WOD:

Front Squat Test for Max: 190 (pr) (I think I had another 5-10 lbs, but the rules were stop at your first pr)

4 RFTO:
200m row
10 Box jumps to 36" box
10 Straight Leg Rases

8:53 ish

Waking Weight: 171.4
Sleep: 10.5 hours

WOD:
backsquat: 175/20
weighted ring dip: 45/5, 45/5, 45/5
hang muscle clean: 135/2, 95/5, 100/5, 100/5

Deadhang Pull-Up Max Reps: 14

GHD Sit-Up: 20
Back/Hip extensions: 15
x2

Waking Weight:172.4
Sleep: 10 hours

WOD:
Deadlift 280/2, 280/2, 280/2, 280/2, 280/2
Press 100/3, 100/3, 100/3
Weighted Pull-up: 42.5/5, 42.5/3, 42.5/3

Greyskull Articles: Why I Resigned my Affiliation with CrossFit

Check it:

Greyskull Articles: Why I Resigned my Affiliation with CrossFit

Strangest day with backsquats. I was planning to do 200/5x3. I warmed up, did my first 3 reps of my first set no problem. Then my shorts broke. The button on the front came off. I racked the bar and decided to just not count that partial set. I found a rope to tie my shorts and continued. I seemed to have lost my groove. I did what I could, but I seemed to get worse and worse. Strange.

200/3, 200/2 (ditched the 3rd rep), 195/3, 195/2, 195/2

Weighted Ring Dips: 42.5/5, 42.5/5, 42.5/5

Max Deadhangs: 14

GHD Situps x30

Deadlift 255/5, 255/5, 255/5
Press 95/5, 95/5, 95/3
Weighted Pull-Up: 40/5, 40/5, 40/4

250m Row: 47.6

Yesterday's WOD:

4 Rounds for Time:
200m sprint (100m out and back)
20 squats
10 burpees
5 rings

8:45

Sleep 7 hours
Waking weight: 166.8

WOD:
Backsquat: 190/5, 190/5, 190/7
Weighted Ring Dip:40/5, 40/5, 40/6
Power Clean: 135/5, 135/4, 135/3 (Pulling early)

15 Pull-ups
2 min rest
14 Chin-Ups

Waking weight: 167.8
Sleep 8.5 hours tossed and turned a bit.

WOD:
Deadlift 245/5, 245/5, 245/5
Press 90/5, 90/5, 90/5
Weighted Ring Pull-up: 35/5, 35/5, 35/5
250m row 48.5 seconds :-(

Monday's WOD:
400/m repeats x3 w/ 4 min rest
1:08, 1:12, 1:14
I felt awful going into these. Not sure why. The last 200m of each I had to slow.

Today:
Waking Weight: 169.0
Sleep 8.5 hours

WOD:

Backsquat: 205/2, 205/2, 205/2
Single Arm KB press: 24kg/2, 24kg/2, 24kg/2 (each arm)

Waking Weight: 167.4
Sleep: 9 hours. Slept well enough. Still acclimating to the new space.
I'm having a hard time keeping hydrated in this heat. . .

WOD:

Backsquat: 175/20 (Crappy 20 though. I reracked the bar for about 3 seconds after rep 13.)

Weighted Ring Dips: 8kg/10, 8kg/10, 8kg/10

Weighted Ring Pull-Ups: 8kg/8, 8kg/6, 8kg/5

GHD Sit-ups; 1x20

Fire Delay

Waking weight: 166.6
Sleep 10 hours
Slept deep, by slept in a bad position and my back and right shoulder are sore

I'm supposed to be training today, but the fires in the area are killing my respiratory system and I'm going to take the day off. 'll try to do my 20-rep and high-rep weight workout tomorrow.

WOD:
Front Squat: 145/5, 145/5, 145/4 (failed leaving the bottom of the 5th. Weight came forward off the racked position)
Kb Press: 20/3, 20/3, 20/3 (each arm)

Mini WOD:
15-12-9
95lb power clean
ring dips

4:29

I've got a lot going on this week and I'm going to try to keep this as up to date as possible. . .

waking weight: 165.4
sleep: 8.5 hours
nutrition: 24p/19c/63f
PWON: 40g whey isolate/30g fat from coconut milk

WOD:
Backsquat 170/20
Bench 135/10, 135/10, 135/10 after each set Max ring pullups (12/8/8)

Waking Weight 162.2
Sleep 10 hours
Nutrition:
24p/19c/63f

WOD:
Backsquat 200/3, 200/3, 200/3
Single Arm KB press: 20kg/2. 20kg/2. 20kg/. 20kg/2. 20kg/2 (each arm)
GHD sit-ups: 3x15

Running in the Dark

11pm Sprints at Arcadia Track:
5x200m sprints with 3:00 rest in between.
I was having a hard time with the exact times of each sprint since I couldn't see my watch once I pulled up. They all sat between 28-31 seconds.

I've been bad about recording my weight the last couple days. I only slept like 4 hours Friday night. (It happens) Got about 7.5 good ones in last night.

One Arm Fun

Sleep: 6 hours (Not enough, but slept well for what little time I got to sleep)
Waking Weight: 160.0
Nutrition: 20p/15c/55f (I'm eating sushi tonight, I'm going to try to eyeball my blocks. Bringing my own gluten free soy sauce)
Post Workout: 32g protein/36g carb (Whey isolate/berries/honey)

WOD:
AMRAP in 15:
10 Box Jumps 30" box
7 L arm kettlebell snatch @ 24kilos
5 Hip extensions

7 rounds on the dot.

Rest Day

Sleep 7.5 hours. Slept well.
Waking weight: 163.0 lbs
Nutrition for the day: 20p/15c/55f

So far, I've felt very hungry even with a decent amount of food. I'm guessing it's related to the hormonal response to the 20 rep back squats and sprints.

More data

Ok. I'm going to start including more data in my blog here. Check the new format:

Sleep: 8 hours. I had a rough time getting to sleep last night, but once I was out, I slept deeply.
Waking Weight: 160.8 lbs
Nutrition for the day: 20p/15c/55f
Post workout: 50g protein/30g fat (Whey Isolate/Coconut milk)

WOD:
Backsquat: 165/20 (pr)
Bench: 115/10. 125/10. 125/14
Ring Pull-ups: 3x10
Hip/Back Extensions: 2x15

Kickboxing drills

Round 1: jab
Round 2: 1, 2
Round 3, 1, 2, 3
Round 4, 1, 2, 3, 4
Round 5: 1, 2, 3, slip, 2, 3, 5 to body
Round 6, 1, 2, shot followed by 1, 1, 3, shot

100 front kicks each leg

Backsquat 185/3, 185/3, 185/3

Single arm kb press (each arm): 20 kilo/3, 20 kilo/3, 24 kilo/2, 24 kilo/2

GHD sit-ups: 3x15

400m sprint 1:04

rest 4 min

400m sprint 1:07

rest 4 min

400m sprint 1:11

BJJ tourney

I competed in a BJJ tournament for the first time in quite a while over the weekend. I've been getting over a few chronic injuries and haven't been in shape to compete in a while.

My first match, my opponent pulled guard. I was much stronger than him and I got a bit cocky. I tried an old school move to get him to open guard. I used a collar choke from inside his guard to bait him to go for the armbar and open his guard. He went for the armbar, but managed to trap my arm by grabbing the sleeve with both hands and pulling it over his head. I'd never seen this counter before and I got caught. Additionally, when he took the armbar, I got knocked over and both of our bodies landed on my outstretched arm, spraining it pretty seriously.

I accepted my mistake and decided to continue in the double elimination tournament despite the injury to my arm. After having to wait over an hour for my second fight, I was finally called up. I pulled guard this time since I didn't want to wrestle with a bad arm. I landed in cross guard. He tried to pass a few times and I kept him square with the hips, throwing a couple submissions at him to keep him off balance. Eventually, I moved to the deep half-guard and swept the guy. (the ref never gave me points.) Just as I began to pass, the ref told us we were going out of bounds and had to restart in the center of the mat. He would not drag us over and after breaking, my opponent claimed he did not remember the position and grips. Despite my protest, the ref decided to start us from butterfly guard. My opponent was also given sleeve control on both arms! He quickly swept me. I assumed the score was now 2-2 after we had both been swept. I continued to stuff his attempts to pass. The ref kept restarting us and never giving the correct position!!! With about 1 minute left, I heard my teammates shouting "you have to go now, you are down on points." I was confused and tried to set-up a sweep. I couldn't find an opening, so I transitioned to full guard and went for a collar choke, but time expired.

Overall, I felt fine about my performance outside of my one huge mistake. There is nothing I can do about a bad ref. I need to work on my counter to the cross body half guard pass as my opponent was able to stall effectively with it. Otherwise, I need to keep my strategy and not try new and high risk moves in a competition.

How you like me now

Front Squat: 45/5, 95/3, 115/1, 135/1, 155/1, 165/1, 175/1 (PR)

Kettlebell Turkish Getup: 16kilo/3 each arm, 20kilo/1 each arm.

Supplements

I'm not a huge fan of supplements. The body uses nutrients from whole food sources much more efficiently than supplements. I do, however, take a few daily. Here's the list:

Peter Gilliam's Organic Life Liquid Vitamins- 2 tbsp/day
Carlson's Finest Fish Oil- 12 grams/day
Vitamin E- 400 iu/day
Maca root- 2 tsp/day
Creatine Monohydrate- 1 tsp/day
L Glutamine- 5 grams after an intense workout lasting longer than 15 minutes.

I had to take a few days off this week. I took a nasty head kick during sparring with one of the pro fighters at MMA practice the other day. I'm reasonably sure I suffered a mild concussion. After a couple days I feel normal again.

Last night:
Kettlebell Press: 35/3, 35/3, 35/3, 35/3, 35/3 (Each Arm) Focused on form and keeping my shoulder firmly in the joint.

2 Mile sprint: 11:52

Kickboxing- No revelations tonight. Spent most of the class kicking pads. Mostly kicks I wouldn't use personally in a fight. i'd throw a teep or "push kick" to keep distance or a leg kick, but that's about all. Did some kick checking to counter drills. I think I could use a checked leg kick to set up a single pretty easily.

BJJ+ Did all my sparring starting standing. My wrestling felt good, I was able to control most of the standup. Focused on James' advice to keep their head away at all times. Hit my D'acre chokes and kimuras all night. Took a few incidental elbows and knees though, leaving me with a little brusing around my left eye and my left ear got a bit swollen. Iced both after class.

Back to it

OK, I've been bad about logging my workouts on here.

Squat: 160/20
Bench: 155/3, 155/3, 155/3
Weighted Pull-Up: 35/3, 35/3, 35/3, 35/3, 35/3

BJJ Tonight. I injured my wrist boxing over the weekend, so I'm going to lay off grip intensive moves. No collar chokes or gi based sweeps and control positions. I think I'll try and work on closed guard and controlling the posture. My goal will be to sweep, submit or stand up as quickly as possible. I'm trying to simulate landing in the bottom position during an MMA fight.

And the beat goes on. . .

Yesterday:
Clean and Jerk:
95/3, 115/2, 125/1, 135/1. 145/1, 155/fail. . .my jerk was feeling off so. .
Split Jerk From Rack:
95/3, 95/3, 105/3, 105/3, 115/3

WOD:
5 Rounds for time:
5 Pull-Ups
10 Kettlebell Swings (1.5 pood)
4:20

Today
Back Squat:
45/10, 95/5, 135/3, 155/1, 165/1, 175/3, 175/3, 175/3

WOD:
AMRAP in 10 Minutes:
10 Hang Power Snatches w/ 45 lb bar
10 GHD Sit-Ups
10 Back Extensions

Completed 6 rounds plus all 10 Snatches of the next round

Relative Intensity Begins

WOD:

Heavy Christine:

500m Row
12 Deadlifts @ 165 (55% 1rm)
21 Box Jumps

11:48

Recover, then:

Bench:

125/5, 125/5, 125/5, 125/5, 125/11 (approx 70% of 1rm)

Friday:
Power Clean 115/5, 115/5, 135/5, 145/3
Press 85/3, 85/3, 85/4
Backsquat 145/20

Today:
Backsquat: 190/3 (ditched the bar), 190/4, 190/5
Bench: 155/5, 155/5, 155/4
Weighted PU: 46.5/3, 46.5/3, 46.5/3

Mini WOD:
50 Wallballs

2:32

Squats were really hard today. I think playing basketball and jiu-jitsu over the weekend compromised my recovery. I'm going to focus on recovery this week. . .

Got Abs?

OHS
85/5, 95/5, 105/3, 105/5, 110/5

Mini WOD

3 rounds:
250m row
10 tire jumps
10 burpees

6:04

Blah. . Internet

The internet at my house has been out, so I didn't log last fridays WOD. It was as follows:

Deadlift 255/3, 255/3, 255/3
Press 80/5, 80/5, 80/5
Mini WOD:

500m row
3 rounds:
10 push-ups
10 squats

Todays WOD:

Backsquat: 185/5, 185/5, 185/5
Bench 150/5, 150/5, 150/5
Weighted Pull-ups: 44/3, 44/3, 44/5

Mini WOD:

Max pull-ups
followed by
3 rounds:
10 push-ups
10 squats
then
max length pinch grip each hand w/ 15 lb BFS bumpers

O-Lift Pratix

Burgner warm-up

25 OHS w/ pvc

Clean and jerk 45/3, 65/5, 75/5, 95/10
rested as needed.

Focused on not pulling early with my arms. As I fatigued, I began to pull before reaching triple extension.

If you could wake up in a different place, in a different time, could you wake up as a different person?

Backsquat 175/5, 175/5, 175/8
Bench: 145/5, 145/5, 145/5 (Last rep had slight help from spy. . )
Weighted PU: 42.5/3, 42.5/3, 42.5/3

MiniWOD:

10 Burpee Pull-Ups
10 Box Jumps
10 Burpee Pull-Ups
10 Box Jumps
5 Burpee Pull-Ups
5 Box Jumps

3:17

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves. . .

Deadlift 3/235, 3/235, 3/235
Shoulder Press 75/5, 75/5, 75/6

Mini WOD
3 rounds:
10 Wall-Balls to 11 feet
10 Power Cleans @ 95 lbs
10 Ring Dips

6:33

The New Deal

Today was the first day of my new training program focusing on my weaknesses. I'm doing all the programming and Cptn. Jack Spyros is coming along for the ride.

WOD:
Backsquat 165/5, 165/5, 165/6
Bench: 135/5, 135/5, 135/5
Weighted Chin-Ups: 44/3, 44/3, 44/3 (Chest to bar)

Mini WOD:
3 rounds for time:
5 Thrusters @ 95 lbs
10 CTB Pull-Ups
15 Box Jumps

7:43

Missed about 7 pull-ups and 1 thruster. Burnt a lot of time there.

Friday's WOD

Firefighter WOD:
30 box jumps
150 m farmer's walk w/ 45 lb DB
Hose Drag/Pull
800m Run
30 KB swings @ 1 pood
30 Wallballs

9:30

Self-Assessment

I'm going to take a closer look at my training and really attack my weaknesses from here on out. To start that, I'm going to assess myself and make a list of things I need to work on the most. I will then add this to my programming. Additionally, I'm going to adhere to more strict standards on my WODs.

10 General Physical Skills:

Cardio/Respiratory Endurance: This one has always been easy for me. I don't need to focus here.

Stamina: Same as above. only thing I ever have problems with are pull-ups in late rounds of a long WOD.

Strength: This is my biggest issue. Need to get more time under the bar. Backsquat, deadlift, bench, power cleans, presses overhead.

Flexability: Also an issue. I have tight hamstrings, a fucked up lower back and some decent kyphosis going on in my spine. Gotta hit this more. Wall squats, OHS and using Kris as a resource on the kyphosis and realigning my spine.

Power: Also an issue. Need to work on this. Power Cleans, Sprints, O-lifting, Thrusters, Wall Balls and jumping.

Speed: Not really an issue. I could use some track work at short distances, 100s and 200s only. Just to get up my explosiveness and top speed. Otherwise, no real concerns.

Coordination: Between BJJ and CrossFit, I'm good here nothing needed to enhance coordination training.

Agility: Fighting will take care of this part of training.

Balance: Once agian, squats and fighting. A non-issue

Accuracy: Wallballs are gonna go higher (12 feet if possible and pull-ups are now chest to bar.)

Things I Suck At:
Thrusters, O-Lifts, Wallballs, Presses, OHS, Going really heavy.

Now to attack all these bullshit weaknesses. . .

Another scorcher

Today's WOD:

Power clean: 115/3, 135/3, 145/3
3 Box jumps after each set

Backsquat: 145/20

Mini WOD:
200m sprint
Farmer's Walk 1.5 pood kettlebell 100m
200m sprint
Farmer's Walk 100m
20 Burpee to Pull-ups

5:15
Tied Brian for best time. Missed my first burpee cuz my chest didn't touch the ground. Gotta make every second count. Damn.

Hot Cindy

WOD:
Cindy outdoors in 100 degree heat.

AMRAP in 20 Minutes:
5 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 squats

Completed 16 rounds. The hot bars destroyed my hands.

Thrusters: The Root of All Evil?

O-Lift WOD:

Back Squat: 185/3, 185/3, 185/3

Benchpress: 135/5, 135/5, 135/5 w/ 10 SDHP using 20 kg kettlebell after each set

Weighted Pulls: 40/3, 40/3, 40/3

Mini Wod

3 rounds:
10 Pull-ups
10 Thrusters @ 95

9:4?

Man, I suck at thrusters. I'm gonna start doing a few every day. . . I got really frustrated during the mini-WOD. . .

Pimp Status

10 rounds for time: 

5 Deadlifts @ 225

5 push-ups

5 box jumps

14:16

Only did 8 rounds of deadlifts because my lumbar started rounding.  Dropped to 185 for last 2 rounds.  Push-ups and box jumps were easy enough.

My CNS was fried after this WOD.  Slept 3.5 hours after completing it. . . .

I can workout again!!!

Monday night I landed on my head during Jiu-Jitsu practice.  Until this morning, my neck was worthless.  After having to take a few days off, I was able to workout again.

Todays WOD:

approx. 4 mi beach run.

2 rounds of 

25 push-ups

50 squats

Gymnastics practice:

3x 20 ft rope climb w/ no legs

15 pull-ups

and drum roll 6, yes 6 legit muscle-ups. . . .

All at once

Saturday- Santa Anita Derby Day 5k. Finished in 19:19. The official time was 19:21. Don't know where the 2 seconds was lost.

Monday-

7 HSPU
12 L-Pull-Ups
AMRAP in 20 min.

I finished 5 rounds + 6 L's with slightly modified HSPU's. Used the Dip Bars to support legs during the HSPUs.

Today-

O-Lift

5/3 Snatch grip deadlifts w/ shrug. 4 pistols each leg in between sets
All sets w/ 115 lbs.


Press
85/3, 85/3, 85/3

Mini WOD:
3 rounds:
10 Push-ups
10 Box Jumps
10 Pull-ups
10 Burpees

4:47

I suck

Yeah, I've been bad about writing in the last week. What I missed was the following:

Thursday 3/26:

Backsquat 165/7, 165/7, 165/5 15 pullups after each set

Mini WOD:
15 Hang Power Snatch @ 45lbs
10 Pull-ups
5 Burpee Box Jumps
3 rounds for time

5:5?

Fri: 3/27

Warrior WOD
The Maltz Challenge

400m run
50 Pull-ups
200m farmers walk w/ 45lb dumbells
50 dips
100 push-ups
50 hanging knees to elbows
100 situps
400m run

30:52

Over the weekend I watched 2 days of Jiu-Jitsu at the Pan-Ams. Learned a whole lot. Saw a fixed MMA fight and didn't sleep near enough.

This week I'm taking off from CrossFit as I've been going hard for 6 weeks in a row and now its time for a week off. BJJ will continue as usual. I'm competing in the best of the west tournament 4/26. Should be good times. Intermediate division at 160 lbs. I'm 166 right now so no problem making the cut.

Sat is the Santa Anita Derby Day 5k. Registered today and bought a pair of New Balance racing flats that were on clearance. We'll see how that goes

O-Lift WOD
Deadlift 205/5, 225/5, 235/5, 235/3, 245/2, 275/1 (Pr)
3 box jumps to highest possible box after each set

Backsquat 135/20

Mini WOD:
200m sprint
200m farmer's walk w/ 2x 24kg kettlebell (1.5 pood or 53 lbs)
10 pull-ups
200m farmer's walk w 2x 24kg kettlebell
20 box jumps
200m row

6:57

Warrior WOD Michael:

Three rounds for time:

800m Run

50 Back Extensions

50 Sit-Ups

17:52

O-Lift WOD

Bench Press: 125/8, 125/8. 125/8
After each set, 10 dead hang pull-ups

Push Jerk from Back
105/3, 95/3. 95/3
Sprint to gate and back after each set
(Note to self, sprinting in weightlifting shoes is a bad idea. Stopping is very hard)

Mini WOD:
20-15-10
Pull-Ups
Squatting Box Jumps
Push-Ups

6:? (I think around 6:20-6:30)

O-Lift Wod

Max Snatch Balance: PVCx5, 45x3, 65x2, 75x2, 95x1, 105 (fail), 105x1

Back Squat: 165x3, 165x3, 165x3, 165x3, 165x7

5 sets of 10 perfect clapping push-ups

50 burpee to pull-ups: 5:05

O-Lift WOD

Burgner Warm-Up x2 once with pvc, once with 45lb bar

OHS 45x5, 65x5, 85x2, 95x1, 115x1, 135 (lost control at the bottom.)

Snatch grip Push-Press max of 140 (Tweaked my arm. Felt strong enough to go up in weight, but didn't want to risk injury.)

Fish Game score 1140

O-Lift WOD:

Front Squat: 95/10, 105/8, 115/6, 135/3, 140/2, 145/2, 150/2
Between each set, 3 max height wall jumps

Press: 65/8, 65/8. 70/8

50 Burpees for time 3:49

I noticed that I was allowing the bar to travel to far from my body during the press. On the last set, I brought it closer to my nose and the movement became markedly easier.

No Gi BJJ tonight. Still having alot of success with the D'arce chokes. Got about 8 finished tonight. Otherwise, guillotines and kimuras. Nothing really new there. I was having mixed success with some new passes. Time will tell.

O-Lift WOD

3x3 Deadlift + Shrug @ 185
After each set 5x standing broad jump

3x3 Push Press 1st 2 sets @ 115 last at 105

1 minute on, 1 minute off of jumping squats with 45lb bar for 3 minutes

Saturday's WOD:

Burgner Warm-Up

Front Squat: 45x8, 95x5, 115x2, 135x1, 155x1, 165x1, attempted 175 and missed.

Split Jerk From Rack: 45x5, 95x2, 105x1, 115x1, 125x1, 135x1

Stronger, Faster and Generally More Badass

One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die. -Darwin

Today was a good day. I had a rough WOD this morning. Afterwards, I saw Nathan hit a badass 275 clean and jerk. Follow that with some interning and a great no gi bjj class and a whole lotta delicious paleo food all day and you got one badass day.

WOD:

Overhead squat
8x65
8x75
2x 85 (Lost control and the ascent from the secong squat)
8x85 (pr)

Power Clean
95 good
115 good
135 good
145 good (pr)
150 no good

Weighted Pull-up
3/3 bw+35

Mini WOD
200 m row
15 kb swings @ 1.5 Pood
15 pushups
x3

Finished in 5:06

BJJ class was great today. I'm really feeling my focus on strength and o-lift paying off. I'm overpowering almost all of my opponents. My power generated from hip drive is pretty significant anymore. I can actually feel myself getting faster and stronger. If today me met last year me, I would whoop his ass. Pretty cool.

Can't wait for my rest day tomorrow. I feel like I've earned this one.

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

Today my only WOD was BJJ class. I was feeling pretty beat up after O-lift/Strength training yesterday and since it was Freddy's first night back I wanted to hit BJJ hard. Practice was good, I still feel like I get tired a bit quicker than usual, but I think I'm not quite as recovered from shingles as I would like to think I am. I'm sure it will come back with time.

Once again, I'm killing my nutrition. It has never been so good. For anyone unfamiliar with my current nutrition, let me give you the current break down. Much of this is based on Robb Wolf's writings. If you don't quite get what I'm talking about feel free to shoot me an email or talk to me in person.

I''m basically deconstructing the zone diet.

I eat 16 blocks at 2x fat. This means everyday to cover my caloric needs, I'm eating 16 blocks of carbs, 16 blocks of protein and 32 blocks of food.

I'm not however, eating every meal in strict zone proportions. I'm taking advantage of a concept called "nutrient timing." This is the principal that eating different foods at specific times can allow for more efficient use of the nutritional make-up of that food. 1/2 of my carbs are eaten immediately following my workout. The rest are spread out as I see fit over my other meals. To do this and stay full, I'm eating vegetables almost exclusively for most meals. To get enough carbs after a workout, I'll eat something like a sweet potato, yam, squash or something else with a higher glycemic-impact. My protein and fat I just try to divide up evenly over all my meals. Additionally, I'm trying to loose a slight amount of body fat, so I'm removing a few carb blocks and replacing them with additional fat blocks. (More on this another day) For each carb block I remove, I have to add 3 fat blocks. Currently, I have removed 2. This means I have added 6 fat blocks coming to a grand total of 16 protein blocks, 14 carb blocks and 38 fat blocks to be eaten over the course of the day. I know that's a lot to digest at once. (awful pun) I'll go into more detail on how I came up with these numbers in a later blog.

The King is Back

Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.
-Bruce Lee

Today was my first day back at Jiu-Jitsu after about a month off mostly due to me getting shingles. I felt pretty good overall. I was able to hit most of my signature chokes during sparring. (D'arce, Guillotine, Arm Triangle). I feel like my whole kimura game isn't as effective as it used to be. Either my teammates are getting used to it or I need to re-vamp it a bit. Good news is I felt super strong and fast during sparring. I weighed myself at 158 today when I woke up which is the lightest I've been in years. My performance at this weight is far better than when I was at 174 a while back. I'm much stronger and faster. I'd still like to put on some weight at some point in time, but for now, no complaints.

I'm still struggling with the balance between CrossFit and BJJ. Too much of one and I'm too tired to see the benefits of the other. I had a protein shake with bananas to act as a recovery drink about 30 minutes after practice. We'll see how my glycogen levels feel tomorrow. Freddy is back, so I need to go to class again. Should be interesting to see what happens as far as integrating into the new school.

Also, I tried some contrast hydro-therapy for recovery. The ghetto way to do this is alternate your shower between hot and cold. I usually go for about 1 minute hot followed by 1 miutes cold. Repeat the whole thing 3 times and end up with a last burst of hot for about 30 seconds before getting out. We'll see if this helps. Also, I'm about to ice a couple places that feel sore and stretch a bit before bed. Gonna need my sleep tonight.

Today's WOD was O-Lift Class.

Backsquat 165lbs x3, then 5x Box Jumps on the 36" box. Whole thing x5

Deadlift 160lbsx20

Mini WOD
20-15-10
Pull-ups
Push-ups
Squats

4:19

My recovery meal was just an orange and a scoop of whey protein.

An hour later I had a salmon salad.

Now to prepare for tonight. Kids BJJ at 5, CF interning at 6 and 7 followed by BJJ class at 8. Long day ahead. . .

Rest/Fast Day

...bodybuilding is men on a stage in their underwear wearing brown paint showing other men their muscles. It is training for appearance only, and at the contest level requires a degree of vanity, narcissism, and self-absorption that I find distasteful and odd.

-Mark Rippetoe

Sleep last night 8.5-9 solid hours!

Today was my rest day. I've been using my rest days recently to experiment with intermittent fasting. My last meal yesterday was at 10 pm. My fast listed 18 hours until 4pm today. I then had a small salad before interning at the 5, 6, and 7 classes. So far I've been really enjoying the fasting. I'm not terribly hungry and the slight edge seems to give me additional mental clairity and drive. More on this as I continue the trend.

Hopefully in the next few days, I'll be posting an essay more substantial than my rambling about what I did today. Until then, too bad.

Helen

I was orginally going to do track work today, but I got a call last night about a Helen throwdown taking place today. I decided to do this over track work as I feel I need to work on my pull-up speed during WODs.

For anyone who does not know what Helen is, it is as follows:

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

I finished in 10:42.

Once again the last set of pull-ups slowed me down. My grip becomes so smoked by that time, I'm fighting to hold onto the bar. I just need to work on kettlebell swings with the wide handle and consecutive kips. Even better, I could get the butterfly kip down and really increase my pull-up speed.

My nutrition has been on point the last few days. I'm trying a recovery meal concept that I got from Robb Wolf's blog. I'm eating half of my carbs for the day in my post workout meal. They are high glycemic carbs like sweet potatoes and yams. Then I have some protein to go with it. Right now that means I'm having 8 blocks of carbs (72 grams) and 4 blocks of protein (28 grams). I've only been doing it for a few days, so I'll see how it works over the next few weeks.

Tabata Yo Mama

Today's WOD occured at home. I have minimal equipment, so I created the following WOD:

Tabata Yo Mama:

Kettlebell Swings
Push-ups
Double-unders
Squats

Each exercise is performed using the Tabata model of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated 8 times before moving to the next exercise. 30 seconds of rest is allowed between exercises. Your score is the lowest number of reps completed during any 20 second work period of the exercise.

Here is how I did:

Kettlebell Swings @ 1 pood
11 (I need to buy a heavier kettlebell.)

Push-Ups
5 (This was way harder than I thought it would be. First round I got 22 and last round only 5.)

Double-unders
15 (This makes your heartrate go off the charts.)

Squats
13

The Genesis

As the importance of keeping written records has recently become obvious to me, I have decided to start a blog in order to share the records that I am keeping. There are a few functions I hope to use this blog to achieve:

1. Keep a journal of my training
2. Share information on my experience as an intern at Team CrossFit Academy
3. Post thoughts and information on nutrition based on my experiences.
4. Publish essays and articles that I write online.
5. Share any other information I find interesting fitness related or otherwise.