14:38:00.002-05:00

There are two exercises that get a lot of attention at CFDC: kipping pull-ups and muscle ups.

Both of these exercises are cool to watch, but they are also very difficult to perform.

The kipping pullup is like a standard pullup but there’s a dolphin kick that happens at the end when the body is lowered from the bar. The “kip” at the bottom seems to fuel a little momentum, which propels you back up to the bar to complete your next pullup. If you can do the kip, your pull-ups seems to be propelled by some magic force that allows you to complete many, many, pull-ups continuously very, very quickly.

However, finding the timing within the movement to initiate the kip seems to elude me. Even when one of the coaches or another member demonstrates the kip, my own attempts seem to undermine the goal of actually trying to get my head over the bar.

While there are many athletes at the box who have mastered the kip, the Muscle-Up Club seems to be much more exclusive. The muscle-up combines a pull-up with a ring dip – which both demand a lot of upper-body strength.

I can do a pullup and I can do a ring dip – so you would think I could have gotten my membership in the club a long time ago. I apply just about every day, but so far all of my applications have been rejected.

I just found this site that seems to document the mechanics of the muscle-up very well…
http://www.beastskills.com/MuscleUp.htm

Dancing for Mojitos & Healthcare

2009-07-31T14:20:00.006-05:00

Being the “token liberal” from California, I am just jaded enough to suspect that some of my friends invite me to things just to see me dance around like a monkey when politics are discussed. While Dallas is a progressive bubble compared to the uber-conservative hinterlands of Texas, it’s still pretty conservative by Left-Coast standards.

So a few weeks ago, I was at a friend's house drinking mojitos. As soon as the subject of healthcare was raised, I suddenly became the "liberal-in-the-room". It was as if I had suddenly stepped into a spotlight prepared just for me...or a noose.

I disagreed with many of the reasons that were raised against some form of nationalized healthcare (“healthcare is not a right”). However, to everyone's disappointment and my own surprise, I really didn’t get too worked up about it. It just is not an issue that I am passionate about. I have insurance.

So the morning after this non-emotional debate occurs, I am watching the roundtable on This Week With George Stephanopolous, when I learn that Texas’ rate of uninsured is higher than most of the country –24.6%. That means that almost 1 out of 4 of my friends and neighbors are going to lose their shirts if they are ever broadsided in an intersection or diagnosed with something horrible.

Call it “liberal guilt” or whatever, but that sort of struck me.

Fast forward to last Saturday. I am driving along Northwest Hwy right in front of Northpark Mall, and I see a bunch of seemingly normal people standing on the corner. Well, somewhat normal, since it was hell’s-furnace HOT on that day and they were pacing up and down this corner in the sun waving signs. They were middle age to late 50’s/early 60’s. The type of people who you would normally see pulling out of a mega-church’s parking lot on their way to brunch at the Waffle House on a Sunday morning. And they were holding signs with slogans like “Don’t Mess With My Healthcare!”.

My passion for this issue came full circle at this moment.

It’s one thing to bounce it around like a ball over cocktails.

Understanding how this issue affects those around me brought it a little closer to home.

But to see people standing on a busy street corner, sacrificing their Saturday afternoon to promote their own self interest while figuratively giving-the-bird to 24.6% of the cars passing – that’s pretty shameless. You like your healthcare? Fine. But the fact millions of Americans do not have healthcare is an issue that affects everyone from the Left Coast to the Waffle House, whether or not we have insurance.

To ignore this truth is not only economically irresponsible, but morally unfathomable.
There is a solution. Slogans on signs and tunnel vision will not help us find it.

A Very Cool Thursday

2009-07-31T10:54:00.003-05:00

After specifically moving into the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas to be near White Rock Lake, I FINALLY spent some time chillaxin’ by the lake last night.

Coworkers had suggested that we go to a local bar to celebrate our friend, Suvi’s birthday – but now that I am old and set-in-my-ways, bars just don’t seem to blow-my-hair-back the way they used to. Scrambling to suggest an alternative that would be worthy of the occasion, I remembered the Cool Thursday concert series that is hosted at the Dallas Arboretum. I had never been to one of the Cool Thursday concerts, but the picture on the website of casually dressed picnickers drinking wine in those acrylic wine glasses by the lake while listening to live music always seemed like a good way to spend a “school night”.

The tickets were $16, but parking at the arboretum was free. The concert started at 7:30; we drove into the lot at around 7:10 and were forced into the overflow parking area. Apparently the threat of thunderstorms does not deter the Cool Thursday crowd. The grassy area in front of the stage faces the lake and the setting sun (which was kinda intense until the sun fell back below the tree line – gotta remember to bring my sunglasses next time).

The main venue is a very large grassy area surrounded by giant oaks that are illuminated when darkness falls. The entire area was covered with blankets and folding chairs by the time we arrived so we found a nice spot towards the back and set up our own little picnic. Everyone had brought drinks and snacks – including a now-infamous hummus. There was birthday cake, cans of champagne (Michelle never goes anywhere without some Sofia in her purse), olives and all kinds of non-Paleo stuff (Thursday is my Crossfit-rest-day).

The forecasted thunderstorms never arrived, though their threat seemed to cool off the breeze a little that swept in from the lake. It was a very cool Thursday night, spent listening to music by the Eagles with good friends (who drove all the way out to Lake Highlands). Happy birthday, Suvi.

About Last Night

2009-07-30T15:19:00.001-05:00

So, last night’s WOD played tricks with my head a little.

3 minutes of 3 different activities (wall balls, handstand pushups and rowing) each followed by 6 minutes of rest. My first reaction was “that’s a lot of rest”. My second reaction was “those are going to be very long 3-minute sets”.

First off, I hate wall balls. I hate them almost as much as I hate burpees. They involve a compound movement of squats and overhead throws with a medicine ball. Wall balls are tedious and mind numbing. They suck oxygen out of your lungs and make you lose your mind after about 10 of them.

The wall balls came first…so I started out slow, thinking that I would need to pace myself. But after about a minute of pacing myself cautiously, I was too winded to start picking up the pace or doing anything much more than prop myself up against the wall. In hindsight, I probably should have just gone-for- it until I died instead of trying to “play it safe”.

The handstand pushups were my moment (or 3 minutes) of glory. The alternative option for the HSPU’s was dumbbell presses. I had set up my dumbbells and was ready to go, but at the last minute decided to get crazy and try the HSPU’s. I got up into the handstand with my legs against the wall, and lowered myself with my arms…there were two abmats between my head and the concrete floor, so I didn’t lower myself all the way, but I was pretty happy that I could do it at all – I was able to crank out 10 hspu’s before the room started to rotate. By the end of the 3 minutes, I completed 18.

The final rotation was on the rowing machine. As soon as I get on this machine, I automatically get that mind-numbing-wall-ball feeling. I didn’t break any records here, but the energy in the room helped get through this final 3 minutes of the WOD.

So I guess you could say I was overly-cautious in the first set of wall balls, overcame my fears during the HSPUs, and cruised through the rowing. In the future, I need to find a way to maintain the same intensity I had during the HSPUs throughout the entire workout.

Rx-able

2009-07-29T14:03:00.002-05:00

It’s been an interesting week at Crossfit.

The week began with thunderstorms which broke the recent pattern of triple-digit heat, but brought with them Amazon-level humidity. Now, I sweat a lot in general…but the current puddles that I have been leaving in the box are beyond what I would describe as “normal”. Last night I had to stop several times in the middle of the WOD to wipe the sweat off of the lenses of my glasses just so that I could see.

The WOD for Tuesday night was a pro-shuttle interval. Each round of 5 exercises was timed and was repeated 5 times:

30m pro shuttle (a combination sprint…5 meters forward, 5 meters back to start, 10 meters forward, 10 meters back to start)
3 single-arm snatches (each arm) using a 45lbs dumbbell
5 clapping pushups
5 chest-to-bar pull-ups
5 box jumps (30-inch box)

The workout was brutal. By the 3rd round I started to lose brain cells due to oxygen deprivation. But the cool thing was that I was able to complete all 5 rounds just as they are described above – I did not scale back on the weight of the dumbbell, the height of the box, etc.

Before I break-my-arm-patting-myself-on-the-back over this accomplishment, I should point out that as a timed workout, I did not break any records for speed. In fact, I was quite slow. But by completing each movement “as prescribed”, I essentially “Rx’ed the WOD”. I had never Rx’ed before. Progress.

The humidity continues. But now that I have my first Rx'ed WOD behind me, I am ready to move onto my next goal. Maybe a muscle up? God, just let me do one muscle up.

I hate car trouble.

2009-07-21T20:41:00.002-05:00

In the back of my mind, I’ve always had this fear of the air conditioner in my car breaking down. For one thing, my car is black. The other thing is my car was made in Sweden…so, nothing against the Swedes – never been there though I am sure they are all very cool people; but it just seems that their quality- control methodologies would not focus on Texas-climate conditions.

I know, I am a total freak. I really am.

I was living in such fear of my air conditioner that for years I would hardly ever even turn it on. I would literally show up to work covered in sweat because my air conditioner had held me hostage in my black car during a commute in Dallas traffic in August. Don’t even get my started on my issues with the seat warmers.

My mom would always point out the absurdity of fearing the mechanical failure of a function to the point that I could not even use it; not to mention just the sight of me driving around town in 100+ degree heat in car equipped with a functioning air condition that I did not use.

Well, this was the year that I decided to listen to my mother, face my fears and utilize my air conditioner whenever the atmospheric temperature warranted.

So last Thursday, I am driving home from work seemingly over my phobia, when my up-until-now-under-appreciated air conditioner suddenly starts to blow hot air in my face. Are you kidding me? A few seconds later, the vents start to spit out a burning smell. Not good.

With the air conditioner turned off, I open the windows and try to absorb the situation. This isn’t bad. Windows, fresh air. Just like old times. We’re good, we’re good.

But now, there is this funny rattling sound coming from the inner workings of the car…even with the air conditioner turned off.

LSS, the guys down at the Saab repair shop tell me that my compressor has succumbed to the Texas heat and I am looking at a $1700 repair bill.

My nightmare has been realized. That's what I get for facing my fears like a man. What a load of crap. If I had only allowed myself to be held hostage by my phobias, I would have saved myself a whole lot of money.

Oh, and my radio is fast-forwarding through the preset stations all on its own for some reason. That’ll be another $1000. Fer realz? What sort of Swedish technology advancements require that a radio cost $1000?

2009-07-15T11:48:00.001-05:00

I’m getting skinny.

Doing Crossfit in a 100+ degree warehouse 5-6x per week is making me shrink.

I guess it’s not a bad thing, because I am definitely starting to feel more “fit”. And the discipline that the workouts demand helps me to focus less on the complicated details of life and more on the extreme pain and discomfort of each pride-swallowing WOD.

My routine after going to Crossfit usually includes a stop at my favorite place to go grocery shopping in Dallas, Central Market. If you’ve never been there, let me just say that it pays to be organized. The layout of the place is like a maze in an English garden. If you forget to pick up the eggs, you’re hosed unless you want to fight the flow of traffic and backtrack like an idiot.

And if you like to target aisles strategically and avoid the offerings that are not on your list, Central Market is not for you. Once you start on the path at Central Market, you kinda have to ride it on through to the end as it serpentines through produce, meats, dairy, wines, cheeses, etc.

While this format requires a bit of patience, it also allows you to bump into new grocery items that you’ve never really paid attention to before.

For example, last night I had only intended to pick up a salad from the Central Market deli, but wandered by the beverage aisle. Since I had just finished dehydrating myself at Crossfit, walking by the aisle without stopping would have felt like bypassing an oasis in the desert. I picked up a bottle of “Moroccan Mint Green Tea” (Honest Tea).

When I got home and poured it over ice, I expected a Snapple-like watery sugar explosion. Oh no, this is real tea, with just a hint of adult-like sweetness. Gotta go back for some more of this stuff tonight.

My International Investment Banking Venture

2009-07-09T16:40:00.002-05:00

It’s been a slow day at the office, which means I’ve spent all day surfing aimlessly through the Internet, interrupted only once so far by a long lunch.

While surfing in my soporific state, I discovered Kiva, a micro-lending website that allows people [that spend much of their discretionary income on crap] like me to lend some of the money that earn [surfing the Net] to someone who might actually put it towards a meaningful cause.

This all sounded very righteous, so I went ahead and signed up.

[God, I hope this isn’t a scam. If this is all just a scam, please let me never find out]

Whether or not the lucky stiff who will benefit from the big $25 that I contributed will pay back the loan, I do not know. But after sitting in this cubicle all day with nothing to do, I am suddenly feeling all perky which of itself was worth the $25.

Fran

2009-07-08T15:17:00.004-05:00

Before I started my ever-demanding blogging obligations, believe it or not it was often a challenge to find things to do with my time. Being a single guy in Big D, thousands of miles from friends and family, coming home after work to an empty house was not my idea of a good time.

The gym became a nice stop on the way home from a long day at work. In fact, finding a gym conveniently located between my home and work was a top priority when I first moved to Dallas.

Tired of the franchise gyms, I found the Preston Gym located in Preston Center. Being a small, upscale kinda place, it was great for meeting people (everyone seems to know each other by name in there) and the personal trainers are all very cool.

After spending 3 years at the Preston Gym, last April I decided to make a change. Part of this decision was financial – between gym membership dues and my personal-training habit, I was dropping major cash over at Preston (though I am convinced that my trainer, Bo, was worth every cent). The other part of the decision was just that I was ready for a new challenge.

That’s when I found Crossfit.

I have only been going to Crossfit since April – and at the time that I joined, I thought that I would just “try it out”. But even though the gym is located in an old, unairconditioned warehouse outside of my commute, it’s become the favorite, most challenging part of my day.

The Crossfit cocktail takes weightlifting, mixes in some sprinting and tops it off with a little gymnastics. It’s always a tough workout not only physically, but mentally as well.

Although I was never given a glossary, there is definitely a vocabulary that is used between Crossfitters that I am still getting used to. Here is a sample:

When a xfitter says…"FTW", they are making a positive exclamation (For The Win!). Beef jerky, FTW!

When a xfitter refers to the The Box, They mean the warehouse gym that we meet in

WOD=Workout-of-the-day

"For time" means that whatever it is needs to be done in the shortest period of time possible. In “the box”, just about everything is "for time": "50 wall balls, for time"

"The Girls" Refers to a set of WODs that seem to all have female names (Kelly, Cindy, Elizabeth)

"Tabata"= is a sequence of 20 seconds of intense activitiy followed by 10 seconds of rest

The WOD is posted on a website every morning. Before I go to work, I always log-on to find out what flavor of pain will be coming my way. Yesterday, for example, we did Fran:

21-15-9 reps for time (thrusters @75lbs and pull-ups) x 3 sets

Fran is not a woman to be trifled with. After 9 minutes and 35 seconds, she had conquered my mind, body and soul.

But after thinking about Fran all day at work yesterday, then facing her at the Box and after completing that last set, I felt like superman – I was ready to go start a bar fight (though all I did was go home, take a shower, eat dinner and do some laundry, FTW.).

Although I am nowhere near being “Crossfit” (most of the xffitters, men and women, completed yesterday’s WOD in way less time than I did), it’s just a fun kind of daily challenge to have…and if you run into Fran, tell her I’m lookin’ forward to next time.

Crooks & Phonies

2009-07-06T19:39:00.001-05:00

OK, OK, so anyone who knows me knows that I didn’t have a lousy childhood and that neither of my parents was ever occupied with anything but providing a soul-nourishing environment for their family. In fact anyone who ever met my mom or my dad would have “about two hemorrhages apiece” if they knew that I was plagiarizing The Catcher In The Rye on the Internet at their expense.

You’d never believe it, but this is actually my second attempt at a blog. The first shot was a blog about my mom, her battle with cancer and the many friends and family members that gathered around her (online and off) through that journey.

Since that blog was first launched into the blogosphere, a lot has changed for me. First, mom passed away on June 14th. Second…well, that was a really big change actually, so I am going to just set that one down as the cornerstone and build up from there.

After mom’s funeral, I suddenly found myself without a reason “to blog”, which was very frustrating. For one thing, it keeps me off the streets. And it’s kinda like therapy even though I really don't believe in therapy and there is NO WAY I would ever pay someone to sit around and listen to me ramble just to feel more balanced and connected.

To be honest, I am still not sure if I have a reason to blog anymore…but I’m gonna try.