Day 2
10 burpees (for being late AGAIN)
Lifts
Sumo-Deadlift High Pull
Front Squat
Overhead Squat
Got alot of compliments on my ability to pick up the proper forms for all my lifts so they're actually going to shorten my on-ramp. Saturday is my last day.
WOD
"Day 2"
21-15-9
SDHP
Box Jumps (36")
Front Squat
*all lifts were bars only
Time: 11 something
I have a love/hate relationship with the 21-15-9 type wods. They seem so short and easy but they're always fucking brutal. This one was no exception, my legs are going to hate me tommorrow...
New Motto
This came to me when I first started going to the Affiliate and talking with my roomate about the Warrior Dash. You see, being a naturally competative person, I have a tendency to beat myself up when I don't perform to my expectations. While this is a good thing for most people, my expectations are somewhere between being able to punch through walls or jump to the moon. I mean I'm really retarded about it. It was much much worse when I was younger because I would absolutely destroy myself and what little confidence I might've built. Even on my good days I would still think "I could've done better".
The warrior dash was rock bottom for me, I am absolutely not happy with my effort during that event. Nothing you can say or do will change my opinion of that day. Even so, I knew kinda what to expect going into the race. I hadn't been running or training all that much save for a few kickboxing sessions here and there. So decided before the race that it would mark a new beginning for me. Now I've said that time and time again when starting a new workout program...but something is different this time.
The motto is short for, "I can't be what I once was...but I can be better." I turned 30 over a month ago and it's only now that I realize that I can't expect myself to perform like a 21 year old. I've finally admitted to myself that I've gotten older and accepted it. And no matter how hard I work, I can never be that 21 year old again....
Well...FUCK HIM!
I wasn't all that great back then. I was a skinny weak little twig. Sure I could sprint pretty fast and run a bit, but I had very little muscle and strength. I didn't know the first thing about punching or kicking, let alone fighting. I wallowed in my self-pity and constantly put myself down. I ate whatever I wanted, no matter how bad it might make me feel.
I can be stronger, smarter and better than he ever was. Maybe I won't be able to run the 110m hurdles as fast as he could, but I can sure as hell lift heavier shit, pull my body weight up and pick up objects over my head. I know how to put my hips into my punches so when they connect I can knock someone out, I know how to turn my hips over and put some extra force into my kicks and I know how to get in close, clinch up and drive my knee into someone's face or gut. I also know how to defend myself and I know that I can take a shot, get knocked, down and still get up. I know that I will always get up and push myself forward. I know about dieting and what foods I should and should not eat (not that I always follow it...:P)
Thinking back...why would I really want to be him again?
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 1
Fundamental Practice
Press
Push Press
Deadlift
5 rounds of
9 Push Press (45lb bar)
12 Med ball deadlifts
15 ab mat sit-ups
50 single unders
Time: 10:50
Despite showing up late (doh), I ended up having a good session. Nate took me through 3 lifts which was a nice brush-up on my form and then had me do the workout. The workout was solid and I'm pretty happy with my time which works out to 2:10 per round.
Press
Push Press
Deadlift
5 rounds of
9 Push Press (45lb bar)
12 Med ball deadlifts
15 ab mat sit-ups
50 single unders
Time: 10:50
Despite showing up late (doh), I ended up having a good session. Nate took me through 3 lifts which was a nice brush-up on my form and then had me do the workout. The workout was solid and I'm pretty happy with my time which works out to 2:10 per round.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
"Cherry" and Positivity? *gasp*
"Cherry"
4 rounds of
200m run
5 bodyweight pulls
10 push-ups
15 squats
Time: 8:49
First session today w/ Nate who was just as happy and excited as he was yesterday. Which was actually what I needed as I dragged my tired ass into the gym because I was up to 2 am last night talking with my roomate. He introduced me to some of the other gym members (what a novel concept, introduce people and build a community!) and then we got right down to business. He broke down the forms for the bodyweight pulls w/ rings, push-ups and squats very well. Even though I already knew them it was nice to see that he really took the time to made sure my form was right. Like I said yesterday, I'm going at this with an empty cup. I know that many crossfitters accept the 10% or so "slop" (meaning sloppy form) but it seems like this gym ignores that and focuses on form rather than wod times. Again, all novel concepts...friendly staff, building community, form over time and an overall positive gym experience. I may just have struck gold!
Today's workout was good, short and tough without completely breaking you off. I'm actually pretty satisfied with the result. My only wish is that I had started a bit slower on the first 200m as it killed my breathing for the rest of the workout. Still, I didn't stop to catch my breath and that is an accomplishment for me. It was kind've hard to justify stopping as Nate and other members at the gym were cheering me on. Which is exactly what I've been needing.
On-ramp session starts tommorrow
4 rounds of
200m run
5 bodyweight pulls
10 push-ups
15 squats
Time: 8:49
First session today w/ Nate who was just as happy and excited as he was yesterday. Which was actually what I needed as I dragged my tired ass into the gym because I was up to 2 am last night talking with my roomate. He introduced me to some of the other gym members (what a novel concept, introduce people and build a community!) and then we got right down to business. He broke down the forms for the bodyweight pulls w/ rings, push-ups and squats very well. Even though I already knew them it was nice to see that he really took the time to made sure my form was right. Like I said yesterday, I'm going at this with an empty cup. I know that many crossfitters accept the 10% or so "slop" (meaning sloppy form) but it seems like this gym ignores that and focuses on form rather than wod times. Again, all novel concepts...friendly staff, building community, form over time and an overall positive gym experience. I may just have struck gold!
Today's workout was good, short and tough without completely breaking you off. I'm actually pretty satisfied with the result. My only wish is that I had started a bit slower on the first 200m as it killed my breathing for the rest of the workout. Still, I didn't stop to catch my breath and that is an accomplishment for me. It was kind've hard to justify stopping as Nate and other members at the gym were cheering me on. Which is exactly what I've been needing.
On-ramp session starts tommorrow
Monday, May 24, 2010
Breaking down and sipping da kool-aid
I took today off because my head is still burnt to shit (although it's starting to peel), my ankles and knees are sore and my shins and knees are still tore up (thank you, mudpit). Plus I had some cleaning and stuff to catch up on around the apartment....four basstards and a kid can tear up an apartment!
I've been toying/fighting with the idea of joining an affiliate for a while now. Part of my wanted to because of chance of extra work on my lifting forms as well as the camraderie of crossfitters. What made me weary was 1) I'm already tied to a gym memebership at Unit 2 Fitness and 2) The arrogance and obnoxousness of certain crossfitters that I don't wish to be associated with. Plus I've had previous experience at an affiliate that wasn't very good. There was no ramp up sessions, it was join up and go and I don't feel that the trainers really paid much attention to the people that were training there unless they were people that they knew. Granted, some of it could have been overconfidence/lack of knowledge on my part but that's what the trainers are there for in my opinion. So as not to cause a shit storm, I will not mention the affiliate or where it's located.
I actually got a good vibe from the affiliate I went to today (Crossfit Sandy Springs if you're curious) mainly because I met Nate who has to be the most positive and energetic dude I've ever met. Normally, people like this set off my bullshit meter as I usually think that people with perma-smiles are fake. But he seemed very genuine and excited to see a new face walk in the gym. I told him I wanted to join up and he got right to down to setting me up with a free session tommorrow morning. He asked me a couple of questions and gave me the waiver paperwork to fill out for tommorrow. No fuss, no sales pitch. Not that he had to since I already knew what I wanted, but it's obvious that he listened and didn't try to shovel stuff down my throat.
What actually made my decide to do this is finally admitting to myself that I can't go this alone. My kickboxing gym is great, but the classes are pretty large so you can be lost within a class. Plus it's alot further away than before and the classes are right around rush hour traffic, which means i have to leave atleast an hour before the class starts. And even then I might not make it or I might talk myself out of going. With the affiliate being a few miles down the road, there's no room for excuses. And I know that going to an affiliate is the closest thing you can get to a personal trainer without paying and arm and a leg for one. That's going to help motivate me to push harder and not take the easy road out. This will help me down the road with my Muay Thai / BJJ training should I decide to enter a competition down the road.
Ehh ok I'm rambling and probably not making so much sense. I'm actually excited about joining an affiliate despite previous experiences and I'm going into this thing with an empty cup. Time to go to work!
I've been toying/fighting with the idea of joining an affiliate for a while now. Part of my wanted to because of chance of extra work on my lifting forms as well as the camraderie of crossfitters. What made me weary was 1) I'm already tied to a gym memebership at Unit 2 Fitness and 2) The arrogance and obnoxousness of certain crossfitters that I don't wish to be associated with. Plus I've had previous experience at an affiliate that wasn't very good. There was no ramp up sessions, it was join up and go and I don't feel that the trainers really paid much attention to the people that were training there unless they were people that they knew. Granted, some of it could have been overconfidence/lack of knowledge on my part but that's what the trainers are there for in my opinion. So as not to cause a shit storm, I will not mention the affiliate or where it's located.
I actually got a good vibe from the affiliate I went to today (Crossfit Sandy Springs if you're curious) mainly because I met Nate who has to be the most positive and energetic dude I've ever met. Normally, people like this set off my bullshit meter as I usually think that people with perma-smiles are fake. But he seemed very genuine and excited to see a new face walk in the gym. I told him I wanted to join up and he got right to down to setting me up with a free session tommorrow morning. He asked me a couple of questions and gave me the waiver paperwork to fill out for tommorrow. No fuss, no sales pitch. Not that he had to since I already knew what I wanted, but it's obvious that he listened and didn't try to shovel stuff down my throat.
What actually made my decide to do this is finally admitting to myself that I can't go this alone. My kickboxing gym is great, but the classes are pretty large so you can be lost within a class. Plus it's alot further away than before and the classes are right around rush hour traffic, which means i have to leave atleast an hour before the class starts. And even then I might not make it or I might talk myself out of going. With the affiliate being a few miles down the road, there's no room for excuses. And I know that going to an affiliate is the closest thing you can get to a personal trainer without paying and arm and a leg for one. That's going to help motivate me to push harder and not take the easy road out. This will help me down the road with my Muay Thai / BJJ training should I decide to enter a competition down the road.
Ehh ok I'm rambling and probably not making so much sense. I'm actually excited about joining an affiliate despite previous experiences and I'm going into this thing with an empty cup. Time to go to work!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Warrior Dash
Today was the warrior dash and it was everything it was cracked up to be, wild costumes, brutal course and then some. From the map on the website, I pictured all of the obsticles to be towards the end of the race, well aparently they were more spread out than i thought. We run for the first 1/2 mile to a mile decently enough before reaching the water planks. Immediately after that we go right into about waist deep water before hitting the tire run. A short run later we hit the cargo net and the car dash where we have to jump over and run through broken down cars. Then the course moves to the back woods where the terrain is slick and hilly. After a while of that you come to the end of the course which is the mud crawl and three fire jumps before the finish.
I don't know what my time was as we didn't wait around to see the results. They'll be posted in two days or so though truthfully I don't care what my time or placing was. While in the end I'm glad to have done the race and enjoyed the day as a whole, I'm not the least bit happy with my performance. I did ok on the obsticles, those were my strong points as expected...what pissed me off was my inability to run for very long without becoming winded and walking. I didn't expect to be up at the front of the race or to be very competative at all, but I shouldn't have been walking a majority of the race. Poor diet and exercise habits have made me very overweight and out of shape. And I think I've finally reached my breaking point with it all.
My friend Robin said that I should be proud of my accomplishments. Just surviving is not an accomplishment and I've been accepting it as such for far too long. Sure the race was tough, but it was much tougher than it should have been. When I crossed that finish line, I felt pathetic. I didn't feel any sense of joy or accomplishment. Even the slight feelings of accomplishment I had after the race were tinged with one thought...I should have done better.
I've always been told that if you give something your best effort, than you have no reason to regret or feel ashamed. Well I don't feel I've been giving anything my all as of late. Even my kickboxing and muay thai sessions are tinged with the same feelings that this race had. I've lost that competative fire I had in high school and into college. That thing that when I looked at that guy infront of me all I can think of is "catch him!", instead of looking back and saying, "well atleast I'm better than these guys." I haven't pushed myself to the limit in so long that i've forgotten what my limits are...so now I push a couple of days and then I take the rest of the week off. I lie to myself and try to say it's good enough, but deep down I know it's no where near good enough. I can barely consider it good.
I'm tired of feeling fat, lazy and week. I'm tired of this constant frustration and feeling like I've got nothing to be proud of. I'm tired of hating myself. I'm tired of feeling winded when I've done nothing. It's time for all of this to end.
This is a new start...what's done is done. I can't think about what I once was anymore. I have to start from where I am, and take my steps from there.
I don't know what my time was as we didn't wait around to see the results. They'll be posted in two days or so though truthfully I don't care what my time or placing was. While in the end I'm glad to have done the race and enjoyed the day as a whole, I'm not the least bit happy with my performance. I did ok on the obsticles, those were my strong points as expected...what pissed me off was my inability to run for very long without becoming winded and walking. I didn't expect to be up at the front of the race or to be very competative at all, but I shouldn't have been walking a majority of the race. Poor diet and exercise habits have made me very overweight and out of shape. And I think I've finally reached my breaking point with it all.
My friend Robin said that I should be proud of my accomplishments. Just surviving is not an accomplishment and I've been accepting it as such for far too long. Sure the race was tough, but it was much tougher than it should have been. When I crossed that finish line, I felt pathetic. I didn't feel any sense of joy or accomplishment. Even the slight feelings of accomplishment I had after the race were tinged with one thought...I should have done better.
I've always been told that if you give something your best effort, than you have no reason to regret or feel ashamed. Well I don't feel I've been giving anything my all as of late. Even my kickboxing and muay thai sessions are tinged with the same feelings that this race had. I've lost that competative fire I had in high school and into college. That thing that when I looked at that guy infront of me all I can think of is "catch him!", instead of looking back and saying, "well atleast I'm better than these guys." I haven't pushed myself to the limit in so long that i've forgotten what my limits are...so now I push a couple of days and then I take the rest of the week off. I lie to myself and try to say it's good enough, but deep down I know it's no where near good enough. I can barely consider it good.
I'm tired of feeling fat, lazy and week. I'm tired of this constant frustration and feeling like I've got nothing to be proud of. I'm tired of hating myself. I'm tired of feeling winded when I've done nothing. It's time for all of this to end.
This is a new start...what's done is done. I can't think about what I once was anymore. I have to start from where I am, and take my steps from there.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Two hours
Muay Thai Class 1 hour
Cardio Kickboxing 1 hour
We worked nothing but kicks in my Muay thai class so of course my legs were shot for the cardio kickboxing.
Next week I'm going to start lifting with the 5/3/1 program, I really need to start bringing my strength up if I'm going to progress at all from these sessions back into sparring.
Cardio Kickboxing 1 hour
We worked nothing but kicks in my Muay thai class so of course my legs were shot for the cardio kickboxing.
Next week I'm going to start lifting with the 5/3/1 program, I really need to start bringing my strength up if I'm going to progress at all from these sessions back into sparring.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Road to Warrior Dash
Cardio Kickboxing - 1 hour.
I'm excited and dreading the warrior dash at the same time. It should be a really fun time and an awesome race, however, I'm so despressingly out of a shape that I'm afriad of how bad I'm going to do. Not much I can do about it now, just prepare as best as I can and do the best that I can.
I'm excited and dreading the warrior dash at the same time. It should be a really fun time and an awesome race, however, I'm so despressingly out of a shape that I'm afriad of how bad I'm going to do. Not much I can do about it now, just prepare as best as I can and do the best that I can.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Early Session
Cardio Kickboxing 1 hour.
Nothing special to report, my cardio still sucks but that's why I do these things. I'm going to start working in weights next week.
No Muay Thai session tonight because I have a date....yes you read that right.
Nothing special to report, my cardio still sucks but that's why I do these things. I'm going to start working in weights next week.
No Muay Thai session tonight because I have a date....yes you read that right.
Monday, May 3, 2010
2 full hours!
Muay Thai beginners class 1 hr
Cardio Kickboxing class 1 hr
The cardo kickboxing class was odd today as the instructor pulled out some really weird kick/punch combinations. Still it was nice to get two hours in.
I've also decided to hold off on the competative kickboxing tourney's as I'm nowhere near fighting shape and I've got too many other things going on right now that I really can't focus on the training. For now I'm just going to keep up with the classes and slowly work in strength work and wods until I can hold my own in hard sparring sessions.
Cardio Kickboxing class 1 hr
The cardo kickboxing class was odd today as the instructor pulled out some really weird kick/punch combinations. Still it was nice to get two hours in.
I've also decided to hold off on the competative kickboxing tourney's as I'm nowhere near fighting shape and I've got too many other things going on right now that I really can't focus on the training. For now I'm just going to keep up with the classes and slowly work in strength work and wods until I can hold my own in hard sparring sessions.
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