Bonk

Today was one of those days. I thought I felt pretty OK then slowly started feeling kinda blah...then I got to my class and just bonked. I had basically jack shit today. It sucked. I sucked. I fell off the box on box jumps twice. I'd never done that before, ever. I just feel sacked. I'm looking forward to yoga later, though. It'll help me get focused and centered again. No time to worry about a bad workout today, for tomorrow I will wake up and hit it.

2011-Jul-26

Crossfit Central Benchmark WOD
CC Flyers
3 rounds
400m run
21 box jump
12 OHS
DNF ... 1 round & 21 box jumps of round 2 done.

Yoga For Athletes
Flow, yo...  

Playing for keeps!

Sometimes Krav Maga is pretty damn intense. We play these "games" where the instructor puts a kick shield or tombstone shield in random places around the room, makes the class lay face down, then yells "GO!!" and you've got to jump up, find a pad to hold else you have to punch / kick / whatever the drill is for one minute. If you're stuck with no pad and no one to punch (aka last man out) you have to do pushups, crunches, burpees, or whatever...basically being last standing sucks!  People will throw shoulder shivers, elbows, knees, hip checks, and anything else it takes to get to a pad. Today I took an elbow to the head...from a girl! Holy shit, she definitely was playing for keeps!


With a trip nearly half way around the world coming up, I've been reading about the TSA and such - you know, making the time I have left to wait longer. I came across this gem today:  Dude takes loaded gun to check in, and it goes off.... What an idiot.

2011-Jul-25
Krav Maga L1
Worked a lot on front kick, which is really fun (and really taxing). Then some straight punch game I mentioned earlier in this post. Finished off class with front choke defense to counter-attack. Stand with eyes closed waiting to be choked is still kinda freaky!

KO Bag Kickboxing
This class was intense. Lots of v-ups, crunches, leg raises, burpees, and pushups. The punch/kick combos were pretty good, but it was kinda sketchy doing jump kicks on a sweaty, slippery floor!

Almost back to normal

I think I am finally getting over the food poisoning or whatever from Saturday. It's made this week really challenging, to say the least. Staying hydrated has been the hardest b/c it's hard to drink or eat when your guts are all twisted up - not to mention you lose a lot of water. Anyway...

2001-Jul-22

KO Bag Kickboxing
More squat kick squat kick death combos ... awesome. Pretty full class for a Friday.

2001-Jul-21

Crossfit Central WOD
Sumo Deadlift 5x2
135, 135, 225, 315, 365X (none at 365)

3 rounds
15 KB clean R (2pood)
15KB clean L (2pood)
35 pullups
DNF (12min cutoff) - 2 rounds + 21 pullups RX


Yoga for Athletes
This is the last week of difficult poses!

2011-Jul-20

Krav Maga class
Straight advancing punches - these are hard to do correctly b/c of the timing and footwork. Roundkicks and roundkicks from the ground.

KO Bag Kickboxing class
Squat, round kick, squat round kick..this gets your HR up real fast!

Down, but not out.

Saturday the 16th I woke up early, the dogs were ready to go out to bark and waste my sleep time. I took them out and while watching them do nothing but walk around I realized I didn't feel right. A few minutes later, it changed from not right to bad. I will spare those of you that may read this the details, leaving just this - it's now Wednesday the 20th and my guts are still all twisted up and things are far from normal. It's hard to just stay hydrated! I didn't workout Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

The joys of owning my own home were once again realized on Tuesday when the plumber was supposed to show up at 10 for a quick job and didn't arrive until 40min later, thus pushing past my time to leave for class at Crossfit Central - however, he did a great job replacing my spare bath shower/tub fixtures for a lot less than I expected and he didn't have to cut my walls open to do it. I'll take that trade-off.

2011-Jul-19

Krav Maga Class (Level 1)
Worked on advancing punches and elbows and internal defense (straight punches).

Yoga For Athletes
Standing poses, some kinda crazy word I will never remember or spell! A two min headstand to finish up the session

Hay-makers inbound!

This has been a really long week. I've done a lot of work and my fuel has been much better! Also, my laundry work has gone up - that is not a good benefit, is it?  Looking forward to Yoga tomorrow and taking a day to go diving on Sunday.

2011-Jul-15

KO Bag Kickboxing Class 
Man, today's class was hard. The usual combination type stuff then a surprise 1min of max round kicks using both legs if you want from any stance. I got 86. Not the best, far from the worst.

Krav Maga Level 1/2 Class
There was no break between the KO class and this one, so I hurried to hit the restroom and get back. We did a long warmup of shoulder/head/knee touch with partner then added jumping knee to chest 3x on command and three sprawls on command. I was hurting, but trying to keep breath control and not get hit. After some punch work we did the 360 defense. It's pretty damn intense to stand in the room with your eyes closed then wait for someone to tap you from some random direction, then immediately throw a huge hay-maker right at your head, side, or groin! The knife defense class really helped with this. Thankfully they had pads on their arms - I saw someone miss the block and take a pad to the head - no, not me (luckily).

Are you gamed?

I found this link on the Crossfit.com main site - Gamed. Its an interesting read on how companies try hard to get our dollars.

It's been a long week, but a good week! I am looking forward to some rest. Starting to feel like I am burning both ends of the candle.

2011-Jul-14
Crossfit Central WOD
Hang Squat Clean 7x1
135-135-155-185-205x-205  (ran out of time and gas for 7th)

WOD - 12min cutoff
50 Double Unders,
50 Box Jumps
40/40, 30/30, 20/20, 10/10
DNF - was in the 20 round, barely, Rx

Yoga For Athletes
Warrior Pose 2

Hips

It's pretty amazing how much power we can generate with our hips, isn't it? This is true in many things we do. Lift more. Hit harder. Kick like a horse. Fantastic stuff.

2011-Jul-13

Krav Maga class
Hammer fists, hammer side fist, groin kicks, and more choke defense. Good drill with two attackers on us at once.

KO Bag kickboxing class
We did some shadow boxing with dumbbells. Try this with 7lbs per hand for 10 min. Holy shit! Then on to the bag combos and kicks.

Two hrs of great work this evening.

Three -a-days?

Ok I've double dipped a few times lately, meaning more than one workout in a day. I haven't done three yet, and today I've been challenged to go for it. I'm not really nervous or anything, but I don't want to get injured trying to do too much in a day. Mainly I just have to keep hydrated, roll out, and go for it - right?  As one of these is a Yoga class, which can be brutally hard or kinda chill depending on the day, I'm not sure what to expect besides more sweaty clothes. Take that you stupid washer and drier...

I'm very much enjoying Krav Maga, kickboxing, and Yoga along with Crossfit. I think they're the pieces to the puzzle I was missing and will definitely help me reach my goals.

2011-July-12

Crossfit Central WOD
5 rounds
15 push-jerk, 115lb
500m row
18:39 Rx

Ok, for real, this WOD was way harder than I expected. I actually think push-press would have been faster, but I am often wrong. Who knows. I came real close to puking.

Krav Maga Class
We worked palm-heel strikes, groin kicks, & choke defense.

Yoga For Athletes 
Started yoga directly after KM. It was actually maybe a bit easier b/c I was already warm (way past warm, really). We did the superman pose and Warrior 1. For some this was harder than the triangle poses from last week, but for me it wasn't as hard to hold.

>> I filled my 40oz water container 8 times! That's 40 glasses of water <<



Who has two thumbs and will sleep well tonight? THIS GUY!

Double Down

I think that signing up for Krav Maga and all their classes at Fit & Fearless has been a great thing for me. Over the last month I've gained a TON of confidence and I feel like my metcon is definitely improving. Also, it's made me focus a lot more on what I fuel my fire with. Let the benefits roll!

I haven't really ever doubled down on workouts, but lately I have been doing that a bit more. On the 11th doing those classes back to back was pretty freakin' awesome and I felt strong and focused the whole two hours. Good stuff.

Do you double down?

2011-Jul-11

Krav Maga Class
Worked palm-heel strike, front kicks, elbow 1, and choke defense. Great class today.

KO Bag -Kickboxing Class
Another fun, yet crazy challenging class. Lots of kick, jab, squat jump, sprawl, punch combos. It's almost like doing burpees then punching again haha

2011-Jul-10

Went diving. One technical/decompression dive and two fun dives. A fantastic day!

2011-Jul-9

Yoga For Athletes
Triangle poses. The AC was off. By the end, I was doing yoga in a sweat pool the size of Lake Travis

2011-Jul-8

KO Bag - Kickboxing Class
Crazy combo sets, and a killer workout. Fantastic stuff.

A long short week

For a holiday week, this sure has been a long one! Lots and lots to do at work and some great workouts.

My stupid pulled muscle still smarts a bit, but it's getting better.

2011-July-7

Crossfit Central WOD
30 wall ball, 20lb
30 burpees
30 power clean, 95lb
30 toe to bar
150' walking lunge, 45lb overhead
11:49RX

Yoga For Athletes
Standing triangle poses of death (my words). Left sweating like I did another crossfit class! haha

2011-July-6

Krav Maga Class
Straight punches, groin kicks, blind attacks where you have to stand with eyes closed and wait for someone to hit you. Takes a bit to get used to that! Good stuff!

Rest.

Friday I pulled/strained/whatever something in my left side while kickboxing...just another hurdle, right? It pretty much made me take a few days off to rest. When sneezing makes you buckle over in pain, it's time to put away the ego. So, Saturday through Monday I didn't really do jack shit. I didn't even break a sweat. Showers not earned, by any means. I did roll out, do some triggerpoint, and ate clean. Today it hurts still (a little) to sneeze and/or cough, but I figured it's time to get back to work.
 
Griff - In honor of USAF SSgt Travis L. Griffin, 28, who was killed April 3, 2008 in the Rasheed district of Baghdad by an IED strike to his vehicle. Travis is survived by his son Elijah.

2011-Jul-5

Crossfit Central WOD
"Griff"
Run 800
Run 400 backwards
Run 800
Run 400 backwards
17:36

This hurt the arches of my feet more than anything else. I felt like the 400s were agonizing and slow. I hated it, to be honest. My feet still hurt an hour and a half later. W T F.

Finally the weekend, but...

It was a crazy week! New job, training, brutal workouts, etc! It was going so well, until Friday KO Bag class.  Oh well.

 Happy 4th everyone.

2011-July-2

I think today is going to be a rest day. I have that muscle pull still giving me a great deal of trouble. Even sneezing is quite painful. Feels like I broke a rib! WTF!?!

2011-July-1

KO Bag - Kickboxing Class

Tons of crazy combinations of punches and kicks that pretty much no one could follow. Something weird happened. I went to do a kick w/my left leg and I pulled a muscle or something right at the bottom of my rib cage on my left side. It SUCKS!! 

2011-June-30

Crossfit Central WOD
5x3 front squat
135, 135, 165, 185, 225

WOD (95lb bar)
21 SDHP, Run 400
15 SDHP, Run 400
9 SDHP, Run 400
9:36 RX

2011-June-29

Krav Maga Class
Worked straight punches, elbow variations (all 7), groin kicks w/lead leg and trailing leg. Fun game of face down find a pad before someone else.

2011-June-28

Crossfit Central WOD
Cindy
13rounds + 4 squats RX

Already Monday!?

Wow that weekend went by way too fast! I can't even believe it. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.

2011-June-27

Krav Maga class @ F&F

Worked on hammer fist, groin kicks, elbows, and ground defense. Fun game lay face down, jump up, find a pad to hit...love that!

2011-June-26

Scuba day..aka active rest - I really needed an easy day after the OLY seminar on the 25th. Went to San Marcos for some volunteer dives at Aquarena springs. Nice clear water, until we started cleaning up the Riverbed area.

2011-June-25

Olympic Lifting Seminar @ Fit & Fearless Crossfit
This was my first time to go to any of the Crossfit events at F&F, so I went there with an open mind and determined to get some knowledge and possibly even some skill!  We started out with the Burgener Warmup for the Snatch, then for the Clean & Jerk (full squat cleans w/Split Jerk). After three hours of skill work, we got to the bars to work a 1 rep max for each lift.

Snatch
45, 65, 75, 95, 115, 135x, 135, 155x, 155x = 135 
A bar overhead while in a squat is my kryptonite. This is why I attended. I still have a long way to go, but it was definitely helpful.

Clean & Jerk
135, 155, 175, 185, 205, 225
Man, I have to tell you - it feels good to win. By win I mean complete the biggest C&J of anyone at the seminar. I think I have another 10-20lbs in me, but a) we were out of time and b) after 3:45 of skills and such, I was pretty smoked. I was the only person do do 185 or more and w/the squat - I am not sure why the other guys were just power cleaning it...wtf?

Surprise AMRAP to finish up the seminar...
AMRAP -15min
6 squat clean, 115lb
12 pullups
24 double unders (my other kryptonite)
4 rounds + 1 pullup RX
I found it odd that so many of the other guys that were there, and regularly attend their classes, left! What the hell?

Chris B = Chris Brutal?

The last day of "Client Appreciation" was today at Crossfit Central, and wow we ended it in fine pain-train style in the heat of Texas!

2011-June-24 

Crossfit Central WOD

Sumo Deadlift 5x2 - yeah, again :))
135, 225, 315, 315, 405X

Chris B
4 Rounds
400m Run
10 back squat, 155# (clean -> press over head -> squat it x 10)
14:53 Rx

After work:
KO Bag class - 1hr of punch and kick the heavy bag! I am gonna sleep well tonight...

Finally back home...nice to be back!

Man, I have a lot to do. It's been a busy last 7 days! Just want to get these logged and move along :)

2011-June-23

Crossfit Central WOD
Sumo Deadlift 6x2
135, 225, 315, 365X, 315, 315

Ronnie R
AMRAP 12min
2 wall walk
10 db muscle snatch, 55lb (5R/5L)
20 box jumps
4 + 10 box RX

After work: rest/recover! I was wiped out from a crazy last few days.

2011-June-22

Hyatt Hotel WOD 1
21-15-9
Squat clean & jerk 55lb dumbbells
Pushups
V-ups

WOD2
21-15-9 (55lb db)
deadlift
goblet squats

2011-June-21

Hyatt Hotel WOD
Run 5k
28:28

2011-June-20

Krav Maga class
Tons of hammer fist, kicks, punches. Worked on hook punch techniques, which was really good.

2011-June-19

Went diving...good stuff

2011-June-18

Krav Maga - Blade weapon defense day 2
Two hours of bashing forearms with people learning how to defend against getting stabbed. Awesome stuff!

2011-June-17

Active Rest day

You gotta work on stuff you're not good at.

I suck at overhead squats, which means I also suck at the snatch. I have known this for a long time, but I do not actively work on improving them. I know that just doing CrossFit and everything else I do is not going to magically make these movements improve, but alas I tend to ignore them. There are other things in my life that I actively work on, but these? Not so much. I've been working on mobility a lot more, which will help, but it can't replace actually doing these - even with just my broomstick.

I hereby commit to work on these every week. There's no fucking reason I should struggle to OHS 95lbs being as strong as I am in other lifts (CFT around 1000, for example).

What do you struggle with?

2011 June 16 - Crossfit Central WOD

5x2 hang snatch (coach said not to go heavy, work on form)
45, 45, 65, 65, 75

Cindy B
AMRAP 15min
1 hang snatch
2 overhead squat
1 hang snatch
250m row
4rnds + 2 OHS @ 75lb

After work:
Yoga for Athletes
Focus this month is still on handstands. I'm sure it'll be painfully fun.
Update: Man...when I think of yoga I think of calm, not pain and groaning!!

Time is flying

Dude, where is time going? Am I the only one that feels this way? I can't believe it's already mid-June!

2011-June-15 - Krav Maga Level 1/2 Class

Today's class started off with a good warmup, some shoulder/knee/head touch and then into straight punches, which we haven't done much of. We then moved to choke defense. Next thing I knew our hour was done!

After that, finished up work an headed out to Lake Travis for a dive. Good day!

2011-June-14 - Crossfit Central WOD

Chris R
4 rounds, 15min cutoff
200m run
5 clean, 155
5 muscle-up
5 handstand pushup
2 rounds + 3 MU (jumping) completed.

Clicks

When you get something new and it clicks for the first time, it's one of the best feelings, right? I have found a couple of those moments over the last few days, and it's great! Being new to Krav Maga, each time I go is both a lesson and a killer workout at the same time. Awesome stuff. The various instructors, as you would expect, all have different ways of explaining things - sometimes the way one explains makes it easy to put to action.

2011-Jun-13  Krav Maga Level 1 & 2 class

Felt good to get back at it today after a day off on Sunday. Today a couple things clicked for me with my footwork, which I have been struggling with. Better footwork leads to a better fight position which leads to better hip engagement ending with a much more powerful kick...what's that song? Click click BOOM! 

2011-June-12

Went diving in the morning and shopping for new kicks after.

Champs in Barton Creek (?) mall has Nike Free TR $25.00 off!

2011-June-11 Krav Maga Edge Weapon Defense Seminar

I wasn't sure what to expect -I knew for sure it wouldn't be two hours of sitting and listening to a lecture, though! I had a good night of sleep and was hydrated and ready. The class was fantastic and I really learned a lot. The only bad thing was smashing my forearms against my partner's for two hours straight...both of my forearms (and I bet his too!) are pretty bruised up. Two more hours next weekend!

Busy times

Today starts a hectic next few days. The time will fly by, and it'll be all I can do to get everything done! Workouts, seminars, dive charters, new foster dog, etc...wow! This evening I have a technical dive, which will be a challenge and fun at the same time. I'm a bit sad I'll miss the Yoga for Athletes class tonight, however!

2011-June-9 - Crossfit Central WOD
6x2 Front Squat
135, 185, 185, 205, 225, 255(pr)
“Jess E”       
20 Wall Ball, 20lb
1 Inverted Burpee
18/2, 16/3, 14/4, 12/5, 10/6, 8/7, 6/8, 4/9, 2/10
13:30 Rx

2011-June-8 - Krav Maga class

The 1st week ... looking back, I've learned a lot, but have SO much to learn. Tonight's class was really good. We worked on palm-heel strikes and played a game where the instructor randomly put pads around the room and we had to jump from face-down & hands behind back to our feet, find a pad and hold for someone else who didn't get to one in time. If you are fast enough to get a pad, you're a holder, otherwise you get to spend a minute (which feels like 5) striking the pad over and over. Fun game! I had to hit only once, so that was cool. Then we worked on choke defense, focusing on proper technique and mechanics rather than speed & aggression - better to learn the correct movement, first.

Small changes, big results

OK...confession: Oly lifts are an area that I need big improvements. Today we did power snatch @ 115lb and I found that it was harder than it should have been. I couldn't feel what was going wrong in each lift. Next thing I know I heard Coach Zach "JAMES! Get your ass down!!"  I get into a better position and he says "NOW! GO!"  Result is amazing! The weight flies up much easier! That's small change leading to instant results!

I've found that the same thing works in Krav Maga classes too. Proper rotation of the hips = huge increase in power. Strike with palm not fingers = huge increase in power. Elbow down, not up = ... see what I mean?

I could not see any of these things working out alone. This is why a really good coach is so important.

2011-Jun-7

1) Crossfit Central WOD
"Alexis"
15-12-9-6-3
Power Snatch 115#
Ring rows
10:28 RX

2) Yoga For Athletes
Tonight we focused on shoulder mobility - just what I need, I'm thinking. Next thing I know we are doing wall walks. Over, and over, and over...wow....that was unexpected and pretty hard!! Throw in some wrist mobility and a 2min headstand and before I knew it the 45min class was done and I was, yet again, soaked in sweat.

What a kick-ass day!