The sweet taste of 3-a-days and rowing seminar taught by Olympic and World Champions

What a fun Saturday. I haven’t done three a days since 2001 back when I competed in Tae Kwon Do tournaments………and yes 2001, we get it I’m old. Erin and I are training with everyone getting ready to compete at Crossfit Regional’s and those getting ready for the Affiliate Cup. We don’t plan to be on the main team this year but if they have a second Affiliate Cup team we may do that. Our goal is to see how our body reacts and what leaps in our progression will come from doing training. Plus it’s just fun to hang out with everyone, have a reason to get into sick shape and make sure we’re in beach body shape for the summer :-)

WODS and notes::

1st WOD @ 0900 - Three rds, 15 thrusters and 100 meter sand bag run (upstairs, wall to wall). M135, W95.

It took me forever to get warm and excited to work out. It’s 9am on a Saturday but once I got into it, this was the right way to start off our day. I can do 135 pound thrusters but I can’t link enough of them together yet so it was suggested I modify and do a lighter weight, so I did 105 pound thrusters and Erin did 60 pound thrusters, Erin should have and could have done more weight but it’s our first workout of our first 3 a day so she and I were playing it a little conservative to see how our bodies will handle the extra work.

I will point out what isn’t included with our WODs times is anytime we do a run of any sort we have to go down 2 flights of stairs then run back up them, so our times seem a little slower but that’s because we’re running hills and stairs instead of a flat level surface. I say that because we ran down the stairs, picked up 65 pound sandbag then ran them wall to wall which is about 100-150 meters, then put them down, run up the stairs and hit more thrusters. This works your legs so nice it will give you serious J-Lo booty.

Doing 105 pound thrusters, stairs, sand bag run I wound up finishing in 8 minutes 36 seconds.

Erin did 60 pound thrusters, sand bag run finished in 10 minutes 12 seconds

Matt Wrecked this WOD and finished at 7:21 finishing more than 40 seconds ahead of the next fastest person.

2nd WOD @ 1100 - 2 rounds for time of: 500 m Row, 15 Oh Squats 95/65 lbs, 500 m Row, 15 Toes to Bars.

Good WOD except there is rowing in it, but not every WOD can be perfect for me. This WOD I pushed pretty hard too, the only reason I had to slow down and break up my toes to bar was because my baby hands tore during this WOD. I moved my toes to bar to the rings during the last round and was able to link them together.

My Finish 15:29

Rowing Seminar at noon:

I forgot today is the day for the Rowing Seminar taught by Bob Cummins who is a World Champion Rower and Anna Cummins who has won an Olympic Gold and Silver medal. If these two people can’t make me fall in love with the rower then nobody can. http://www.cumminschiropractic.com/about_us.html

The seminar was great, I didn’t realize how horrible my technique was and how lazy I’d let my body get during the strokes. This made me very inefficient wasting a lot of energy. I wasn’t getting the power some others were getting but after completing the seminar I am getting the same power as I was before but expending a lot less energy, so that’s a good start and hopefully more power will come. I’m not in love with the rower yet but this seminar put me on better speaking terms with the rower and hopefully our friendship can blossom from there.

We wound up rowing 5-6000 meters during the seminar, with one more WOD to go to end our day.

3rd WOD @ 1300 - Row 1000m, Run 1 mile.

The 1000 meter row was my standard time but I did notice I focused on my technique a lot talking to myself “legs, body arms, arms body legs, legs, body arms, arms, body legs….” I looked at Jon in the rower next to me, he’s still beating me by 30 seconds per 500 meters but just focus and work on my stroke. I finished my 1000 meter, before I’d be exhausted, but this time I jumped out of the rower and thought I could catch up to Jon and Matt who finished the row far ahead of me. I caught up to Matt really quick, he isn’t the fastest runner and I think his back was bothering him (note to self if or when I challenge Matt to a WOD make sure there is running in it) Then as I head down the first hill I see Jon in my site. I can catch him! He finished the row so far ahead of everyone I swear I saw him running with his arms extended to the side swerving from left to right like he was an airplane and making engine noises……vroooooooommmmm. He made the first turn looked back and saw me, that stopped his airplane imitation and he put it in Jon gear. I finished less than a minute behind him which means no rowing in our WOD challenge but running is still going to be in it.

I didn’t win the WOD but took a nice second place.

1000 meter row, 1 mile run, climb stupid stairs to finish in 11 minutes 21 seconds.

Erin did great on this WOD too, top female time of 13 minutes 16 seconds.....She has more fist pumping victory laps than I do.

First week of 3 a days and our bodies feel great, sore but great.

Functional Movement for Functional Application

One of the best things of Crossfit are the movements and exercises help build strength, speed, explosiveness and flexibility. So your day to day activities are easier and most importantly when you have to challenge other families, you can go out and DOMINATE!!!!!

This Dominating performance is brought to today by the letter C for Crossfit.

Random: Boobies is a funny word

So last night I attended a meeting at my oldest daughter’s school to receive an overview of the schools upcoming Sex Ed curriculum. This was an opportunity for parents to ask questions or opt their child out of this.

My concern isn’t about whether sex education should be taught in the school, what I’m worried about is when we were receiving the overview they showed us part of the video they’ll play in the class. It was literally made in the early 1990’s, the three kids looked like Vanilla Ice, Kid from Kid-n-Play and an early version of J-Lo when she was a dancer on In Living Color. You can’t make this up, it was RADICAL.

When I saw the kids being early 90’s cool I almost fell out of my seat laughing, but I held it together because I’m surrounded by other parents that are obviously more mature than me. The video was good, it will get the job done for what the class needs, but then they start talking about hormones. They break away from the kids, show a cartoon and when they say you’ll feel different, they had sparkles and stars circling around the cartoon boy and cartoon girls genitalia. As they showed that the first thing that popped in my head was "hehe boobies is a funny word". I started giggling like a school girl and couldn’t stop. I look around and nobody else is smiling, they are taking notes and really taking this video serious. I tried to hold it in but couldn’t so I had to fake that I’m receiving a phone call then I get up and leave the class. I giggled it out in the hall, grabbed a drink of water and regained my composure. Those other parents must be lame because that video was funny.

I do know that if I receive a note home from her school that she was removed from the class because she kept giggling during the video, I’ll try not to be too upset :-) Chances are that won’t happen because my 11 year old daughter is much more mature than me.

Another challenge on the table

Sometimes I’m put into situations where my mouth isn’t to blame. I blame Gabe this time, he’s one of the trainers at the CFBV. He posted a workout he was planning to do, from that a conversation came up regarding a previous WOD, then somehow in there Gabe say’s “hey Ron why don’t you challenge Jon to a WOD” I’m still not recovered from the Mess with a Navy Seal Day workout. But of course since he said I should challenge Jon, now I have to. I can’t look like I’m scared or look as if I don’t think I’d win…..because the truth is I’m Ron Onyon and with the right WOD I should be able to beat anyone. So I posted a challenge to Jon but never heard back.

The next day I asked Jon if he was up for it since he didn’t reply online and he said “Oh I thought it went without saying I’d accept any WOD anytime against you”………HOW IS HE NOT SCARED OF ME???? Didn’t he see my business card that says “I’m Ron Onyon Bit**”. Now I’m going to make sure this happens.

There are two criteria with this challenge:

1. I pick or create the WOD
2. I pick the time.

The truth is Jon has been training very serious for Crossfit sectionals and regional’s, he’s younger, peaking physically, he’s about a foot taller than me, at least 40 pounds heavier of pure muscle, plus he is a great athlete so I need to be more strategic with the WOD.

Jon made a good point when we talked, he said our strengths in Crossfit are similar, unfortunately that’s true and he might be better at them…….I said “might be” not he definitely is better at them. Since my strong points are similar to his and my weaker ones are similar too this is going to be a bit more difficult than I originally thought. I need to create a legitimate WOD where I can edge ahead of him rep by rep.

I think I’m faster with short quick reps. For example if we did 5 pull-ups, I’ll beat him in every set of 5 pull-ups, however if you said to do 50 pull-ups then he’d beat me. So in the WOD I need to break up reps in short fast sets. Also, since Jon is 6’6 and I’m a few inches short of 6 foot, that ground to overhead exercises would benefit me. I also think a run would be good because I can knock out a fast run and there is no chance in hell I’m rowing against him because Jon is a sick rower and the rower really doesn’t like me, so no rowing. Then I was thinking of putting in an exercise at the end that can either help me or blow up in my face. I think at the end of the WOD finish with a plank. I don’t know how long he can hold it but figure he has a lot more weight to hold up. So the plan would be to finish the WOD then however long you hold the plank position that time will be subtracted from your total time in the WOD. It can help if Jon beats me so I have a last chance to make up for it or it could blow up in my face for that exact opposite reason.

So far thinking:

Challenge WOD
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 400 meters
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 800 meters
4 rounds of (5 pull-ups & 5 ground to overhead at 135 pounds)
Run 400 meters
Plank

This WOD isn’t set in stone, it’s just a starting point but I like it so far.

Plus before I do this I have to finish up “Mess with a Navy Seal Day: the rematch”

These challenges have had me thinking of a fun fundraiser/challenge for the gym. Let people challenge others in a WOD. The challenged person has to be interested and accept, then the challenger has to pay 10, 25, or 50 just a set amount of money to do the challenge. Then the WOD has to be approved by one of the trainers at the gym to make sure it’s fair, competitive and reasonable. You can have the money go to a pool for the Christmas celebration at the end of the year. Plus we can track people’s records on the board. See if anyone can stay undefeated or who has the longest win/losing streaks.

Just a thought plus there are many people I’d like to take down in the gym, guys and women :-)

Daniel & Rhinestone Cowboy Up!!!!! March 18, 2010

WOD: Crossfit: In honor of SFC Daniel Crabtree, "Daniel" 50-pull-ups, 400 run, 21-thrusters, 800 run, 21-thrusters, 400 run, 50-pull-ups.

I’m so sore from the WODs this week that the thought of doing Daniel has me cringe, but the reality is I need to do it in order to workout the soreness.

Erin is doing the fully prescribed level 3, so full pull-ups and the prescribed weight which only a small handful of women are even attempting to do today. She finished in 40 minutes and was really disappointed with her time but I tried telling her that she did 100 pull-ups, the prescribed thruster weight and the runs. She needs to stop sounding like me and be happy. The times will come as you’re getting stronger. It took her 8 months in Crossfit before she completed her first non-banded pull-up and now at her 10th month of Crossfit she’s doing 100 in a WOD. Giddey Up!

This was an ok day for me too. I got a really nice warm up in which worked out a lot my soreness. As I got ready for the WOD I notice that Jake used some hand protection during the pull ups. Since I injured my shoulder my hands aren’t tough anymore and they rip really easy. I hate tearing my hands because it makes things miserable, since Jake already completed the WOD he let me use them.

Well we are about to start and I’m putting on the protection when Janice notices. She’s laughing walks over and asks why I’m putting maxi pads on my hands, then asks if I need to be packed in bubble wrap to make sure I don’t get an owie going up and down the stairs. Nothing feels better than a 95 pound woman that can back squat more than you calling you out for being you soft. I would have said a clever comeback but she can do Daniel running backwards and still beat me, plus it was funny. I can’t get mad at funny tough chick.

It should be noted that after the workout my hands didn’t have any tears and they were still baby soft. I like the maxi pads.

______

I must be having one of those weeks. First I get called soft by woman that’s less than half my size. Now I’m about to head to the gym to work on my shoulder and do some of the strength exercises I missed during this week at Crossfit. I grabbed my gear and accidentally picked up my wives baby blue rhinestone headphones. I need music but I can’t wear baby blue rhinestone headphones.

My thought is it’s Friday so I am hoping there isn’t anyone in our office gym. I will walk in with the full intention of leaving if anyone is in there.

Sweet!! Nobody is there so I get dressed, get my music and plug in the rhinestone headphones. Part way through the workout a woman walks in to use the treadmill, I don’t think she notices me so I Rhinestone Cowboy up and keep working out. I just grunt a little louder to let her know how tough I am.

Rhinestone Giddey Up!!!!!

No-Neck Meathead Jock, the pursuit of a lifelong dream but is it wise to mess with something so gorge-nificent

I’ve always wanted to be a meathead. Now my father and brother might disagree because they think I was a meathead jock when I was younger but I always wanted to be the supersized bulked up meathead that has to walk bow legged because his thighs are so big they rub together. The guy who’s back and arms are so large that he can’t reach around to scratch his own butt :-)

I’ve been doing national and international Olympic Style Sport Tae Kwon Do competitions from 1986 until I retired from competitions in 2001. But with tkd tournaments I always had to watch my weight very close. The main weight divisions I fought in was feather weight which was 147 back in my day, in fact in 2001, my last year of competition I fought bantam weight which was 135. (I need to find the picture of the first time I made weight at 135) I was so skinny and dehydrated I literally had to go to bed the night before the weigh-in with ice bags all over my body because my body wasn’t able to regulate it’s temperature properly.

I went to long camps, tried out for teams, made some teams, did 3 workouts a day, peaked myself through the year with moderate lifting because my focus was fighting and speed. So I went years watching my weight and diet extremely close. My lifting was very limited back then. Still no regrets I got to do some cool stuff, had an opportunity to be an athlete for as long as I did and traveled around the world fighting. I still wish I could have spent some time as no neck meathead jock. I would look at the football lineman that would show up to a restaurant and order a plate of chicken legs, put one in their mouth and clean all the meat from it to the bone in one bite. That’s awesome!!! Be the guy in the weight room that you hear screaming at the top of their lungs when they are knocking out reps, people come over to see what is going on and walk away slowly when they see you’re bench pressing a Volvo. Ahhh to be the guy that stares at the weights, takes 15 minutes to wrap the wrists and knees, then walks back around yelling at the weight then drops down, knocks out 2 reps, screams at the top of my lungs gets up and high fives the 3 people spotting him. Oh yeahhhh to be that guy :-)

I was a gym rat when I retired from competition for a little while but never bulked up. I just couldn’t see the value in lifting so much for so long, what was the purpose? So I continued to work out with my goal to be fit, tone and very pretty.

Now I’m in Crossfit, YAY!!!!! You can be athletic, functional and a big meatheaded no neck jock. Sure sure someone will say that it is better to be a normal size and strong so you can be more functional and versatile, buttttttt If I bulk up to eventually deadlift 800+ pounds, I’ll be the barbell freak at the box……I’m ok with that. As long as I can still run, row, do pull-ups, muscle ups and all the other exercises decent enough, then focus my specialty in Crossfit to be uber strong with deadlift, cleans, snatches, presses, etc….. I think this is my opportunity to fulfill a lifelong goal and be the Crossfit version of “The Thing”

I need to spend some more time thinking about this, discuss the pros and cons with my family and friends. I need to go to a mirror, take a good look at myself and decide if I really want to mess with something so gorge-nificent.

I can definitely use any feedback and opinions.

Stay pretty people

The Hangover to Mess with a Navy Seal Day

I walked in the gym and everyone starts laughing and all eyes are on me.

Dan looks at me laughs and in a darth vadar voice goes "hahahahaha oh yeah little doggie it's ON!!!!!"

I thought I challenged Dan to Grace later in the week but nope he was ready to do it last night. That was so wrong because I showed up to the gym with a bottle of jack in one hand, a cigarette in the other and just finished eating a dozen donuts...the last thing I was ready to do was compete :-) Dan had a look in his eye like I took his last beer, so I got myself mentally ready.

WOD: 10 rounds: 15 deadlifts (135 pounds) and 15 pushups

The truth is, I actually needed something like this to help get me over the mental wall I've had lately working out. I've been taking too many breaks and not pushing as hard as I can since I injured my shoulder, so hopefully this will be the push I needed. When I hit round 5 I started breaking up my deadlifts but I saw Dan right in front of me, very serious and focused so I decided after that not to break up my deadlifts anymore. That felt really good and made a huge difference; I was completely exhausted at the end.

I wound up winning the WOD faceoff and Dan graciously posted on the site that I won buttttt I guess that wasn't the whole story.

OMFG I had the most painful car ride home after the WOD. Let's build up to why which gives the whole story to Dan and my face off.

Now when the WOD started, I heard everyone yelling, giving directions and giggling since there was a challenge and bragging rights on the line, so I didn't know what was real and what was talk just to mess with us so I ignored it assuming I had perfect technique because I definitely felt a huge burn :-)

I finished in the WOD 9:28 but for some reason erin won't even make eye contact with me and keeps shaking her head, so now we're at why the car ride home was the LONGEST IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!

These are pretty much exact quotes from my wife as soon as we got in the car:
-You know that win doesn't count
-It doesn't count because you didn't lock out at the top of your deadlifts
-Your pushups didn't go all the way down
-Your pushups never went all the way up
-If you're going to talk shi* you have to have good technique otherwise nobody will ever believe any of your times
-seriously that doesn't count, if you had good technique your time would have been much slower.

UGGGGH my head hurt so bad in the car, isn't your wife supposed to be on your side no matter what? Erin and I have been with each other almost 10 years and i've never been nagged by her, until this car ride home. My kids even got in on the action, next thing you know I hear my oldest daughter saying "daddy you weren't going all the way down on the pushups"......luckily I can ground her.

I heard that the last few rounds is when my technique wasn't perfect, especially in the pushups, and I also heard that it was clean enough from other trainers but ultimately a rematch is in order to make sure it's a clean win.

I will say that I didn't really expect Dan to want to compete tonight. I know he hasn't deadlifted in months and his back's been sore lately so what I can't believe is that even after that, he hung with me almost rep for rep the whole way until the end, and Im in there 3-4 times a week. And according to the peanut gallery, had I focused on my technique more, we could have very well tied :P. I still think it's more reasonable to do a "Super Grace" 50 reps at 135 pounds for time. We'll get less trash talking from the bystanders because they can't criticize us too much with getting the bar from the ground to above your head.

My body feels like it has a crossfit hangover. That push and extra intensity I had from going against Dan has made my body so sore that it hurts when I smile. I've been pretty vocal about how sore I am from my face off vs. Dan then Dan goes on vacation the day after and schedules "Daniel" as the WOD of the day for my next day in the gym. He should have just posted as the WOD of the day to "Punch Ron in the stomach 100 times".

Ok point taken Dan. But I'm still looking forward to our Super Grace face off.

So coming soon:

Mess with a Navy Seal Day: Part 2

Mess with a Navy Seal Day!!!!! There is a good chance I will regret this :-)

Let's just say, sometimes it's fun to poke a stick at the big dawg :-)

The box I train at the owner is a 14 year Navy Seal vet so if you have a good day, why not mess with him a little :-)

This is the conversation posted on the crossfit bellevue website:

March 15, 2010

CrossFit: Every min on the min conduct a Power Clean and Jerk, add 1-rep per minute, once you fail, subtract a rep per minute, so 1-2-3 etc per minute, then 10-9-8 etc per minute.

This Power Clean WOD was exactly what I needed. That felt gooooooood, got a nice burn in my body and my lungs. I finished 8 rounds but I think I could have made it to 9 rounds but I was worried I would hit failure and not be able to complete the 2nd round of 9 then still have to pyramid down 8, 7, 6, etc.....I should have went for it, if you're never failing you're never really trying. Oh well, still a good night and happy with how I finished.

Oh did you know Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Jon, Matt and Christina are machines, they wrecked it. I didn't get to the gym until 740-ish and they were still talking about how Jon destroyed this WOD. Jon did 11 rounds which is just insane, they were still talking about how when he did rounds 9, 10, 11, 11, 10, 9 he took no break and was doing constant reps. You really need to video tape that next time.

Oh yeah!!! Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Another funny thing when we got to the gym. Jake was there, he had already completed the WOD but he looked like a sad puppy dog. He was disappointed he didn't push himself as hard as he felt he could have finished. Jake normally beasts the workouts, so he didn't feel good about how many rounds he completed. We've all been there and want a do-over on a WOD. It's ok there will be other WOD's, but to make Jake feel better if you see him Tuesday go up and give him a hug or pet him to make him feel better, he'll appreciate it :-)

Hey, Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

I think power cleans and power snatches are my favorite exercises. There is something fun about throwing weights around. I might just have to do Grace in the next week on my own to see where my time is at.

Oh did you know, Dan got 7 rounds and I got 8, he might need a hug today too :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

After reading my post Dan Posted: Now, now little doggy, dont poke a stick at the big dog just because he sits quietly in the corner, remember he is still a big dog.

My response: I understand Dan......but did you know that you got 7 rounds and I got 8 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BodXwAYeTfM

Dan Posted: I accept...tonight (I picture Dan saying "I accept" in a Darth Vadar voice while clinching his fist in the air)

So I posted: Crap, what did you accept? I don't remember challenging you to anything? Grace face off, Saturday High noon?

As I finished posting the above comment I realized what I wrote and couldn't take it back so I followed it with another post: Crap I can't delete my last post :P I posted before my brain told my hands to stop typing

Dan posted(again in a Darth Vadar voice): I accept

So I posted back: Crap :-) Well if it's a challenge then we may as well make it worth while....either win big or lose big. Person that doesn't win has to wear a tshirt the following saturday with: "Rons the man"

I know what's sexy!!!! Completed Zachs "Chicken Legs" WOD

March 13, 2010

"Chicken Legs" 10 rds of 10-Lunges / Thrusters / Squats and a stair climb. With a plate. M45, W25.

I liked yesterdays workout a lot more than I was originally expecting, so thanks zach :-) It will be sad to see you go but it's always nice to see people go after goals and dreams, so good luck and enjoy the journey.

I went into this WOD with the strategy of just completing the reps with no breaks on exercises and only break, when I need to, in between exercises. Especially for me to not blow out, i didn't want to go out fast then die out like so many times before. So this time try pacing myself since this one looked brutal and long. First round I was in my strategy, good strong pace but too slow, i was last out the door. I didn't worry, I assumed they'd all slow down, I wasn't going for a top time with this WOD but still assumed I wouldn't be last. So stick with the plan, no breaks during exercises.

I didn't break on the lunges. I didn't take many breaks with the thrusters but I did break up the squats from time to time. I still expected to be in the middle of the pack with this WOD. But I wasn't, I was near the bottom for times which I was ok with. With a WOD like this just doing that many exercises, stairs and reps, you're getting a good workout. I'm getting my mental intensity back since my injury so my fist pumping will be back soon once all the tools and body is back together.

My wife Erin, did the level 3 workout and lapped me a couple of times. I think this was the first time since we've started crossfit that she did a level 3 workout and beat me..........I thought that was pretty damn hot, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :-)

Thank you crossfit. I'll make good use of this later....wacka wackaaaaa(fozzie bear voice)

The going away WOD for Zach is posted, OUCH

CrossFit: For Zach - "Chicken Legs" 10 rds of 10-Lunges / Thrusters / Squats and a stair climb. With a plate. M45, W25.

OMFG!!! Do they do these type of workouts everytime one of their pre-buds guys leave for the Navy? If that's the case the other prebuds guys aren't allowed to go anywhere.

Two things instantly hurt after reading that WOD, 1) my legs gave me a WTF and 2) My Vag........nevermind, This is one of those workouts you need to be drunk before you do and not start drinking after, that way I'm already numb and dumb for the wod.

BRING IT!!!!

How my mind works at crossfit

I was going to take today off but I see the strength & endurance exercises are back squat and sprints.

Fortunately or unfortunately this is how my mind works. I like to compete and test myself, so I see the sprints and I’m thinking, yay!!!!! I get to do short sprints vs. people. I used to be pretty fast so I assume I still am :-)

Then if you break it down using "New Math" it looks like this

Ron used to be really fast + he's never seen anyone in the gym run = Ron is the fastest preson in the gym. YAY ME!!!!

Sure Daniel is a teenager, in extremely good shape and a complete stud but I haven’t seen him run so I must be faster than him.

Jon used to play college football, he’s in extremely good shape but in a short sprint I must sprint faster than him too.

Rumor has it Matt is extremely fast too but he wears tube socks and headbands so there is no way he can run faster than me.

Gabe……hahahahaha ok Gabe I’m definitely smoking him unless I trip over a unicorn.

You see how my my mind works. If this trend continues I might need to have a serious conversation with my brain and try to talk some sense into it…….or kill it with beer :-)

Deadlift WOD and GHD kick me in the junk

Tuesdays workout was: Deadlifts, situps, 400 runs after each set. 10/10, 8/20, 6/30, 4/40, 2/50.

The 225 deadlift is an exercise I won’t take any breaks on, I can run the 400’s strong and the situps are not an issue where I can knock them out fast and take no breaks, this is my day..….unfortunately I missed that level 3 was GHD situps so that changed my strategy a lot. GHD situps like me about as much as the rower, except when I do a lot of GHD situps I get a nice pukey feeling while the rower just kicks me in the junk then laughs at me afterwards.

But still I saw this workout I’m thinking, this is my day for a victory lap. Matt, Jon and Kim are still resting from the games, bill is not in tonight so as long as I can go faster than Levi, Jake and a few others I should have my victory lap.

I knock out the first round and am first out the door. The early rounds I was able to keep a fast pace because the deadlifts are strong for me, I like the run and with few GHD situps at the beginning I have a good feeling about this WOD. By time I hit the round of 6/30 I now had to start breaking up the GHD situps, mainly because I was feeling a little nauseous. By time I get to the last round I look at the time and see as long as I can do the GHD’s in a reasonable time, stay ahead of Jake then I should beat Levi’s time and do my victory lap. I knock out the last round and complete it in 22:34 oh yeahhhhhhh!!!!! Levi did it in 23:13 let’s start my victory lap but first I walk outside for a few minutes to dry heave then afterwards go back in double check the times on the board and do my victory lap……………..WTF!!!!! I forgot Janice did the workout and destroyed me again, dammit. Wait wait wait, Eric, Chuck, Sean, and Steve also beat me by a lot. Where did all these people come from? Today was supposed to be my day.

Rowing & Washington CF Sectionals Update. February 27, 2010: 10x300 meter sprint rows and update on Washington Sectionals

I tried the 10 x 300 meter sprint rows Friday night. I realized the rower and I still aren't friends but Dan and Leilani organized a rowing workshop that is being taught by Olympic and World Champion rowers, so I signed up right away and if they can't find a way for me to become friends with the rower then we were never meant to be friends.

Erin and I went to see the crossfit games Saturday where Matt, Jon and Kim are doing great and still in the hunt to qualify for regionals. Unfortunately I missed the first WOD, I wanted to see it but i heard everyone did great. I did see the 40 HSPU and 40 Front Squats WOD, Matt destroyed it and placed at the top of the group for the second WOD in a row. He was one of the few guys able to complete the 40 HSPU's and 40 front squats so his scores reflected that. Kim went out and destroyed the 40 HSPU, she was one of very few women the entire day to even complete all 40 of the hspu's, plus in her heat, she was the first one done and easily beat the next woman to finish her 40 hspu by at least 2-3 minutes so her overall score for the WOD did reflect such a fantastic hspu time.

The FGB: Wall Ball/Power Snatch/ Box Jumps/ Row Jon and Matt were going in the same heat right next to each other. I'm shocked thier scores didn't show much higher because they were consistent and smooth with their Wall Balls, their snatches were significantly faster and significantly more reps than any of their competitors, their box jumps were fine and looked as they were staying with the group then on the rower it looked like they destroyed it. Jon nearly pulled the chain from the machine and Matt actually rowed his machine across the floor. Matts stationary rower was literally about 10 feet from the spot it started in when he started rowing. I was shocked when their scores were posted they weren't at the top for the group. they did great, solid, consistent and still in striking distance with two of their stronger areas coming up Sunday.

Sundays going to be a good day. Erin is very interested in watching the women groups and see how they knock out the 5 rep max deadlifts and double unders. I predict Kim is going to get a huge PR in the deadlift today, I don't want to jinx her but I predict she 5 rep max's what her december one rep deadlift max was :-) Go Kim!!!
These two Sunday WOD's is where Jon and Matt can make up some ground and start separating themselves from the field. I think their preparation is really going to show on Sunday with their strength, endurance and ability to recover from Saturdays WOD's. I'm curious to see how many of the men and women can even walk into the competition after Saturdays WOD's let alone go out and perform at their peak. Kim, Jon and Matt have prepared well for this and I think Sunday will separate them from the field and put them in qualifying position.

I’m looking forward to Sunday.

Have fun!!!!

I think today is my day. Results from the February 22, 2010 WOD

That was a fun WOD. My lungs were still burning when I went to bed last night. I definitely need a good burn in my lungs like that at least once a week.

Unfortunately everything I predicted with the WOD happened. I went out fast with the 800 run, finished 1st coming into the gym a good amount ahead of everyone, then got passed in the very first row. I talked with Jake after the WOD and he was pulling 1:42 500 meter splits during his 1,000 meter row and I was hitting about 2:15 splits per 500. That's just too big of a gap, I'll never be able to fist pump if I keep that up.

Fortunately I gained some time on the 100 DU's but Jake was out the door first for the 400 run. I wasn't far behind but I couldn't catch him on the run which put me in worse position especially knowing i was going to lose more time on the row. I did ask Jake to wait up for me when he was heading out for the 400 run, until I finished my DU's, but he saw through my trick and kept running. Jake finished the run and row far ahead of me (I did my 500 meter row in 2:05 so I made up some time for me) but he must have tripped on the way to his DU's because I somehow linked enough together and made up for my poor rowing times and finished a couple of seconds ahead. Sweet, mini fist pump!!

I still couldn't catch Jon or Janice for the day so no fist pumping or victory lap yet. I will someday take away their victory laps even if it's for just one day.
Oh two more things :-)

One, when I got into the gym I was talking to Jon and he let me know that his time for the WOD was very beatable because he didn't warm up, he didn't push that hard since he wants to peak himself for this weekend, I think he even said he ran some of it backwards and threw in some cartwheels too. He told me that to let me know I should have no problem beating his time today. I still lost to him by a couple of minutes, YAY ME!!!

No victory laps on a rower: February 22, 2010: CrossFit: 800 run, 1000 row, 100 double unders, 400 run, 500 row, 50 Double unders

I never said anything about a victory lap with this WOD. I'm starting to know better, sure it's taking a long time to learn and chances are I'll go back to my normal self soon but at least I'm realizing it for today.

I can tell you now how this workout is going to go for me.

Start the 800 run. I go out fast and finish 1st or 2nd a good distance ahead of everyone.

Then I head to the rowers swearing at the stairs in my head them as I see the
rower I start swearing at it. I stand at the rower exhausted, wishing I hadn't gone out so fast so I stare down the rower mentally asking it to be easy this time.
1000 meter row. Everyone catches up and passes me on the first row. I find out again the rower and I aren't friends.

100 double unders. I should do pretty good at these and make
up some time.

After the double unders I'm already exhausted so I job the 400 and do it in 3-4 minutes.

I walk up the stairs and on the way to the rower I crack jokes with people still there from the 530 class and hope nobody notices I'm in the middle of a WOD. Dan or gabe then notice, calls me a girls name and I take the longest possible route to the rower.

Final 500 row. I hit cruise control and finish it in 2:14-ish (I will regret this time after the workout and wish I pushed harder and gotten a sub 2:00 which is a time I should hit this deep in a wod)

final 50 double unders will be tough but I can gut them out pretty well.
When the workout is over I start crying on the Inside but I walk over and act like it wasn't that bad of a workout.

Oh and I will never ever ever.....probably never......do a victory Lap on a rower.

Tried one of the Washington State Sectional WODs

Nice WOD's: 8-1:00 minute rounds of max rep overhead press (any style) M 155, W105. Short run between sets.

I did 95 pounds because of shoulder, so that helped me do a lot more reps. This is a WOD I shouldn't have tried to do a strict push press as long as I did. I should have started using as much of my full body and legs to explode the weight above my head, find a good rhythm and not rush. Of course this is me so in my Jersey Shore name, "blowout" I went out fast hit exhaustion and slowed down big at the end, someday i'll be strong and fast all the way through. My body has to catch up to my brain someday.

My totals were 16-9-7-7-7-5-5-9 for total of 65 total reps.

I definitely think those competing next week need a strategy and practice a few rounds of this to get a good rhythm and their timing down. Doing 155 is a beast. a few one or two rounds during the week just to lock in on a good rhythm and timing will make a huge difference.

Funny, talkin to Jon before the WOD started I was confident he'd need to and be able to knock out 10 reps per round finishing with about 80. It's always easier to figure out the numbers before the workout especially one you've never done before. I still think he can pull off 64-80 next week at sectionals.

I'd like another shot at this WOD, I liked it. Lots of fun, got a hard burn, hit muscle failure many times and my lungs were on fire.

Levi's Request to interview me pre-wod

Levi request: I think we need to start shooting a few seconds of before and after interviews with you and your challenges, Ron. It could make an awesome compilation video...
-Levi

A video would be cool. I can tell you how the interview would go, if Levi interviewed me.

levi: so Ron how do you think you will do in the upcoming WOD?

me: I'm pretty sure with the WOD today I'll smoke Matt then do a victory lap around the gym high fiving everyone

Levi: Fantastic, good luck with the workout

Post workout interview

Levi: great workout, how do you feel?

Me: Pretty good, I'm really tired.....I had trouble keeping my arms up so long high fiving everyone during my victory lap

Levi: did you feel bad for matt after he lost and fell to the ground crying

Me: no and I was sensitive enough to jump over him while doing my victory lap

Erin gets to Fist Pump!!! February 13, 2010

"Diversity...Adversity...Prosperity" 500 m row, 10-dead lifts, 20-box jumps, 30-KB Swings, 40-Wall Ball, 50-OH Lunges, 500 m row.

Fun workout, again I read it and thought I should have the fastest time for today, why shouldn’t I, I’m Me………duhhhhhhhh.

My game plan with this WOD was go as hard as I could and I probably wouldn’t need any rest until the 40 wallballs. I guess my brain tried to tell my body that the rest of the exercises leading up to that were easy and wouldn’t cause my heart rate to increase at all. Good Plan

I will say my shoulder felt good, I had no problems doing any of the exercises so no excuses this workout.

Started the 500 row and I pulled a 1:36 which is good for me since normally I really really suck at rowing. I was tired so moving into the deadlift I had to break it up which is very disappointing because normally 10 reps at this weight is something I would burn through. I didn’t break up the box jumps and thought the kettlebells wouldn’t be a problem but for some reason(mental block) I broke them up into sets of tens. Lazy is what it was. Then the wallballs is where I needed some break, I had to do those in sets of tens too………………..oh one thing worth noting is that when you post comments on here and call out a lot of people for how you’re going to smoke them and air hump when you beat them, you put a big bullseye on your head. I started the wallballs and on my second one I heard Mike and Christine yelling that I was throwing the ball up too low, but I can read between the lines and can tell what they really meant. They’ve read my previous posts so when they yelled “Hey Ron you have to toss the ball higher” they were really saying “Hey Ron, you didn’t mention us on your previous posts and we beat your a** on a regular basis” So it’s noted, thank you for making sure I hit the right marks so my times are legit, I’m sincere with that…………..Plus I’ve added both your names of the people I’ll be fist pumping and air humping when I beat, HIGH FIVE!!!!

Then came the 50 overhead lunges, these weren’t that bad after the wallballs, which means I didn’t push it hard up to that point. I knocked them out 10-10-10-20 and I felt I could have linked more of those together too.

I was really tired from the WOD but me not linking more exercises together left me with too much energy at this point. When I hit my final 500 row I wanted to push it until I exhausted myself and would collapse but I finished my last 500 in 2:10. Obviously I got lazy, finished my level 3 at 14:22; decent but too many breaks, I wasn’t even close to the top time. I am happy it's a good but my brain seems to think that I should be going much much faster, so I'll keep trying to tell my body to speed up.

I thought this was another WOD that fit more of my strengths where I should be at the top but somehow my body wasn’t there. That’s frustrating and something I need to get over and just do, just push it and stop taking those damn breaks.
Oh very cool thing. My wife, Erin, is getting to where she’s not just surviving a lot of workouts but regularly doing level 3’s. Well today she got the top level 3 female time for the gym. She was amped and very excited which you can tell from the video below.

WARNING!!!! After watching the video she wanted me to point out she was tired and even though in the video it looks like she has no rhythm………that’s a lie, she can actually dance and has rhythm. Don’t judge her from being this fist pump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBAkZuJso8U

Keeping up with the Clydesdale: February 10, 2010

First I’d like to thank everyone that trained Wednesday night for not tripping me on the run or slapping me in the junk after reading my previous notes, I’m sure some of you would have liked to.

Since I got such a good response from my last post-workout notes, I decided to do it again and add some other random thoughts. Ok the truth is, I cracked myself up from my last workout notes so I’m doing it for my own entertainment :-) What can I say, I like making myself laugh.

WOD: 800 meter run, 21-15-9 of Power Clean & Jerks, and Toes to Bar, 800 meter run. This is one of those WOD’s that doesn’t look easy on paper so you know you’re in for a fun beast of a workout, which it was.

For some reason with the run I thought I could cruise the run as my “rest” portion of the workout then really push the clean & jerks and toes to bar. So we take off on the run and haha I’m out in front, EAT IT!!!! Then something that sounded like a loud galloping Clydesdale is catching me and before I make the first turn Jon L. passes me. I actually keep up with him pretty good, I think I could have sprinted past him at the end of the first run but I would have collapsed and not been able to do anything for 10-20 minutes. So I decided to hold off since there was no value in it other than to pass him, laugh and flip him off as I fall to the ground too exhausted to move. So I was second in the gym but unfortunately I went out really hard in the first 800 (3:08 was my split with stairs) I’m resting at my bar too tired to pick it up and I see Jake, Bill, Micki, Brian and everyone coming in the door while I’m just standing there, so all these people start their first reps before I get my first one up. I need to stop taking such a long break in between exercises, the difference in taking a 2 second break and a 2 minute break is purely mental because I’m not refreshed or feel better with the longer break, I just prolong the pain.

My physical therapist would be pissed if she knew I was doing heavy clean and jerks in the wod but it’s time to start testing out my shoulder with the lifts and hanging from the bar doing toes to bar. So I started with 155 but after a couple of reps I need to drop to 135. So I start it up again and a couple reps in I crack myself in the chin with the bar. I literally knock myself dizzy for a second, I drop the bar and look around hoping nobody noticed what an idiot I am but of course here comes Steve checking in on me to make sure my shoulder is ok since he saw I quickly dropped the bar. I let him know I hit myself in the face with the bar and I think he had to turn away really quick so he didn’t laugh in my face, if that were Dan he would have laughed :-) which is ok if either of them did to me because it all comes with fun love and support here.

Loved the workout, I like the burn you get in your body and lungs with a weighted workout like this with running mixed in. A good mix that lets your body know you’re getting in shape. I’m disappointed with myself in the last 800 of the workout; I finished not out of breath. I could have and should have pushed it harder so I would be on the verge of collapsing when I finished. I want a do-over with my last 800.
So, new topic, I was looking at what I wanted to accomplish in crossfit this calendar year and I have a few goals.

I want to beat Jon L. and Matt in a heavy weighted WOD. I want to beat them in one of their stronger WOD’s, along with every other one, but especially a heavy WOD.
I want to beat Levi, Bill, Janice and Daniel in any WOD too :-) but especially ones requiring endurance, body weight exercises or percentage of body weight as main portion of the lift. There are more people to list, like Micki and Jacqueline they’ve destroyed me on runs in the past, but above are some obvious people I’m thinking of right now :-)

I want to get a crossfit total of over 1,050 pounds

I want to deadlift 500 pounds

When I do one of the above things you’ll see me fist pumping and air humping like I’m a jersey shore reject.

I don’t know where I’m at yet with accomplishing these things but I figure let my brain lead and hopefully my body will catch up soon.

I know some people aren’t competitive and they are there for the workout so I understand not everyone has the urge to compete against other people. Honestly that’s part of the fun and why I love crossfit, along with the camaraderie of people in the gym and the variety of challenging workouts. I stay interested in it because crossfit is a physical fitness game each day. You get a new game to workout in where you score the most points, go for the fastest times or biggest lifts. When I started crossfit I couldn’t do one single pull-up so my goal at the beginning was just to survive a workout, then my goal was to do full prescribed workout, then as I was surviving prescribed workouts my goal was to push it through the workout, then after that my goal was to not finish last in a workout, then after that each workout I’d find someone on the board I thought was challenging and shoot to be close to or beat them. Each week as I got stronger I was able to go up the list of people to shoot for competition and internally play against them. It keeps it fun for me and helps keep me active and involved in physical fitness long term. I know it’s tough at the beginning coming to a gym like this but find the game, people and challenges to keep it fun so you’re excited about crossfit and it will help keep you committed to physical fitness long term.

Have fun, work hard and I look forward to finishing ahead of you real soon :-) (I’m currently fist pumping and air humping as I finish writing this)

First Blog Post: Why do stairs and rowers hate me. February 08, 2010

CrossFit: 400 run, 500 row, 800 run, 1000 row, 400 run, 500 row.

I enjoyed the run/row workout. I was exctied when I saw it and that I'd hopefully be the top time for the gym. After the workout ended it was a different story. Here are some notes from my run/row workout last night:

-Saw the workout on paper and thought I should do this in 14-15 minutes, I'll get a nice burn, smile, waive to the crowd and high five people as I finish first.

-Came in saw the board and Jon L had the top time of the day of 14.52........hahahaha pansy I'm going to kill that time.

-Ran the first 400 and saw I did it in 1:45(note to self running up and down the stairs adds 10-20 seconds)

-Rowed first 500: I forgot I'm not a good rower so add 10-20 seconds per 500

-800 Run, decent time still slow because of the damn stairs but 3:50ish was my half mile but it should be faster for me if you're going to get cocky.

-crap we're back at rowing 1000 meters, note to self again, don't get cocky when you aren't a good rower.

-about to run the final 400 and notice I can't catch the top time for the gym, Someone must have cheated because on paper this morning this looked easier and faster.

-Finished the final 400 run and heading into rowing, new goal of just trying to get sub 17 instead of original goal of sub 15.

-Oooops forgot I suck at rowing and just be happy with 17:17